The burden called Israel

Today’s newspaper headlines actually repeated the well-known scripture of Zechariah 12:3, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces.”

According to a recent Jerusalem Post article, citing a poll conducted by Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, “Only 16% of young Americans view Israel ties as beneficial with 46% believing that the United States’ relationship with Israel is mostly a burden to the U.S.”

While these same young people viewed America’s relationship with Canada and Ukraine as being more beneficial, this is nothing new for a generation who has come to see Israel as a negative, rather than a positive. 

You can blame it on today’s inclusion of Woke philosophy, that’s been integrated into the educational system, making sure that everything falls neatly into the oppressed/oppressor category - the new version of history.

Or, it could have a lot to do with the failure to teach each child about the Holocaust, outlining the horrors that occurred. It could also be the result of a huge gap in values and moral ethics, to the point where the rape and murder of hostages is now viewed as justified and even deserved, for “occupying the land of others.”

While all of the above factors could have contributed to how young people came to see Israel as a burden, it’s worth examining the spiritual implication of how it’s affected the viewpoint of this new generation.

We read that after a period where “all nations of the earth” have had their fill of Israel and the Jews, “all of them will be gathered against them.” (Zech. 12:3) Yes, there will come a time when no one will be tolerant or supportive of the Jewish nation anymore, and from the way things are shaping up, it doesn’t seem to be too far off into the distant future.

Sadly, today’s youth, who see Israel as a burden, are unlikely to have ever read the Bible.  If they had, they would realize that coming against Israel, according to Zech. 12, will only end up in their own demise.  

God says that when everyone is against Israel, He will “strike every horse with blindness and bewilderment and the rider with madness.” Simultaneously, He will “watch over the house of Judah.” (vs. 4) 

This entire chapter details how God will come to the defense of Israel, strengthening them while those who came against her will be destroyed. One can only wonder if, after reading these words, would the outlook of young people remain the same – still considering Israel to be a burden?

But when a generation is reared with no faith, no belief in the Almighty or what He penned, through His prophets, there can only be a complete ignorance of the nation, whose destiny was intended to be different and unique from all others.

Instead, they rely upon what they believe to be the credible word of teachers, media and their peers, all of whom need a convenient scapegoat to blame for the injustices and inequities that exist in the world. By their reckoning, everyone must always be evenly matched, without any advantage or superior circumstance to give them an edge.

That way, wealth, position and outcome favor no one. In many ways, it is the false Utopian dream of socialism which sought to replace faith by creating a world where everyone is identical and equal.  

Unlike our heavenly Creator, who made each one different, possessing gifts and talents unique to them, the deception of socialism seeks to erase those God-given attributes which differentiate us from man-made soulless robots.

It is lamentable that the special abilities of each individual are not seen as a beautiful asset but rather as an ugly leg-up on others, giving them a boost in the competition of life. 

Consequently, universities, institutions and other societal sectors have adopted DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) as the antidote to quell life’s contest, putting an end to the rivalry that comes from the ability to excel freely. 

Israel, in many ways, does not fit in that box. On a national level, she has left other nations in the dust, when comparing her many achievements, given her mere 78 years of existence as a sovereign country.

Likewise, on a spiritual level, no other people are spoken of as God’s Chosen, accompanied by a supernatural protection and preservation, emanating from an eternal covenant made only between them and Him.

These are the advantages and blessings which are hard to swallow, especially for a generation who has been brought up to believe that uniformity and sameness is the system by which all people must be governed.

Clearly, that is a great part of the resentment, fueling the outward expressions of hatred towards the Jewish people and their homeland. For them, it represents their having been left in an inferior place, unable to compete.

Ironically, the advantages given to Israel, and her people, were meant to be a great blessing and benefit to all of mankind, providing them with the illumination that would bring them a greater abundance of life and well-being. 

But when all you can see is an unfair competition, it becomes a cause for hatred and bitter rivalry, with one side despising the other, seeing them as the bane of their existence. 

If you think about it, this is exactly how institutions such as the U.N., Human Rights groups, the International Criminal Court and many others view Israel as they hold them in contempt, seeking to punish them at every opportunity.

In their own inability to judge righteously, they ignore all of the evil surrounding them, expending all of their energies on a nation whose total ethnic population is less than 1% of the world’s entire makeup.  It’s really remarkable to think that 0.2% (roughly 16 million) could account for all the problems of the remaining 8 billion humans on planet Earth.

Nonetheless, amongst all the nations and people in the world, Israel will become that heavy burden for everyone. There are only two choices when it comes to dealing with that eventuality. 

Either make peace with God’s plan for the Jewish people or find yourself destroyed for being on the wrong side of God’s divine order. When you look at it that way, the choice is an easy one to make!