Peace in the land of Israel
FORWARDED BY THE MJCN NETWORK! 1-609-448-5907 LARRY FREIBERG
Toward Shalom in the Land of Israel Elhanan Ben Avraham
April 25, 1988 Hanah Levkoff. Hanah LevkoffElhanan’s paper on the land.
TOWARD SHALOM IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
“For Zion’s sake I will not my peace and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be silent, till her righteousness go forth as the brightness and her salvation as a burning torch” (Isaiah 62:1)
I would like here to add a voice to the multitudes of voices heard in our time and there have never been so many heard all at once, regarding the current history of Israel and her neighbors. Opinions are coming as abundantly as waves crashing against the rocks.
It is reminiscent of the prophecy in the 36th Chapter of Ezekiel which addresses a time in which there are apparently no lack of declarations by men. So much so that none are able to listen, and G-d Himself is obliged to address his own words “to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, to the forsaken cities” of the Land of Israel. Of course, I am not him, but allow me to share very briefly with you how 11 years ago it came to be that all my own opinions were altered radically.
Though I am Jewish from a Jewish family, I had only the minimal religious upbringing in my American home, and very little contact with the Bible. But even as a child I felt the need to somehow wade through all the confusing events occurring both around me and within me, and to seek their source.
At 25 years old I left the United States for Europe where I remained for five years, after which, following that same search, I went to South America where I remained for four years. During this time I was asked if, as a Jew, I would like to visit Israel. To this I replied with finality, “Never.” In February 1977 I experienced an event which was not to leave me, so to speak, the same person ever again. At that time I did not know what was written in the prophecy of Joel, chapter 2:28, “And afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters will prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”
This is indeed what happened to Mein the city of Salvador, Brazil. Salvador in Portuguese, is saviour. It was during this very direct experience that, for the first time, my thoughts and my heart were directed to the Land of Israel and, to my great surprise and eternal joy, to Yeshua of Nazareth.
I was at this time that in vision I saw myself truly as a Jew, truly linked to a history unfolding by the hand of G-d. I saw what was previously, apparently, a series of unconnected vignettes of happenstance suddenly become as it were a scroll rolled back from Brazil to America – to grandparents
driven from Eastern Europe, to their fathers, and to their fathers coming out of Egypt up to the Land of Israel. Two years later the L-rd himself had directed me to return to Israel, fulfilling in my life the prophecy of
Moses in Deuteronomy 30:1-5, “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the L-rd your G-d disperses you among the nations, and then you and your children return to the L-rd your G-d and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the L-rd your G-d will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the L-rd your G-d will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.”
And in chapter 34:13 of Ezekiel, “I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in the settlements in the Land.” All of which brought my long wondering to an end, as for the first time in my life I felt, truly, at home. I now have a wife, whom I met here, and two children, and we live happily on the hills of Jerusalem where we have dwelt for the last nine years by the grace of G-d. Much has occurred in that time, including familiarizing ourselves with the original language in which scripture was given: Hebrew. We’ve had quite a bit of contact with our Arab neighbors, in Bethlehem and elsewhere, both believers, Christians, and Muslims. As an Israeli citizen I have the responsibility of serving in the army and have done so in Judah and Samaria (usually referred to by the media as the “West Bank”). Is was during a 31 day stint in the Samaritan city of Shechem, or Nablus, the largest Arab city in the areas, that I had a deep time of observing, reflecting, praying, and studying the scripture regarding that which was occurring before my eyes. For that month I dwelt in a small army compound in the city nearby where Avraham received the promise from the L-rd,
“Unto your seed will I give this Land,” which we find in Genesis 12:6-7. As I did both foot and vehicle patrols, escorts of civilian buses and guard duty, I listened to the many minarets shouting their Arabic prayers over their unsynchronized loudspeakers. Five times a day the words echoed eerily between Mount Eval and Mount Gerizim where Joshua and the children of Israel pronounced the blessings and the cursings written in Deuteronomy 27 and 28.
I guarded the Tomb of Joseph where Jews study in a small yeshiva; Jacob’s Well where Yeshua spoke to the Samaritan woman; I also had a chance, firsthand, to watch over and visit the Balata camp, the largest of its kind in the area. Let me state that in all my own experience in the army thus far, I have not once seen abuse of any Arab individual. On the contrary any contacts have been carried out respectfully and professionally. Even when we had stones or firebombs thrown at us we had strict orders not to use our weapons, and each soldier was issued orders to respect all persons and property, not to enter religious places, or have contact with females.
