Recommended book

The Uniqueness of Israel

Because Israel and the Jewish people were uniquely to be the ones who would receive the Divine Word, God's deeply personal relationship with humankind became particularly intense in His relation with the Jewish people (Israel). They, like the rest of us, were and are sinners. Hence the special intensity of God's relationship with them drew out of them the best and the worst that we see in the human race. Both God’s special relationship with them and their inevitably intense response to that relationship ensured that their history would be unique among the nations.  Further, their encounter with other nations brought and brings the Gentiles into contact with God's revelation. Therefore the nations' reaction to the Jewish People reveals both the best and the worst, not only in the Jews, but also in the wider world as well. (This is the deepest way to understand the historic and ever-present phenomenon of anti-Semitism.) [1]

In the story of Israel we see, as if in a magnifying mirror, the story of all peoples and the story of our individual lives. That is why the Bible speaks to peoples and individuals of all ages. In it we hear God's Word to us all.

When we reach the New Testament we find that God has not just drawn near to Israel, but His Word has actually come into their midst. `The Word became flesh and dwelt among us'.[2] Now the particularly intense relationship that draws out of them both the best and the worst reaches its dramatic climax. It is in this climax that God is able fully to reveal His Person to us. It is at the Cross that God’s heart of love and righteousness is fully made known. This final revelation is foreshadowed in all His past relationship with Israel as recorded in the Old Testament. Thus the whole Old Testament bears witness to Christ[3], not just a few passages. In Him the full relationship between God and humankind, foreshadowed in the Old Testament, is finally revealed. That is why the New Testament draws upon Old Testament words spoken to Israel and applies them to Jesus.  Since Israel embodies before God, all peoples, it also is right for preachers to use such passages and relate them to the wider world, church and individuals.

It is in the culmination of meeting between God and Israel that the worst and best about His people is finally seen. The best is seen, for example, in the life of the Apostles (all Jews) who accept Christ, and begin to take the Word of God into all the world, thus fulfilling God's calling to Israel to be a light to the Gentiles.

The worst is seen in the Jewish religious leadership who reject Christ and in doing so reject the very Person of God Himself. Yet it is here that we see the wonderful sovereign love of God for us all. Not only does God use their good response to Christ, He needs and uses also their rejection of Him too. Indeed their rejection of Him is the means by which He fully makes Himself known to us as He bears all our sins in His body and `takes away the sins of the world'.[4]

Both Old and New Testament, tell us that God had actually purposed to use the sin of Israel as the means of bringing light to the world.[5] His righteous love is seen in the context of the sin of His people. Although the cross of Christ is the place where this is accomplished, it is seen too in the Old Testament. Here also the wonderful love and forgiveness of God are demonstrated in the context of the sin of Israel. It is only in that context that such books as Jeremiah could have been written at all.[6] This is a major theme of Paul's epistle to the Romans. Here he argues that it is human unfaithfulness to God that brings out His faithfulness and that is the way He had purposed it from the beginning. [7]

It is out of this very real and dramatic relationship between God and Israel that Old and New Testaments came to be written. The writings of the Scriptures are the response to all that has happened as the life of God meets the people of Israel. The Bible is the result of the Divine really embedding itself in the humanity of God's people. Those who were most intimately caught up in the drama record that Divine initiative and human response for us. They were not detached observers.

God raises Christ, having died as a Jew at the hand of Jews and Gentiles in a new recreated humanity that breaks the human division between Jew and Gentile. In the resurrection of Christ, Israel is reconstituted and the Church that embraces both Jew and Gentile becomes, through Christ, the new Temple. This is a major point made by Paul in Ephesians.[8]

In Romans 11, Paul goes on to discuss the future for both the Church and Jewish Israel. He argues that it is precisely because God had purposed that Jewish Israel be disobedient for our sake that He has not abandoned the purposes for them that are revealed in the Old Testament prophets. Thus the Bible tells us about the future destiny of the Church, Jewish Israel and the world. It is not three separate purposes, though. Rather, through the final restoration of Israel to its land and eventually to Christ, the Church itself will be blessed and, in turn, the world experience `life from the dead'.[9]  (This does not mean that all will be saved, for although the resurrection of Christ embraces all creation there are many, both Jew and Gentile, who reject the grace of God. This means there will be both a resurrection to Eternal Life and a resurrection to condemnation.[10])

Paul also makes clear that the Christian Church should never look down upon the continuing Jewish Israel, because the very sins of self-righteous pride that led them to reject Christ are in danger of affecting the Church too. Indeed he goes on to imply that if the Church does not live up to its calling it will not succeed in its calling to lead the Jewish people to Christ.[11]

Thus although the Bible story is focused in Israel and then Christ, its story enfolds the whole of reality from the beginning to the end of time.

