Israel- Palestine

Israel- Palestine

Good morning One River,

I know we’re in the process of working through the spiritual warfare part of our theology. I fully intend to continue with that series in a few weeks. But something rather awful transpired this week. And what hurts my heart as much as anything is the completely unchristian response to it.

I’m talking about the recent Hamas attack on Israel and the response of Israel to call for war.

Now before we get into any of this, let me say, I’m not talking about any of you. If this feels personal…well, we’ll get into that too.

But I’m speaking generally about a sentiment I’ve seen coming from Christians that seem to feel a need to either justify the position of Hamas and the horrific acts they’ve perpetrated on a mostly civilian population. Or the Israeli government response to it.

I want to see if we can talk about this in as objective a tone as I am capable of. I know tensions run extremely high around this subject but I think it’s so prevalent today that we can often feel drawn into taking a position on this issue, often passionately.

I want to look at a few things today. I want to look at Zionism, Christian Zionism, the term Palestine and Palestinian and I want to look at some history, both inside and outside of the bible.

Lastly, I want to look at Jesus and where I think he would find himself in all of this.

Zionism is a relatively new term in the English language- mostly. Zionism, refers to Mt. Zion, where scripture tells us Yahweh set aside a place for the Jewish people to worship Him. It stems from Yahweh’s promises in Genesis 12 and 15 to give Abram a place of his own. But the term Zion is not expressly used until the Book of Samuel and 1 Kings use it to describe Jerusalem by name.

Zionism has no specific references in scripture. But to the religious Jews of today it refers to this promise reaching back to Genesis and their covenant with Yahweh.

To secular Jews and others with Jewish sympathies, it simply means that they are to be given a land to call their own, as the world at large has no place for them.

Both sentiments are accurate.

Christian Zionism is a movement created by the dispensationalist Christian movement, of which, I will remind everyone, we are not a part of.

Christian Zionists believe that Yahweh’s original covenant with Israel is still in effect and as such, they are owed a land by Yahweh. They also believe it is from this land that the Apocalypse with be able to come to completion. This is a long and complicated theological narrative. Christian Zionists believe the nation state of Israel still holds significant wait in the supernatural realm. Because of this, it’s our duty as Christians to back Israel as a nation, and make sure we do everything in our power politically to ensure they continue to exist as a country.

The chief opponent to Christian Zionism is something called Replacement Theology. This. In essence, states that because of the sacrifice of Christ, Christians replaced Jews as the chosen people.

Personally, I think the answer lies somewhere in-between. Jesus charged Christians with completing the mission of bring the world together under Yahweh. He moved the temple from Israel to the human heart, through the power for His Spirit. But I don’t think that means that the Jewish people are just “OUT” and Christians are “IN”. Yahweh obviously still has a heart for them. But I’m not sure the role of the Jewish people is clear in New Testament Scripture.

There are many verses that Christian Zionist see as relevant for this mission.

Romans 11:25–27 (NIV)

All Israel Will Be Saved

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;

he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

27 And this is my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.”

They too quote all of Revelation 21:

Here’s just a few clips-

Revelation 21:10–11 (NIV)

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Revelation 21:22–23 (NIV)

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

And how about Isaiah for good measure:

Isaiah 2:1–4 (NIV)

The Mountain of the LORD

This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established

as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

Ok, now on to the word Palestine. The word Palestine is an English word which is translated from Latin (Palestina) which is translated from Greek (PalistinE) which is translated from Hebrew Philistia from the land of the Philistines.

Philistine, as you may remember from your bible study classes means adversary or aggressor, and not in a nonpartisan way. It’s very much a loaded and derogatory term.

A Palestinian would be a Philistine. However, after the Roman occupation fell apart in the middle-east in roughly 475 AD, the word had no use in any language until shortly after World War I.

This is where we get into history, and things get a little tricky. Palestine or Palestinian, is not a religious term it’s simply a group of people in a region. And depending on the time frame by which you use the word and by whose map, the area can change quite a bit.

Currently in Gaza, which is today what we are calling Palestine, there are religious Jews, Christians and Muslims. Although it’s only 1-2% Christian and Jew, they do technically exist there.

Jew by comparison, is an inherently religious term.The concept of a secular-Jew is a new idea altogether. Jews have had a long history of diaspora, being dispersed, or more often kicked out or enslaved from a land.

So, there are religious Jews, and apparently secular-Jews, but there are no Christian Jews, or Muslim Jews. Only Israelis, which is the people of the nation that now rules that area.

Now let’s look at the land in the middle east and some of the history. We’re Christians so we’re inclined to believe the biblical accounts. The land was given to Jews to settle. There were peoples there before the Jews but they went to war and the Jews won the encounters becoming Israelites until after Christ.

But from scripture we know that this is not quite that cut and dry. The Israelites were conquered several times. They divided their own nation into two parts and at times even when they maintained religious authority, they were still under the conscription of other worldly powers for their earthly leadership.

