Peculiar People

I have often times heard people state that we are to be a peculiar people.  This comes from two verses found in the King James Version (KJV) of scripture:  “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” (Deuteronomy 14:2) and “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).  I have heard people joke about this.  Why does it seem funny to us?  Well for starters, in our modern day we define peculiar as “strange, unusual, odd, funny, curious, bizarre, weird.” We all can say we have met some of these people that seem to take the definition of peculiar as we mean it today.  They dress strange, talk weird, and even seem to have a strange way about them in everything they do. 

 Recently I ran across this word in a different sense and it also gave the history of the word.  It comes from a mid-15^th century word meaning ‘"belonging exclusively to one person," from Latin peculiaris "of one's own (property)," from peculium "private property," literally "property in cattle" (in ancient times the most important form of property), from pecu "cattle, flock," related to pecus "cattle." The word peculiar at the time the KJV was translated did not mean what it does now.  It meant that if something was peculiar it meant it was someone else’s Private property, meant only for that person and no one else.  It is interesting that its origins came from owning cattle that at the time was the most treasured possession a person could have. 

 That being said, we are not to be strange, weird, unusual, odd.  We are to know that we are God’s special possession.  We are not like cattle are viewed now by the common person.  (Although, if you are a farmer or rancher, your cattle are special to you and of great value to you.)

 To take the meaning even further, to be peculiar is to be characteristic of, typical of, representative of,  have the characteristics of the owner or place.  Brings more meaning doesn’t it?  Not only are we special and of great value, we are to have the characteristics of the one who we are peculiar to.  We are to be like God as much as possible.  This is not unscriptural.  How many times is it said in scripture that we are to be holy because He is holy?  It is said many times.  We are to have the mind of Christ, we are to do and say the things that Jesus said and did because he only did what he saw His father do (John 5:19).

 

In short, I want to be peculiar to God, to recognize that I am special because I belong to him and therefore desire to become more and more like Him as I grow in my walk and faith.  I pray that you do as well. 

 

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.  1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)