The so-called “righteous remnant” is the idea that God will preserve the Jewish people throughout history as part of the covenants he made with Abraham, Issac, Jacob and the nation of Israel at Sinai.

Jeremiah 33:23-26 however, clearly states;

• 23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
• 24 “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.
• 25 Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,
• 26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

As we will see below, this is par for the course.

The idea of a righteous remnant comes via God's covenant with Man.

God has made several statements by which we understand he will eternally preserve the nation of Israel.

Genesis 2:15 states, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” It is therefore God's purpose that man exist in order to guard and protect the earth.

This is the same essential message found in Genesis 1:26-28;

26 And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens[6f], and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves upon the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them, and said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens[6f], and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”Genesis 1:26-28

The idea here is that it is God's will and purpose for the earth that man exist, and God's will and purpose for the creation of Man to, in his image, establish dominion upon the earth, to keep and protect it.

In Genesis 12:1-3 God spoke to Abraham and said;

• “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
• I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
• I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
• and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

In this covenant, God has promised to make Abraham into a great nation in the future – and that through him, all the people of the earth would be blessed. This is an essential statement of a light to the nations.

In Genesis 15:1, God also promises to protect Abraham; “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.””

In genesis 17:21 and other places, God indicates that the promise will continue through Isaac. What is the covenant he establishes with Isaac, then? This ocurrs in Genesis 26:

• 1 And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
• 2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, “Do not go down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall show you;
• 3 sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you and your seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father;
• 4 and I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these lands; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth [a]be blessed;
• 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

From this we see that the land would be given to Isaac's seed; specifically, they would number as the stars in the sky and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in his seed. While this stops short of stating outright that it is an eternal covenant, it is essentially an eternal covenant as it speaks of a time where every man on earth will be blessed through Isaac's descendants.

In Genesis 28:4 we see that Isaac has passed the covenant of Abraham and Isaac to Jacob. Esau is later given a similar but different blessing, as was given to Ishmael before him.

Then in Genesis 28:10 to 36:43 we see how God establishes his covenant.

It is at Bethel where the LORD reiterates His covenant promise to Jacob:

“I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you”Genesis 28:13-15

Notice the similarities here with God’s promise to Abraham (and Isaac) in Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15. There is not only the land promise and the promise of numerous descendants, but also the promise that God will be with Jacob wherever he goes. It is in God’s promise of protection that we see the establishment of a Righteous Remnant.ll make the LORD his God (28:20-21).

After this point there are three major incedents where God directly intervenes to protect Jacob:

• First, God intervenes directly with Laban who is in hot pursuit of Jacob and his family and warns Laban in a dream not to harm Jacob (31:24). The subsequent covenant Jacob makes with Laban secures his freedom from Laban’s household (31:43-58).
• Second, as Jacob returns to the Promised Land, he is met by the same angels he saw earlier at Bethel (32:1), and God protects him from the wrath of his brother Esau (ch. 33).
• Third, once Jacob returns to Canaan, the LORD protects the covenant family from assimilation with the surrounding peoples through the incident with the rape of Dinah. In that case, Simeon and Levi wrought brutal vengeance on Shechem for their sister’s rape placed God’s people at enmity with the inhabitants of the land, yet Jacob’s fears that they would be killed did not materialize (34:30, 35:5).

Although this is a covenant like the ones before, it is also unique in that the promises of protection are explicitly stated (as well as implied) by the wording of the covenant.

There are two important concepts to understand in showing how this covenant produces and protects a righteous remnant; one, is the implied statement that as it is an eternal covenant God will act to fulfill it; second are the statements that God will ensure and protect the nation of Israel.

There are many implied statements; Any time that it is written “(for) I am the Lord your God, (who brought you out of Egypt,)” or it is written that the Lord will accomplish his plans, it is implied that he will do whatever it takes to keep his end of the bargain, including direct intervention – as demonstrated during the Exodus itself (for example).

Another example of an implied statement of protection would be Numbers 18:19; “19 […] It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.”” (also see 2 chron 13:5 for ref. on salt covenant; “Don’t you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?”)

Surely, the Lord (who is by point of order omnipotent) will surely be capable of intervention to ensure his end of the bargain (which is, in fact, his end of the bargain in the first place) – thus implying the preservation of a righteous remnant in a worst case.

As mentioned above, the exodus itself – as well as the ensuing miracles, such as mana in the desert, are excellent case studies that God will directly intervene in order to protect and ensure the existence of the righteous of the nation of Israel.

We are here most interested in the explicit statements of preservation. Leviticus 26:44-45 is a well-known passage that states the Lord will never completely destroy Israel – i.e. that there will always be a preservation of Israel so that they may turn to him – even when they are scattered into the lands of their enemies.

The flood is an interesting case because it shows that God did not wait for all the righteous people to disappear and then destroy the earth as a “failed creation” – rather, he preserved enough righteous people to re-seed the earth. In this case, we see that God's plan is to preserve the righteous people and ensure that they will never be completely destroyed.

Lot's daughters were drawn into sin by making a simple mistake. In Genesis 19:31-32 they said,

• 31 And the first-born said unto the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth;
• 32 come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.”

When they witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's daughters had assumed that God once again destroyed the world – this time not by water, but by fire. This was their mistake – assuming that God had destroyed the righteous along with the wicked. Had they not made this mistake, they would not have been drawn into sin.

Elijah committed the same essential mistake as Lot did, and assumed that God had allowed the righteous in Israel to perish;

9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your stead.

17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.

18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.1 Kings 19:9-19

Here we see that when Elijah initially assumed that God had not left a righteous remnant, God demonstrated fantastic miracles to him in order to get him to understand; God was in control! Yet Elijah didn't “get it” and repeated the same answer. He was immediately “fired”, and informed that nay, God had kept 7,000 righteous for himself. This is the first direct statement of a “righteous remnant” in the bible.

All Christians must agree that there is in fact a righteous remnant – even to this day – even if they deny the Hebrew scriptures, because their own Greek scriptures tell them it's true!

Paul himself admits there is a righteous remnant which God has preserved, even to this day:

2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.Romans 11:2-6

Here, I have included Paul's “point” that it was by grace and not by works – to point out that it is, in fact, ireverent to the point of the righteous remnant. First, it is obviously by “foreknowledge” (i.e. whom he forknew) that they were given the “Grace” of preservation– I.E. it is obvious that God's grace is what causes a righteous remnant to be kept. But this is separate from the mechanism, or spiritual currency, by which they are righteous in the first place. For if it was merely by grace, then one could not be a wicked or a righteous man and there would be no reward nor punishment (ex. Ezekiel 18, Deuteronomy 30:15,19, et.al).

The Christian capitulation comes when it is pointed out self-evidently that it is God who is calling these men righteous, and pointing out that their righteousness stems from the fact that they are “orthodox”, i.e. pharisaic Jews, who have kept the commandments as stated in Exodus 19:5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;”

Thus, the reason why God has kept these people for his treasured possession; the reason why he has preserved this “righteous remnant” is precisely because they have kept the covenant in the first place! Because God Knew they would do so(!!):

17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen[f] him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”Genesis 18:17-19