Book Review Series: 'The God of Israel and Christian Theology' - Detailed Review: Chapter Five & Six
The Blessing of Another Proposal
So far, R. Kendall Soulen has critically examined the traditional understanding of the Christian Bible. He starts chapter five by highlighting the limitations of the standard model that many churches use. We have seen that the standard model, which centers on the belief that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures acted through Jesus for all humanity, operates in a manner that is profoundly supersessionist in both doctrinal and structural ways. This model is often seen as dismissive of Israel's ongoing role in God's plan, portraying it as merely a temporary step towards a more universal salvation. This viewpoint can lead to a triumphalist attitude towards Jews and a subtle form of gnosticism, which separates the material world from the spiritual.
For the rest of the book, Soulen offers an alternative perspective that maintains the unity of the Christian Bible while addressing these issues. The proposal seeks not to break haphazardly with the standard model but rather to carry through more consistently the implications of the Christian confession of the God of Israel. He argues that the traditional model's rejection of gnosticism is incomplete because it fails to integrate the history of God's covenant with Israel fully. The standard model rejects gnosticism at the level of ontology but not at the level of covenant history. Gnosticism drives an ontological wedge between the gospel and the God of Israel by collapsing creation into the fall. Gnosticism thereby nullifies the intrinsic goodness of creation and misinterprets redemption in Christ as deliverance from the created order. The standard model drives an historical wedge between the gospel and the God of Israel by collapsing God's covenant with Israel into the economy of redemption in its prefigurative form. The standard model thereby fatally undercuts the theological significance of God's way with Israel and misinterprets redemption in Christ as deliverance from God's history with Israel and the nations.
Instead, Soulen suggests that Christians should recognize the enduring significance of Israel in God's plan, viewing God's actions not only as a response to sin but as part of a broader, ongoing relationship with creation. This entails, as Karl Barth correctly saw, locating God's election of Israel in the context of God's work as Consummator, for it is precisely God's work as Consummator that provides a context of divine purpose antecedent to the crisis of sin and evil.
But this move alone is not sufficient to overcome the logic of supersessionism, as Barth's own theology ultimately demonstrates. In addition, Christians should acknowledge that God's election of Israel possesses a significance within God's work as Consummator that is not merely preparatory and prefigurative in nature. In short (and this is Soulen’s proposal in the briefest possible compass), Christians should acknowledge that God's history with Israel and the nations is the permanent and enduring medium of God's work as the Consummator of human creation, and therefore it is also the permanent and enduring context of the gospel about Jesus.
One way of approaching the present proposal is to consider the possible Christian significance of an economy of consummation. In principle, the idea of a divine economy (meaning God's providential management of and care for the households of creation) seems equally applicable both to God's work as Consummator and to God's work as Redeemer. In practice, however, Christians have commonly limited the notion of a divine economy to God's work as Redeemer and specifically to the work by which God redeems creation in Christ and the Holy Spirit from the threat of sin, evil, oppression, and death. In this sense, Christians can be said to have submitted the concept of divine economy to a consistent soteriological reduction. By largely restricting the concept of divine economy to God's work as Redeemer, Christians have tended to imply that God's work as Consummator is in itself devoid of economy, that is, of God's care and providential management of the households of creation.
Soulen proposes understanding God's work as both Consummator and Redeemer. As Consummator, God's involvement in the world is not just about solving the problem of sin but about guiding and caring for all creation. This approach reframes God's engagement with humanity as an ongoing process of mutual blessing and interdependence.
This reinterpretation challenges the traditional focus on salvation from sin and emphasizes God's continuous, positive relationship with Israel and the nations. It shifts the emphasis from merely preparing for a final redemption to participating in God's work of blessing and care for all creation now.
Ultimately, Soulen's proposal encourages Christians to see their faith as part of a broader divine economy, where God's actions as Consummator offer a hopeful vision of mutual care and blessing. This perspective aligns with the belief in God's ultimate victory over all destructive powers through Jesus, inviting believers to live out this hope in their daily lives. Starting in chapter 6, Soulen discusses the implications of this proposal.
Chapter 6 - The Scriptures: The Economy of Consummation
The Bible consistently focuses the character, purposes and actions of the LORD. There are two main themes: God’s creation and His covenant with the people of Israel. The creation story in Genesis 1-11 sets the stage for the rest of the Bible, establishing God's relationship with the world. Genesis 12 and beyond introduce God's covenant with Israel. The Scriptures portray the Lord as one who maintains "steadfast love and faithfulness" (Gen 24:27; Exod 34:6; Ps 36:5), both to creation and to Israel and its role among the nations.
Soulen explores the connection between these two themes, asking how God’s work as Creator relates to His covenant with Israel. One common explanation is that the fall of humanity created a conflict between Creator and creation. The call of Abraham marks the beginning of resolving this conflict, with God's promise that Abraham’s descendants would bless all nations. This perspective views the Bible’s unity through the lens of redemption: God’s purpose for creation, disrupted by sin, is restored through His saving actions.
Alternatively, Soulen presents another viewpoint that sees God not only as a Redeemer but also as a Consummator. This perspective emphasizes God's role in bringing ultimate goodness and blessing to creation, beyond just overcoming sin. In contrast to God's work as Redeemer, God's work as Consummator concerns not God's power to deliver the creature from sin, evil, and oppression, but rather the ultimate good that God intends for human creation antecedent and subsequent to the calamity of sin. As represented in the Scriptures, God's work as Consummator revolves around God's blessing and its power to communicate life, wholeness, well-being, and joy to that which is other than God. God's actions in Genesis 1-11 are seen as preparing for this consummation, and Genesis 12 and beyond show how God promises to bless all nations through Abraham. While judgment and deliverance become part of God's history with creation as it actually unfolds, they presuppose rather than supplant the Scriptures' central narrative vector, which is God's work as the Consummator of creation. This approach highlights the importance of relationships and mutual dependence within creation, which are intrinsic to God’s purpose.
