It is for this reason that Paul would have scratched his head over the current Evangelical fascination with the modern secular state of Israel and its supposedly Bible-mandated right to do what it pleases with Palestine and its inhabitants. This way of reading the Bible misses the whole point of the story; it robs the biblical narrative of its climax.
Stephen Taylor, associate professor of New Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary, has written a very thoughtful piece on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that models what I feel is a truly “biblical” approach–not one that rests on proof texting or resurrecting ancient tribal conflicts, but that places the gospel at the center of transcending and redefining our expectations of what God is doing in the world. [To read the rest of this article–and you really should–click here.]
