Spinoza's Philosophical and Biblical Proofs in Refuting the Jews' Claim that they are God's Chosen People

Document Type : Original Article

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Lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Qalyubia, Al-Azhar University

Abstract

The research aims to study the topic of the chosen people, its concept, its causes, the development of its significance in the books of the Torah and the Talmud and its impact on the formation of the Jewish personality. It also aims at explaining the philosophical and biblical proofs used by philosopher Baruch Spinoza to refute the claim of the Jews that they are God's chosen people, and from which he concluded that God's choice of the Jews is not eternal, and not due to wisdom or moral preference. However, it was a choice related to a social system and external help from God, related to a specific period of time, and to a covenant that God took upon them. This is why when they violated the covenant and the commandments of God, the temporary choice became no longer effective. Therefore they have no preference over other nations. The rational and transmitted proofs cited by Spinoza to refute the Jews' claim that they are God's chosen people are among the reasons that prompted the Jews to take revenge on him, and issue a decree to deny and curse him. Spinoza was marked as the first philosopher in the era of modernity to criticize the tenet of the chosen people among the Jews, and to show that the gift of prophecy was not exclusive to them. He was also a Cartesian philosopher who applied Descartes' philosophy in matters of religion and politics and was the founder of historical criticism of the Bible.
 

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