Did the U.S. just bomb Iran because of geopolitics...or Genesis? Insights from the Tucker Carlson - Ted Cruz debate.
Trying to understand why conservative Christian support for Israel is so unwavering. Is Fordo a crater today because of something God told Abraham?
President Trump concluded his brief announcement of the bombing of Iran with an awkward ad lib sounding a bit like an impression of Jesus accepting an Oscar: “And I want to just thank everybody, and in particular, God. I want to just say we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them.”
There were plenty of sound geopolitical reasons for the U.S. to join this battle, as well as some enormous downside risks. But I can’t get beyond the nagging impression that Trump’s decision was more about Genesis than geopolitics. To better understand that, let’s take a closer look at last week’s Ted Cruz - Tucker Carlson “debate,” which centered around Israel and Iran.
Although I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with either Cruz or Carlson on any policy issue and consider them both dangerous (and Carlson antisemitic), I was intrigued when their sparring went biblical.
Now that the U.S. has gone all Sodom-and-Gomorrah with Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo (the only underground nuclear site named after a Hobbit), it’s worth it to go back and look at one key section of the interview to better understand the theological underpinnings behind this decision.
In particular, there was the section where Cruz discussed how his deep affinity toward the state of Israel stems from his Christian roots, from the lessons learned as a child in Sunday School.
I found his understanding of the Bible to be simplistic and deeply flawed.
Despite that, I was taken by the genuineness of his feelings toward Israel (bear with me, it’s really hard for me to put the words “Cruz” and “genuine” in the same sentence), and I wanted to better understand how a conservative Christian grows up to be so dedicated to modern Israel.
Maybe, despite my misgivings, I had something to learn from how he interpreted a certain verse in Genesis, one that he couldn’t even cite correctly, but somehow made an indelible imprint on his psyche.
As for Carlson, he was sleazy as always, but his prep-boy knee-jerk condescension (with the emphasis on “jerk”) might have kept him from fully understanding why Cruz’s support for Israel, which reflects the feelings of millions of Christians, is so deeply personal. Those millions of voters are the reason Trump is president and they weigh heavily on any decision he makes regarding Israel, including and especially last night’s. They also weigh much more heavily than any GOP neocons who happen to have survived Trump’s purges and - most certainly - any Jews. The last voice Trump heard in his head before making the order to attack was the same voice that caused him to move the embassy to Jerusalem, a voice that sounded a lot like Cruz’s.
Let’s say it clearly: Trump, the guy who uses the Bible for a photo op, bombed Iran not because of the advice of any “experts,” (because they were all fired), but rather because of what God said to Abraham 3700ish years ago.
I’ve clipped that part of the Cruz-Carlson conversation:1
Let’s take a quick look at the verse they were discussing, which comes from God’s call of Abraham in chapter 12. (Not chapter 16, sorry, Tucker. And yes Ted, it is Genesis.)
Here’s a transcript of this excerpt, edited for clarity (all italics are mine for emphasis):
CRUZ: Where does my support for Israel come from? Number one, because biblically, we are commanded to support Israel. But number two…
CARLSON: Hold on, hold on. You’re a senator and now you’re throwing out theology. And I am a Christian and I am allowed to weigh in on this. We are commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel?
CRUZ We are commanded to support Israel.
CARLSON: What does that mean?
CRUZ: Number one, as a Christian growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. And from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side of things.
CARLSON: But hold on. Define Israel.
CRUZ: Do you not know what Israel is? That would be the country you’ve asked, like 49 questions about. I can find it for you. I don’t have the scripture off the tip of mine.
CARLSON: It’s in Genesis. So you’re quoting a Bible phrase, you don’t have context for it. You don’t know where in the Bible it is. But that’s like, like your theology. I’m confused. (Tucker does his patented “I’m confused” face) What does that even mean? I’m a Christian. I want to know what you’re talking about…. So that’s what Genesis…. That’s what God is talking about? Those who bless the government of Israel.
CRUZ: The nation of Israel. Yes... The current borders, the current leadership. He’s talking about the political entity called Israel…. He’s talking about the nation of Israel. And he’s discussing a nation… The people of Israel is the nation.
