The Jewish Lens: Irrivocable Gifts and Calling

Romans 11:28-29 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Defining the Gifts and Calling

What Gifts and what calling are irrevocable?

The gifts and the calling that were given to the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The gift of divine blessing mentioned in Genesis 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” and the gift of an earthly inheritance - the Promised Land - mentioned in genesis 12:6-7 "and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him."

I will expand more on the land inheritance in the coming paragraphs.

The divine calling for them to be bearers of God's name, to proclaim His righteousness throughout the earth, and to be a light to the nations. Let's look at a few (there are many) verses that clearly state the calling of the Jewish people:

Numbers 6:22-27

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

The Aaronic blessing is God's prayer for His chosen nation! He wants their calling ot be fulfilled, which is why the blessing is in the future tense.  The psalmist gives us an interpretation of this divine blessing:

Psalm 67:1-3

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

Paul reminds the Jews of Antioch of their national calling after they reject the gospel:

Acts 13:47 

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Isaiahs prophecy reveals this calling as well:

Isaiah 43:19-21 

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

...and so does the Psalmist:

Psalm 22:3,23 

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel ... You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

Paul, in his crafty wordsmith way, reveals this calling as well:

Romans 2:28-29 

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. 

Paul is making a play on words: The word Jew is ‘Yehudi’, derived from ‘Yehuda’, which means praise. This comes from Genesis 29:35: “And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.' Therefore, she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing."

The national calling of Abraham's descendants is to bless the nations of the earth by serving as God's ambassadors, bearing His name, proclaiming His righteousness, and praising Him throughout the nations. Paul says these things are irrevocable! 

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Defining the Land - Ownership and borders

Our story starts in Genesis 12, when God calls Abram to follow him, and Abram obeys. Abram takes his wife Sarai and his Nephew Lot, and goes to Canaan:

Genesis 12:5-7

 ... When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

God gave Abraham and his offspring an inheritance of land. It's important to know that the word Offspring in Hebrew is Zera, which refers to Abram's physical seed.

Specifically, God gave him the land in Canaan, at Shechem, by the oak of Moreh. That's pretty specific. Can it get more specific? Let's find out.

In Genesis 15, God brings Abram out under the stars and promises him physical descendants. Abram believed, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Immediately in the next verse, God also promises Abram an inheritance of land for his descendants. Abram, despite his faith, asks how he will possess the promised land. This isn't doubt, but a request for assurance, perhaps for the sake of his descendants, given his recent experience chasing bandits to rescue Lot.

God tells him to do something that seems a little unusual. 

Genesis: 15:7-10

“... He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half...."

To Abram, this wasn't unusual at all. The animals that Abram cut in half were part of a common practice when entering into a covenant with someone back in those days (See Jeremiah 34:18). The idea behind this ritual is to say that if I break the covenant, then my fate should be the same as the animals that were killed and split in half. Let's read what happens next:

Genesis: 15:17-20

"When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Who, or what, walks through the pieces? The burning torch and the smoking fire pot - or more accurately a furnace - are the only things that walk through the pieces. Make no mistake, these are pictures of the Lord's Shekinah Glory. 

The smoking oven reminds us of the many times smoke or a cloud represented the presence of God: As the pillar of cloud with Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22), as the smoke on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18), as the cloud of God’s Shekinah glory (1 Kings 8:10-12). 

The burning torch reminds us of the many times fire represented the presence of God: As the pillar of fire with Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22), As the burning bush displaying the presence of God before Moses (Exodus 3:4), As the fire from heaven that at times consumed sacrifices that pleased God (1 Kings 18:38, 1 Chronicles 21:26, 2 Chronicles 7:1).

So, who walks through the pieces? God and God. In other words, the covenant is upheld by God alone. Abram cannot break it. Because Abram didn't make it. If God breaks the covenant, God's fate ends up like that of the animals. 

Throughout history, Abraham's descendants have never fully possessed the land promised in Genesis 15:17-21, which spans from the "river of Egypt" to the Euphrates. Biblically, David and Solomon achieved the greatest extent, controlling modern-day Israel, parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, though they did not fully match the promised boundaries. In modern times, Israel’s peak territorial control after the 1967 Six-Day War included its 1948 borders, the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights (~27,000 km²), but this remains far smaller than the biblical promise. Neither ancient nor modern possession fully encompassed the promised land.

Some have argued that the promises were to Abraham alone, but as you read through scripture, it's unmistakable - God made the covenant with Abraham, extended it to Isaac and Jacob, including his physical offspring.(See Genesis 17:7-8, Genesis 26:2-5, Genesis 28:12-15)

Ok, but what about the rest of their offspring? The ones who were exiled, surely this covenant has its limitations or an expiry date? Not so! The Psalmist clarifies this for us:

Psalm 105:8-11

He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”

"God made a unilateral, everlasting, unconditional, and irrevocable covenant to Abraham, regarding his offspring and the promised land. This covenant remains unfulfilled."

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Spiritualizing and Allegorizing

Oftentimes, theologians try to spiritualize the land covenant.

