As we celebrate Thanksgiving in America this year, many of us thank God for the blessing of living in a land where we enjoy many freedoms. We are free to follow the Lord God and live without fear of practicing our faith. That’s a privilege we largely take for granted throughout the year.

Jewish Israelis likely realize more than Americans how valuable it is to live in a land where they can enjoy freedoms. This way of life is relatively new in the Holy Land. After thousands of years of being strangers in their own land, the Jewish people saw the fulfillment of their hopes when Israel was established once again as a nation in 1948. Today we’ll take a look at one man who was instrumental in setting in motion the stunning revitalization of Israel: Theodor Herzl.

Herzl was born into a German-speaking Jewish family and spent his early years in Vienna, Austria in the back half of the 19th century. His early philosophy included the belief that Jewish people should assimilate into European culture and shed their ethnic identity. But his view was challenged by an unjust yet common example of anti-Semitism in France.

The Dreyfus Affair

Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was accused of treason in 1894—specifically, selling French military secrets to the Germans. The evidence against him was flimsy at best: a slip of paper with handwriting that experts could not link to Dreyfus. But being rich and Jewish, he was an easy scapegoat. On the surface it seemed as though his birthplace (French land that became German territory) was a reason he could sell out to Germany, but beneath the surface, rumors of Dreyfus’s involvement in an “international Jewish conspiracy” pushed the public to call for his condemnation. A French military intelligence agent claimed he had proof against Dreyfus but could not present it because it contained classified military secrets. This was enough for the court to sentence Dreyfus to life in prison. 

The handwriting, along with another sample of treasonous notes to the enemy while Dreyfus was imprisoned, was eventually traced to a corrupt officer with a penchant for gambling. Yet this officer was exonerated, as the army protected him, unlike their treatment of Dreyfus. A public outcry at least got his sentence reduced, yet he still faced 10 years in prison. Further proving his innocence, the “classified evidence” that led to Dreyfus’s imprisonment was exposed as a forgery. French novelist Emile Zola’s open letter J’accuse, which accused France of its conspiracy to convict Dreyfus, sold 200,000 copies, but it landed Zola a conviction for libel. 

During Herzl’s time as a correspondent for a Viennese newspaper, he was tasked with covering the Dreyfus affair. This scandal forever changed Herzl’s philosophy and set in motion his determination to ensure a homeland for the Jewish people. He reasoned that if an assimilated Jewish person who served his country faithfully could still be conspired against and sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime he did not commit, then Jewish people were not safe in any country. They needed their own nation where they could live in freedom without fear of anti-Semitism. 

The Birth of Zionism

As he developed his viewpoint, Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat, translated “The Jewish State.” He believed if the Jewish people could have a national identity with the consent of international powers, their place in this world would be better accepted. But it was his novel Altneuland, translated “Old New Land,” that was used as the rallying cry for Zionism.

Zionism is everything that Herzl taught: the movement for the creation of the State of Israel and Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land.

Zionism is everything that Herzl taught: the movement for the creation of the State of Israel and Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land. His writing became so well known and loved that he became the face of Zionism. In it he envisioned a Jewish state that would be a “light unto the nations.” He pictured an advanced society through socialist methods. While Israel certainly did become advanced—becoming one of the most successful Middle Eastern nations in the modern world socially, medically, and technologically, to name a few—it wasn’t through socialism but democracy that it flourished. Its standing as the only democratic nation in the Middle East is a testament to its wisdom and virtue, key components of their success.

Israel’s Hero

Interestingly, Herzl’s ideas were not popular with wealthy and influential Jewish leaders. But they resonated strongly with the people. Their support led him to organize the First Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897. In that same year he also spent much of his money to create the Zionist newspaper Die Welt, a great resource to the Zionist cause. A total of six Zionist Congresses took place from 1897 to 1902, gaining steam quickly for the Zionist cause.

A failure to convince high-ranking leaders became something of a theme for Herzl. He endured fruitless meetings with Kaiser Wilhem II of Germany and Sultan Abdulhamid II of the Ottoman Empire. He was met only with anti-Semitic remarks. A meeting with British politician Joseph Chamberlain resulted in some progress: a proposal for Jewish autonomy in a piece of Uganda in east Africa. But the Zionist dream could not be compromised. The home of the Jewish people was meant to be Eretz Yisrael: the Land of Israel. The Uganda plan was rejected by the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905.

