Somebody Tell Ted Cruz There is No Such Thing in the Bible as a 'Jewish State'
There's the kingdom of Israel. There's the land of Israel. But there is no thing as a "Jewish state"
Maybe it’s time we stopped maligning those blessed Boomers.
No, seriously.
I know their generation is credited - blamed? - for much of the political and economic strife we face today, but the truth is, these roughly 61- to 80-year-old Americans really did Evangelicals a solid.
How so?
Because of their historically botched and fraudulent theology and eschatology concerning the state of Israel, we are now on the threshold of a cultural zeitgiest in which this grand hoax will finally - Lord willing - be put to bed.
And that hoax, simply put, is this: that the 20th-century political state of Israel is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the realization of Yahweh’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This nearly 100-year-old hoax was on full display during Tucker Carlson’s rambunctious interview with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father - a pastor and supposed “Christian dominionist” - clearly did not bother to teach the Scriptures to little Teddy.
If he had, there’s absolutely no way Cruz would’ve said what he said.
For those who still haven’t watched it, you can check out the video above. But here’s how it went.
Senator: I’ll tell you why. It’s twofold. First, as a Christian, growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. I want to be on the blessing side.
Tucker: Those who bless the government of Israel? The Bible says the nation of Israel, not the government.
Senator: It says the nation of Israel.
Tucker: Where in the Bible is that? You’re quoting a phrase without context. You don’t even know where it is.
Senator: It’s in Genesis. I don’t have the exact scripture offhand, but—
Tucker: You’re quoting a Bible phrase you don’t have context for, and that’s your theology? I’m confused. As a Christian, I want to know what you’re talking about.
Senator: My support for Israel comes from two places. Biblically, we are commanded to support Israel. Second—
Tucker: Hold on. We’re commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel?
Senator: We’re commanded to support Israel. Those who bless Israel will be blessed.
Tucker: Define Israel. Is that the current borders, the current leadership, the political entity called Israel?
Senator: Yes, the nation of Israel. A nation refers to the people of Israel in Genesis, and yes, it’s the same as the country run by Benjamin Netanyahu right now.
Tucker: It’s not run by Netanyahu as a dictator. He’s the prime minister, elected by the people, just like Donald Trump was elected in America.
Senator: Exactly. It’s a democratic country.
Tucker: So you believe that’s what God was talking about in Genesis? A political entity that’s existed for thousands of years, though it was recreated just over 70 years ago?
Senator: Yes, but most people understand that line in Genesis to refer to the Jewish people, God’s chosen people.
Tucker: That’s not what it says. You don’t even know the scriptural citation.
Senator: It’s something like Genesis 16, in the earlier part of the book. You keep interrupting me before I can finish.
Tucker: I’m trying to understand. You’re saying as a Christian, if I believe in Jesus, I have to support the modern state of Israel?
Senator: No, I’m explaining my personal motivation. Not everyone I represent is a Christian, so I don’t use my faith as the reason we should support Israel.
Tucker: So God tells you to support the modern state of Israel in some Bible verse you heard about but don’t know where it is?
Senator: Try to be less condescending. I’m explaining my personal motivation.
Tucker: I’m sorry, I want to be polite. I’m just trying to figure out what you’re saying.
It was an exchange as uncomfortable and yet irresistible to watch as it is to read. And as I go back to it, Tucker had a point to press on Cruz on his definition. Isn’t that what a journalist is supposed to do?
Whatever you may think of Tucker’s snark or Cruz’s theological argument, the most important takeaway is that the way Senator Cruz understands the identity of the state of Israel is almost universally taught, preached, and proclaimed in the vast majority of Evangelical churches today.
That’s not a “take” - that’s a fact.
It explains so much about our nation right now. It explains the divisions, the weakening cultural relevancy of Christianity, the animosity towards anything Biblical.
When Israel - as a name, forget the political state, but as the name of Israel - has been fully demonized, as it soon will be, the long-term fallout of this failure to understand who Israel is will, undoubtedly, lead to the demonization of Christianity itself.
How so? Because only Christians - and even then, mostly Evangelicals and other sound, Bible-believing churches - are the ones even bothering to defend the state of Israel nowadays.
