 |
| Photo courtesy of CNN.com |
As I begin writing this post, the US embassy is about to open in Jerusalem, having been located in Tel Aviv since 1966. Today is also historic in that this move takes place on the 70th anniversary of the signing of Israel's Declaration of Independence.
In 1995 the United States Congress passed, on a bipartisan vote, a declaration to move our embassy to Jerusalem; yet, none of our presidents since then have had the desire to take that on, believing a rather "agnostic" stance would further the peace process. It has not proven to be a helpful or productive strategy. In late 2017, therefore, our current president made the decision to make the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. While the Israeli government has given this change a warm welcome, the Palestinian people in Gaza, which borders Israel, are extremely upset at this action. There has been a lot of unrest at the border between Gaza and Israeli military forces in the past few days, spurred on by this move. Many Gazans are attacking the border fence, although they were extensively warned doing so would be deadly. It is a scene which provokes in my heart great sadness. As much as I love Israel and Jerusalem, it pains me to see such unrest at the country's Gazan border and, also recently, at the Golan Heights borders.
Tel Aviv is a beautiful city, particularly the Old Jaffa area, on the Mediterranean. Tel Aviv has, for years, housed many international embassies because it was viewed as "neutral ground" between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Israelies. Since the nation of Israel reclaimed all of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967, the Israeli government has named Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The ruling body, the Knesset, meets in Jerusalem (I have seen it). Israeli government buildings are located in Jerusalem. Really, it only makes sense for international embassies to be located in the capital city of each foreign country.
However, those who argue for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the borders of Israel are inflamed by the move. The reality is that Israel, since 1948, has not attacked its surrounding neighbors unless Israel was first attacked. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel defeated (supernaturally) its attackers. The international rules of "spoils of war" decree that when a nation wins a war, it lays claim to the territory formerly controlled by the aggressors in order to stave off future attacks. That is common sense and exactly what happened just after the 1967 Six Day War. (When I was visiting Israel, I lodged in an area which was held by Jordan until the Six-Day War.) For some reason, (anti-Semitism?) the international community has refused to recognize Israel's hard-won victories over their political enemies and has, instead, sided with the conquered Palestinian factions. This international refusal has actually contributed to the political unrest in and surrounding the sovereign nation of Israel.
What IS Gaza? Gaza is a narrow strip of land, bordered by the Mediterranean on one side, by Egypt on the south, and surrounded by Israel otherwise. As the easternmost section of the West Bank of Israel, Gaza is not a large area. Technically a part of the nation of Israel (as is the West Bank), Gaza's currency is the shekel (Israeli currency). The Israeli government still controls who enters and leaves, collects taxes, controls the fishing industry, etc. Gaza used to be under Israeli occupation, (in other words, Jews lived there); but, under the leadership of Ariel Sharon in 2005, Israel gave it up to greater Palestinian control and settlement, in an attempt to establish more peace in the region. Many Jewish citizens were forced to be displaced, re-located to other sections of the country of Israel. Despite giving up a sizable piece of land, Sharon's capitulation has done virtually nothing to produce peace. Gaza is now controlled by Hamas and almost exclusively populated by Palestinians. IF a Palestinian state were to be established in the future, Gaza would most certainly be part of it.
The Israelis have long argued that the establishment of a Palestinian state would merely fuel more hatred and attacks on Israel, a belief proven to have a good deal of merit since there have been many rockets launched into Israel from Gaza, over recent years. Although many Palestinians live peacefully in Israel, the very violent minority refuse to recognize Israel's right to be a sovereign nation. It is difficult to have a peace agreement with parties who refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist, at all.
When the United States became a nation, enterprising Jewish people from across the Atlantic began coming to this country to make a better life and avoid religious persecution. (This included some of my ancestors, on my mother's side.) Today, the nation of Israel and the United States are home to over 85% of the world's approximately 14.5 million Jews. With its deep Christian roots, the United States has, since Israel's rebirth in 1948, been a strong ally of the re-born nation.
What does all this political verbiage have to do with the Bible or the Christian faith?
According to Genesis 15:18 and reinforced in Joshua 1:4, God gave to Israel/the Jews/His chosen people all the land within the following boundaries:
measuring north to south, everything from Lebanon to the Nile River in Egypt;
measuring east to west, everything from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River.
This includes all of Jordan, all of Gaza, all of the West Bank, some of Egypt, some of Saudi Arabia and even a bit of Iraq. Therefore, it is clear the modern-day nation of Israel does not claim within its borders all of the land bequeathed to the Jews by God, way back in Genesis.
Despite the opposition to the US embassy move (and more broadly speaking, Israel's right to exist at all), Jerusalem was established by King David as the capital of the ancient nation of Israel about 3000 years ago. He had to conquer the Jebusites who were living there to make that happen. Jerusalem remained the capital of Jerusalem for about 400 years, until the Israelites were judged by God via the Babylonians, who under King Nebuchadnezzar, conquered the Israelites, destroyed Jerusalem (and King Solomon's Temple), carting all the able-bodied Jews off to Babylonian captivity for 70 years.
After the Babylonian captivity, most Israelites returned to Jerusalem, rebuilding the city and the Temple. For the next several (400 or so) years, Jerusalem remained capital of Israel. It was so when Jesus was born, lived, died, was resurrected and ascended. In 70 A.D., the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, scattering the Jewish nation/peoples, in what was called The Diaspora (The Dispersion). God used this event to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to that entire region of the world. The Romans then renamed the city Palestine, a derivative of the word, Philistine. (Interesting, no?) . There followed a period of nearly 1900 years before Israel was once again re-born as a Jewish state.
The Bible has long promised that, in "the last days", the nation of Israel would be reborn. We find this in the "dry bones" prophecy of Ezekiel 37. That prophecy began to be fulfilled in 1948, with the country being expanded in 1967. Some Bible scholars, though, do not mark the Ezekiel 37 and 39 prophecies to be totally fulfilled until Israel recognizes the Lord God as their God once again. Much of modern-day Israel IS Jewish, although many are agnostic Jews. In addition, a minority is Christian (including dear friends of mine) and a minority is Muslim, including some very good people and also some very "bad actors".
Despite all these complications, today marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the fulfillment of those Ezekiel prophecies. It is a momentous, historical day, and Resplendent Daughter Ministries celebrates with the nation of Israel. To God be the glory!
Sources:
http://www.theweek.co.uk/90229/what-is-the-capital-of-israel
https://www.quora.com/Does-Gaza-belong-to-Israel-or-Palestine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consulate_of_the_United_States,_Tel_Aviv
http://www.israel.org/MFA/MFA-Archive/1993/Pages/JERUSALEM%203000-%20When%20did%20King%20David%20conquer%20Jerusa.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population_by_country
https://www.prophecyproof.org/is-the-valley-of-dry-bones-prophecy-fulfilled-yet/
https://www.gotquestions.org/Israeli-settlements.html
No comments:
Post a Comment