Herman Munster. CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
As an undergraduate majoring in religious studies, I was expected to take a semester-long course entitled “hermeneutics.” I had no idea what this term meant. As a young boy, the only religious subjects I ever heard about were in Hebrew school. Unsurprisingly, my synagogue in Newark, NJ, did not offer a course in “hermeneutics.”
The only connection I made to any person named “Herman” was TV’s parody of the Frankenstein monster known as Herman Munster. Maybe the university I attended expected me to take a class on British rock bands, focusing on the British pop group “Herman’s Hermits.” I wasn’t sure lead singer Peter Noone had enough hits to fill a semester’s coursework
I soon discovered other famous Hermans, including the TV character Pee Wee Herman and the NY Yankee baseball great George Herman “Babe” Ruth. Eventually, I wised up and realized the Religious Department of Dallas Baptist University would hardly offer a semester course that catered to my penchant for nostalgia.
So what is hermeneutics? After further investigation, I learned that hermeneutics is a discipline necessary to correctly understand the Scriptures, both the Hebrew text and the New Covenant. I hope I cleared up this mystery for those struggling to understand what “hermeneutics” is all about. Perhaps you feel Pee Wee Herman is more interesting.
The Centrality of Biblical Hermeneutics
I like the definition of hermeneutics offered by the IVP Pocket Dictionary of Τheological Terms (pg. 59, InterVarsity Press, 1999):
The discipline that studies the principles and theories of how texts ought to be interpreted, particularly sacred texts such as the Scriptures. Hermeneutics also concerns itself with understanding the unique roles and relationships between the author, the text, and the original or subsequent readers.
When a student applies hermeneutical skills to the sacred text of the Tenach or the New Testament, they understand the passage(s) being studied with greater respect. Hermeneutical proficiency prevents the Bible student from making superficial observations about a biblical passage. Instead, the student is called to study a passage seriously, in a way that conforms to the author’s original intent.
Are you ready for this? Without understanding hermeneutics, the student of religion cannot begin to comprehend what many Bible verses are about.
Dare I say it? A good grasp of biblical hermeneutics is the central tool for making sense of many hard-to-decipher Scripture passages.
I hope I raised your curiosity. So let’s take a break from listening to our worn-out Herman Hermit’s 45s and take a deep dive into hermeneutical tools.
In the last post, I compared running a race in which a runner hands off a baton to another runner to how many evangelicals view an alleged handoff between the Jewish Scriptures and the New Covenant.
In foot racing, a technique called the handoff, or baton pass, is used. One runner passes a strike (baton) to the next runner. The goal is to keep running without dropping the baton. Once the baton is handed over, the former carrier drops out of the contest and allows the handoffee to keep running.
This is how most Christians view the relationship between the two testaments. The baton is the redemption story that runs through both volumes. The Old Testament, or the first runner, hands off the redemption thread to the New Testament (second runner). Next, the Old Testament drops out of the race. Evangelicals will often say the Tenach has done its job and there is no longer a need for the Hebrew Scriptures.
Are these evangelicals correct? Did the Jewish Scriptures hand off the redemption story to the New Covenant and then drop out of the race? Does the Hebrew Bible still speak to us today, or has the ancient text completed its job?
As far as I can tell, the runner attached to the Jewish Scriptures is still part of the race and continues to speak to us today.
I propose that BOTH TESTAMENTS grasp the baton of the redemption story and run the race together, hand in hand. Despite what Christian theologians and pastoral figures teach, NT writers do not view the Tenach as outdated, discarded, or unnecessary.
I’ll address these issues in great depth in this post and the next. In the meantime, I want to clarify my terminology. The reader will note that I refrain from any overuse of the term “Old Testament.” The word OLD makes the Hebrew text appear outdated or even inferior to the NEW Testament.
Therefore, I prefer terms like Jewish Bible or Scriptures, Hebrew Text, or the Tenach. Tanakh is an acronym using the Hebrew letters that describe the three-part breakdown of the Hebrew text: Torah, Nevi’im (the prophets), and the Ketubim (the writings). The first letters of these three terms are as follows: TNK, or TeNaK, also spelled Tenach. When I do use the term “Old Testament” in this post, it is mostly for stylistic reasons.
