SALVATION OFFERED TO THE JEW AND THE GENTILE
III. The Common Salvation Of The Jew And Gentile In Scripture
Throughout history, the LORD has demonstrated a steadfast love and mercy for His creation. God, Himself, has spoken of His nature in this way,
"The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth: who keeps loving-kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished...” (Ex 34:6-7).
The LORD takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (Ezek 18:32), but He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Tim 2:3). In the LORD alone is salvation; He continually seeks the salvation of His people; and He has commanded all men to “Repent and live!” (Ezek 18:32). Moses has spoken of the LORD in this manner, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Ex 15:2).
The greatest salvation story for the nation of Israel is their redemption from the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. The Bible devotes 28 chapters to the one-year Exodus story compared with 9 chapters in Genesis for the first 2000 years of recorded history through Noah and the flood. The nation of Israel is continually commanded in scripture to…
“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut 5:15)
So significant is this event in history, that afterwards, God would fix the Jewish month of the Exodus (Nisan) to be the first month of the religious Jewish calendar year (Ex 12:2) and command the annual remembrance of this event. The four cups of the annual Passover celebration are to remind the participants of the four promises made by God (Ex 6:6-7).
1. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians
2. I will free you from being slaves
3. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment
4. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God.
Passover is a celebration of freedom, salvation from the bondage of Egypt, and the opportunity to enter into a covenant relationship with the LORD. Immediately after the Exodus, at Mount Sinai in the wilderness, the people came before the LORD to renew the covenant that had first been spoken to Abraham,
“I swear by Myself, declares the LORD…I will surely bless you (Abraham) and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore…and through your offspring all nations on the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen22:15-18).
The covenant made to Abraham was subsequently repeated to Isaac and then to Jacob as the original promises were renewed for each generation. At Mount Sinai, the covenant was renewed again as the people heard the words of God spoken to Moses and responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said.” (Ex 19:8). After three days of consecration, the people gathered at the base of Mount Sinai, which, in Jewish tradition, was raised up as a wedding canopy for the nation to walk under.
The gathering at Mount Sinai is seen in scripture as a wedding ceremony and a metaphor for the relationship of God to His people. God is repeatedly likened in scripture to the bridegroom or husband and His people as the bride (Isa 54:5-6, 62:5)(Hos 2:16). As a condition of the marriage covenant, the people agreed to follow “the Torah” (“Law” in English, more correctly understood as instructions, referring to the five books of Moses.). The Torah is the revelation from God of the lifestyle that would lead Israel into blessings and fellowship with the creator of the universe.
The Sages further noted that the Torah was given to the nation of Israel while the people were still in the wilderness, but had not yet entered the Promised Land. They saw this as a sign that God’s word would be for all the nations, and not for Israel alone. The Sages even came to believe that the thunder, which roared off Mount Sinai, was the voice of God delivered in the seventy known languages of the world so that each man might have access to salvation through the word of God.
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III. The Common Salvation Of The Jew And Gentile In Scripture
Throughout history, the LORD has demonstrated a steadfast love and mercy for His creation. God, Himself, has spoken of His nature in this way,
"The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth: who keeps loving-kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished...” (Ex 34:6-7).
The LORD takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (Ezek 18:32), but He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Tim 2:3). In the LORD alone is salvation; He continually seeks the salvation of His people; and He has commanded all men to “Repent and live!” (Ezek 18:32). Moses has spoken of the LORD in this manner, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Ex 15:2).
The greatest salvation story for the nation of Israel is their redemption from the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. The Bible devotes 28 chapters to the one-year Exodus story compared with 9 chapters in Genesis for the first 2000 years of recorded history through Noah and the flood. The nation of Israel is continually commanded in scripture to…
“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut 5:15)
So significant is this event in history, that afterwards, God would fix the Jewish month of the Exodus (Nisan) to be the first month of the religious Jewish calendar year (Ex 12:2) and command the annual remembrance of this event. The four cups of the annual Passover celebration are to remind the participants of the four promises made by God (Ex 6:6-7).
1. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians
2. I will free you from being slaves
3. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment
4. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God.
Passover is a celebration of freedom, salvation from the bondage of Egypt, and the opportunity to enter into a covenant relationship with the LORD. Immediately after the Exodus, at Mount Sinai in the wilderness, the people came before the LORD to renew the covenant that had first been spoken to Abraham,
“I swear by Myself, declares the LORD…I will surely bless you (Abraham) and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore…and through your offspring all nations on the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen22:15-18).
The covenant made to Abraham was subsequently repeated to Isaac and then to Jacob as the original promises were renewed for each generation. At Mount Sinai, the covenant was renewed again as the people heard the words of God spoken to Moses and responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said.” (Ex 19:8). After three days of consecration, the people gathered at the base of Mount Sinai, which, in Jewish tradition, was raised up as a wedding canopy for the nation to walk under.
The gathering at Mount Sinai is seen in scripture as a wedding ceremony and a metaphor for the relationship of God to His people. God is repeatedly likened in scripture to the bridegroom or husband and His people as the bride (Isa 54:5-6, 62:5)(Hos 2:16). As a condition of the marriage covenant, the people agreed to follow “the Torah” (“Law” in English, more correctly understood as instructions, referring to the five books of Moses.). The Torah is the revelation from God of the lifestyle that would lead Israel into blessings and fellowship with the creator of the universe.
The Sages further noted that the Torah was given to the nation of Israel while the people were still in the wilderness, but had not yet entered the Promised Land. They saw this as a sign that God’s word would be for all the nations, and not for Israel alone. The Sages even came to believe that the thunder, which roared off Mount Sinai, was the voice of God delivered in the seventy known languages of the world so that each man might have access to salvation through the word of God.
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In addition to the LORD’s unfailing love for the nation of Israel, He has consistently demonstrated His concern for the Gentile nations throughout history. In the days of Moses, the word of the LORD was revealed to the unrighteous prophet Balaam so that even in the darkest recesses of the world, the Gentiles might hear the word of the LORD. It was this Gentile who prophesized of a future Jewish Messiah by saying,
“A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel” (Num 24:17).
Later, the LORD sent the prophet Jonah to the Gentile people of Ninevah. At Jonah’s preaching, the people repented, salvation came to Ninevah, and the wrath of the LORD was deferred.
Even when the LORD redeemed the people of Israel out of Egypt, salvation was not exclusive to the Jews. Many Gentiles followed the Jews into the wilderness (Ex 12:38). However, salvation out of Egypt did not guarantee entry into the Promised Land. Of the 603,550 men numbered over the age of twenty at the time of the Exodus, only two entered the Promised Land. These men were Joshua and Caleb (Num 32:12).
While Joshua was a Jew, few people recognize that Caleb was born a Gentile, the “son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite” (Num 32:12). Of over 600,000 men numbered from the Exodus, one Jew and one Gentile were saved by a common salvation. I believe that it was not by coincidence, but in keeping with God’s plan that both a Jew and a Gentile would be saved out of Egypt to enter the Promised Land. The salvation of Caleb becomes a picture of God’s plan for the world. This Gentile is not saved independent from the Jewish nation, but through the Jewish nation.
When Israel entered the wilderness, they camped at an oasis with “twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees” (Num 33:9). The number twelve is almost universally seen in scripture as a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, while seventy is associated with the seventy nations of the world since God numbered the nations “according to the number of sons of Israel” (Deut 32:8), which was seventy (Gen 46:27). The Jewish Sages also counted seventy descendents from the children of Noah (Gen 10:1-32). The number of nations is further reinforced by the commandment to offer seventy bulls for the nations during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) (Num 28:12-38).
The oasis can be seen as a picture in microcosm of God’s plan for the world. The nations (seventy palm trees) survive and prosper because of the twelve watering springs of the Jewish people and not independent of the Jewish people. The picture reminds the reader of a future time spoken by the prophet Zechariah when the nations will be commanded to go up to Jerusalem on the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles in English) to worship the King, the LORD Almighty.
“If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain” (Zech 14:17).
The picture of common salvation for the Jew and Gentile is reinforced in the book of Ezekiel by the story of the joining of two sticks.
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph — which is in Ephraim's hand — and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.” (Ezek 37:19)
Through the prophet Ezekiel, the LORD foretold of a future time when He would join the stick of Ephraim to the stick of Judah and the two would become one stick (“echad”, the same Hebrew word used for the nature of God in the Shema (Deut 6:4)). It is understandable why these two tribes were selected. The stick of Ephraim represented the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, while the stick of Judah represented the two tribes of the southern kingdom. The joining of these two sticks looked forward to the promised union of the nation.
Further, Epharim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph by an Egyptian mother (Gen 41:50), making them Gentiles by some Jewish standards. However, the Patriarch Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph as his own children saying,
“Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine… they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers” (Gen 48:5-6)
Jacob further added, “May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac” (Gen 48:16). Jacob then “blessed them that day and said, ‘In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh’’” (Gen 48:20). This blessing is pronounced every Sabbath in the Jewish faith by the Father upon his sons. Jacob specifically said of Ephraim, “his descendants will become a group of nations” (Gen 48:19). Such a pronouncement appears to draw directly on the original promise given to Abraham, “all nations on the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed”.
In addition to uniting the nation, the union of the two sticks can also be seen as a picture of Gentile believers, “a group of nations” (Ephraim), united with the nation of Israel (Judah) in a common salvation. The apostle Paul referred to this process in the apostolic writings as Gentiles being “grafted” into the Jewish olive tree (Rom 11:17). After all, grafting is simply the process of joining two sticks together.
Noah possessed insight into the plan of God when he blessed Shem, father of the Semitic people by saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!” He blessed Japheth, father of the Greek people by saying, “May God extend the territory of Japheth, may Japheth live in the tents of Shem” (Gen 9:26-27). Notice that God is called the “God of Shem!”, but He is not called the “God of Japheth”. The blessing given to Japheth is that he may “live in the tents of Shem”. Access to God, for the descendants of Japheth, is seen through the people of Shem. This concept is reinforced by a first century story from the Jewish Sages.
