God chose Israel to reveal His character to men. He
desired them to be as wells of salvation in the world. To
them were committed the oracles of heaven, the revelation
of God’s will. In the early days of Israel the nations of the
world, through corrupt practices, had lost the knowledge of
God. They had once known Him; but because “they glorified
Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain
in their imaginations, ... their foolish heart was darkened.”
Romans 1:21. Yet in His mercy God did not blot them out of
existence. He purposed to give them an opportunity of again
becoming acquainted with Him through His chosen people.
Through the teachings of the sacrificial service, Christ was
to be uplifted before all nations, and all who would look to
Him should live. Christ was the foundation of the Jewish
economy. The whole system of types and symbols was a
compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation in which
were bound up the promises of redemption.
But the people of Israel lost sight of their high privileges
as God’s representatives. They forgot God and failed to fulfill
their holy mission. The blessings they received brought no
blessing to the world. All their advantages they appropriated
for their own glorification. They shut themselves away from
the world in order to escape temptation. The restrictions that
God had placed upon their association with idolaters as a
means of preventing them from conforming to the practices
of the heathen, they used to build up a wall of separation
between themselves and all other nations. They
