“But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance.” – Deut 4:20
God has taken the people of Israel out of Egypt where they were enslaved and after much wandering and waiting they are soon going to arrive at the promise land. But before entering the land, Moses recounts their journey to them and reminds them of all God has done to deliver them from their enemies. In the midst of this reminder, Moses summarizes powerfully saying, “The Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance,” (Deut 4:20). There are a number of things worth reflecting on here.
The high value of human life
We often forget or perhaps gloss over things that are taken for granted. One of those things is the high value that God puts on humans and human life. We see this almost from the very beginning of the Divine-Human story:
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” – Gen 1:26
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” – Gen 9:6
And here, as Moses is recounting all that God has done in the midst of the people of Israel, he says that Humans are so valuable to God that he has chosen some of them to be his inheritance. What does that mean? I don’t know fully myself but I think we can draw some things out of this nonetheless. The Hebrew word for ‘inheritance’ here is נַחֲלָ֖ה (na·cha·lah) which can also be translated as: gift (1), give (1), hereditary (1), heritage (14), heritages (1), inheritance (197), inheritances (1), portion (1), possession (7) (NAS Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries). But that doesn’t get us much closer to drawing meaning from this passage.
To be a people of his own inheritance
God has taken his covenant people as an inheritance in that he has rights regarding our lives. One inherits possessions and thereby gains rights of exclusive ownership as we see in many Old Testament contexts (e.g. land, livestock, household workers (servants), and other material possessions). In Ex 32:13 it is the land that Abraham’s offspring will inherit and likewise in many other passages (c.f. Num 26:55; 33:54; 34:13; Deut 1:38; Joshua 1:6). So it would seem that God has said that he will take some humans to be his inheritance as one inherits land or other material possessions. And according to Paul we, as New Testament believers, are covenant people in the line of Abraham if we believe in Christ. Therefore we, in every sense, are God’s inheritance. We stand shoulder to shoulder, as it were, with our Old Testament sisters and brothers as Moses speaks these words over us. If you remain unconvinced, take Paul at his own word as he writes to New Testament believers, “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:18). We are His (God’s) inheritance. Or take Peter who penned, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession,” (1 Peter 2:9).
The Old Testament also speaks of inheriting immaterial things. In 1 Samuel we see that God lifts the poor up that they might, “sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor” (1 Sam 2:8 – one could argue this means a actual seat or throne but this speaks of a kingly position, and it is often the throne that represents immaterial rights or privileges of the king – power, honor, respect etc.). Likewise in Job we see this when he says to God, “For you … make me inherit the iniquities of my youth,” (Job 13:26). And similarly in Proverbs we see “the wise will inherit honor” while the ” fools get disgrace” (Prov 3:35; c.f. Prov 11:29; 14:18). So while the Old Testament does speak in immaterial ways of inheriting, it is unlikely here in Deuteronomy that this category is coming to the fore but it may still inform our understanding. For once an object (material object) is inherited the owner then gets all the privileges of that object and many of which are immaterial. Let’s say I inherit money from a relative. I not only possess that money (material object) and attain the right to use it but I also get the immaterial satisfaction that the money brings: security, joy of blessing my family and others with it, joy of setting it aside to bless my children etc. So while this more immaterial category of inheritance may not be the primary category in view, a complete definition includes the enjoyment one gets from his inheritance. It is hard to make sense of Eph 1:18 or 1 Pet 2:9 if the second category does not follow behind or flow from the first. So it would seem that God has taken possession of us and we are his inheritance to enjoy forever!
I have said much, but what exactly have I said? More importantly, what has God said when he spoke through Moses calling Isreal and us His inheritance. It would seem that God has said that He values Humanity above all other earthly things. After all, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and yet he takes us, and not the cattle as his inheritance. God has rights to all of the created order–everything! Yet He chooses us according to Moses, Paul, and Peter. Not only that, but he ordained that his only son should become our curse and die on the cross to secure us as his inheritance. There is no greater cost than the God-man laying down his own life for the lives of others. We should be deeply encouraged and that encouragement should cause us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to render unto God all that He is rightfully owed. We should see ourselves as His blood-bought inheritance and “Through him … continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name,” (Heb 13:15). This is a precious thing indeed–he sent his perfect son to take our curse that we might become both those who inherit and those who are inherited.