Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: what about Israel?

Israel is as capable of doing evil as any other nation Its laws and policies are set by humans, not God.

Dear Thoughtful Pastor: What is your view on the US supporting Israel?

I am often fascinated by what appears to be unqualified support given to the nation Israel as though its leaders can make no mistakes or support destructive policies. That, my friend, is simply hogwash. Israel is as capable of doing evil as any other nation Its laws and policies are set by humans, not God.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed a TV series called “The Crown.” One episode deals with the coronation of the current Queen Elizabeth. The Church crowns her, not the State. The implication: the person assuming the throne does so with a divine mandate.

In Great Britain, the power of the monarchy is balanced by the power of the Parliament, so the monarch most definitely does not have a free hand.

But what happens when the ruling authority, seen as divinely chosen, does have a free hand? And what if a nation believes it exists by divine mandate? What happens to those who disagree with them? That’s our issue with Israel.

Let’s look at the biblical text that underlies the idea of a particular spot for Israel in God’s heart. From Genesis 12: 1-3 (CEB):

The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.”

This covenant is expanded in Genesis 17 to indicate that the land of Canaan (present day Israel, plus the West Bank, Gaza, and Samaria) will belong forever to Abraham’s family.

Who are Abraham’s Descendants?

So, who are Abraham’s descendants? Four different faiths claim membership in the family of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Muslim and Mormon. Each believes they participate in the Abrahamic Covenant and are the ones called to be a great nation uniquely blessed by God.

Judaism holds that the lineage holding the blessing comes from the line of Abraham’s second son, Isaac, born to Sarah. The Islamic faith sees it coming from Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, born to Hagar, Sarah’s slave. Christians and Mormons deny the necessity of a direct lineage from Abraham and say that the relationship comes by faith (Christian) or by obeying the laws and ordinance of the gospel (Mormon).

All have competing ideas about the nature of the blessing.

It gets more tangled than this. The biblical “Philistines” are today’s Palestinians. They occupied that tiny sliver of land off the Mediterranean coast long before the Israelis moved in to conquer and destroy as seen in the biblical texts.

However, we must acknowledge that, historically, Jews have been particular objects of persecution and pograms. Various branches of Christianity spurred much of the persecution because they blamed Jews for the death of Jesus.

Islamic groups, while early acknowledging kinship and friendship with Jews, have in recent history stepped up to do their share of persecuting, murdering and destroying. They operate from their understanding that they have the latest and greatest message from God.

What about other biblical mandates?

So, having said that, there is good reason to be sympathetic to Israel and the idea of a secure Jewish homeland. But consider this: if Israel is to be safe only to the Jews (and in practice, only to those Jews in the Orthodox tradition), do they have a divine mandate to mistreat non-Jews? What about the set of biblical principles that include extreme care for foreigners, the outsider, those generally excluded from power and privilege?

So, having said that, there is good reason to be sympathetic to Israel and the idea of a secure Jewish homeland. But consider this: if Israel is to be safe only to the Jews (and in practice, only to those Jews in the Orthodox tradition), do they have a divine mandate to mistreat non-Jews? What about the set of biblical principles that include extreme care for foreigners, the outsider, those generally excluded from power and privilege?

Furthermore, if Israel is to be only for Jews, and certain Arab nations only for Muslims, does that give the US/Russia (Christian/Orthodox) the rights to say that their nations are only for their religious majorities?

Do you see the worms emerging from this messy can we have opened?

Danger of religious mandates to rule

As a person of faith, it grieves me to write this. However, anytime some secular rule claims a religious mandate to rule, the result will always be oppression coupled with evil actions towards those who do not fit that particular religious structure. It doesn’t matter whether the religion in power is Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Orthodox or any other faith community.

The original Abrahamic covenant springs from the idea that God uniquely chose to bless Abraham. Then Abraham, along with all his descendants, pass that blessing to everyone else. They are “blessed to be a blessing.” That part of the covenant must also be honored.

So, do I support Israel? Of course. Should the US? Of course. Israel is a sovereign nation with rights to exist.

But should that support mean blind approval for systematic mistreatment of others? No. Neither Israel nor any other nation gets a “bye” when it comes to basic ethics and morality.

No. Neither Israel nor any other nation gets a “bye” when it comes to basic ethics and morality.

[Note: a version of this column is scheduled to run in the January 6, 2017, edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Thoughtful Pastor, AKA Christy Thomas, welcomes all questions for the column. Although the questioner will not be identified, I do need a name and verifiable contact information in case the newspaper editor has need of it. You may use this link to email questions.]