WHO IS ISRAEL?
A CHRISTIAN ASKS1973
"The Bible recognizes Israel and supports its cause against its neighbors." So say many Christians to explain their position regarding the Middle East conflict. Let us examine the term Israel.
Israel of the spirit
In the New Testament, the Church of Christ is called the Israel of God (Gal 6:16; cf. also Mt 3:9, 19:28 etc.), the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:26, Rev 21), God's temple (1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16, 1 Pet 2:4-6), and the real descendants of Abraham (Gal 3:29, Phil 3:3; cf. Rom 9:6-8). Mere physical descendance from Abraham does not make one belong to the chosen people of God and heir to the promises, but faith in the Lord (Rom 9:6-8 and 10:11-12). Thus citizenship in God's Israel has a completely new basis in the New Testament.
The promises made to Israel in the Old Testament are also transformed in the New Testament. The chosen people are no longer promised an earthly city, "the present city of Jerusalem", but a heavenly city, the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:26, Heb 12:22, 13:14, Rev 3:12).
To conclude, when we Christians read the Old Testament, we cannot say that the same material promises God made to the Israel of the Old Testament hold good for the modern State of Israel, meaning that those who follow the Jewish religion today have a right to the land because God gave it to the Jews of the Old Testament.
Moreover, when we pray to the Psalms and ask God to bless and defend Israel or Zion, we are not praying for the State of Israel or even world Judaism, but for the Church of God. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium speaks of this under the heading "the People of God" (ch. 2), a term that applies first of all the Catholic Church. It includes as well other Christian communities, and reaches out to all sincere people who have not received the Gospel, yet try to lead a good life and seek God as best they know how. Thus salvation is possible for Jews, Muslims, Traditionalists and even agnostics. In this way, God's promises to the Jews are not annulled (Rom 11:29), but fulfilled through the grace of Christ.
Israel by blood
Who are the physical descendants of the Israelites of the Old Testament? Well before the time of Christ, Jews were scattered all over the Mediterranean world and the Middle East, sometimes as a result of catastrophes like the Babylonian captivity, but more often voluntarily, as they established trading networks in the cities of the world. While away, many of them even forgot the Hebrew language and had to translate the Old Testament into Greek (the Septuagint). Paul found them everywhere he went.
The Roman crushing of the Jewish revolts in 70 and 132 ended the system of Roman indirect rule through the Jewish "natural rulers" and ended the Temple worship, but did not scatter the Jewish population of the Holy Land any more than previous disasters. What happened at this time was that "many thousands of the circumcision (Jews) came to believe in Christ" (Eusebius, History 3:35). A gradual Christianization of the people of the Holy Land eventually left the Jews there in the minority.
The coming of an Arab occupation army in the 7th century changed the language of the Holy Land into Arabic and let to a gradual islamization of the people, leaving both the Christians and the Jews in the minority. Certainly there was mixing by immigration and intermarriage over the centuries, but the basic stock remained the same. The Palestinians, who counted only about 5% Jews at the beginning of the 20th century, can claim to be the true sons of the soil and the physical descendants of the Jews of the Old Testament.
The Zionist movement of this century, even before Hitler, initiated a systematic immigration of Jews from the diaspora. These too can claim some physical descendance from the Jews of the Old Testament, but the very different racial features they brought from the various parts of the world show that they too had both intermingled with their neighbors and converted many of them. The incoming Jews understood to expropriate the land and push out the Palestinians, who have been living in ever swelling refugee camps for 25 years.
George Steiner, himself a Jew, raised the problem in the Sixth American-Israel Dialogue: "The existence of Israel is not founded on logic; it has no ordinary legitimacy... By what right are we here, while these others are dispossessed?"
Objectives
Some Arab leaders have proposed to "throw the Israelis into the sea." This statement, apart from having pulled much of the world's sympathy away from the Palestinians, is not espoused by responsible Palestinians. They demand a secular state which would permit the return of the Palestinian refugees, even while permitting a strong Jewish presence. Jerusalem would be an international sanctuary for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The present Jewish theocratic supremacy would have to go, and restoration of property or indemnification would have to be made to the Palestinians.
Now can this be achieved? A Christian must give first place to the most radical solution, the conversion of hearts. "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all else will be granted" (Mt 6:33). Then "may the Lord bless you from Zion! May you see Jerusalem prosper all the days of your life!" (Psalm 128:5).