CARLSON: They’re the descendants of Abraham referring to in Genesis. Is that the same as the country run by Benjamin Netanyahu right now?
CRUZ: Yes. Yes, it is.
Wow. So all over Texas, pastors are telling their impressionable little future Ted Cruzes that the book of Genesis is commanding Christians to support the Jewish state because if we do, we’ll be blessed, and if we don’t we’ll be cursed. We’re supporting Israel in order to save our necks, because otherwise, we’re cooked?
It sounds threatening, Trumpy even: “You want blessing? You better bless Abe’s descendants first! You curse them, I curse you! You see what happened to those two ex-cities by the Dead Sea? It would be a shame for something to happen to San Antonio and Houston! (Austin’s already a goner.)”
Jews have interpreted these verses in many ways over the centuries. But I’ve never heard anyone from the Jewish world call Genesis 12 a summons for other countries to blindly support all policies of the Israeli government. I can see how that interpretation would make sense to one who looks at the text from a literalist, ahistorical point of view.
But we Jews are really not in the cursing business. Believe me, lots of curses have been uttered by my ancestors, usually in dark basements hiding from Cossacks, and probably a few in Israeli safe rooms, but they rarely worked. God never even succeeded in keeping the Czar far away from us.
In terms of biblical chronology, in Genesis 12, Israel - aka Jacob - hadn’t been born yet when God spoke to Abraham. He would come along in two generations and then, following his acclaimed wrestling match (produced for television presumably by Linda McMahon) his name would be changed to Israel. So in Genesis 12, there is no nation of Israel to bless or be blessed by.
When God is telling Abraham that through him and his descendants others will be blessed, recall that Abraham’s descendants included not only the children of Jacob - the Israelites, but also the progeny of Jacob’s brother Esau, which Jews later equated with Rome and Christendom. And Abraham’s first child Ishmael was seen as the ancestor of the Arab nation and later, Islam. You can throw in many other tribes that came from the line of Abraham, including Israel’s arch enemies Edom and Amalek.
The commentator Rashi took the biblical verse at face value, saying,
AND IN THEE SHALL BE BLESSED — There are many legends concerning this but the plain sense of the text is as follows: A person says to their child, “Mayest thou become as Abraham”. This, too, is the meaning wherever the phrase “And in thee shall be blessed” occurs in Scripture.
So God is promising Abraham that he’ll be an eternal role model for aspiring blessers and blessees. Parents will forever be telling their kids, “I hope God blesses you to turn out like Abraham…and not your cousin Schmiel, the goniff.”2
And what does it mean to become like Abraham, to, in effect, share in his blessing? Abraham was first and foremost an idol smasher, literally an iconoclast. He also was a war hero, defender of the weak, and pursuer of justice who had the guts to stand up even to his God. But he did not treat either of his sons very well - he was an equal opportunity abuser. He did, however, listen to his wife. In short, he was an extraordinary human being, with an emphasis on the “human,” as in “flawed.”
The 13th century French rabbi called Hizkuni interpreted the verse to mean that because Abraham is blessed, God is telling him that "as a result you will become a source of blessing." We find a parallel to this expression in Isaiah 19:24: ביום ההוא אשים את ישראל ברכה בקרב הארץ, "on that day I will set up Israel as a blessing in the midst of the earth."
Another French rabbi also from the 13th century called the Ralbag, said Abraham was promised blessing because God was concerned that he would be intimidated by his life-changing summons. So Abraham was reassured that his admirers would be many and his detractors few.
Things didn’t exactly work out that way.
To bless the children of Abraham does not mean to support the State of Israel and certainly not any particular government or policy of Israel, but rather to absorb the many moral lessons that Jews have learned through their tragedies and triumphs.
But Ted Cruz believes that it’s all about Israel and I’m sure there are a whole lot more people who share that interpretation than who share mine.
Notably, in the New Testament, the Gospels make it clear that Abraham’s blessing is intended for one people alone - not the Jews but the early Christians.
Galatians 3:14
He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
Presumably, Cruz has read those verses - Tucker too.
Reading the verse in Genesis through this filter and bringing modern Israel into it gives that verse an entirely different meaning and an added urgency, and this is the part Cruz didn’t mention in the interview:
For many evangelicals, Christians are called upon to unquestioningly support Israel and its government because that is the fast track to receiving God’s blessing, which is the salvation brought through Jesus.
