Ted Cruz and the Meaning of Israel (7)

For Cruz and other Christian Zionists, God wants American Christians to provide Israel_S with every kind of support—financial, diplomatic, political, military—regardless of how egregious or despicable its actions might be. Apparently, God doesn’t care about how this state came into being and how it treats the native people, and neither should Christians. From this viewpoint, it is not enough to support Israel_S by all means possible; it is also necessary that no strings be attached to this support. Christian Zionists’ fanatical commitment to Israel_S is based on the belief that the relationship between God and the Jewish people is absolutely unconditional—it transcends ordinary human morality and even any obligation to follow biblical commandments.

To understand why the Christian Zionist support for Israel_S remains unaffected by the latter’s conduct, we have to grasp the biblical concept of “chosen people.” The reasoning goes as follows:

(1) the Bible says that Israel_D are “God’s chosen people,”
(2) Israel_D is synonymous with Israel_N,
(3) Israel_N is synonymous with Israel_S,
(4) therefore, Israel_S is God’s favorite nation-state.

Furthermore,

(5) the Bible says that whoever blesses “Israel” will be blessed,
(6) therefore, God will bless the U.S. if it supports Israel_S.

Finally,

(7) the Bible says that God’s love for Israel_D is unconditional,
(6) therefore, the U.S. support for Israel_S must also be unconditional.

Behind the Christian Zionist mindset, depicted above, is the more mainstream idea that the United States is unlike all other countries of the world because God has given it a special mission—to spread freedom and democracy, for example. As John Winthrop (1630) and President Reagan (1988) agreed, the U.S is the “shining city on a hill,” and, in the words of President Lincoln (1861), Americans are “God’s almost chosen people.” Indeed, as far as God’s favorite nations go, the United States of America is believed to be either at the top, where it is tied with Israel_S, or a close second. For Christian Zionists, the U.S. will promptly lose its near-supreme status if it ever decides to withhold its support for Israel_S or put any limits or conditions on that support.

The widespread perception of having been “chosen” by God is a major legitimizer of the “special” relationship between the U.S. and Israel_S. It is also part of the reason why both of them are convinced that they are “exceptional,” in the sense of being above the law.

So, what does it mean to be chosen by God?

The biblical concept of “chosen people” is complex and multifaceted, and has been a topic of much debate and scrutiny. It is important to remember that the Hebrew Scripture does not speak with a single voice, and that later writers often disagree with earlier ones. As a result, there is considerable tension in the biblical text as to whether the special relationship between God and the Israelites is conditional or unconditional, and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to bring all the divergent threats and viewpoints into a single, satisfactory answer. Yet, there is no reason not to engage with the question.

A popular approach is to distinguish the Abrahamic Covenant, which seems unconditional (Genesis 12:1–3), from the Mosaic Covenant, which is clearly and emphatically conditional: “Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples . . .” (Exodus 19:5). Two entire chapters in the Old Testament, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, go into great detail on this topic, listing the rewards and blessings of diligently observing the commandments as well as the retributions and punishments for breaking them. If the Abrahamic covenant is a unilateral promise made by God to Abraham, the Mosaic covenant is a bilateral accord between two parties—which is why the Israelites had to verbally agree that they will uphold their side of the contract: “Moses went, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.  The people all answered as one, ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord” (Exodus 19:7–8).

It is widely held that the Mosaic Covenant does not override the earlier, Abrahamic Covenant, and that is why “the Jews” in the biblical narrative remain “God’s chosen people” regardless of their frequent disobedience of the Torah. This view, however, is challenged by the numerous instances of divine wrath and chastisement that befell the Israelites for violating the covenant (Exodus 32:7–10, 35; Numbers 14:11–12, 28–35; Numbers 16:1–3, 31–35, 41–50; Numbers 21:5–6; Joshua 7:10–11, 24–26; Judges 2:11–15; 2 Kings 17:5–23). The prophetic books are particularly sharp on this point, warning the Israelites that idolatry, injustice, and hypocrisy will result in divine punishments. The Hebrew Scripture bears witness that these punishments did materialize repeatedly—in the form of foreign invasions, societal collapse, and exiles.

