Daily text, Thursday, December 22. 2016

[Queen Esther]

Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah!—Ps. 144:15.

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/dt/r1/lp-e/2016/12/22

As early as the 20th century B.C.E., Jehovah had a distinct people on earth. Abraham, called “the father of all those having faith,” was the head of a household numbering into the hundreds. (Rom. 4:11; Gen. 14:14) Rulers in Canaan considered him to be “a great chieftain” and treated him with respect. (Gen. 21:22; 23:6, ftn.) Jehovah made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. (Gen. 17:1, 2, 19) God told Abraham: “This is my covenant between me and you, that you and your offspring after you will keep: Every male among you must get circumcised. . . . And it will serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.” (Gen. 17:10, 11) Accordingly, Abraham and all the male members of his household were circumcised. (Gen. 17:24-27) Circumcision was a physical sign that distinguished Abraham’s descendants as the only people who were in a covenant relationship with Jehovah. w14 11/15 4:2