How were the Children of Israel favoured
by God over all humanity?
We are told in the Quran that God favoured the Children of Israel (Bani Israel) above all others (2:47 and 45:16). The act of favouring the Children of Israel has been abused by some Jews making it appear that God has made them a race above all others!
The aim of this search is to establish in what sense did God favour the Children of Israel over the rest of mankind, also whether this favour was by means of blessing them with qualities which distinguish them from the rest of mankind, or was by means of favours they were given?
1- The ultimate aim of our life on earth is to believe in God and worship Him alone (51:56) and it is through this belief that we would earn the right to be redeemed and admitted to Heaven in the Hereafter. As a result, all worldly matters such as our jobs, our families, our livelihood and so on, even though they may seem to be of the utmost importance to us during our lives, in reality they are no more than tests set by God which we have to negotiate during our lives (8:28), but they are not of any eternal importance or value.
2- If passing the test of this life is all that really matters, it can be said that those who are given an easier test would have indeed been granted a favour from God, as opposed to those who go through a more difficult test. Remember the test here is one of believing in God alone, and refraining from idol worship. What then constitutes what can be called an easier test?
3- Since we cannot see God, belief in God is therefore something we attain through faith and reason. On the other hand, anyone who has witnessed a special sign from God in the shape of a miracle would have been given more reasons to believe than someone who has never seen any sign from God. As a result, those who witness special signs from God will undoubtedly attain a much stronger belief than those who never did. The precise benefit gained through witnessing a miracle is mentioned in 74:31, which describes the purpose of the miracle of 19, but equally applies to witnessing all kinds of miracles:
“So that the faith of the believers would increase” 74:31
4- When we consider the Children of Israel, they witnessed more miracles from God than any other people. We are told of the 'nine miracles' given to Moses (17:101). But these were not the only miracles witnessed by the Children of Israel! We are also told of miracles given to the Children of Israel after they departed from Egypt and after Pharaoh and his army were drowned such as the 12 springs which gushed with water and the raining down of manna and salwa (7:160).
For full details please see : Nine miracles of Moses
This undoubtedly is a great favour from God. Someone who witnesses so many miracles has more reasons to attain belief than someone who has never witnessed any miracles from God.
5- In addition, the Children of Israel were the first people to receive a fully comprehensive and fully detailed Law from God. The Quran speaks of the “suhuf” of Abraham, but this word, which literally means “pages” indicates that Abraham was given a brief form of scripture, but it was not a fully detailed and comprehensive scripture as the one given to Moses and the Children of Israel:
"And we gave Moses the scripture, complete with the best commandments, and detailing everything, and a beacon and mercy, that they may believe in meeting their Lord.“ 6:154
6- In addition, there were more prophets sent to the Children of Israel than to any other people, each delivering a scripture containing guidance and healing to the people. The Torah is the collection of scripture given to all the prophets sent to the Children of Israel.
This also constitutes a great blessing which God bestowed on the Children of Israel, and which was not bestowed on other people.
The Quran lists 20 names of prophets throughout time. Whether these were the only prophets sent by God throughout time or not cannot be known for certain. But if they were not the only ones, we can still derive some conclusions if we regard these 20 prophets as a sample.
Out of the 20 prophets mentioned in the Quran no less than thirteen prophets were sent to the Children of Israel, starting from Jacob and ending with Jesus, they are:
Jacob – Joseph - Moses – Aaron – David – Solomon – Job – Jonah – Elias – Elisha – Zachariah – John - Jesus.
This leaves only 7 prophets sent to the rest of mankind and they are:
Noah - Idris - Abraham – Lot - Isaac – Ismail - Muhammad
To conclude, the Children of Israel were given great blessings from God as follows:
1- They witnessed more miracles from God than any other people.
2- They were the first people to receive a fully comprehensive scripture from God.
3- They received no less than 13 prophets from God.