Contact: Chaplain Jim Johnson, 951-787-9775, najerj@aol.com
RIVERSIDE, Calif., June 3, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- There has been much talk and pulpit-pounding among Fundamentalist and Evangelical circles over the past 67 years, increasingly so in the past few years, to support the state of Israel, often without showing where the Scriptures tell us to do this. If we cannot identify the state of Israel in Scripture and show the biblical mandate for supporting the state of Israel, there is no legitimacy to the claim of such a biblical mandate. Being Bible literalists, "inerrantists," and "infallabilists," we Fundamentalists and Evangelicals should be able to reasonably base our beliefs on Scripture if what we believe is biblically true.
All indications throughout the Old Testament are that Israel is Jacob (Genesis 32:38), or Jacob's descendants (Exodus 5:2)—a people who became known as the Hebrews.
One key passage used to compel Christians to support the state called Israel is Genesis 12:2-3 where God promises Abraham: "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (KJV)."
First, the Hebrew word for nation refers to a people group, not a piece of real estate. Second, it is referring to Abraham and his descendants, who are called Israel, Israelites, and Hebrew, though Abraham himself was none of these. He was simply the father of them. Third, his descendants took on two names: Israel (descendants of Jacob) and Hebrews, because Jacob's descendants were not only named after him, but also after Abraham's ancestor named Eber. Thus, the command is to bless Abraham's descendants, the people called Israel or Hebrews, wherever they are today.
A second key passage used to compel Christians to support the state of Israel is Joshua 1:3, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses" (KJV). See also Joshua 14:9. One thing to note here is that this passage defines what belongs to the Hebrews—the land promised to the Hebrews would be all the land upon which the sole of their feet shall tread, not just Palestine. Thus all the land today around the world upon which they have walked is legally theirs.
The Pulpit Commentary states:
These words are a quotation, almost word for word, from Deuteronomy 11:24, but the original promise is to be found in Genesis 12:1-7, with which we may compare Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:8. Comp. also Joshua 14:9; Exodus 23:30, 31, etc. It was God's purpose that the whole land should belong to the children of Israel; a purpose which, as usual in Hebrew prophecy, is signified by the use of the perfect tense here. The conquest was intended to be complete. Not a foot's breadth was to rest in the hands of its former owners. But here, as elsewhere in Holy Writ, we may mark the way in which man's sin and want of faith has marred the purposes of God. In the Book of Judges we read that the Canaanites were not only not driven out, but that the children of Israel made marriages with them, worshipped their gods, and practised their abominations. Jerusalem remained in the hands of the Jebusites until the time of David, while the Philistines remained in possession of their portion of Palestine until it was reduced under the power of the king of Babylon. We may observe that, according to all the ordinary laws of criticism, this citation of Deuteronomy is a proof that that Book existed when the Book of Joshua was written. For the cumbrous scheme of Elohists, Jehovists, Deuteronomists, and the like, by which this natural conclusion is overruled, see Introduction. Have I given it. The preterite here denotes God's purpose (cf. Genesis 1:29).
Furthermore, due to the idolatry of the Hebrews, they went into exile and have never returned except for a remnant from Babylon. Of utmost concern about the present occupiers of the piece of real estate today called Israel is that they claim no genetic link to Israel the people of the Old Testament. Here is what they say of themselves:
- "Strictly speaking it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an Israelite or a Hebrew" (1980 Jewish Almanac, p. 3).
- "Edom is in modern Jewry" (The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, Vol. 5, page 41).
Additionally, Moses said that Ashkenaz was a descendant of Japheth, making Ashkenazi Jews Japhethitic, not Semitic. In Genesis 10:1-3, Moses stated: "Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah" (KJV). Moses and the Jews agree that the Jews are not Semitic, not Hebrew, and not Israel.
People usually know themselves better than others know them. So if the Jews are correct about themselves, that they are not Israel the people, not Hebrew, not descendants of Jacob, but are Edomites, are they then the legal owners of Palestine? To whom are we Christians giving our money? Do we actually have a biblical mandate to support the state of Israel that never existed in the Old Testament nor in the history of mankind until 1948? Or do we have a mandate to support Israel the people, whoever and wherever they are today? Where did the Hebrews go after exile? Who is Israel today? Did Israel the people disappear? If so, how could Bible prophecy be fulfilled? Or do we just not recognize them today? How are they existing? Who are they?
Fundamentalists and Evangelicals seem to be having a hard time facing the reality of who the Jews actually say they are and who the Bible actually says Israel really is. Are we blinded by political correctness in the Church and in every facet of Western Civilization? Do we have a problem?
