Chapter 6
Should Israel Grant Land to the Palestinians?
Some significant facts to consider:
1. Israel is only about 20 to 50 miles wide and 150 miles long – approximately 6,000 square miles. That is only slightly larger than the state of Connecticut.
2. Their Arab neighbors control more than 600 times more land than Israel and could easily grant some to their Palestinian brothers for a home if they were so inclined.
3. The Palestinians currently occupy the land EAST of the Jordan River. That area was part of ancient Israel.
When the Hebrews were preparing to enter and claim the Promised Land the Reubenites, Gadites and half of the tribe of Manesseh asked to receive the land EAST of Jordan as their inheritance. Moses agreed so long as they promised to help their brothers claim their land:
We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan." Num. 32:19 NIV
Later the Lord gave the following instructions for the division of the land west of the Jordan:
"As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you,
and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh."
The other half of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites had received the inheritance that Moses had given them east of the Jordan, as he, the servant of the LORD, had assigned it to them. Josh 13:6-8 NIV.
So, we see that the Palestinians actually do have a part of ancient Israel as their current home. What they want is all Jews out of Israel!
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The Palestinians were offered additional land, in present day Israel, on two occasions. The first time was in the 1937 Peal Commission Partition Plan, the second in 1947, in U.N. Resolution 181 the “partition plan.” Both plans proposed a division of the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with each being self-governing and with the Arabs getting the choicest parts. The Jews, living in Palestine, accepted the plans but the Arabs rejected both. On May 14, 1948 the “Palestinian Jews”, fed up with the unfulfilled promises of the British and the U.N., declared statehood. The very next day Israel was attacked by Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya.
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As mentioned above, five nations, with larger, better equipped armies, invaded Israel the very next day after their statehood was declared. In fact, Israel has faced seven full scale wars as their neighbors; equipped, armed and trained by Russia, have attempted to end their existence. That is not even counting the sixty plus years of attacks by terrorists. Instead of being annihilated they have seized the arms of their attackers and gained substantial territory. How can such a tiny nation accomplish this?
I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God. Amos 9:15; NIV.
"I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. Zech. 12:2; NIV.
"On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. Zech. 12:6; NIV.
Mt. Seir – Edomites – Palestinians?
We discussed the covenant relationship of God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in an earlier chapter. We saw how God made it clear to Rebecca that “the older” Esau would “serve the younger” Jacob. It was Jacob “Israel” who received the birth-right and the blessing.
And we see in Gen. 36:6-8;
“Esau took his wives, sons and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. So Esau (that is Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.
The hill country of Seir is the area around Petra which is S/E of Jerusalem, east of the Dead Sea.
Esau’s grandson was Amalek, father of the Amalekites. In 1 Samuel 15 the Lord commanded King Saul to destroy the Amalekites and everything that belonged to them saying; “put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Saul did not obey the command and instead spared king Agag and the best of the cattle and sheep. So, the prophet Samuel slew Agag, king of the Amalekites, and told Saul that because of his disobedience the Lord would end his dynasty and David would be king of Israel instead of Saul’s son Jonathan.
Haman, the villain of the book of Esther, who attempted to hang Mordecai from the gallows and have all Jews in the land slaughtered was an AGAGITE. That is, he was probably decended from Agag in Persia, probably from the tribes of the Amalekites. That would explain his intense hatred of the Jews.
The Edomites, descendants of Esau, lived in the area they called Edom, around Mt. Seir until 600 BC, when the Babylonians moved them to Idumaea Israel S/W of Jerusalem. When the Israelites returned from captivity in Babylon the Edomites were still in Israel.
When the Romans occupied Israel, they referred to the Edomites as Idumaeans. The Herods were Edomites. After the Roman invasion of 70 AD when the Jews were dispersed the Edomites remained. It is believed that they are the present-day Palestinians.
Obadiah 1:1-8;
1:1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom — We have heard a message from the LORD: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, "Rise, and let us go against her for battle"—
2 "See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'
4 Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.
5 "If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night — Oh, what a disaster awaits you — would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?
6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
7 All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.
8 "In that day," declares the LORD, "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau? NIV (Emphasis mine).
Regarding Edom:
1 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
2 The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.
3 Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
4 All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. Isaiah 34:1- 4; NIV.
8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause.
9 Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again. Isa 34:8-10; NIV. (Emphasis mine).
11 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name," declares the LORD, who will do these things. Amos 9:11-12; NIV (Emphasis mine).
1 A song. A psalm of Asaph.
O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still.
2 See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.
4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
5 With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you —
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has joined them to lend strength to the descendants of Lot. Selah. Psalms 83:1-8; NIV (Emphasis mine).
Let’s take another look at scripture. In Gen 25:17-18 we find more regarding the descendants of Ishmael:
17 Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people.
18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers. (Emphasis mine).
Notice this is exactly what the Lord told Hagar in Gen 16:12.
These hostile attitudes were not helped when Mohammad, a grandson of Ham, introduced Islam into the mix around 613 AD. What had been deep seated personal and cultural differences now began to add directly opposing religious philosophies into the mix along with the element of jihad (religious warfare).
Copyright © 2012 Vernon E. Gillispie
All Rights Reserved
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