It was very strange having stones thrown at you, one which injured a soldier, and having no recourse but to radio an officer. Of course this was before the current rebellion began.
Guarding Balata gave me the opportunity to really consider this whole phenomenon. First, it is somewhat like a Texas/Mexico border town in quality I’ve seen living standards much worse in many places and though its not the highest, I’ve never seen more Mercedes Benz cars entering and leaving any place in my life. At one point I left my guard post to buy some pita bread and a cool drink and I spoke with a resident of Balata, asking him, “How is life here?” We both agreed that life is not easy for Arab nor Jew in the region, but he added, regarding life at Balata, “One rotten apple can spoil the lot.”
As I studied this refugee city established in 1948, it dawned on me that its history was as long as that of the reborn nation of Israel, making both of these “facts on the ground” miraculous in their own right. The fact that a nation grew up from a seed through five wars and constant opposition, and during this same time this camp had hardly grown beyond what it was 40 years ago, defies the laws of nature. This, especially considering that Balata, Shechem and all Samaria were under Jordanian, not Israeli, rule from 1948 to 1967. During those 19 years cash in immense quantities was flowing into the Arab world from oil sales, an immeasurably small fraction of which could have developed this into a lovely city. In fact, I observed a new apartment development a few miles from Balata, unfinished and unlived in, which had been built for Balata’s residents but which they had refused, or had not been allowed entry into, promised instead that they must remain until they returned to Jaffa and Haifa someday.
So, I observed, it is by Arab design and not inopportunity that these refugee cities are kept in a state of under development. To my knowledge the only people ever calling themselves refugees for this long a time are the Palestinians. My grandparents, who left all in Europe for the U.S. to avoid the Nazi liquidation, did not refer to themselves as refugees for long. I noted that the Arab residents of the areas had free access to Israeli cities, both for work and for recreation. They could travel to parks and to beaches, to cinemasor restaurants. Of course, the situation here has called for security checks which would not surprise anyone when you consider the bombs found annually in public places in Israeli cities. But Israelis do not enjoy the same freedom of travel. For to visit the Biblical sights mentioned above or to shop in Arab markets in such places as Shechem, would literally be take one’s life in one’s hands, if not only a broken windshield. And of course Israelis are not allowed entrance into any of the neighboring Arab countries other than Egypt. The 19 year Jordanian rule in Judah and Samaria occurred through the five army Arab attack against the infant state of Israel in 1948, which was miraculously repulsed by the makeshift defenders, and the consequent illegal annexing of the region by Jordan.
The period was no picnic for the Arabs living here, as one resident told me that Israeli rule is much better than Jordanian. You haven’t heard very many Arab opinions like that expressed publicly, for that voice would be silenced permanently by Arab activists. This may seem difficult for western minds to accept, but here it is a way of life.
Under Jordanian, or for that matter under any Arab rule, there would be no rebellion or demonstration whatsoever, as we in Jordan itself when the king ordered the slaughter of Palestinian Arabs, driving them into Lebanon in 1972. Or the incident in Hama, Syria, in 1982, when riots were quenched by the government firing artillery into the city, killing thousands of people.
The Palestinians know that this is not the way of the Jews and take great advantage of that fact. Also during that 19 years in which the Arabs ruled Jerusalem, the Hadassah Hospital fell into ruin, synagogues and Jewish cemeteries were destroyed, and Jews were not allowed access whatsoever to pray in the Holy City. It is this that I noted in mind when I watched Shimon Peres recently speak with Sheik Jamal, the deputy Imam of the Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. In reply to Peres’ comment, “Tell your people to stop throwing rocks ,” the sheik shouted, “We want freedom!” I find it utterly amazing that these facts seem to be forgotten by the world. When I first entered Jerusalem in 1979 I saw much of the Jewish quarter in ruins. Since then I have witnessed the conversion of Jerusalem into lovely parks and fountains, flowers and walkways, wonderfully excavated and kept archaeological sights, and even Muslim sights in the Jewish areas are preserved with respect. This under Israeli sovereignty. Above all, all may come to worship according to their religion with free access to all holy places, including allowing Arabs to and from Jordan for their Haj, or pilgrimage. There is no reciprocity in this. The Muslim Waft is given complete control of all Muslim sights, including the Temple Mount, where they still forbid Jews to pray on any part of it. Other non-Jewish groups, like the Mormons or the Bahais, are given permits to build immense shrines to worship according to their religious beliefs. If this is not religious freedom, then religious freedom does not exist in this world.
The cry of freedom and rights heard today echoing over the planet did not begin with Palestinian Arabs.