Construed in this way, the canon's overarching plot revolves chiefly not around an "economy of redemption" contingent on sin but rather around an antecedent economy of consummation based on the Lord's blessing. Through the economy of consummation, the Lord blesses the human family and brings it to fullness of life through the providential care and management of the households of creation. While this reading departs from many traditional Christian accounts of the Scriptures' unity, it is consonant with Bonhoeffer's observation from prison, "Unlike the other oriental religions, the faith of the Old Testament is not a religion of redemption." Bonhoeffer noted that the Old Testament places a strong emphasis on God’s blessing and the fullness of life rather than just on deliverance from sin or suffering. Moreover, this reading makes allowance for the presence throughout the Scriptures of a theology of God's blessing alongside the more familiar theology of redemption. Whereas the theology of redemption is centrally concerned with God's saving intervention through particular events and circumstances, the theology of blessing concerns a divine work that does not "belong to just one time and place, for example, exodus deliverance from enemies and the like. Rather, the blessing which persons seek from God and which he promises to provide belongs to all times and places, to the continuity of life (birth, fertility, health, peace, prosperity, the presence and favor of God, a place to live, means of life, protection, and care)." Bonhoeffer, too, recognized that concern for God's blessing is one of the Hebrew Scriptures' defining themes:
You think the Bible hasn't much to say about health, fortune, vigor, etc. I've been thinking over that again. It's certainly not true of the Old Testament. The intermediate theological category between God and human fortune is, as far as I can see, that of blessing. In the Old Testament- eg. among the patriarchs-there's a concern not for fortune, but for God's blessing, which includes in itself all earthly good. In that blessing the whole of the earthly life is claimed for God, and it includes all his promises.
As Bonhoeffer correctly perceived, God's blessing is the crucial category that mediates between God's fullness of life and the fullness of human life on earth.
From its very beginning the Bible sees human life in terms of relationships. There is no attempt to strip away the accidents of history in order to find the real essence of what it is to be human.
Human life is seen in terms of mutual relationships: first, the most fundamental relation, between man and woman, then between parents and children, then between families and clans and nations. The Bible does not speak about "humanity" but about "all the families of the earth" or "all the nations. It follows that this mutual relatedness, this dependence of one on another, is nor merely part of the journey toward the goal of salvation, but is intrinsic to the goal itself. For knowing God, for being in communion with him, we are dependent on the one whom he gives us to be the bearer of this relation, not just as a teacher and guide on the way but as the partner in the end.
Difference and mutual dependence are not extrinsic to the supreme good that God appoints for creation but are "intrinsic to the goal itself." The Lord's blessing is available only through the blessing of an other.
Soulen argues that the distinction between Israel and the nations is crucial to understanding God’s overarching plan. This difference is not just a temporary fix but an essential part of how God's blessings and full life are achieved in history. When we see the Bible as a unified story of God's diverse ways and mutual dependence, we understand that the distinction between Israel and other nations is not just a tool to solve conflicts. It remains important even after conflicts are resolved. Rather, the distinction of Israel and the nations, of Jew and of Gentile, is intrinsic to God's overarching purpose and work as Consummator of the world. God's ultimate work as Consummator will be fulfilled when His faithfulness to Israel brings blessings to all creation, demonstrating the enduring significance of Israel in God's plan.
The book underscores that God's blessings are always connected to relationships and mutual dependence among His creations. This theological framework emphasizes that the differences and connections between people, families, and nations are essential to the biblical view of reality and God's ultimate purposes.
Blessing and Creation
R. Kendall Soulen's book offers a straightforward and insightful look at the themes of divine blessing and covenant in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Genesis. The book frames the narrative with two great economies of divine blessing: God's blessing on creation (Genesis 1-11) and His promise to bless Abraham and, through him, all the families of the earth (Genesis 12-50).
Soulen explains that God's blessings are given three times in Genesis 1-2:3. The first two blessings during the creation days focus on fertility, abundance, and the well-being of all living creatures. The third blessing, given after creation, sanctifies the Sabbath.
When the sequence of these blessings is taken into account, it is hard to conclude that the account turns on the declaration that God created humankind "in the image and likeness of God" (1:26). Rather, the passage views the entire six days work in light of God's Sabbath blessing. God's Sabbath blessing forms the true climax of the passage and simultaneously points forward to God's history with Israel, for it is there that God's Sabbath will first be commanded and observed (Exod 16:23; 20:8-11). The relation of the three blessings anticipates the contents of the canon as a whole: God's blessing as Creator prepares for God's blessing as Consummator. God's blessing as Consummator crowns God's blessing as Creator.
God's six-days' blessing on the human family is summed up in the phrase: "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Gen 1:22, 28). From the outset, this blessing is bestowed and received through economies of difference and mutual dependence, economies embodied in the distinction of humankind and the natural world, of male and female, of parents and children, of one generation and the next. Both accounts of God's creation of the human family underscore the essential connection between blessing and difference. According to Gen 2:18-25, God saw that it was not good for the man to be alone, and therefore God created a "partner" from the man's side, not merely as his double, but as female, that is, as different (Gen 2:18). The priestly creation account (Gen 1:26-31) underscores the concomitance of blessing and difference even more emphatically by stating that God created humankind (adam) "male and female" from the outset (Gen 1:27; 5:2). As Bruce Birch notes, nothing in this witness suggests anything less than absolute equality of men and women in creation.
