Concerning the current conflict in the Middle East I see "Christians" posting trite modified quotes from Scripture, like:

"Loving thy neighbors doesn’t include going to war with them."

Let's consider the context of both the Torah instruction and Messiah's quoting of the instruction, "Love thy neighbor."

In the context of the Torah, a neighbor was a person who lived at peace with Israel either within the commonwealth of Israel or in proximity to Israel.

When Jesus quotes the Torah He says, "Love your neighbor as yourself" following "Hear Israel, the LORD our God the LORD is One."

Yeshua also says:

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ [ Ex. 23:4-5, Lev. 19:18] And I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," (Matt. 5:43-44)

Note, He does not invalidate the former but adds to it.

And, when revealing the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan (neighbors and blood relatives to Jews of the first century and not enemies like the Syro-Phoenicians), He asks the enquirer, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (Luke 10:36)

Yeshua emphasizes the actions of the neighborly person and thus defines a neighbor as one who acts in a neighborly way. He is not, as many erroneously claim, calling everyone a neighbor. In fact, Yeshua's words regarding neighbors and enemies refute that ridiculous claim outright. If everyone is your neighbor you have no enemies, in which case you would need not love your enemy.

Therefore, the contextual definition of a neighbor in both the Torah and the quotations of Yeshua is: A person who lives at peace alongside you. (One who is not your enemy.) One who acts in a neighborly way toward you.

An enemy on the other hand is clearly defined in both Torah and the mouth of Yeshua, as: one who persecutes you.

The self-righteous misappropriation of the words of Yeshua by morally superior "Christians" are an indictment against the speakers and promoters of them.

The western Church should be utterly ashamed of those among us who have espoused vile troupes disguised as holy admonishments.

While many in the "Church" pretend to love everyone, they nonetheless find ample opportunity for indicting Israel for its acts of Self-defense. Thus proving that the antisemitism of the apostate church still festers in the hearts of many a progressive "Christian."

"Christian" NGO's either intentionally or unwittingly fund Israel's enemies to the tune of millions of dollars. Some of these NGO's even have the audacity to claim pacifism as a core doctrine while literally funding the purchase of weapons for terrorists via proxy organizations and the mismanagement of aid.

Entire "Christian" networks like the Mennonite Central Committee, WCC, and numerous others, actively lobby their members to seek legislation against Israel, all the while pompously admonishing others to "Love your enemy!"

If Israel is your enemy, why aren't you praying for her, blessing her, just as Jesus says you should? Instead you curse her and act against her security, enabling her enemies and making yourselves enemies of God and His chosen people.

You hypocrites, white washed tombs, unmarked graves that men walk over!

Israel, is considered a non-Christian country, and yet she is literally doing what both the Torah and Yeshua say. She loves her enemy by sending countless numbers of trucks filled with aid into Gaza, and by protecting those same enemies from Hamas so that Gazans can receive the aid safely.

Israel, as attested to by well documented actions, shows love for her enemies. And make no mistake, enemies are not neighbors. Many of those receiving aid from Israel are the same that applauded the atrocities of October 7 and many others are still complicit in the abuse of Israeli hostages. And yet, here Israel is, feeding her enemies.

You on the other hand, via your "Christian" organizations, take aid into Gaza, knowing that Hamas will steal it, so that Gazans receive it only through extortion, if at all. This has been your modus operandi throughout the recent conflict which was initiated by the abhorrent slaughter of Oct 7 2023 perpetrated by Palestinian enemies of Israel. Never have you visited Israeli hostages or arranged for them to receive healthcare. By your foolish actions you show that you hate both Israelis and Gazans alike. You abuse the righteous and enable the wicked.

Therefore, you prove that Israel is more aligned with Jesus than you are. In fact, you follow a false Jesus of your own making. A progressive politically motivated antichrist.

You are a stench in the nostrils of God, you pacifists, you hypocrites, you whitewashed tombs, you unmarked graves that men walk over!

​The pseudo-Christian stance against Israel is at its heart, a spiritual delusion. 
 
Those who hold the position that God has done away with Israel and that the "Church" has replaced, superseded, succeeded her, or the like, are under a satanic anti-biblical delusion that cannot be defeated by intellectual arguments alone. 
 
Knowing this is important because while there is a place for presenting the truth of Scripture to those who are bound, without revelation there is nothing further we can do but pray that they receive the real Jesus by the revelation of the Holy Spirit and choose to humbly repent. 
 
The reason I say this prior to giving the reader some direction regarding what Scripture teaches about God's continued redemptive purposes in Israel (ethnic, chosen, religious, empirical), is that I have spent many years trying to convince the unteachable-deluded by presenting reasonable arguments based on the right division of the Word of Truth. The problem with this approach is that it presumes that all are equally capable of receiving and accepting the truth. This is simply not the case. A wilfully unteachable person by definition cannot be taught.
 
I’ve learned in Messiah to discern between the teachable-deluded and the unteachable-deluded. A few years ago the LORD challenged me to stop wasting time on the unteachable, because, the time I was spending trying to convince them of what they had already firmly decided against, was time I was stealing from the teachable-deluded.
  
