Remnant of Israel

(Heb. she'erit yisrael). Teaching that after the mass punishment and destruction of the Jewish people for their sins, a faithful few, dedicated to God and His teachings, will survive to maintain and benefit from God's Covenant with His people. This remnant would return from exile to its own land and would thereafter live in security and peace. The doctrine is first encountered in Leviticus 26:36-45, but was especially characteristic of the literary prophets. Isaiah addressed the "remnant of the House of Israel" (46:3) and even symbolically named his son "Shear Jashub," i.e., a remnant shall return (7:3). Among the other prophets who expounded the idea were Jeremiah (31:6-7), Ezekiel (11:13), and Micah (5:5-7). The Jews returning from Babylonian Exile considered themselves as constituting the prophesied remnant (Haggai 1:12-14; Ezra 9:8, 14-15; Neh. 1:2-3). The concept also entered the liturgy, while in modern times the phrase "the surviving remnant" was applied to survivors of the Holocaust.

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The doctrine that there will always remain a faithful few dedicated to God and to his teaching. The prophets preached warning messages of national disaster and destruction to be brought on by the sins of the people. On the other hand, they frequently offered words of comfort and encouragement, promising that the exiles would be returned, the land rebuilt and the people of Israel reestablished in its land in a state of security and peace.

The contradiction between these two messages was resolved by the prophetic concept of the remnant of Israel. Whatever the sorry state of mass disloyalty and the resultant national destruction, this small group of the faithful will continue to exist, to provide the seed of subsequent growth and national revival. Consequently the people of Israel will never be totally destroyed, since the loyal remnant will survive to rebuild.

This doctrine of the remnant of Israel is to be found in most of the prophets (cf Jer 23:3; Joel 3:2; Amos 9:9ff; Obad v. 17; Mic 2:12). But the concept was particularly advanced by Isaiah who even called one of his sons Shear Yashub "a remnant shall return" (7:3) as a visible token of his conviction that this hope would be realized (8:18).

The community which constituted Israel after the Exile regarded itself as such a surviving remnant (Ezra 9:8, 14-15; Neh 1:2-3; Hag 1:12-14; 2:2; Zech 8:6, 11-12). The promise of a remnant is also applied twice to foreign nations in the order of Zechariah (9:7; 14:16).

The biblical doctrine can be connected with the teaching of God's covenant relationship with Israel; even when the latter's sins bring dire punishment, God will ultimately remember his covenant with them and return those who survive (Lev 26:44-45). Paul quoted Isaiah's reading on the remnant and applied it to the Church (Rom 9:27).

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