As the conflict in the Middle East continues to dominate headlines, a new book by Professor Emeritus Dr Michael Rydelnik considers how Christians should think about Israel and the Jewish people today
Ever since the modern state of Israel was formed in May 1948, following the end of the British mandate in Palestine, Israel has not been far from news headlines.
The Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, the subsequent Israeli retaliation in Gaza, the high-profile involvement of the President of the US in respect to these conflicts, the current US-led attack on Iran (along with Iran’s retaliation against Israel, and Israel’s subsequent assault on Lebanon), as well as reports of growing antisemitism in Western Europe, have all served to raise the topics of Israel and Jewish people in people’s minds, both politically and culturally.
However, having reached that level of awareness, how should people respond to the issues raised? More specifically, how should Christian people think and respond to such matters?
That is the question asked by the author, Dr Michael Rydelnik in his timely and aptly named new book How Should Christians Think About Israel?: A Quick Guide to God’s Covenants, Biblical Prophecy, and the Jewish People (Moody Publishers). Dr Rydelnik is well placed to write about such matters, being a Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at the Moody Bible Institute, as well as being a Messianic Jew (more of which, later).
The book is a small one: pocket-sized and just 94 pages with 12 additional pages of helpful notes to the main text. In this concise format, the author sets out to provide answers to three specific questions, namely, ‘Should Christians support the modern State of Israel?’, ‘How should we view Israel, the Jewish people, and the Church?’, and finally, ‘What makes Israel so special?’ He attends to these questions across a short introduction and five subsequent chapters, in a style of writing that should be accessible to most readers, and makes for enjoyable, informative and, for this reviewer at least, enlightening reading.
In chapter one, the differences between the nation of Israel and the current Israeli government are laid out, with clear definitions of the terms Hebrew, Israel, Jews/Jewish People, and Zionism. Dr Rydelnik also examines the relationship between modern Israel and biblical Israel, asking whether they are one and the same. He continues to differentiate between legitimate criticism of Israel and hatred of the Jewish state because it is Jewish, and addresses the alliterative issues of delegitimisation, double standards, demonization, and deceit.
Chapter two considers Israel past and present, and in doing so reflects on the intriguing fact that Jews comprise 1/5th of 1% of the world’s population but have won 22% of the Nobel Prizes, causing the author to reflect on the idea that “throughout history, God has caused Jewish people to have an influence that far outweighs their size”. In this chapter, the various covenants (Abrahamic, Land, Davidic, and New) are all addressed in a clear and concise manner; covenants that led Mark Twain to comment that: “All things are mortal but for the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” The answer, says Dr Rydelnik, starts with these covenants.
Chapter three examines how Israel and the Church are distinct and warns against the idea of “spiritual identity theft”. Chapter four raises the question as to why Christians should be bothered to consider Israel and its various problems, while the final chapter takes this question further by addressing the somewhat avaricious (and not very Christian) stance of “what’s in it for me?”. In short, says Dr Rydelnik, spiritual security, personal peace, and individual blessing.
Dr Rydelnik has produced a compelling argument in a succinct and readable format, the reading of which might well benefit many Christians and allow them to formulate more cogent, balanced and well-substantiated views on these sensitive subjects. However, and this is an important consideration, the reader does have to keep an open mind to some inherent bias in respect to this book.
Dr Rydelnik’s family background is Jewish. Several generational family members were murdered by the Nazis in Europe during the second world war and Rydelnik has been a self-professed Messianic Jewish follower of Jesus for some 30 or more years. None of this is a problem - like all of us, he has a background and context which may inform his viewpoints. The point is, like everything written on the Middle East, the book is coming from a particular standpoint. Indeed, while the first couple of chapters were easily persuasive, in later chapters there was a growing sense of proselytising creeping into the arguments put forward. Additionally, there is a niggling sense of ‘proof-texting’; that is, the use of isolated biblical passages simply to give the appearance of biblical justification to a given viewpoint.
How Should Christians Think About Israel? is a refreshingly readable account, with a quality of authorship not often experienced today in respect to books written for a wide and general market. I recommend it.
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