I well remember the same mottos expressed by the youth in the 1960’s in the freest country on earth, the United States of America. No matter what degree of freedom exists there will remain a cry to break all boundaries or constraint, especially by those who do not recognize men’s responsibility to the standards of G-d’s Law. Freedom of speech and expression is meant, by those who deny the responsibility, to mean the freedom to flood the world with pornography,or women in the name of rights to leave their families and destroy another person’s life while it is yet in the womb.
It is to many `freedom’ to use and sell drugs, practice homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, and to spread all manner of illness.
There is no end to the cry for freedom other than total anarchy and chaos. Here is another example that I’m certain has not been reported by the media but I am a witness to it. I taught English to a very kind Muslim father of six here in an Arab village in Jerusalem. When a necessary security road was to cause the destruction of his home he took the case to the Israeli court system, himself not an Israeli citizen, and won the case. And Israel has since constructed the road and rebuilt his lovely two story home on his own property some 20 meters away. There does exist a system of recourse in the Israeli democratic system for both Arab and Jew.
There are no equivalent freedoms in the surrounding Arab kingdoms and dictatorships. Few outside Israel are aware that life here, until recently, consisted predominantly of Israeli Arabs and Jews working together, picnicking in public parks together, eating together in restaurants all so naturally it was hardly even noted. Of course I’m not denying that we have difficulties, nor that there have been abuses on both sides, but I only wish to re-establish perspective. There is no nation, family or individual who is not yet working out their own difficulties. This is a very pressured region for all concerned, and I would defy any group or individual to live here for a period of time without being pressed to the limits by it challenges. I have also the option of watching the news from neighboring Jordan and to listen to their unending flow of open belligerence and distortions, attempting always to accuse Israel of being the cause of virtually every evil under the sun.
I have normally not heard the same open accusatory statements on Israeli but simply the reporting of events. The Arab news shows `Peace Now’ members demonstrating as if it were Israel’s mission of crime, whereas a peace movement calling for peace now with Israel does not exist in any Arab country – nor could it. Even Mr. Anwar Sadat paid the full price for his stand for peace with Israel, and a peace for which Israel did exchange land. Also Mr. Jemayel of Lebanon was assassinated for his willingness to discuss peace with Israel. Likewise, the Mayor of Shechem, who was no lover of Israel but had some moderate opinions, was assassinated by his own people. Recently we have seen in the news cases of judges themselves being brought to trial, accused of corruption, or their past exposed, putting their ability to judge inquisition. This of course could only happen in a nation where freedom does exist. But I must expand this point today as Israel is in effect being placed on trial by the nations of the world, and I must call to the dock those accusing nations themselves. Including England with its soldiers in Ireland, Russia in Afghanistan, Muslim Iraq at terrible war with Muslim Iran, Lebanon’s endless slaughter of themselves, Jordan’s killing of thousands of Palestinians in Black September 1972, not to mention the disgraceful all fronts Arab surprise attack on Israel, intentionally on its most holy day of fasting and prayer – Yom Kippur, 1973. All this is not digging into the distant past; much of it is occurring today. Let us not forget France in Algeria, nor the U.S. in Viet Nam, and especially our most active accuser, the PLO itself, sending its murderers to kill athletes in the Olympic Games, or its heroes into kindergartens for the single purpose of destroying human life. These are some of our judges. I will quote an article I read recently, “After Auschwitz we owe nothing to the world”, and its moralizers. It is my deepest desire to live in peace, but as Bob Dylan said, “Peace isn’t stopping your shooting so you can reload your gun.” `Shalom’, in Hebrew, is an active involvement of all things harmoniously together, all exchanging for the good. It is not a cessation of life, as the peace found in a cemetery. The efforts of men to bring about this state have proven about as effective as producing light from alovely chandelier that’s been plugged into a socket whose current has been cut off. It is my belief that the only real peace achievable is that in the presence of the Messiah Yeshua, Jesus. It is in doing G-d’s commandments on earth as in heaven that peace may enter in, and we enter into peace. It is in surrendering to him in a true covenant of commitment that our hope may be found and a door opened where there was no other door. It is in welcoming G-d’s ways, and his full counsel, that the cup of life may be filled and all may drink from it together.
