Tell the whole story, and both ditches lose their appeal. The covenant was never about tribal pride. It was about Christ. And Christ is still gathering a people, from Israel and from the nations, into one redeemed family.

Right now, if you scroll long enough through conservative Christian feeds, you will see two very different tempers about Israel—two extremes; two ditches.

One says this: God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” That settles it. End of discussion. If you are a Christian, you (your country) must support the modern state of Israel in all things and give them as many resources as they want. To hesitate is to risk standing under God’s curse.

The other says this: Christ fulfilled the promises. The covenant is over. Ethnic Israel no longer carries any theological weight (they may even be a “curse” that must be “handled”). And from there, in some corners, the tone darkens into sheer, often conspiratorial resentment against Jewish people at-large (even going so far as to sanitize the likes of Hitler), convinced they are simply applying biblical covenant theology.

Both sides quote the Bible. A lot. Both sides tell a partial story. Neither tells the whole one.

So let’s tell the whole story.

It begins with one man in Ur. In the Book of Genesis 12, God calls Abram out of paganism and makes him a promise. “I will make of you a great nation…I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That is not random favoritism. That is the launch of redemption after the wreckage of Genesis 3 and the scattering at Babel.

From that moment on, the storyline tightens. Abraham has two sons, but God says, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” Isaac has two sons, and before they are born, God declares, “The older will serve the younger.” The line narrows to Jacob. Then to Judah. Then to David. The promise is like a thread running through generations, sometimes barely visible, often hanging by a strand.

Pharaoh takes Sarah. “The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues.” Abimelech takes her. God warns him in a dream, “You are a dead man.” Why such severity? Because if that line collapses, the promise collapses. And if the promise collapses, the world stays under the curse (the curse of sin; Genesis 3).

Centuries later, Israel is enslaved in Egypt. God tells Moses, “I have remembered my covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” The plagues fall again. The sea parts. A nation is born. The covenant promise is still moving forward, just as God intended.

But Israel is never portrayed as morally flawless. They grumble in the wilderness. They worship golden calves. They demand a king. They split into two kingdoms. They fall into idolatry (a lot). Prophets warn them. They kill their own prophets. God judges them in their rebellion (a lot). Assyria comes. Babylon comes. Exile comes. If you read the Old Testament honestly, you see two things at once. Israel is chosen. Israel is stubborn. And yet the promise keeps advancing.

Then a Jewish child is born in Bethlehem. Matthew opens his Gospel with a genealogy that runs straight back to Abraham and David, keeping our eyes on the big picture. Paul later explains what that means in Galatians 3:16: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring…who is Christ.” The thread finally reaches its destination. The offspring is not merely a nation. It is a person.

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