In a real sense, the great theme of Genesis 2-11 is genealogy, for it is through genealogy that God's blessing to "be fruitful and multiply" and "to fill the earth" is fulfilled. At the same time, the genealogies signal by their structure the fact that God's intention for the human family is not exhausted by the economy of God's six-days' blessing alone.
As Brevard Childs has pointed out, the genealogies of Genesis 1-11 are of two different kinds, vertical and horizontal. The vertical genealogies focus on the chosen line by tracing a direct line of descent from Adam to Abraham. In contrast, a horizontal genealogy traces in a more leisurely way all of the various subgroups that stem from Noah's three sons and that populate the earth after the flood. In this way, the genealogies anticipate the future distinction between Israel and the nations. Thus even in Genesis 2-11, the economy of creation is viewed in the light of the coming economy of consummation.
Genesis 10-11 sets the stage for God's election of Israel by introducing a world populated by a great diversity of families, clans, and nations. Far from lamenting the new development, the genealogical tables depict it in a positive light. The diversification of the human family stands in continuity with God's blessing to "fill the earth" (9:1, 7) and reflects a world blessed by God. In contrast, the story of Babel (11:1-9) seems to place the diversity of nations and languages in a negative light. Yet on closer examination, the story depicts the human family's diversification as the outworking of God's blessing "to fill the earth." The builders of Shinar seek to "make a name" for themselves by building a tower. Their motivation is the fear that "otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (11:4). But this fear reflects a failure to trust that God's blessing will come through "filling the earth." By confusing their languages and scattering the people "over the face of all the earth." God brings about the end originally foreseen by God's blessing." Like the narrative of God's creation of woman from man's side, the story of Babel portrays the movement from sameness to difference as mandated by the logic of divine blessing.
Certainly, Genesis 1-11 frankly acknowledges the catastrophic power of sin, evil, and oppression and the corresponding need for God's deliverance, a point we will take up in the next chapter. Yet while the theme of sin and deliverance complicates the basic plot established by God's economies of difference and mutual blessing in Genesis I-Il, it does not supplant it. Even in the story of the flood, the high point of God's struggle with wickedness in the creation sagas, the narrative's prime concern remains God's blessing and the economies of created difference it entails. God's dealings with Noah's household and the animals are directed toward the preservation of God's blessing to "be fruitful and multiply" (9:1, 7). This blessing is the true cargo of the ark.
Blessing and Covenant
Soulen explores how the promise to bless Abraham connects with God's earlier work in creation, showing that both are part of a continuous divine plan. This promise involves a blessing that is not limited to a specific time but extends through all generations, highlighting the enduring significance of Israel's role in God's plan. The distinction between Israel and the nations is portrayed as an essential and ongoing aspect of the biblical narrative, reflecting God's providential care and the mutual blessing intended for all creation.
Curiously, God's promise to bless Abraham, like God's blessing on creation, entails an inescapable moment of difference. On one side stand Abraham, Sarah, and their chosen descendants, on the other "all the families of the earth" (Gen 12:3; 28:14). The resulting distinction between Israel and the nations runs through the rest of the Scriptures like a golden thread.
Yet however varied its shape, the distinction between Israel and the nations is an inescapable fact of the biblical narrative. Viewed in light of the distinction between Israel and the nations, biblical ontology takes the concrete form of economy, that is, of God's providential care and management of the houscholds of creation. Because it belongs to the glory of the biblical God to love the human family in a human way, in the fullness of its corporeality and concreteness, God's economy of mutual blessing exhibits a certain order or taxis, a taxis summarized by a first-century Jew in the phrase, "to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom I: 16).
The God of Israel and the Israel of God
By electing Abraham, Sarah, and their chosen descendants, God inaugurates a new economy of difference and mutual blessing that encompasses the whole future of humankind, an economy to be enacted between God and the households of creation and between the households of creation and one another. The heart of the new economy is the covenant between the God of Israel and the Israel of God. As the famous Aaronic benediction richly indicates, God's covenant blessing on Israel is inseparable from the proximity of God's countenance and God's name:
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying. Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. (Num 6:22-27)
The presence of God's name draws Israel into a peace (shalom) that is essentially constituted by relations of difference and mutual blessing. The qualitative distinction between God and Israel is inscribed into the shema, Israel's central confession of faith: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone" (Deut 6:4). The Lord alone can bless Israel with life and fullness of life because the Lord is God and "not a human being" (Num 23:19). Through God's blessing, God gives Israel a share in God's own vitality and everlasting life (Ps 133:3). In return, Israel blesses the Lord in the only way it can, with thanksgiving, song, worship, and praise (Neh 9:5; Ps 34:1; etc.). The economy of mutual blessing between the Lord and Israel is encapsulated in the briefest possible compass in Psalm 134:
Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord, May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
Soulen highlights God's economy of mutual blessing with Israel assumes three enduring features: people, Torah, and land. These blessings are not just about overcoming evil but are concrete ways in which God gives life and fullness:
People: The continuation of God's blessing through Israel's generations is significant. Of all of God's blessings on Israel, none is more basic than Israel's sheer existence as a human family sustained by God from generation to generation. Beginning with Sarah's conception of Isaac in her aged womb, Israel's corporeal existence is not merely the presupposition of God's blessing but, in large part, its very content. Each Israelite newly born into the world receives not only the blessing of creation but also the blessing of covenantal relation to God transmitted from parent to child. Each new generation in Israel is seen as a blessing, reinforcing their identity and relationship with God. Yet by choosing to be identified as the God of a particular family, and by promising to sustain and care for it over time, God in fact makes the human condition God's own in a particularly deep and irrevocable way. By electing Israel as a people, God inextricably intertwines God's work as Consummator with God's work as Creator. For better or for worse, God's consummating work must now engage the totality of the human condition, including its most private and its most corporate dimensions. Moreover, God's election of Israel as a family makes it all but impossible for either Israel or the nations to slough off God's supreme engagement with human history.
