The issue of the Jews and Israel is one of the most heated and divisive topics in the geopolitical arena. A correct biblical understanding should inform believers on how they ought to think about the Jews and Israel.
If the believer is to be sanctified and transformed into the image of Christ, then it should stand to reason that they will ultimately think about Israel in the same way that God does.
What follows is an in-exhaustive, roughly chronological thread of Israel though the scriptures.
God created everything and it belongs to him.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Psalm 24:1-2 The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD; for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.
God makes a special claim.
Leviticus 25:23 The land is not to be permanently sold because it is Mine, and you are only foreigners and temporary residents on My land.
Psalm 135:4 For Yahweh has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His treasured possession.
God promises to make Abram (later Abraham) a great nation c2000 BC.
Genesis 12:1-3 The LORD said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
God promises land to Abram and his offspring.
Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring."
God promises land to Abram and his offspring forever.
Genesis 13:14-15 After Lot had separated from him, the LORD said to Abram, "Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west, for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see.
God tells Abram that his offspring will be in enslaved 400 years while the Amorites in the promised land are given the opportunity to repent.
Genesis 15:13-16 Then the LORD said to Abram, "Know this for certain: Your offspring will be foreigners in a land that does not belong to them; they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions. But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
God gives to Abram and his offspring a substantial (not yet realised) territory.
Genesis 15:18-21 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "I give this land to your offspring, from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River: the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.
God's promise is unconditional and everlasting.
Genesis 17:7-8 I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your future offspring throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing - all the land of Canaan - as an eternal possession, and I will be their God.
God promises the land to Isaac as an everlasting covenant.
Genesis 17:19 But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring."
God promises the land to Jacob and his offspring and to return them to the land.
Genesis 28:13-15 Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, "I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
God renames Jacob to Israel.
Genesis 32:27-28 "What is your name? " the man asked. "Jacob," he replied. "Your name will no longer be Jacob," He said. "It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."
Genesis 35:10-12 God said to him: Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel. So He named him Israel. God also said to him: I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.
God sends Israel to Egypt to make them a great nation (c1876 BC).
Genesis 46:2-4 That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: "Jacob, Jacob!" He said. And Jacob replied, "Here I am." God said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will put his hands on your eyes."
God leads Israel from Egypt to the promised land (c1446 BC).
Exodus 13:3-5 So Moses told the people, "Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month.
God punishes and drives out the inhabitants for defiling themselves and the promised land (c1406 BC).
Leviticus 18:21-25 "You are not to make any of your children pass through the fire to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh. You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable. You are not to have sexual intercourse with any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. "Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves by all these things. The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
God chose the Jews as a treasured possession.
Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people for Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be for him a people, a treasured possession from among all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.
God is unchanging and he promises to safeguard Israel.
Malachi 3:6 "Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
While the sun, moon and stars exist, Israel will be a nation before God.
Jeremiah 31:35-36 This is what the LORD says: The One who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar - Yahweh of Hosts is His name: If this fixed order departs from My presence this is the LORD's declaration then also Israel's descendants will cease to be a nation before Me forever.
God promises to restore Israel.
Deuteronomy 30:1-6 "When all these things happen to you - the blessings and curses I have set before you - and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am giving you today, then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. Even if your exiles are at the ends of the earth, He will gather you and bring you back from there. The LORD your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than He did your fathers.
God repeatedly warns Israel to obey his commands otherwise they will suffer harm.
Jeremiah 25:4-6 The LORD sent all His servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention. He announced, 'Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the LORD gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever. Do not follow other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.
God sends the Jews and surrounding nations into captivity in Babylon (605 BC, 597 BC and 586 BC).
Jeremiah 25:11 This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.
God reveals the future of the world through a Jewish context to the prophet Daniel and identifies the exact date the Messiah will enter Jerusalem (to be killed).
Daniel 9:24-26 Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two week the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing.
