The Earth belongs to HaShem
"The Earth belongs to HaShem and the Fullness Thereof."

The Chosen People of HaShem

Part One

By Jagannatha Prakash © 2007

But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation:

ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

-- Isaiah 45:17

The Chosen People of HaShem
Israel and Nations

Let's talk Bible...

This ancient scripture, the best selling book in history, has had more impact on world history than all other books combined.

People claiming to follow its teachings and those seeking to oppose them have been the major forces in our world since the beginning of the present age (about 5000 years ago). And yet one is hard pressed to find any two people who agree on what it says! Such disagreements lie at the root of our current problems and most glorious possibilities:

Eretz (land of) Israel and People Israel.

In the beginning:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

This is how the Bible begins.

One does not have to believe in God (God grants us this freedom) but in order to understand the conflicts facing our planet today one must understand that others do believe and that based upon this belief they (we) are prepared to stake everything. This is true of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Bahai and other people of faith.

According to the Torah, the first five books of the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) God exists. This belief isn't debated or defended it is given as a fact, as an indisputable reality (that people have disputed ever since). If one wants to understand the Bible one must accept, as least theoretically, that God exists and that the Bible reveals Him (at least to some degree).

According to a literal reading of Genesis this God, Elohiym, created everything that is. Again the Bible leaves no room for debate when read literally. It wasn't evolution, it wasn't Zachariah Sitchen's 12th Planet, it wasn't aliens from the great beyond or the Big Bang... God created everything ex nihilo, from nothing:

Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be...

... and there was. One is welcome to debate this, but this is what the Bible says and if the Bible is really is the Word of God, meant to be taken literally, then this is fact.

But 'Elohiym' is not a proper name. Its a title that simply means “god,” “ruler,” “judge” etc. It was “elohiym” who in the beginning said, “Let there be...” but which elohiym? By verse seven of chapter one this is nailed down. This was a specific elohiym with a personal name!

That Name is considered so holy that most righteous Jews refuse to speak or even write it! That Holy Name consists of four Hebrew letters (Yod, He, Vav and He ) known as the Tetragrammaton. Jews usually reference the Holy Name as either Adonai (the Lord) or as HaShem, the Name. The Holy Name is used throughout the Tanach and appears in most translations as LORD.

HaShem Elohiym, the LORD God, created it all and everything that exists belongs to Him. He can justly and rightly do anything with His belongings that He wishes. He alone is God. As is said, we are the clay, HaShem is the potter.

According to the Bible HaShem planted a garden and named it Eden and placed the first two people, Adam and Eve, within it. In time they choice to rebel again HaShem and were cast out of the garden. I have a lot say on this but I'll pass on it for now so this doesn't get too long.

As Elohiym, the rightful judge and ruler of all, God cast the disobedient couple out of His paradise due to their rebellion and declared something very important:

Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

3:22 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

As we read this entire account (Gen. 1:1 – 4:1) it is clear that the rebellion occurred because Adam and Eve wanted to be gods in their rights:

Genesis 3:5: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

So now at 3:22 HaShem says, They are now gods [elohiym]! They are free to determine their own courses. HaShem cast them out of His garden, but he allowed them to stay on His planet and to do with it whatever they wanted. HaShem grants freedom. Skipping ahead a bit we read:

Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

However humans quickly and frequently proved themselves unworthy! Despite the vast potential granted us as free beings, time and time we make foolish and destructive choices. Hence the above verse continues:

Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High

82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

Adam and Eve soon realized their mistake but due to their rebellion these beings meant for eternity died like men, like “adam” or mortal beings. They wanted to be gods! But they discovered they were unworthy. They didn't have what it takes! And so HaShem, Who is all merciful heard their cries for help and declared:

Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High

82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

How this arising and inheriting of the nations will happen is the unfolding story of the Bible.

Dispensationalism:

The Scriptures were given to us piecemeal, “at sundry times and in divers manners Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit...” -- Dr. Clarence Larkin, the foremost authority on Dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism is simply the belief that God reveals the truth gradually over time. Why would God do this rather than present everything at once?

John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

We don't like hearing this! That we are not “ready” for the truth, that we can not grasp it, and yet this is the case. Consider when Moses asked to see God:

Exodus 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live...

23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Again we find the same truth expressed by Paul in the New Testament:

I Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

The truth is dispensed one piece at a time.

As gods (by virtue of our parent being God) Adam, Eve and their descendants were granted free will. They could choose good or evil. They could submit themselves to the will of Allah, to the One God and be blessed and be a blessing to others, or they could rebel against Him, kill one another and do evil. Time and again we their descendants choose a combination. We go our own ways and yet seek the blessings of Elohiym. A case in point is seen with Cain and Able. They both made sacrifice to HaShem, but then Cain killed his bother out of jealousy!

Abel kept sheep for shearing and Able grew crops.

At this time human beings were still vegetarians (and were so until Noah and his family left the ark). There is nothing in this account to imply that Abel was raising the sheep for slaughtering:

Gen. 1:29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.

Likewise of the animals HaShem said:

Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.

Hence for both humans and animals the acceptable foodstuff were vegetarian and fruit, not animal products. This is confirmed here:

Gen. 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Abel sacrificed one or more of the sheep in his care and offered its fat to HaShem in sacrifice for his family's sins. This is the first animal death recorded in the Bible and the only one we see before the flood. Why was Abel's offering accepted and Cain's refused? I'll discuss this later if there is interest. My point here is that human beings from the beginning abused their free will and from the beginning HaShem was working out our redemption.

Violence was rampant throughout the planet and it grew increasingly worse. In time it got so bad that only human being found favor in HaShem's eyes, Father Noah.

After the flood things didn't fare much better but Hashem did not abandon us! See the next entry for the calling forth of the Chosen People of HaShem!

Continue to Part 2