Welcome to Curiously Caitlin, where we try to make theology make sense.

Many of you know that Curiously Caitlin is part of the Holy Post network, but did you know it's also a part of Holy Post Plus?

What's Holy Post Plus? It's your place for exclusive Holy Post content, like bonus interviews, a quarterly book club, Sky's podcast, The SkyPod, and my other podcast,

Getting Schooled by Caitlin Chess, where I teach Sky about theology, church history, politics, and even

Taylor Swift. Think of it like the slightly advanced course of Curiously Caitlin. And we are

currently working on some Curiously Caitlin exclusives that will be on Holy Post

Plus in the coming weeks that I think you're really going to like.

So head on over to holypost.com slash Patreon and sign up today for just $5 a month.

I don't know.

That doesn't make any sense.

Dr. Carmen Ims, thank you so much for joining me today.

Hi, Caitlin. So good to be with you.

This is Dr. Carmen Eines. She is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University, and the author of Bearing God's Name, Why Sinai Still Matters, and Being God's Image, Why Creation Still Matters.

She's also played a big role in welcoming and

mentoring women biblical scholars and theologians, which makes her an even bigger deal in my book.

All right, let's hear our kid question today.

My question is why God chose the Israelites as his special people out of everyone else and

bless them in a certain way he didn't bless others.

A very good question.

And you can kind of hear some angst in the question, which I really like.

So, Dr. Eames, what is your initial

reaction to this question? Why did God choose Israel and bless them in ways that he didn't bless other

...