Dr. Anton (Tony) Deik, our associate director at the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, draws on a lifetime of studying the biblical texts to persuasively argue that the conflation of the modern-day state of Israel with God’s biblical promises and “chosen people” is both ethically outrageous and theologically scandalous.

Tony demonstrates the horrific atrocities of the Nakba, past and present, have nothing to do with the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ.

Tony canvasses the biblical texts to show God’s choice of Abraham and Israel was not based on race, ethnicity or tribe, but a desire to form a covenant community committed to justice and righteousness. Thus, the biblical people Israel were a multi-ethnic people, defined by the centrality of God’s law — the expression of God’s love and justice — in their lives. The biblical idea of election is, therefore, inseparable from liberative justice and love for others. 

The biblical texts bear witness to humanity, including biblical Israel, that repeatedly fails to embody this justice. In the fullness of time, God sends his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, from within the people of Israel. John 15:1 attests to the centrality of Jesus in our understanding of election: here, Jesus is presented as the “true Israel” and the “true vine,” with all believers—Jew and Gentile—joined to him and judged by the fruit of love and justice they bear.

Heresies are measured by the distance between our theological center and Jesus, and, as Tony challenges us, this distance should be zero. To claim that the state of Israel is the embodiment of God’s chosen people is a heresy that replaces Jesus with an ethno-religious state built on Palestinian blood and bones. The idea of election—of choseness—makes no sense whatsoever apart from Jesus; as Christians, Jesus should be at the very center of our theology and our praxis.