The early Jewish Kingdom was largely ruled by Jewish prophets, Judges and Kings. But then they split kingdoms, divided power and we’re conquered and enslaved by the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Persians. After being marched off to slavery again, some of them returned. They were later occupied by the Greeks and the Romans at least in part. This brings us to 70 AD roughly when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and raised the Second Temple to the ground. They chased the Jewish leadership to Masada and laid siege to them until their death.

This was the conclusive death of Israel as a nation state for that period of time. But like the conquest of Philistine, this did not conclude the occupation of Jewish people from the area.

However, with the destruction of the temple and the killing of the Jewish Aristocracy, Jewish leadership in any significant manner was gone. Israel became known as Syri to the Roman Empire and under their total control.

Between 235 and 300 AD, the area became extremely unstable as Roman influence began to wane. The northern, western part became Syria and the region Palestina, and the Southern, Eastern Part became Arabia.

As Western Rome fell apart, control of the middle-east was left to the control of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Rome). This was home to the Eastern Orthodox Church amongst others. But their control did not last long against what came next.

By 632 AD Islam was on the scene. Muhamad had died and his generals began to fight among themselves eventually establishing the Umayyad Califate, amongst others. Califate is an Arabic word for Ruler or Reign, essentially these are Islamic Empires.

It’s an important distinction here that Caliphates are always Islamic in nature. They are ruled by their interpretation of their religion. Empires, by comparison, sometimes claim religious affiliation but are generally political in nature.

Various Islamic Dynasties ruled much of the middle-east for the next 1000 years or so. From the Umayyad Califate came the Abbasid Dynasty that ran until 1258, when they were overthrown by their slaves into the Mamluk Dynasty. Mamluk is Arabic for possessed or property. This lasted until 1517 when the Ottoman Turk Empire took over.

They ultimately fell apart in 1918 after the conclusion of the first World War, largely because they chose to side with Germany.

Here’s where things get spicy again. After World War I the western world carved up the Middle-east into the territories we know today largely. They were under control of the Western powers. England and France mostly.

Then, through a series of revolts most of the Western occupational control was overthrown in pretty short order.

This period of time after WWI is where the British named the territory of Palestine as such. Again, this is a territory, not a state, and it was completely controlled by the British and their government.

This is where the birth of Zionist theology came into play. It is this time that its origins came on the scene. Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia began immigrating back to the area of Israel as it once was. The Arab population was apoplectic and began a violent campaign, largely against the Jews, but also against their British Governors.

In 1947 a partition plan was announced, a two-party state solution. A civil war broke out which would gradually worsen, starting with small incidents which would eventually turn into quasi-military operations against the other side, with support and troops coming in from abroad. On May 15th 1948, the Mandate officially ended, and the British no longer had control over Palestine. The Jews immediately declared a new Jewish state named “the State of Israel” and the surrounding Arab states saw this new state as a threat to Palestinian autonomy, causing them their armies to its borders. This was the official start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

This war lasted 10 months and saw Israel conquer much of the territory that is today Israel and the surrounding areas. When the international community came in to negotiate a piece accord. Israel was ordered to give back 40% of what it had conquered.

Egypt locked down the Suez canal, effectively isolating Israel and forbidding ships in or out with the stated intension of helping Israel with supplies, weapons or commerce. By the mid 1950’s this resolved with internal Egyptian political revolt.

Enter the PLO the Palestine Liberation Organization. For most of the next 20 years this was the only recognized Palestinian leadership entity. They launched military style attacks against the nation of Israel and Gorilla style incursions for many years. This was ultimately unfruitful and they eventually chose diplomacy.

Pan-Arabism kept growing and resentment towards Israel was reaching new heights, which would result in the Arab states mobilizing their troops near Israeli borders; Israel saw this as enough of a reason to start a war. The Six Day War would earn its name from the extremely rapid offensives and conquering of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, Syria’s Golan Heights and Jordan’s West Bank. Around 400,000 Syrians and Palestinians fled the Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Arab League would adopt the “Three no’s” which would stand for “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with it”, deteriorating Arab-Israeli relations further. After the enormous losses of the 1967 War, Egypt and Syria were planning on taking their former land back, starting another war if they had to. The war began on the 6th of October 1973, as it came as a surprise for Israel, the Arab coalition successfully fought back the Israeli army in the Sinai and the Golan Heights. After three days, however, Israeli forces managed to first stop Arab forces and later push them back. An UN-initiated ceasefire eventually stopped the fighting and this fourth war between the State of Israel and various Arab states became the starting point of the first recognition of Israel by an Arab country.

