How Do We Bless & Not Curse ‘Israel’?
My friend and I are studying Revelation with a Precept Bible study. We are in the study of the fullness of the Gentiles and Romans 11 – “Has God cast away Israel?” Tucker Carlson has been ranting about the nation of Israel and some believers’ foolishness and wrong understanding of Abraham’s calling and blessing. It seems clear that there would be a remnant of Jews who love and follow God and others who would not. How do we bless and not curse Israel? Is that even in play anymore? And if not, when did that end?
I’m so happy for your question. I want to talk about the idea of blessing and not cursing Israel, and whether it’s something that applies to us at all today. I’m grateful for the question, because there has been some talk about this lately, and I think a lot of it has been wrong. Let me get to the point. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Senator Ted Cruz gave what I thought was an awkward and clumsy answer to this question, “What does it mean bless Israel or to curse Israel?” He used it as a justification for American foreign policy. Additionally, in a recently released video, Kirk Cameron hoped to refute the idea that this promise in Genesis 12:3 has anything to do with the modern Jewish people, or with any Jewish people after the time of the New Testament. I think that Tucker Carlson’s perspective was wrong. I don’t at all like the way Ted Cruz explained it. And I think Kirk Cameron is wrong on it.
Let me spell out some very important biblical points.
Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Here’s the critical line here in verse three: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In this covenant, God promised Abraham three things: a land, a nation and a blessing. The land is largely what we call the land of Israel today. There was a time in history when it was largely known as Palestine, but the biblical name for this area was first the land of Canaan and then the land of Israel. That’s the land part of the covenant. The nation is the people of Israel, the Jewish people, including the relatively free proselytes who have joined themselves to Israel, both in the times of the Bible and since. That’s the nation part of the covenant.
Finally, the promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Not only was Abraham promised blessing, but God also promised to make him a blessing, even to the point where all the families of the earth would be blessed in Abraham. This amazing promise was fulfilled in the Messiah who came from Abram’s lineage.
God’s blessing to Abraham was not for his own sake, or even just for the sake of the Jewish nation to come, but it was for the whole world, for all the families of the earth through Jesus Christ. This is clearly explained in Galatians 3:8-9 – And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
In addition to the promises of a land, nation and blessing, God also made Abraham this remarkable promise that, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.” God promised that He would bless those who blessed Abraham and curse those who cursed Abraham. That promise was inherited by the covenant descendants of Abram, the Jewish people. I believe it remains true today, and it’s a root reason for the decline and death of many empires.
If you talk about history, you’re always going to get different opinions. I’ve heard some people say. “No, when people have turned against the Jewish people, they’ve been blessed as nations.” But to that I would quote Donald Grey Barnhouse in his commentary on Genesis, which says “When the Greeks overran Palestine and desecrated the altar and Jewish temple, they were soon conquered by Rome. When Rome killed Paul and many others and destroyed Jerusalem under Titus, Rome soon fell. Spain was reduced to a fifth-rate nation after the Inquisition against the Jews. Poland fell after the pogroms, Hitler’s Germany went down after its origins of antisemitism. Britain lost her Empire when she broke her faith with Israel.”
I understand that people will dispute some of those claims historically, but I believe you can see it to be true in history, and I think you can especially see it to be true in the church. For many centuries, the worst enemies that the Jewish people had were people who called themselves Christians, or claimed to act in the name of Christianity, carrying out a lot of violence and discrimination against the Jewish people.
Now, the whole question Kirk Cameron and other people bring up is, “Did that promise of blessing and cursing end with Abraham? And is it only inherited by those who are related to Abraham by faith, not by lineage?” I would say absolutely not. We understand that there are two ways to relate to Abraham. We relate to Abraham by faith, by having the same faith he had: the faith that leads to righteousness. Genesis 15:6 – “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” But there’s also a way that people are related to Abraham by blood and by covenant.
Okay, so if the promise to “bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you,” concerned only Abraham and Genesis 12:3, then maybe we could say it was only for him, or that the promise wasn’t about Abraham’s literal descendants.
But here’s the problem with that. Most of the people who say that God’s promise to “bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you” doesn’t apply to the Jewish people today don’t reckon with the promise regarding blessing and cursing being clearly applied to Abraham’s literal descendants, the Jewish people. This is seen in at least two further passages that don’t get enough attention.
Genesis 27:29 – “Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!” This is part of Isaac’s blessing on Jacob. That is a clear echo of the promise which God made to Abraham. Abraham passed that covenant down to Isaac, and Isaac is now passing it on to Jacob. Again, it’s a thing of lineage. It was given to Isaac from Abraham, and then to Jacob from Isaac. Isaac and Jacob were literal and covenantal descendants of Abraham.
