Two friends were having coffee one morning when the conversation turned to the ongoing war in the Middle East. The younger man said, “I don’t understand what is happening in Israel. It seems that most of the world is against them, people are vehemently protesting in the streets, and many Muslims seem hell-bent on their destruction and yet they persist. The war and anger ebb and flow between tolerance to outright bombings, murders and destruction. I know the Bible talks about Israel; is there some spiritual connection to what is happening in that part of the world?”
To answer the young man’s question, we need to revisit some ancient history. After mankind’s fall from grace in the early chapters of Genesis, God’s desire was to restore humanity back into his family. The problem was that mankind was in a state of rebellion against the Creator. So, to begin the process of restoration God chose Abraham and his descendants (the Hebrew or Jewish people).
In the book of Deuteronomy God explains why he chose this people group to enact his plan.
“For you are a people holy1 to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
God needed some representatives on the earth so he formed a people group. And true to form, he didn’t choose a powerful people who were great in number. There was nothing extraordinary about the Jewish people except that God chose to reveal his love to and through them and made an everlasting covenant with the patriarchs of that people. We must realize at this point that God is placing his chosen people in a world that does not know or acknowledge who he is. They are his chosen people to represent God in a world filled with those who have become enemies of God. So, guess what? Those who have become enemies of God are now also enemies of his chosen people.
Now I don’t mean to over simplify a very complex history between Israel and the nations, but I do think it is helpful to understand the root of the conflict.
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Some might say that since this was in the Old Testament it is obsolete now. But consider Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he confirms the Abrahamic covenant is still in effect. The covenant was made, ratified and confirmed with a promise.
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Galatians 3:16-18
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The covenant with Abraham regarded a people and the land those people would inherit. At the Tower of Babel God distributed land to each nation when he divided mankind. But to Jacob/Israel he set them apart for a special or chosen purpose.
Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.
Deuteronomy 32: 7-12
God alone would be the God is Israel, yet if we know Biblical history we know that foreign gods ruled the surrounding nations and Israel was continuously being enticed into idolatry. Yet again, this is the cunning of God’s enemies against the purposes of his heart.
God not only calls a people to himself, but he gives them a place to live. He is incredibly practical is his dealings with the Hebrew people. To illustrate, what good is a people called of God to begin the restoration of humanity if that people group is without land, national boundaries, national sovereignty or self-determination.
“You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:8-12
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Now, to answer the young man’s question, “Is there more to this Mid-East conflict than economics, trade imbalance, regional dominance, politics, or racial strife?” The answer is yes, absolutely; the conflict which has yet again been reignited is a sign of an ancient supernatural battle moving towards a climatic end.
It is a story of a people and their inheritance, a people chosen out of the nations to bring forth the Messiah. It is also a story of that peoples inheritance – the land, a land from which God’s kingdom will expand across the earth. The descendants of Abraham (through Isaac) are that people; and the land of Israel is that land – the promised inheritance.
There is so much more to understand about God’s purposes for the nation of Israel and in doing so, to understand more about the God who made promises to his people and makes promises to us today. I invite you to join me in exploring this timely topic.
[1] to be set apart, be consecrated, to devote, to make ceremonially sacred.
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