What Scripture Teaches Regarding Israel
 
This will not be exhaustive but will be a good starting point.
 
NOTE: the use of decontextualized verses as foundation for doctrine is ERROR. When you see others responding to you with lists of single verses, devoid of an admonishment to consider context [textual, historical, religious, cultural, linguistic etc.] you can instantly determine that they are in error.
 
Discernment is key. Godly discernment is necessary. Lean into the LORD, and not on your own understanding.
 
The question we are addressing is "Are Christians obligated to support Israel?" (In fact, the better question is "What does Scripture teach us about God's relationship with Israel?")
 
I prefer, “How is Messiah the Goal of this?” And, "How is Jesus in me directing me in relationship toward His blood relatives?" 
 
There is no obligation in Rest (Messiah). If we are not in intimate relationship with Jesus we do not have the capability of understanding how offensive the rejection of His blood brothers and sisters ethnic, religious Israel, the Jewish people, is to Him.
 
He considers those who reject Israel and position themselves as Israel's enemies to be "dogs", His words. Please read my article on sanitizing the words of Jesus:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/sanitizing-the-words-of-jesus-matthew-15-mark-7
 
The nouns Jacob, Israel, Jew etc. are all ethnic nouns describing the descendants of Jacob. They are not once used in all of Scripture outside of this primary definition. These nouns are no different in usage than Navajo, Mohican, Maori, Cree, Celt etc.
 
"I ask then, “Did God (the God of Israel) reject His people (Israel)?” A curse on it! For I myself am an Israelite (empirical, ethnic, spiritual), from the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Benyamin. God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew. (From before the foundation of the world. 1 Kefa/Peter 1:20)" Or don’t you know what the Tanakh (OT) says about Eliyahu (Elijah)? He pleads with God against Israel, “HaShem (YHVH), they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!” But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to the Ba‘aliym (lords, false gods).” (1 Kings 19) It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by chesed (grace, practical love).”
  
-Romans 11:1-5
 
Has God rejected Israel?
 
The Scripture says "A curse on the idea!" [Rom. 11:1]
 
Therefore, there is a curse on the one who says that Christians are not obligated to support the people of Israel. [Asking a question of obligation is proof of bondage, not freedom.]
 
The phrase in Romans 11:1 "A curse on it!" is an attempt English translators to convey the Biblical Greek text which reads literally as "May it be as if the idea never existed", which is equivalent to "Y'mach zot!", may it be blotted out!
 
Please read my commentary on Romans 11:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/romans-11-ethnic-spiritual-israel-are-one-in-the-same
 
Does the land of Israel still belong to the Jews?
 
Today 9.5 million people live in Israel, 7.2 million of them Jews (proven descendants of the Jacob of the Bible). There are approximately 15.8 million Jews in the world today. Almost half of us live in the God covenanted land which has been given to our people without caveat. [Gen. 15; 1 Chronicles 16:12-18]
 
Here's what the Bible says about the covenant God made for the land. 
 
Keep in mind that this covenant was made first with Abram while he was unconscious and is therefore incumbent on God alone. Meaning that Israel's disobedience does not nullify the covenant promise of God concerning the land. This covenant was passed on to Isaac and Jacob, Jacob and his descendants being the rightful possessors of the covenant land of Israel. God is essentially the first Zionist. [note that Zionist and Jew are synonyms, given that approximately 80% of all Jews consider themselves to be Zionists]
 
"12 Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,
13 You descendants of Israel His servant,
Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
14 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
15 Remember His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
16 The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac.
17 He also confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
18 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,
 
-1 Chronicles 16:12-18 NASB
 
Please read my commentary on the covenant for the land made with Abram:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/genesis-148915121488151314971514/-genesis-chapter-15
 
Is Israel established as God's chosen people forever?
 
The previous quote from 1 Chronicles says they are, because the land promised is given as a dwelling place for the chosen Jewish people. This requires their continued existence, which has been established by God, Who is without beginning or end.
 
*Please read each of the following references in context (read the entire chapter and previous and following text. Also consider the historical, religious, cultural, locational context):
 
Genesis 27:29*
Exodus 19:6*
Numbers 24:9*
Deuteronomy 7:6-8*
Isaiah 41:8-9; 44:1; 49:14-26*
Jeremiah 31:31-40; 51:5*
Psalms 105:9-12; 135:4*
Matthew 10:5-7; 15:21-28*
John 4:22*
Romans 1:16; 10:1; 11:1-2, 24-27*
Revelation 7*
 
The list goes on, and on, and on…
 
The meta-narrative of God's word is irrefutable proof of His continued and everlasting relationship with the ethnic descendants of Jacob, Israel, the Jewish people.
 
God warns all humanity against cursing His chosen people in His promise to Abram which is ratified in Isaac and Jacob (Israel):
 
"May nations serve you, and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob (Israel) had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting."
 
- Genesis 27:29-30 [ref. Gen. 12:3]
 
“God brought them out of Egypt;
    they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
    and break their bones in pieces;
    with their arrows they pierce them.
9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
    like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?
“May those who bless you be blessed
    and those who curse you be cursed!”
 
