I will be continuing my thoughts from last week about
brothers Ishmael and Isaac, the Arab and Jewish people both coming from their
father Abraham. The seeds for today’s enmity between Arab and Jew, specifically
Palestinian and Jew, were sowed millennia ago as written in their shared book
of beginnings “Genesis”. God chose Abraham and his descendants, Isaac, Jacob
and Jacob’s sons, to form a nation, Israel. Israel was to be God’s light on a
hill, a nation to demonstrate God’s character. Like most human stories, the
story of Israel is more about their failures to live up to God’s character. It’s
also a story of God’s character in the midst of that failure, His grace,
patience, and obvious love for human beings in general and Israel in
particular. The relationship makes us ask, like David, “what is man that You
are mindful of him?”
The Bible doesn’t give Israel carte blanche to live anyway
they like, and treat their enemies (or make enemies) inhumanely. In fact, the
Bible taught the new nation of Israel to honor the foreigners among them. Even
more important, God is very clear that He didn’t select Israel because they
were better than the surrounding nations. He chose them to be a beacon of
monotheistic life – a nation serving one God, drawing other nations and peoples
into that belief. The ultimate purpose of Israel was to be the family of the
promised Messiah. Many Jewish people today still believe this Messiah is still
to come. Christians believe He came already, in Jesus.
So Israel wasn’t chosen because they were special, they are
special because they were chosen – grace. Much like believers in Christ are not
accepted by God because they are special in any way, but belief in Jesus makes
them special – an honor available to anyone who believes. The Old Testament
shows how Israel was severely disciplined for their choosing not to believe
their God and to follow the polytheistic gods of the region. The people of
Israel had their own set of blessings and curses, and blessing came only if
they chose to follow their God and obey His laws.
Today being Jewish has different meanings. I taught with a
man who was Jewish, and went to Israel to study after High School. It was in
Israel that he learned for the first time that there was a Jewish religion. I
found that so hard to believe, since I thought all Jews were God-followers, or
at least believed in their God. My fellow teacher was a devout atheist, and so
were many of the Jewish people he met in Israel. I have a friend who converted
to Judaism several years ago, but his belief is much more Deistic; God created
everything and soon after left us all to our own consequences. The more
orthodox Jews still believe in the One God who chose them, gave His Law to them,
and they still await their promised Messiah. And, of course there is everything
in between.
Christianity is no different. There are people whose belief
is much more Deistic, not expecting or believing in any supernatural action
from God. There are those who profess to be Christian, but not in a personal
relationship with Jesus, more with a cultural or denominational connection, and
those who believe in and follow Jesus as Savior and Redeemer. And, again,
combinations of it all.
All this to say, I don’t believe God ever intended people to
blindly support and defend Israel. God has a standard, and Christians, of all people,
should know what His standard is. I don’t think the behavior of the current
government of Israel against the Palestinian people is God honoring at all.
There are biblical instances of the nation Israel taking matters into their own
hands and attacking another nation – and God did not support their actions. The
treatment of the Palestinians in today’s Israel certainly doesn’t fall within
God’s Law about how to treat the people living within our borders.
Obviously, war is a necessary evil. The ancient people of
Israel fought God-directed wars against other people groups. God always had a
very specific reason behind those conflicts, and yes, sometimes innocents were
killed in the crossfire. The Bible makes a clear distinction between the
Creator God leading people into a battle, and people deciding a battle
necessary on their own and possibly hoping to please God as a bonus. In every case,
the latter never pleased God. Revenge for personal revenge sake is never part
of the task of God followers. Killing children with bullets, bombs and starvation
for personal revenge doesn’t fit with the character of God we see in the whole
of the scriptures. It certainly doesn’t fit with Jesus’ call to “turn the other
cheek” and leave vengeance to God.
God also would not condone the extremist Palestinians for
their stated desire to eradicate all Jews. The Hamas’ acts of terrorism are
wrong from any perspective. But Israel’s unstoppable revenge on Gaza is also
not God honoring. Both sides should have our disproval for their actions.
Living among this tragedy are Palestinian and Israeli
families who just want to live their lives. They wish this horror to stop. They
don’t hate each other, but they certainly hate what has transpired out of their
leadership. Eye for an eye has long been the mantra of the Middle Eastern
people. It’s not exclusively an Israeli or Palestinian perspective. But history
has shown that revenge is never the answer. Violence only produces more
violence. Again, obviously sometimes war is necessary, but perhaps not as often
as humanity has chosen. If we really
cared about other people, we’d seek peace. Instead, we care about ourselves
first and allow our selfishness to dictate our behavior. Israel doesn’t want to
have two separate nations requiring them to share the land, neither does the Palestinian leadership.
Here in America we’ve seen a cultural shift in the last year
from more blanket support of Israel to a now populace voice for the
Palestinians. Those who support Israel say ‘look at what Hamas did in murdering
and kidnapping all those people’. Those who support Palestine say ‘look at what
Israel is doing in Gaza’. Yes, look – two wrongs don’t make a right. We should
support those of both sides trying to just find space to live, and we should
condemn both sides who keep the animosity alive.
I am alarmed by how black and white so many have made this
issue in America. There is a rise in antisemitism, much like there was a rise
in anti-Arab behavior after 9-11. Palestinians and Jews living in America are
not the ones shedding blood in Israel. Why do we treat them as if they are? There is nothing wrong with protesting and
showing support for a side. There is plenty wrong with burning down synagogues
and mosques, killing and beating American Jews or Palestinians. And we should
certainly not be aiming our vitriol at fellow Americans who speak for a
different side. That only increases the already hostile polarity we see in our
country. Supposedly we all have the right to speak out and support causes and
people close to our hearts. But those rights are being trampled upon here today.
Colleges are losing financial support because they allowed
pro-Palestinian groups to protest on school grounds. Colleges have always
allowed protests of all manner on their grounds. Of course, when these
protesters break the law, that should be taken into account as well. Defacing
buildings, blocking entry into buildings, stopping non-protesters from going
about their business – that’s not what a peaceful protest is made of. Certainly
causing groups of people to fear for their safety is wrong as well. Or used to
be, anyway. I have the right to speak my mind, but I don’t have a right to stop
you from speaking yours, or walking to class or going to work. I certainly
don’t have a right to stop you from entering your place of worship, or preying
on those who leave said places.
The animosity between Arab descendants and Jews goes back to
the beginning. Both sides claim they are on God’s side. In reading Genesis
again, I saw how God was the God of both Ishmael and Isaac. He made covenants and promises to both.
Today, both Islam and Judaism believe in the One God. They see Him differently,
but they both agree their family tree traces back to the same father, Abraham.
Judaism, Islam and Christianity all spring from the same belief in that same Creator
God we meet at the beginning of the beginning. Too bad that much like most
families, we are most dysfunctional.
Maybe the animosity in the Middle East is too deep to be
stopped. That shouldn’t stop us from encouraging it, praying for it. It shouldn’t
stop us from easing up on the animosities here in America. We could begin by
accepting that both sides have a point. Both sides have a right to exist. And,
especially here in America, neither side should be seeking to harm the other in
any way. No one here in America made the choices for Hamas or are making the
choices for Israel (with the possible exception of our government). Neither
support for Israel or Palestine should be a crime, or viewed as such. And since
both sides fighting over there have shown little consideration for each other,
neither government nor leadership probably deserve our support or money, to be
perfectly honest.
The regular people living (or trying to live) in Gaza and
Israel do deserve our support, those in Israel trying to turn their nation back
from war, and those in Gaza just seeking to find food and shelter. That’s where
I want to focus.
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