I’m not going to discuss the events that are unfolding in Gaza, nor any specific incidents. Those are covered very adequately elsewhere and I don’t feel the need to repeat them. What I will do here is to take a step back and briefly look at how Christians should view the State of Israel.
There is a view among many believers that the current nation of Israel should be supported at all costs.
There is a view among many believers that the current nation of Israel should be supported at all costs, no matter what the government does or says. This view emerges partly from what is known as "pre-millennial theology", which lays a huge stress on the importance of the Jewish people in God’s plans for today.
However, it is also true that this unequivocal support for Israel can emerge from far-right wing politics and an anti-Arab, islamophobic worldview. Whatever the motivation, there are some believers who see supporting the State of Israel as being a sacred duty of the Church.
Now, I’m not a pre-millennialist and my politics are not remotely right-wing, but I won't get into discussing either of these things here. Let me just say in passing that I think that it is a mistake to conflate the biblical nation of Israel/Judah, the current world-wide Jewish population, and the nation-state of Israel.
No matter how much you are theologically or politically inclined to support the State of Israel, Christians should not defend it when it acts immorally.
These three entities would overlap on a Venn-diagram, but they are not identical with each other. With that in mind, my contention is that no matter how much you are theologically or politically inclined to support the State of Israel, Christians should not defend it when it acts immorally.
The first thing we have to say is that if the modern State of Israel is just another country, devoid of any special status related to its connection to the biblical people, then we should of course feel free to criticize it if necessary.
Obviously, there are complications regarding to the modern state being (to some extent) born out of the holocaust, but that does not give them the right to act in an unjust fashion to others.
I question whether the Bible gives us the liberty to grant Israel a moral carte blanche.
The question of supporting the modern State of Israel at all costs from a Christian perspective can only be justified if one grants it a special status, identifying the nation today with the people of the Old Testament. However, even if one takes this point of view, I actually question whether the Bible gives us the liberty to grant Israel a moral carte blanche.
Let’s go back to one of the pivotal moments in the establishment of Old Testament Israel, a nation in a covenant with God at mount Moriah during the Exodus.
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. (Exodus 19:5-6)
From the very start, Israel was required to follow God’s law, they were not given the liberty to act in anyway they chose with regard to themselves and foreigners. In fact, their special status as God’s chosen people placed a higher moral burden on them than on the other nations around them.
Now without wishing to labor the point, anyone who is familiar with the Old Testament knows that Israel and then Judah repeatedly broke God’s law. Time and time again, God sent prophets to put them on the right road and, just as frequently, God’s people rejected him and his standards. Eventually, they were sent into exile.
One of the most harrowing judgement passages in the Old Testament occurs in the opening chapters of the book of Amos. The book starts with God saying:
For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,
I will send fire on the house of Hazael
that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
I will break down the gate of Damascus;
I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,
says the Lord.
One can imagine the people of Israel and Judah feeling pretty smug as God speaks out against one of their powerful neighbors. The prophet goes on, pointing out the faults of Gaza, and then Tyre and Edom, followed by Amon and Moab. All this is pretty good from the point of view of the Israelites and Judeans.
Then we read…
For three sins of Judah,
even for four, I will not relent.
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord
and have not kept his decrees,
because they have been led astray by false gods,
the gods their ancestors followed,
I will send fire on Judah
that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.
and
For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.
Just as their surrounding neighbors are held accountable, so are the people of Israel and Judah.
Just as their surrounding neighbors are held accountable, so are the people of Israel and Judah. God does not excuse them because they are his chosen people, in fact he holds them to a higher standard.
So, as Christians, we have two alternatives, either we view them as just another country and hold them to the same standards as any other nation, or we consider them special and in the light of scripture we need to hold them to even higher account than their neighbors. In either case, we are not at liberty to ignore it when Israel steps over established international law and the standards set out in the Bible.
In closing, let me rapidly say that none of this takes away the rights of the State of Israel to defend itself from attack and it is certainly not an excuse for antisemitism or attacks on Jewish people in Israel or the diaspora.
Originally published on Dr Eddie Arthur's Living in the Venn Diagram Substack. Republished with permission.
Dr Eddie Arthur has been a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators for over thirty years. For twelve years he and his wife Sue lived in Ivory Coast where they were part of the team translating the scriptures for the Kouya people. He is now based in the UK where he researches, writes, and talks about the future of global missions and provides contextual perspectives on societal change. Eddie's more recent writing can be found on his Substack "Living in the Venn Diagram".
