Subject: Does the Bible say protect Israel |
Bible Note: Hi, Searcher; I agree that there are many people people living in the geopolitical entity named Israel who are also part of the people named Israel. I think the the key is to distinguish between the people and the state. (I know you know the history of Israel, I'm just summarizing to explain my point. Besides other reader may be less familiar with it.) The people get the name Israel from their ancestor Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. They are heirs to the promise made to Abraham, Jacob's grandfather. Thus the people named Israel existed before they, with God's help, subdued Canaan and established a state named for them - Israel. The authority of that state lay in the Law of Moses. That state had boundaries set by God and was ruled by a king - first God himself, later Saul, David, and Solomon. After Solomon, the state named Israel split in two and eventually disappeared. But the people named Israel, while dispersed, were still the descendants of Abraham, still heirs, still chosen by God. For roughly 2500 years, there was a people named Israel but no state by that name - no king, no fixed boundaries, nothing that makes a state. Then, in 1948, in response to the horror of the Holocaust, the U.N. created a new state to be a safe haven for the people still known as Israel. There was no Moses, no Joshua. The U.N., not God, established the boundaries. The U.N., not God, established the government. The U.N., not God, helped subdue the inhabitants. The U.N., not God, chose the name. The authority of this new state lies in a man-made constitution, not in the Law of Moses. That was the long answer - my favorite kind, I guess. :-) The short answer is that I think the Biblical prophecies concerning Israel speak of the people named Israel, created and set aside by God. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |