There is much confusion or misinformation among U.S. Christians concerning what the Bible has to say about the Israel of that day and how this relates to the Israel of today (I’d be interested to hear how this plays out for my relatives and friends living in other parts of the world). Here’s my best shot at a condensed response to this situation.
In the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament, we read that God gave the land of Canaan to the people of Israel who had fled slavery in Egypt and had wandered in the desert for 40 years. Does scripture see this as an exclusive claim? Yes and no. At some points in the OT, we get an exclusive view where the land is given to Israel and other nations will come and bow down to them or serve them (e.g., Nehemiah 2:19-20). At other points we get an inclusive view where all nations will come together in Jerusalem to worship the one true God (e.g., Micah 4:2).
In the New Testament, the thrust is inclusive. Jesus extended his message beyond the people of Israel. Non-Israelites were brought into the community of faith on equal footing. In Ephesians we read that God tore down the dividing wall between Jews and Non-Jews.
There is also a shift in the understanding of who or what constitutes Israel. The NT writers point to the church as the new Israel. This subset of the old Israel was to carry on as the elect community that recognized Jesus as the Messiah. This was a theological shift, not a political one – Rome didn’t recognize Christians as the new Israel. A war broke out between Israel and Rome, and in 70 A.D. Jerusalem, the holy center of Israel, was conquered by the Romans and the temple was destroyed.
Over the centuries, some Jews continued to live in the land, while many found homes in other parts of the world.
In 1946, Jews in what is now Israel and Palestine made up 13% of the population and owned 5.6% of the land (see Stage 1 map below). In 1947, following WWII, the U.N. came up with the idea of carving out a political entity from land that had been controlled for several decades by the British (who took it from the Ottoman Turk empire). Jews from around the world were invited to sail to this new entity called Israel to live together (see Stage 2 map). In 1948 the Jews in the land went to war and captured more land (see Stage 3 map). Then in 1967, Israel launched another war against its neighbors and captured even more land – they basically took control of all the green area on the Stage 3 map. This is the area today known as Palestine, the Occupied Territory, the West Bank (the land on the west bank of the Jordan; this doesn’t include the Gaza strip in the SW corner), or Israel, depending on who you talk to. Since 1967, the land and Palestinian people in this area have not been independent, but they haven’t been made part of Israel, either.
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| both maps taken from from http://www.ccmep.org/delegations/maps/palestine.html |
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| Another map of current conditions |
Now look at the Stage 4 map above and the map to the left.. Through building settlements and appropriating land through force, Israel has gradually taken over more and more of the land within Palestine. One of the many difficulties of Palestine formally becoming a nation is that the land it currently controls is so fragmented as currently constituted.
So what does all this have to do with the biblical material I started with? First, we have to be aware that the modern nation of Israel is not the same thing as ancient Israel.
1) The forms of government are very different. Ancient Israel was administered by Jewish priests (and various outside powers, like the Romans). Modern Israel has a parliamentary system and a prime minister.
2) The people of ancient Israel understood themselves as the people of God and sought to live according to God’s precepts. Today, 50% of Israelis consider themselves non-religious. The modern nation is not the same as the ancient people. Though there is a genetic, ethnic continuity between the Jews of ancient Israel and the Jews of today, for some Jews this includes a religious dimension, for others it does not.
3) It would be odd to identify a people (modern Israel) as the people of God when a good part of the people doesn't even believe that God exists.
Some Christians see the modern state of Israel as a fulfillment of prophecy that Israel will be re-constituted before the 2nd Coming of Christ. I don't see this in scripture. For me as a Christian, if indeed this were to come about, this re-constitution would be focused on the church as the new Israel, not on a re-constitution of the ancient Israel (and even if this were to happen, for reasons set forth above, it would have to look different that the modern nation of Israel). Also, if indeed God has in mind some re-constitution of Israel (as the church? as the ancient nation?), we cannot force God’s hand by trying to bring this about ourselves. And if something like this is indeed to come about, the God of love, justice, and peace will not bring it about through the opposite of those characteristics: hatred, injustice, and violence. We must reject the idea put forth by some Christians that we should all blindly support whatever Israel does because it is necessary for the 2nd Coming to occur.
Where does this leave the modern state of Israel? I hope for the people of modern Israel that they will be able to live in a safe, peaceful land as good citizens in the circle of world nations. The fact that the modern nation cannot be seen as the same thing as ancient Israel does not mean the modern state should not exist. However, as a modern nation, Israel should be bound to international standards of human rights and humane treatment, not just for Jews, but for Palestinians, too.
Recommended books on the subject: A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation by Naim Ateek; On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend by Timothy Weber.
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