Washington: To many American Evangelicals, the Bible verse Genesis 12:3 is more than scripture; it's viewed as a foreign policy mandate. This verse, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse," is often cited on Capitol Hill and across pulpits in red-state America to justify unwavering U.S. support for Israel, despite the constitutional separation of church and state, branding any deviation as a spiritual betrayal.
According to TRTworld.com, the interpretation that Genesis 12:3 refers to Israel can be traced back to the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909. The Bible's footnotes, not its text, made the leap, suggesting the verse referred to Israel. Biblical scholars argue that this was a misreading then and remains so today. Jonathan Kuttab, co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, stated that the Scofield Reference Bible was written before the State of Israel's establishment, so it cannot refer to modern Israel. Instead, it reflects Christian Zionist thinking that the End Times will be preceded by a Gathering of the Jews into Palestine, leading to Armageddon.
Reverend Dr. Donald Wagner, a Presbyterian clergyman and veteran Middle East analyst, emphasized that Genesis 12:3 refers to a covenant with Abraham and not a political state created in 1948. The covenant includes conditions such as keeping the commandments, and violation of these conditions could result in losing the land, as stated in biblical texts.
Gary Burge, a New Testament scholar, highlighted that only select Evangelicals in the U.S. believe the verse refers to Israel. He noted that this interpretation is flawed, as it was originally a promise for Abraham's immediate context with Egypt, and not applicable to modern Israel. Burge also pointed out that the Torah distinguishes the blessings of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, but this ethnic argument is rejected by both Old and New Testament prophets.
The Scofield Reference Bible's author, Cyrus Scofield, was a controversial figure with a checkered past, yet his reference Bible helped embed the Israel-Genesis connection in American Evangelical thought. Reverend Wagner noted that this reference Bible promotes a type of fundamentalist Christian theology called premillennial dispensationalism, which implies God's favor towards modern Israel as the site of final prophetic events.
Kuttab argues that the motivation for misreading Genesis 12:3 is political rather than theological, as those who exclude Arabs and Christians from the label of "children of Abraham" do so for political reasons unrelated to theology or religion.