And so it will be this great deception about Israel that will draw in so many otherwise well-meaning Christians to support a regime that hates them, that hates their Messiah and their God.
Contrary to popular belief, with the possible exception of Messianic Jews, the rest of the Jewish population of Israel wants nothing to do with the Christian Bible - neither the Old nor the New Testaments. While most Jews are liberal theologically, those who are conservative rarely study the Torah anymore. Their studies are focused on the rabbinical teachings of the Talmud, the Zohar and other writings.
Go back to what Tucker asked the senator:
So you believe that’s what God was talking about in Genesis? A political entity that’s existed for thousands of years, though it was recreated just over 70 years ago?
When you read it like that, it almost sounds ludicrous, as if anyone making such a claim would be laughed out of the room and dismissed forever as any legitimate expert on the topic.
Yet, not only was this exactly what Cruz was implying, but he claimed the Bible commands him (and us) to bless that political entity.
Do you see how dangerous this is?
Is the Israel of the Bible the Same as the Current Israeli Government?
I know the answer. You know the answer. So why doesn’t a sitting US Senator know the answer?
It's not "just" eschatology. This is the great theological hoax of our time - that the state established in 1948 is the Biblical nation of Israel. It's a bait and switch.
And Evangelicals - including myself - have swallowed it hook, line and sinker for nearly a century.
No more.
Remember the flag Israel chose to represent the newly-minted “Jewish State”? That star is none other than the Star of Moloch/Remphan, as previously discussed.
Cruz’s comments were not far from those made by current US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a former SBC pastor who also suggested Genesis 12 teaches that we must bless the political state called Israel.
Since 1948 when Israel was finally recognized as an independent Jewish State, it has been under attack for its existence. It is noteworthy that the first nation to recognize Israel was the United States, when our President Harry S. Truman did so within minutes of its being constituted as an independent state. President Truman had been taught in his Independence, Missouri church the lessons of Genesis 12 that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. President Truman would later say that he believed the teaching of his mother and grandmother, and desired for America to be blessed. And we have been.
Again, Huckabee references Genesis 12 as his “proof text” that we must “bless Israel.”
So let’s just see what Genesis 12 says.
And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go forth from your land, And from your kin And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3
Did you see anything about Israel, the nation state or the son of Abraham, whose name was originally Jacob?
Is there any mention of a “Jewish state” in this passage?
So where, then, would Cruz and others get such an idea?
Contemporary American Evangelicalism and the GOP, that’s where.
The Bible speaks of the nation of Israel nearly 2,500 times throughout the Old and New Testaments.
It never once mentions a “Jewish state.”
It does, however, tell us that Israel and the Jews were constantly at war with one another, leading to the ultimate divorce of the nation of Israel into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, around the 10th century BC.1
And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
1 Kings 12:16–19
While largely ignored or understudied by most Evangelical churches, this critical event in the history of Israel underpins everything that comes after - including the promised reconciliation of both Israel and Judah to Yahweh, the God of Israel in the Messiah which was to come.
The fact is, there never has been a “Jewish state” in the Bible - not under King David, nor Solomon, nor any other king of Israel. The Israel of God is not “Jewish” but is made up of both Jews and Greeks - both references to the two houses of Israel.
Evangelicals in particular have committed untold damage to the Scriptures by allowing this presupposition - and at the end of the day, that’s all it really is - to erode our understanding of the Scriptures. We allowed cultural Boomer Christianity to dominate our teaching for so long that we’ve set aside the Reformationist appeal to Sola Scriptura, or “Scripture alone.”2
And when we let the Bible speak, it has nothing in it to suggest the divine sanctioning of any such “Jewish state,” particularly one where spitting on Christians is called a “Jewish custom” by those who deny the Father and the Son - or what the Bible calls antichrist.3
There’s much more, of course, but suffice to say, when America’s leaders, even its most prominent Christian figures, claim things that simply are not so, it’s our job to stand up and say, “No.”
It’s incumbent on all on name of name of Christ Jesus to say, “That is not so.”
What else are we doing here? Why else have we come to such a time as this?