But now to this question: Is there any external indication that the story it tells is a true story - a true history?

We ponder the human subject of the story - the people of Israel.

Over again the Old Testament prophets tell us that the history of the Jews will be unlike the history of any other people, and that towards the end of time, after great suffering, the Jews will return to the Promised Land, where they will become the centre of hostility. This hostility will affect the whole world.  Eventually God will reconcile them to their Messiah, cleanse them from their sin, judge the nations who have hated them, and make them a blessing to all peoples.[12] The New Testament is not silent about this purpose of God.[13]

Many people find this subject embarrassing because they have been led to believe that Israel today is guilty of oppressing the Palestinians and furthermore the Christian revelation teaches that God loves all peoples – not just the Jews.. To address these concerns I will go over some basic issues.

Political

If one sincerely believes that, in 1947/48 the Jews turned up from Europe and, with overwhelming odds, expelled much of the long standing local population and then expanded this conquest in 1967’ it will be very difficult to believe that the hand of God was in such clearly unjust events.

Further if one sincerely believes that, if only Israel would withdraw to the pre-1967 boundaries, the huge Islamic world would give up its former aim of destroying Israel then one will certainly put the blame for the continuing tragic events with Israel. If however one believes that an Israeli withdrawal would greatly increase its vulnerability to suicide bombs and invading armies then one will understand why a withdrawal just now would be near to suicidal. (It would be a mere nine miles wide at its middle-populated area). If one believes that over half the Israeli population were from the Middle East and not from Europe and were fleeing Arab persecution then one will be more sympathetic to these new immigrants. This sympathy will be strengthened if one believes that the Arab nations started the 1967 war with the purpose of killing the Jews in Israel.

Theological Issues.

1.      If one believes that God’s relationship with his creation is purely spiritual (ie He does not interact with the physical space-time of this world) then one will find it difficult to believe that He is active in history so as to give the Jews a unique history among the nations – a history which now has resulted in their regathering. If one does hold this view (a form of Deism) one must still come to terms with, what is widely observed (even by the non-religious), namely that Jewish history in remarkable in its uniqueness.

If on the other hand one believes that God can and does act in the space-time of this world then will not have a theological problem with the uniqueness of Jewish history and perhaps its restoration to the land.

2.      If one believes that the Old Testament is concerned with a particular people and land and not with all the world, and that the New Testament gives this a universal application then one will find it difficult to see how God could have any continuing special purpose for Israel and its land. If however one believes that both Old and New Testaments hold particular and universal together (this is the argument of Paul in Romans 2-3 and 9-11) then one will find it easier to see the continuing significance of land.

3.      If one believes that the salvation of Christ is only for the spiritual part of human beings then one will find it difficult to believe that land is significant. If one believes, however, that the redemption of Christ embraces all creation then one will be able to see that land is significant. Since Paul (Rom 9-11) re-affirms God’s ancient covenant with Jewish Israel and that at the heart of this ancient covenant is ‘land’ one will see why Paul does not need explicitly to refer to their restoration to the land – especially as, at that time, they were not even in exile from the land.

4.      If one believes that Christ fulfils Israel’s unique destiny and that ‘fulfils’ includes in its meaning a ‘putting an end to’ then one will find it difficult to see the continuing relevance of Israel in the story of redemption. If, however, one believes that Christ fulfils Israel’s destiny from Abraham to the end of time then one will see Israel’s continuing history as ‘in Christ’ – even if Israel itself does not recognise it.

5.      If one believes that the temple (a temporary sign of the covenant) is equivalent to the ‘land’ then one will believe (on the basis of the letter to the Hebrews) that ‘land’ has lost its significance. If however one distinguishes between ‘sign’ (eg temple and its sacrifices) and ‘content’ (God, people, land) then one will see the continuing significance of land.

Jews, Christians, and agnostics have written about the Jewish story and commented on its uniqueness. The ordinary Jewish person is just that. There really is no difference between the Jewish person and the great variety of people one would find in any community. But the history of the Jewish people as a whole is striking in its uniqueness. I give below a few examples.

Famous Writers.

Winston Churchill:

"Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world."

 

 Olive Schreiner:

The study of the history of Europe during the past centuries teaches us one uniform lesson: That the nations which received and in any way dealt fairly and mercifully with the Jew have prospered; and that the nations that have tortured and oppressed him have written out their own curse.

