Bless Israel at the Expense of the Palestinians?

One of the nine recommendations that came before the West Ohio Annual Conference session this year was a "Resolution on Investigating Companies Supporting the
Occupation of Palestinian Territories."

Here's one of the main points of the resolution:

"Therefore, be it resolved that a task force chosen by the Let Justice Roll lead team and the
West Ohio Conference Board of Pension and Health Benefits review and research companies
that may be contributing to the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and formulate
recommendations with regard to possible divestment."

In the course of the debate on this issue (two speeches for and two against) one of the common threads in opposition was regarding a theological viewpoint that the bible claims that we should support Israel because if we don't, God will not bless us. I'm not sure who "us" is. Maybe United Methodists. Maybe West Ohio United Methodists who were voting on the issue. Maybe Christians in general. Or maybe, the United States.

This theology that claims that God's blessing is in relation or is proportional to how people favor or not favor 21st century Israeli policies is so strong within some Christian circles, that it's difficult to help people realize that this sentiment might be the result of a misunderstanding of the scriptures.

Yes, Israel has a very special place in God's heart. They are the people whom God has chosen to be a blessing to all of creation. When God called Abraham to become the Father of Israel in Genesis 12, there is a verse that talks about blessings and curses, but what gets lost in that passage of scripture is the part that reads, "and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." - Genesis 12:3c

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The whole point of God calling Abraham and Israel to be God's covenant people was that it would be through them that God would bring salvation to all of creation. A big part of the scriptural telling of this calling is in how God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. However, the point of that story is to be seen in the context of an even bigger story in which God doesn't just want to claim the Promised Land. God's intention is to ultimately reclaim all of creation.

When our theological view focuses only or primarily on God's intention for Israel to occupy the Promised Land at almost all or any cost, we miss the bigger picture of God's concern to one day reclaim all of creation, and not just a geographical sliver of it. And of course, God has been faithful to this covenant promise by sending Jesus Christ, who became the true representative of Israel through his obedience, death on the cross, resurrection, and ascension.

In other words, through Jesus, God's rescue of all of creation (not just the Promised Land) has already been inaugurated. Theologically speaking, the Promised Land is an important part of God's plan to rescue all of creation, but is not the only focus.

All of this is a theological context regarding the geographical area of Israel and I realize that there are several other issues at work here, not least of which is the 20th century holocaust which made it imperative for people of the Jewish faith to have their own homeland. Adding this historical reality to the mix makes any talk of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict difficult in finding a hopeful solution.

But what we (meaning Christians) do not want to do, is further complicate matters by propagating a misinformed theology of Israel that has as its focus a geographical piece of land at the expense of the whole world, all of which has been created by God and who called it, "good."

Let justice roll.