Bibi, Jesus, and Genghis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unintentionally sparked a lively internet discourse while answering questions after a recent speech, in which he mentioned historian Will Durant on the relative historical impact of Genghis Khan and Jesus.

Durant wrote various popular works on the history of Western Civilization, along with his wife, Ariel. Netanyahu was recalling a passage from a short book entitled Lessons of History, in which the Durants describe history as “at bottom a natural selection of the fittest individuals and groups in a struggle wherein goodness receives no favors.” This is part of their extended narrative of the decline of religious faith in the West, whose leaders “assured their followers that the good spirit would win in the end.” But alas, they conclude, “the universe has no prejudice in favor of Christ as against Genghis Khan.” 

The prime minister’s quotation arose in the course of defending Israel’s military actions regardless of who approves or disapproves, even President Trump. He argued that Israel, along with all of the world’s democracies, has “no choice” but to “oppose their enemies in time, while there’s still time.” Otherwise, per the Durants, there is nothing to stop evil from overcoming good, like it has so many times before. 

The internet erupted with outrage over the short clip, claiming Netanyahu had denigrated Jesus and admired the legendary world conqueror. In an intriguing horseshoe effect, some MAGA voices were joined by left-leaning anti-Israel voices here and in the Middle East, all eager to impose the worst possible interpretation of the speech. Netanyahu responded with a statement assuring Christians that he intended no offense. All he meant to convey was that “a morally superior civilization may still fall to a ruthless enemy if it does not have the power to defend itself.”

Unofficial Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy echoed this defense in response to Munther Isaac, a notoriously biased Palestinian pastor who said Netanyahu “makes a mockery” of Jesus’ ethics. Not so, Levy insisted. “Might doesn’t make right, but without it, the righteous perish. And we want to live.” Still, there was in some reactions from Jewish Twitter a mood of frustration with Christians and their luxury afterlife beliefs. The controversy may have been overblown, but it was a reminder of the old fundamental divide between how Christians see Jesus and how the rest of the world sees Jesus. 

Netanyahu may have meant no offense, but the Durants’ original historical assessment, delivered from a perch of smug secularism, unquestionably did diminish Christ’s historical stature. Elsewhere, they trace how contemporary Christianity has “progressed” to the idea that Jesus is a tame lion, unnerved by the Jesus of old paintings who cast people into the fires of hell. Gentle mainline Jesus now appears no match for Genghis Khan, and no wonder. To quote Dorothy Sayers, “We have efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.”

Like many Jews whose identity is more national and cultural than religious, Netanyahu has inherited this secular liberal legacy. However, the Jewish rejection of Jesus is a particular tragedy. Deep at the heart of the Jewish self-understanding is a belief that absolutely no one is coming to save the Jews except the Jews. The history of the Jewish people has been a history of repeatedly managing not to die. And now that they have built themselves into a world power, they see themselves not only as the last best hope for their own people, but for all of civilization. They are saving the world right now, while Christians dream about flying away to heaven someday—or so they see us.

On the level of realpolitik, the level on which Netanyahu is speaking, this is not an irrational idea. But on an eternal level, it is a tragic failure to recognize the Christ who is not only our suffering Savior, but our coming conquering King. Christ was not merely an admirable man who told the world to “be kind” (to quote Good Omens) and got murdered for his efforts. His death is not merely one more sad historical event in a long line of sad historical events, to be mourned respectfully and moved on from while we solve the current problems of the world. Christ did not require our assistance to save the world, nor will He require our permission to subdue it when He returns in judgment and great glory.

Some Jews, suffering from a low-resolution understanding of evangelical Christianity, interpret our anticipation of the Second Coming as a threat. They believe the only reason evangelicals supported the founding of Israel was because it gathers world Jewry in one place to be more efficiently vaporized when Jesus comes back.

This, of course, is a woeful distortion. Following the example of St. Paul, evangelicals long for the conversion of the Jewish people and see God’s hand at work in their preservation. Our greatest prayer is that one day they too will look upon the great wild Lion of Judah, and love Him.