David Vital:

By the standards of others, once they had lost their country, the Jewish people should have fallen into decay long ago. But instead, uniquely [emphasis mine], they continued to maintain themselves as a nation, and by doing so became in the eyes of others an uncanny and frightening people.[14]

Mark Twain:

The Jews constitute a tiny percentage of the human race. Properly the Jew ought, hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with has hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylon and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendour, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? [15]

The once Marxist Russian Nikolai Berdayev came to a similar conclusion:

    I remember how the materialist interpretation of history, when I attempted in my youth to verify it by applying it to the destinies of peoples, broke down in the case of the Jews, where destiny seemed absolutely inexplicable from the materialistic standpoint . . . Its survival is a mysterious and wonderful phenomenon demonstrating that the life of this people is governed by a special predetermination, transcending the processes of adaptation expounded by the materialistic interpretation of history. The survival of the Jews, their resistance to destruction, their endurance under absolutely peculiar conditions and the fateful role played by them in history: all these point to the particular and mysterious foundations of their destiny.

The historian Barbara Tuchman wrote:

    The history of the Jews is . . . intensely peculiar in the fact of having given the western world its concept of origins and monotheism, its ethical traditions, and the founder of its prevailing religion, yet suffering dispersion, statelessness and ceaseless persecution, and finally in our times nearly successful genocide, dramatically followed by fulfilment of the never-relinquished dream of return to the homeland. Viewing this strange and singular history, one cannot escape the impression that it must contain some special significance for the history of mankind, that in some way, whether one believes in divine purpose or inscrutable circumstance, the Jews have been singled out to carry the tale of human fate.

Three Christian Views:

King Louis XIV of France asked Blaise Pascal, to give him proof of the supernatural. Pascal answered: "Why, the Jews, your Majesty -- the Jews."

Elsewhere he writes:

It is certain that in certain parts of the world we can see a peculiar people, separated from the other peoples of the world, and this is called the Jewish people … separated from all the other peoples of the earth, who are the most ancient of all and whose history is earlier by several centuries than the oldest histories we have. …. My encounter with this people amazes me and seems worthy of attention … Lovingly and faithfully they hand on this book in which Moses declares that they have been ungrateful towards God throughout their lives, that he knows they will be still more so after his death, but that he calls heaven and earth to witness against them that he told them so often enough.

(NB Pascal's amazement includes the observation that the Jews preserve and transmit a book that is unflattering to them. This surely merits our attention.)

He continues:

This people are not eminent solely by their antiquity, but are also singular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin till now. For, whereas the nations of Greece and of Italy, of Lacedaemon, of Athens and of Rome, and others who came long after, have long since perished, these ever remain, and in spite of the endeavours of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them, as their historians testify, and as it is easy to conjecture from the natural order of things during so long a space of years, they have nevertheless been preserved (and this preservation has been foretold); and extending from the earliest times to the latest, their history comprehends in its duration all our histories which it preceded by a long time.

Karl Barth, who did not like proofs from nature for the Christian Faith, said of the history of the Jews:

“In fact, if the question of a proof of God is raised, one need merely point to this simple historical fact. For in the person of the Jew there stands a witness before our eyes, the witness of God's covenant with  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and in that way with us all. Even one who does not understand Holy Scripture can see this reminder. And don't you see, the remarkable theological importance, the extraordinary spiritual and sacred significance of the National Socialism (Nazism) that now lies behind us is that right from its roots it was anti-Semitic, that in this movement it was realised with a simple demonic clarity, that the enemy is the Jew. Yes, the enemy in this matter had to be a Jew. In this Jewish nation there really lives to this day the extraordinariness of the revelation of God.”[16]

The Anglican Theologian and distinguished Churchman, Alan Richardson, in Christian Apologetics (1947) SCM, wrote:

"In view of the remarkable history of the Jewish people it ought not to seem strange to us that they should have some unique destiny to fulfil in the providence of God. The history of other nations provides not even a single remote parallel to the phenomenon of Jewish existence down the ages and to this day. What other nation of antiquity has preserved its identity and character as the Jews have done, though exiled from their homeland and dispersed throughout the world? Throughout centuries of persecution the Jewish race has survived the catastrophes which have so often destroyed the national identity of other peoples. Religious or secularised a Jew remains a Jew - a voluntary or involuntary witness to the truth that is symbolised in the story of God's Covenant with Abraham. This striking fact of the persistence of the Jewish race has long been recognised as important evidence of the truth of the Biblical interpretation of history." [17]