Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen!  How Should We Interpret That?

     I sometimes try to figure out Biblical scriptures that seem puzzling to me.  I might be better advised to spend my time otherwise.  But maybe encountering a puzzling scripture is a challenge meant to make us realize and admit that the Word is too deep to be fully understood by a mere man.  Maybe the puzzling scripture is a call to improve our broader understanding of the Word so that the small puzzling things can then come into focus.  Or perhaps we ought to stop and look at the puzzling part, pray to Jesus for discernment, and think about it for a while.  In all honesty, some Bible mysteries might be meant only for certain types of people and may not be for everyone to be concerned with.   Maybe fixating on a small thing will cause us to miss larger more important things.  With all of that said, I sometimes get caught up on a scripture and almost can't help thinking about what it means.  To be honest I may be picking the wrong scriptures to sink my thoughts into.  But all scriptures have some importance.  I wish I had a better understanding, for instance, of what the phrase 'Son of Man' means exactly.  Why was that phrase chosen?  I can think of reasons, I wish God plainly told us the reason!  I sometimes wish I knew exactly what was meant by the phrase 'mocking the Holy Spirit'.  It is the one unforgivable sin, some say.  It is AN unforgivable sin, the scriptures definitely seem to say...if perhaps it is not the only unforgivable sin.  Now that's an instance where you definitely want some clarity!   But here is the one I was going to write about today:  'Many are called but few are chosen.'  What does that exactly mean?  Here are some Biblical examples of people who were perhaps in the category of 'called but not chosen' or 'chosen, not just called.':

     1.)  Our ancestral mother Eve was the first human responsible for the committing of a very serious sin, it appears, from reading Genesis.  But she didn't have much experience at dealing with temptation...we have to admit that.  And honestly, would any of us have done better...held out longer against temptation...if we were in her shoes?  But, kicked out of the garden she also became the first mother to lose a child.  She became the first prefigurment of Mary, Jesus mother, perhaps?  Her first son Cain (which reportedly means 'acquired' or 'spearer' in Hebrew) killed her second son Able (oops, I mean Abel) out of jealousy that God preferred and accepted Abel's sacrifice, but rejected Cain's.  So, Abel was killed, and Cain was banished, sent wandering by God.  But a new son was CHOSEN...appointed in Eve's opinion...to replace the slain Abel.  His name was Seth, and that means APPOINTED.  This was Noah's ancestor, and Abraham's ancestor, Jacob/Israel's and King David's and Jesus' human ancestor.  Since 'Appointed' and 'Chosen' are very similar words, perhaps he is first?  So Mary is the mother of Jesus, Jesus had given God sacrifices that He found favorable, and God also accepted Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.   The Jews killed Jesus similarly to how Cain killed Abel.  (In fact, Jesus was even pierced by a Roman man with a spear, a 'spearer', while on the cross)  And for us humans it was actually fortunate that Jesus died like a sacrifice.  The Laws of Moses was not able to save men's souls.  But Jesus was abel (oops, I mean able.)  And the Christian Church was 'appointed' to go out and do God's will on behalf of their Lord Jesus, work that  Jesus had done in a way that God had shown favor for, and so the Christian Church became the fleshly replacement of Jesus on Earth in a way of speaking.  And as Cain was sent wandering for his dark deed of killing Abel, so also the Jews were sent wandering for around 1878 years starting in about 70 A.D. when Rome destroyed Jerusalem.

     Judas, Jesus' betraying Apostle, killed himself out of remorse for his betrayal of his Lord Jesus, so in the Book of Acts it speaks of how the Apostles put in the names of two possible good men, Joseph and Matthias and then 'reached in the bag' and CHOSE one of them...Matthias...to replace Judas.  Joseph had been called but not chosen.  (Some Bible scholars have suggested that Barnabus and this Joseph are the same person, but others scholars reject that.)  Later, some say several years or more later, Paul was APPOINTED or CHOSEN by Jesus' in a visitation to be an Apostle as well, as Paul rode to Damascus to persecute Christians.  Paul was mostly an Apostle to the gentiles rather than the Jews.  After a certain point he described himself as God's Apostle assigned more particularly to the gentiles.           