-Numbers 24:8-9 [Read the entire chapter]
 
There is a God established curse on those who fail to bless Israel. The title "Christian" will not save so-called "Christians" from that curse. If there is an obligation that we have, it's an obligation to warn those so-called "Christians" of the grave danger they have placed themselves in.
 
Some say, “the modern state of Israel is not the Israel of the Bible”
 
Sadly, by far the majority of the current world "Church" is cursed according to Scripture. This, simply based on pseudo-Christian replacement theology and a political disdain for the state of Israel which comprises almost half the world’s Jewish population.
 
To say as some do, that “the modern state of Israel is not the Israel of the Bible” is an outright lie. Israel’s obedience or disobedience to God has never established or disestablished Israel’s identity, any more than my daughter’s obedience or disobedience to me could establish or disestablish her identity. She remains, my daughter [Of course, I have four daughters, and many more spiritual daughters besides. But you understand the analogy.]
 
God’s Word cannot be broken. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. As Paul writes:
 
"I ask then, “Did God (the God of Israel) reject His people (Israel)?” A curse on it! For I myself am an Israelite (empirical, ethnic, spiritual), from the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Benyamin. God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew.”
 
-Romans 11:1
 
Refuting the Misuse of Scripture Regarding Israel:
 
Now let me address some of the decontextualized scriptures promoted by those arguing to the contrary and expose the ignorance and misappropriation of each verse (singular) in question:

1.      1 Peter 2:9

 
Please bear with me, if this weren’t such a satanic misuse of Scripture I would be wetting my pants laughing at the presenting of it as proof that the “Church” has replaced Israel.
 
Peter is tasked as an apostle (shaliach) [sent one] to the Jews. [Galatians 2:8]
 
Peter’s letters are, like the letter of Yaakov (James), written to the “Israel of God” (Jewish followers of Yeshua), and not to Gentile believers, though, if understood in context, the principles within the text are applicable to all believers, but not as evidence of the Church replacing the people (Jews) to whom the letters were written.
 
1 Peter 2:9 is a reminder to the Jewish believers of their God appointed identity as recorded in Exodus 19:6, which Peter is quoting. This is not written to Gentile believers.
 
All believers are priests in Messiah [Rev. 1:6; 5:8-10], but this is not established in the context of Peter’s letter. Nor does it negate God’s established choosing of the ethnic descendants of Jacob (Israel) as a nation of priests. It is not a question of us or them but of them and us, if we submit to their King and their nationhood…
 
Ref. Exodus 19:6; Numbers 24:8-9; Isaiah 61:6 etc.
 
Please read my article explaining what it means to be made part of the commonwealth of Israel:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/correctly-understanding-romans-11-ephesians-2-supplementary
 
Please also refer back to my commentary on Romans 11 [earlier link]

1.      Romans 1:17

 
I’m at a loss to understand the attempted use of this verse to support the idea that the “Church” has replaced Israel?
 
It is in fact an indictment against those who make the claim that they have replaced Israel.
 
If they were living by faith (as the text requires,) Messiah, the giver of pisteos [Greek] aman [Hebrew] both words meaning: faith, trust, persuaded by, convinced of, in agreement], would be compelling them to advocate for His people. If they’re not doing so they are not living by faith in agreement with the Messiah and are therefore either wilfully grieving the Holy Spirit or are devoid of the Holy Spirit and need to meet Jesus in humble repentance.
 
Some will say, “This is not a salvation issue!” However, it is the fruit of a salvation issue. Those who deny the moral imperatives of the Bible, who deny the deity of Jesus, who deny the power of the Holy Spirit, who deny God’s continued redemptive purposes in Israel, prove that they are either wilfully grieving or devoid of the Holy Spirit.

1.      Matthew 21:43

 
First, the text reads “people” and refers to the redeemed people of Israel, Jews to whom Yeshua is soon to give the Kingdom. The Kingdom is then offered to those Gentiles who will humbly submit to Jesus and allow themselves to be grafted into the commonwealth of Israel as devoted friends of Jesus and His Jewish people.
 
Gentiles who don’t serve the Jewish people prove themselves to be rejecters of the Messiah and therefore no longer qualify to enter His kingdom.
 
Second, in the context of Matthew 21, Yeshua is in Jerusalem surrounded by His disciples, both the 12 and the wider retinue of 120 or more, all of whom are Jews, and who in the coming days would receive the fullness of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and begin the reconciliation of the Jewish people which will reach its fullness at the end of days according to Romans 11:24-27. The people who are being given the kingdom then, are Jews, who will make it available to others by way of consolation.
 
Third, Yeshua is speaking to some of the Pharisees and priests, and those among the people of Israel who are in disobedience to God, living as hypocrites. He is not speaking to all of Israel (Nor to all the Pharisees and Priests) but to the apostate among Israel, just as the prophets did. We note that throughout Biblical history it has never been the case that God has taken the kingdom entirely and permanently away from Israel. Nor will He, Not Ever!
 