Herzl’s life was cut short by heart issues in 1904, and he never saw the full fruit of his labor. But his development of Zionism was responsible for modern Israel’s rebirth on May 14, 1948. Without his writings and rallying to the cause of bringing the Jewish people back to the land, Israel may never have come back to life as it has over the past eight decades.

Perhaps his determination is best summed up by this optimistic, powerful quote of his: “If you will it, it is no dream.” He helped the dream of millions of Jewish people become a reality when the nation of Israel rose again. That legacy has solidified him as an immovable pillar in Jewish history.

About the Author

Two years ago I was in Israel on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day). Our team of young adults, a delegation from California and Nevada taking part in the March of the Living, sat in a park amphitheater together. We each shared what we had learned about the Holocaust during our two weeks in Poland and Israel.

Not long after we began, the wail of a siren broke the calm of the still, spring morning. For two minutes, the haunting blare rang out in remembrance of the 6 million Jews and 5 million Gentiles who died as victims of the Holocaust.

Yom HaShoah is, by its very nature, relatively modern, established by an act of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in 1951. This means, of course, that, unlike Passover, Sukkot, Yom Kippur, and the other feasts of Israel, Yom HaShoah is not a biblical holy day. Rather, it is a solemn observance—and a very painful one at that—in which the Jewish community collectively memorializes victims of the Holocaust.

The fact that it was not instituted by God, however, does not mean that Yom HaShoah is not theological. On the contrary, questions about God, His relationship with Israel, and His character are inherent to discussions about the Holocaust. I discovered this several years ago when talking with a Holocaust survivor. He said, “If we are God’s Chosen People, why did He allow 6 million of us to perish? I find it very hard to believe in such a God.” 

Since then, I have heard similar sentiments repeated countless times by Jewish friends. We must acknowledge, however, that questions of God’s presence during the Holocaust are distinct from questioning God’s existence in light of evil in general. My Jewish friends are not necessarily questioning God’s existence; they are questioning why their God would allow such evil to befall His special people.

The Bible has the answers to such questions. Let’s address just a few.

1. God was not sleeping.

Recently I was at coffee with a Jewish friend. We were talking about God’s protection of the Jewish people throughout the ages when she said, “I guess God was asleep at the wheel during the Holocaust.”

Certainly, from a human perspective that seems plausible. After all, surely God must not have been alert to or aware of the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. God tells us, however, that He was not sleeping. Far from it, in fact.

Consider past persecutions of the Jewish people. Remember the account of Esther? Although God’s name is never once mentioned in the book of Esther, His hand behind the scenes is evident as He raises a young Jewish woman to a place of authority in the Persian king’s court. He uses Esther to save Persian Jewry from annihilation (Esther 4:14).

And who can forget the Exodus out of Egypt? Oppressed for 400 years by the Egyptians, God used Moses to lead Israel out of bondage and eventually into the land He promised them (although their sin added four decades to the journey!). 

The Lord was not distant from His people during these times—He went through the trials with them.

God was not sleeping or unaware of Israel’s suffering during these painful periods. In fact, the psalmist writes, “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). And the prophet Isaiah declares that “[i]n all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9). 

The Lord was not distant from His people during these times—He went through the trials with them.

2. God foretold of Jewish persecution.

If God was not sleeping during the Holocaust, then He must have allowed the Holocaust to take place. How does that square with a just and good God?

The answer to this question is found in Deuteronomy 28, where we read that because God has a unique relationship with and love for Israel, He will chasten them when they are disobedient. Among the curses of chastening listed there, we find the following:

Then the Lᴏʀᴅ will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lᴏʀᴅ will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, “Oh, that it were evening!”And at evening you shall say, “Oh, that it were morning!” because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see (vv. 64–67).

The parallels between this description and the experience of many during the Holocaust are unavoidable. Centuries before Hitler was born, God foretold future dispersion of the Jewish people and subsequent persecution of them on the part of the nations.

