All Inclusive

Psalm 117:1 (KJV) O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.

(Proverbs 8 also read)

One of my favorite past times has been debating dispensationalism with a friend.  He’s not just a dispensationist but a mid-Acts dispensationist.  That’s even more exclusive than being a dispensationalist if you can picture such a thing.

One of the points that he constantly likes to make is that the Old Testament was written for the Jews and does not apply to the rest of us.  He would allow that occasionally there’s a principal that should be considered, but usually those are principles that support his theological system so he’s a bit selective there.  Occasionally I come across versus like this that take his system and ask the question, “Have you read your Bible lately?”

You see, as I look at this I see two words that seem to imply being outside Israel.  The first one is “nations”.  This is a term in Hebrew that you may be familiar with, goy.  This is a word that is used almost insulting by Jews to refer to gentiles.  When you look at the scholarly definitions, it says it’s usually used for people outside of Israel.  That would mean you and me.

So I thought maybe this word “peoples” refers to Israel.  Not so.  It’s only used four times in the Old Testament and if you look them up each time, it is very clear that it is talking to people who are not Jews.

So?  At least in this one spot, it is very clear that God had all of us in mind as He was preparing the world for the coming of the Messiah.  Even in the days of the Old Testament, He was calling upon the whole world to praise Him.  Join me.