Fourth, the Kingdom of God is being taken from one group of people and given to another through the New Covenant established in Messiah’s blood. Therefore, we must ask, to whom is the New Covenant given? The answer is in the Bible:
 
“31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, [h]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their [i]hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
35 Thus says the Lord,
Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar
(The Lord of hosts is His name):
36 “If those ordinances depart
From before Me, says the Lord,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before Me forever.”
37 Thus says the Lord:
“If heaven above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel
For all that they have done, says the Lord.”
 
-Jeremiah 31:31-37
 
Thus, the kingdom is taken from the apostate among ethnic Israel and given to the repentant among ethnic Israel through the new covenant. Uniting the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah into One, the redeemed Jewish people of God. When Yeshua says that the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people who bear its fruits, this is what He is saying. It’s being taken from unrepentant Jewish apostates and is being given to the redeemed Jews, whose fullness is yet to be realized and therefore includes the ethnic, religious, secular, even the atheist Jews of today, this remnant being chosen and pre-Messianic according to Romans 11:24-27.
 
Gentiles only have access to the New Covenant through Israel to whom it is given [Jeremiah 31:31.]
 
We note that the sun and moon continue to go through their cycles. We note that we remain incapable of measuring the universe. Therefore, according to God’s Word to Jeremiah the prophet God has not and nor will He ever cast off chosen, ethnic, religious, empirical Israel, the Jewish people.
 
Salvation Himself is from the Jews [plural]:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/sefer-yochanan-gospel-according-to-john-chapter-4-pt1-shomroniyt-woman-at-the-well-john-41-26
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/pray-for-the-peace-of-jerusalem-psalms-122
 
Those who say God/Yeshua has rejected the Jews, or that He has replaced them, or that we have no responsibility in Messiah to support them, or any other curse with a like ethos, are cursed by God!
 
May God have mercy on them.
 
What I’ve shared with you is only a small selection of scriptures and reasonable explanations from the meta-narrative of Scripture.
 
God will not be mocked. There may be reasons for the false beliefs of some “Christians” but there is absolutely no excuse.
 
Yeshua is refining His bride and will no longer abide that part of the Gentile church that resists His continued purposes for Israel.
 
We Jews have been blinded “in part” so that Gentiles can come into salvation as grafted members of the commonwealth of Israel. [Rom. 11:25-28] This is by way of consolation and not by obligation.
 
As a Jew I share what God has given us with Gentiles, not out of obligation but out of love born of Messiah, why then do so many prideful gentile “Christians,” in hatred, consider that they need not show the love of God toward the people through whom the New Covenant has come to them. Instead they say, “Thanks for Jesus, now piss off!” In doing so they show that they have no access to Salvation (Yeshua). A piece of new fruit that is reliant on the sustenance of the fruit tree cannot say to the orchard Master, “Cut out the root,” and then expect to live to maturity. Without the root both the tree and the fruit perish.
  
In the lead up to the Holocaust many “Christians” took an anti-Zionist and antisemitic position based on Martin Luther’s vile rhetoric and the vile teaching of the so-called Gentile Church Fathers (Not the fathers of the church in fact, all of whom are Jews). The same is happening today in every western “Christianized country” throughout the world.
 
I wonder, what will it take for “Christians” to open their eyes?
 
The two young Jews murdered recently in Washington D.C. were both Messianic Jews, followers of Yeshua. Those among our so-called “Christian” friends who claim Christ but feel no obligation toward Israel are culpable in the murder of these two fellow Christians. I wonder at how their cognitive dissonance shields them from that reality?
 
In the land of Israel, our enemies have been firing rockets at us from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria constantly for the last 20 years or more, but as far as the world is concerned, only our acts of self-defence are indictable.
 
And all this I would understand if it were only non-Christians who held this position of demonising the Jewish people, but it is not. By far the majority of the “Christian Church” holds this view.
 
Discipline and destruction await the Apostate Church.
 
May we love them enough to stand firmly in Messiah the Jew Who is God with us and challenge their abhorrent antichrist worldview.
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov Ben Yehoshua

Tehillim (Psalms) 122 is a song of ascent the theme of which is that of pilgrims going up to the House (Tent, Sanctuary) of the LORD in joy, petitioning Him for the manifest peace and everlasting establishment of Jerusalem’s (Judah, Israel) good in YHVH (Mercy) the LORD Elohim (Judge) God.
 
The isolated phrase “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” is often misrepresented by well-meaning and ignorant people who employee it as some kind of mantra for peace between Israel and her Palestinian (so called) enemies. But that is not at all what the context of this Psalm denotes. In fact, in many ways it teaches the exact opposite. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem in the context of this Psalm means praying for the defeat of her enemies.
 
At the time of David’s writing of this Psalm, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Jerusalem was the capital of Israel under David, God’s anointed King and progenitor of the coming King Messiah Yeshua.
 
David places his focus firmly on the LORD and seeking Him on the mountain where He has placed His Name. God’s Name is also placed on the Jewish people, His title included in the name of Israel (Yisra [wrestle and overcome]-El [G-d]).
 
This Psalm is written with the company of all the faithful among the tribes of Israel in mind, and is intended for use throughout the ages as a call to ascend the mountain of the LORD for each of the aliyot (going up) chaggim (festivals) [Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot].
 
