Because of this fact, the religion of Judaism was not meant to last forever but was to be superseded and a new form of worship established for the whole world. This article is concerned with the evidence for this in the Old Testament text itself, that is, with the evidence that even in the old covenant, God was making clear that His concern went beyond the chosen people of the old law and embraced the whole of mankind. As we will see, the Old Testament points beyond an exclusive national religion and exhibits from the earliest times God’s universal call to salvation.

For the most part, of course, the Old Testament is the record of God’s dealings with the Hebrews, and it is thus chiefly a particularist record, interested in the fortunes of the House of Israel and its dealings with the God of Israel. Yet in the midst of this preoccupation with Israel, God shows that He was not just the God of the Jews, but intends to be the Savior of all mankind.

The texts of the Old Testament that exhibit God’s concern for the entire world may be roughly placed in three groups. Interestingly enough, the first group contains texts from the call of Abraham himself, the very father of the Hebrew people. Although these texts are definitely messianic, they do not at this early date call for a specific personal Messiah, but simply indicate some sort of Messianic blessing for the world accomplished in some way by means of Abraham and his offspring.1

The second group of texts presents God as the Lord of the whole world, known both by His power and by His loving bounty for mankind, e.g., by the fertility of the earth. And the third group is again Messianic, but by this time, the age of the prophets, the Messianic ideal had become focused in a single personal Messiah.2 Let us see how our theme is present in the call of Abraham.

The call of Abraham, which was the very beginning of the call of the chosen people, is first recorded in Genesis chapter 12. God says to Abraham,

Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing . . . . ; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.3

This last phrase, “by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” may also be rendered “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed,” and contains the vague yet real universal message which was thus present at the very foundation of the Jewish people, that somehow Abraham would be the source of blessing to all the peoples of the earth. What blessing, and how this would be accomplished, are not stated. The book of Genesis continues with the life and journeys of Abraham and His descendants, and three times more is this promise confirmed, in 18:18, 22:17 and 28:14. The last two times, Abraham’s descendants are included as being those in whom all men would be blessed.

Viewed in the context of Genesis, these are a mysterious series of texts. At the very moment when Abraham is singled out from all other individuals on the earth to become the father of a great nation, it is made clear that this was not just for his own sake or even for the sake of his physical descendants, but for all of mankind. Why this should be so, and equally so, how it was to be realized is entirely obscure at this point. But it is clear that Abraham’s call has an import for all of mankind. Even in the act of establishing the chosen people God shows Himself to be the God of all mankind.

The next several books of the Old Testament chronicle the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, the mighty events of the Exodus, their journey through Sinai, the death of Moses and the conquest of the Holy Land under Joshua. Then follows the chaotic period of the Judges and finally the establishment of the monarchy, first under Saul, then under the dynasty of David. It is in the monarchical era that our theme, first mentioned in connection with Abraham, is again picked up.

The Psalms, those sublime religious poems that are used so much in the liturgy of the Church, take up again the motif of God’s intention to bring his saving message beyond the confines of Israel. Most of the Psalms were written during the era of the monarchy, and in fact, many of them were written by King David himself.4 In them we find examples of our second group of texts, those in which the theme of God’s saving love for all mankind is spoken of in connection with the manifestation of God’s mighty power and His continual care for all of creation. An example of this is Psalm 65. Beginning at verse 5 we read,

By dread deeds Thou dost answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation,
who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the farthest seas;
who by Thy strength hast established the mountains, being girded with might;
who dost still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples;
so that those who dwell at earth’s farthest bounds are afraid at Thy signs;
Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

The later verses of this Psalm (9 through 13) speak of God’s bountiful care for the earth, His sending of rain and crops. What is noteworthy about this Psalm is that God is seen not only as the “hope of all the ends of the earth,” but that these peoples, utterly unknown to the ancient Hebrews, are called upon to recognize and praise the God of Israel on account of His power and His bounty in the earth. This interest on the part of the ancient Jews in peoples so far removed from them geographically is remarkable. Although they did not have knowledge of the extent or population of the earth, to speak of the knowledge and praise of God by peoples unknown and so far away indicates a sophisticated conception of God and His majesty and benevolence.