The decree above was issued by Artaxerxes I to Nehemiah on 14 March 445 BC. Each week is a 7 year period of the Jewish calendar (a lunar 360 day-calendar). The restoration of the temple and walls of Jerusalem were completed in 49 years (the first 7 weeks), and Jesus entered Jerusalem 434 years later (end of the next 62 weeks). This places the triumphal entry on 6 April 32 AD (10 Nissan – the day the Jews select the passover lamb). This leaves the final 7 years (70th week) of Israel's future before the return of the Messiah.
Jesus was miraculously born into God's chosen people, and one of the future judgments will be according to how the nations treat the Jews.
Joel 3:1-3 Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there because of My people, My inheritance Israel. The nations have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided up My land. They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.
Jesus declares that salvation is of the Jews.
John 4:22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.
Jesus did not bring a new message, but came to fulfill the promises given to the Jews since they all point towards himself.
Matthew 5:17-18 "Don't assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished.
Jesus cursed the fig tree (that is, national Israel will cease to exist for a period).
Matthew 21:19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again! " At once the fig tree withered.
Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem.
Matthew 24:1-2 As Jesus left and was going out of the temple complex, His disciples came up and called His attention to the temple buildings. Then He replied to them, "Don't you see all these things? I assure you: Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down!"
Luke 19:41-44 As He approached and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, "If you knew this day what would bring peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
Jesus prophesied the Jews will reject him and in so doing Israel will become desolate. Furthermore, he will not return to Jerusalem until they acknowledge their offence and call on him.
Matthew 23:37-39 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem! She who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, yet you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, 'He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One'!"
Hosea 5:15 I will depart and return to My place until they recognize their guilt and seek My face; they will search for Me in their distress.
The Jews rejected and killed their Messiah, and incurred God's wrath and were scattered across the earth.
Leviticus 26:27-33 "And if in spite of this you do not obey Me but act with hostility toward Me, I will act with furious hostility toward you; I will also discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the flesh of your sons; you will eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your dead bodies on the lifeless bodies of your idols; I will reject you. I will reduce your cities to ruins and devastate your sanctuaries. I will not smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices. I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it. But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword to chase after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins."
This was fulfilled in 70 AD when Titus destroyed the temple and Jerusalem. It is noteworthy that according to the historian Josephus during the 5 month siege of Jerusalem the city was ravaged by murder, famine and cannibalism.
Despite their faults, the Jews have faithfully preserved the Word of God.
Romans 3:1-2 So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the spoken words of God.
The stumbling of the Jews made salvation available to the Gentiles.
Romans 11:11-12 I ask, then, have they stumbled in order to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. Now if their stumbling brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full number bring!
God is not done with the Jews because his covenant is unconditional, and calling irrevocable.
Romans 11:28-29 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, since God's gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
In 135 AD Emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina and Israel to Syria Palaestina. This was common Roman practice to insult and disconnect a conquered people from their land by renaming it after their arch enemies (the Assyrians and Philistines). To state the obvious, there is no such region as Palestine prior to 135 AD. Since the entire text of the Bible was completed about 40 years earlier (Revelation written c95 AD), any biblical references to Palestine are strictly in error. For example a map labelled "Palestine at the time of Jesus" is nonsense!
True to his word, God made the land desolate. 18 centuries after the dispersion, Mark Twain visited Palestine in 1867 and wrote:
Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad - Chapter 56 Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince… Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper village; the riches of Solomon are no longer there to compel the admiration of visiting Oriental queens; the wonderful temple which was the pride and the glory of Israel, is gone… Palestine is desolate and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise?… Palestine is no more of this work-day world. It is sacred to poetry and tradition — it is dream-land.
Then God instructs the land to become fruitful in preparation for the return of the Jews, c1900.
Ezekiel 36:8-11 "You, mountains of Israel, will produce your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel, since their arrival is near. Look! I am on your side; I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown. I will fill you with people, with the whole house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will fill you with people and animals, and they will increase and be fruitful. I will make you inhabited as you once were and make you better off than you were before.
God promises to return the Jews to Israel (twice).
