Monday, February 16, 2015

Should Israel Compromise With The Palestinian Authority?

For quite a while now Israel has been under pressure from various world powers, the UN and particularly the United States, to give back some of their territory (that which was conquered in the six day war) to the Palestinians. The Obama administration wants Israel to return to their pre-1967 borders and return the Golan Heights and Gaza to full control of the Palestinian Authority, reversing the results of the Six Day War in which Israel fairly  and decisively conquered those areas.

Some say that Israel has no right to they land they are on now, which was given back to them by Great Britain following World War 2. But what those people miss is the fact that God Himself gave Israel to Abram and his descendants in a permanent covenant. This covenant is clearly described in the Bible beginning with Genesis 13:12.

12Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

14The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. 16"I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. 17"Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you."

In Exodus the Lord cast out the people of Israel and scattered them to the nations of the world because of their wicked ways. But in Chapter 36 the Bible says God brought them back into their land and vindicated His holy name.

"23And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

"27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God."

In the early 7th century Muslims began invading and conquering Israel, once again scattering many Jews to other lands. The Crusades, in contrast to the intentionally misleading information President Obama put out last week, were initiated to take the Holy Land back from Islam so Jews and Christians could once again dwell in their promised land.

"You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers..." That's pretty clear. In Genesis God said "I will give it to you (the land of Canaan and all around) and to your descendants forever." There's nothing anywhere in the Bible that says "You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers until the Palestinians make a claim on a part of it - then you must give it up to them." Nor does it say "You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers until future world leaders tell you that My covenant with you is no longer valid."

God's covenant with the Israeli people is forever. The land of Canaan as defined in Exodus includes nearly all of modern day Israel including Gaza and the West Bank. Clearly Jerusalem and the Temple Mount belong to Israel, regardless of what the Palestinians claim. 



President Obama professes to be a Christian. Perhaps, before he tells Israel what they need to do, he might want to consult the Bible and read God's covenant to Israel concerning their homeland, then proceed accordingly. God's covenants always trump the wishes of politicians and human world leaders - particularly despotic leaders who misuse the Bible and twist Christianity for evil purposes.


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