“What, exactly, is the problem with hypocrisy?” A 2017 New York Times article asked this question. It continued: “When someone condemns the behavior of others, why do we find it so objectionable if we learn he engages in the same behavior himself?

“The answer may seem self-evident. Not practicing what you preach; lacking the willpower to live up to your own ideals; behaving in ways you obviously know are wrong—these are clear moral failings.”

Yet the answer has even more layers. The article cited research that people also dislike hypocrites because of their “outspoken moralizing falsely signals their own virtue.”

Does God play favorites? When it comes to Jerusalem, it can certainly seem so. In II Chronicles 6:6, He declares: “But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there.” Zechariah 2:8 calls the city “the apple of His eye.”

No other city has this distinction: “For the Lord has chosen Zion [the Temple Mount in Jerusalem]; He has desired it for His dwelling place: This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it” (Psa. 132:13-14, New King James Version).

Throughout the Bible, God emphasizes Jerusalem’s special status—not merely as a site of historical importance, but as the focal point of His plan for mankind. He appoints it as the ultimate throne of His government: “At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem…” (Jer. 3:17).