The Bible pointedly instructs:
“Pray
for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls and prosperity
within your palaces…’ For the sake of
the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good” (Psalm 122:6-7, 9 NASB).
Since our founding, America has sought the good of Jerusalem and recognized Israel’s numerous contributions to our own faith and freedom. For example, John Adams declared:
“I
will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other
nation .... If I were an atheist of the other sect who believe (or pretend to
believe) that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had
ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a
supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty Sovereign of the Universe, which I believe
to be the great essential principle of all morality and consequently of all
civilization.”
Throughout our history, America has never wavered in support of the Jews and Israel. Yet today, certain members of Congress are vocalizing anti-Semitic slurs and even actions. One of the most prominent examples is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who introduced a measure calling for America to punish Israel (through the Palestinian-led “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement) just as we punished Nazi Germany in WWII:
“Whereas
Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to
advocate for human rights abroad, including … boycotting Nazi Germany from
March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish
people in the lead-up to the Holocaust.”
Thankfully, the House voted down her
measure.
As Christians, we support Israel because of God’s promise that He will bless those who bless the nation formed from Abraham and Isaac, and also because the Bible makes clear that Christians are grafted by God into Jewish roots (Romans 11:11-24), with salvation being promised “to the Jew first and [then] also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 NASB).
As Americans, we owe our founding principles to the Judeo-Christian Biblical values that shaped the constitutional rights and freedoms we enjoy to this day.
We can therefore echo the words of Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu:
“Israel
has no better friend than America. And
America has no better friend than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace.”
Under God’s providence and as a result of His direct intervention, Israel and the Jews have survived millennia of persecution from many civilizations. Because the Bible promises that such efforts will continue to the end of time, we should join with the Biblical psalmist and pray:
“God,
do not remain quiet;
Do
not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
For
behold, Your enemies make an uproar,
And
those who hate You have exalted themselves.
They
make shrewd plans against Your people,
And
conspire together against Your treasured ones.
They
have said, ‘Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation,
That
the name of Israel be remembered no more.’
For
they have conspired together with one mind;
Against
You they make a covenant” (Psalm 83:1-5 NASB).
America must never become part of any movement to punish Israel. May God Bless Israel—and thereby may God also Bless America! As God promised Abraham about Israel and the Jewish people:
“And
I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3 NASB).
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