When it becomes clear that this distinction between those whom God has chosen and those whom he has passed over is not based on anything in them, the result is not pride and boasting on the part of God’s chosen ones, but astonishment and praise that acknowledges God’s universal greatness—a greatness that extends far beyond the territorial borders of Israel to encompass not merely Edom but all nations. Salvation is truly of the Lord, not of man: all we contribute is the sin of which we are so ashamed