Since the beginning of Christianity, anti-Jewish sentiments have been pervasive among large segments of its adherents. Even while a growing number of believers are choosing to stand with Israel, antisemitic influences remain embedded in certain ideologies that target the Jewish people with accusations of wickedness (whether those claims are rooted in reality, or not). But these allegations are not merely an end in themselves. Their strategy is to assert that Israel’s sins have annulled their position as God’s people. But is this really so? Does Israel’s status as the chosen nation depend upon whether they are righteous or wicked? Not at all, and in Deuteronomy 9, we find Moses clearly demonstrating the contrary: that God’s choosing of the Jewish people is not dependent upon their righteousness, but is instead based on the promises He made to their fathers, as well as on His own reputation which He tied to those promises.
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We all know the story of Purim. A beautiful Jewish girl is taken from her family and married by the foreign, occupying king. Her cousin warns her that the king’s right-hand-man is plotting to exterminate the Jewish people. The girl boldly faces the king, risking her life to expose the conspiracy. Her people are saved, the evil man executed, her cousin promoted, and all is right in the end.

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And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant…—for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:5-6, esv)

The State of Israel, while perhaps unique among the countries in the Middle East, is hardly remarkable on the world stage. If not for her placement among so many Islamic neighbors, she might barely be a footnote. Seven million Jews live in a liberal, secular paradise in the middle of the desert, showing little distinction from the rest of Westernized society. Dispersed across the world, eight million more Jews lead quiet lives—some maintaining a private religious practice, some abandoning their Jewish heritage altogether, but both largely indiscernible from the people that live around them. Like their ancestors before them, who begged for a king so “that we also may be like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:20), today’s fifteen million Jews—God’s chosen people—choose day after day to continue looking as much like the world around them as they can, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves.

“In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” –David Ben-Gurion, first Israeli Prime Minister

This year, the modern State of Israel celebrates its 75th anniversary, a truly monumental event. The God of Abra­ham, Isaac, and Jacob has once again shown immense favor to His people, and it is only by His hand that Israel exists today. But can this revived Jewish nation continue to expect God’s blessing and protection?

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