“Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My commandments, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:5-6

Own Possession – What is the value of Israel to the Lord?  How highly prized is this people He has chosen?  The answer is found in the word segullah, a term with parallels in other ancient languages, that means “a valued property to which one has an exclusive right of possession.”[1] No other people on the face of the earth is segullah to YHWH.  Yes, that’s right.  No other people.  Israel is YHWH’s exclusive possession.

But there is an expectation.  Holiness!

There is an “inextricable association between being God’s segullah and the pursuit of holiness.”  Striving for holiness is the identification mark of those who are segullah to God.  In fact, the Kingdom is distinguished from all other peoples and nations by this very fact.  Holiness is the indispensible attribute of the people of the Lord.  This passage in Exodus and the similar ones in Deuteronomy and Leviticus all point in the same direction.  Without holiness we are nothing more than the excluded nations.  Without holiness, we are not set apart for His purposes.  Without holiness, we are pawns among the powerful.  Holiness is the life-blood of the people of God.

Church attendance, baptism, tithing, prayer, study of the Word, charity – none of these matter at all if holiness is not the passionate pursuit of life.  There are simply no substitutes for holiness.  Nor are there any excuses.  “What is good, O man?” says the prophet.  And the Lord answers, “I will show you what is good.”  What God designates to be holiness is holiness – and nothing else can be offered in exchange.

This theme weaves its way through Scripture from Adam to Cain, from Cain to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, from David to the Messiah.  There is no escaping the call to holiness.  There is only obedience or disobedience.  Whether God summarizes holiness in a single commandment as with Adam, or in the constitution of a nation as with Moses, the requirement is the same.  “If you will obey My voice.”  If you will listen to Me.  If you will attend to My instructions and follow them.  They all point toward holiness.  They all show the way toward peace with God and the fulfillment of our purpose.  Obedience makes us who we claim to be.

Perhaps what we really need is a holiness assessment.  It isn’t difficult.  The attributes of holiness are clearly spelled out in the Torah.  Do you want to be segullah of YHWH?  Then simply do what He says.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.

Topical Index:  holiness, segullah, possession, Exodus 19:5-6

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