ISRAEL PALESTINE MAP
ChrisO\u2019s modification of 2004 UN Map of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God\u2019s anger against Judah it was sent into exile in Babylon. This exile was to last for seventy years before some of these Judeans, then called Jews, returned to their ancestor\u2019s land to restore it, the temple at Jerusalem, and the nation of Israel. The prophet Zechariah lived during the time when the return from exile occurred and this restoration began.<\/p>\n
\u201cReturn to Me, \u2026 And I Will Return to You\u201d<\/h2>\n
Zechariah\u2019s book in the Bible begins by God\u2014namely, \u201cthe LORD\u201d (=Yahweh)\u2014saying to the prophet Zechariah, \u201cThe LORD was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts\u201d (Zechariah 1.3 NRSV). This is the great proclamation of God to the nation of Israel. God had promised to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, that he would bless it and make it great. But this promise was not unconditional. God later added a law code to this covenant through Moses, called the Ten Commandments.<\/p>\n
Thus, Israel was required to honor God\u2019s law in order to receive the covenant promise. This was born out, and it is echoed in this message proclaimed by Zechariah, when John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth came preaching the same message to Israel, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near\u201d (Matthew 3.2; 4.17). Its implication is that Israel would be given the divinely promised kingdom in all of its glory if it repented; but if it did not, the kingdom that had come near would then be withdrawn. History has shown that it is the latter that happened\u2014the kingdom was withdrawn because Israel did not repent. And divine judgment followed, with the Romans destroying Jerusalem and its temple in 70 CE and dissolving the nation in 135 CE.<\/p>\n
Israel Is Now a \u201cCursing Among the Nations\u201d<\/h2>\n
Eventually, the book of Zechariah foretells a better outcome that will happen. God says of Jews dispersed throughout the world, \u201cI will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They shall be my people and I will be their God\u201d (Zechariah 8.8). God continues, always speaking through the prophet Zechariah, \u201cI will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things\u201d (v. 12). He refers to aforementioned blessings of abundance of food, wealth, and security. Then God adds, \u201cJust as you have been a cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing\u201d (v. 13). Notice this \u201ccursing among the nations.\u201d Oftentimes in history, this cursing has not been justified; but sometimes it has.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s War in Gaza<\/h2>\n
The nation of Israel has now become a \u201ccursing among the nations\u201d because of its invasion and war in the Gaza Strip. The nearly two years of war has resulted in reportedly over 60,000 Palestinian civilians being killed and many more wounded and starved. Yet this assault was prompted by the ruling Hamas in Gaza attacking Israel, killing 1,200 Israeli Jews in one day, and retreating. Thus, as is so often the case in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when Palestinians attack Israeli Jews the resulting casualties are ten times higher or more on the Palestinian side as on the Jewish side.<\/p>\n
Now, Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just announced that its IDF military will increase its assault, resulting in controlling Gaza City and trying to expell Palestinians. This will surely result is much more killing. That is why the world is increasingly turning against Israel, calling for a ceasefire to stop so much killing, with some of the world cursing Israel. This Gaza war therefore is contributing immensely to the increasing antisemitism worldwide.<\/p>\n
More UN Nations to Recognize a Palestinian State<\/h2>\n
Due to so much killing, next month at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York City, major western nations led by France will announce their recognition of a Palestinian state even though Palestinians do not really have a state or a land. Since Israel because a nation in 1949, and won the Six-Day War against Arab states in 1967, Israel has occupied the land that Palestinians have claimed as their own. Nations began recognizing the State of Palestine way back in 1988. Next month, their numbers will be about 150 out of the total 193 UN members. Ironically, the U.S. will not be among them, which I believe will continue to be a travesty against our country.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God\u2019s anger against Judah it was sent into exile in Babylon. This exile was to last for seventy years before some of these Judeans, then called Jews, returned to their ancestor\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1477,"featured_media":18728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,2660,551],"tags":[7036,8669,7874,196],"class_list":["post-21659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israeli-palestinian-conflict","category-politics","category-the-bible","tag-antisemitism","tag-cursing-of-israel","tag-gaza-war","tag-hamas"],"yoast_head":"\n
Israel Is Becoming a "Cursing Among the Nations"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God's anger against Judah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel Is Becoming a "Cursing Among the Nations"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God's anger against Judah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kermit Zarley Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-20T02:59:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2023\/11\/IsraelPalestineMap2007-Free-IncludesWestBankGaza.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"482\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"599\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/\",\"name\":\"Israel Is Becoming a \\\"Cursing Among the Nations\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-20T02:59:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-20T02:59:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02\"},\"description\":\"During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God's anger against Judah\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Israel Is Becoming a “Cursing Among the Nations”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/\",\"name\":\"Kermit Zarley Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02\",\"name\":\"Kermit Zarley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kermit Zarley\"},\"description\":\"Born & reared in Seattle, WA., Kermit lived 38 years in metro Houston, now in Scottsdale, AZ. He graduated from University of Houston w\/ BBA in 1963 and played on the PGA Tour full time from 1964-1982 and Senior\/Champions Tour in 1991-2001. Kermit co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study in 1965 and was senior leader most of next 17 years. Kermit has three adult children and six grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/kermitzarley.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/author\/kermitzarleyblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel Is Becoming a \"Cursing Among the Nations\"","description":"During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God's anger against Judah","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel Is Becoming a \"Cursing Among the Nations\"","og_description":"During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God's anger against Judah","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/","og_site_name":"Kermit Zarley Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley","article_published_time":"2025-08-20T02:59:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":482,"height":599,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2023\/11\/IsraelPalestineMap2007-Free-IncludesWestBankGaza.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kermit Zarley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kermit Zarley","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/","name":"Israel Is Becoming a \"Cursing Among the Nations\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-20T02:59:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-20T02:59:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02"},"description":"During the sixth century BCE, the nation of Judah, which consisted of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, had sinned, and due to God's anger against Judah","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2025\/08\/israel-is-becoming-a-cursing-among-the-nations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Israel Is Becoming a “Cursing Among the Nations”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/","name":"Kermit Zarley Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02","name":"Kermit Zarley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf8e1a5dcb179e76f0c39d3d75e849bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kermit Zarley"},"description":"Born & reared in Seattle, WA., Kermit lived 38 years in metro Houston, now in Scottsdale, AZ. He graduated from University of Houston w\/ BBA in 1963 and played on the PGA Tour full time from 1964-1982 and Senior\/Champions Tour in 1991-2001. Kermit co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study in 1965 and was senior leader most of next 17 years. Kermit has three adult children and six grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/kermitzarley.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/author\/kermitzarleyblog\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2023\/11\/IsraelPalestineMap2007-Free-IncludesWestBankGaza.png\")
<\/a>