As Palestinian lives are destroyed under Israeli occupation, Christians worldwide face an unavoidable question: can the forced seizure of Gaza and the West Bank be reconciled with Jewish scripture, the teachings of Jesus, or international law?

The God of Genesis promised land.

The God Paul proclaimed has no favourites. Between those two claims lies the moral crisis.

God has no favourites

The case for unqualified Christian support for Israel typically begins with texts such as these from Genesis:

“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”

“I am going to give you and your descendents all the land that you see and it will be yours forever.”

Paul writing to the Romans in the context of conflict between Jews and Gentiles states:

“God has no favourites.”

If God plays no favourites, the land promises of Genesis lose their force. But the historical foundation beneath them is also in question.

Did the Exodus happen?

The general consensus among modern biblical scholars and archaeologists is that the Exodus was not an historical event but a “founding myth” that provides an identity for the Israeli people.

No archaeological remains in Sinai, no Egyptian records of enslaved Hebrews, and no accounts of a massive departure have been found to confirm the narrative as historical fact.

The story of the Exodus remains central to Judaism.

Scripture and divine inspiration

These modern biblical studies don’t deny that there are divinely inspired revelations in the Jewish Pentateuch but careful discernment is needed.

Early Christians saw the exodus as a “typological prefiguration” of the Resurrection of Jesus. Exodus texts still feature at Easter Eucharistic celebrations.

The Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, in his “The Theology of Liberation” interprets the Book of Exodus not as a cultural creation but as the fundamental story of God’s political and social liberation of the poor and oppressed.

Abuse of scripture for politics

In Deuteronomy 25:17-19 and 1 Samuel 15:3, Yahweh commanded the Israelites to “Remember what the Amalekites did as you were coming from Egypt. When the Lord God has secured you in the land be sure to kill all the Amalekites so that no one will remember them any longer. Don’t leave a trace; kill all the men, women and children and babies.”

Netanyahu invoked these words in a national T.V. address, claiming they gave his government Divine approval for the killing of all modern-day Israeli enemies.

Love your enemies?

Jesus revealed Yahweh God as a loving Abba. He commanded his followers to love their enemies and to be blessed peacemakers.

Can we who claim to follow him remain as silent onlookers as another genocide is being committed in His/Her name?

• Brendan Butler is a former secondary school teacher who specialised in teaching Religious Education. His postgraduate degree was in theology from the Antonianum University in Rome. In 1979, he co-founded “The Irish El Salvador Support Committee” and later “The Ireland Algeria Solidarity Group”. He was the co-ordinator of “The N.G.O. Peace Alliance” which was active in the Irish peace movement. He helped to revive the Catholic Church reform movement “We are Church Ireland”, of which he was joint co-ordinator and spokesperson for several years.
• He published: My Story by Jesus of Nazareth, As narrated by Brendan Butler.
• Brendan is also active in contributing articles, letters to Irish Newspapers on Church and human rights issues.