You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Me. Now therefore, if you will hearken to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
(4) ואבא אתכם אלי AND I BROUGHT YOU UNTO MYSELF — Explain this as the Targum does: “and I have brought you near to My service”.
(3) סגלה means a cherished treasure, the same as (Ecclesiastes 2:8) “and treasures (וסגלת) of kings” — costly vessels and precious stones which kings store up. In the same manner shall ye be unto Me a cherished treasure from the other peoples (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:5:2) . Now do not say that ye alone belong to Me and that I have no other peoples together with (besides) you, and what else, therefore, have I by which the special love I bear you can be made evident; this is not so,
(2) סגולה מכל העמים, “more treasured than all the other nations.” Seeing that the entire earth belongs to Me, I am able to raise your stature above that of all the other nations. The word כי in this verse is to be understood as meaning: in spite of, just as it means this in Genesis 48,14: כי מנשה הבכור, “although Menashe is the firstborn,” or the word כי in Exodus 13,17, כי_קרוב הוא, “although it is near.”
Any treasure which is hidden is called סגולה (segulah), it is the kind of treasure which is most dear and beloved to a king and something which he constantly keeps under his personal control. They are matters which the king does not entrust even to his closest ministers or official. The reason G’d said מכל העמים (from all the peoples) in our verse is to contrast the other nations whose entire fate is being monitored by G’d’s agents rather than by G’d Himself with the Jewish people whose fate is monitored by G’d Himself (i.e.- see Deut 4:19).
(1) כי לי כל הארץ, all the nations are Mine, but I have only chosen you.
(2) וגוי קדוש, never to disappear from the stage of history. You will continue forever to exist as one man, as it will be in the distant future of which the prophet Isaiah 4,3 said “those who survive in Zion and those who will be left over in Jerusalem, all those who are inscribed for life in Jerusalem- shall be called ‘holy’.” [the author is making the point that somebody called קדוש is by definition immortal. Ed.] Our sages in Sanhedrin 92 describe this concept in the following words: “just as He, the Holy One, is forever, so the Jewish people are forever.” It had been G’d’s intention to make the Jewish people immortal at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, giving them the status that Adam had enjoyed before he sinned. Alas, just as Adam had sinned and had become mortal in Gan Eden, the Jewish people sinned with the golden calf and suffered the same fate as first man. The disaster is documented in Exodus 33,6 “the Children of Israel had to divest themselves of their jewelry which had been given them at Mount Chorev.”