To pray only a few decontextualised verses of this Psalm as a petition for some vague universal peace that reflects a post enlightenment humanitarian utopian ideal, is an abhorrent misuse of the Psalm and an afront to God and His chosen people Israel (ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical).
 
The posture for approaching this prayer is one of humility. For Jews, humility as servants of the greater Son of David (the King Messiah), specially chosen as the ethnic people dedicated to El Elohay Yisrael (God the God of Israel), and for God fearing Gentiles, humility as devoted friends to Israel in the greater Son of David (the King Messiah).[verse 8]
 
This prayer will not be received by God if prayed without regard for the specificity of its intent. To honour YHVH, the city of God, Jerusalem, and therefore the chosen ethnic people of God Israel under the reign of king David’s greater Son the King Messiah Yeshua, Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace), Who establishes peace for Israel and for those among the nations who go up with her as devoted friends and companions in the worship of the God of Israel. [verse 8]
 
Tehillim (Psalms) 122: Author’s translation from the Hebrew text
 
1 A song of David, from the multiplied ascending.
It reflected my transcendent joy when they said to me “Let us go up to the House of YHVH (Mercy) the LORD!”
2 Our feet have come to stand within your gates, O Jerusalem (Flood/downpour of Peace, wholeness and wellbeing)!
3 Jerusalem is built, established she is joined together, made one.
4 There the tribal branches (of Israel) go up, the tribes [branches] (of Israel) of the Lord; It is a witness, testimony of Israel (ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical, descendants of Jacob) giving thanks to the Name of YHVH (Mercy) the Lord.
5 For there, reside thrones for judgement, the thrones of the house of David (Beloved) [Progenitor of the Messiah, King of Judah and all Israel].
6 Pray, beg, enquire after, ask peace, wholeness and wellbeing for Jerusalem (Flood/downpour of Peace, wholeness and wellbeing) [the everlasting capital of Israel]!: “May they prosper who love you (Jerusalem, and by implication, the Jewish people).
7 May it come to pass that peace, wholeness and wellbeing be within your inner walls, prosperity within your towers.”
8 For the sake of my Jewish brothers and sisters and my accompanying friends, I will now declare, “Peace, wholeness and wellbeing be within you.”
9 Because of the purpose and goal of the house of YHVH (Mercy) the Lord our Elohim (Judge) God, I will seek good for you (Jerusalem, Judah, Israel).
 
A contextual line by line commentary on Tehillim (Psalms) 122
 
 שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲל֗וֹת לְדָ֫וִ֥ד שָׂ֭מַחְתִּי בְּאֹמְרִ֣ים לִ֑י בֵּ֖ית יְהוָ֣ה נֵלֵֽךְ׃
 
1 A song of David, from the multiplied ascending
It reflected my transcendent joy when they said to me “Let us go up to the House of YHVH (Mercy) the LORD!”
 
This song is intended for use by Jewish (all the tribes of Israel, ethnic, religious) worshippers who make Aliyah (go up) for the three festivals Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Shelters).
 
Those who reflect David’s transcendent joy are his Jewish brothers and sisters and those devoted friends/companions who honour the God of Israel and therefore also honour the Jewish people.[verse 8]
 
The House of the LORD was at that time the Tent of Meeting a.k.a Sanctuary, and points to the then yet to be built Temple of Solomon (Slomo, peace), which in turn points to the manifest dwelling of God Himself at the descent of the New Jerusalem at the end of days.

​The goal therefore, is YHVH the LORD. The place of meeting, the everlasting capital of Israel, as established by the LORD, that is, Jerusalem.
 
“I rejoiced when they said to me – R’ Moshe said that David composed this song that it be said with the songs in the House of God when it will be built. R’ Yeshua said that this song was for the House which David built in Zion. There are those that say it refers to the Third House when every member of Israel will say ‘I rejoiced when they said to me’ as they go up for the pilgrimage festivals:”
 
- Ibn Ezra on Psalms 122:1:1
 
“This psalm is speaking the praise of Jerusalem. It describes the nation in its totality as one body made up of different individual limbs and Jerusalem as “a city that was joined together within itself…” (Psalms 122:3) The individual limbs join together to become a whole body which can contain the spirit of life, an intellect and a Godly soul. The House of God is located within her and it is the vessel which prepares the whole body to receive the Divine Presence and the Godly soul. The city itself is like the heart and brain within the body, which prepare it to receive the vital force and the intellect. In light of this it says “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord,’” because there God dwells and He makes the Divine Presence and Godliness to come to rest in holiness.”
 
- Malbim on Psalms 122:1:1
 
 עֹ֭מְדוֹת הָי֣וּ רַגְלֵ֑ינוּ בִּ֝שְׁעָרַ֗יִךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃
 
2 Our feet have come to stand within your gates, O Jerusalem (Flood/downpour of Peace, wholeness and wellbeing)!
 
Those who agree with David come together to stand within the city where God has promised peace will abide in His Name. The remez (hint) at deeper meaning reads “We have acted in accordance with our heartfelt devotion to You YHVH, and along with our king we have come to stand before You in the city You have chosen, in the midst of the peace that only You can establish.”
 
