St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology (Mar 2023)
Israel in the Christian Bible
Abstract
Israel is a prominent topic in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, though it was not as prominent in Christian theological reflection until the aftermath of the Holocaust. As is the case with any theme in theology, insight on it benefits from considering it in the various historical and social contexts in which it has been expounded. But Israel is a historical reality in a distinctive sense. Within Israel’s story, as the scriptures tell it, Israel has been a wandering clan, a theocratic nation, an institutional state, a dispersed remnant, an imperial colony, and a religious community (Goldingay 1987). In subsequent millennia it has been a recognized religion, a persecuted minority, a martyred victim, and a secular state. Israel is a historical entity (more than one), but also a literary entity and a theological entity (Davies 2007). To complicate theological reflection, the question of Israel’s actual history, behind the story that the scriptures tell, is widely controverted. This article will focus on the implications of the story rather than taking positions on the history, though making use of insights that emerge from historical study. While there have been many Israels, some theological issues are common to all, arising through the scriptures and outside them. Consequently, while the various ways that Israel can be described indicate how insights emerge from considering Israel’s history stage by stage, further theological insight emerges through standing back from the sequential story and asking what emerges from the story as a whole. This article will focus on that broader level of theological reflection, dealing with the issues as a set of recurring questions, and paying most attention to the implications of the way the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the New Testament speak of Israel. Although the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings stand alone as the Jewish scriptures and one can ask about the significance of Israel in their context, the New Testament sees itself as picking up from them. There are significant parallels between the New and Old Testaments’ frameworks of thinking about Israel, as well as developments in the New Testament in light of Jesus’ coming. The diversity between the Testaments is not so different from the diversity within the Jewish scriptures, and this article will therefore interweave discussion of Israel in the two Testaments.
