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Why do evangelicals support Israel so strongly?

First IMHO we must understand some history:

1. In the beginning ALL Christians were Jewish not just a few or not just some but ALL. Christianity was a Jewish sect and had it not been so then Roman citizens who were Jews would not have spread the word throughout the Roman Empire.

2. The major cities in what are now the countries of Italy, Turkey, Syria, Greece and other lands within the Empire, where Christianity got its major participants and believers, were cities that had large number of Jewish inhabitants who accepted the Christian Jewish sect. Saint Paul was Jewish and a convert to the Christian Sect whose duty, before he converted, as I understand it was to kill those who belonged to the Christian sect.

3. Since the nation of Israel dissolved after King Solomon died and was divided into two nations (the nation of Israel in the north and the nation of Judea in the south). When the King of Babylon, destroyed both the north and south sometime in 500 BC, Israel ceased to exist. When Persia overran Babylon the southern citizens were allowed to return to Judea and from this came the name Jews. Citizens of Judea.

4. In addition to the Jews who inhabited Judea, the Roman census done in the last century BC in the districts of Jerusalem and Joppa states that the inhabitants are mixed tribes of Egyptians, Arabians and Phoenicians. This also describes the inhabitants of Galilee, the plain of Jericho and the territories of Philadelphia and Samaria.

5. After the conquest of Alexander the Great of all the territories in the Middle East and his death when his conquests were divided between his generals (Alexander Jannacus ruled the territory of Judea), the Romans conquered the land and established Hyrcanus as chief Priest and Herod as King.

6. To help Herod and Hyrcanus expand the Temple Augustus made the following edict on Jewish Rights in 1 BC.

“Caesar Augustus, pontifex maximus, holding the tribunician power, proclaims: Since the nation of the Jews and Hyrcanus, their high priest, have been found grateful to the people of the Romans, not only in the present but also in the past, and particularly in the time of my father, Caesar, imperator, it seems good to me and to my advisory council, according to the oaths, by the will of the people of the Romans, that the Jews shall use their own customs in accordance with their ancestral law, just as they used to use them in the time of Hyrcanus, the high priest of their highest god; and that their sacred offerings shall be inviolable and shall be sent to Jerusalem and shall be paid to the financial officials of Jerusalem; and that they shall not give sureties for appearance in court on the Sabbath or on the day of preparation before it after the ninth hour. But if anyone is detected stealing their sacred books or their sacred monies, either from a synagogue or from a mens' apartment, he shall be considered sacrilegious and his property shall be brought into the public treasury of the Romans.”

7. The historical record is what it is, however, the question as to why Christian evangelicals support and help present day Israel cannot be answered by history but by faith and the belief in the one God, the God of Israel who said many times that others outside of the tribes of Israel worshiped him, and I can find NO readings (in ancient texts) that say worship by others outside the tribes of Israel is not allowed. And in reading (and reviewing classes by Professor Gary A. Rendsburg) by both Jewish and Christian translators of the Bible and sections of the Torah it is clear that one who helps Israel is doing the right thing,

8. I support Israel, but not necessarily those who seem to have lost their way in their support of Israel and if one looks back into antiquity this has happened before.

9. Not being an evangelical, but a Christian, I feel it is my duty to support Israel and even if I were not, the support of a free nation that gives its people freedom is worthy on our time and effort.

10. Sorry for this rather long dissertation on the question but it is one that I have been considering for some time.