Another Psalm along these same lines is Psalm 67. Since it is short, I will quote the entire Psalm.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us,
that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for Thou dost judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee!

The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us.
God has blessed us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Again we see the praising of God, as well as a holy fear of Him, based on His universal bounty. In these two Psalms we are told that all the earth should recognize God and praise Him because of His mighty power and because of His bountiful provision for man.

Such passages show that Yahweh was conceived, not as a tribal Divinity, but as the Creator of the entire world. Whatever may be His special relationship with the Jewish people, He is still the Lord of all nations. This in fact is similar to two well-known texts of the New Testament, in which the same points about God are made.

When St. Paul was preaching in Athens (Acts 17), he noticed an altar marked “To an unknown god,” and used this as a starting point to begin speaking about the one true God: “What there you worship as unknown this I proclaim to you” (verse 23). And immediately after that he quotes some of the pagan poets,

Yet He is not far from each one of us, for ‘In Him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed His offspring.’5

What is remarkable about this is that St. Paul is taking the entire Jewish tradition of worship of God and joining it to the best of the pagan tradition, for the pagans also could know something about God and thus had stated some truths about Him. This is the same point that Paul makes in his epistle to the Romans in the famous passage where he speaks of the pagans who knew, or ought to have known, God, because of His works in nature.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:19-20)

If God can be known because of His works, then to that extent He can be known without revelation. And when revelation does come, when the Gospel is preached to the Greeks and the other gentiles, it is not really a new God that is brought, but the God who was already there, who already could be recognized by “those who dwell at earth’s farthest bounds.”

In the Psalms we also find examples of the third group of texts, that is, Messianic texts which recognize the one personal Messiah. These texts pick up again the motif of the promise to Abraham, that God would bless the whole world through the Jewish people, but by this time they have become narrowed to the notion of a single personal Messiah. In fact, they often speak eloquently of His sufferings and of other details of His life on earth. Let us look at the chief passages of this third group.

In Psalm 22:27 we read, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.” This is one of the principal Messianic Psalms, in fact, the very Psalm which our Lord started to recite on the Cross, the Psalm that begins, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”6 Thus the connection between the Messiah and God’s concern for all of mankind as shown here is especially appropriate, since it is by the coming of the Messiah that God’s design for the salvation of the whole world will eventually be accomplished. Moreover, this Psalm speaks of more than simply the presence of the Messiah, but is a moving prophecy of His suffering and death:

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast” (verse 14),

and

they have pierced my hands and feet -
I can count all my bones -
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my raiment they cast lots. (verses 16-18)

Our Lord’s death on the Cross was the concrete means by which the promise made to Abraham began to be fulfilled for the salvation of mankind. And it is only after he narrates the Messiah’s bitter passion that the Psalmist speaks of “the ends of the earth” turning to God. This Psalm, then, is a very clear prophecy, not only of God’s universal salvific will, but of its connection with the suffering and death of the coming Messiah.

This Messianic theme is carried on by the prophets, and it is in them that we see even more clearly joined the themes of the coming Savior of the human race and God’s love for those outside the bounds of Israel itself. Even one of the earliest Messianic prophecies, Hannah’s prayer in I Samuel 2:10, says that “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.” Now, although this passage speaks of judgment rather than love, in fact this is one of the major Messianic themes, for example in Psalm 2, which speaks of the Messiah’s judgment over all the nations. For if God is concerned with all of mankind, this concern must be shown both in His love and His judgment, for men are both righteous and sinners.7

The prophet Isaiah, who lived in the period of the divided monarchy,8 speaks often of all of mankind in connection with the God of Israel, and associates this explicitly with the coming Messiah, the Anointed One of Israel. All of chapter 11 of Isaiah’s prophecy deals with the Messiah, the “shoot from the stump of Jesse,” who “with righteousness . . . shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” In verse 11 he says that “the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek.”

