– It has in the Bible the meaning of preferential choice, of predilection. This term is often used to refer to:
– To the chosen people of Israel and to Zion:
Deut 7:7 : It is not because you are more numerous than all other peoples that the Lord has united with you and chosen you.
Deut 14:1 : You are the children of the Lord your God.
Deut 26:7 : The Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand and the strength of his arm, working […] mighty miracles.
Is 41 :8 : But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham, my friend.
Is 43,10.20 : “You are my witnesses”, says the Lord, “and my servants whom I have chosen”.
Is 44,2 : Fear not, Jacob, my servant, my Israel, whom I have chosen!
Is 45 :4 : It is for the sake of my servant Jacob and of Israel that I have chosen.
Deut 12,5-6 : But you will go to the place that the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes.
Ps 67:17 : Steep mountains, why do you envy the mountain that God has chosen to dwell in?
Ps 77:68 : But he chose the land of Judah and Mount Zion, the mountain of his predilection.
Ps 131 :13 : Because the Lord has chosen Zion, he has preferred her as his dwelling place.
– To great characters, called by Yahweh for some special mission:
Abraham:
Gen 12:1-2 : Because the Lord has chosen Zion, he has preferred her as his dwelling place .
Jos 24,3 : I took your father Abraham across the Jordan and led him to the land of Canaan.
Moses:
Ex 3–4 : Go, I send you to Pharaoh to bring my people Israel out of Egypt .
Num 17,20-21 : And, behold, the rod of my chosen one shall bud, and I will cause murmurings to cease before me.
– There are other vocations: priests and Levites; judges; kings; prophets:
Deut 10:8-9 : It was at the same time that the Lord appointed the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant.
Judges 6:14 : “Go”, he said, “with the strength that you have and save Israel from Midian. Am I not the one sending you?”
1Sam 10:24 : Do you see the one the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.
1Sm 16,1 : Go; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, because I have chosen a king from among her sons.
2Sm 7,14-16 : I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.
Is 8,11 : Because this is what the Lord told me when he grabbed me and warned me against this policy.
Jer 15,16-17 : Your word is my joy and the delights of my heart, because I bear your name, O Lord.
Jr 20,7 : You seduced me, Lord; and I let myself be seduced! You dominated me and obtained the triumph.
Am 7,15 : The Lord took me from following my flock and said to me: Go and prophesy against my people Israel.
– Jesus is the beloved chosen one of God, already prefigured in the AT by the figure of the Suffering Servant:
Mt 3:17 : And a voice came down from heaven: “Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”.
Mt 17,5 : Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; I heard it.
Mk 1,9 : He saw James, son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in a boat, mending the nets. And he called them right away.
Mk 9,2-13 : Six days later Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Lk 4,1-13 : Then the demon said to him: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread”.
Lc 9,28-36 : After about eight days, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, and went up to the mountain to pray.
Is 42,1-2 : Behold my Servant whom I support, my chosen one to whom I give all my affection.
Is 49,7 : Because of the Lord, who is faithful, and of the Holy One of Israel, who chose you.
– And he also called those he wanted to be his apostles:
Lk 6:13 : At dawn he called his disciples and chose twelve of them whom he called apostles.
Jo 15,16.19 : It was not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.
– And to Paul too:
Acts 9:15 : Go, for this man is a chosen instrument for me, who will bear my name.
Gal 1,11-20 : But when it pleased the one who kept me from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace.
– The new people of God has always been chosen:
Eph 1:3-14 : And he chose us in him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless.
Rom 16:13 : Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, whom I consider mine.
1Cor 1,26-31 : See, brothers, your group of elect.
1Th 1 :4 : We know, brothers beloved by God, that you are chosen.
2Tm 2,10 : Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect.
1Peter 1 :1 : Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are foreigners.
1Pet 2 :9: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
– Many are called, and few are chosen:
Mt 22,14 : For many are called, and few are chosen.
– See VOCATION.