We must remember, though, the purpose of these curses. They are not merely punitive measures, taken to show God’s displeasure. These curses are acts of God’s chastening of His beloved Chosen People. Indeed, the Scripture records that “whom the Lᴏʀᴅ loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:12).

3. Restoration and judgment will come.

The thing about punishment is that it is usually an end in itself, the consequence of bad behavior. Chastening, on the other hand, has as its end goal repentance and restoration, not pain. The pain of punishment is the catalyst God uses to get His people’s attention and to show them where they went wrong.

The pain of punishment is the catalyst God uses to get His people’s attention and to show them where they went wrong.

Shortly after listing the cursings that will come upon Israel for disobedience, God promises restoration, conditioned on repentance. 

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lᴏʀᴅ your God drives you, and you return to the Lᴏʀᴅ your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lᴏʀᴅ your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lᴏʀᴅ your God has scattered you (Deuteronomy 30:1–3).

Interestingly, eight days after Yom HaShoah, Israel and the Jewish community worldwide celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. It is a joyous celebration of the rebirth of Israel as a sovereign nation. But to the believer, it is more than that—it is a recognition of God’s faithfulness to His Chosen People, and it looks forward to the day when ultimate national repentance and restoration will take place (Zechariah 12:10; 14:9–11).

The Holocaust was an incredibly painful event, one that continues to haunt not only the dwindling number of people who experienced it firsthand, but their children and grandchildren too. The Holocaust, though, was not the end. Indeed, as the psalmist writes, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). God promised that national restoration will come, and that restoration precedes the judgment of all who have sinned and not placed their trust for salvation in Israel’s Messiah, Nazis included (Revelation 20:11–15).

Conclusion

Sitting in that amphitheatre, the lone Gentile among a dozen or so young Jewish people, my heart hurt. Many, if not all of those sitting with me, lost a relative in the Holocaust. 

But as the siren’s scream came to a close, I found myself thanking God. Despite centuries of persecution and satanic attempts to destroy God’s Chosen People, and despite being scattered around the world, sitting with me were members of a new generation of Jewish young people, visiting the historic Jewish homeland. God has been faithful to His promises and He always will be.

About the Author

The lockdown in Goshen was hard. After more than 400 years, what began as a journey for survival from the effects of famine in the land of promise for 70 descendants of Abraham had turned into year upon year of suffering and oppression at the hands of the ruthless and heartless Pharaoh in Egypt. Surely God would do something to free His people, right?

From Bounty to Bondage

Life in Egypt began in luxury for the children of Israel. While Joseph lived, there was no want, and for many years it was sweet as the Israelites settled down under the protection and provision of the Egyptians. Fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, garlic, and onions were all part of the local cuisine, but the times changed. As the number of Israelites grew, so did the fears of the Egyptians and the insecurities of the Pharaoh who imposed discriminating and harsh conditions on them. 

It is difficult for us to imagine the plight of the Israelites in Egypt. This past year as we have been living in a COVID world and struggling with lockdown restrictions, our inconveniences pale in comparison to a multi-generational era of slavery. We desperately want the normality we have long known, a return to a world where our civil liberties are unimpeded and our freedoms allow us once again to traverse the world at will. And we want that freedom because it is within the human fabric to live without the burden of barriers and shackles. Such was the desire for the children of Israel whose cries eventually reached their champion of freedom in the God of their fathers and the man named Moses He chose to mediate His plan.

It is freedom that allows us to breathe.

It was a modern Moses, the famous eye-patched, Israeli military commander and politician Moshe Dayan, who once said “freedom is the oxygen of the soul.” Put another way, it is freedom that allows us to breathe. Israel was a people suffocating under the oppression of slavery and desperately seeking the liberties of their forebears. 

Passover reminds us that it was God who breathed new life into His people as He rescued them out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. In the Passover we see God giving the oxygen of freedom to the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to make their offspring a vast and innumerable people and eventually a nation through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed. 

On the actual night of Passover, having given Israel clear instructions, God struck the households throughout Egypt with the plague of death. Israel responded obediently and to the letter of God’s Word, and God delivered them to freedom.

