Is Israel a victim or an oppressor? It depends on who you ask.  Explore biblical teachings on the use and abuse of power and how they relate to the dynamics of oppression in the Israel-Palestine context.

Transcript

INTRODUCTION

What happens when a once-oppressed people become an oppressive force? Or when a currently oppressed nation turns the tables and violently attacks its oppressors. Who do we support? Who’s the good guy, and who’s the bad guy?

That’s just one of the multitude of factors that make the current conflict between Israel and Palestine complex. It also explains the wide range of reactions we see in America—from unilateral support of Israel from evangelical Christians to anti-Semitic protests on college campuses.

Before we dive in, there are two things I want to say upfront:

1. I am not an expert in Middle East relations. I might be wrong here.

2. There are Jews and Palestinians in America for whom this is more than just a headline. It’s deeply personal and painful.

So, anything we say about this topic, including this sermon, we should say with humility and gentleness.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

Let’s review: On October 7, a Palestinian terrorist group called Hamas violently attacked Israel. In response, Israel initiated a brutal war against Palestine and Hamas. This latest conflict is just part of an ongoing 75-year battle over land, power, and religion.

Prior to 1948, there was no Jewish nation. But after World War II, the U.N. established the nation of Israel, but they created it from land previously occupied by Palestine. So, the Palestinians felt like their land was stolen from them. Hence, the fighting.

CHANGING VIEWS OF ISRAEL

Last week, I shared how American evangelicals are overwhelmingly pro-Israel, based in-part, on a literal interpretation of the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”

As a result, many evangelicals believe it’s their godly duty to support Israel and the Jewish people so that we can receive God’s blessing, fulfill biblical prophecies, and cause Jesus to return.

But Israel’s actions over the last decade have caused many American Christians to question their support of Israel. And this current conflict has presented some ethical issues that should also cause us to pause and consider what support should look like.

Some fear that Israel has crossed the line from self-defense into aggression and even genocide. Israel’s retaliation against Hamas has become alarming because of the ferocity of their attacks.

The Wall Street Journal reported that between October 7 and mid-December, Israel dropped 29,000 bombs over Gaza in 45 days.

Headlines also reported that early in the conflict, Israel dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza in 6 days. By comparison, in the 2019 war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. dropped a record 7,400 bombs in an entire year.

Additionally, there have been widespread reports that Israel has indiscriminately targeted civilians and even used illegal tactics like starvation, execution, and rape as weapons of war. Israel has been so brutal that they have even had to defend itself against global allegations of war crimes.

THE DYNAMICS OF POWER AND OPPRESSION

One of the dynamics that has surfaced in this conflict has been the topics of power and oppression, which is our focus today.

Through this lens, generations of Americans see Israel very differently.

• Older Americans support Israel because they once saw Israel as an oppressed people who had to defend themselves. They knew a time when Israel could’ve been wiped off the face of the earth by the surrounding countries.

• But younger Americans generally oppose Israel. They see the country as the oppressor because they’ve only known a powerful Israel with strong military capabilities. They’ve only seen Israel occupying and oppressing Palestine.

What happens when the oppressed becomes the oppressor? What happens when the victim becomes the victimizer?

There are situations like this throughout our community and world history.

• We’ve all heard the saying, “Hurt people hurt people.”

• It’s road rage. You get cut off.you cut off another person.

• Historically, we’ve seen how the early settlers escaped religious persecution by coming to America, only to religiously persecute the Native Americans.

• The famous Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 showed how good people, after being mistreated, can act barbarically when given power.

• It was my water polo team in high school. The seniors ruthlessly hazed us freshmen. Then, when we became seniors, some of my classmates hazed the new freshmen. One day, I asked one of them, “Why are doing this? You hated the seniors!” He simply replied, “We had to go through it. Now, they have to.”

• Even among the Hmong refugee community, we’ve an increase in anti-immigration sentiments with the recent influx of immigrants.

DO NOT OPPRESS THE FOREIGNER: A JEWISH PERSPECTIVE

This conversation about power and oppression has also been happening within the Jewish community. There’s an excellent podcast that I’ve been listening to lately called the Ezra Klein Show. Klein is an award-winning journalist with The New York Times, who is also Jewish.

There was one show, in particular, that was just stellar. It was the November 17th episode titled “The Sermons I Needed to Hear Right Now.” In it, he interviews Rabbi Sharon Brous from LA, who is listed as one of the most influential rabbis in America. I’d highly recommend the whole podcast, but especially this episode.

She talked a lot about how her Jewish identity helps inform her views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. She shared her concerns about the extreme-right shift Israel’s government leaders have been taking. She feels like they’ve moved away from values that are core to her understanding of what it means to be Jewish.