Torah: God blesses Israel in a second decisive way through God's gift of Torah, properly understood as instruction or guidance and embodied above all in the commandments given by God to Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai. God's granting the Torah at Mt. Sinai forms the climax of the story of Israel's deliverance from Egypt, and at the same time goes beyond the theme of deliverance from bondage to the more basic and encompassing theme of God's positive blessing on the house of Israel. The Torah is never merely a bulwark against sin. It is much rather a medium of blessing and life, the divinely prescribed form of Israel's existence as a people chosen and blessed by God (Deut 30:16):
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known. (Deut 11:26-29)
By walking according to the Torah, Israel says yes to God's election and to the fullness of God's blessing that God has promised. By turning away from Torah, Israel turns away from God and from God's blessing and invites God's curse. Torah is never merely a means to the end of God's blessing. For Israel, life lived according to God's instruction is itself in large measure the content of the blessed life (Ps 119).
Land: From the first moment, God's promise to bless Abraham is tied to "the land that I will show you" (Gen 12:1). Thereafter, as Walter Brueggemann notes, the Scriptures are to a remarkable degree "the story of God's people with God's land." Land, along side posterity and Torah, is an indispensable component of the relationship between the Lord and Israel, God, who holds ultimate title to the land, promises and then gives it to Israel as an "inheritance" that Israel may enjoy so long as Israel in turn cares for the land in accordance with God's requirements of justice. This requires, among other things, that Israel treat justly the aliens and tenants within its borders, for the Israelites themselves are "aliens and tenants" before God (Lev 25:23).
There can be no gainsaying the fact that the theme of land makes Christians uncomfortable and uncertain, especially in view of the justified concern for the well-being of all the inhabitants of Israel today, both Jew and Arab. Yet it seems that Christian discomfort with the land also reflects a predisposition to overlook that dimension of the biblical testimony that is chiefly concerned with God's blessing in contrast to God's redemption. For God's gift of land is above all a life-giving embodiment of God's promised blessing on Israel (Deut 28). As Brueggemann observes, the land is not merely the neutral staging ground for dramatic acts of deliverance and salvation. Life in the land is an enduring, sustained gift of God, a gift measured out in brooks and fields and in the continuities of seasons, planting, harvest, and rain. The land is not merely empty space, to be filled at will by the "autonomous individual," but particular place, rich with the memory and hope of life lived in covenanted fellowship with God, and in peace and justice with household, neighbor, and stranger." By electing Israel and blessing it "in the land," God elects Israel together with the whole human family in all its time-, place-, and season-bound earthiness as the object of God's consummating work. At the same time, God subjects human history to an economy of mutual blessing that infinitely transcends any mere natural law alone.
Thus God blesses Israel through the life-giving continuities of people, Torah, and land. By blessing Israel in this way, God sanctifies her. God distinguishes her from the other nations and makes her a 'treasured possession," a "priestly kingdom," and a "holy nation" among all the nations of the earth (Exod 19:5, 6). By blessing God in return, Israel praises God's name before the nations and calls upon the nations to sing God's praises as well. From the outset, therefore, the economy of mutual blessing between God and Israel is ordered to the inclusion of the other households of creation as well.
The God of Israel and the Nations
The Gentiles stand on the other side of God's schismatic choice. "Gentiles" are the whole of non-Israelite humanity, both before and after the calling of Abraham. The Scriptures' approach to non-Israelite humanity is peculiarly two-sided. On the one hand, the Scriptures are fully aware that the story of God's interaction with the human family is not only the story of God's relationship with Israel. Israel's God is the Creator and Ruler of all creation, including the totality of non-Israelite humanity. Israel is so intensely aware of this that it prefaces the story of God's relation to Israel with an account of God's relation to primordial humanity, long before Israel had come on the scene. On the other hand, the Scriptures never treat non-Israelite humanity as though it constituted an independent realm of creation in its own right. The Scriptures view everything, including the totality of non-Israelite humanity both before and after Abraham, from the perspective of the story that unfolds between God and the people Israel. The Scriptures concern themselves with non-Israelite humanity precisely in light of God's relation with the people Israel.
In this context, the question is not, "Who are the Gentiles?" but rather, "Who are the Gentiles in light of God's election of Israel?" Formulated in this way, the question answers itself. To be a Gentile is to be the other of Israel and as such an indispensable partner in a single economy of blessing that embraces the whole human family.
This does not mean that Israel alone will bless the nations or the nations alone will bless Israel. God is the ultimate source of blessing for both. But God blesses both as the God of Israel, and hence in the context of the history that unfolds on the basis of the distinction between Israel and "all the families of the earth."
Many passages point to the fundamentally positive significance of gentile identity within the single differentiated economy of covenant history. One need only think of Melchizedek, king of Salem and "priest of the God Most High," who at the very outset of Israel's history offers Abraham bread and wine and blesses him (Gen 14:17-20); of Abimelech, the upright king of Gerar, who protects Sarah the matriarch of Israel (Gen 20:11.) and who later concludes a covenant of peace with Isaac (Gen 26:26); of Jethro, the Midianite father-in-law of Moses who offers him wise counsel in judging the people (Exod 2:16; 18:1-24); of Balaam, the seer from the Euphrates who blesses Israel against the will of its enemies (Num 22-24); of Rahab the prostitute of Canaan who risks her life for the spies (Josh 2:1-20); of Ruth, the Moabite grandmother of David to whom an entire book is devoted; of Ittai the Gittite, who refuses to abandon David and his small band of loyalists during Absalom's revolt (2 Sam 15:19-23); of Hiram, king of Tyre, who blesses the Lord for Solomon's wisdom and provides all the timber for the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 5:1-12); of Naaman, the commander of Aram's army who is healed of leprosy by Elisha and who then confesses the Lord as God of all the earth (2 Kings 5:1-19); of Cyrus, king of Persia and ruler "of all the kingdoms of the earth," who proclaims liberty to the exiles in the Lord's name (2 Chron 36:23; see Isa 45:1-3; Ezra 1:1-3).