Symbols From the Seder

As Jewish families around the world gather around the Passover Seder table in 2021, they will remember the fact that God delivered them from the land of Egypt. They will partake of two items from the Seder plate that speak to both the bitterness of bondage and the luxury of liberty. 

Firstly, they will eat the maror (bitter herbs), usually horseradish. The bitterness to the tastebuds speaks to the bitterness of the slavery endured under the Egyptians. It would speak to the scriptural account of how the children of Israel were afflicted with hard labor to such an extent they groaned (in pain), they sighed (with mourning), and they cried (wailed in desperation) out to God under the weight of constant oppression until God heard them and acted on their behalf.

A second item on the Seder plate is a contrasting reminder that God not only delivered Israel from the bitterness of slavery, but He also delivered them to the luxury of freedom. Karpas (green, leafy vegetables such as celery or parsley) is dipped in salt water, symbolically representing tears of suffering. It also harks back to the earliest memories of life in Egypt when they existed in the land still enjoying the benefits afforded by their ancestor Joseph. Karpas is also a symbol of spring for the Jewish people today and a symbol of new life and hope in the freedoms they now enjoy.

Freedom in Christ

Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt reminds Christians of our own deliverance from the bondage of sin and death. God heard the desperate cry of the human heart, and He provided the perfect solution in His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God heard the desperate cry of the human heart, and He provided the perfect solution in His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We read in Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae words that speak to this incredible act of mercy and grace: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13–14, ESV).

Israel was delivered from the bondage of Egypt and received newfound freedom under the direction of God making Passover a time of rejoicing, a celebration, a true feast of freedom. 

Jesus has delivered believers from the place of power and authority of evil (described as darkness) and transferred us to a new spiritual reality (the Kingdom of His beloved Son). The words of Jesus are truly liberating: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, ESV).

The lyrics Chris Tomlin added to the old hymn “Amazing Grace” surely strike a chord. 

My chains are gone,
I’ve been set free. 
My God, my Savior has ransomed me. 
And like a flood, His mercy rains,
Unending love, Amazing grace.

About the Author

After the fall in Eden and the global flood, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became the three pillars upon which God built His redemptive plan for humanity. These three were the beginning of the nation of Israel and the foundation of a chosen lineage from which a messiah would rise. The Messiah, a descendant of Abraham, will bring back humanity to eternal fellowship with the Creator.

The Beginning

Each year on the third week of the Torah-reading cycle, synagogues study a portion of the Bible called Lech-Lecha, which often is translated from Hebrew as “Go!” Abram’s obedient response to this command in Genesis 12 sets in motion a fundamental covenant that becomes a theological bracket around which the whole biblical narrative is presented. Land, seed, and blessing, the promises that God gave Abram, are the three elements that bind Israel’s history as a strong, three-cord rope that cannot be torn. 

The journey that began for Abraham in Ur parallels the calling for humanity to return to the Promised Land of an eternal relationship with God.

Abram was renamed Abraham. His calling marked the beginning of the line of Israel, a chosen nation that continued through Isaac and Jacob and led to the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. In the fullness of time, when Zechariah was reflecting on God’s redemptive plan for His people, he realized the holy oath God gave to Abraham was coming to fruition, giving Israel and the fallen world hope for salvation.¹ The journey that began for Abraham in Ur parallels the calling for humanity to return to the Promised Land of an eternal relationship with God. 

The Miracle of Creation

Abraham’s descendants Isaac and Jacob mirror Abraham’s experience. Their lives are stories of recurring problems their forefather encountered, moments of reassurance of God’s promises, and journeys that transformed them into figures of faith. Both Isaac and Jacob were living testimonies of the promise that Abraham received from God. The continuation of God’s miraculous intervention in their lives is an assurance that God will fulfill all the promises given to Abraham.

