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Gary Burge comments on the recent dustup between Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson

ChristianZionism asked Gary M. Burge, PhD, to comment on the recent dustup between Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson this week regarding Iran, Israel and the Bible. Originally from Southern California, Gary Burge was an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside, and The American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He attended Fuller Theological Seminary and King's College, The University of Aberdeen, Scotland. After 25 years on the faculty of Wheaton College (Illinois) he joined the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary (Michigan) in 2017. He has traveled extensively, particularly in the Middle East. He is ordained in the Presbyterian Church, USA, and served as a military chaplain (USNR). For over 15 years he was a regular teacher at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.

Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson and the Bible

by Gary Burge

June 22, 2025

This week Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News commentator, and his old friend, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) held a nearly two-hour debate on Carlson’s podcast. These are two very conservative Republicans – one eager to see the US intervene again in the Middle East (Cruz) and one an isolationist, skeptical of all such interventions (Carlson). Both are also conservative Christians. And while their debate circled the usual politics and foreign policy questions, it settled on Iran, Israel and America’s responsibilities. It was heated at many points and this ignited when Carlson learned how little Ted Cruz knew about Iran. He didn’t know its size, population, or the size of Tehran. He then accused Cruz of being ignorant of the region: You don’t know the country, the people, or what might happen if you topple the regime there. Carlson called it “one of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever.” The New York Times described it as filled with bellicose and berating words.

Middle East watchers will find little new here except to see how deeply divided the Republican Party is on Middle East foreign policy. At one point, Carlson described Cruz as serving in the Senate as a cheerleader for Israel. Carlson pressed: What is the basis of your constant commitment to Israel? Which is when Senator Ted Cruz turned to the Bible.

Cruz said that since he was a child, he had been taught in church that Christians are obligated to support the modern state of Israel. Carlson pressed him: But what is the basis of this obligation? Cruz pointed to one theme: The Bible teaches that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. And I want to be on the side of the blessing. Carlson asked him where this idea came from. Cruz didn’t know. Carlson mumbled that it was likely Genesis but you could tell he wasn’t sure either. What was surprising was that here we were listening to one of American most influential senators, a military hawk, someone who wants to be known (by his own admission) as leading pro-Israel positions in Congress. And all of this is fed by a dreadful misunderstanding of the Bible. Cruz tried to back away, saying that these were only his personal beliefs, but he’d given up the game: he had already admitted that this view grounds his understanding of the Middle East and should shape American policy in the religion.

Ted Cruz was living out a worldview shaped by Christian Zionism, which is simply the blending of Biblical convictions with politics that promote and defend Modern Israel. In this case, Cruz believed it was a matter of correct Christian thinking to give a modern secular state (Israel) a divine endorsement and military/political aid because it is a Christian duty.

The Biblical passage that neither Ted Cruz nor Tucker Carlson could pinpoint is Genesis 12:3. “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” As a biblical scholar, it was a cringe-worthy moment to hear this passage quoted in a hard-hitting debate about raw political commitments in Washington. It was a reckless misuse of the Bible for political advantage and to his credit, Tucker Carlson raised all the right questions.

We can say a number of things about this Biblical passage. First, every interpreter must embrace one major idea: the original context and purpose controls the meaning of any scriptural text. In this case, we are reading a private exchange between Abraham and God, promising that God will protect the elderly Abraham (he was 75) and his tribe as they migrate into Canaan. This was Egyptian territory and any incoming migrating tribe would have been seen as a threat. God is promising that he will be with them.

Second, note that this verse makes no reference to Israel. Ted Cruz’s citation is wrong. This promise does not imagine a timeless provision for a political nation 4,000 years in the future. It provides assurance to Abraham and his extended family that they will be safe and will establish themselves in land promised by God (Genesis 12:7-8).

Third, note the language of the promise carefully. Included here is not only a blessing on Abraham, but a promise to “all the families of the earth.” This means that God’s purposes are not defined by the promotion, preservation, or elevation of one ethnic group but that eventually the blessings of God will be distributed widely – to Jews and non-Jews alike. This is not a prescription for ethnic nationalism, it is a promise that God’s plans are greater than one nation. And of course, we learn in the New Testament that these plans in Christ aim to bless the entire world.

Fourth, we might join Carlson and ask “Who is Israel?” Carlson pressed this point repeatedly and Cruz tried his best to dodge it. Is the modern state led by Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) the same as the biblical Israel we find in the Bible? And this is perhaps the ultimate question we need to ask. The promise of Genesis 12:3 extends to Abraham “and his descendants.” And yet we learn in the Bible that it is a conditional promise requiring Israel to be faithful to God, live by his covenant, and worship at his Temple. Today’s Israel, formed in 1948, was built to be intentionally secular. Rather than a theocratic state centered on God, it is a secular state where a minority of its population are actively religious. In this debate, Carlson sensed a real vulnerability: If one wants to apply biblical promises to modern Israel, one must also apply biblical expectations to modern Israel. And this is where the comparison between Biblical Israel and Secular Israel breaks down.

It is too easy for us to hear debates like this and fail to think critically about the how the players in Washington are using the Bible. No doubt we need to be reminded: The Bible is a player in our national politics more than we realize. And Christian Zionists like Ted Cruz are among those using the Bible and spurious interpretations of it to advance their view of the world.