In all the ancient world there was but one people among whom Christ could have come with his revelation, and through whom his message could have been given to mankind. That people was the Jews, in certain respects the most remarkable of all the races.
I. We notice their origin, which shows a series of selections extending through many centuries and a training for their peculiar mission.
1. Of the three great families of earth, they sprang from the Semitic, which has been the mother of all the great religions of the world; a thoughtful, meditative race, rather than active and aggressive.
2. From this race Abraham was called, more than twenty centuries before Christ, to be the father of a great nation (Gen. 12. 1-3; 17. 1-8). He was distinguished for his worship of the one God, for his faith, and for his nobility of character. Notice his title in Jas. 2. 23; a name by which he is still known in the East, el Khalil, "the Friend." His influence upon his family (Gen. 18. 19).
3. Of the families descended from Abraham that of Isaac was chosen (Gen. 21. 12; Rom. 9. 7). All the other races of Abrahamic origin yielded to the idolatrous influences around them and lost the knowledge of God.
4. Of the two sons of Isaac one married among the Canaanites, and, as a result, his descendants became idolaters (Gen. 26. 34, 35; 36. 2). The other chose the inheritance of the covenant (Gen. 28. 20-22). His name was changed (Gen. 32. 28; 35. 10). His descendants, the Israelites, trained up in the true faith, became the people of God. Each of his twelve sons was the ancestor of a tribe (Exod. 1. 1-7). They continued one people for a thousand years, though part of the time divided into two kingdoms.
5. In the year 721 B. C. ten of the twelve tribes were carried into Assyrian captivity (2 Kings 17. 18-20). Having lost their religion, the only bond of unity, they mingled with the idolatrous world and ceased to be a separate people. The tribe of Judah was left, Benjamin being incorporated with it. Henceforth they were called "the Jews," a name found first in 2 Kings 18. 26.
6. But through all the history of Judah, as well as of Israel, there had been two distinct elements in the people: the worshipers of God and of idols; the religious and the worldly. In order to separate these elements, to cut off the evil and to discipline the good, came the Babylonian captivity, B. C. 587. Through this the idolatrous element was either destroyed or assimilated with the heathen world. At the release from captivity, B. C. 536, all the Jews were of God-fearing, Scripture-loving element. This was the Remnant, the "holy seed," the true Israel (Isa. 6. 8-13).
Thus, out of all the world, was gradually chosen and prepared a people among whom the Lord should come.
II. Notice their traits as a race, for which they were chosen, and which were intensified by their training: