Musing – Why does God want us to be Separate People?

Hebraic Musing – Why does God want us to be Separate People?

In the creation account, God separated the day and the night “to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.” Gen. 1:18-19   The message of separation is found throughout the Bible starting in chapter one.  Amidst the many commandments in Leviticus, God told them “You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean…” Lev. 15:31   And when Korah and his sons grumbled against Aaron, God told Moses and Aaron “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” Num. 16:21

God knew what He was doing when the Israelites moved to Egypt and Joseph scripted his family on how to answer Pharaoh.  “When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, 'What is your occupation?'  you should answer, 'Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.' Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” Gen. 46:33-34   This disdain by the Egyptians was key to God’s plan to keep the Israelites separate, protected from integration into the Egyptian society and idolatrous practices.

Was God telling us to be unhospitable and neighborly relationships in 2 Corinth. 6:16-17?   “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.  Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.’” NIV

We definitely want to be separated from the wicked when – “The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” as Jesus promised in Matt 13:49-50

Ezra saw the danger and result of not maintaining separation when he pointed out the reason for the Babylonian exile of the Northern Kingdom.  “After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, ‘The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites (and 6 other ‘ites’).  They have … mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. …’"  Ezra 9:1-2  NIV

Key Message – God wants us kept separate for our protection, not to punish us or deprive us.  BUT we are by nature a socializing people.  We want friends and we like to hang with them.  To this point, we have heard the famous challenge that “we are to be in the world, but not of the world.”  Sounds contradictory, how might we might be letting the world get into us – news and entertainment media, friends we ‘hang’ with, bad habits, no time to serve Him, escapism techniques, etc.  You name it!

Are you a citizen of the world?  Or are you an ambassador to the world?  Whose Kingdom are you seeking?

  Points to ponder

Where is your citizenship?

In how many ways does the world draw us into sinful thoughts, deeds and actions?

Do you want to know how the world is getting into you? 
Answer three questions:
1. Where do you spend your “free” time?
2. On what do you spend your “free” money?
3. On what do you spend your “free” thoughts?

 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” John 17:16

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                  December 26, 2017

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Note – Thank you Johanna Hocker for your post – “We too are called to live in Goshen” – December 5, 2017