Wow, if I thought that
the other topics I’ve discussed were controversial, like the death penalty, the
Free Market System, income inequality, etc., I’m really whacking the hornets’
nest now, aren’t I?
But I can’t be silent
on this. On a much much much smaller scale, I feel like
Jeremiah, who wanted to keep his mouth shut when he was going to say some
unpopular things, but who had
a “fire shut up in [his] bones,” and found that he had to speak out. Just to
clarify: I’m not a prophet, just a guy who knows his Bible fairly well and who
prides himself on thinking through controversial issues clearly. Or at least I
make a really strong effort.
Now, before we go
further, I need to clarify some terms. Please notice that the title of this isn’t
“So What About The Jews?” Although they’re similar and linked (because Israel
is the only Jewish state), the questions aren’t synonymous. We’re not going to
get much into the exclusivity of salvation through faith in Jesus (which I thoroughly
believe
in). What we’re going to discuss in this
forum is how we should—as Evangelicals—relate to national Israel and view the
conflicts between her and her neighbors. We’re going to tackle questions like “Is
criticism of Israel anti-Semitic?” and “Should we be more ‘even-handed’ in our
relationships in that part of the world?”
One of the main
reasons I feel the need to talk about this right now is because as I’m writing
this, once again Israel is being pounded by rockets across her border. These rockets
target preschools, hospitals, and personal residential homes. And when Israel
retaliates, she’s roundly condemned. At the very least, we see a lot of moral
equivalence-type arguments: “We condemn the violence on both sides,” as if both
sides have roughly the same moral justification (or lack thereof) for their actions.
As you might’ve
guessed from the above paragraph, I’m
not “even-handed” on this topic. I’m a huge supporter of the nation of Israel,
especially in comparison with those who’d destroy her. I think she’s a good and decent country surrounded by evil nations and people who want her destroyed. Is
she perfect? Of course not. But in comparison with her enemies, she’s an angel.
I’d submit that she’s undoubtedly the most falsely criticized and maligned
country on earth, next to my own.
So over the next few posts,
I’m going to try to approach this as biblically and dispassionately and as
logically as I can. Hopefully we can all
do this.
First question: Is Israel the result of Old Testament
prophecy? I confess, this is something I used to be more dogmatic on, but
in recent years not so much. Now we need to be clarify the question: Is the modern state of Israel the result of
prophecy? Were the events in 1948
prophesized in the O.T. or the N.T.?
Well, possibly.
The problem with
interpreting prophetic Scripture is that often it’s difficult to determine
exactly what the author is referring to. When the biblical writers (usually in
the N.T.) interpret something for us, then there’s no ambiguity. For example,
Micah predicted
that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem, and the Gospel writers
make
it clear that this was literally fulfilled.
But there are plenty
of passages which are a bit more difficult and open to interpretation. There
are lots of passages, especially in the Old Testament, which seem to predict a national regathering
of the Jewish people into their historic homeland of Israel. Some of them could
very easily be interpreted to refer to the restoration of the Babylonian exile
of 586 B.C., and in fact a lot of them probably are referring to that event.
But a lot of them very
specifically refer to a second restoration from a second exile. For example,
look at Isaiah
11:10-11:
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples;
the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that
day the Lord will reach out his hand a
second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria,
from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from
Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. [emphasis mine]
The above passage can’t
be talking about the Babylonian exile: That would be the first exile, not the second. So the conventional interpretation
among a lot of Evangelicals is to see the restoration of national Israel in
1948 as the fulfillment of these prophecies.
There’s just one
wrinkle in this understanding: In all the places which prophsize a great
regathering of Jews into the nation, in both Old and New Testaments, the
passage seems to indicate that this this regathering will coincide with (or be
precipitated by) a national repentance and turning to the Lord.
Here are a few of
them. You can look them up—in fact I encourage you to do so—in order to make
sure I’m not reading something into Scripture that isn’t there: Isaiah
35, Jeremiah
31, Amos
9:11-15. In each of these, and in several more I could’ve mentioned, the
Lord promises to bring his people back from exile, gather them from the
nations, bring them back into the land of Israel, and never allow them to be “uprooted again” (in the words of Amos). But in each of these passages, this restoration
was linked to national repentance.
Now, you’ll have to
look hard to find a more ardent supporter of the state of Israel than me. But I
can’t pretend that the Jewish people have experienced anything like nationwide
repentance. As the posts to come should make clear, I don’t for one moment
believe the negative propaganda re: Israel, and quite frankly I think that
Jew-hatred is satanically inspired. I’m sure most of them are great people and
would be wonderful neighbors, but the vast majority of Jews in the world don’t
even take the Torah seriously, much
less believe in Messiah Yeshua for salvation. They haven’t repented.
We also need to note
that they also seem to be linked to the second coming of our Lord, also
referred to as “the day of the Lord” by the prophets. It’s pretty obvious that that hasn’t happened yet, unless I’ve
really missed something.
Now in defense of
those who see the restoration of Israel as fulfillment of prophecy, they say “Yes,
national Israel and the worldwide Jewish population haven’t repented, and
obviously the Lord hasn’t returned. But the restoration in 1948 was the
beginning, the initiation of God putting the pieces in place for the Return.”
That might be. In fact,
I probably lean towards that interpretation myself. But you have to admit that
to link the events of 1948 to the passages cited above—what the
Scriptures actually say—is a bit of a
stretch. I’ve read a dozen websites what purport to prove that the restoration in
1948 was the fulfillment of prophecy, and to be quite frank their hermeneutical
skills need a lot of work. They tend to pull verses kicking and screaming out
of context—ignoring verses immediately prior and after them—to read their
foregone conclusions into what the Scriptures actually say.
Now, please please please
don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that national Israel today has nothing to do with the ultimate
fulfillment of Scripture. The Bible seems to indicate pretty strongly that when
Jesus returns, there’s going to be a national Israel, unless you spiritualize
all the passages in the Old Testament and apply them to the Church, which I
have real
problems with. I also believe that the Jewish people are under God’s special
protection, and that Genesis
12’s promise that the Lord will bless those who bless them and will curse
those who curse them is still in effect. Furthermore, you could make a pretty
strong case that the survival of Israel despite 5 existential wars and unceasing murderous hatred of her neighbors
is evidence of divine protection. And I believe that 99% of the criticisms
which people level against her are 1) wildly exaggerated, 2) completely
made-up, 3) taken out of the historical context, or 4) hold Israel to a
standard which they don’t hold anyone
else to, much less her neighbors which have pledged her destruction.
But none of what I
just said in the preceding paragraph addresses the difficult question as to
whether or not the restoration of Israel was the fulfillment of prophecy. The
passages in question are not as clear-cut as we’d like them to be, and I think
we need to exhibit a little charity towards those who disagree with us on this particular issue. I’m a big fan
of Israel, just like I hope I’d be a fan of any
nation that’s pro-America, democratic, peace-loving, decent, and generous. The
fact that they contain a huge portion of Jewish people, who’ve blessed the
world in countless way, both spiritually and non-spiritually, is only a bonus.
And if anyone disagrees with me on that, well, let’s just say I’m disturbed by that.
Which leads me to the
next posting.
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