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What Does the Bible Say About..Honoring Israel?

Where in the Bible does it tell us to honor Israel?

Answer

Romans 11 contains Paul’s discussion about how non-Jews (gentiles) should be grateful to the Jews for being the root from which all the saved spring. He says the Jews are (or were) cut off for a time, but will come back into God’s grace that all, both the gentiles and the Jews, may have those who are saved.

Keep in mind, though, that when Paul speaks of Israel he is not talking about the nation that now is but the Jews as a whole, scattered over the face of the earth. The nation of Israel that was founded in the middle of the Twentieth Century bears little resemblance to the nation that existed before Rome scattered them in 70 AD. The nation that now exists is ruled by a secular government that pays little attention to God. Some Americans support that nation because of a mistaken idea that the Bible promises a physical restoration of Israel to the land as one of the signs of the end of the world. For that they quote passages from the Old Testament, all of which were fulfilled with Israel’s return from Babylon almost four hundred years before Christ.