WALTER BRUEGGEMANN is a leading authority of Old Testament interpretation and author of more than two dozen books. In this book he seeks to make a contribution to the application of biblical concepts of God’s chosen people and the promised land in the light of the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This book is slim, focused on the social justice issues and the relevance of key readings of Hebrew scripture to this conflict. It is written to be a manual for group discussions, particularly by Christian groups in churches. Brueggemann focuses on three main themes and their roots in scripture: the meaning of the “God’s chosen people,” the donation of the “holy land” to the “chosen people,” and the relation of Zion and Israel.
The “chosen people” are chosen by God as an arbitrary decision, writes Brueggemann, not based on any superiority of that people to others, but only on God’s love for them. It is an unconditional decision by God to choose this people with whom to have a special relationship. Yet this idea evolves in Israel’s history. There develops the theme that the people of Israel will be held especially accountable by God because of this relationship and punished for their iniquities (Amos 3:2). Isaiah suggests that, in a redemptive future, Egypt and Assyria will be chosen alongside Israel as a “blessing in the midst of the earth” (Isaiah 19:24-25).
Later heirs of the biblical tradition reinterpreted the idea of the chosen people to apply to themselves. Some in the Christian church saw itself as inheriting the status of God’s chosen people. Some in the United States regard this nation as a chosen people, occupying a new “promised land.”
Hebrew scripture also develops the belief that strings are attached to God’s gift of the holy land: God’s people must do what is right; they must obey God’s commandments. Otherwise they may lose the land and be forced into exile. But scripture also makes clear that inhabiting the land is not necessary for Israel’s identity—God’s people can and must obey God’s commandments anywhere. God’s people and commandments are thus universalized, a claim that conflicts theologically with modern Zionist views that residence in the “holy land” is necessary for Israel’s fulfillment.
This is a topic of great delicacy, given the global implications and history of this conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people in the land of Israel/Palestine. Brueggemann has been a supporter of the rights of Jews to a homeland in Israel, given the history of anti-Semitism in Christianity. But due to the evolution of the State of Israel into a military power with nuclear weapons and the oppression of the Palestinian people, he now calls for a revision of this view: Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have rights to the land. There must be a new development in which the land is shared.
This scriptural exposition by Brueggemann is supplemented by a study guide with suggestions for group discussion. This is a book aimed at contributing to current understanding in the churches of these themes in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Rosemary Radford Ruether is a visiting professor of feminist theology at Claremont School of Theology. She is the author of 46 books.
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