As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Mark Wohlander, an attorney and member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., said in a Jan. 22 commentary on Kentucky Today that the real goal of a two-state solution set out in United Nations resolutions since 1974 ‘is the destruction of Israel and its people.’”
“Christian aid group World Vision has laid off about 120 contractors in the Gaza Strip following allegations by Israel that the agency’s operations manager in the territory had diverted funds to the Islamist group Hamas.” Reuters
“The manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision was charged yesterday by Israeli authorities with funneling millions of dollars to Hamas instead of to Palestinian children in need.” CT
(Read the series so far.)
Considering the justice of God in Romans 9, Paul corrected the presupposition error that people deserve a relationship with God. He addressed the approach error of placing God across from men in an equal relationship. In Romans 9:22-29, he also corrected the limitation of error of seeing God’s agenda as limited to a single people.
But the apostle didn’t think the issue of watching his people slip into darkness was fully explored. He asked and answered two questions:
Paul asked: “Are we saying that the Jewish people, whom I deeply love, have fallen out of a vibrant relationship with the God of Abraham while those who were reached by missionaries (but weren’t looking for God to meet them) are now the recipients of a great and intimate walk with that same God?” Then Paul followed up with another question: “Why is that the case?”
“The nearly 1 million-member United Church of Christ voted overwhelmingly Tuesday (June 30) to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation and to boycott products of Israeli companies based in the West Bank” RNS
The book under review is the result of a conference that was held in New York in support of the special place of Israel in the Scriptures. Seventeen contributors put forth various articles under the headings of New Testament, Old Testament, Hermeneutics, Theology & Church History, and Practical Theology. A Forward is provided by popular writer Joel Rosenberg. The Introduction is by Glaser, and a short Conclusion is by Bock.
The purpose of the book is to bring together studies advocating the place of “Israel and the Jewish People in the Plan of God’ as the subtitle has it. The presenters come from the broadly premillennial camp; many are dispensationalists.
On the whole the articles are brief—about 12 to 15 pages on average, but for the most part each author has made good use of their allotted space. It may be helpful to give a few general remarks about the contributions rather than choosing one or two pieces for extended comment.
In the first place I found Rosenberg’s Forward to be off-putting. It is written in a journalistic parlance which is at odds with the tenor of most of the articles. It also focuses on biblical prophecies being fulfilled in our time, which seems a questionable assertion. That said, I agree with the statement that the existence of the State of Israel today is testimony to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (17). Nevertheless, I think the book could have done with a less popular opening.
Discussion