In 1987 the deteriorating circumstances in which Palestinians were living due to the ongoing building of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, high birth rates, a scarcity of jobs and the general heightened tensions between the Israeli government and Palestinians resulted in uprisings and protests, known as the First Intifada. Soon after the initial protests started, the PLO took control of the Intifada by organizing attacks against Israelis. At the time of the Intifada a new Palestinian organization, Hamas was created and joined the Intifada by fighting Israeli forces. Hamas would later go on to be the de-facto authority in the Gaza Strip. In 1988 the PLO declared the establishment of the Palestinian state. This was the first time anyone anywhere declared Palestine to be an actual country. 1988.

In 1993, the PLO and Israel started a series of secret negotiations, in which the PLO would recognize Israel’s right to exist and denounce terrorism. In return, the Palestinian Authority would be established as a recognized governmental authority in Palestinian territories. The PLO returned to Palestinian territory, but Hamas didn’t agree with decisions made by the PLO, starting their own offensive against the Israeli state by organizing attacks against civilians. Jordan became the second Arab country to officially recognize Israel and to openly relations with it in 1994. What’s most important about the Oslo Accords is that they didn’t succeed in creating a Palestinian state. After the negotiations at Camp David in 2000 failed to come to an agreement, tensions kept increasing, resulting in a second Intifada when Sharon visited the Temple Mount.

The Intifada was met with a lot of violence from both sides. The cause of its end is disputed, and Arafat’s death played a big role in the growing tensions among Palestinian factions. In 2006, Palestinian elections were held in which Hamas became the biggest party; but Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel, and Israel doesn’t want to negotiate with Hamas. The election would drive Fatah and Hamas even further from each other to the extent that Hamas would rule the Gaza Strip, and Fatah the West Bank.

It was 2012 before the UN would actually recognize Palestine as a nation State.

Now that was a lot of information, why am I telling you all of this?

Well, I’m hoping it will provide some prospective here.

They Jewish people never fully left the territory of the middle-east. How do we know this? Well Islam tells us so. The Quran is full of references to Jews and Christians by name, at a time where Islam didn’t exist outside the middle-east.

Sura 2.111 - And they say: None shall enter the garden (or paradise) except he who is a Jew or a Christian. These are their vain desires. Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful.

Sura 2.88 - And they say: Our hearts are covered. Nay, Allah has cursed them (the Jews) on account of their unbelief; so little it is that they believe.

Sura 2.135 - And they say: Be Jews or Christians, you will be on the right course. Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Ibrahim, the Hanif, and he was not one of the polytheists.

It’s clear that both Jews and Philistines survived in this area for much of the whole of documented human history.

Recently I came across an article on genetic archeology. They’ve found physical remnants of ancient Philistines in the time of King David and tested their genetic makeup. It was interesting to read, they found out they actually have European descent.

No one is actually from anywhere. We are all inhabitants of Yahweh’s creation. We are by nature or curse a people constantly on the move. The history of the middle-east is so replete with chaos and change that it’s impossible to say who SHOULD own what. The Israelis have a claim, the Romans have a claim, the Arabs have a claim.

The other side of the coin is what should we do with the Jewish people. The Zionist movement started as a response to international antisemitism. No nation wanted Jewish people including the US and Europe. It only worsened after WWII.

Upon finding these broken, starved, tortured people, no one in the world would take them in. We thought it easier to simply fund them internationally and recognize them to have their own state. Now, in hindsight, the politicians in the US say “We support Israel”, and in many ways we do. But we sure didn’t want them when all this started.

There are currently 46 countries in the world with a majority Islamic worshipping population. There’s 23 with an Islamic constitution claim to be ruled flat out by Islamic regulations. There is 1 Jewish nation and we’re trying to wipe it off the map as quickly as possible.

Palestine is truly suffering under some of the laws and regulations brought about by the Israeli government. It truly is a humanitarian crisis. We should pray for them and that some type of peaceful resolution manifest. I truly think this is going to take an intervention from Yahweh to straighten out. Both sides are absolutely convinced they’re on the right side of morality and law.

But we, as Christians, must absolutely and unequivocally condemn what just happened in Israel. The murder, rape and kidnapping of civilians is never an acceptable solution, even to a crisis. And to laugh gleefully while your murdering people and streaming it live for the world to see…..

I hate getting into the debate about whether Jews, Christians, and Islam worship the same God. I also dislike the WWJD movement. But in this case I want to look at a few verses.

Matthew 12:7 (NIV)

7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

There are hundreds of verses I could share here on this topic. These are just a few.

But I hope it’s clear, there is no Jesus in this catastrophe. Yahweh is not a national god, He’s the God of the universe. He desires the hearts and minds of all. Warfare of this nature appeals to our basest human nature. There is no Yahweh in this conflict.

If you feel compelled to take a position of in this conflict, remember your inherent sinfulness and what Jesus has forgiven of you. Remember that this conflict is full of people and pray earnestly for a quick resolution. That those alive can be returned. Pray for the faith of those involved. That they may know, if we do worship the same god, that He is not bound to a specific land, His desire is for people. His new temple is in our hearts, not on a patch of land.

Jesus is LORD, and these atrocities must stop.

Let’s pray.