Article: The holiness of Israel
The following is an article by Stan Goodenough, a Christian, a journalist, a passionate lover of Israel who has lived in the Jewish nation with his family for the last 23 years.
The holiness of Israel
by Stan Goodenough
Some Christians are so bugged by Israel that they suffer in their health.
They are bugged at the Jews being “God’s Chosen People.” It irks them no end that their God calls Israel His “special treasure.” And as for Him referring to them as “a holy nation!” Well!
Also hard to stomach is the Almighty’s affixing of the name of their founding fathers to His own great and holy Name: He is forever “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He is “The God of Israel” and “The LORD God of the armies of Israel.”
He is not “The God of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.” He is not known as “The God of England or the God of France.” And He most certainly does not go by the title “The God of the armies of NATO.”
Man! That really gets under some people’s skin – under some CHRISTIANS’ skin!
Apparently such Christians struggle with a sense of inferiority, lacking an understanding of what it means to have received “the spirit of adoption.” Israel being “the chosen” means they – these gentiles – must somehow be second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God.
Instead of recognizing and confronting their own fears, these Christians – who sadly are not few in number – look for reasons to discredit Israel: Today’s Jews surely cannot be the true physical descendants of those who were driven from the land 2000 years ago. They are fakes; their claim to having an ancient history in the Land of Israel is fraudulent.
Proof is to be found in the spiritual state of the nation today. Somehow forgetting the often-depraved state of their own countrymen – many of who likewise claim to be “Christian” – they point with shaking fingers at the immorality and corruption in Israel and declare with conviction:
“There’s nothing holy about them!”
Wrong, dear gentile onlooker and critic: Israel is holy. She is a holy nation. She is holy because God designated her as holy.
Because, simply put, there are two ways to be holy: The first is being holy by divine designation. That is, a vessel, object, person or nation is holy if it has been set-apart, or sanctified by God; has been given a God-ordained special and specific purpose.
fantastic article.
Thanks, Gene.
I’ve seen too many Christians voice their hate for Israel and Jews for various reasons. There are many things in scripture that would be easy for the average Christian to take out of context so it’s no wonder there is a distrust and sometimes hate for G-d’s people. Revelations 2:9 comes to mind. The tares in the wheat, etc. I read an essay by someone who believed the synagogue of Satan were the seed of Esau (not sure how widely spread the idea is). Essentially the seed of Esau is trying to regain their birthright by posing as Jews although they don’t live G-dly. This is interesting considering Herod being an Edomite and trying to claim title King of the Jews. Just a thought, anyways. What was John so astonished about in Revelations 17: 6? Things like this seem to point to the church (rather, the tares in the wheat). I’m not jumping to any conclusions, once again, just thoughts.
“What was John so astonished about in Revelations 17: 6? ”
The classic Christian explanation is that the “Synagogue of Satan” are Jews who don’t accept Christ as Messiah. OK, so far not so “good”. But how can a Jew “lie” about being Jewish?
This is traditionally rationalized by quoting Romans 2:28:
“A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly…”
Therefor, the thinking goes, the “unbelieving Jews” are not Jews at all – they lie. Instead, the real Jews are Christians.
Many modern biblical scholars, however, hold that the “Synagogue of Satan” was a reference to a group of Gentile Judaizers (who may have come out of groups of believers) who posed as Jews (but were not converts to Judaism and didn’t observe Torah in the manner of Jews – otherwise they would be considered as Jews) and sought to enslave fellow Gentiles under their version of Torah (perhaps that’s what Galatians were dealing with).
Hmmm..
Romans 2:28 would be addressing gentiles (correct me if I’m wrong). From Romans 1:13-15 it’s fairly clear that he’s addressing gentiles in Rome (I’m just backtracking and verifying here). Also interesting to note that Paul considers himself Greek in some sense, notice how he makes a distinction between Greeks and barbarians. “Barbarian” was a term Greeks applied to any non-Greeks, so Paul doesn’t elude to lumping Greeks in with the rest of the gentiles. He then goes on to say “…I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.” Paul must’ve had some identification with being Greek, perhaps as a way to identify with gentiles. Since Greek was a language learned and spoken by the rich and well educated in the Roman world (common Romans did not speak Greek) Paul may have been suggesting he was well educated. A few reasons why Paul would appeal to gentiles in Rome: 1) He was a well educated Jew in both the Jewish and Greek/Roman world 2) he considered gentiles as equal heirs 3) he had no inhibitions about associating with Christian gentiles.
That was all rehashing since we know most of these things about Paul to be true, which brings up my main point. Paul is specifically referring to gentiles that keep the law in 2:28, and from the wording it seems he is addressing Torah observant gentiles who are may have felt reluctant to do so (in this case for being uncircumcised). In verse 27 it looks as if he may be singling out Jews (or gentiles) who believed circumcision was necessary, but rather he is using their stance to bolster his point—gentiles don’t have to be circumcised (surprise surprise). To me, this passage shows distinction between gentiles and Jews and their relation to Torah.
“Many modern biblical scholars, however, hold that the “Synagogue of Satan” was a reference to a group of Gentile Judaizers…”
This is certainly plausible, I also find it interesting considering the Synagogue of Satan reference comes from Yeshua (through the angel).