Just as God called Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He was also the God of Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel. Through those three women, God revealed His power and commitment to the promise. God transformed Sarai, a 90-year-old barren woman, into Sarah, who became the mother of nations. Rebekah, the chosen bride for Isaac, only became pregnant with twins after his prayer. She was the one to whom God revealed it would be the younger son, Jacob, who would carry the promise to the next generation—something that even Isaac could not see. And finally, Rachel, chosen by Jacob and loved dearly, struggled with the great pain of not giving birth. She returned to the mistake of her grandmother Sarah and tried to solve the problem herself.

The creation of the nation of Israel is a miracle showing us the commitment of God to carry on His promises despite human downfalls and weaknesses.

Eventually, we learn that Rachel also understood only God can take away disgrace and shame.² She gave birth to Joseph, who God used to save the whole nation of Israel. All these stories connected to God’s creation of the chosen line show it was not an ordinary event. Not only did God miraculously intervene in the whole process, but He also worked against human logic that would try to undermine the sovereignty of His choice.³ Therefore the creation of the nation of Israel is a miracle showing us the commitment of God to carry on His promises despite human downfalls and weaknesses. 

The Exile and Return

The story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is also a picture of all of humanity. All three biblical heroes left the Promised Land and lived in a foreign country. Abraham went to Egypt, where he lied to Pharaoh about Sarah being his sister. Imminent destruction of the promised line was only prevented because God did not allow it. On his way to Egypt, Isaac was stopped by God in Gerar, the land of Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Like his father, Isaac lied, calling Rebekah his sister and creating envy in the hearts of the Philistines due to his prosperity. Eventually Isaac was forced to leave their land.

Jacob left the land twice. First, as a young boy, he escaped from the anger of his brother Esau to live in Paddan-Aram, located today on a Syrian and Turkish border. This time Jacob did not deceive, but he was deceived by Laban and suffered envy caused by his prosperity. Eventually, Jacob left Laban in secret, fear, and hurry. The second time Jacob left the land was as an elder, after which point he never returned. However, on his deathbed, he ordered his sons to bury him in the grave of Abraham and Isaac in the Machpelah cave in Hebron. And so the cycle of the three patriarchs ended in the land promised by God. 

This was not the end of the story but a forecast for what was to come. When Joseph died, the whole nation of Israel was enslaved and suffered in Egypt. In the wilderness, God revealed Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.⁴ Moses became a savior of his people, delivered them from slavery, and brought them back to their forefathers’ Promised Land. The tomb of Joseph in Egypt became empty, as his bones were also taken to land bought by Abraham and promised by God. The people of God were not only freed from slavery but also sent on a special mission. Just as God sent Abraham to the Promised Land, so were the Hebrews sent to re-enter the Promised Land and continue fulfilling the promises. The Parashah⁵ that describes Israel’s departure from Egypt is called B’shallach and can be translated as “after he had sent.” We read that Pharaoh let the people of God go, but God also forced him to send them. We can compare that to Jesus’ disciples, who were sent to complete a certain task.  

Perhaps we don’t have to look at the Israelites as being let go from a cage but sent for a specific purpose of God. The nation of Israel was not just under the slavery of Egypt, but a certain reality, a dark reality, a kingdom where Pharaoh ruled this evil system that created itself in the fallen world. People viewed Egypt as the dominant country with all its religion and false gods. In this reality, humans lost their close relationship with God, who once walked among His creatures. In a symbolic way, humanity was also exiled from the Promised Land of Paradise in Eden. The beginning of the reverse of this desperate reality is God’s selection of Abraham to bring humanity to the Promised Land of New Eden. God chooses a nation and promises land, which gives humanity a physical reminder that He will reverse the curse of the fall.

If God did not destroy Egypt’s power, free the Hebrews from slavery, and bring them back to the land, the way for the Messiah to come would not be prepared.

The Hebrews who left Egypt and entered the land from exile were God’s emissaries for the perfect redemptive plan. God dealt with this dark reality and broke the chosen nation’s chains so that our chains could be broken in the future. It’s a real story that is part of our story today. If God did not destroy Egypt’s power, free the Hebrews from slavery, and bring them back to the land, the way for the Messiah to come would not be prepared. 