Here’s how the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (FIRM) puts it:
Some groups add apocalyptic material involving mass Jewish immigration and subsequent conversion, but that part is not really necessary. One can see how motivating this theology would for Cruz and those in his camp.
I did find one Torah scholar who expresses similarities to Ted Cruz’s theology, but from a Jewish perspective. Samson Raphael Hirsch’s 19th-century commentary comes close in his discussion of the meaning of Abraham’s blessing. But his commentary was written about a Jewish people that was stateless. There is a hint of tragedy in it, considering what Hirsch could not have known about what the coming years would have in store for the Jewish people when he died in 1888 in Frankfort Am Main.
But there is also something quite beautiful about how sees so majestic role for Jews in the unfolding drama of human destiny - Jews bringing blessing to the world.
It was Avrohom's (Abraham’s) task to voice the loudest opposition against (the corrupt world of his ancestors). He had to renounce it, had to become a voluntary stranger and had to summon courage to walk alone.
It is this courage and determination that have to motivate every true Jew whenever it should become necessary to walk "alone."
From God's hand Avrohom and his descendants are to receive all that he had to give: "I shall make you a great nation." While it is generally assumed that the land creates the nation, God will be, for all the world to see, the creator of this people on whom he bestows His Divine blessing. It will be "a great nation" among the other nations, as long as it fulfills, nationally and individually, the Divine will…
The great task of this people, created by God through Avrohom, is expressed in the words: "Become a blessing." While other nations live but for their own welfare and glory ("let us make a name for ourselves"), Avrohom and his people shall know no greater task than to "become a blessing" to a great world.
Individuals and nations who bless Avrohom, recognize the inner greatness of his people and its God-willed aims in life and are willing to learn from it, will receive continued blessings.
Those who "curse" Avrohom and his contribution to the world (the Torah expects this from the very beginning! ) will learn by their own fate that they have forfeited their own future.
“All families of the earth shall be blessed through you" is the finest tribute to the life and achievement of a lonely leader who had renounced the ways of the world and brought it blessing. The same will hold true, for all time to come, for the people which has dedicated its life to "the God of Avrohom." God has created this nation to lead humankind, by their example, on the road to ultimate blessing. For "the God of Avrohom" wants to help His humankind to regain Eden.3
History is much messier for nations that have borders, enemies and the dilemmas and privileges of power. Israel is in that position now and has been for 77 years. At many turns it has failed miserably and, in the eyes of many of its leaders, its purpose is no longer to share blessings with the world, to be a “light unto the nations.”
But there is a chance - a small chance, but larger than it was a few months ago - for Israel and the world to emerge from this a better place. Cruz may not be so wrong about that. Most of Israel’s Arab neighbors know it and so do the Europeans. Iran’s Axis of Evil has crumbled into dust, as now so has its own defenses. If Israel and the U.S. handle the next phase of this battle wisely - hardly a sure bet, I know - and follow up with a swift and suitable end for the conflict in Gaza and return of the hostages, there might still yet be a blessing to be had.
Perhaps that glimmer of hope can be seen in the Israel-Arab town of Tamra, nestled in the Galilee, where an Iranian missile killed four women last week. Tamra has turned into a symbol of solidarity across divides, as good people, Arabs and Jews, have responded to the racism and hate with dedication and love. As JTA reported, the women were killed late Saturday - and Jewish mourners stayed all week.
As Iran chooses to rain missiles indiscriminately over Israel today, wounding scores of innocents, it is hard to imagine this all ending well. Plus, we can see that Genesis has never been more relevant, and when taken literally, perhaps more dangerous, and there’s a big crater around Fordo today to prove it.
But the power of Abraham’s story is still there to inspire us, and Genesis 12’s blessings are still there to be had.
A goniff is a thief (Yiddishized from the Hebrew GaNAV - from the verb “to steal.”
It is amazing how the current criminals running our government can take Biblical writings out of context to support their crazy notions and promote them as fact!
Immigrants pay into social security and receive nothing in return. This is a boon to the soc. Sec. Syst.