Photo courtesy of Photo by Raimond Klavins from Unsplash
Most evangelical supporters of the modern state of Israel MUST become familiar with the biennial conference Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC). This symposium is organized by Palestinian Christian pastors and leaders in conjunction with Bethlehem Bible College, a non-denominational Evangelical school located in the West Bank and a source of anti-Zionist propaganda. The major mission of this controversial forum is stated in the “About” Section of the CATC website, “We are a community of evangelical Christians who believe that following Jesus with integrity means that our lives are formed by our love for God, the teaching of the Bible and a fearless life of discipleship in the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
On the surface the Christ at the Checkpoint mission statement appears acceptable. The commitment to apply Christian principles to navigating and addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is appealing to Christians who want to reflect the principles taught by Jesus. To clarify their viewpoint regarding the Middle East conflict, the CATC “About” field continues, “We feel compelled to address the injustices that have taken place in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, particularly the Palestinian lands under occupation.”
However, after listening to the CATC talks posted online, one notices the lecturers are quick to condemn the Jewish state, but are strangely quiet about the atrocities committed by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas government in Gaza. Dexter Van Zile, a writer for C.A.M.E.R.A. (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis), reflects in an article about the CATC gatherings, “all the problems and suffering associated with the Arab-Israeli conflict are placed at the feet of Israel, America and the West while the misdeeds of Palestinian leaders are ignored.”
The Role of CATC in Denying God’s Promises of the Land to Israel
Ahmad Al-Bazz
In this article the alleged injustices occurring in the Palestinian territories will not be addressed. Rather, our goal is to deal with the underlying agenda of CATC in questioning and opposing any theology that advocates a divine plan for Israel’s future.
CATC’s adversarial position concerning theologies that are supportive of Israel is stated as follows ” . . . we reject theologies that lead to discrimination or privileges based on ethnicity. Worldviews that promote divine national entitlement or exceptionalism do not promote the values of the Kingdom of God because they place nationalism above Jesus.” Any attendee at CATC is soon made aware the majority of speakers do not believe the God of the Bible has a plan for the nation of Israel that includes both the title and possession of the Promised Land.
In contrast, one who maintains God DOES have a future plan for Israel believes the divine program for the Jewish nation has NEVER been based on ethnicity. The Lord’s planned blessings for Israel is founded solely on His elective choice as seen in Deuteronomy 7:6-8:
The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping rthe oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deuteroomy 7:6-8 (ESV)
The true intent of the CATC conferences can be missed in the slew of many messages that obfuscates their agenda. From the One for Israelwebsite this intention is spelled out:
The conference claims to be “theology in the service of peace and justice” but its true purpose is to fundamentally change the way that Evangelicals in the West read the Bible in order to fundamentally change their political stand regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict-and through them, to affect their political leaders. Instead of reading the Bible in its historical and cultural context in order to understand what the inspired prophets and apostles communicated as the Word of God, organizers of CatC want us to read the Scriptures only “in the shadow of the occupation”, that is, filtered through the Palestinian Arab’s POV and political aspirations.
Of course, the leaders involved in CATC will demonstrate a desire for Israel and the Jewish people to experience salvation through Yeshua. Still, the denial of God’s promises of the land to the nation of Israel lies at the heart of the CATC agenda.
The Role of CATC in Altering the Fingerprint of the Nation of Israel
It is tempting to only see CATC as an evangelical effort to right injustices and to take a stand for the oppressed Palestinians. Yet we must keep at the forefront the deeper aim of CATC as stated by a One for Israel position paper: “to sway Evangelical believers worldwide away from belief in the eternal promises of God to Israel by slandering the Jewish people and delegitimizing the Jewish state . . . “
The Jewish News Syndicate chimes in with a similar understanding of the theological underpinnings of this evangelical anti-Israel effort, “CATC includes a heavy emphasis on replacement theology, which teaches that the Christian church has replaced Israel or the Jewish people regarding the plan, purpose, and promises of God. Adherents of the theology believe that the Jews are no longer God’s ‘chosen people’.” Those who hold to any form of replacement theology are asking its adherents to believe the fingerprint of Israel in the Jewish scriptures has been altered. Like a thief who uses acid or a surgical technique to change his fingerprints, these RT theologians have attempted to file off the fingerprint of Israel from Old Testament promises so that the nation’s identity is replaced with that of the Church.
In Palestinian replacement theology, some of their theologians see the land of Israel as a type of heaven and not a geographical destination; many opt for a replacement theology in which the Church is the spiritual “New Israel”. A growing number of New Testament theologians hold the promises given to Israel are now fulfilled in Jesus. He is the goal of the Old Testament prophecies and He is the “new Israel”.
The variations of Replacement Theology are manifold and cannot be covered in this piece in their entirety. Yet the essential conviction of RT that replaces the nation Israel with the NT Church and the land with spiritualized interpretations will be discussed throughout this article. In addition, every attempt will be made to address the passages cited by Replacement Theology that are used to diminish the commitment of the God of Israel to His nation.