Some years back I was made aware that there is a chasm of difference between harmony and uniformity. Harmony is the bringing together of very different elements, sometimes of opposites like red and green, and those elements working together in service one to another with no element losing its own uniqueness, but causing a new event in itself: harmony. Its counterfeit, even opposite, though simular, is uniformity. similar, is uniformity. It is the imposing of one expression on all elements to the end of unity. There is no room for differences. Harmony is bass, woodwinds, strings, percussion and voice making a symphony. It is the difference of a man and a woman. Uniformity is the imposition of sameness, usually by force, and the elimination, also by force of some kind, of differences. It is uniforms, as Mao’s China; unisex; homosexuality: a vast empty hopeless canvas of one color and one texture that brings forth no children by its union. I believe that the former, harmony, is G-d’s ultimate achievement.
Whereas, uniformity is the Satan’s own counterfeit of G-d’s calling in love. But I also believe that his tool for that gathering together of all elements, and bringing each to its proper and perfect place and state, is only in the life and work of Yeshua the Messiah, who is fully G-d’s own expression to us in our own language. By our unconditional surrender to him and following him, do we begin to find our true place in the great picture leading to ultimate, complete, and glorious shalom. In Shalom all is transformed – red does not become green or vice versa. Each color brings the other out to its maximum strength. In a landscape of Shalom a tree is more a tree, a bird more a bird. A local Palestinian Arab minister told me, “There is no such thing as a Jew in the New Testament.” I begged to differ. But he pointed to himself and said with all finality, “I am a teacher of the New Testament.” He was trying to convince me that “now we are all one, there is no longer Jew nor Greek.” Not only did he distort the teaching of Rabbi Saul, Paul, who said, “I am a Jew,” (Acts 21:39, 22:3)not, “I was a Jew.” But had I tried to direct him to view the full counsel of G-d, he would have rebuked me, saying that the Old Testament has been done away with in Jesus Christ, a distortion of Jesus himself. For a number of reasons, including convenience, there has been a major attempt to separate the G-d of the Torah, the Writings, and the Prophets of Israel, from him of the New Testament. In him, I must emphasize, there is no change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It is not my intention in this paper to write an exhaustive thesis on theology, but I will attempt to achieve some clarity on certain points. The moment we attempt such an enterprise as aborting, and I repeat: aborting, a large portion of the biblical writing as cited above, we risk sawing off the very branch we are perched upon (Romans 11:11©31). To avoid a fall from such a foolish act one would have to build a number of clever devices to prop the branch up, but it would nevertheless ultimately wither away under us.
I think that history is bringing about in fact this very phenomenon today. An abortion is performed for one purpose only: that a child will not be born alive. By ignoring, deleting, or distorting the prophetic scriptures which speak of the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, one indeed risks joining forces with the “Deceiver of the whole world”, whose specific acts and intentions toward Israel are well described in chapter 12 of revelation.
One fellow soldier, a religious Jew, asked me on guard duty at Beit El, “What is the difference between the Torah and New Testament?” I answered his question with a question, “You tell me. What is the difference between an apple tree and an apple?” That is the difference. The apple resembles in no way its tree, but without it, it cannot exist. The Torah is a tree of life, it says in the Torah, and Messiah is its fruit – the only part that can truly be eaten. When the words of the New Testament were written, “All Scripture is inspired by G©d and profitable for teaching…” in 2 Timothy 3:16, there was no book called the New Testament. Scripture was the Tenach, the so called Old Testament. If we begin now to amputate portions of scripture it will not be the book that will die, but those who are doing the surgery. The ultimate question that must be laid before one and all, especially those responsible for religious acts and opinions, is: “Do you know that this is the word of the living G-d?” Before February 1977 I didn’t know that. I could have probably convinced many that the Bible was no more divine than “Tom Sawyer.” Today I know different. Peter, the Jew, quotes the Hebrew scriptures in I Peter 1:24-25, “For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is as he flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof falls away, but the word of the L-rd endures forever.” Every opinion and voice upon which it is expressed will fade away. Yeshua said, “Till heaven and earth pass, not one Yod or Kotz will in any way pass from the Law till all be fulfilled” (Matt 5:17-18). Heaven and earth remain with us to this day, and much remains before us to be fulfilled. And so while it is yet day I will refer all to the unchanging standard and test all by it. What then does scripture say about this land today? And what have the prophecies spoken to the current problems concerning its residents? I found it very interesting to ask hundreds of Christians what this land is called in the New Testament, to which but few were able to answer, including scholars. The answer, found in Mat thew 2:20, comes from the mouth of the angel of G-d so that no one could claim partiality as to its source of utterance. The angel said to Joseph in Egypt, “Return now to the Land of Israel.” This was G-d’s name for this land in thefirst century. The name `Palestine’ was applied to the land after the Jewish revolt of 130 C.E. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and tried to erase all Jewish association with the Land of Israel, forbidding Jews from entering Jerusalem. Palestine was chosen due to its antithetical connotations, being after the Jews’ long standing enemy, the Philistines. Earlier, the Land of Canaan was divided up into the tribal names of Canaan’s children; and Palestine, or the land of the Philistines, was the coastal areas of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Ekron only. The name `Israel’ has always raised emotions. In Psalm 83 we find all those who have said, “Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel be no more remembered.” It goes on to list those who have made a covenant to destroy Israel: “Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines and the inhabitants of Tyre, Assyria has joined with them, they have helped the children of Lot. “You may note that those are the names of those who confront Israel today as enemies and indeed, a covenant has been written and published vowing openly to destroy her – The Palestine National Covenant. Read it. Recently some of the large world churches have deleted the words Isreal and Zion from their psalms & hymnals In churches in Syria,`Israel’ in the Bible readings is replaced by ‘Holy Land’. Some Arabs will not say the word Israel, but refer to `the Zionist entity.’ Of course, the desire to destroy Israel goes back more then 3,000 years to Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and even modern Germany, well before any Palestinian refugee problem.
