God promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. That was before there was a nation of Israel. God's covenant with Israel allowed for Gentiles to enter into the covenant and to be treated as covenant people. Israel could have ruled the whole world, at least in theory. We know that Israel was rebellious and disobedient and so lost the exalted position that God gave her.
God's intent was always to have His Son rule and reign and believers with Him. Israel was there to prove that men are unwilling to obey God because the sin nature is the same for Israelite and Gentile alike. The gospel is the same. The Law is not the gospel. There is no "good news" in the Law. It is only condemnation, not salvation.
The Mosaic Law is an interesting study in itself.
Just to quote a few instances out of many, many declarations:
Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35
20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and
it shall be forgiven them. ...
26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and
it shall be forgiven him. ...
31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn [it] upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and
it shall be forgiven him. ...
35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and
it shall be forgiven him.
Leviticus 5:10, 13, 16, 18
10 And he shall offer the second [for] a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and
it shall be forgiven him. ...
13 And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and
it shall be forgiven him: and [the remnant] shall be the priest's, as a meat offering. ...
16 And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and
it shall be forgiven him. ...
18 And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist [it] not, and
it shall be forgiven him.
Leviticus 6:7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and
it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.
Leviticus 19:22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for
his sin which he hath done: and
the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.
So, faith, expressed through obedience in sacrifices, brought forgiveness of sin(s). It did not bring about the new birth nor the ultimate cleansing from sin as was achieved by Christ for us all at a later time to the Law, but obedience to the Law did show the faith of the individual to the extent of obedience to God's Law as best as each one could do when they did it from faith.
There are those out there, of course, who will claim that God doesn't say what He means in these and other instances, all in an attempt to try and force the word of God into conformance to their personal or group theologies from the bandwagon they happen to riding at the moment, but the Hebrew and Greek from which all this was translated says what it says, and all the warps and twists perpetrated by the many liars behind pulpits who sermonize it into oblivion, they are not worthy leaders within the Church. They are like placing some bubble-headed geriatric and his second in command sleaze-gal on the wall to guard the village, and who open the gates wide for all enemies to enter in the dead of the night while the people sleep...
The blood of animals...no, that blood is not what brought about the forgiveness. It was always faith, as demonstrated through obedience to the works commanded.
We today are not under the requirement for works to demonstrate our faith, for we are not indwelt by Holy Spirit after receiving the grace of God through faith. Faith in the fulfillment of the sacrifices in Christ Jesus is the reason we are not bound to works, such as water baptism as was preached by Peter in Acts 2, and James declaration of justification by works in chapter two if his epistle, all to those who were at that time under the Kingdom Gospel and its defining elements outside of the Blood of Christ Jesus.
MM