Palestinians After More than Philistine Lands

 

The Palestinian leadership and spokespersons have made the false claim repeatedly that they are the descendants of the long dead Philistines and claim they are simple demanding their ancient homelands. There are any number of problems with this narrative starting with, but not ending with, the fact the Philistines were of Greek descent, not Arab. Then there is the little inconvenient fact that the Arab expansion from their ancestral homelands of the Arabian Peninsula waited until well after the Roman Empire had fallen, somewhere around 625 of the Common Era. All these and other little equally inconsequential truths aside there remains the one as to what exactly were the Philistine lands. Truth be known, the Philistines being a people of the sea held solely coastal cities with their five capital cities being Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Gath. This would relate to Ashdod as the northern most city and continuing down the coast including Gaza on to approximately the Egyptian border possibly extending into parts of norther Sinai Peninsula. This would be about half again more land than Gaza which is currently held by Hamas and is sometimes referred to in editorials as Hamastan. Claiming to be the Philistines would rule out the entirety of their claims to lands of the West Bank, but why let realities get in the way.

 

Tribes of Israel and Land of the Philistines

 

What brought this on was reading some of the overly forgiving eulogies rightfully praising Simon Peres at his state funeral last week. The picture painted of Peres was one of a man whose life was spent in the unswerving desire for peace and of a gentle soul who was next to faultless and was the measure of understanding. I would have liked to have known of the man described, but that is often how eulogies are, aggrandizing those traits the world found laudable while ignoring those which did not meet the world’s universal measure of greatness. Thus almost none mentioned that Simon Peres was the driving force which drove the building of the experimental reactor at Dimona which could be used for the production of nuclear weapons grade materials, and his deals to acquire French Mirage jets which served as the backbone of the early Israeli Air Force as well. They omitted his support for settlements in what many once believed were lands which at best could have been thought to be negotiable Israeli lands and other Zionist endeavors which assisted in building a strong and viable State of Israel in the 1950s and early 1960s before Peres remade himself into a leftist icon and the man who pursued peace regardless of the consequences and never once saw any of the difficulties resulting from his actions. Simon Peres was a force of wild abandon that wreaked havoc as it broke down every argument and logical caution all in the name of Oslo.

 

Once he had drafted and brought the Oslo Accords, forcing them upon his own nation and government using every coercion and international pressure in order to force Israel to kneel before the altar of Oslo, as if it were the Golden Calf in the plains before Mount Sinai during the Exodus, and the results were similar in both cases. Simon Peres sold the chimera of land for peace and made such into an idolatrous religion with the Oslo Accords as the idol of worship and constructed a virtual Shrine of Oslo where land for peace was to be worshiped and the term Oslo was a sainted and holy word. This idolatrous cult diverted many an Israeli just as idolatrous cults of the Philistines, Egyptian, Hittites, Edomites, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans stole Israelite souls throughout Israeli history. In many of the times past the Israelite people and later the Jews were punished for their taking of false gods and worship of idols in place of Hashem. Some have postulated that the terrorism could have been interpreted as divine retribution for the worship of the doctrines of Oslo over the Commandments in Torah. There are many wisdoms and truths about the Land of Israel in Torah which we are not to question but to protect and serve to make them holy and dedicated to the worship of Hashem as commanded in Torah. Perhaps it would be of interest for this lay person to tell of the few with which even I am familiar.

 

First and foremost, the land of Israel belongs to Hashem and Hashem has assigned the Israelites, many call us Jews but that term defines Jews everywhere while Israelites are the Jewish People who have remained through time or returned to these ancient and holy lands thus making us separate in one aspect from other Jews, to tend and care for the lands of Hashem and the lands will care for us for as long as we keep Hashem’s Commandments. Hashem gave us these lands to sustain us as a reward for living by the Commandments of Torah and the lands will be bountiful in measure with our obedience and pure worship of Hashem as Commanded in Torah. There are more than Ten Commandments, there are six-hundred-thirteen Commandments, Mitzvot, in Torah and the Rabbis have added quite a number of regulations, one might call them, over the years as listed in Talmud and other doctrinaires. We are to follow these directives from Torah as if our lives depended upon them because they actually do depend upon them if the land is to support us and keep us. Those who do not follow Hashem and do these Commandments will be “vomited from these lands” as the lands will reject the sinners. After the last exile which lasted almost two-thousand years we hope we have learned this one truism at long last.

