God’s answer to Middle East woes.

Some very dangerous statements have been coming from the Arab league on the Middle East crisis. Some proclaiming a match on Jerusalem, the capital city.

 The Bible gives a clear account of the origin of the Arab’s and the Israelites. They all have s common ancestor called Abraham. He came from the town of Ur in the Persian Gulf. God called him and led him to Canaan (the present day Israel). He promised him a great nation. Genesis 17:6.

Since Sarah his wife was barren and aged she convinced Abraham to get a child with her Egyptian house maid called Hager. This led to the birth of Ishmael, the father of present day Arabs. God, however, told Abraham the person to inherit His promise to him was a son born by Sarah. A son, Isaac was born. To Ishmael, God had specific blessings --- a great nation (Genesis 21:18) and countless descendants. And to Isaac there was a promise of two sons, Esau and Jacob (Israel). Gods plan was to make Jacob the inheritor of His promise to Abraham.

God also confirmed the blessing of land to Israel when He spoke to Moses at Horeb. (Exodus 3:8). After capturing a big portion of Canaan, Joshua the successor of Moses, was old and advanced in age. The Lord reminded him that there was land that was still to be captured. This included the area of Philistine, Geshrite, from Shihor River on the ease of Egypt to Ekron, including Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, from Aran of the Sidomans as far as Aphek of Amorites, the land of the Gebalite. The Lord told him; “be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance as I have instructed you” (Joshua 13: 1-7).

This knowledge should help us to identify the rights of the nation of Israel and the Arabs. The Arabs are more numerous and cover a wide expanse of land stretching from the Persian Gulf to North Africa. This proves God’s promise to Ishmael.  On the other hand Israel’s inheritance was and still is the small piece of land in Canaan whose borders were clearly defined. This means that Gaza, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem and all the other pieces that the Palestinians are claiming belong to Israel. Every time the Arabs are fighting Israel for this land, they are therefore fighting God’s Word. That is why they can’t win.

The Arabs should accommodate the Palestinians in their big lands where they are importing labour from Asia and Africa.  Concerning the mosque in east Jerusalem  (the dome of Rock) , the question is, when Caliph Abdel-El-Malik built it in 691 AD, was he not provoking the Jews by locating it where the temple of Solomon was?