Here is the proof of the crucial part the Bible plays in reinforcing Israel's intention never to share the Land with any other tribe, faith or faction. No Palestine, ever. And, ideally, no Iran to threaten God's nation of Israel by its very existence - 1,074 miles away in a straight line.
I have read ALL of Bibi Netanyahu's 654 page magnificent tome and enjoyed it: 'Bibi: My Story' (pub 2022). He believes that his ancestor Abram/Abraham, was given the land after he moved (1900 BCE) from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, or the Levant, at the Mediterranean end of the Fertile Crescent. Bibi is convinced Abram got there first to claim the land in Canaan - "north, south, east and west, as far as you can see" - to be his and his descendants who will become a great nation, Israel and, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12) What a way for the Jews/Israelis to be a blessing to their neighbours - by slaughtering them!
Our great ally and friend Bibi, conveniently overlooks that the Bible says that there were other tribes in Canaan when he finally arrived. The Jews' ancestors did NOT move into an empty land. The Canaanites were one tribe already there - Genesis 12 v 6. In the next verse, the Lord told Abram, "To your descendants I will give this land." And it is always by coercion, force and violence, apart from the first, with Abram's family arrival about 1900 BCE - like today perhaps, as unwelcome immigrants.
For Bibi the Bible is historically correct, with no anachronisms or even areas of uncertainty, with the Jewish tribe as only the legitimate claimant to the Levant/Canaan. Bibi has the support of the evangelicals who are equally convinced. It is crucial in the current thinking and behaviour of Israel's leaders. They are on a mission. They got there first, gained it by aggression for a second time in winning wars over the indigenous tribes, like the Canaanites, Moabites and Ammonites under Joshua, and were duly rewarded by their God in keeping it. Until the Exile.
The Bible is written by about forty Jews and Christians, of how Abraham's son Isaac and his descendants, from Jacob/Israel, have considered themselves as being blessed by the One and Only God who has chosen them to be His Chosen and honoured People and the only Rightful heirs to, and owners of, the Greater Promised Land.
The other son of Abraham is Ishmael who was actually the first born. He was born out of wedlock to slave woman, Hagar and was cast out of the family along with his mother and, against the custom of the day. Ishmael was also to become the father of a great nation - the Arabs. No wonder divided humankind is unable to live in peace and harmony despite the promise to Israel to become a great nation and mediating blessings to other peoples. Instead, constant resort to mutual recriminations and violence.
The Bible is crystal clear that it is the Jews/Israelis who alone must have the Promised Land of Canaan. Not the Arabs or Palestinians. Hence, our friend Bibi is so intransigent that his lot are the only Rightful Owners of the unHoly Land. He will forever fight and war over it - into eternity. For the present, he lives in paranoiac fear that his country will be attacked and overrun by Iran with its ballistic missiles and, one day, nukes. "It only takes one nuclear bomb to land on Israel for it to be all over", claim the Israelis to justify their forever war on Iran and its proxies. No attempt at conciliation, friendship and the Good Samaritan approach!
It is so tragic. But it goes to the heart of the human condition - we can never share, equitably, the earth and its resources. Forever wars. Forever divided in hatred and fear. There is unlikely to be a happy ending when the evangelicals are longing for Armageddon and the return of Christ to well and truly End everything. They and Bibi are going the right way about it.
(Sources: Bible; 'How Did We Get Here' on BBC Sounds; and 'The Lion Handbook to the Bible')
No comments:
Post a Comment