Week 7: Chosen and Treasured (Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:1–2)

The Big Idea

In Deuteronomy, Israel is called holy because God chose them, loved them, and claimed them as his own. Holiness is first belonging, and that belonging even reshapes how God's children grieve.

Before You Read

Deuteronomy is Moses' farewell to Israel. Forty years after Sinai, a new generation stands on the edge of the Promised Land, and Moses reminds them who they are before they go in. Chapter 7 comes in the middle of hard instructions about the nations living in Canaan and their idols. Israel is told not to make covenants with them, not to intermarry, and to tear down their altars. Verse 2 also commands that these nations be "devoted to destruction," a judgment God had long delayed because of their sin (Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 9:5) and limited to that time and place. It is a hard word, and we should not hurry past it. The reason given is not that Israel was better. It is that Israel belonged to the LORD. Chapter 14 repeats the same identity and then applies it to mourning customs and to food, echoing Leviticus 11. As in Leviticus 10, God's word about holiness meets his people at the graveside, and that is worth slowing down for.

Read

Read Deuteronomy 7:6 and 14:1–2 slowly, twice, and at least once aloud. Then read 7:7–8 as well, because it explains verse 6.

Observe

1. In 7:6, what does Moses call Israel? List each description.
2. Who did the choosing in 7:6? From among whom was Israel chosen?
3. In 7:7–8, what was not the reason God chose Israel? What was the reason?
4. What does 14:1 call the people of Israel in relation to the LORD?
5. What two mourning practices are forbidden in 14:1? For whom were people doing these things?
6. Compare 14:2 with 7:6. What words are repeated almost exactly?
7. In both passages, which comes first: what Israel is, or what Israel must do?

A Word to Notice

Qadosh (kah-DOHSH), "holy," appears in both verses: Israel is a people holy to the LORD. That little word "to" is important. Holiness here is relational. Israel is holy because they are claimed by someone. Think of the difference between a ring in a jewelry case and the same ring on a married woman's hand. The gold has not changed, but now it belongs to someone and says so. When Moses calls Israel holy, he is not saying they are morally superior. He is saying they are spoken for. Their way of life is meant to show whose they are.

Interpret

1. Moses ties being "holy" to being "chosen" and "treasured." What does that suggest about the foundation of holiness?Consider: Holiness rests on God's choice and God's love, not on Israel's performance. The commands that follow are the way a treasured people lives, not the price of becoming treasured.

2. Why does Moses go out of his way in 7:7–8 to say Israel was not chosen because they were many or impressive?Consider: Being chosen can easily turn into pride. Moses cuts that off. God's love has no reason outside himself. He loved them because he loved them, and because he keeps his promises.

3. Why would mourning customs be connected to being a holy people (14:1–2)?Consider: Cutting the body and shaving the head for the dead were practices of surrounding peoples, tied up with their beliefs about death and the gods. God's children were to grieve differently, as people who belong to the living God. Remember Week 4: holiness and grief meet again.

4. In 14:1 Israel is called the LORD's children. How does being a child, not just a servant, change the meaning of holiness?Consider: A child obeys a father out of belonging and love, not merely to avoid punishment. Holiness here is family resemblance more than rule-keeping.

5. Cross-reference: Read Titus 2:14 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14. How does the New Testament carry forward both the "treasured people" idea and the call to grieve differently?Consider: Christ gave himself to purify a people for his own possession. And believers still grieve, but not as those without hope, because Jesus died and rose again.

Apply: Let the Text Read You

1. Do you tend to think of holiness more as something you have to prove or as someone you belong to? What story or experience shaped that?
2. God says he chose his people not because of their size or strength. Where do you secretly think God accepts you because of something impressive about you, or rejects you because of something unimpressive?
3. Think about a loss in your life. How did you grieve? Were there ways your grief looked like it belonged to God, and ways it did not? Hear this gently, not as a scolding.
4. If you are "treasured," how might that change the way you talk to yourself this week?

Pray

Father, you chose me in Christ, not because I was impressive, but because you love. Thank you that I am yours. When I grieve, let me grieve as your child, with tears and with hope. Let my life show whose I am. Amen.

For Groups (optional)

• Discussion starter: Ask, "What's something you own that's worth little to anyone else but is precious to you? Why?" Connect the answers to the word "treasured."
• Some in your group may be in a season of grief. Make room for that, and remind each other that grieving with hope is still grieving.
• The surrounding verses in Deuteronomy 7 about the Canaanite nations may raise hard questions. Acknowledge them honestly and stay focused on the main point of 7:6–8: holiness rooted in God's love.

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Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.