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Why was Israel so "blessed", when they were also so disobedient? (Deuteronomy 33:29)

Deuteronomy 33:29 says--

“Blessed are you, Israel!
    Who is like you,
    a people saved by the Lord?
He is your shield and helper
    and your glorious sword.
Your enemies will cower before you,
    and you will tread on their heights.”

Deuteronomy 33:1 - 29

ESV - 1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said, "The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.

Clarify Share Report Asked December 09 2022 My picture Jack Gutknecht Supporter

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Mini Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army
All humans are equally sinful (disobedient) and deserve nothing from God other than eternal punishment. However, in an act of pure grace (undeserved love and mercy) on God's part, and, in response to Abraham's active faith in God's promises, Abraham's descendants through Isaac and Jacob (that is, the nation of Israel) were blessed as a people because it would be through them alone that God would ultimately bring about the nativity of His Son Jesus for the salvation of those who would have faith in Him, in fulfillment of the promise that God had made (even before the nation of Israel existed) when humanity first fell into sin (Genesis 3:15). 

The subsequent acts of rescue or salvation that God performed on Israel's behalf were for the purpose of bringing about Christ's birth at the precise time and place that, in God's foreknowledge, were ideal for that birth to occur, and not because of any merit or worthiness on the nation's part. (God also punished Israel when appropriate through actions such as requiring them to wander forty years in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. (Numbers 14))

December 09 2022 1 response Vote Up Share Report


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