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All my springs are in Thee.
(Psa. 87: 7).
#1.
The primary significance of the passage considered.
pp. 209 - 211
The words that form the title of this series of articles occur at the close of a very
remarkable Psalm; remarkable in that it insists upon Israel's peculiar earthly mission
among the nations, to whom they will extend the privilege of citizenship of Israel, a
sentiment far removed from the narrower exclusiveness of Jewish interpretation. Two
lines of teaching regarding Israel's place in the earth are found in the scriptures, but they
must be conceived of as parallels, not divergent or antagonistic. One emphasizes Israel's
unique position among the nations of the earth; the other that the Divine purpose is the
blessing of all nations through Israel. Speaking of the exclusiveness that marked the false
interpretation of the divine will for Israel, Perowne says:
"It was pervaded by a jealous exclusiveness which was remarkable even among the
nations of antiquity, and which derived its force and sanction from the precepts of its
religion. The Jews were constantly reminded that they were a separate people, distinct,
and intended to be distinct, from all others . . . . . The Jewish church was not a missionary
church. So far as the Jews looked upon the world around them, it was with feelings of
antipathy, and with the hope, which was never quenched in the midst of the most terrible
reverses, that finally they, as the chosen race, should subdue their enemies far and wide,
and that, by the grace of Heaven. one sitting on David's throne would be king of the
world."
While, alas, this is only too true, there are abundant evidences in the Prophets that the
wider purpose of Israel's call was understood, and never allowed to sink out of sight.
The initial promise made to Abraham combines both aspects of the truth. God promised
that He would make of him a great nation; that He would bless him and make his name
great. But He also promised that he should be a blessing; that in him all families of the
earth should be blessed (Gen. 12: 1-3).
The prophet Isaiah not only saw that in a future day "the mountain of the Lord's house
would be established in the top of the mountains", but that "all nations should flow unto
it". The nations will voluntarily go up to the house of the God of Jacob, for there the
nations will be taught the ways of the Lord, and Zion shall become the centre from which
shall radiate the word of the Lord (Isa. 2: 2, 3). In the glorious day that is coming "there
shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the
Gentiles seek" (Isa. 11: 10).
Some of these nations are specified, and the fact that such old enemies as Egypt and
Assyria are included in this great brotherhood of nations is an evidence of grace indeed:
"In that day shall Israel be third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the
midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My
people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance" (Isa. 19: 24,25).