     3.)  I think the second chosen person spoken of in the Christian Bible might be Noah.  If I was to go a ways outside of the Bible I would say Seth and Enoch were first, but the Bible chooses to speak only a small bit about Enoch and I have come to trust that the Bible says what God wishes it to say.  Enoch was spoken of very well, however.  Since he was possibly taken up and then sent down to teach and then taken once again for a final time up to Heaven, he ought to be called 'chosen', I would guess.  Scripture makes it plain that Enoch was special.  I consider him chosen, but he was at the very least least 'called'.  Extra-Biblical texts say he tried very hard to teach Godliness and turn mankind back to God, and Enoch allegedly drew big crowds of listeners per those writings, and was revered by those of his time, but as it turns out he did not have enough success to avert the sending of the Great Flood of destruction sent by God in His wrath at our obstinate sinfulness.  Men too quickly turned back to their rebellious and evil-doing ways when Enoch was withdrawn, still alive, from the Earth.  Maybe Enoch was a little like John the Baptist. maybe he was one who tried to save by sharing teachings from God, but who, unsuccessful, had to give way to the one who could save directly through his own actions (but also through God's actions):  referring to Noah.  And John the Baptist similarly gave  way to Jesus. 

     Or maybe Enoch is more like Jesus when He came to teach...like Jesus during His earthly ministry days.  Maybe Enoch (who was real, of course!) is also a representation of Jesus like to, but separate from and preceding, Noah.  Enoch was born and for 65 years lived on Earth before he had a son, Methusaleh, who represents length of days and has a name which means "his death shall bring" which historically is said to refer to a prophecy at Methusaleh's birth that he would live very long (he lived for 969 years, the longest known life of any man in the Bible) but that Methusaleh's eventually death would bring the great destruction. 

     So after his 65th birthday Enoch lived 300 years more and was taken up to heaven alive to be with God.  So maybe that second part of Enoch's life, those 300 years, represents the time of the Christian church on Earth.  The number 300 is associated with 'the chosen', and with Christians and the church.  Gideon, for instance, ultimately CHOSE only 300 (at God's insistence) to fight the giant Midianite horde.  Also, in Hebrew, their letter of their Alphabet that stands for the number 300 looks like a cross, such as Jesus was crucified on.  And in the end, Enoch is taken up to heaven, and in the end, the Christians will be resurrected if dead and gathered if still alive and be taken up to Heaven in the rapture.  I don't mean to reach too far in my speculating, but maybe Enoch's first 65 years added to his presumed 9 months in the womb would make him 66 years old in a way, and 66 is a very strange number which is associated in an astounding number of instances with being saved from disaster at the last minute by a great act or intervention or the guiding providence of God Almighty.  I have an article about that number 66 on the Deeds of God website.  I think the data is too extreme for it to be an empty speculation.  But if the first 65 (66?) years represent the ministry of Jesus ending in Him saving us by His work done on the cross, then the following 300 years might represent the work that He did through His chosen people, the Christians who vowed to follow Him, and those 300 years end with Enoch being taken up to walk with God just as the times of the Gentiles (the Christian Church era) will end with the Christian Church being removed from the planet so that the worst of the great tribulation times will begin and usher in the return of the Lord Jesus as Conquering King, to inherit His kingdom and begin His 1,000 year Earthly reign.  So maybe Enoch and Noah, while certainly real people, led lives that are two different prefigurings of the coming Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.            

     But I will list Noah for our consideration.  His whole family might have been CALLED to follow God and support Noah's efforts for all that I know.  And they might have been the last family on Earth that felt that way just before the flood arrived.  But it seems fair to call Noah 'a chosen person' because God specifically outlined Noah's duties and trusted Noah to carry them out.  Noah did do God's will, and is revered for it.  He had at least some human faults, though, as he drank from a difficult cup later after the flood was over and past, so to speak, a cup of wine that had a powerful and unfortunate effect, Noah engaged in drunkenness after the great act of salvation by God of bringing them through the flood.   Passing out from the cup he drank from, asleep in a literal sense, sprawled naked in his tent, his son Ham happened by and saw his father's undignified situation and mocked him.  Ham was over 100 years old.  Maybe he should have known better?  And so through this cup that Noah drank from his son Ham also sinned, and the lineage of Ham's son Canaan became cursed as a result, for Noah apparently did not want to curse his very son Ham for mocking him, not wanting to harm he and his wife's own dear child, I suppose, yet something needed to be done for such an offense, so he cursed the next generation...he cursed Canaan and his family line.  Ham had other sons that Noah did not curse.  But he cursed Canaan his grand son.  You know, Jesus was mocked by the Jews when He hung naked in an undignified posture on the cross by passing Jews - fellow countrymen, family to a degree that He should have been able to trust.  He was hanging on the cross because of a 'cup that he drank from', i.e.: his brutal death onb the cross for the salvation of humans.  In fact, the night before this He had told the Father, His Father, that he'd like it better if the Father would take away the cup that he'd been forewarned that He would need to drink from.  (Meaning His crucifixion on the cross and 3 day descent into Hell, which He had foreseen.)  But He also said that even though He felt this way, He wanted to do whatever the Father needed Him to do.  So anyway, when He hung there naked and in pain and suffering for the Jews and others, there were Jews who walked by and mocked Him.  But He asked His Holy Father to forgive them all because they acted out of their ignorance, not knowing the value of His sacrifice on the cross for them.  And just as Noah did not curse the generation that mocked him, but rather Canaan, part of the next generation, and the sons descending from  of that offending son Ham, in similar fashion the Jews of 40 years later after Christ's crucifixion were the people who were besieged and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, and then marked as a 'cursed race' of sorts much like Canaan's line was and then they were sent wandering (the centuries of the diaspora) for almost 1,900 years.  They are a series of events with much in common, Noah's cursing of Canaan because of the sins of Ham and the Holy Father's punishment of the second generation of the Jews (using the Romans) after the preceding generation of Jews crucified and mocked a 'naked and asleep' Jesus who had drunken from a 'cruel cup'. 

