Those who hate peace

If we look at current events, these words seem to come from Israel’s collective soul throughout history! The roots of the Jewish people in the land of Israel spans thirty-five centuries, and their presence there has been unbroken during all this time. Even after Rome destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, renaming the region Palestine and exiling a portion of the population, some Jews remained. In the roughly two thousand years after this, many different empires came to colonize and rule Palestine, disappearing again, while Jews remained there during all these changes. This fact notwithstanding, when the modern great return of Jews to the land began, the Arabs living there had developed a Palestinian nationalism and a desire for independence, and they rejected the right of the Jews to self-government.

The mediation process to establish a two-state mandate in Israel started in 1936 and has been ongoing ever since. In that year, the British Peel Commission offered the Arabs 80% of the disputed land. Israel voted to accept their portion of 20%, the Arabs rejected this offer and continued their violent rebellion against British rule. This has unfortunately been the pattern for no less than four subsequent offers from mediators up to now, where the Jews voted four times to accept a mandate of having two independent states in Israel, which the Arabs rejected outright four times and then followed this up by waging war or initiating terrorist actions against Israel.

In Gen 16:10-12 we read that the Angel of the Lord gave a glimpse into the future of Ishmael, son of Abraham by Hagar, and ancestor to the Arabs of centre, western and North Arabia. It says: …  “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. He will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” The Angel foresaw the scenarios playing out between the Arabs and the Jews in Israel, thousands of years ago.

Is there a solution to this problem? Yes there is, and the solution does not lie in dividing up the land of Israel. God warns very clearly in Joel 3:2 “I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people among the nations, and for dividing up my land.”

The answer is a Man, Jesus! He is the Messiah the Jews are longing for, the Redeemer of all other nations on earth, including the Arabs. In Him, Jew and Arab will unite as one new man, operating out of His love, joining hands, and making Israel prosper among the nations!

Points to ponder:  Pray for all inhabitants of Israel to accept Jesus, as the peace of Jerusalem will only come when Jew and Arab together call out: “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!”