Now, I say literal and covenantal descendants, because Abraham had other descendants that were not part of the covenant: Ishmael and the sons he had through Keturah. Don’t forget about them. He had other literal sons who weren’t part of the covenant. But the sons through Isaac and Jacob were the covenant children of Israel.
This promise is repeated a further time, and has even more impact, because this happened some 400 years after Isaac said that to Jacob. This is what the Lord said through a weird prophet, Balaam, over Israel:
Numbers 24:9b – “Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”
This is a clear echo of the promise in Genesis 12:1-3. And it’s important to see that this takes place while much of the generation of Israel who came out of Egypt were still living. In other words, they were the ones we would call “the generation of unbelief.” There is a sense in which that generation was not finished until the plague of Peor ended in Numbers 25. But despite all the weaknesses of that generation of unbelief, they still receive the promise, “Blessed is he who blesses you and cursed is he who curses you.” By this we understand that this is a covenant that God made with Israel. It’s a promise He made to Israel that doesn’t depend on their obedience, because it was echoed again to them while they were largely disobedient.
So, this promise was not made just once to Abraham. It was promised again to Isaac and then to Jacob. It was passed on to the sons of Jacob, the children of Israel. It was true of Israel in the wilderness, as reflected in Numbers 24:9.
What does it mean to bless and not curse Israel?
I’m going to say what it means, and then what it does not mean. In a positive sense, what does it mean to bless and not curse Israel? First, it means to desire and promote the survival of the Jewish people, and to not kill or persecute them. It cannot be denied that at many times throughout history the Jews have been unbelievably persecuted and often murdered by Christians. To bless Israel means promoting the survival of the Jewish people. I don’t want to kill them.
Secondly, it means to recognize the nation of Israel’s right to exist as a nation, including the right to defend themselves. If they’re a nation, they have the right to defend themselves. Third, it means to not rejoice in the death or downfall of Israel or the Jewish people. Fourth, it means to make the Jewish people welcome in our nations and communities. I think that blessing Israel and not cursing them means that you say to the Jewish people, “You’re welcome in our nation.” Finally, it also means to pray that the Jewish people will be blessed in the greatest way of all, which is by coming to faith in their Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was sent to the lost sheep of Israel.
Here is what blessing Israel does not mean.
This is important. First, it does not mean that everything the Israeli government does is good, right, or worthy of support. I don’t know where some people get the idea to say unreservedly that everything the Israeli government is always right in every circumstance. To bless Israel does not mean that everything the Israeli government does is right. When they do wrong, or when they operate unjustly, it’s okay to call them out on it. In the Old Testament, Israel was often wrong and needed to be corrected, and God did it. Why should it surprise us if it’s the same case today? So, we’re not saying that everything the Israeli government does is right.
Secondly, it does not mean that Christians are obligated to be happy over the death and destruction that comes from war, even if those wars are fought for a just purpose. Now, I know people debate that, especially with Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas. However, Christians are not obligated to be happy over the destruction brought by war. If we can be peacemakers, to bring peace with justice, then we should be all for it.
Third, it does not mean that God is fundamentally against the Arab or Palestinian people. We don’t have to be against them in order to be for Israel. Now we might be against particular leaders or groups who we sincerely believe are acting contrary to the benefit and purpose of the Palestinian people, such as Hamas. But we’re not against the Arab or Palestinian people. We want good for them and blessing for them. Part of the good we desire is better leaders for them and their movement.
I think we have a very secure biblical basis for saying that God’s promise to “bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you” applies to the Jewish people and Israel today. But it’s important to note that it does not mean that the modern state of Israel should be insulated from all criticism or examination when it does wrong. Israel should be called out on it by the nations of the world.
There are so many voices speaking into right now this conflict in Gaza. There does seem to be a mentality on the part of some believers that supporting Israel in this conflict means being adversarial towards the Palestinian people. And I think you’ve made a very important distinction there. There are Palestinian Christians in the Gaza Strip. They are fewer in number now, but a generation ago, there were a lot more. Many have fled because of the intense violence, both from Israel and even more so from their fellow Arabs who are Muslims. We can be supportive of Israel, but don’t delight in war or the death and destruction that’s happening there.
To the Israeli who says, “You can’t love me without hating the Palestinians,” I disagree. But to the Palestinian who says, “You can’t love me without hating the Israelis,” I also disagree. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and He gives us the ability to love. This is important as Christians. Jesus loves all people, and so should we.