     Abraham was called and chosen both I believe.  Isaac is a very Jesus-like figure.  Jacob was chosen, but in the beginning of the description of his life in the book of Genesis, prior to when he fled his wronged and angry brother Esau, there is not much written about the depth to which Jacob felt called to follow Yahweh.  But God used him greatly, and he certainly came to be a man of faith.  Great faith.  Moses was chosen to do a job, as was Aaron.  Both seem to have been 'called' to certain duties, to work in certain specific capacities, for the good of the Israelites and for the fulfillment of God's plan.  And Joshua was the 'chosen' successor of Moses.  Joshua had shown that he was 'called' to have faith in the power of God way back in his days as a young spy sent into the promised land.  He and Caleb only, out of 12 spies, recommended that the Israelites take faith in Yahweh's amply demonstrated power and invade the promised land immediately.  That advice was ignored, but around 40 years later Joshua went from 'called' to 'chosen' for a certainty, though it might have preceded that.

     Samson was certainly chosen.  His parents actually received a visitation from Heaven describing how their child (Samson) must be raised in a certain manner, fed in a certain manner, and they were even told not to cut his hair.  Sometimes he seems to have acted a little less holy than most of the Bible's 'chosen' figures, a little less 'called' than most of them?  He seems to have had a worldly side to him in some ways.  But God empowered Samson remarkably and used him to great effect.       

     Saul was Israel's first king and he was chosen (anointed per God's directive by the High Priest Samuel, and Samuel is acknowledged by scripture as one of the Bible's most blameless and holy men.)  And Saul did some great things.  But when he dared to reach beyond the bounds of his authority and perform the duties of both the High Priest and the King he lost favor.  And so God tore the kingdom out of Saul's hands over the course of numerous war filled years by the hand of young but maturing David, who God preferred over Saul.  God had Samuel annoint David to one day become king while Saul was still king.  You can be chosen (because being specifically annointed ranks as a type of being chosen, you would suppose) and still lose favor.  Samson had his strength taken away, for instance, when he was blinded and captured.  But he was granted his strength back for one last hurrah!    

     David was chosen, and I believe Solomon his son was chosen (perhaps for the sake of David.)  But when it came to building the Temple of God it was Solomon who was chosen.  His father David wanted the honor and began collecting building materials for building the temple.  But then God forbade him to be the one who built it.  He had much blood on his hands from his many battles.  Though much of the 'shed blood on his hands' was from wars he had fought on behalf of God and God's people the Israelites, none the less the Temple of God was to be pure and holy, and a 'man of peace' would be the one who would build it.  David accepted God's judgement on the matter.  David was curbed back more than once in his life by Yahweh (blessed and favored though the almost always obedient David was) and David had the humility and the respect for the Father to accept these things.  And David was very pleasing to God...a man after God's own heart, the scripture says.  Solomon was given deep, deep, deep wisdom in many areas, and great material glory.  But his huge desire to have many women (over 1,000 are referred to) resulted in him making accommodations for many of his foreign wives so that they could worship the false gods that they had been used to worshiping back in their home countries.   And so a great deal of idol worship was introduced into Israel due to accommodating pagan peoples.  Yet because of promises that God had made to David and to Solomon God did not directly punish Solomon during his lifetime as Israel's king.  But as for Solomon's successor, his son Rehoboam, that son received a bit of the 'punishment' that might have been earned by Solomon.  It is sort of reminiscent of when Noah cursed Canaan rather than Ham.         

     To be continued.  Sept 6, 2024.  December 18, 2024.