From the many possibilities, we select two stories for closer attention: the story of Abraham's circumcision of Ishmael and the story of Jacob's household and the land of Egypt. Both possess emblematic significance for the relation of Israel and the nations.
The Story of Ishmael
The story of Abraham's circumcision of Ishmael is extremely instructive in this connection (Gen 16, 17, 21). After many years in the land of Canaan, the aged Abraham and Sarah were still childless. God had not yet provided the child of promise. Desiring an heir of her own (for Abraham's heir at this time was Eliezer of Damascus), Sarah instructed Abraham to sleep with her maid, Hagar. Abraham did so, and Hagar conceived. But immediately Sarah was displeased and, dealing harshly with Hagar, drove the pregnant woman into the wilderness. Yet the Lord refused to let Hagar be separated from the household of promise. Although Hagar's child was not the child of promise, the Lord instructed her to return to the household of promise and to call the child Ishmael. "God has heard." There Hagar bore Abraham a son, and Abraham called him Ishmael.
Hagar's and Ishmael's continued presence in the household of promise, though ultimately temporary, is extremely important. For it provides the basis for the surprising fact that Ishmael is included in the covenant of circumcision, which seals God's covenant with Abraham, Sarah, and their chosen descendants.
When Ishmael is a young man, God announces again the everlasting covenant that God will establish with Abraham and his children, and this time commands circumcision as the sign of the covenant (17:9-14). Over Abraham's objection, God insists that his covenant will not be with Ishmael, but with Sarah's son, as yet unborn (17:15-21). Then Abraham seals the covenant, circumcising Ishmael first of all (17:23).
The surprising result is that Ishmael, though "rejected," is explicitly included in the covenant that God establishes with Abraham and Sarah through Isaac, the child of promise. Indeed, Ishmael bears the mark of the covenant first of all, before Isaac is even conceived. As Paul van Buren has written:
Surely the conclusion to be reached from this strange text . . . is that election is for the sake of God's purpose for all those who are not the elect. Ishmael in particular, standing perhaps for all the nations of the world, although not to be the bearer of the covenant, is intimately and concretely touched by it. Its mark is left also on him.
Later, after the birth of Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael are forced to leave Abraham's household, this time permanently (21:8-14). The distinction between the chosen and the unchosen becomes public and irrevocable. But by this time it is clear that Ishmael's "rejection" does not entail his exclusion from the blessings of God's covenant concern for the human family. Ishmael, touched by God's covenant with Abraham and Sarah, remains the object of God's passionate concern and also receives a promise (21:15-21).
The story of Ishmael's circumcision suggests that gentile identity arises from the center of God's covenant with creation. Gentile identity is a category of covenant history every bit as much as Jewish identity. Ishmael, like Isaac, is included in God's covenant plan, albeit in a distinctive way. Though not chosen to be the bearer of the covenant, Ishmael is one whose own story originates in the household of promise, and he bears the mark of that promise all his days.
The Story of Jacob’s Household
Throughout the Scriptures of Israel, God's blessing regularly falls to the younger brother rather than to the older, yet not in such a way that the older is excluded from God's favor. The elder brother, simply because he already exists and is active in the world, shapes his surrounding world according to his intentions and his plans and sets up a realm of facts and expectations in which he proposes to acquire whatever blessing the world affords. The younger brother comes into the world after the older brother and must therefore come to terms with the existence and plans of his older brother. Nevertheless, God's blessing falls to the younger brother rather than the older. The blessing of the younger does not exclude the older. It encompasses him. But it does so in such a way that the older brother is required to make room for the younger and the blessing that he brings. The wonderfully intricate story of Jacob's household and the land of Egypt (Gen 37-50) provides a second model for understanding gentile existence in the context of God's election of Israel.
Joseph, hated by his brothers for his special place in their father's esteem, is sold into slavery in the land of Egypt (37). But Joseph's Egyptian master, unlike his brothers, "saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands" (39:2-3). Eventually, Joseph comes to the attention of the Pharaoh himself. He calls upon Joseph to interpret his foreboding dream. Frightened by the prospect of famine that Joseph lays before him, Pharaoh appoints Joseph governor of all Egypt and commissions him to do all that is necessary to save the country from ruin.
When the years of famine come, Egypt's storehouses are full (41). Then "all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe throughout the world" (41:57). And so it happened that the sons of Israel went to Egypt to buy grain. On the brothers' first visit, Joseph tests his brothers without revealing himself to them, and they interpret their misfortune as recompense for their sin against their brother Joseph (42:21-22). But when the brothers return to Egypt a second time to buy grain, Joseph reveals his identity to them, and the brothers are reconciled (45). When Pharaoh and his servants heard the report, they were glad and directed Joseph to settle his father and his brothers in the best land of Egypt (45:18). In an especially moving episode, Joseph presents his father to Pharaoh; and Jacob, the aged nomadic herdsman, bestows his blessing upon the powerful ruler (47:7-10). And so when Jacob at last died, he was mourned not only by his own household, but "by all the servants of Pharaoh" and "all the elders of the land of Egypt," so that the Canaanites, seeing the mourning, said, "This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians" (50:7, 11). And when Joseph himself died, being one hundred ten years old, he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt (50:26). On this note of blessing fulfilled, the book of Genesis ends.