The perspective on Israel by CATC organizers is well stated by Palestinian Salim Munayer, head of Musalaha a non-profit organization which works towards reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. In response to a concern about God’s promises of the land to Israel, Munayer responded,
“CATC interprets them via a new “theology of the land”. This theology teaches that “the blessing of the Promised Land has been stretched over the whole earth.” God has gifted every people with a homeland, on condition that they behave morally. The Jews behaved immorally and lost their land to the Palestinians. If the Jewish people will become moral, God will let them share the land with the Palestinians (italics mine).
The Role of Christians in Grasping Israel’s Role in God’s Plans
Most non-RT scholars will argue against the general theological statements which support the stance God has replaced Israel with the Church. Yet when texts used by RT proponents to support their theology are carefully examined, we discover the tedious work of exegesis of these verses has oftentimes been neglected. Two results are noticed:
RT is built on a foundation of poorly interpreted biblical texts.
Throughout the Tenach God is inflating Israel like a giant balloon with blessings and promises concerning the future of the nation. To defend the position that sees the continuation of God’s promises to Israel, the proponents take into account the many texts that support this position.
For example, according to Psalm 2:6 and Zechariah 14:6-7 the Messiah will rule from Jerusalem during the Messianic kingdom. The nations of the earth will come to Zion to worship the Messiah King of Israel (Isaiah 61:10). Because of God’s commitment to Israel, the nation is preserved by Him throughout the ages. In the Hebrew scriptures and post-biblical history, the “balloon” nation almost floats above all attempts to wipe them out by the enemies of God’s chosen people.
In contrast, Replacement theologians use their anti-Israel doctrine to deflate the special position Israel has in the Word of God. These advocates fail to interact honestly with the many Old Testament passages that reinforce God’s continued relationship with Israel.
For instance, most conservative biblical scholars view Ezekiel 37:1-14, the Valley of the Dry Bones, as a prophecy of the regathering of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and the ensuing spiritual regeneration of the Jewish people. RT interpreters view Ezekiel 37 as referring to the gathering of redeemed people-Jews and Gentiles-into the church. The latter interpretation ignores the details of these fourteen verses in favor of a general interpretation that is indifferent to the specifics of the prophecy. Ezekiel 37:12 declares to a scattered Israel throughout the earth, “And I will bring you into the land of Israel.” Where is this geographical location God promises to bring the replacement “new Israel” (the Church) to?
By the time we get to the NT, these RT teachers have redefined Israel or ignored the promises God gave to the Jewish nation. This is because these scholars have built their theology on poorly interpreted passages from the Hebrew Bible regarding Israel.
RT often overlooks the entire scope of OT prophecies about Israel.
RT maintains if an OT prophecy regarding Israel’s future is not mentioned again in the NT, the passage is to be ignored. Oddly, these neglected specifics of OT prophecies about Israel form the greatest argument against Replacement Theology.
It is true Ezekiel 37 is not mentioned in the New Testament. However, where does it teach in the New Covenant scriptures that Ezekiel 37 is no longer applicable because the text is not mentioned in the NT?
The NT does not mention God’s covenant promise to Noah in Genesis 9:11 to never destroy the earth with a worldwide flood again. Because this commitment to Noah is NOT repeated in the NT, does that mean God can once again destroy the earth with a universal flood?
The “Israel” of RT is an Israel devoid of the important connection to the Hebrew roots of the nation. Israel has become gentilized and christianized according to these scholars. It is an Israel unrecognizable to the Old Testament student and to the majority of Jewish people.
However, the most confusion initiated by Replacement Theology is seen in the way they interpret many passages in the NT about Israel. One important passage often misinterpreted by RT is Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (ESV). This is not a text most Christians would associate with a denial of God’s promises of the land to Israel.
In contrast to popular belief, Matthew 5:5 has become one of the major New Testament passages used by Replacement theologians to prove the New Testament does not teach the land of Israel is promised to the Jewish people.
Some biblical scholars who have bought into Palestinian replacement theology contend in this verse Jesus is removing the land of Israel from the Jewish nation and giving the land-figuratively-to His followers-the Church. In essence, Yeshua is universalizing the Abrahamic promises to Israel to spread out over the entire gentile world and is excluding Israel save for the Jewish believing remnant in Yeshua.
Since Matthew 5:5 is not only in the famed Sermon on the Mount and one of the first times Jesus supposedly refers to the land of Israel in His teaching, one can see why understanding this passage is so essential.