In the first century, a dispute arose among some of the Sages who said that the word of God should not be translated from Hebrew into the Greek language. Shimon ben Gamliel defended the use of the Greek Septuagint version of the Tanakh by quoting Genesis 9:27 and saying, “This means that the words of Japheth (that is, the Greek language) shall be in the tents of Shem” (b. Megillah 9b). Again we see the understanding that access to God for all nations exists through the Jewish people.
“A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel” (Num 24:17).
Later, the LORD sent the prophet Jonah to the Gentile people of Ninevah. At Jonah’s preaching, the people repented, salvation came to Ninevah, and the wrath of the LORD was deferred.
Even when the LORD redeemed the people of Israel out of Egypt, salvation was not exclusive to the Jews. Many Gentiles followed the Jews into the wilderness (Ex 12:38). However, salvation out of Egypt did not guarantee entry into the Promised Land. Of the 603,550 men numbered over the age of twenty at the time of the Exodus, only two entered the Promised Land. These men were Joshua and Caleb (Num 32:12).
While Joshua was a Jew, few people recognize that Caleb was born a Gentile, the “son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite” (Num 32:12). Of over 600,000 men numbered from the Exodus, one Jew and one Gentile were saved by a common salvation. I believe that it was not by coincidence, but in keeping with God’s plan that both a Jew and a Gentile would be saved out of Egypt to enter the Promised Land. The salvation of Caleb becomes a picture of God’s plan for the world. This Gentile is not saved independent from the Jewish nation, but through the Jewish nation.
When Israel entered the wilderness, they camped at an oasis with “twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees” (Num 33:9). The number twelve is almost universally seen in scripture as a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, while seventy is associated with the seventy nations of the world since God numbered the nations “according to the number of sons of Israel” (Deut 32:8), which was seventy (Gen 46:27). The Jewish Sages also counted seventy descendents from the children of Noah (Gen 10:1-32). The number of nations is further reinforced by the commandment to offer seventy bulls for the nations during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) (Num 28:12-38).
The oasis can be seen as a picture in microcosm of God’s plan for the world. The nations (seventy palm trees) survive and prosper because of the twelve watering springs of the Jewish people and not independent of the Jewish people. The picture reminds the reader of a future time spoken by the prophet Zechariah when the nations will be commanded to go up to Jerusalem on the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles in English) to worship the King, the LORD Almighty.
“If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain” (Zech 14:17).
The picture of common salvation for the Jew and Gentile is reinforced in the book of Ezekiel by the story of the joining of two sticks.
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph — which is in Ephraim's hand — and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.” (Ezek 37:19)
Through the prophet Ezekiel, the LORD foretold of a future time when He would join the stick of Ephraim to the stick of Judah and the two would become one stick (“echad”, the same Hebrew word used for the nature of God in the Shema (Deut 6:4)). It is understandable why these two tribes were selected. The stick of Ephraim represented the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, while the stick of Judah represented the two tribes of the southern kingdom. The joining of these two sticks looked forward to the promised union of the nation.
Further, Epharim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph by an Egyptian mother (Gen 41:50), making them Gentiles by some Jewish standards. However, the Patriarch Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph as his own children saying,
“Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine… they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers” (Gen 48:5-6)
Jacob further added, “May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac” (Gen 48:16). Jacob then “blessed them that day and said, ‘In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh’’” (Gen 48:20). This blessing is pronounced every Sabbath in the Jewish faith by the Father upon his sons. Jacob specifically said of Ephraim, “his descendants will become a group of nations” (Gen 48:19). Such a pronouncement appears to draw directly on the original promise given to Abraham, “all nations on the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed”.
In addition to uniting the nation, the union of the two sticks can also be seen as a picture of Gentile believers, “a group of nations” (Ephraim), united with the nation of Israel (Judah) in a common salvation. The apostle Paul referred to this process in the apostolic writings as Gentiles being “grafted” into the Jewish olive tree (Rom 11:17). After all, grafting is simply the process of joining two sticks together.
Noah possessed insight into the plan of God when he blessed Shem, father of the Semitic people by saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!” He blessed Japheth, father of the Greek people by saying, “May God extend the territory of Japheth, may Japheth live in the tents of Shem” (Gen 9:26-27). Notice that God is called the “God of Shem!”, but He is not called the “God of Japheth”. The blessing given to Japheth is that he may “live in the tents of Shem”. Access to God, for the descendants of Japheth, is seen through the people of Shem. This concept is reinforced by a first century story from the Jewish Sages.
In the first century, a dispute arose among some of the Sages who said that the word of God should not be translated from Hebrew into the Greek language. Shimon ben Gamliel defended the use of the Greek Septuagint version of the Tanakh by quoting Genesis 9:27 and saying, “This means that the words of Japheth (that is, the Greek language) shall be in the tents of Shem” (b. Megillah 9b). Again we see the understanding that access to God for all nations exists through the Jewish people.
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