The Joseph cycle is a particularly rich indication of how God's providential care for the house of Jacob unfolds in a way that simultaneously brings blessings to the Gentiles. "The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake" (Gen 39:5). The key point is that God nurses God's covenant with Israel- in this case by reconciling Jacob's estranged children-in a way that weaves the story of Israel into the story of the nations in a single pattern of mutual blessing. The central point of the story is not deliverance but blessing. Of course, deliverance also takes place. But deliverance serves the cunning of God's blessing, which from the outset drives toward overflowing life.
Once again, gentile identity is depicted positively in light of an economy of mutual blessing that ties the nations to God's covenant with Israel. This understanding of gentile identity is also clearly articulated by the rabbis:
"A land which the YHWH your God cares for" (Deut 11:12). Does he really care for it alone? Does he not care for all the lands, as it is written, "To bring rain on a land where no man is . .. to satisfy the waste and desolate land" (Job 38:26.). What, then, does Scripture teach by saying: "A land which YHWH your God cares for"? That he does not care but for this one, but because of the care with which he cares for it, he cares for all the lands together with it. In the same way, you read: "Behold, he who keeps (guards) Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). Does he not keep the whole universe, as it is said: "In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind (Job 12:123). What does Scripture teach by saying: "He who keeps Israel"? That he does not keep but Israel, but because of the keeping with which he keeps them, he keeps the universe together with them. (Sifre Deut 40)
God's election of Israel does not pass over the rest of the human family, abandoning them like the people left behind by Noah's ark. This would be the case only if Israel's election were not linked to the blessing of the nations. Because God cares for one family as Israel, God cares for the others as precious children as well and thereby embraces both in a single economy of blessing.
Indeed, the intimate connection between God's election of Israel and gentile identity can be taken one step further, as in the following rabbinic passage:
Israel is compared to the dust of the earth, without which the world could not abide. Without dust there would be no trees and no produce from the earth; so if it were not for Israel, the Gentiles would not exist, for "in thy seed shall all the Gentiles be blest” (Gen 22:18). (Pesichta Rabbati 45b)
Apart from Israel, Gentiles would not exist. Upon consideration, this is not hyperbolic speech but a sober statement of theological reality. A Gentile is by definition a non-Jew. At a semantic level, therefore, there could be no Gentiles without Jews. This linguistic reality points to a more basic theological truth. The Lord's election of Israel is a situation-creating reality that determines the existence and identity not only of Israel, but also of the rest of human creation. Gentile identity is a category of covenant history just as certainly and irrevocably as is Jewish identity. To be a Gentile means to be the other of Israel and as such a full participant in a single economy of mutual blessing anchored in God's carnal election of the Jewish people.
Soulen's work provides a clear and accessible explanation of how God's covenant with Israel and the inclusion of Gentiles are integral parts of the biblical narrative. This relationship highlights the comprehensive nature of God's plan for blessing and redemption for all humanity.
Blessing and Eschatology
What is the final goal of the Lord's work as Consummator? Throughout its many strands and layers, the Hebrew Scriptures consistently envision the goal of God's works as that future wherein the blessing promised by God in the past is finally realized in all its fullness. Soulen discusses the ultimate goal of God's work, which is often referred to as eschatology. The future fulfillment of God's blessing is envisioned in progressively more encompassing terms until it ultimately embraces not only the entire human family but the whole of creation as well. This goal is to achieve a state of complete blessing, or "shalom," (Isa 11; 52:7; 54:10; Ezek 37:26) which means wholeness, righteousness, harmony, and joy, not just for humanity but for all of creation. The idea of shalom is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures and involves a future where God's promises are fully realized. Shalom is that realization of God's economies of difference and mutual blessing that brings fullness of life to all (Job 5: 22-24; Ps 29:11; Ps 128). As such, consummation/shalom stands in strong continuity with the corporeal, communal, and historical dimensions of the world, including the covenantal distinction between Israel and the nations (Ps 122:6-8; Zech 9-10).
In sum, the goal of God's work as Consummator is that future reign of shalom in which the economy of difference and mutual dependence initiated by God's promise to Abraham and Sarah is fulfilled in a way that brings fullness of life to Israel, to the nations, and to all of creation. Three strands of biblical testimony combine to illuminate this vision of final consummation.
Soulen explains that this future state of blessing is envisioned as one where God's people, particularly Israel, live in peace and prosperity, fulfilling God's promises to their ancestors. This includes living in the land promised to them, enjoying God's protection, and experiencing a deep, abiding peace. Ezekiel foresees God's kingdom of peace in this way:
They [the Israelites] shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your ancestors lived; they and their children and their children's children shall live there forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forevermore. (Ezek 37:25-28)
This vision is not limited to Israel alone but extends to all nations, showing how God's blessings will bring peace and harmony to the entire world.
In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. (Mic 4:1-4)
As the image of the nations' eschatological trek to Zion indicates, the act by which God fulfills God's blessing on Israel is the same act by which God fulfills God's blessing on the nations as well. God's peace with Israel comes not at the nations expense, but to their benefit.
