"Israel, the Church, and the Middle East" (Darrell L. Bock and Mitch Glaser, eds)

TITLE: Israel, the Church, and the Middle East: A biblical response to the current conflict
EDITORS: Darrell L. Bock and Mitch Glaser
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2018, (304 pages).

This year is the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel. In conjunction with this momentous event, a team of scholars and theologians have come together to reflect upon the identity of Israel, the role of the Church, and the conflicts in the Middle East. For Israel, it is the constant struggle against threats against her existence. For the Church, it is about the contrasting arguments between those who are Pro-Israel and those who are Pro-Palestinian. For the Middle East, it is that constant tensions arising from a melting pot of historical dimensions; political ambitions; religious contentions; ethnic dissensions; and social apprehensions. This book attempts to cast light on all of these with a specific coverage on the relationship between Israel and the Church. At the heart of it all is to challenge the super-sessionist standpoint among many Christians who are arguing that in God's overall plan, the modern Church has now replaced Israel. In Part One, four contributors highlight the biblical foundations. The underlying belief is that the Bible must inform all views on contemporary issues surrounding the way we view Israel. Dr Richard Averbeck discusses the theological covenants of Israel, Jews, and Gentiles with the hope that a biblical understanding will ease the conflicts between Jews and Gentiles. Dr Walter Kaiser writes about the relationships between Israel and her neighbours with Isa 19 as a guide, and hopes that the day will come where both Jews and Arabs are able to go to the house of God together. Mark Yarbrough looks at the big picture of the Bible story from Genesis to Revelation and draws out four significant genres before concluding with a "surprise narrative twist." Michael Rydelnik takes a step back to examine the "hermeneutics" of the conflict from the Old Testament arguing that both the Old and New Testaments tell of one integrated story. Using four propositions, he traces the covenant promises from Genesis to Revelation, and to say that even though the New Testament is relatively "quiet" about the land promise, it nevertheless affirms the Old Testament in many ways.


Part Two is about "Theology and Conflict" which gives a theological treatment of the ideas given in Part One. Craig Blaising traces God's calling, purpose, and plan for the Jewish people. He then compares and contrasts the supersessionist views with dispensationalism, before concluding with reasons why the latter view is most appropriate. Mitch Glaser gives a no-holds-barred treatment about the dangers of supersessionism. Michael J Vlach digs into the backgrounds of sessessionism to argue that the Church is not replacing Israel but is restored into new Israel. Letting the Church Fathers guide our thoughts, Vlach challenges and critiques the view of the Church replacing Israel, and upholds the truth of Jews being God's people even today. Part Three discusses the practical issues of the conflict such as the Messianic Jewish movement; the 21st Century Palestinian Church; and the way forward to reconcile Jews and Arabs. Erqz Soref goes all the way back to the eschatological interest in 18-19th Century Europe, where lots of Jews came to Christ, and how Messianic Jews played a part in the formation of modern Israel. Messianic Jews in Israel had grown from about 23 people initially in 1948 to over 30,000 believers today in Israel. He notices that post-first generation messianic Jews identify less with both their Jewish heritage and evangelicals. Darrell Bock tries to expand the space for reconciliation between Jews and Arabs, by breaking down on the roots of conflict, mainly tribalism. Using key texts from Luke-Acts,  he argues from a dispensation standpoint that God's plan of salvation has a two-part structure. The first is the promise and the second the fulfilment. The time for reconciliation will come when God brings together both Jews and Gentiles (including Arabs). The inclusion of Gentiles does not necessarily mean the exclusion of Jews. Hopefully, a proper understanding and reverence for the biblical texts and divine revelation will help all to put God's salvation as primary and all matters of tribalism and nationalism as distant secondary. Part Four is about the modern challenges to peace. Mark Bailey asks the question of whether Christians should support the modern state of Israel, and offers both biblical and practical reasons for the affirmative. On the legal issues of the conflict, Craig Parshall examines the international law charges against modern Israel, scrutinizing the inconsistent application of international law. He argues that there are at least four legitimate reasons for Israel to be recognized as a state. Why? It's because our future is tied to Israel's future. Mike Brown tackles the question of whether it is sinful to divide the land of Israel as it is like today. He is not dogmatic about the answers either way but asserts that the land is ultimately God's land, not ours and thus we should condition our demands accordingly.

Three Thoughts
First, this book offers us clear ways to think through the Middle East crisis. We have all heard of the decades of disputes and conflicts that never seem to go away. Moreover, with the recent US decision to move its embassy directly to Jerusalem, many neighbouring countries are inflamed. By drawing us back to the biblical texts, we are reminded that the land of Israel belongs ultimately to God. We should not be so arrogant as to think that we alone can fight with all our weapons and wit to gain at the expense of others. For if God's ultimate desire is to reconcile all people, then what we do in the present should reflect a spirit of reconciliation.

Second, the book gives us biblical reasons why we should support Israel. Currently, there is a general swing of political support among American evangelicals who hold strongly to Israel being the chosen nation of God. Unfortunately, political reasons muddle our thinking. While it is not necessarily a sin to divide the physical land of Israel into what it is today, we must remember that the ultimate sin is breaking the two greatest commandments of loving God and our neighbours. So what if we have all the military might to silence dissenting voices? If we don't forgive them at all, how can we expect God to forgive us? What goes around comes around. We reap what we sow. While we may hold a different theological perspective (from dispensationalism), we should be able to appreciate the earnest desire to see the state of Israel flourish, that the neighbours will also flourish. If everyone gains, why not? Such a situation may be idealistic for many, but is there a better alternative?

Third, there is again a sense of a lack of support for the Palestinians. Several authors like Mitch Glaser, Darrell Bock, Tom Doyle, Michael Ridelnik make brief mention of the plight of the Palestinians but their passion for the Palestinians are tiny when compared to how they argue for Israel. Peace must be multiway and in some manner, this book could very well be seen as something t to beef up political support for Israel, instead of for all. One way to balance this would be to release a corresponding volume with arguments on land for Palestinians and how Israel and her neighbours could co-exist peacefully.

Rating: 4 stars of 5.

conrade

---

This book has been provided courtesy of Kregel Academic without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.