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֥ם הַבְּנוּיָ֑ה כְּ֝עִ֗יר שֶׁחֻבְּרָה־לָּ֥הּ יַחְדָּֽו׃
 
3 Jerusalem is built, established she is joined together, made one.
 
The outpouring of Peace is established in a specific location where heaven and earth will converge through the King Messiah’s atoning work.
 
A city is the sum of her inhabitants. At the time of the writing of this Psalm the inhabitants of Jerusalem were Jews, and three times a year all the tribes of Israel inhabited the city. It is written to reflect David’s experience among his Jewish brothers and sisters during one of the pilgrim festivals.
 
The city therefore, being the sum of its inhabitants (Jews, Israelites) is joined together, meaning all the tribes of Israel are joined together within her walls during the aliyot festivals. She is thus made echad (one) in God.
 
“Jerusalem – On the three festivals it was like a city into which all her children gathered from the surrounding area in a time of fear:”
 
- Ibn Ezra on Psalms 122:3:1
 
Those Gentiles who are devoted friends to Israel because of their love of the God of Israel are also afforded the opportunity to be made one within the city of Jerusalem.[verse 8]
 
Jerusalem is established as an everlasting city, the New Jerusalem will one day converge and transform the present city and the inhabitants of that everlasting city will include the united tribes of Israel and the Messiah essential people of other nations.[Rev. 21:2]
 
“But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”
 
-Galatians 4:26
 
“Jerusalem that is built in the firmament is like the city that is joined with it as one on earth.”
 
- Aramaic Targum to Psalms 122:3
 
“is like a city that was joined together within itself Like Shiloh, for Scripture compared them to one another, as it is said (Deut. 12:9): “to the rest and to the inheritance.” The rest is Shiloh. The inheritance is Jerusalem (see Sifrei Re’eh 66). And our Rabbis said (Ta’an. 5a): There is a Jerusalem in heaven, and the Jerusalem on earth is destined to be like it.”
 
- Rashi on Psalms 122:3:2
 
שֶׁשָּׁ֨ם עָל֪וּ שְׁבָטִ֡ים שִׁבְטֵי־יָ֭הּ עֵד֣וּת לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לְ֝הֹד֗וֹת לְשֵׁ֣ם יְהוָֽה׃
 
4 There the tribal branches (of Israel) go up, the tribes [branches] (of Israel) of the Lord; It is a witness, testimony of Israel (ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical, descendants of Jacob) giving thanks to the Name of YHVH (Mercy) the Lord.
 
The branches are the tribes of Israel, under David’s rule they approach together. They will approach together again. In fact, that approach began again in 1948 and will reach its fullness at the redemption of the entire remnant of the ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical Jewish people. [Rom. 11:25-26]
 
Note that the unity of the tribes of Israel in worship on Mount Zion is a testimony of God’s goodness, His Mercy YHVH and Judgement Elohim.

“Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.”
 
-Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 33:20

 כִּ֤י שָׁ֨מָּה׀ יָשְׁב֣וּ כִסְא֣וֹת לְמִשְׁפָּ֑ט כִּ֝סְא֗וֹת לְבֵ֣ית דָּוִֽיד׃
 
5 For there, reside thrones for judgement, the thrones of the house of David (Beloved) [Progenitor of the Messiah, King of Judah and all Israel].
 
It was then and will be in the future, a place of judgement. The thrones of judgement are of the house of David, upon which the tribes of Israel will be judged. The throne of the greater Son of David the King Messiah Yeshua is also prophetically inferred here as being the ultimate throne of judgement over Israel and the nations.
 
“For there were set thrones, etc. For also in Jerusalem the Shechinah will rest, and thrones will sit there upon which to judge the nations, and the royal thrones of the house of David.”
 
- Rashi on Psalms 122:5:1
 
“The psalmist sings the praise of Jerusalem, which is not only the Holy City but also the capital: For there stood the thrones of judgment, as it was the seat of the supreme court of justice, which convened near the Temple and the king’s palace, and it was there that were situated the thrones of the house of David. David and his descendants who reigned after him acted as both rulers and judges in all civil matters.”
 
- Steinsaltz on Psalms 122:5
 
 שַׁ֭אֲלוּ שְׁל֣וֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם יִ֝שְׁלָ֗יוּ אֹהֲבָֽיִךְ׃
 
6 Pray, beg, enquire after, ask peace, wholeness and wellbeing for Jerusalem (Flood/downpour of Peace, wholeness and wellbeing) [the everlasting capital of Israel]!: “May they prosper who love you (Jerusalem, and by implication, the Jewish people).
 
David admonishes his Jewish brothers and sisters and those devoted friends who accompany them in going up to worship the LORD, to plead with God for the peace, wholeness and wellbeing of the unified tribes of Israel the sum of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
 
David, by the Holy Spirit speaks a blessing of prosperity over all who pray for peace in Israel and her capital, peace for the Jewish people.
 
