A striking image of an IDF soldier carrying a Torah scroll isn’t just symbolic; it reveals Israel’s identity as a nation rooted in covenant and faith.
From biblical battles to modern warfare, the Word of God is not merely read; it is carried, lived, loved, and inseparable from the nation of Israel.
Israel’s critics are wrong: they are not invoking religion to justify war; its very existence and survival are bound to its identity as a Jewish nation, and Christians are right to stand with her.
Pictures circulating on social media show an IDF soldier carrying a Torah scroll in a specially designed backpack as he reportedly enters Lebanon. This striking image has sparked curiosity, but the principle behind it goes back thousands of years and reveals something profound about the nation of Israel today.
This is no ordinary nation. On this soldier’s back rests the reason the Jewish people are back in their ancestral homeland. Am Yisrael Chai (the nation of Israel lives!).
According to reports earlier this year, the IDF Rabbinate has developed a Holy Ark for the Torah scroll. It is an improvement on previous methods as it is waterproof and more comfortable to carry. The Ark is required so that humidity doesn’t damage the scrolls. At the touch of a button, it becomes a table for the scroll so that it can be placed on the ground.
The custom of carrying the Torah into battle is nothing new for Israel. It was common practice throughout Bible history. We read in Numbers 10:35, “So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said: “Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.” This passage is still echoed in Jewish liturgy today when the Torah is taken out to be read.
In Joshua 3, the priests carrying the Ark stepped into the Jordan River, which miraculously stopped flowing. In Joshua 6, the Ark was carried by priests as the Israelites marched around the city of Jericho for seven days. The walls of Jericho fell.
When Israel enters battle, the Torah goes with them.
It is an important reminder: Israel’s most powerful source of strength over evil is not its anti-missile systems, its tanks, its air force, or even the famous Mossad – it’s the Jewish nation’s unbreakable covenant that God established with His people.
The Bible shows us that the Lord goes before His people, allowing them to overcome their enemies. As promised to Abraham in Genesis 22:17, “blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.”
In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites brought the Ark from Shiloah into battle against the Philistines, hoping it would bring victory. Their defeat is often interpreted as a warning that it isn’t the object itself that brings victory. However, it is vital to understand this: the Torah (God’s Word) is inseparable from the nation of Israel.
The Word of God is not just read, it is carried, lived, loved and trusted when faced with danger from the enemy.
Israel’s story is because of God’s Covenant. Israel’s existence, survival, and assured future all rest on His Covenant.
This Torah scroll ‘backpack’ therefore speaks volumes of a nation turning to the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the same God whom Christians serve.
It is the heartbeat of Israel’s story – a nation founded by God, set apart for His purposes, restored to its Land, and thriving today. In 1948, the nation of Israel was reborn out of the ashes of a genocidal attempt to wipe out the Jewish people. “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people,” Israel’s declaration of Independence states, “Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.”
Yes, Christians owe Israel a debt of gratitude.
It continues, “After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people remained faithful to it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.”
For 78 years, the Jewish people have had to defend its borders – sometimes alone. It will continue to do so as necessary, in the face of evil tyranny, undeterred by those who wish to destroy her.
From Israel’s ancient past to the modern day, we believe that the Lord goes before Israel as a shield. He has not forsaken His Covenant. The Lord will still fight for His Name’s sake.
There have been many political, religious and social-media influencers who have recently accused Israel and her closest ally, the United States, of using ‘religion’ to justify war. Israel doesn’t need Judaism to justify war. But its very existence and survival are bound to its identity as a Jewish nation, rooted in its reason for being, and in its fight against enemies vowed to destroy it.
Ironically, Israel’s enemies are clearly using their own religious ideology to justify attacking Israel. Yet, they are not held to the same account by Israel’s critics. Hezbollah, for example, literally translates ‘Party of Allah’, and one of their goals to establish a sharia caliphate. Many in the West are ignorant of this, choosing instead to smear Israel, a nation with whom Christians, and the West in general, have greater connection with and stronger reason to support.
The motives of the United States, and particularly Christian support for Israel, are under attack. For example, the Pope made a veiled accusation towards the White House, by asserting that God doesn’t listen to the prayers of those who wage war – something he has since doubled down on by denouncing leaders who “invoke religion to justify war.” There are also commentators such as Tucker Carlson trying to drive a wedge between Jews and Christians over Israel’s actions against the Iranian regime, trying to disconnect the State of Israel from the Israel of the Bible, yet misrepresenting ‘both’.
Let’s be clear, Israel doesn’t invoke Judaism to justify war, but it certainly recognises its dependency on God for its deliverance and victory.
Christians – with a deep connection with the Jewish people with whom we share the same roots of our faith – cannot distance themselves from the burdens placed upon the nation of Israel by her enemies.
Is the United States, a God-fearing nation, also using religion to justify war? Are its leaders allowed to also look to “God in whom we trust” in its military decisions, for its own sake, and for the sake of its closest ally?
For Christians, we do not compromise a theology of peace by standing with the nation of Israel – in fact, it brings better clarity. There is a war between good and evil that cannot be ignored. Our primary calling as individual Christians might not be to join the physical warfare, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the spiritual warfare that demands a response. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age.”
We therefore can justifiably choose a side: by standing with those who love the Law of God to the point of carrying it on their backs into battle, as they have done with sincerity for over 3,000 years; or standing with those who wish to destroy Jews and Christians. It should be an easy choice.
