Sunday 27 July 2014

The persecuted Jews, the problem and biblical prophecy

"The Jews have been a persecuted nation throughout history ..."​  (David Gray)

Therefore,​that should make them even more zealous ​to ​​act in friendship and generosity​​ ​and compassion with and for ​​their Arab neighbours​.  Peter Ustinov once said, very many years ago, "The Jews were the first victims of the Nazis and the Palestinians are the second."  The more enlightened passages of Scripture show how we all are meant to act in generosity towards the stranger in our midst.  This should especially be the case when both Jews and Christians in the rich and powerful West (that includes Israel), have been in the ascendancy militarily and economically since 1945.  USA/UK/Israel have had so much - land and resources and 'stuff'.  Yet, Scripture and humanity indicate that we have to share our good things and our land.  Israel gave away land (Gaza) in 2005 and gave away part of the Promised Land, in the process.  Unfortunately, this was without a long term agreement with the Palestinians.  It was not part of a settlement with the Palestinians.  Utter idiocy!  But then, the State of Israel is so very principled it cannot bring itself to talk to terrorists to get a peace agreement - unlike Thatcher, Major and Blair over N Ireland.

Scripture says, "Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith."  Israelis might search their consciences to try and uncover why they are so hated by their neighbours, especially by the Palestinians.

I might be wrong, but I had always thought that the Christians had done more persecution of the Jews than Muslims.  Certainly, that was the case in the 20th century, of course.  I also wonder if the Jews had ever been a nation before 1948 - I don't know.  Had there ever been a nation of Israel before then?  Yahweh did give them His Promised Land in the 1st century BC from the Canaanites and other conquered tribes.  It also seems that the people of Israel were not into empire building, unlike the Christians who got so much of the world with their colonies.  This was contrary to what Jesus rejected in the Temptations.

"The problem between Jews and Arabs goes back way before the post-war settlement in 1947 - and arguably back to Biblical times."  (David Gray)

From what I have picked up, since the time of Abraham, Christians, Jews and Arabs have lived in harmony for many more years than they have been at each others throats.  They also have much more in common than the secular, the irreligious or, even the adherents of the other faiths.  The supposedly Christian nations seem to have the worst track record towards both Jews and Muslims.  Certainly, this was the case in the last century and, so far, we have not done much better in this century as regards the Muslims.  'The problem', therefore is us in the rich and powerful West that also includes Israel.  For me, the problem is our militarism (Zechariah 4 v 12), our own self-interests around the globe and, our grabbing of land and resources for our own economic growth and rising standards of living.

It may have been only after the 1 World War that problems arose between Jews and Arabs when Jews fled Christian, then Nazi persecution from Europe to find refuge in Palestine.  They then started rubbing shoulders with the nomads of that region who were Arabs.  Land was then bought and sold.

Israel has the additional problem, before the whole world that does nothing because it is so militarily powerful, of rather obviously grabbing ever more land in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem for its burgeoning population.  In other words, profiting from its aggression in the Six Day War in 1967 when it gained Sinai, the West Bank of the Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.  

" ... the state of Israel declared in 1948 as a fulfilment of Biblical prophecy" (David Gray)

My problem with Biblical prophecy is this.  It may have been fulfilled in the past, then undone, fulfilled again and so on.  In other words, multiple fulfilments of the same prophecy over the centuries.  For example, the Lord punished Israel by sending her into exile when she disobeyed His commands.  In other words, she first gained the Promised Land through genocide; it was confiscated from her as a punishment; she got it back in 1948 through terrorism.  What she has now, is nothing near all of it (see Joshua 1 v 4) and she gave Gaza away, too in 2005, without any agreement from even Fatah or the Palestine Authority, I believe.

Secondly, the Lord has biblical prophecy reserved for only one nation - his only Chosen Nation - out of 193.  That one nation, Israel, the Lord has promised will be a blessing to every other nation, including the Muslims.  Actually, the family of the Children of Abraham of Jews, Christians, Muslims are all promised by Yahweh to bless all the other families of humanity in Genesis 12 v 2-3.  "I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing  ...  By you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."  When were all families blessed or, is that still to be fulfilled?

The Chosen Nation is secular/irreligious, unbelieving, nuclear armed to the teeth, one of the most military powerful (and uses its military might), Westernised/Americanised Israel, too!

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