In 1897 more than two hundred leaders met in the town of Basel, Switzerland with a single goal in mind: to give the Jews a place among the nations and thereby make them acceptable, a people like any other people. The nationalism of their day had no respect for the Jews of European society but regarded them as an abnormality and an obstruction to progress. Zionism sought to overcome this stigma by “forcing the Jews to fit into categories valid in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Once they were universally regarded as a nation and had their own state, they would no longer be vulnerable to assault against their alleged uniqueness and cease to be victims of anti-Semitic attacks.”[1]
Over a century has passed since Zionism began its quest to normalize the Jew. Yet, “ironically, Israel—which wanted so much to avoid the stamp of otherness—has become the Jew among the nations.” In spite of its small size and population it looms large in world politics. “In the United States, for the last three decades, Israel has figured more prominently than almost any other country in foreign policy debates; in polls across Europe, Israel is considered to be the greatest danger to world peace; and in Islamic societies it has become routine to burn Israeli flags and argue for Israel’s demise. No other country has been the subject of as many UN resolutions as Israel. At the same time, many people around the world credit Israel with a unique role in the future course of the world.”[2] The inception of the State of Israel created the most famous and formidable political problem of modern times, repeatedly baffling the foremost superpowers and international organizations of the twenty and twenty-first centuries. Liberals decry the plight of marginalized Palestinians while conservatives claim that the ancient claims of the Jewish people cannot be ignored. But can the ancient writings of the Jews give legitimate guidance concerning this issue?
No other book provides so much insight into the history, the present condition, and the future outcome of modern Israel as the Book of Daniel. It stands among the books of Scripture as God’s revelation of His purposes in the geopolitics of our day and the days to come. Its pages yield precious insights to hearts that desire to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict from God’s perspective and for God’s glory.
[1] Michael Benner, In Search of Israel: The History of an Idea (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018), 4
[2] Ibid, 5
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