This article was first published by The
Universe
A Chosen People
By Dwight Longenecker
There is an old saying, ‘How odd of God,
to choose the Jews.’ The idea that the Jews are God’s chosen
people is behind much of the support for Jews in the United
States. Someone asked me recently why President Bush supports
Israel. They asked me because I am an American, and they
figured I might have some ideas on the matter. There are
several reasons why Americans support Israel. They involve
big politics and big money, but they also involve American
religion, and the heart of the American national character.
When it comes to big politics
and big money, the reasons are pretty clear. There is a powerful
Jewish lobby not only in Washington DC, but throughout the
United States. The pro-Israel lobby has enormous cash resources.
They can guarantee a huge number of votes from their people
all across the land. In addition, some famous Jewish families
exert strong influence in the international banking world.
These pro-Israeli forces put a lot of pressure on American
politicians to continue supporting Israel.
In the aftermath of the September
11 attacks, Americans see Israel as a fellow target for Islamic
extremists. A shared enemy also strengthens American resolve
to support Israel. But these political and economic influences
are not the only factor. After all, Jewish people are in
positions of influence and power in many European countries
too but that hasn’t made the Europeans strong supporters
of Israel. The terrorist threat and strong financial and
political forces influence American support for Israel, but
that support is also conditioned by two other factors. The
first is American history and national character. The second
is religion.
America is a pioneer country.
Those who first settled America were religious idealists.
Protestant sects like the Puritans, Quakers, Mennonites,
Amish and Brethren were persecuted in Europe. They left family,
friends and their homeland and risked everything to find
freedom in the American colonies. Their pilgrimage was very
much like the pilgrimage of the Jews who left Egypt for the
Promised Land. Once the first American settlers got to the
New World they set up communities of hard-working people
who worshipped, worked and lived together. In the nineteenth
century a new wave of European immigrants came from Russia,
Italy, Poland and Ireland. They came with their own ideals
of religious freedom and the chance to work hard and make
good. Americans see this same tough, pioneering spirit in
the Israelis. The hard-working idealism of the Israeli dream
is very similar to the American dream. That is why so many
Americans, whether they are Jewish or not, identify with
the struggle of the Israelis. The pioneering spirit runs
deep in both peoples.
Along with the pioneering spirit
is a sense of being outsiders in Europe. Despite American
wealth and power, many Americans are still aware that Europe
is the ‘old country.’ They sense European snobbery. There
is an unconscious sense in which the European establishment
are the ones who persecuted so many generations in the past.
European anti-Semitism runs parallel to this feeling for
the Jews. Many Jews, like many Americans, look to Europe
with mixed emotions. They value the culture and heritage
of Europe, but they also feel anger and resentment towards
a people who persecuted their ancestors, and who continue
to despise them.
Finally, Americans identify with
Israelis for complex religious reasons. Conservative Evangelical
Christians are very powerful in the United States. Their
religion is Bible based. They read current events in the
light of Biblical prophecy. Part of this prophetic literature
teaches that those who curse God’s chosen people Israel—will
themselves be cursed. Other passages teach that in the last
days Israel will miraculously return from exile. In those
days God will bring his people back to the Promised Land.
Those who believe the Biblical prophecies apply to the present
day see the return of the Jews to the Holy Land as an ancient,
God-inspired prophecy come true. They link the return of
the Jews to the Holy Land with the Second Coming of Christ,
and therefore see the modern state of Israel as a special
act of God. They think the six-day war (in which the Jews
conquered their enemies so soundly) proved God’s special
supernatural protection for the Israeli State. They dare
not be against something that God has obviously blessed.
These right wing evangelicals
Christians, like the Jews, also have strong ground level
support. They also have a well-funded lobby in Washington,
and they know how to promise votes and deliver them for chosen
candidates. As a result, the conservative Christians and
the conservative Jews have put in place an almost unshakeably
pro-Israeli American government.
Where do Catholics fit into the
picture? Catholics don’t take such an eccentric view of Biblical
prophecy, so Catholics in the USA have not been as openly
pro-Israeli as Evangelical Christians. However, in recent
years the conservative alliance between Evangelicals and
Jews has included a powerful Catholic contingent. This alliance
was formed to promote family values and fight the culture
of death. But in recent times American Catholics have also
jumped on the pro-Israeli bandwagon. Added to this are the
recent pro-Jewish statements coming from the Vatican. In
the millennium year the Pope visited Israel, prayed at the
Wailing Wall, visited a synagogue and a recent Vatican document
re-assesses God’s covenant with the Jews in a more positive
way. If the old European anti-Semitism was sometimes fuelled
by Catholic hatred of the Jews, those days seem to be over,
and Catholics too can be seen to be the allies of the Jews.
Are the Jews God’s chosen people?
They are. But when God enters into a covenant with us we
have to do our part for the covenant to be valid. God may
have chosen the Jews, but he did so not because they are
special, but because they are to be one of his agents of
peace and justice in the world. Support for the State of
Israel has to be tempered with realism and compassion. The
Palestinians have suffered enormous injustice and cruelty.
If the Jews are to fulfil their destiny as God’s chosen people,
then they must be the agents for peace, justice and forgiveness. Everyone
is entitled to take measured means of self-defence, but if
the Jews disregard their higher calling and become the agents
of cruelty and oppression, then surely they must forfeit
their right to be God’s chosen people by their very actions.
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