The various groupings in which individuals find themselves or into which individuals can place themselves are all abstractions of one sort or another. Nations, tribes, clubs, marriages, even families are nothing, spiritually speaking, over and above the individuals who comprise them, and the attitudes of those individuals. The reason this is important to note is because God only has relationship with actual, individual human beings. God does not have relationship with any ‘nation’—what would that even mean? ‘Nations’ do not suffer in wars, only human beings suffer. When nations are attacked, when marriages fail, when clubs dissolve, no ‘nation’ trembles in outrage, no ‘marriage’ suffers remorse, no ‘club’ wishes it could have found new energy somewhere.

God does not favor, reward, or punish ‘nations,’ or any of the other abstractions. Where two individuals are separately in healthy relationship with God, it may seem to an outsider to be a ‘blessed’ union. But it is simply – simply! – a harmonic union, harmonized in values, in goals, and in faith with each other and with spiritual reality. The blessedness of such a union lies in its freedom from strife, with each other and with God’s reality. And this is true of nations as well.