Penulis: Meilia Irawan, Peneliti dan Direktur Hubungan Masyarakat dan Media InMind Institute

Exodus 19: 5 – 6, this verse discusses four important points that need to be elaborated more deeply related to the implications of Jewish politics and ideology, namely the covenant, the kingdom of priests, the holy nation and the children of Israel. In general, I understand the implication of this, Israel does not only consider the presence of their kingdom not as merely a national political aspiration, but as an identity of their allegiance to God, or in other words part of their religion. I will start my explanation this through the meaning of the covenant of God in Mount Sinai.
The convention of God in Sinai contains 4 (four) things, namely liberation, salvation, law and motivation to keep the law. I try to connect it with its history, the covenant to God whether it is obeyed or not. If I look at the Muslim context, the covenant was not adhered to. But here in Jewish perspective, the covenant with God is obeyed and they get blessings. This was the beginning of the freedom that God gave them, as a chosen and blessed nation, given freedom or in the sense of the resurrection of Israel which was not only individuals autonomy but also social. God reveals His plan and destiny for Israel. He gives unique place in God’s great plan, Jerusalem. The implication of this understanding in the context the promised land that God intended for Israel to be a holy nation, a nation and people set apart from the rest of the world, the particular possession of God, fit for His purposes. This understanding became the basis of Jewish ideology in its politics. The question is why is Jerusalem considered a holy land? From the source I got that because this location was started of the core of faith Ancient Near East that had story with Kingdom of Israel.
According to Jewish tradition that all creation began in Jerusalem; Abraham showed he was prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac at Mount Moria (In Islam is Ishmael). It was also here that Jacob dreamed of ladder that went up to Heaven, King David captured Jerusalem around 3,000 years ago and made it the capital of the ancient Jewish people, King Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem (Jerusalem was the capital of Israel and the capital of the Southern Kingdom after the nation devide). The Ark of the Covenant is believed to have been kept in the most sacred part of the temple, the Holy of Holies, the place where it was believed God Himself was present. I think in the current context that Israel wants to repeat its past glory and continue the kingdom of priests for the contemporary by establishes political in religious capital of Jerusalem.
Another reflection in this chapter is on the concept of the Kingdom of Priest referred to by Israel. When we talk about Kingdom of Priest, we have to find the roots of the 12 descendants of Jacob, Levi as classified as priest (Kohainim in Hebrew) and Judah as King, both represent Kingdom and Priest. (Exodus 19: 6) God proclaimed that Israel would be Kingdom of Priest in my analysis is Israel – Jerusalem will be cult centralization. It refers to Exodus 26-40, the priestly seems to presuppose this centralization. This idea of centralization is interesting for me to understand well because the Jews do not have a universal view, but they do have the idea of centralization.
Centralization is therefore better understood as the structuring of power relations and social processes so that authority, decision making and resources are concentrated rather than dispersed (Greenwood and Hinings 1976, 151; Hollingsworth and Hanneman 1984, 8; V. Schmidt 1990, 12).[1] Kingdom is always connected with place, geography and priest can be understood as someone who has authority in spirituality. The Kingdom of Priest needs a sacred space from which it can control various aspects both theologically and politically. From all the descriptions above, I reflect more deeply on Jewish ideology and politics, namely the universal model that is different from the other two Abrahamic religions. This is the ideological and political implementation that is being embodied in Israeli civilization today through reflection on Exodus (19): 5 – 6 as I understand it.
[1] https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_1B1C453705EC.P002/REF access 24/03/2022
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