In 1948, just three years after the destruction of millions of Jews in Europe, and also before anyone could be called a refugee other than the Jews themselves, five Arab armies came to liquidate the Jews of Israel and failing, created themselves the refugee problem. So what can be the source of all this irrational negative emotion to the name Israel? When I was there in Shechem, in Samaria, serving in the Israel Defense Force Reserves, in the midst of these profound tensions I pondered this question with all my heart. Thirty one days of tension, danger, and discomfort under the hot sun can leave one with more frayed nerves and dust than enlightened answers. As I know from my own profession in the arts the eye is a fool, not to be overly trusted in important issues of judgement. In Isaiah we are shown that Messiah will not judge by the sight of his eye, but with righteous judgement and, the only standard for such evaluation are the scriptures of G-d. So, in prayer, I opened the Bible I discovered that in chapter 16 of Ezek, G-d has promised that at the same time that he will gather the captivity of Jerusalem back to her former estate, he will also gather the captivity of Samaria back to her former estate. It goes on to say clearly, that Jerusalem’s returned captives will be in the midst of the returned of Samaria and Sodom, and there will be shame. And the daughters of Samaria and Sodom, along with the daughters of Syria and the Philistines, will despise the daughter of Jerusalem (lines 53 and 57). Since 1979 I have watched as, literally, the waste places of Jerusalem have been built up again before my eyes after 2,000 years. Then, the place I now live in was a barren rocky hill. Now, my lovely little apartment looks out upon the ruins of a watchtower outside my window, from the time of the first kings of Israel, which was discovered when they laid the foundations for these new buildings. In Isaiah 2:8-9 we find, “Your watchmen shall lift up the voice, and together they shall sing, for they shall see eye to eye the L -rd restoring Zion. Break forth into joy, waste places of Jerusalem, for the L-rd has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.”
It is not with difficulty that I associate the fact that these scriptures seem to relate to these events. Prophecy is sometimes difficult to discuss, especially before the events described actually occur. The disciples of Yeshua themselves did not realize that they, and Yeshua, were indeed fulfilling events described centuries before. Afterwards they were able, by the G-d given faculty of memory and scrutiny, to see the events and their scriptural fulfillment. In the written prophecy such elements as heat, cold, and other physical discomforts and distractions of those actually involved in the outworking of it, are usually not noted. So, when we live in the event we are often blinded by it. And if we are pre-disposed to not wanting to see an event as the fulfillment of prophecy, due perhaps to its threat to our own position, it can be denied. Which was the case of Yeshua’s rejection by the religious authorities of his day, and is the case of many, including most Arabs, towards the existence of Israel today There in Shechem, between the mount of cursing and the mount of blessing, we sat Jews gathered from all nations, set tensely amidst the Arabs of Samaria who, for the most part, hated us. I continued my searching of the scriptures to see if the word could possibly speak more to the situation. I found in the 36th chapter of Ezekiel a very clear picture prophesied of the Land of Israel being claimed by the peoples living round about it, as their own possession. To these claims G-d answers, declaring that therefore he himself will bring back the scattered people of Israel to the desolate land and rebuild it and they shall dwell in it.