Isaiah 11:11-12 On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover - from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west - the remnant of His people who survive. He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Ezekiel 36:24-28 "For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances. Then you will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God."
God declares that Israel will be reborn.
Isaiah 66:7-8 Before Zion was in labour, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labour, she gave birth to her sons.
This prophesy was fulfilled on 14 May 1948. Ever since then the Jews have been returning to Israel. This will no doubt continue as anti-Semitism constantly increases around the world.
The cursed fig tree (national Israel) came back to life, and the final generation of the current age began.
Matthew 24:32-34 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near - at the door! I assure you: This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place."
The final kingdom of man (a revived Roman Empire) is about to emerge that will terminate in the Great Tribulation prophesied in Daniel and Revelation amongst others.
Daniel 2:41-43 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter's fired clay and partly of iron - it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay - part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. You saw the iron mixed with clay - the peoples will mix with one another but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.
Once the "fullness of the gentiles" is accomplished, Jesus will rapture the church.
Romans 11:25-27 So that you will not be conceited, brothers, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery: A partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob. And this will be My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.
Soon thereafter the final 7 years of this present age (70th week of Daniel, equivalently the Great Tribulation of Revelation) will commence. The nations will become obsessed with dividing Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12:3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.
Zechariah 12:9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
There are a few precursor events which will shortly take place. These include the destruction of Damascus,
Isaiah 17:1 An oracle against Damascus: Look, Damascus is no longer a city. It has become a ruined heap.
and the destruction of the coalition of invaders of Israel.
Ezekiel 38 The word of the LORD came to
me: "Son of man, turn your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog,
the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him and say:
This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I am against you, Gog, chief
prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in
your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, including horses and
riders, who are all splendidly dressed, a huge company armed with
shields and bucklers, all of them brandishing swords. Persia, Cush,
and Put are with them, all of them with shields and helmets; Gomer
with all its troops; and Beth-togarmah from the remotest parts of the
north along with all its troops - many peoples are with you.
…
Now
on that day, the day when Gog comes against the land of Israel" -
this is the declaration of the Lord GOD - "My wrath will flare up.
I swear in My zeal and fiery rage: On that day there will be a great
earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of
the sky, the animals of the field, every creature that crawls on the
ground, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble
before Me. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will
collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground. I will call for a
sword against him on all My mountains" - the declaration of the
Lord GOD - "and every man's sword will be against his brother. I
will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour
out torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone on him, as well
as his troops and the many peoples who are with him. I will display
My greatness and holiness, and will reveal Myself in the sight of
many nations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.
Jesus will return to Jerusalem at his second coming, and will rule from there during the millennial kingdom (the coming age).
Isaiah 59:20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression."
Zechariah 14:1-4 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence. I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city. Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations as He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south.
Revelation 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the people, who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God's word, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for 1,000 years.
The prophesies of the coming Messiah have prompted Satan to continually attempt to thwart God's plan and to cut off the ancestral line.
The Messiah would come through Eve, so Cain killed Abel.
The Messiah would come through Israel, so pharaoh tried to destroy them.
The Messiah would come through David, so Saul constantly tried to kill him.
The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, so Herod had all the male children in the region under 2 years old killed.
Satan was unable to prevent the first coming, and now works on preventing the second.
Jesus will return to Jerusalem for the Jews, so Hitler tried to eliminate them.
The rebirth of Israel in 1948 was met the next day with Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen trying to destroy it. More attempts were made in 1967 and 1973.
In the near future, the Jews will build the third temple and reinstate the daily sacrifices. Israel was attacked in October 2023 to prevent the building of the "Third Temple of Solomon" according to a Hamas statement.
Satan is successfully stirring up anti-Semitism around the world yet again. Throughout history he has used countless people in countless attempts to destroy the Jews. God asserts that this is not possible, but woe to those who are deceived into supporting and participating in those attempts!
Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
Finally, Psalm 122 commands believers to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you prosper"
Created: 2023-Jul-27. Revised: 2024-Apr-20