1 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.
2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12
There’s no easy way to explain the current United States policy toward israel outside of this scripture. So many people wonder why the US has taken sides with Israel when they’ve allegedly “committed such heinous acts” and whenever they respond to a threat it’s so incredibly disproportionate to the perceived threat. The answer is simply stated: Don’t fuck with the jews.
So much of our policy is predicated on this promise to Abraham that it might as well be enshrined in law in the US. We as a nation are convinced that no matter the prevailing winds of public opinion we will not take sides against “God’s people” Lest we invoke the flip side of that promise… “the curse.”
I went to private schools all my life, most of whom were Fundamentalist Evangelical in their leanings. I was taught from a very early age to have respect for “God’s People.” I was taught that a nation rises and falls with its deference to that passage in Genesis. And it seems, I was not alone.