Have you ever wondered what it’s like to walk where Abraham walked? Or to pray where Samuel’s mother Hannah prayed for a son? Would you like to see the “vineyards on the hills of Samaria” that Jeremiah 31:5 talks about being restored once again?

Though these experiences aren’t common on today’s tours, it is still possible to visit these sites today in the modern state of Israel. Last week, a delegation of U.S. Christian leaders did exactly that as a show of solidarity with the Jewish people during a time when they are increasingly under assault from every side. A day after we left, Israel’s main airport was shut down by missile attacks from Yemen-based Houthi rebels, and Israel is now striking Yemen as this piece is being written.

Until the hill country of Judea and Samaria (which today many refer to as the “West Bank”) was liberated by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War, it was either not possible or not assured that Jews could visit these places where their forebears Abraham, Samuel, Hannah, and others walked, lived, and worked. But now it is possible — and the land is continuing to reveal more biblical history by the moment. For example, active archeological digs are underway at places like the City of David, where King David lived during his reign in Jerusalem.

The Jewish nation — from which Jesus Christ himself comes (see his lineage in Matthew 1) — has been fighting off invaders, attacks, and outside threats like the Houthis for thousands of years. When God first brought Abraham out of his own land of Ur of the Chaldeans, he traveled to Moreh at Shechem (Genesis 12:6), the site of the current-day Arab city of Nablus. He eventually settled in Hebron (Genesis 13:18), where he purchased land to bury his wife Sarah (Genesis 23:9).

But before this, back in Genesis 14, Abraham was forced to engage in defensive military action on behalf of his extended family members right after he arrived in the promised land. Upon hearing that enemy kings and their armies had carried off his nephew Lot, Abraham and his trained fighting force departed from Hebron and successfully pursued and overtook these armies, recovering Lot and the people who were with him (as well as all their possessions).

Thousands of years later, our delegation journeyed to Israel, reflecting on the events that took place in Judea and Samaria that we read about in our own Bibles, as well as the historical record and what the field of archaeology is telling us about these sites to the present day. We strove to examine all of this in the present-day political context, so we can understand what we see in the news right now through the lens of biblical and historical truth.

You may ask: these issues swirling around Israel have been with us for some time; why take this trip now? Well, since October 7, 2023, the world has changed. We have entered a new phase of history, one in which the Jewish people find themselves increasingly under attack — not only by their immediate neighbors, but by those around the world who are siding with the spirit of anti-Semitism. In this environment, it is more important than ever that Christians understand our own shared history with the Israelites. Indeed, Jesus came from Jewish lineage, as Matthew Chapter 1 tells us. Jesus taught in the synagogue, and as he himself later tells us, he did not come to abolish the Jewish law, but to fulfill it! Our Christian roots are inseparable from the roots of the Jewish people. So in a world in which the Jewish people and their state — the state of Israel — are increasingly under the microscope of everyone around them, we need to clarify how our own faith requires us to relate to them in the world today.

The events of October 7 have revealed the ugly truth: the Palestinian governing authorities (Hamas and the Palestinian Authority) do not really want peace. Twenty years ago, we were told that Israel’s evacuation from the Gaza Strip would lead to greater peace. Following that pullout, Hamas took over, and now we know, meticulously prepared for and launched an unprovoked assault on innocent civilians, including women and children. This should put to rest forever the idea that peace will be achieved if only Israel would cede land.

Not only is this concept clearly refuted by the events of October 7 and many other incidents, but it’s also anti-biblical. Scripture and history show us that the Israelites legally and rightfully entered and lived in the land, going back 4,000 years to when Abraham first entered at Moreh, and purchased property at Hebron. Subsequently, Jacob purchased property at Shechem (Genesis 33:19), and David later bought land in Jerusalem to build an altar (2 Samuel 24:24). God has been very clear throughout the Bible that he was bringing the Israelites into the “promised land” — a land now known as Israel.

Yet not all of this land is currently under Israel’s rightful governance. The international community — and at times even our own U.S. government — have continually tried to impose on Israel arrangements which deny the Jewish people the right to their historic homeland. While Gaza has been in the news since October 7, 2023, another major area not currently under the full sovereignty of Israel is the land of Judea and Samaria. These are the areas of land to the south and north of Jerusalem, consisting of “hill country” that is home to so many of these ancient biblical sites that our delegation visited.

Yet under what is known as the Oslo Accords, these areas are left to the governance of the Palestinian Authority, denying the Jewish people full sovereignty over their own lands. The term “West Bank” has become synonymous with this area under Palestinian control — yet the reality is that the term merely describes the Western bank of the Jordan River. It is incumbent upon Christians to understand what is actually going on today and what our Bible has to say about it.

Our delegation did just this, visiting Elon Moreh and Hebron (where Abraham first walked and settled the land) as well as Mount Gerizim overlooking Shechem where Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well about worshipping neither on Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem, but in “Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).

We also visited Joshua’s altar on Mount Ebal where he sacrificed before the Lord and led the Israelites into covenant before God (Joshua 8:30-35), Shiloh, Hebron, the City of David, where the earth continues to reveal more biblical truth in the present day (the Pool of Siloam and the road leading from it to the Temple Mount are currently active archaeological digging sites), and Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, also the site of Temple Mount, currently contested between Muslims and Jews as a Holy site.

During our trip, we also met with Israeli leaders so that American Christian communities can be briefed on the current threats and state of affairs in Israel — including meetings with the Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Binyamin Regional Council Governor Yisreal Ganz, and new U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. The governor of Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, was the gracious host of our visit, throwing open the doors of biblical Samaria to these modern-day Christians from the United States.

May we continue to stand with the Jewish people during this hour of trial, seeking God’s protection with them and for them. May God bless all of their land — Judea and Samaria included — with his presence. May God’s will for Israel be done.