Finally, a third strand of testimony confirms and illuminates the essential content of the previous two. God's history with Israel and the nations is ordered from the outset toward a final reign of shalom in which the distinction between Israel and the nations is not abrogated and overcome but affirmed within a single economy of mutual blessing. Soulen emphasizes that this future state of shalom involves a harmonious relationship between different peoples, where historic enmities and divisions are overcome. This includes the prophetic vision of nations coming together in peace, as seen in the book of Isaiah, where former enemies like Egypt and Assyria are blessed alongside Israel:
"On that day," say Isaiah, "Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage" (Isa 19:24-25)
Final consummation does not mean a loss of national identity on the part of Assyria, Egypt, or Israel. Rather, Israel and the nations- for in this passage Assyria and Egypt stand as parts for whole-retain their distinctiveness within a single community of blessing that God establishes "in the midst of the earth." Excluded is the enmity that have long set Israel, Egypt, and Assyria in bloody antithesis, opposi-tion, and discord. Preserved is the distinctive identity of each in a single economy of mutual blessing that originates from and returns to the Lord. How else, indeed, could God's covenant with Israel prove to be a blessing to the nations?
Taken together, these strands of biblical testimony confirm the view that God's work as Consummator is ordered toward the fulfillment of God's original promise to bless Abraham and "in him" all of the nations of the earth (Gen 12:1-3; 18:18; 22:18).
At the same time, it seems that fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham and Sarah entails fulfillment of the whole created order. The movement from creation (Gen 1-11) to covenant (Gen 12:1.) at the beginning of time is balanced at the end of time by a movement from covenant to new creation. God's eschatological shalom encompasses not only Israel and the nations and all who have died, but animals, mountains, streams, and indeed, a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 11; 65:17; 66:22).
Soulen describes this all encompassing shalom and distinguishes between the historical and cosmic dimensions of this ultimate blessing. The historical dimension of final consummation concerns the climax of the history that unfolds between the Lord, Israel, and the nations. The cosmic dimension concerns God's establishment of a new heaven and a new earth, in which God will dwell in glory. This two-stage process of final fulfillment highlights God's fidelity to Israel and the broader human family. 'The rabbis operated with a similar distinction in their understanding of "the world to come" (olam haba). The phrase may refer to the days when Israel shall live in prosperity and righteousness, at peace with the nations. But this age is not to last forever: it is followed by the revivification of all creation and the inauguration of God's own reign in creation.
We arrive then at a two-stage picture of final consummation. The fulfillment of God's covenant with Israel is the historical side of the new creation, and the new creation is the cosmic side of the fulfillment of God's covenant fidelity toward Israel. For our purposes, the key point is this: God's historical fidelity toward Israel is the "nar-row gate" that opens on the new creation. There is no shortcut to the eschaton that bypasses or overrides God's fidelity toward Jewish flesh and the permanent historical distinction between Jew and Gentile. Certainly human creation is the object of God's work as Consummator. What else would God consummate, if not God's creation? But God's consummating work does not engage the human family "immediately." God's consummating work engages the one human family in its covenantal identity as Jew and Gentile, as Israel and the nations, and in this way engages the human creature and human creation as a whole. The path from creation to new creation goes by way of the open-ended story that unfolds among God, Israel, and the nations. This vision encompasses the entire creation, marking the completion of God's work as the Consummator of all things.
Systematic Reflections by Soulen
Two Dimensions of Human Identity
Soulen has argued that the central theme of the Scriptures is the God of Israel's work as Consummator engages the human family by opening up an "economy of mutual blessing" between those who are and who remain different. God consummates the human family by electing it into an historical and open-ended economy of difference and reciprocal dependence, the identifying characteristic of which is the divinely drawn distinction between Israel and the nations. Jewish and Gentile identity are not basically antithetical or even "separate but equal" ways of relating to God. They are, rather, two mutually dependent ways of participating in a single divine blessing oriented toward the final consummation of the whole human family in God's eschatological shalom. But why, one may ask, has God chosen to tie the consummation of the world to the distinction between Israel and the nations?
After all, it was Jean-Jacques Rousseau who asked why, if God had something to say to Rousseau, he could not say it directly but had to go through Moses to say it? In reply, one might observe that a blessing is by its very nature something imparted from one to an other. As such, blessing presupposes difference. When difference disappears, so too does the possibility of genuine blessing. Christians have always recognized the paradigmatic instance of this truth in the relation of Creator and creature. The difference (not distance!) between Creator and creature is the basis for the blessings that creation enjoys from God: that it is, that it is good, that it is preserved, and that it is adequate to God's covenant purpose. Furthermore, Christians have long affirmed that nothing poses a graver threat to God's blessings on creation than the creatures' misguided attempt to overcome or erase the difference that distinguishes Creator and creature.
The connection between blessings and differences is also shown in the creation stories. These stories highlight how God's blessings go hand in hand with the differences between men and women, parents and children, and different generations. This strong link between differences and blessings might help explain Genesis 1:26, where it says that humans are made in the "image and likeness" of God. Humans reflect God's image by being able to bless others who are different from them and receive blessings in return. This idea includes the differences between male and female, family and social roles, and between humans and the natural world. Whether or not this was the original intent of the biblical authors, the passage highlights that blessings and differences are closely connected, suggesting that creation reflects God's creative work.
We can ask again why God chose to bring the human family together through the differences and mutual dependence between Israel and other nations. The difference between Israel and other nations is on a higher level of God's plan than the natural differences in creation. The natural differences come from God's work as Creator, while the difference between Israel and other nations comes from God's choice of Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants. However, the way God plans history is similar to how He created the world. God wants humans to learn to give and receive blessings by interacting with others. God wants to bless Israel along with other nations, and other nations along with Israel.
Considering this, it’s important to see two sides of human identity: being created in God's image and being partners in God's covenant history. This distinction is necessary because God, who shapes creation, calls the human family to go beyond their natural state into the realm of covenant history.
