By now it is
very likely that you have heard the Mike Hukabee said the quiet part out loud
in his interview with Tucker Carlson. My favourite thing about the Trump
administrations is how often this happens. Stuff that people have gathered, or
researched and know to be the case, or at least have gathered or assumed to be
the case, are often revealed by Trump and his officials to be what they really
think. In this case Mike Hukabee, a former Baptist minister, has publicly shown
that very high ranking officials would be fine with Israel taking much of the
Middle East,
“The
US’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has contended to the podcaster Tucker
Carlson that Israel has a biblical right to take over the entire Middle East –
or at least the lion’s share of it.
“It
would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said to Carlson during an
interview posted on Friday. The Trump administration appointee and former
Arkansas governor discussed with Carlson interpretations of Old Testament
scripture within the US Christian nationalist movement.
Carlson
– who recently made disputed claims that he was detained at Tel Aviv airport in
Israel – asked Huckabee about a biblical verse in which God promises Abraham
that his descendants will receive land “from the wadi of Egypt to the great
river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and
Jebusites”.
Carlson
pointed out that this area in modern geography would include “like, basically
the entire Middle East”.
“The
Levant … Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon – it’d also be big parts of Saudi
Arabia and Iraq,” Carlson said.
Huckabee
said: “I’m not sure it would go that far, but it would be a big piece of land.”
He
continued: “Israel is a land that God gave, through Abraham, to a people that
he chose. It was a people, a place and a purpose.”[1]
I am not
taking the Guardian’s or second hand sources word for it, either, when it comes
to what he said. I heard him say it in the interview of which I watched the entire
thing.
As a Baptist
pastor, I find it shocking how biblically illiterate Mike Hukabee, another
Baptist pastor, is. Above is a picture of the land promised to Abram's
descendants in Genesis 15. Look at how much of the Middle East that
incorporates. Hukabee’s statement might be amongst one of the biggest
diplomatic blunders in the history of diplomacy. It has certainly caused an
uproar across the Middle East. How could it not?
But it should
also be stated that what he said is not correct anyway. This promise in Genesis
15 was not a promise to or for Israel alone. But for Abram's extended
descendants. God had other nations in mind who were going to inhabit that land
as well. Just two chapters later God tells Abraham that he would be the father
of many nations (Gen. 17:4-8). In fact let’s read that passage,
“5
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for
I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you
exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come
from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your
offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant,
to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and
to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of
Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
So God
clearly has more than just the nation of Israel in mind when it comes to who
would inhabit this land, from a physical perspective.
This is also explained
clearly in Deuteronomy 2 to 3. That God intends to give the land to the
Israelites, yes, but also Abrahams descendants (Edom) and kin (Lot).
About Edom, we
read in Deuteronomy 2:2-5,
"2
Then the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have been traveling around this mountain
country long enough. Turn northward 4 and command the people, “You are about to
pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in
Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. 5 Do not contend with
them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the
sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a
possession."
About Moab, we
read in Deuteronomy 2:8-9,
"And
we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And the Lord
said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not
give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the
people of Lot for a possession.’"
About Ammon, we read in Deuteronomy 2:16-19,
"16
So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the
people, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab
at Ar. 19 And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not
harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of
the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot
for a possession.’"
God, through
Moses, makes clear in the law of Moses, that not all the land was to go to one
particular segment of the Abraham’s kin. God had much more in mind than that.
Mike Hukabee
is making a mistake many Christians make. Many Christian read the start of the
story and ignore how the rest of it goes. It is like watching the first episode
of a 30 season T.V. show and thinking you have a handle on who the characters
are and how they will end up. You don’t, and if you ignore all that comes after
this, then you are simply being irresponsible.
The promise
to Abram extended beyond the land given to Israel. Many Christians do not even
know this, though it is in the Bible, that God gave land to many other peoples.
In this passage three descendants of Abraham are mentioned. Acts 17:26-28
mentions the rest of the ancient nations, as does Deuteronomy 32:7-9. God made
the special unique covenant with the ancient Israelites, but this does not mean
he did not give others their lands. He says explicitly that he has. Also, included
in the Covenant of Israel was the command to not touch the lands of other
people. All of these nations in Deuteronomy 2 are within that land mentioned in
Genesis 15. Therefore, it is highly irresponsible to say that Israel has any
kind of claim to the land to that extent. Incredibly irresponsible.
It is
incredible to see someone of such stature applying the Bible so incorrectly. But
this particular approach to these passages in Genesis is common in our day and
age. It is often read without thought to the rest of the story.
Now, of
course, you are likely looking at this and thinking, but Matthew this is
ultimately fulfilled in Christ and is truly for the children of faith. And the
answer is yet, it is indeed. Romans 4 shows us that the fulfilment in the Old
Testament was simply a picture pointing to a greater fulfilment, “13 For the
promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not
come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Ultimately the
promise was looking to Christ (Gal. 3:16). But I think it is important to show
that you do not even need to look beyond the Pentateuch itself to see that Huckabee’s
interpretation is very wrong. Of course, in light of the New Testament it is
even more wrong.
[1]
Edward Helmore, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/20/mike-huckabee-israel-middle-east-tucker-carlson
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