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Covenant or Creation? The Christians Who Believe Israel is Just a Modern-Day Invention

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Israel will celebrate its 70th year anniversary as a modern nation in a few months, but the Bible says its story began thousands of years ago when God brought the Jews out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

However, some Christians believe the Jews living in Israel today have no connection to biblical Israel, and are simply a modern-day invention.

One of the biggest proponents of this idea is Palestinian Lutheran theologian Mitri Raheb.  He argued, at a conference put on by the St. Olaf Institute for Freedom and Community, that Israel wasn't promised to the Jews by God. Instead, he said, the Jewish state is a "political project" by the Europeans to colonize the Middle East.

"The colonization of Palestine was one outcome of the first world war," Raheb said in his lecture, adding that "it wasn't the Lord God who promised Israel the land; it was the Lord Balfour."

Click to Watch Full Lecture:

Raheb argues in his book Faith in the Face of Empire that "Jesus was a Middle Eastern Palestinian Jew," and criticizes Christians who point to the Bible as evidence for their support of Israel.

"Is it possible to use the biblical text to whitewash military occupation and the oppression of a whole nation?" he asks the audience in his lecture.

However, not everyone who attended the conference agreed with Raheb. Dr. Robert Benne, professor of religion and philosophy at Roanoke College, believes Raheb's ideas are dangerous and refutes them in an opinion piece called Political Supersessionism.

Benne told CBN News the idea that the modern Jews have no connection to biblical Israel is "very scary."

"That's the kind of argument the Nazis used...I'm told a good deal of the Nazi leadership thought they were Christians, but neither one of them thought Jesus was a Jew.  They thought Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier and that there was a kind of racial purity involved in Jesus," Benne said. “That’s not true at all. Jesus was a Jewish Jew born in Bethlehem.”

"Really, I'm not so interested in the biological connection so much as the religious connection," he added. "I think the much more important thing is the religious continuity of the children of Israel, the covenanted people of Israel."

Raheb isn't the only Christian who objects to the idea that God made an eternal covenant with the Jews. Some Christians believe in Replacement Theology, which argues that because the Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah, God has rejected them and now views the Church as his chosen people. Other Christians believe Israel is a criminal country and should be boycotted, divested, and sanctioned.

Benne believes the attempt to disconnect Christianity from its Jewish roots is an effort to weaken American support for Israel.

"I think that it's a concerted effort by Palestinians to weaken the American connection with Israel, the support of Israel. And one of the best ways to do that is to get Christians to give less support to Israel," he said.

"Christians, particularly evangelicals and fundamentalists, have been the strongest supporters of Israel as a country and the covenant people of Israel, who live under the canopy of the state of Israel. They've been the strongest supporters so this is a concerted attempt to go after them and weaken the support for Israel, but even more disturbingly, disconnect Christianity from Israel."

CBN News has reached out to Mitri Raheb. He has declined further comment.

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About The Author

Emily
Jones

Emily Jones is a multi-media journalist for CBN News in Jerusalem. Before she moved to the Middle East in 2019, she spent years regularly traveling to the region to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, meet with government officials, and raise awareness about Christian persecution. During her college years, Emily served as president of Regent University's Christians United for Israel chapter and spoke alongside world leaders at numerous conferences and events. She is an active member of the Philos Project, an organization that seeks to promote positive Christian engagement with the Middle