Ps 120:6-7
Too long have I
lived among those who hate peace. I search for peace; but when I speak of
peace, they want war!
If we look at current events, these
words seem to come from Israel’s collective soul throughout history! The roots
of the Jewish people in the land of Israel spans thirty-five centuries, and
their presence there has been unbroken during all this time. Even after Rome
destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, renaming the region Palestine and exiling a
portion of the population, some Jews remained. In the roughly two thousand
years after this, many different empires came to colonize and rule Palestine,
disappearing again, while Jews remained there during all these changes. This
fact notwithstanding, when the modern great return of Jews to the land began,
the Arabs living there had developed a Palestinian nationalism and a desire for
independence, and they rejected the right of the Jews to self-government.
The mediation process to establish a
two-state mandate in Israel started in 1936 and has been ongoing ever since. In
that year, the British Peel Commission offered the Arabs 80% of the disputed
land. Israel voted to accept their portion of 20%, the Arabs rejected this
offer and continued their violent rebellion against British rule. This has
unfortunately been the pattern for no less than four subsequent offers from mediators
up to now, where the Jews voted four times to accept a mandate of having two
independent states in Israel, which the Arabs rejected outright four times and
then followed this up by waging war or initiating terrorist actions against
Israel.
In Gen 16:10-12 we read
that the Angel of the Lord gave a glimpse into the future of Ishmael, son of
Abraham by Hagar, and ancestor to the Arabs of centre, western and North
Arabia. It says: … “I
will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.
He will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey, and his hand will be
against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.” The Angel foresaw the scenarios playing out between the Arabs and the
Jews in Israel, thousands of years ago.
Is
there a solution to this problem? Yes there is, and the solution does not lie
in dividing up the land of Israel. God warns very clearly in Joel 3:2 “I
will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I
will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my
people among the nations, and for dividing up my land.”
The answer is a Man, Jesus! He is the
Messiah the Jews are longing for, the Redeemer of all other nations on earth,
including the Arabs. In Him, Jew and Arab will unite as one new man, operating
out of His love, joining hands, and making Israel prosper among the nations!
Points to ponder: Pray
for all inhabitants of Israel to accept Jesus, as the peace of Jerusalem will
only come when Jew and Arab together call out: “Blessed is He Who comes in the
name of the Lord!”
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