Christians Should Not Be Advocating
for Genocide in the Middle-East

 

Before I launch into this highly controversial piece I want to say that I am a strong supporter of Israel’s right to exist. I am part-Jewish, I studied OT Hebrew for three years, my wife worked as a biologist in Israel for a few months, and we regularly pray for Israel and the peace of Jerusalem.

We do not hold to Replacement Theology and we do think that there are very valid promises about Israel and the land. However, that said, I am deeply alarmed by Christian Zionist theology and its bizarre notion that the Palestinians should be wiped off the face of the earth because they are descendants of the ancient Moabites (see below). This article addresses that wrong theological view, while still supporting Israel.

There is a certain Christian Zionist[1] misreading of Scripture that maintains that the Jewish people must totally occupy the area “from the (Euphrates) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea”, and, in the process, physically eliminate all the Palestinians and all the descendants of Ammon, Moab, the Philistines, Edom and the Amalekites. This is based around an extremely literal interpretation of Psalm 83[2] and the book of Obadiah[3]. This interpretation cheers on Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump as they plan to deport all the Palestinians, possibly to Egypt or Jordan, and establish “Trump Gaza”[4].  John Hagee’s organization Christians United for Israel claims ten million members in the USA alone[5], so this is now a major theological trend in need of refutation.

Christian Zionism It has its roots in the Dispensationalist theology of Darby and Scofield and is a no-holds-barred approach to foreign policy that has gained so much influence in American politics that it is now getting recognition from major scholars.[6] While Israel certainly has a legitimate self-interest in its national security and a right to its self-defense, the Christian Zionist position of violently crushing certain ancient ethnicities is morally untenable. In this article I will demonstrate both what they believe, and why it is incorrect.

WHAT THEY BELIEVE

1. The Prophetic War Narrative

Many Christian Zionists believe that Psalm 83 describes a war that must take place before the final battles of the end times (e.g., Ezekiel 38–39’s Gog and Magog war). Some argue that Israel must preemptively strike its enemies to fulfill this prophecy.

• John Hagee (CUFI) has said that "Psalm 83 is unfolding before our very eyes. The enemies of Israel are surrounding her, and God is calling His people to stand firm." He and others imply that modern military conflict aligns with biblical destiny.
• Hal Lindsey and other prophecy teachers claim that the Psalm 83 war is a precursor to the return of Christ, meaning that war is not only inevitable but divinely orchestrated.

2. Identifying Palestinians as Israel’s Prophesied Enemies

Some Christian Zionists interpret Psalm 83’s references to “Ishmaelites” and “Edomites” as references to modern-day Palestinians. This framing portrays the Palestinian people not as a contemporary political entity but as an ancient enemy of Israel that must be defeated.

• Jan Markell (Olive Tree Ministries): "The Psalm 83 coalition is alive and well. The Palestinians and their allies want nothing less than Israel’s total destruction, just as the Bible said they would."
• Mike Evans (Friends of Zion Museum): "We see in Psalm 83 the scriptural confirmation that Israel’s enemies—Palestinians, Hezbollah, Hamas—are conspiring against God’s chosen people. Israel must act before it is too late."

3. Obadiah’s Prophecy and the Destruction of Edom

Obadiah is a short prophetic book condemning Edom, the descendants of Esau, for their role in harming Israel. The key passage they focus on is:

“The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble. They will set them on fire and consume them. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau.” – (Obadiah 1:18)

Christian Zionists who apply this today argue that:

• Edom = Palestinians and Arabs – They claim modern Palestinians are the spiritual or even literal descendants of Edom.
• God has decreed their destruction – The prophecy is seen as divine justification for eliminating Palestinian resistance to Israel.
• Israel will (and must) destroy them – Some take this as a command that Israel must fight militarily to fulfill the prophecy.

4. Prominent Christian Zionists Citing Obadiah

• John Hagee (CUFI): “The Bible makes clear that Edom will be destroyed by the people of Israel. We are seeing that battle play out before our eyes.” (CUFI Sermon, 2012)
• Bill Cloud (Prophecy Teacher): “Obadiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled as Israel is forced to defend itself from those who claim their land. The Edomites—now called Palestinians—have no future in the land of Israel.” (Conference on Biblical Prophecy, 2019)
• Tommy Ice (Pre-Trib Research Center): “God has promised that Edom—those who oppress Israel—will be wiped out. The world may not like it, but prophecy is unfolding as it must.” (Interview, 2017)

Their interpretation of Obadiah 1:18 which predicts the destruction of Edom is both exegetically and historically incorrect. This prophecy was fulfilled under Judas Maccabeus and/or John Hyrcanus and does not apply today. See the two commentators below, from their notes in E-Sword Bible software:

[Adam Clarke’s notes:] The house of Jacob shall be a fire - After their return from captivity, the Jews, called here the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph, did break out as a flame upon the Idumeans; they reduced them into slavery; and obliged them to receive circumcision, and practise the rites of the Jewish religion. See 1 Maccabees 5:3, etc.; 2 Maccabees 10:15-23; and Josephus Antiq., lib. 13 c. 17.