The Hope for the Messiah

In the dramatic description of Jacob’s blessings of his sons, we can see how the Messianic hopes became strong in the Hebrews’ hearts. On his deathbed, Jacob said, “For Your salvation I wait, Lᴏʀᴅ.”⁶ Through the inspiration of God, Jacob resisted his greatest love toward Joseph and laid down the prophetic hope of salvation on Judah. He who took away the blessing from his father’s favorite son, Esau, now understood this pain and had to obey God’s will. Judah was selected to become the tribe from which the future King Messiah will come. In Genesis 49:11 we read, “He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine.” Of course, the prophecy could be interpreted as the abundance of crops, meaning that the crops will be so good and thick that it will be possible to bind animals to them. But this prophecy is much more, which we see as we read Zechariah and the Gospels. It is a description of the qualities of the Messiah. In Zechariah 9:9, we read that the Messiah will ride the donkey, and we see a fulfillment of this in Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem. Jesus is also the royal vine, the true vine to which Israel’s Messianic hope is tied. 

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the beginning of God’s preparations to bring humanity back to paradise. And it is because of God’s ancient promise to Abraham that we have salvation in the Messiah. God chose to call Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The many lessons in their lives answer why this was a title by which He wanted to be recognized.

Endnotes
¹ Zechariah’s Prophecy (Luke 1:67–79).
² When Rachel became pregnant with Joseph she said, “God has taken away my disgrace” (Genesis 20:33).
³ Jacob, who was younger, was chosen over Esau.
⁴ Exodus 3:6..
⁵ Parashah is a weekly Torah portion read in the synagogues.
⁶ Genesis 49:18.

About the Author

Jewish history is a remarkable story that ultimately showcases God’s amazing grace. God has loved, chosen, disciplined, and preserved the Jewish people from the time of Abraham and will continue to do so until He restores the promised Kingdom.

The story of David, the shepherd boy turned king, is a microcosm of Jewish history. His fascinating life reveals some major themes of the story of the Jewish people, which we’ll study over the next three weeks.

Collectively the Jewish people have a history of being persecuted. The Bible’s records of Israel’s persecution thousands of years ago show that this is no new issue. 

From the second book of the Bible when enslaved by Egypt, the Israelites have faced oppression. They faced persecution when they were at their best from the Philistines and Amalekites. They faced persecution when they were at their worst, being taken captive by the Babylonians and Assyrians. They even faced terrible persecution from Crusaders who called themselves Christians. They faced perhaps the deadliest attacks of all from Nazi Germany in the Holocaust. Today they face terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah in surrounding countries. Escaping violent enemies is a way of life for the descendants of Israel.

No one represents this part of Jewish identity like David did before he became king. It didn’t take long for him to go from an unknown boy working in the fields for his father to the #1 target of Saul, the first king of Israel. 

Why David?

The people of Israel knew there was something different about David. He had that “it” factor about him. Saul seemed like the person that should have had it, too. In fact, that’s why the people of Israel chose him as their king. Saul was a physical specimen, as Scripture notes that he was as handsome as anyone in all of Israel and measured a head taller than the rest of the people (1 Samuel 9:2). He came from good stock, as his father was a man of good standing (v. 1). Yet for all of his outward glory, Saul couldn’t hold a candle to David spiritually, and he knew it. 

For all of his outward glory, Saul couldn’t hold a candle to David spiritually, and he knew it.

David had a special rapport with God and was gaining an impressive reputation in Israel. He was known as a “man after God’s own heart.” He had trusted God to deliver him from the jaws of the bear and the lion, then most miraculously from the sword of the Philistine giant, Goliath. As impressive as Saul was, a man who had “slain his thousands,” the Israelites praised David as the man who had slain “his ten thousands” (18:7). He was the people’s champion and God’s favored man to lead Israel, not Saul, who had damaged his relationship with God and fallen from favor among the people.

Life on the Run

So Saul made bad decisions. A bad decision had led to David’s emergence in the first place: Saul had disobeyed God by allowing the Amalekite King Agag to live. When God took His favor from him, Saul went down a dark path. He attacked David in his palace, trying to pin him to the wall with spears multiple times. He then wanted to kill his successor over dinner. Then he began his most ruthless campaign: an extensive manhunt in which he pursued David for months throughout Israel. It was during this time that David penned some of the most inspirational psalms of hope that we read in our Bibles today. David’s words were desperate, yet trusting, and with good reason: Saul had murder on his mind, but God was protecting David. 