It goes on to say, in agreement with chapter 16 of the same prophet, that at that time Israel will be ashamed of their ways and G-d will wash them clean, for his name’s sake not theirs, giving them a new heart and a new spirit, and an everlasting covenant with them. Then I saw in Amos 9:15 another promise to the Jewish people, “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given unto them, declares the L-rd your G-d.” And again in agreement I found in Jeremiah 32:40- 41, “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them and I will not turn away from them and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul.” That is quite a powerful promise, and I could in no way agree with those that somehow insist that any of this has already been fulfilled in the past. I went on to discover that virtually every prophet promised G-d’s returning the Jewish people to the land he had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the Land of Israel.It is even written that all Jews will eventually return none living anymore outside the Land of Israel. We see this written in Ezekiel 39:28,
“Then they will know that I am the L-rd their G-d. For though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land and leave none of them there any longer.” And the New Testament shows us in Romans 11:28,29, referring to the Jewish people, “from the standpoint of G©d’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and callings of G-d are irrevocable.” But then, my questioning continued, what about the Arab peoples living here? What do the scriptures tell us regarding their position in the Land? It is often said that this struggle is between the two sons of Abraham – Isaac and Ishmael. I believe there is some truth in that, but not entirely. To state that all Arabs are sons of Abraham would not technically be correct. First, if one examines the family lines in the Bible, it will be found that the Ammonites and the Moabites are children of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. The mountains of Moab are today’s Jordan, and Amman is its capital. The Philistines, after whom the Palestinians have taken their name, were not from the seed of Abraham, but came through Mitzrayim, not being Semites at all; nor was Canaan or his off spring, the Canaanites. The Egyptians are sons of Cush, and the Lebanese are Phoenicians. The word `Arab’, by the way, actually means `mixed’. Nevertheless, the Arab peoples are here – most of whom have declared themselves officially as the enemies of Israel, attacking her incessantly by every means, and engaging her in five wars. There are well above a hundred million in the nations around us. We ourselves are comprised of about four million – six hundred thousand of those being Arabs who do not serve in the military. In Judah Gaza, and Samaria there are another one and a half million Arabs, now under the jurisdiction of the Israeli government.
What, I needed to know, do the scriptures say specifically of these latter peoples? First, of those people recently calling themselves Palestinians, the majority are Sunni Muslims, and the minority Christians, be it Greek Orthodox, Catholic or Anglican. Though Christianity has not historically been kind to the Jews, it is fundamentalist Islam that has recently set it self most sharply against the existence of Israel. The growth in numbers and energetic activity in Islam is due in part to the Islamic revolution in Iran, or Persia, under Khomeini. It could be noted that the prophecy given to Daniel by the angel, which we can all now read in chapter 10 of Daniel regarding the “latter days” and “the scripture of truth”, was resisted in battle against the angel of G-d for 21 days by the spiritual prince of Persia.
Islam, one of the largest of the world’s religions, was founded some 600 years after Jesus and some 2,000 years after Moses. Some of it’s claims, like `Allah has no son’,and that Abraham brought Ishmael and not Isaac to be sacrificed, set themselves squarely against scripture. There is therefore clearly no place for a reborn Jewish state in the Holy land in Muslim theology. It contradicts its fundamentals, for the Bible tells us in Exodus 4:22, “Thus says L-rd, Israel is my son, even my firstborn.” Therefore, I asked, what is to be with this people dwelling in Judah, Samaria, and Gaza? This region, not the coast or the Galilee or the desert, was actually biblical Israel. It contains most of the biblical Jewish cities, including Shechem, Beit El, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Beer Sheva – to mention some. The actual boundaries of the inheritance described in the Bible include these areas and more. You may look in chapter 34 of Numbers and also in Ezekiel 47 from line 13 for the exact description of the boundaries. What does it mean, then, if peoples living here claim that it is illegal for Jews to settle on what is often uninhabited barren hills, or even share a land that has not been legally part of any country since the British took it from the Ottoman Turks? When I hear the many statements calling for an independent Palestinian state as solution, as a way to peace, my very reason causes me to hearken back to recent history when, in 1947, the U.N. proposal was in fact that, so the Jews and Arabs might share this narrow strip of land in two separate states. To this the Arabs utterly refused, unwilling to share anything and sent their armies in to crush any thought of a Jewish entity. Again from that time in 1948 all through 1967, when the Arabs ruled this area, there was no talk nor intention to institute there a Palestinian state. It was only stated in word and in deed the intent of eliminating Israel. And when it is said that Israel’s withdrawal to pre-1967 borders will bring peace, my rea son again takesover pointing to the fact that those borders were attacked on all fronts in 1967, and were no cause for peace then.I have heard it said by an Arab believer that we, Israel, must not view everyone as if they want to destroy us, and this is a valid statement.