The argument says that Jesus fulfilled the land covenant and extended it to encompass the entire earth, citing Israel's exile and Jesus' spiritual kingdom as evidence. This presents a challenge, given that a significant portion of prophetic scripture concerns the Jewish people dwelling in the land of Israel after their miraculous regathering by God. Furthermore, this interpretation contradicts Paul's assertion that the gifts (including the promised land inheritance) and calling are irrevocable.

Some claim that the Abrahamic land promises were fully fulfilled under Joshua and Solomon. However, the covenant's "everlasting" nature implies permanent possession, unfulfilled by Joshua’s partial conquest (Josh. 13:1) or Solomon’s temporary empire (1 Kings 4:20–21), which ended in exile. The nature of the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, distinct from the Mosaic Covenant’s conditional curses (more on this in a later article).

Theologians will over-spiritualize and allegorize God's word, diluting it and, in the process, excluding the Jewish people from a book that is inherently Jewish. If you spiritualize the land promised to Abraham's descendants, then you miss out on the largest miracle of the 20th century, the regathering of the Jewish people to their native homeland, and you lose sight of God's strategy of redemption. This is why the Church is in such confusion and upheaval regarding Israel. We've lost focus on the bigger picture.

To help us refocus on the enduring truth that God’s covenant with Abraham is irrevocable and remains in effect today, we must understand the covenant renewal ceremony at Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim.

The Ceremony of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim:

The ceremony of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, detailed in Deuteronomy and fulfilled in Joshua, is central to the understanding of God's gift to Abraham's descendants. Deuteronomy serves as Moses' farewell to the Israelites, a new generation of warriors led by Joshua, poised to enter the promised land after 40 years in the desert. Moses prepares them by reiterating God's covenant and commands, and by providing instructions for its renewal. The core message of the ceremony is clear: obedience to God's commands brings blessings, while disobedience brings curses.

Before we dive in, it's important to note what God says about the promised land:

Deuteronomy 11:11-12

But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

This is not just another piece of real estate; this is God's land! God is about to renew the land promise to Abraham's physical descendants, but this time, he adds a few conditions to the contract.

Here is a short description of the ceremony based on Moses’ instructions, and teh actual ceremony as performed in the book of Joshua:

On Mount Ebal, large stones inscribed with the law and an altar for offerings were set up. The leaders of each of the 12 tribes stood on their respective mountains.

The Levites, along with the ark of the covenant and the rest of the Israelites, stood between the mountains, reciting the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience, which was followed by all the people saying "Amen." (see Deuteronomy 11:26-32, Deuteronomy 27:1-8. Joshua 8:30-35). 

As recorded in the book of Joshua, after the Israelites defeat the king of Ai, the Ceremony takes place just as Moses instructed.

Let's uncover the rich symbolism, which takes us all the way back to Abraham in

Genesis:

Look at the parallel imagery; the Israelites are standing between two mountains, alongside God (represented by the Ark). This is a wonderful reminder of the animal pieces that Abraham split in two in Genesis 15. Back then, it was God alone who walked through those pieces. In this ceremony, God is entering into the same covenant He made with Abraham, but now with Abraham's descendants in the promised land, +450 years after the fact.

Next, notice that the altar and the law were only erected on Mt. Ebal, not on Mount Gerizim. This is because the curses (which were recited on Mt. Ebal) that come from disobedience can be atoned for through the blood of an innocent sacrifice. A powerful reminder of God's merciful character.

Finally, let's take a closer look at the location: Nestled between Modern-day Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim is the Palestinian town of Nablus, but its original name is 'Sh'chem’. You may recall that Sh'chem is exactly the same as the location of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:6-7: "In the land of Canaan... to the place at Sh'chem, to the oak of Moreh." In Deuteronomy 11:29-30, God describes the location of Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim: "...in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh"

The same place where God made His eternal promise to Abraham is also where He renewed that promise with Abraham's descendants.

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Irrevocable for a reason

God does not make geographical mistakes, His word is precise, His gifts irrevocable, and His covenant unwavering—securing the land of Israel as the rightful inheritance of the Jewish people. This divine promise is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, revealing its spiritual stakes: the enemy seeks to disrupt God’s redemptive plan, which hinges on the Jewish people’s presence in their promised land, culminating in Yeshua’s return to Jerusalem. 

The bond between the land of Israel and the Jewish people is unbreakable. Like magnetism or gravity, once you understand this divine decree, you realize why there is such a profound global reaction when the Jewish people and the land of Israel are separated or reunited.

Though the Jewish people once rejected their Messiah and faced exile, Paul’s words in Romans 11:11 ring true: “Did they stumble so as to fall? By no means!”.

Their temporary hardening is not divine rejection but part of God’s unfolding plan. Paul affirms this by his proclamation that God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable, ensuring that “all Israel will be saved.” The Jewish peoples' return to their land is not merely historical—it is the fulfillment of God’s unyielding promise, a testament to His faithfulness, and a beacon of hope for the redemption of all creation.

In the next article, we’ll dive deeper into the idea of Redemption and Restoration of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, and what that looks like in the context of the irrevocable Gifts and Calling.