@ 2023-07-02: DID ANCIENT ISRAEL SIMPLY "FAIL"?

A Biblical Thought for the Day:

We long have said that Israel "failed to obey God" simply "because it lacked the Holy Spirit." Not so fast.

1) Several verses show the Holy Spirit was *with Israel (e.g., Nehemiah 9:20).

2) Thus, like Adam and Eve, the Israelites *could've come to God if they *wanted to. God said so *plainly more than once. The question, of course, is how closely and for how long at a time - but see Psalms 148:14.

3) There were periods when Israel *did obey God. Some of them were rather long. David's and Solomon's era is an example.

4) Gentiles (we are told) often were more apt to obey God than Israel. The latter's "hard heart" was the problem, from the beginning.

5) It can be argued, then, that it was not so much that Israel *could not obey God, but that Israel *would not obey God. The language of the prophetic rebukes is consistent with this.

6) This doesn't change God's proposed solution: put the Holy Spirit *within them.

7) We should keep in mind that the Old Covenant made no promise of 6) to anyone. That was left to the New Covenant. The prophets and righteous kings, priests, and governors were the exception, not the rule.

No doubt God *was making a point through Israel (that of Romans 8:7-8), but the OC wasn't demanding a *spiritual level of obedience from Israel. It simply demanded what the *natural mind at its best could do - things many *natural minds do every day.

There is more that could and should be said. Error by omission is safer here.

jhw (יוחנן רכב)