“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,”
 
-Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 62:6

 יְהִֽי־שָׁל֥וֹם בְּחֵילֵ֑ךְ שַׁ֝לְוָ֗ה בְּאַרְמְנוֹתָֽיִךְ׃
 
7 May it come to pass that peace, wholeness and wellbeing be within your inner walls, prosperity within your towers.”
 
David further speaks a blessing over the unified tribes of Israel gathered in Jerusalem for the going up festivals.
 
This peace is to permeate every part of the city and every person. Every part is alluded to by the use of the Hebrew meaning “rampart” or “inner wall” and is juxtaposed against the high towers (palaces) so that both those from the lower class watchmen and the higher class rulers will experience the present peace of God together.
 
“A further prayer for Jerusalem: May peace be within your walls, ĥeilekh referring to a secondary, lower wall that surrounds parts of the main, fully fortified city wall. May there be tranquillity within your towers. Armonot, translated here as “towers,” usually refers to large palaces, but it can also connote fortresses.”
 
- Steinsaltz on Psalms 122:7
 
“Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 48:3
 
 לְ֭מַעַן אַחַ֣י וְרֵעָ֑י אֲדַבְּרָה־נָּ֖א שָׁל֣וֹם בָּֽךְ׃
 
8 For the sake of my Jewish brothers and sisters and my accompanying friends,
I will now declare, “Peace, wholeness and wellbeing be within you.”

David, by the Holy Spirit declares the promised outcome of peace over the unified tribes of Israel gathered in Jerusalem their everlasting capital in God through Messiah.
 
“For the sake of my brothers and companions I now say: Peace be with you. My prayer for Jerusalem is on behalf of all those in the city, whether residents or visitors.”
 
- Steinsaltz on Psalms 122:8
 
 לְ֭מַעַן בֵּית־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ אֲבַקְשָׁ֖ה ט֣וֹב לָֽךְ׃
 
9 Because of the purpose and goal of the house of YHVH (Mercy) the Lord our Elohim (Judge) God, I will seek good for you (Jerusalem, Judah, Israel).
 
Because the purpose and goal of God’s house, both physically as a shadow of the heavenly things and spiritually, as the living stones, the unified tribes of Israel and those God fearing Gentiles who are devoted friends of Israel, is right relationship in Him through the Messiah Yeshua unto eternal life and perpetual intimacy and unity in God.
 
Human beings are not created for worship, to the contrary, we are created in relationship and worship is an expression of our gratitude toward the Creator, Who being in Himself a family, Father , Son and Holy Spirit, has created us in His image to be family in perfect relationship.
 
He chose to reveal this truth through a specific chosen ethnic religious people, the descendants of Jacob, also called Israel, the Jewish people, who remain to this day in spite of every attempt to annihilate us. His redemptive plan made manifest through this unique people in the Person of Messiah and His continued purposes made full only in the continuance of the uniqueness of the chosen people as a set apart people, the remnant of which will receive Yeshua [Rom. 11:25-26] at His return and unite all Israel, ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical, with those among the nations who have humbly received Yeshua as the promised Messiah, King of the Jewish people and Saviour to all who call on God through His atoning work.
 
“For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 69:9
 
“Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;”
 
-Tehillim (Psalms) 51:18
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov Ben Yehoshua

When a modern Christian reads the words of Jesus spoken to the Canaanite woman, as recorded in Matt. 15:26 [Mrk. 7:27]: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs,” the initial response is to conclude that the metaphor Jesus employees must not mean what it appears to mean.
 
Imagine how the legacy media might report such an incident today: “ALT-RIGHT RABBI CALLS PALESTINIAN WOMAN A ‘DOG’.”
 
Riots and bombings would ensue, Jews would be attacked globally, Synagogues desecrated and missiles launched at the nation of Israel. It would also be reported that the alt-right rabbi Yeshua is an ardent Zionist, a Nationalist like Hitler, who has allegedly said that He only cares about “the lost sheep of Israel.” The U.N. would issue a statement condemning such a man and his followers. The New Zealand and Australian governments would refuse him an entry visa, while the I.C.C convene to issue an arrest warrant for rabbi Yeshua Ben Yosef. What is it about this that sounds so chillingly familiar?
 
I’ve heard many a sermon from well-meaning pastors and theologians who seek to defend these words of Jesus as a misunderstood attempt at endearment. They jump through linguistic hoops, avoid context and try to reframe this seemingly harsh statement as a loving retort. They take it on themselves to reassure the modern Christian that Jesus is not at all an angry person, nor is he a Zionist, but is merely referring to Gentiles as pets (as if being called a pet dog is any less demeaning than simply being called a dog.) The context of these words of Jesus far from supporting this positive spin to the contrary proves the opposite and exposes the vice of nice on the tongues of our apostate theologians and pastors.
 
It seems that it’s become of great importance to the modern body of believers (Church) to ensure that Yeshua (Jesus) is portrayed as being politically correct in all His ways. Therefore, we sanitize the harsh words of Jesus. Why? Because we worship a false Jesus of our own making, a Messiah who is nice, inoffensive, always polite, a pacifist, and an archetype for the purist expression of humanity. We deny the importance of His ethnicity and religious expression, and the wealth of Biblical evidence to the contrary, and in doing so disregard the cultural and religious concerns of the first century Jewish context.
 
