The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his126/israel.arj/ISRAEL.TXT

Text File | 1988-06-20 | 49KB | 712 lines

    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 won-
dering 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, driv-
ing 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 sove-
reignty. 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 con-
structed 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 ter-
rible 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 differ-
ences.  Harmony is bass, woodwinds, strings, percussion and voice making a sym-
phony.  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 expres-
sion to us in our own language.  By our unconditional surrender to him and fol-
lowing 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 max-
imum 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 clar-
ity 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 spe-
cific 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 the-
first 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 Jerus-
alem. 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 impor-
tant 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 discov-
ered 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 fulfill-
ment.  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 minor-
ity 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 sacri-
ficed, 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 con-
tains 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 descrip-
tion 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 he 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 read-
ing 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 among-
them.'" 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 repen-
tance 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 your-
selves 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 chil-
dren.  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 sove-
reign 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 destruc-
tion 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 Abra-
ham, 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 occupa-
tion 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 prom-
ises 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 ven-
geance 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 terror-
ist 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 sol-
dier, 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