Why does God discriminate between Jews and Noahides ?
That is a really good question. Based on years of conversations with others, I believe that most people donÂ’t know the answer. First, I want to remind you that I am not Jewish.
Millions of people share two foundational beliefs: 1) a belief in God, and 2) that this God is the God revealed in the pages of the Bible (specifically, the Tanakh / Old Testament). Logically, you would think that this would unify all these people into one single religion.
Instead, we ended up with the “Three Monotheistic Faiths” of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (which developed in that order), and multiple denominations within each of them. We all believe in the same God. We all started with the same texts called the Tanakh in Judaism (the Old Testament in Christianity). Christians misunderstood the Tanakh, so they added the New Testament. Islam’s Koran begins with the text of the Tanakh, but then, the authors made changes to some of the text and then added texts of their own, just as Christians had done.
I think there are two main reasons for this: 1) Most people read a translation of the Bible (filled with translation errors) instead of the original language of the text, and 2) Most people donÂ’t understand why God differentiates between Israel (Jews) and the rest of humanity.
Starting with Abraham, God begins to give specific commandments that He/she tells Abraham to obey, but does not require of all other people on earth – starting with male circumcision. Every male living with Abraham had to be circumcised, too. At this point, Abraham was already pretty old and Ishmael (his son by Hagar, his wife Sarah’s servant) was 13 years old. Starting that day, any male born of Abraham’s household was to be circumcised on the 8th day after birth. The Bible states that circumcision is to be a sign of the everlasting (permanent) covenant (agreement) between God and Abraham, a physical sign that because Abraham agreed to obey God (no matter how difficult), God would make Abraham’s physical line a “great” nation that would serve as a blessing to all of humanity, aka “a light unto the nations”.
The commandments given to Abraham (and later, to a specified portion of his physical lineage, Israel/Jews) would be difficult to obey – too difficult to expect of all humanity. Abraham’s household was large for a single household, but small enough for Abraham to ensure that every male was circumcised. Israel has always been a small nation, compared to other nations. Logically, the smaller the group of people, the easier it is to unite them for a single purpose. Commandments that were difficult and specific only to this group of people would not only differentiate them from others but would also serve to unite them. Otherwise, human nature being what it is, these people would eventually go off in all directions and blend into other nations instead of remaining one single nation.
So, the purpose of differentiating Israel (Jews) from the rest of humanity (Gentiles) was so that God could prepare them and maintain this group’s ability to fulfill a specific purpose for the benefit of all humanity. The purpose God gave them was to be the “people of the book”, the caretakers of the Bible – the information God gave us via Israel that would help all of us to live more fulfilling, less destructive, more compassionate lives. This is what is meant by giving Israel the job of being a “light to the nations.”
This action of God, to differentiate (not discriminate) between Jews and Gentiles is akin to a software company forming a department whose sole purpose is to write an instruction manual. All the employees were hired by the company; so obviously, all the people were “chosen” / considered worthy of being employees. But it only takes a few people – a small department – to get the instruction manual written. This department’s people are neither superior nor inferior to the rest of the employees. They were simply given a task to do, so they do it, because that’s what their boss asked them to do.
So, the commandments specific to Israel have served to set them apart, like a committee or department. The task they are given is to keep the text of the Bible (Tanakh) and all copies made of it as free of error as humanly possible so that it is a reliable source available to all humanity in all generations. Because of how seriously they have taken this charge, the 2,000 year old Hebrew-language scroll of the biblical book of Isaiah – on display in a museum in Israel – is 99.99 % identical to the Hebrew text I have in my home today. So, I’d say they do a very good job as the “people of the book.” In comparison, Christians and Muslims throughout the centuries have not shown this level of respect for the same texts. That’s understandable because they were not enabled to perform this task; it wasn’t their job. The Bible states that the “law” (Bible) shall come forth from Zion (Israel/Jews), not from anyone else.
But to serve as a “light to the nations” Israel would have to go a step further, to read, study the intricacies, and form solid textual-based hypotheses that stand up to scrutiny by other scholars of the text. Then, they must be able to apply this knowledge to new situations as they present themselves, or to newly discovered information not previously available for discussion. Not all Jewish people have this level of knowledge, so those who cannot reach this level help support capable scholars in each generation. A great deal of this study and scholarly debate and decision making has been recorded and is available today in text known as the “Oral Law.” In order to become an (Orthodox) rabbi, a person must learn both the Tanakh and the Oral Law, so that they can answer questions and teach others…including Gentiles (Noahides) like me, regarding biblical instructions and wisdom that apply to me.
I think a big reason that so many people are bothered about God differentiating between Jews and Gentiles is that they feel “slighted” as if God is saying that Jews are superior to Gentiles. But there is no favoritism, here. The “laws” God gave only to Israel are difficult to observe; I’m not jealous that they don’t apply to me; I’m relieved. And due to the common “fear of the stranger,” Jews have suffered immensely over the centuries at the hands of others simply because the way of life God gave them renders them “different” or “strange” to others. The common English translation of a biblical passage calls Israel God’s “special treasure.” No wonder some people get angry or jealous when they read that passage. But the correct translation is actually that Israel is God’s “peculiar” treasure. That means that, although all of humanity is God’s treasure, Israel is “peculiar” which means odd or different. It does not say Israel is superior in any way. And there are other passages that send a clear message to Israel that they are not better people than anyone else. Incorrect translations of biblical texts – and there are many – continue to cause great harm to the Jewish people and continue to cause division.
