Better put, the question should be: For what purpose was Israel chosen? If you ask an Israeli this question, almost certainly he will answer with a smile, perhaps somewhat cynically, somewhat sadly, "We were chosen by God to suffer." The biblical prototype referred to is the righteous Job. Job was a good man, yet he lost everything. So it has been with Israel, the Israeli concludes.

This book is certainly not the place for a study of Job--a complex subject. But it can be said with certainty: God did not choose Israel for the exclusive or primary purpose of suffering. According to the Bible, God chose Israel to be a light to the nations.

Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness will cover the earth, And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you, And His glory will appear upon you.

And nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising (Isa. 60:1-3).

Even when Israel has not been serving God, she has still been the model of God's methods of dealing with mankind. When Israel served God, the Lord made Israel the head and not the tail (Deut. 28:13). On the other hand, if she failed God, she was punished and suffered great evil. Literally hundreds of Scriptures confirm this principle.

In many other ways, Israel is God's living example through which He reveals Himself and His ways. Through His dealings with Israel, the God of all the earth demonstrates how He relates to other peoples and nations. They, too, will be blessed for obeying God--and cursed for going their own way.

Most of all, the nation of Israel was chosen to be God's messenger to the ends of the earth. Many Israelis are aware of this God-given duty and obligation. But they will answer, "The Jews are being a light to the nations. With all our brilliant scientists and doctors, we are bringing good into the world." That may be true, but the light to which the Scriptures refer is God and not brilliant scientists.

And he said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel,

In Whom I will show My glory.

...I will also make You a light of the nations

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isa. 49:3,6).

The Scriptures reveal the time of Israel's greatest spiritual productivity will be when she is again rooted and settled in her land. This verse in Isaiah speaks of spiritual fruit:

In the days to come Jacob will take root (return to her land and her God), Israel will blossom and sprout; And they will fill the whole world with fruit (Isa. 27:6).

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