Saul had murder on his mind, but God was protecting David.

Saul’s persecution of David became so persistent that it clouded his vision. All he could think about was destroying David, the threat to his throne. This obsession led to some mistakes. In fact, David had a chance to kill his bloodthirsty enemy. When he chased David into the wilderness in En Gedi in 1 Samuel 24, Saul was in a vulnerable position, being defenseless in the recesses of a cave where David and his men were hiding. David could have easily struck the king dead and been rid of his threat forever, yet he instead spared his life, taking just the corner of Saul’s robe as proof of his decision. His act of mercy was done in obedience to God, knowing he had no right to rise against God’s anointed king. As a result, Saul chose to stop pursuing him, seeing that God’s hand was upon David.

But just two chapters later, Saul returned to his old ways, chasing after David to take his life. Again he made a mistake, leaving himself vulnerable to attack by falling asleep unprotected. David again had a chance to strike Saul dead in an instant, yet he chose mercy once more. He showed Saul the water jug and spear he had taken from him while Saul slept, showing Saul once again that though he wanted David dead, he couldn’t destroy the one the Lord was protecting.

The Jewish Parallel

Like David was hunted by Saul, the Jewish people have faced devastating threats throughout their existence. They were chosen by God like David was when Samuel anointed him to be the king of Israel. Naturally this favor led to resentment from others. Though favored by God, David likely spent years fleeing from Saul and those who wanted David killed to preserve Saul’s reign. 

The Jewish people have faced similar persecution but over a longer span: thousands of years.

Being hunted down unjustly is far too common in Jewish history.

Jewish persecution has taken many different forms from a host of attackers. Some methods were outright—first-century Rome’s destruction of the Temple, the bloodshed of the Crusades, and the Holocaust—while others were more subtle or socially acceptable—blaming them for the bubonic plague, literature that stirs up dissent against them, and today’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Being hunted down unjustly is far too common in Jewish history.

The threats against David’s life give us a great picture of the plight of the Jewish people throughout history. But the threats also give us hope by showing us that God loves and protects those He has chosen. David and the Jewish people faced enough deadly attacks that they should have both been destroyed by their enemies. Yet God preserved them because of His special plans for them. We can rest in the fact that no enemies can interfere with the will of God.

About the Author

You’ve probably picked up on the fact that Israel has gotten a bad reputation over the years. Relatively few view Israel favorably, while many argue that the nation should not be allowed to exist. People have wide-ranging reasons for their hatred toward the nation. But what’s the most common problem people have with Israel?

History Helps

The most publicly acceptable reason stems from politics and the wars Israel has fought since its establishment as a nation in 1948. Those who hate Israel think building credibility starts by rallying around a common lie. Their lie of choice concerns Israel’s borders. The land Israel gained during the 1967 Arab–Israeli War (also known as the Six-Day War) includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Gaza. It was earned fairly, in fact through a war in which Israel acted in self-defense, yet that doesn’t stop its opponents from deriding the nation. As it gained control of this land, it was labeled an “occupier.” 

Critics portray Israel as a fascist regime not unlike Nazi Germany (ironically, they compare the Jewish state to the enemy that killed more than 6 million Jewish people). It’s a weak attempt to appeal to a broad audience that’s out for Israeli blood. The key things missing in these claims are facts. Let’s take an objective look at the facts about Israel’s presumed occupation.

The main concern voiced for the rights of Palestinians in Israel is that they don’t receive the same privileges that natural-born Jewish Israelis receive. Without any historical context, this concern looks valid. But it’s often used as a front to take the land from Israel. How can people claim they deserve something that was never theirs and was never earned or acquired in any way?

The Divine Deed

Four thousand years ago God promised the land of Israel to Abraham’s descendants, the Jewish people. Since then plenty of conflict has led to different splits and redrawn boundaries. But man’s attacks can’t undo God’s decrees. The land is no less divinely assigned to the Jewish people than it was when God first declared it so. 

