Genesis 12:3 records a great promise made by the Lord to Abraham – “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse”.

Some interpreters argue that this promise to Abraham can be applied to modern Gentile attitudes towards the secular state of Israel.

C.I. Scofield says of this promise:

‘Wonderfully fulfilled in the history of the dispersion. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew – well with those who have protected him. The future will still more remarkably prove this principle.’

The New Scofield Study Bible puts it even more strongly:

‘This was literally fulfilled in the history of Israel’s persecutions.  It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew – well with those who have protected him.  For a nation to commit the sin of anti-Semitism brings inevitable judgment.  The future will still more remarkably prove this principle.’

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem declared in 1996:

‘The Lord in his zealous love for Israel and the Jewish People blesses and curses peoples and judges nations based upon their treatment of the Chosen People of Israel.’  Referring to Gen 12:3, ICEJ says: This promise was given to the Hebrew Patriarchs Abraham and Jacob – or Israel.  So whoever blesses Israel will be blessed.  But how can you bless Israel?  The answer is eary: prayer; finances; come to Israel as a volunteer.’

Allan MacRae says:

‘The fate of the nations that have injured Israel is a terrible warning that God never goes back on his promises. From Haman to Hitler, history shows how dangerous it is to hate his chosen people.’

Hagee says:

‘The man or nation that lifts a voice or hand against Israel invites the wrath of God.’  And again: ‘History has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the nations that have blessed the Jewish people have had the blessing of G-d; the nations that have cursed the Jewish people have experienced the curse of G-d.’

Basilea Schlink says:

‘Anyone who disputes Israel’s right to the land of Canaan is actually opposing God and his holy covenant with the Patriarchs. He is striving against sacred, inviolable words and promises of God, which he has sworn to keep.’

Stephen Sizer disputes this (mainly dispensationalist) interpretation. He says that the context does not suggest that this promise applies to future generations, nor that it applies to entire nations ‘blessing’ the Hebrew nation.

It seems to me that the promise does look beyond Abraham, as is made clear in what immediately follows (“all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”).  But I think Sizer is correct when he says that the promise cannot be applied indisciminately the contemporary secular state of Israel. In Gal 3:14-16,24-25, Christ is said to be ‘the seed of Abraham’, and the promise of blessing is offered to Gentiles not on the basis of how well they treat the Jews but on their response to Jesus Christ.

I think we may turn to Mt 25:40,45 for a close NT parallel. Here, the same idea is applied to Christ and his disciples. The Lord so identifies with his chosen ones, that any attitude or action taken for them or against them he takes as taken for or against himself.

(See Sizer, Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? p147f.)