But I must be honest in stating that the Jewish people, more so than most, have historically founded knowledge of the depth of human depravity, and an understanding of the scripture, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man.” The Arabs whom I personally know are pleasant, kind individuals who simply wish to live life as anyone else. In fact, I believe that most people are primarily concerned with that wish, and are not committed to any cause to any real depth. But it is as it was in Germany, that the small hard fist of app roximately 3% of the population were actually Nazis, enough to move the nation and its whole population with it. So, with Muslim Arab armies bristling all around us, we must move with great caution and skepticism. When I found written in the book of Deuteronomy 32:8 “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel,” I understood that it is the L-rd himself who established the borders of nations. And the one nation which he has described in any great detail, is the borders of the Land of Israel.
When I am obliged to listen daily to the reproaches against Israel and her borders, including from our neighbor Jordan on her English news from Amman, I hear the voice of the L-rd declaring in the Prophet Zephaniah, chapter 2:8-10,”I have heard the reproach of Moab and the revilings of the children of Amman where by they have reproached my people and magnified themselves against their border.
Therefore, as I live, says the L-rd of hosts, the G-d of Israel, the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This they shall have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the L-rd of Hosts.” As problematic as such a prophetic utterance may seem, and as difficult a situation would be its fulfillment,it is nevertheless all too similar to the situation that exists here today. I must respond here to what has become in many minds an almost accepted fact that Israel has driven out the Arabs of this Land from their homes. This id ea is refuted by the fact that those Arabs who chose not to leave the war zone when their Arab brothers came in armies to destroy Israel in 1948 and 1967, remain to this day as citizens of Jaffa, Haifa, and all the rest of Israel, cities and villages. An Arab acquaintance of mine, Mahmud, invited me to his village where I drank coffee in his home with his 15 children. On his wall was a photo which looked something like a college graduating class picture. I asked him who they were, to which he replied, “My family.” I asked if they all lived in the village here, to which answered, “No. They all left for Jordan in 1967 thinking they would return after the war. But I told them, ‘No, I will stay and live right here.'” Which is indeed what he does, none driving him out. Nor had his family been driven out, but chose to leave, believing the Arab armies would end the Jewish presence and they could thus return to their homes. Again, I do not deny that the fruits of war have been bitter to all here, and sad incidents could be cited by all involved. Are there specific promises in the scriptures for the Arabs living within the biblical borders of Israel? I turned to the Prophet Jeremiah, chapter 12:14-17. The words I found, G©d’s words, were hard and yet filled with promise and compassion, not willing that any should perish but that all should return (meaning repent) to him and receive the blessings that a father wishes to bestow upon his sons. As G-d has always done with Israel, he puts the choice before many. We see in Deuteronomy 30:1 9, “This day do I lay before you life and death; therefore, choose life.” I’ll start by reading line 14 of Jeremiah 12, “This is what the L-rd says, ‘As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance which I gave my people, even Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and will uproot the house of Judah from amongthem.'” I believe this speaks of events that have already taken place, for the Land lays desolate for many generations as we see in Isaiah 58:12 and Ezekiel 36:3. And it has enjoyed its Sabbaths as we see in Leviticus 26:33-35, and the dispersion was the punishment of the people. But then the promise goes on in line 15, “But after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own land.” This agrees with the promise cited in Ezekiel 16:53. In line 16 we read, “And if they learn well the ways of my people, to swear by my name, saying, `as the L©rd lives’, even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be established among my people.”
Please note here that it is “the ways of my people, to swear by my name” that they must learn. It is in this return, in this repentance and willingness to listen and to learn from the redeemed of Israel, that the Arabs will indeed be built up in the midst of my people,in the Land which is what they claim to be their greatest desire. In line 17 we read, “But if that nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it, declares the L-rd.” This, according to the declaration of the L-rd, is to be the result of obstinacy and refusal to listen and to learn. The fine promise in line 16 agrees with the words of Ezekiel 47:21-23, “You are to distribute this Land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.