But man’s attacks can’t undo God’s decrees. The land is no less divinely assigned to the Jewish people than it was when God first declared it so.

God made two mentions of the boundaries of Israel in Genesis. First, He told Abraham, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates” (15:18). Two chapters later He included “the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession” (17:8). Exodus 23:31 lists the boundaries in further detail: “from the Red Sea to the [Mediterranean] sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the [Euphrates] River.” Modern Israel doesn’t line up exactly with any of these criteria; in fact it owns much less today. But the land they occupy is certainly within these divine boundaries.

The Legal License

Of course, God’s decrees don’t mean much to those who don’t make Him the Lord of their lives. 

But those who don’t fear God must answer to some authority, and the United Nations and international law may be the highest levels of human authority on Earth.

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 officially recognized a national home for the Jewish people in Israel, and the UN Partition Plan that followed in 1947 divided the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state separate from each other. The Arabs rejected this plan, refused to recognize Israel’s legitimacy, and attacked the Jewish state. Israel withstood many attacks and gained its independence, and the Arabs lost the land they would have gained if they agreed to the Partition Plan. 

Following the Six-Day War in 1967, in which Israel again acted in self-defense rather than aggression, Israel gained control of Jerusalem, Sinai, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, Judea, and Samaria. After the Six-Day War, Israel offered to give up land to make peace with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), but the PLO rejected peace and continued to attack Israel. Thus the land has remained with Israel. Legally, Israel’s sovereignty over its own land can’t be considered “occupation.”

Brutal or Benevolent?

Along with occupation comes oppression. Much of the world outside of the Jewish state believes the lie that Israel has harmed the Palestinians inside and outside its borders. Critics point to the Palestinians injured and killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as proof of Israel’s injustice. They conveniently leave out the fact that violence begins on the Palestinian side, as their attacks on IDF soldiers at the border necessitate defensive maneuvers.

With equal educational opportunities and initiatives designed to improve equality in economic status for all, nothing about Israeli life makes things unfair for Arabs.

Many compare Israel’s social division of Jewish and Arab citizens to apartheid in South Africa. They find the division so easy to parallel and think that unequal rules must apply to the two groups. Yet Jewish and Arab ways of life in Israel are not so different. The Anti-Defamation League gave a clear picture of the true society in Israel. It didn’t deny that Palestinians deal with hardships, “including checkpoints, access into Israel, the security barrier, and other issues.”¹ It did, however, explain that these difficulties are in the interest of national security, including combating terrorism. In fact, Arab Israelis enjoy the same civil and political rights Jewish Israelis do—the right to organize politically, vote, speak, and publish freely, serve in the nation’s security forces, and be elected to parliament and high courts. With equal educational opportunities and initiatives designed to improve equality in economic status for all, nothing about Israeli life makes things unfair for Arabs.

While Israel is scapegoated, many Middle Eastern countries get away with serious human rights violations. Torture, suicide bombings, violence against women, and a lack of due process or freedom of expression are huge problems in many of these nations. Israel steers clear of these issues in the interest of democracy and peace. Interestingly enough, Israel has repeatedly accepted a two-state solution. They want to provide the Palestinians with their own state! Yet conflict continues because the Palestinian Authority refuses the offer and tries to demonize Israel through this type of apartheid propaganda. 

The Verdict: No Occupation!

It’s clear that rumors of Israel’s occupation are greatly exaggerated. Why? Unfortunately, it goes back to a hatred of Israel. Any chance to exploit God’s chosen nation is a time to pounce. This appearance of division gives a perfect opportunity to paint Israel as an oppressor. 

Don’t get caught up in the mob mentality! The bloodthirsty critics of Israel make a lot of noise, but much of their criticism isn’t fair. Hopefully these facts give you the full truth about life in Israel for Jewish and Arab citizens. The bottom line: Israel is not an occupier, but rather a misrepresented nation trying its best to balance the interests of two different people groups.

Endnote 

1 “Response to Common Inaccuracy: Israel is an Apartheid State.” ADL. https://www.adl.org/resources/fact-sheets/response-to-common-inaccuracy-israel-is-an-apartheid-state.

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