Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still MattersSample

High Calling

Grace in Exodus? Absolutely. When Yahweh responded to the cries of the Israelites in Egypt, He didn’t blame them for their predicament. He said they were a treasure set apart for a special purpose. We miss the grace because we too often see the Ten Commandments without the glorious context of deliverance. When we read the laws on their own, without the deliverance, we come out with a skewed picture of the Old Testament God. Israel didn’t see Yahweh like that. Exodus 19:3-6 is a prime example of grace.

To fully grasp the significance of Israel’s new status, I need to teach you my favorite Hebrew word: segullah (pronounced SEH-gull-ah). In the NIV, it’s appropriately translated as “treasured possession,” but it helps if we understand the wider use of this word. Segullah appears eight times in the Old Testament. Twice it refers to the king’s personal treasury (1 Chronicles 29:3; Ecclesiastes 2:8). The other six occurrences are figurative, referring to Israel as Yahweh’s “treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Psalm 135:4; Malachi 3:17). 

Just as a person carefully puts away his or her earnings for a special purpose and then treasures what they have patiently saved, so Yahweh is said to have selected and saved Israel from among all the nations to be His treasured people. From slaves to treasure. 

The immediate context in Exodus 19:5-6 describes what role Yahweh’s segullah is expected to play in relation to the rest of the world because of their treasured status. They are to be a “kingdom of priests,” serving as His ambassadors to the nations, and a “holy nation,” set apart for God’s purposes. In his book The Mission of God, Christopher Wright emphasizes that God chose Israel in order to bless the nations. He says, “They have a role that matches their status. The status is to be a special treasured possession. The role is to be a priestly and holy community in the midst of the nations.” This is a high calling indeed.