There is a well-known truism “The Devil puts a little bit of truth in every lie.” Many Christian teachers of the Scriptures have developed a habit of being truth adjacent, they often include a truth, or part of a truth in their pursuit of tolerant inaccuracies.
 
With Matt. 15:21-28 & Mrk. 7:24-30 in mind, let’s take a contextual look at the meaning of the Messiah’s harsh words to the Canaanite woman:
 
Prior to this account Jesus had challenged some of the Judean religious leaders regarding their hypocrisy and now journeys to Tyre and Sidon, which were ancient Phoenician cities located in the region of Canaan, along the coast of modern-day Lebanon. This is why the Gentile woman is referred to in each account respectively as “a woman from Canaan” and a “Syro-Phoenician” (Syrian of Phoenicia). The woman is also called a “Greek,” meaning that she was a citizen of the Hellenised Greek world, a Gentile (not Jewish). The apostle Paul uses the noun “Greek” in the same way throughout his letters to the churches.
 
The woman pesters Jesus, asking him repeatedly to set her daughter free from a demon. In Mark’s account Jesus responds to her request by saying “Let the children be filled first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” The Biblical Greek text uses the noun κυναρίοις (kynariois) “Little dog”, not “pet” but “puppy.”
 
“Children” is without doubt a reference to the people of Israel. There are few that dispute this. There is however a great deal of debate over what “Little dogs” means. This is because rather than looking to Scripture in order to glean the meaning of the Biblical use of this metaphor, modern pastors and theologians look to their emotions and pseudo moral, post enlightenment humanism to form the foundation for their understanding. They then impose their false paradigm onto the text, often distorting context and misappropriating obscure extrabiblical texts in support of their flawed presuppositions.
 
The metaphor “Dog” is used in Scripture to represent the enemies of God and of the chosen people Israel (Jews, ethnic descendants of Jacob). This is an irrefutable fact. Please take the time to read the following scriptures: Deut. 14:21; 23:18; 1 Kings 14:11; Psa. 22:16 & 20; 59:5-6, 14-15; Matt. 15:26-27; Mrk. 7:27-28; Phil. 3:2; 2Pe. 2:22
Rev. 22:15.
 
The Biblical Greek root κύων (kuón) is the basis for the various forms of the word “dog” as used in both the Septuagint (Greek version of parts of the TaNaKh [OT]) and the New Testament. In the present case the more specific noun κυναρίοις (kynariois) “Little dog,” “puppy” does not reflect a different core metaphorical meaning but rather denotes a vulnerable enemy. Therefore, according to Biblical Hebrew thought, a puppy is a not yet fully grown, or weakened enemy. From a first century Jewish perspective, the Romans, who occupied the land of Judea at that time, would have been considered κύνας dogs (full grown - strong enemies), whereas the Canaanites, who like the Israelites, were under Roman rule, would be considered κυναρίοις (puppies – powerless little dogs). Jesus is adamant, that it’s not right to give the food (Jesus Person, Gospel, Miracles) of Israel to their enemies, be they strong or weak.
 
Both prior to and during the first century, and even throughout the following millennia, observant Jews rarely kept unclean animals as pets. In fact, in the first century, as testified to by Jewish tradition, dogs were allowed to be kept only as working animals. According to the Talmud Baba Kama it’s permissible to keep certain breeds of dog for protection against vermin. It adds that these dogs must be kept chained and that those who raise them are to be considered cursed. Note that Jesus says of the bread, that it’s not right to “throw it to the little dogs,” meaning that he considers dogs (in a first century Jewish context) to be outside animals that receive food scraps and not indoor pets. The Jewish mystics see dogs as symbols of demons* and the Zohar (Jewish mystic text) likens evil in this world to a vicious dog on a leash. Therefore, the wider context of this account does not allow for a reading that translates “Little dog” as “pet.” [Ref.  https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/judaism-dogs/]
 
When the Canaanite woman responds in humility and repentance saying “Yes, Adonai, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” She is not claiming to be a pet but a vulnerable puppy born to a working dog. She admits that she is of a people who are enemies to Israel and that she is not therefore worthy of receiving the children’s (Israel’s) food, but asks as one who acknowledges her need to submit to the Master of Israel, Jesus (עמנו Imanu – with us, אל El – God), and humbles herself under the table of the children of Israel as a servant of God, His Messiah Jesus, and of the Jewish people (Israel). By doing this she shows true repentance. Her godly response to Jesus now lives as an example to the stubborn lack of faith of those particular Jewish religious leaders whom Jesus had recently rebuked. Jesus willingly receives this repentant enemy and ministers freedom to her possessed daughter.* Therefore, the modern application of this account of Jesus sees Him refusing to heal the enemies of Israel, vulnerable or not, until such a time as they humbly repent of their hatred for Israel and her God. Jesus still says today, “It is not right to take the children’s (Israel’s) bread and throw it to the little dogs!”
 
Copyright 2025 Yaakov (Brown) Ben Yehoshua