6 Months Later, Israeli Pastor Says, ‘I’m Commanded to Love My Enemies’
By Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra and David Zadok, TGC. (image credit: TGC/David Zadok)
Former Israeli army officer and Reformed pastor David Zadok will never forget the call from his wife. She rang him early in the morning of October 7, just an hour or two after his overnight flight from his home in Israel landed in Finland. His trip was meant to deepen relationships with churches in Scandinavia.
“David, have you heard?” she asked him. “There is a war.”
Bleary, he thought about Russia’s war with Ukraine, and Russia’s shared border with Finland.
“You mean here, in Finland?” he asked.
“No, no,” she said. “In Israel. In Gaza.”
As soon as he grasped what was going on, Zadok began searching for a way home. It wasn’t easy—most avenues into Israel had been closed. The flight from Berlin to Tel Aviv, normally around $400, set him back $1,200. And it wasn’t immediate—he had to wait a day. During his delay, he preached twice in Finland.
“I preached from Hosea 1,” he said. “I said that we have to realize the whole story of the Bible is about judgment and salvation, as found so clearly in this short chapter. It’s about death and life. All throughout history, nations have wanted to destroy Israel. It’s a spiritual battle.”
The battle with Hamas is spiritual too, he said. It’s not that Hamas would be satisfied with more land or more money. It’s that Hamas hates Yahweh and wants to destroy the people who have been associated with his name since the days of Abraham.
The idea of spiritual—and physical—warfare isn’t new to Zadok, who fled Iran as a teenager, came to trust in Jesus in America despite opposition from his family, and served for two decades in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The Gospel Coalition asked him how he first heard about Jesus, how God is opening doors for his ministry—including the translation of the Old Testament into the last language you’d expect—and how he’s seen the goodness of God even in the war with Hamas.
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