Should I pray for the peace of Jerusalem?
Rich Gregory As the war in Israel ramped up over the past week, social media accounts across the Christian spectrum exploded with quotations from Psalm 122:8, which commands, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” That statement raises some critical questions: should we be praying for the peace of Jerusalem? Or even, Why do we pray for the peace of Jerusalem? I want to answer those questions by covering 1) What is happening in Israel, 2) What it means, and 3) How we should think about it as followers of Jesus Christ. What is Happening? These following paragraphs represent a rather grotesque oversimplification, but understanding how to think requires a basic understanding of some broad brush strokes in the geopolitical context. On May 14, 1948, the modern state of Israel was formed. The Jewish people – fresh off the horror of the holocaust – began returning to the land of their forefathers from a multi-millennial exile. While this return ...