‘They form an alliance against you’

“Oh God, do not keep silent;
Be not quiet, Oh God, be not still.
See how Your enemies are astir,
How Your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against Your people;
They plot against those You cherish.
“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
With one mind they plot together;
They form an alliance against You”
Psalm 83:1-5

To hate the Jews is to hate the God of the Jews. This emerges clearly from the psalmist’s loud lament to heaven, out of the depths of the misery of the Jewish people: “Oh God, do You not see it all? Of course You do, but Oh God, do not remain silent, rouse yourself, and do not remain idle. This is not just about our enemies, God; they are Your enemies as well. They hate You. They devise an attack against Your people, because that is who we are, Your people, Israel. They want to strike Your beloved ones, and so it involves You. They want to pierce Your heart. How do they intend to do that? By destroying Your Jewish people, so that the name of Israel will be eradicated, forever forgotten.”

Enemies unite against her
The greatest enemies suddenly become friends when they unite against Israel, just as Herod and Pilate became friends on the day they condemned Jesus. Prior to that day, they had been enemies (Luke 23:12). The Psalmist lists the enemies of Israel as “…Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the descendants of Hagar, Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the people of Tyre, Even Assyria has joined them…” (Psalm 83:7–9).

There is nothing new under the sun. As soon as Israel reappears on the world stage in the Middle East, her enemies unite against her. Large enemies like Syria, Iraq, and Iran (part of the former Assyrian Empire), smaller enemies like the Palestinians (who view themselves as the descendants of the Philistines, and pronounce the name ‘Palestina’ as ‘Philistia’), those living in Jordan (Edom, Moab, and Ammon), and in the kingdoms of the Arabian Peninsula (the Ishmaelites) join together despite other dissensions, united in their animosity against Israel. Suddenly the Arab League and/or the United Nations agree on unanimous verdicts and measures. “…For they have conspired together with one mind…”, says the psalmist, but he clearly sees beyond the immediate when he continues, “…They form an alliance against You…” The battle is between the God of Israel and all the other gods of this world. That is what the hatred for Israel is ultimately all about.

 A designated sign of God
For Israel is a designated sign of God in the world. When one of the German Kaisers once asked a famous theologian for proof of the existence of God, he thought for a moment and then said, “The Jews, Sire!”

No other people on earth, has been so persecuted and destroyed, and nearly annihilated, and still remains a recognizable people. No matter how often Israel has tried to assimilate and join the surrounding nations in the world, it has never succeeded. If Israel herself did not always want to be distinct, her enemies made sure that she was. For centuries when they lived in strange and hostile surroundings, often barely aware of their own Jewishness. But those around them knew exactly who was a Jew and who was not. Hitler’s henchmen knew exactly how to trace them. In Russia and in its satellite countries, people filled with a fiery hate for the Jews knew where to find them.

Demonic powers
Demonic powers fuel the hatred for the Jews, using people for their own ends – although those who persecute the Jews of course still remain responsible themselves for their evil deeds, and cannot excuse themselves by saying: it was the devil, I was in the grips of demonic powers! It is the great enemy of God and humanity, the devil, who in the Bible is called a ‘murderer from the beginning’, the father of all lies, who directs his hatred of God onto the people of God.

And when hate ‘rains’ on the Jewish people, ‘raindrops’ also fall on the Christians, at least on those who remain faithful to the Bible. It was so under Hitler and under Stalin and Russian communism. Right-wing fascists, national-socialist dictators, and left-wing communists may be fierce opponents ideologically, but they are united in their hatred of everything to do with God and the Bible. “…They form an alliance against You”, the Psalmist said. Hatred of Israel is hatred of the God of Israel.

In whatever way hatred of Jews is ideologically clothed, it is ultimately hatred of God. It is hatred of the Creator of heaven and earth. It is hatred of the people He has chosen in order to reveal His will in the world and to bless the world through them. It is hatred of the great son of the Jewish people, Jesus Christ, the Jew.

God is faithful
God is faithful to His Covenants with Israel. The reborn Jewish state is an undeniable fact. In Israel Jews can be themselves. Spiritually many of them are rediscovering their Jewish roots. The number of synagogues in Israel is growing, as is the degree of Jewish self-esteem and self-awareness. There, in the Promised Land, God’s Spirit will be poured out on them, as foretold by the prophets Joel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. Then Jewish souls will be totally at rest and rejoice in the salvation that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, will pour out upon them and in them, by His grace. Then Israel will live safely in the midst of the earth and will be a blessing to the nations. For God did not choose Israel solely for Israel’s own sake, but because He wanted, through Israel, to bless the whole world. And He will not forsake what His hand has begun. He will come to give Israel rest.