Musings about Israel and Being "Chosen"

I wrote this in my scripture journal yesterday as I was pondering 2 Nephi 6 and thought I would share:

It’s intriguing how we usually think of (at least I do) the scattering of Israel as a dispersion of the people but purely in groups of Israelites. I don’t know where I got this idea. If the people were already apostate, what then was to stop them from intermarrying among all nations? Does it not make sense, then, that the Lord will bless all nations, seeing as He has scattered His people abroad? The mere fact that the “Gentile” nations are intermixed with the seed of Israel gives them blood lineage and even more reason to be part of the spiritual house of Israel. However, we need not misguide ourselves into the belief that only those who are the blood line of Israel can be made children of Israel. As the Savior said unto the wicked rulers, “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Here we might scratch our head and say, “Why on earth would the Lord want to turn stones into children?” Well, the answer is, of course, that the Savior was rebuking the rulers for their nepotistic arrogance. They thought they were the “chosen people,” simply by birth. The Savior teaches, as does Nephi that, “Behold, the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one; he that is righteous is favored of God.” God will accept any who come unto Him in “full purpose of heart.”