The first aspect of human identity is being created in God's image, which means we are rational beings with physical bodies. This means we have our own existence, separate from God, and we can be called by God to take part in His plan for creation. However, just being rational beings is not enough to fully describe our identity. It’s also important that we exist within relationships marked by physical differences and mutual dependence. These relationships include the natural world and the human family, men and women, parents and children, and different generations. These differences are essential to who we are and how we live, allowing us to share blessings with others.
The second aspect of human identity comes from God calling the human family into a special relationship with Him, known as covenant history. God promised to bless Abraham and, through him, all families on earth. This means humans participate in God’s plan in a unique way, as Jews and non-Jews, or Israel and the nations. This covenant history is a part of God’s plan but goes beyond just being created by Him. God’s choice of Israel and the resulting identities of Jews and non-Jews represent a new creation, adding another layer to our identity beyond just being made in God's image.
Soulen mentions two special gifts from God: being created in God's image and being recognized as God's children, specifically the identity of Israelites as God's children. While both are valuable, being in the covenant and called God's children is the greater gift. It's one thing to have these gifts, but it's even more special to know you have them.
Israel's special role in God's plan means they not only receive these gifts but also learn directly from God about their significance. This is the privilege of being God's chosen people. On the other hand, non-Jews (Gentiles) receive the same gifts but learn about them through their interaction with Jewish people. Often, Gentiles focus more on being created in God's image and may reject or redefine God's greater blessing. Like Joseph's brothers in the Bible, Gentiles might prefer to ignore God's special love for Israel rather than accept it. However, God's special love for Israel shows that all humans are chosen as His beloved children. When Gentiles recognize this, they can embrace their identity with joy.
Both aspects of human identity—being created in God's image and being part of the covenant with Israel—are essential to understanding our place in God's plan. We can't ignore one in favor of the other. As beings created in God's image, all humans have worth and dignity. As Jews or Gentiles, all humans are responsible participants in God's covenant. Being created in God's image is the outer layer of our identity, while being part of the covenant is the inner layer.
Barth and Rahner Revisited
Soulen has suggested that Christians should focus on the Scriptures of Israel to understand God's work as the one who completes creation. This approach challenges the traditional Christian idea that often places Christianity above Judaism, as well as some hidden beliefs that separate the spiritual from the physical world. Instead of completely breaking away from mainstream Christian thought, this interpretation aligns with the anti-gnostic ideas previously discussed by theologians Karl Barth and Karl Rahner.
Barth rightly argues that Christians should use Israel's Scriptures to understand God's work in creation. He sees God's work as a covenant history, especially the covenant with Abraham's descendants, which God maintains for the benefit of all humanity. Barth makes a mistake, however, when he tries to fit this idea into the framework of the Old and New Covenants. He claims that God's covenant with Israel and the nations ended prematurely with Jesus Christ, leaving only time until the end. Although Barth's argument is bold and consistent, it ultimately reflects the hidden semi-gnostic beliefs present in much of traditional Christian thought.
The necessary change is to shift our focus in the Scriptures from just Jesus's incarnation to God's reign, understood as the ultimate outcome of human history. This means recognizing that God's covenant with Israel continues beyond Jesus's resurrection until the end of time when God's rule is fully established. God's ongoing work with Israel and the nations is central to His plan for humanity and creation.
Karl Rahner is also largely correct in his theology, which emphasizes that God's love is fundamentally creative. This means that human life is different and more enriched because God intends to complete His creation. Humans have an inherent orientation toward participating in God's eternal life, which is a blend of historical context and divine purpose. Rahner's argument here is convincing.
However, Rahner makes a mistake by locating the supernatural existential—our deep spiritual reality—in personal, private experiences rather than in public life as understood through the Bible. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's call for interpreting theology in a way that connects with public life, rather than in a purely metaphysical or individualistic manner, is important here. Rahner's interpretation, though well-developed, ends up being too focused on individual inner life, missing the broader connection to biblical stories and public history.
Bonhoeffer believed that Christians could make theological concepts more meaningful by focusing on public life and the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures rather than abstract metaphysics. When Bonhoeffer criticized focusing on abstract metaphysics, he meant that Christians should avoid getting too caught up in theoretical and philosophical ideas about existence that are detached from real life and everyday experiences. Instead, he believed that theological concepts should be grounded in practical, lived experiences and the teachings found in the Hebrew Scriptures. This approach can also apply to understanding our deep spiritual reality. If, as argued, God's work as the one who completes creation is shown through His choice of Israel, then our spiritual reality should be understood within the history between God, Israel, and the nations. In this sense, our spiritual reality is about the shared and interdependent existence of Jews and Gentiles.
Reflecting on this, the difference and interdependence between Jews and Gentiles closely match Rahner's idea of deep spiritual reality. From God's perspective, this relationship shows His creative love. From our perspective, it shapes everyone's identity and existence in a way that is deeply historical yet precedes human choices. Each person is always either a Jew or a Gentile and is thus confronted with the possibility of receiving blessings from others. Rahner's view helps us see that this spiritual reality guides both individual lives and human history as a whole. However, the way human history unfolds is different from what Rahner thought. God's work involves the entire human family, situated between Israel and other nations, making the path to the end of time not centered on any one group's history.
This is why God's ultimate plan cannot be fully controlled by humans. When we see our spiritual reality as tied to the relationship between Israel and other nations, two important things happen. First, it moves from being a private, inner experience to being part of public history while still connecting deeply with human identity. Second, the difference between Israel and other nations is understood as a sign of promise that includes all people and creation. This difference can be ignored or misinterpreted as a source of conflict, but it cannot be erased without harming the Jewish people. As long as humanity exists in this complex relationship between Jews and Gentiles, Israel and the nations, God's plan remains open and full of hope.