This theme of the connection of the Messiah with God’s universal care for all men is found also in the four Servant Songs in the book of Isaiah, the four long passages in chapters 42 through 53 that speak of the Messiah and His sufferings. Chapter 42 speaks of this in two ways. In verse ten we read, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.” Previously, in verse six, it was stated that the Servant would be “a light to the nations,” thus firmly linking the coming of the Messiah with the enlightenment of the gentiles. And in chapter 45 this is made even more explicit in verse twenty-two: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” This is the theme we have seen before, that the God of Israel is the true God of the whole earth, the one living God, the Lord of all the world.

In Isaiah 60, also a Messianic passage, the prophet speaks again of the enlightenment of the nations.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

It is not just in the prophet Isaiah that we can find Messianic prophecies or prophecies of the coming of the nations to the God of Israel. In fact, they occur more and more in the later prophets. Jeremiah, who was active from about 625 B.C. until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 B.C., was second only to Isaiah in the number of messianic prophecies that he uttered. They include the famous and important prophecy of the new covenant which was to replace the covenants previously made with the Hebrews (31:31-34). For our purposes we should note the extremely interesting passage in 16:19-20.

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble,
to thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.
Can man make for himself gods? Such are no gods!”

The realization of the gentiles, that the traditions they had received from their fathers were empty and foolish and that instead they would turn to the God of Israel, echoes some of the themes we saw earlier in the Psalms, the recognition of the true God because of His power and goodness toward mankind. But this is the most explicit passage speaking of the nations abandoning their traditions and coming to know the one true God.

One of the most remarkable of the Messianic prophecies is Micah 5:1-4, which foretells that Bethlehem shall be the birth place of the Messiah. But after saying this, Micah, who was a contemporary of Isaiah, again links the Messiah with the conversion of the nations by saying,

And He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Lastly we turn to the prophets who were active after the return of the Israelites from the exile, as we approach more closely to the actual historical coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the establishment of His universal spiritual Kingdom, the Catholic Church.

The first prophet we will consider is Zechariah. In chapter 9 of his prophecies he speaks of the coming King, “humble and riding on an ass,” the same prophecy quoted in the New Testament about the entry of our Lord into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.9 But then he continues and says that “he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

Lastly we shall look at Malachi, probably the last of the prophets of the Old Covenant, but who made one of the most interesting and unusual of the prophecies.

Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. (1:10-11)

Here we have a veiled, but clear enough, prophecy of the cessation of the Jewish sacrifices in the Temple and their replacement by a “pure offering,” i.e., unbloody, not involving the slaughter of animals, and which is to be celebrated throughout the world, not just in Jerusalem, and not just by the Jews according to the commandment of Moses, but by the nations, the whole world. This, of course, is the Sacrifice of the New Law, the Holy Mass.10 And with the benefit of hindsight we can see that the sufferings of the coming Messiah, prophesied in both Psalm 22 and in the Servant Songs of Isaiah, were actually to constitute that sacrifice that would become the “pure offering” offered throughout the world. For accomplished once in a bloody manner, it is renewed every day in an unbloody one.11

Thus the Old Testament was sufficiently clear, even to its original readers, that God had designs upon the gentiles, that in fact the Jews existed for the gentiles, and that He would establish a new covenant with the nations which would involve a new kind of Sacrifice. Further, that the mysterious figure who was to come, the Anointed One or Messiah, would be the one who would bring all this about. Of course, at this point, many of the details remained obscure, and the way the various facets of the prophecies would fit together was also unclear. But we now see that the God revealed in the New Testament, the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is also the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and what was veiled in the prior revelation, is unveiled in the revelation of the Incarnation. So when our Lord tells His Apostles,

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)