Israel as God's Treasured Possession Bought With Redemption

"And now, if you will indeed obey My voice" (Exodus 19:5): [the reward for] all these things [will be] in proportion. And is this not an argument from minor to major? If at the time when they had not yet received the Torah and had not performed the commandments, I did all these miracles for them, then when they receive the Torah and perform all the commandments, how much more so [will I do for them]. Another interpretation of "if you will indeed obey My voice": this teaches that all beginnings are hard. Once a person begins to listen, all of it becomes easy for him. If a person listens a little, they cause him to hear much. If a person listens to words of Torah, they cause him to hear the words of the scribes. "And keep My covenant": Rabbi Eliezer says, this is the covenant of circumcision. Rabbi Akiva says, this is the covenant of the Sabbath. And the sages say, this is the covenant [against] idolatry. "Then you shall be Mine": set apart for Me, occupied with My Torah, occupied with My commandments. And so it says (Leviticus 20:26), "And I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine": when you are set apart from the peoples, you are Mine; and if not, behold, you belong to Nebuchadnezzar and his companions. "A treasured possession from among all the peoples": just as a person's treasure is precious to him, so Israel is precious to Me; just as a person's treasure is dear to him, so Israel is dear to Me. They tell a parable. To what is the matter comparable? To one who inherited many fields and then went and bought one field of his own, and that one he loved more than all of them. Why? Because he acquired it with his own [resources]. So too, although the entire world belongs to the One who spoke and the world came into being, He loves none but Israel. And why? Because He took them from Egypt and redeemed them from the house of bondage. Therefore it is said, "Then you shall be Mine, a treasured possession from among all the peoples." Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korhah says: "a treasured possession" [means] that I will not let your ear be deprived [of My favor]. And just as a wife is set apart [for distinction] after [marrying] her husband, and a son is set apart after his father, so Israel will be set apart from the nations of the world. The verse therefore teaches (Exodus 19:5), "For all the earth is Mine."