Later in the interview with the New York Times, Mr. Friedman asked the president if he was worried about Israel. The president’s response:
“It is amazing to see what Israel has become over the last several decades. To have scratched out of rock this incredibly vibrant, incredibly successful, wealthy and powerful country is a testament to the ingenuity, energy and vision of the Jewish people.”
If President Obama’s perception of foreign policy relative to Israel is based only on the ‘last several decades’ he is totally ignoring the big picture.
Israel’s past and future history has already been written. There is no room for compromising God’s plan based on ‘logic’ or political correctness. God’s preordained odyssey for Israel began 4,000 years ago and is immutable.
It began with a man who lived on the other side of the Euphrates River in a land presently known as Iraq. He was told to leave the gods of that land and travel to a new land which God would show him. Recall that famous calling:
“Get out of your country…I will make you a great nation…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3
Synonyms for the Hebrew word ‘families’ include tribes, race, and people. In other words, when God scattered the nations after their attempt to build Babel, He declared that peoples from every race and tribe would be blessed through the man called from ancient Iraq, i.e. Abraham.
And then recall God defined the boundaries of the land He would give Abraham for the new nation.
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates…” Genesis 15:18
Inhabitants of the land, who would subsequently be removed, included the Canaanites who were offspring of Ham who was a son of Noah.
God would bless Israel by making them His chosen nation. He would reveal to this new nation His standard of righteousness and justice. They were to learn His commandments and teach them to all generations.
He then told them some of His provisions.
“So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant – when you have eaten and are full – then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” Deuteronomy 6:10-12
Therefore, Israel did not ‘scratch out of rock’ what they have, and their wealth and riches did not begin ‘over the last several decades’.
God’s promise for Israel’s blessings through Abraham and his descendants is absolutely immutable and everlasting. God would provide to His chosen people all that they could ever need, and much more. Another very significant truth is that Abraham’s descendants who would perpetuate the promise were Isaac and Jacob.
Abraham’s son Ishmael through Sarah’s maid Hagar did not receive the promise. The Bible describes Ishmael as a ‘wild man’ who would ‘be against every man, and every man’s hand against him’.
Recall that Ishmael scoffed at Isaac and then he and his mother were sent away to the East.
God warned the Israelites not to forget his commandments and judgments, i.e. not to willfully neglect them or they would experience grave consequences. Israel has disobeyed God’s commandments throughout their entire history; however, God’s covenant with Abraham was forever and will be totally fulfilled upon the return of their Messiah, i.e. the Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In other words Israel is on a pre-written journey foreordained for them by their God. Any attempt to change or rewrite God’s plan for Israel is more than foolish.
Our president’s assessment of Israel’s present success, or his vision for Israel’s future, is naïve at best, or an attempt to play God at worst.
America’s best foreign policy regarding Israel would be to align our efforts with God’s existing, immutable plan for them.