The biblical narrative is clear that the status of “chosen people” did not render the Israelites immune from divine judgment and retribution. Regardless of how we might interpret God’s blessing to Abraham and his descendants, it couldn’t possibly be taken mean a carte blanche, a pre-emptive pardon, or freedom from consequences. In fact, the exact opposite seems to be the case. Being chosen by someone in authority—such as a manager, a president, or a commander—necessarily involves additional responsibility, which, in turn, implies closer scrutiny as well as stricter accountability. Being chosen by God is therefore a very serious matter. In the biblical narrative, it meant that God would place more demands on the Israelites, hold them at a higher standard, have greater expectations from them—and would therefore judge them more harshly for their disobedience. God’s love for the Israelites is depicted in the Scripture as precisely the reason for God’s disappointment, grief, and anguish—as well as anger—at the Israelites’ repeated failure to live up to the demands of the Mosaic Covenant.

Suppose you wake up one morning and discover that God has chosen you. If this news makes you feel triumphant, invulnerable, unrestrained, and superior to everyone else, then you have completely misunderstood the assignment. The appropriate response to being chosen by God is not celebration; it’s fear and trembling.

Why did God choose the Israelites and not some other nation? Their less-than-ideal behavior, as depicted in the Bible, indicates that God’s decision was not based upon any merit or righteousness on the part of the Israelites. It is commonly held that this is one of those mysterious divine actions whose wisdom is simply beyond the ability of human reason to comprehend. Fair enough. But there is another, more important question that we need to ask, i.e., why did God choose a people at all? The very concept of “election” presupposes a purpose. There are many instances in the biblical narrative of God choosing different individuals, and in each case there is a definite task that the person is expected to perform. In fact, that’s where we get the concept of a “calling,” i.e., a particular goal or mission that serves as a person’s life purpose. It is worth nothing that when God chose Abraham and promised him countless descendants, God was, in effect, also choosing a group of people who did not yet exist. In other words, God chose the Israelites without knowing how they were going to behave. In fact, it was God’s act of choosing these non-existent people that brought them into existence. So the question is: Why did God do that? What was God’s purpose?

The answer to this question is to be found in the Mosaic Covenant, and not in the Abrahamic one. It has to do with God giving the Torah to a people who, by virtue of receiving it, were transformed into a covenant community, or Israel_C—a community that was chosen into existence so that it could fulfill its calling, i.e., follow the 613 mitzvot and be a source of guidance for the world.

I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
    I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
    a light to the nations,
      to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6–7)

Put differently, God chose Abraham and then made sure that he would have countless descendants so that, in the future, they could be assigned the mission that God already had in mind for them. That mission or calling was made known at Sinai and became the foundation of the Mosaic Covenant. Once the Torah was revealed and Israel_C came into being, its fortunes became inextricably linked with the degree to which it fulfilled its raison d’être—i.e., obedience to the Torah. To reiterate, Israel_C includes, but is not identical with, Israel_D. That is why the Hebrew Scripture treats the Israelites, first and foremost, as a covenant community—a group of people obligated to enact the divine commandments—and not as an ethnic group made up only of the descendants of Jacob. On this point, Isaiah 56 is quite emphatic in its rejection of ethnic exclusivism on the part of the Israelites.

There is, then, no biblical justification for the Christian Zionist claim that the U.S. must give unconditional support to Israel_S—on account of the following reasons:

(1) the Mosaic Covenant with Israel_C trumps the Abrahamic Covenant with Israel_D,
(2) members of Israel_D cannot be identified as such,
(3) Israel_N does not exist, nor has it ever existed,
(4) Israel_S represents neither Israel_D nor Israel_C.