[John Gill commentary]  This was fulfilled literally, either by Judas Maccabeus, when he went against the children of Esau in Idumea, and smote them, and took their spoil, in the Apocrypha: "34 Then the host of Timotheus, knowing that it was Maccabeus, fled from him: wherefore he smote them with a great slaughter; so that there were killed of them that day about eight thousand men. 35 This done, Judas turned aside to Maspha; and after he had assaulted it he took and slew all the males therein, and received the spoils thereof and burnt it with fire.'' (1 Maccabees 5) or rather by Hyrcanus, who took the cities of Idumea, subdued all the Edomites, but permitted them to live in their own country, provided they would be circumcised, and conform to the Jewish laws; which they did, as Josephus says, and coalesced and became the people with them, and were reckoned as Jews, and no more as Edomites.

It is utterly preposterous to think that all the Old Testament prophecies point to 21^st century political realities and thus to sweep aside all  historical fulfillment. It is also preposterous to think that today’s Palestinian people are yesterday’s Edomites. That is a wild conjecture!

WHY THEY ARE THEOLOGICALLY INCORRECT

Here are ten Biblical reasons why this genocidal Christian Zionist point of view is theologically incorrect:

1.       It would be manifestly unjust of God to kill people because they just happened to be genetically descended from a particular group of people who attacked Israel during the prophetic period (approximately 1400 B.C. to 400 B.C.)  and God is not unjust. Prophesying that “Edom must be wiped out” is totally against the spirit of Christ!

2.      Advocating genocide and/or mass deportation is a violation of Christ’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves:
Mark 12:28-31  Then one of the scribes came, after he heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  (29)  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD.  (30)  ' And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.  (31)  And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

3.      Advocating racial or religious genocide is also an obvious violation of Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies:
Matthew 5:43-48  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and you shall hate your enemy.'  (44)  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,  (45)  so that you may prove to be sons of your Father in heaven; because He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  (46)  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  (47)  And if you greet your friends only, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?  (48)  You therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

4.       Christ eliminates ethnicity as a criterion for the wrath of God. The wrath of God is now because of sin alone, not because of which nation one belongs to:
 Romans 2:6-11  He will render to each one according to his works:  (7)  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;  (8)  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  (9)  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,  (10)  but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.  (11)  For God shows no partiality.

5.       God has ceased making spiritual distinctions between Jews and Gentiles:
Romans 10:12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

6.       The Kingdom of God takes no notice of human social categories:
Colossians 3:11  Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
 Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,  there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

7.       Jesus was well-disposed to the Samaritans, even staying with them (Luke 10:33, 17:16; John 4:9,39,40); and the first great revival in Acts was among the Samaritans, thus showing their acceptance to God (Acts 1:8, 8:4-8). Also, Jesus rebuked the disciples when they wanted to call down fire on a village of the Samaritans (Luke 9:51-56). The descendants of these Samaritans are the among the very people that the Christian Zionists would want to include in their genocidal plans.

8.      Our kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) and the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and not carnal (2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Ephesians 6:10-18). We are not battling Philistines or Amalekites or Ammonites and their descendants but rather against demonic beings (Ephesians 6:12).

9.      In Daniel’s vision of the great statue, in Daniel 2:31-45, the Kingdom of God is established by massive, external spiritual force and not by Israel raising up an army of any sort. The Stone that crushes the kingdoms of this world is made without human hands. Military force, genocide, starvation and deportation do not ever establish the Kingdom of God. Instead of being called to be warriors, we are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9, James 3:18) and the whole notion of peacemaking is totally absent from Christian Zionism.

10.  Christians should never engage in hatred of other person and this undoubtedly includes other  nations, religions, ethnicities or political parties, nor should we engage in taking revenge (especially for things done 2,400 years ago) because these things take us rapidly into a state of complete spiritual darkness:
1 John 2:9-11  Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.  (10)  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.  (11)  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Romans 12:18-21  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  (19)  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  (20)  To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”  (21)  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Christians I know, who hold these Christian Zionist views, are very sincere. However, they are sincerely wrong. They want to support Israel, because they view that as biblical, and because they have deep compassion for the suffering of the Jews. However, they have compartmentalized their theology. They have put eschatology alongside politics in one compartment; and Christ’s commands to “love thy neighbor” in a totally different compartment.

 If you gave them a Bible knowledge test they would undoubtedly agree that Jesus taught them to love their enemies. Yet, they put that aside when they want to see the end of the Moabites! A few Dispensationalists have even gone so far as to say that we Christians do not need to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ[7].

There are some clear hermeneutical principles being violated in this dizzying abandonment of core Christian truth. First, they are rejecting that which is clear (love thy neighbor) in favor of that which is unclear (a certain Bible prophecy interpretation). Second, they reject the harmony of Scripture, and are rejecting much of the New Testament, in order to  establish a certain political interpretation of a few, rather obscure, OT passages. Third, they have thrown out the historical and cultural context in the demise of Edom and its absorption into Judaism. This inconvenient evidence, mentioned above, is just being ignored.

It is almost agonizing to have to write an article saying that Christians should not support genocide. This is against everything Christ taught us. It is against core principles of the Christian faith. We should rebuke it!

 

John Edmiston is an Australian Bible-teacher who is the CEO of Cybermissions, he currently lives in Virginia, USA and may be contacted by email at: johned@cybermissions.org

 

 

This article is Creative Commons copyright, © John Edmiston 2025 and may be freely used and distributed for non-profit ministry purposes, but must not be sold in any way. You may put it on your website or blog, link to it, put it on social media, email it to others, and so on.