Instead of brute strength and force, she argues that the core principles of the Jewish faith come from the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), thousands of years of Rabbinic tradition, and Jewish history of persecution, genocide, and exile.

This is what she says,

“If you look at our core sacred literature, the Torah, you see that four of the five books are dedicated to the experience of our people, the Israelites, walking from out of degradation and enslavement and barbarity and human cruelty toward the promised land on a quest to build a just society.

“And that story, that core narrative, lives at the heart of every Jewish ritual and every single Jewish holiday. It is at the heart of our prayer services. There’s not a morning, afternoon, or evening prayer where we don’t recall the exodus from Egypt.

“And it is delivered, not only as a narrative, but a narrative that is tied to specific moral action, which is, you were strangers in the land of Egypt; do not oppress the stranger. You were strangers in the land of Egypt; you know the heart of the stranger. And you are strangers in the land of Egypt; you must love the stranger, protect the stranger. And that is the source of my Jewish faith.”

That verse Rabbi Brous referred to is repeated six times in the Torah, particularly in the Law. One of the best examples is Exodus 23:9 – “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”

A QUICK HISTORY OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY

To help understand the importance of these verses, let me give you a brief Bible history lesson.

The Jewish people, in the Bible called Hebrews or Israelites, came from their patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, the youngest of which was Joseph.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Egypt. But his faithfulness to God led him to become a high official to Pharaoh. During a famine, Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt seeking food. After some drama, they reconciled and reunited. Joseph invited them to live in Egypt. This was a prosperous time for the Israelites, and their community grew.

But eventually, the new Pharaoh feared their size and enslaved the Israelites. For 300 years, he brutally oppressed them as slaves. Then, God raised up Moses to confront Pharaoh and demonstrate God’s power against him. Pharaoh finally relented and let God’s people go.

When the Israelites were finally free, God gave them the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law to establish a community that reflects His values.

And the verse we’re talking about today comes from that Law.

“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners because you were foreigners in Egypt.”

But this is different than just “don’t do it.” The rationale for the command is directly tied to their history, their emotions, and their trauma.

You know oppression. So, don’t oppress others. You know exploitation. So, don’t exploit others. You know human degradation. So, don’t degrade the image of God in others.

Rabbi Shai Held, the President and Dean of the Hadar Institute in New York, describes this law as one of, a moral memory of sorts. He wrote in his book Turning Memory into Empathy,

“The Torah could have responded quite differently to the experience of oppression in Egypt. It could have said, since you were tyrannized and exploited and no one did anything to help you, you don’t owe anything to anyone; how dare anyone ask anything of you?

“But it chooses the opposite path: Since you were exploited and oppressed, you must never be among the exploiters and degraders. You must remember what it feels like to be a stranger. Empathy must animate and intensify your commitment to the dignity and well-being of the weak and vulnerable. And God holds you accountable to this obligation.”

This goes back to what Rabbi Brous was saying. She argues that what Israel is doing right now to Palestine is decidedly un-Jewish. It’s exactly what the Torah tells them not to do. Even in war, Israel must not oppress the Palestinians because they themselves know what it’s like to be oppressed.

A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO POWER AND OPPRESSION

So, what does this have to do with us Christians?

I think it’s worth considering what our Jewish brothers and sisters have to say when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Whether you support Israel or Palestine, I think you have to take a step back and consider what Exodus 23:9 says because it’s in our Bible, too.

If you want a more New Testament response, interestingly, the Apostle Paul borrows the same language of foreigner in Ephesians 2 to describe us in the spiritual realm. This is what he says.

“12 Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Paul reminds believers that, at one point, we were excluded from God’s promises. As Gentiles (non-Jews), we were foreigners to God’s promise of redemption and restoration. But because of Christ, we were included into this promise.

The passage goes on to say,

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Once again, we return to peace.

CONCLUSION

RiverLife family, this conflict is complex. The scars of history and power have warped both sides, turning victims into villains. But Exodus whispers, “Do not oppress the stranger.” Whatever you think of either side, remember your pain, your exclusion, your thirst for home.

We, no longer strangers, but siblings, bound by a shared story and a common Father, we can live out the transformative power of Christ's love in a world desperate for healing. Let go of the sword and embrace the hand of the foreigner. Always choose forgiveness over fury, reconciliation over retaliation.

Church, as you go, be ambassadors of grace, builders of bridges, instruments of peace. In the darkness, be light. Amidst pain, bring healing. And pray for peace—a future where Israeli and Palestinian children can play together, singing the same song of peace.