You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance, declares the sovereign L-rd.” And we find in Exodus 12:9, “For seven days no yeast is to be found in y our houses and whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is alien or native born.” And in the same chapter, verse 49, “The same Law applies to the native born and to the alien living among you.” Again, I found a similar promise in chapter 9 of Zech In lines 6 and 7 we read, “And I, the L-rd, will cut off the pride of the Philistines, and I will remove the blood from their mouth and the detestable things from between their teeth.” Yeshua has told us that it is not that which enters a man which defiles him for more than a few hours, but that which comes out of the mouth, revealing the heart. The hatred, murder, violence and destruction heard from Arabs and seen in the Palestine National Covenant, declaring armed dismantling of Israel, well fits this prophetic description. It goes on, “then they also will be a remnant for our G-d and be like a chief in Judah.” I have heard some say that at least some of the Arabs are sons of Abraham, especially in the case of Arab believers in Yeshua. I would reply with Yeshua’s words, that if one is a son of Abraham he should do the works of Abraham, who prayed for Sodom his enemy, doing the commandment of Yeshua, and be more likely to receive the promise to Abraham. These words, spoken by the Messiah,were spoken in the historical context of a very severe military occupation by pagan Romans, and the Sermon on the Mount was given as instruction of how to deal with a military occupation. To those who would have preferred an uprising against Rome he said, “Love your enemies, bless those that curse you.” And to a law that a Roman soldier could require a Jew, like a donkey, to carry his equipment a mile he said, “carry it the second mile.” He also said, “blessed are the humble for they shall inherit the land.” Which is also pertinent to our subject.
Unknown to many living outside Israel is the fact that most Arabs live in the Land unmolested and unoppressed, some serving even in the Israel Defense Forces. There are whole communities of Druze who are an integral part of this country. And also the Bedouins who often serve as trackers in the army. These people have government representation – Ministers in the Knesset. When I was in the army guarding near Jacob’s Well, where Yeshua spoke to the Samaritan woman, an old Samaritan woman came up to me and blessed me, in Hebrew, with the priestly blessing. To this I replied also with a blessing for her. The Samaritans dwell unmolested to this day on Mount Gerizim and other parts of Is rael. It was not long after, that two young Jewish men, studying in the Yeshiva I was guarding at Joseph’s Tomb, entered their car to return to their homes on the hilltop settlement of Elon Moreh, where Abraham received the promise, “Unto your seed will I give this land.” As they drove off I felt moved to pray for their covering and protection. In a few minutes their car returned , skidding onto the premises of the tomb, its rear windows shot out. Neither of them was injured, though visibly shaken. These events call to mind the promise that G©d gave to Abraham in chapter 12:2,3 of Genesis, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you.” This was later repeated by the Gentile prophet Balaam in Numbers 24:9.
Hired by Israel’s enemies to curse, he instead blessed, saying, “Blessed is he that blesses you, and cursed is he that curses you.” When I consider all, I cannot see that scripturally those who would insist on calling themselves by a personal and national identity after the Philistines, and act in the spirit of the same, with unrelenting hatred and violence toward Jews, would receive the promises given to the sons of Abraham. It would be more likely that they would inherit the promises written for the Philistines, found in Ezekiel 25:15-17, “Thus says the L-rd G-d,’because the Philistines have dealt by revenge and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart to destroy for the old hatred, I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes, and they shall know that I am the Lord.'” You can also see in Amos 1:6-8, and in Isaiah 11:11-14. Israel, Land and people, are on the defense not the offense. The kibbutzim, the communal farms on our borders, are surrounded by barbed wire to protect themselves from terrorist penetration. Jordan’s farms come right down to the Jordan river and have no fear that Jews will come to injure and destroy. You might note that it has not been Jews that you have read about for many years now pirating airliners, hijac king ships, murdering civilian hostages, kidnapping, placing bombs in public places, and causing carnage in even public airports around the world. All homes in Israel have access to a bomb shelter. Every young man or woman must be a soldier, men continuing in reserves until the age of 55. We are a small people on a sliver of land, and we have little choice but to defend it and ourselves. Few are they here who would not rejoice to see a welcoming gesture from our Arab neighbors, who surround and outnumber us, rather than the incessant threats and condemnations.It would change the face of the region. It is in blessing that one is blessed. And it is in the following words of welcome that we all will find our salvation, “Baruch haba bashem Adonai” – “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the L-rd.” It is this blessing that Yeshua quoted as the key to our seeing him,who is the redeemer of men, the King of the Jews, and the only one who can give us a new heart. And it is the joyful welcoming of the full counsel of the living G-d, from Genesis to Revelation, for both Gentile and Jew the Torah and the Prophecies, the New Covenant writings – that both eyes will be given sight. And it is in welcoming the fulfilling of G©d’s words in history blessing and welcoming there turn of the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel, that we all can turn ours words into plow shares and till the land together.
For it is indeed the hand of the Almighty that is building this nation, as we see in Ezekiel 36:36, “Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I the L-rd build the ruined cities and plant that which was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.” And it is in the opening of hands and hearts in welcome that individuals and nations will be healed, that the prophecy of Isaiah 19:23-25 will finally come into being,”In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and the Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the earth. The L-rd almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.'”
Elhanan, April 1988 – Jerusalem, Israel