When False Readings of Scripture Rationalize Bombing Enemies
As Israel wages war on Palestine and Iran
Oh, how easily and swiftly politicians and their followers misappropriate Scripture to justify their political means and ends, especially when one nation wages war on another.
In his publication A Public Witness, Bryan Kaylor writes about “Operation Mauling Scripture” as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu seeks biblical justification for waging war on its enemy Iran.
The following excerpts from Mr. Kaylor’s article are followed by a link to the entire text. It will be worth your while to read it because his essay illustrates the vast difference between grossly misleading and genuinely responsible biblical interpretation.
Excerpts from Bryan Kaylor’s “Operation Mauling Scripture”—
Netanyahu recorded both Hebrew and English versions of his announcement of Operation Rising Lion. The reference to the Bible teaching to kill first doesn’t appear to be in the Hebrew version. And while he said “the Bible” in English, the teaching he refers to is not actually in what Christians or Jews would call the Bible. Absent from the Jewish Tanakh (which is essentially the texts Christians call the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible), that line is instead found in the Babylonian Talmud, which is an important Jewish text collecting religious law and theology (including commentary on the Tanakh).
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This isn’t the first time Netanyahu has quoted the Bible to justify killing people. A few weeks after the 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas, the Israeli prime minister turned to Deuteronomy 25 to justify Israel’s escalating bombing campaign that was killing civilians.
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Despite a lack of interpretative context, the use of Numbers 23:24 by Netanyahu is being praised by some conservative Christians. Such rhetoric is particularly coming from those with an end-times eschatology that salivates over a massive war in the Middle East with Israel winning, which will allegedly usher in the return of Jesus.
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Netanyahu and his end-times Christian allies think Numbers 23:24 proves God is on the side of Israel in its attacks against Iran. But the passage doesn’t actually promise that.
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Given the Pentateuchal context of Numbers 23:24, Israeli Palestinian theologian Yohanna Katanacho argued over the weekend that Netanyahu was “misapplying the biblical text for political purposes.” Katanacho explained that the poetic text could not be applied literally since drinking blood is “expressly forbidden” in the Pentateuch. And he questioned using the verse in a way that “seems to justify a violent and bloody approach to secure a divine blessing.”
“The clear message of the text is not to encourage wars but to promote obedience to the covenant. The blessing is not guaranteed outside the covenant. In fact, the opposite is true. Those who disobey God will suffer his wrath,” added Katanacho, academic dean at Nazareth Evangelical College in Israel and author of Reading the Gospel of John through Palestinian Eyes. “The blessing of Israel cannot be a tool for cursing the nations. It must be a means for blessing the nations. It is not for selfish protection or for using divine power to wage wars. Moreover, such a blessing will not be accomplished through militant means. The dreams of the prophets included the end of wars and weapons.”
Even in a time of wars and rumors of wars, may we hold up the prophetic dream of an end to war. And may we also stand up against those who do violence to Scripture in order to justify violence against people.
