
Christian theology has always stressed Israel’s disobedience. And it was right to do so because it is a truth carefully recorded in the Bible. But it is not the whole truth. There is also Israel’s obedience, its stubborn faith in the promises of God in spite of the apparent hopelessness of it all. “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem,” says Jeremiah (2:2-3), “saying, Thus saith the Lord: I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown. Israel is holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase, all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.” To go after God into the wilderness, into a land that was not sown, is the very definition of Israel’s faith. (The Body of Faith: God and the People of Israel By Michael Wyschogrod)
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