The remnant of Israel
What is the remnant of Israel? And how will Israel as a remnant recover from the exile?
The remnant
The word remnant is the Old Testament word “sheerith”, which means rest or residue (from remain, left over), or the word “sarid”, which means survivor (from escape).
The first occurrence is in the story of Joseph, where he tells his brothers that his trials in Egypt are to preserve them as a remnant from a famine — a matter of life and death. Both words for remnant are strongly connected with a matter of life and death when it comes to people.
There are many statements about the remnant in the prophets (referring to the Day of the Lord):
- The remnant of Israel is described as the survivors of Israel.
- Only the remnant will return from the exile.
- After getting the remnant from Israel, God will get His second reach to get His people from the nations.
- God will start with a (small) remnant and increase in number.
But there is one more thing that I would like to elaborate on:
- The Gentiles will become a part of Israel, which means that Israel will fulfill its purpose of blessing all nations (and bringing them back into relationship with God).
The Gentiles become part of Israel
The first example is from Isaiah:
“He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’ 4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due to me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.’ 5 And now the Lord says — he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength — 6 he says: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’”
The servant is called Israel, but it cannot be Israel because
- He gathers Israel-
- (It is unlikely that this refers to Isaiah himself, since he is part of sinful Israel.)
The Servant must be a single person who restores Israel, and everyone who identifies with Israel must identify with him.
The next step is Psalm 87:
“He has founded his city on the holy mountain. 2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are said of you, city of God: 4 ‘I will record Rahab (Egypt) and Babylon among those who acknowledge me — Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush — and will say, “This one was born in Zion.” ’ 5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.’ 6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’”
Gentiles are considered to be born in Israel. The counting in a register is an end-time action in verse 6 that will include all who know Him from verse 4.
Another passage form Isaiah calls Egypt and Assyria my people.
“In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun. 19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a saviour and defender, and he will rescue them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them. 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.’”
Egypt and Assyria are mentioned along with Israel, but they are connected by the same language and the same covenant with God.Egypt and Assyria are called “my people”, a term used exclusively for Israel in Isaiah.
Another passage in Isaiah includes the Gentiles into the temple service of Israel
“Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’ And let no eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree.’ 4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant — 5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure for ever. 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant — 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’”
Eunuchs were excluded from temple service in the Old Testament, but now they have access to the temple.The aliens are now servants of God, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices. The words used here in Hebrew are reserved for the service of the priests, which means that the Gentiles have the role of priests!
Now we have a more complex passage that requires a deeper study. The central final chapter in Isaiah can be divided into three major parts:
- description of the end-time Israel,
- judgment of end-time Israel,
- inclusion of the Gentiles.
Now we will check the last part step by step
“‘And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.”
This probably refers to an earlier passage in Isaiah where all nations come to Jerusalem.
“‘I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations — to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.”
Who are they? They are the faithful in Israel after God’s judgment, who go to the nations and bear witness to the restoration of the nations.
“And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord — on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,’ says the Lord. ‘They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels.”
They are again the believers in Israel. Who are the brothers?They are not other Israelites, since this context is about the Gentiles. Moreover, in no other context do Israelites restore other Israelites (except through the Servant of God). Therefore, these must be the Gentiles who came to the Lord, who are now called “Sons of Israel who bring their grain offerings to the temple of the Lord”.
Paul most likely understood this phrase to mean that he was a servant to the Gentiles.
“And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,’ says the Lord.”
This must refer to Gentiles, since the Israelites are already priests and Levites. Even in the end times, it does not make sense for other Jews outside the tribe of Levi to become priests.
There is another passage from Zechariah where the Gentiles are called “my people”:
“‘Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.”
Finally we have a passage from Ezekiel describing how the Gentiles are like born Israelites
“‘You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, there you are to give them their inheritance,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.”
The foreigners are now considered part of Israel.
- They are included in Israel with the same rights as those born in Israel:
- Epygtians have the same rights,
- Rahab is included,
- Ruth the Moabitess is included and becomes ancestor of David and Jesus.
- This scene describes non-Jews who are married into Israel. The fact that they received much of the land, makes them part of Israel, since only Israelites can receive land.