“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the Gentiles…Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
What is a Gentile?
The NLT Study Bible’s introduction to the Gospel of Luke summarizes the perspective of Gentiles to the Jewish mind in this way:
“The ultimate outsiders were Gentiles, and Luke emphasizes that God’s salvation extends even to them.”
Jewish daily practices had been refined into an exclusionary culture of separation from Gentiles who observed worship from a distance. Have you ever entered a worship service and felt like an outsider? I have.
We'll address a first century meaning in our next post, but first Isaiah's context from seven centuries before Christ.
What makes Gentiles different from Jews?
גּוֹי – gowy from the Hebrew – nation or people, usually of non-Hebrew people
Although used generically as description of people from any nation, Gentile may be used as an insult to a foreigner. (Of course, no one today would do that, would we?)
Hear Isaiah’s tone with this word (גּוֹי) here translated, ‘nations.’
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Isaiah 1:4
Which one of the Nations does Isaiah address, which people to which the LORD is foreign to their lives?
Isaiah speaks specifically to Judah and Jerusalem!
Faithfulness to the LORD is what is supposed to separate Jews from Gentiles. The Prophet of God warns that because of their sin (iniquity), these Jews are no different than other nations.
Does any of this have a contemporary ring?
Like ‘sin,’ ‘iniquity’ is accusation too intolerant for ears of leaders unwilling to obey the Lord God.
Iniquity – עָוֹן – `avon – perversity, depravity, guilt or punishment of iniquity
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me. – Isaiah 1:2
By the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, Isaiah’s rebuke from the LORD fell on deaf ears of a broken Israel. But God’s warnings had been constant for Israel, then neglected by generations even back to Moses.
Deuteronomy 8:
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers…
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna… that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord… 19 And if you forget the Lord…
20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Nations, Gentiles (the same word): make yourself like them by turning from the Lord and you shall perish. As Isaiah concluded more than six centuries later: they are utterly estranged.
Why does a Jewish Messiah matter to the Nations (Gentiles)?
Zechariah 2:
[circa 5th Century Before Christ]
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.
Were these the songs of Palm Sunday, praise from Jews and the Gentiles?
11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
The Messiah, Jesus, Emmanuel, God With Us; here entering Zion (Jerusalem) and joining Himself also to the Gentiles. How will He do that? How will the Nations know that Jesus is sent also to them?
12 And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”
Here gathered the Jews for a Passover festival in a Zion ruled by Gentiles. Romans, Greeks, people of the Nations all present for an event of witness. Yet the witness would be of a New Covenant of Blood on a Cross. Their witness would be of a resurrection and a new hope. The Gentiles were now joined to God in the Blood of the Messiah!
13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
To be continued…
That you may have Certainty – 7 – An outsider’s view from a Gentile
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