 

There are instructions as to how we are to face those living in the lands which Hashem was to give us and this should probably apply to the modern times as well. We are to give these people three alternatives, each less hospitable than the previous one. The most hospitable is they are welcome to remain in the lands and we will not settle where their cities exist as long as they leave us in peace to follow Hashem and they agree to obey the Noahic Code of seven commandments upon which all civilized nations are to be based according to Torah. These are not dissimilar to the Ten Commandments but are slightly less demanding (see image below). Those agreeing to this may live within the lands and will be afforded equal protection from outside attacks and be treated as equals with equal rights and be free to live providing they reside peaceable and obey the Noahic Code, the Devine Code of seven universal commandments.

 

Noahic Codes

 

The second choice is they may choose to leave the lands entirely. If they choose this they will be afforded ample time to gather their belongings, herds, moveable property, vehicles, wagons and household goods and leave to choose a new homeland and we promise not to harm them, chase after them or bring upon them undue hardship once they have left for their future new homelands. Granted, this was much more easily achieved when the Israelites came to the Promised Lands after the exodus from the exile in Egypt (Mizraim). Of the Canaanite Tribes there were a few who chose to remain and did so in peace, some chose to leave and went forth from the land unhindered, but most chose the last alternative to their dismay and eventual demise. The third choice is to bring war against the Israelites and to try and vanquish us. Those choosing to take this stance and bring war face the ultimate response, annihilation. In case of war we are instructed by Torah to bring complete and total war against those who choose to treat us with violence and we are instructed to kill them to the last individual and to destroy their cattle, goods, and all that is theirs so as to wipe their name from history from that point forward. Total war is what we are described to bring against those who bring violence against us in Hashem’s lands.

 

This is not how we have treated the violences brought against us and instead have sought to make a peace with those who have chosen war. Peace cannot be made with people whose stated desire is your eradication. Reading even the school books that the Western nations of Europe as well as the European Union, United States, Canada, Australia and the United Nations have paid for in full and some have sent representatives to review the content of the texts and approved them and they state that the Jew in Israel is a mortal enemy to the Palestinian who must murder them wherever they find them. This is taught over and over again in every class imaginable and such is reinforced through plays and exercises where they reenact the murder of IDF troops and Israeli Jews. They have children’s shows on television where they sing songs about the heroic martyrs who murdered Jews and how they too will murder Jews when they are older. The governments of the world know of these textbooks which they pay to have printed. They know of these children’s television shows and the summer camps which are paramilitary training camps which teach the genocidal murder of all Jews worldwide. The world governments and most of the academics know of the naming of parks, schools, summer camps, soccer teams, sports tournaments, streets, squares, mosques and buildings of all types after murderers of Jews, or terrorists, of what they call blessed martyrs which is their term for suicide bombers who successfully murdered Israeli civilians including often numerous Arab Israeli citizens. The world knows of these things and gives it tacit approval all the while condemning Israel for any defense put forth to protect Israeli civilians. The western nations, especially the United States, demand that Israel remove blockaded streets, remove checkpoints and allow Palestinians free access into Israel basically instructing Israel to not enforce the borders with Palestinian Authority semi-autonomous regions knowing full well that doing so will provide clear access for terrorists into Israeli cities where they can and will murder Israeli civilians and then when these attackers are prevented from murdering Israeli civilians by police and they are shot the world protests the extrajudicial killing as if there had been no threat to life despite the terrorists already having stabbed or shot any number of individuals often resulting in deaths or permanent debilitating injuries which scar, disfigure and disable the victims for life.

 

There is a term in history, more of an explanation really; it is the theory that Jewish blood is cheap, often costless and inconsequential. This was true in much of history both in Europe and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) area under Islamic rule and Greek and Roman before that. One example were the Crusades where when they had numerous troops who were not battle-hardened and had never tasted blood (killed a man) they would assault Jewish towns and ghettos somewhat for sport and for the experience of killing so that when they reached the holy lands they actually had mastered their weapons and no longer gave killing a second thought which made them better soldiers. This training also made the slaughter of entire towns and cities in the holy lands easier on the soldiers’ consciences as they “purified” (rid) them of their non-Christian peoples. Do not believe this was only a Crusader practice as there was also purification in the Islamic world where they too were readying armies for the conquest and spread of Islam and often also for retaking the Holy Lands. As Jerusalem was of obvious value above and beyond that of any normal city as well as was Bethlehem and Nazareth, the Muslims were particularly driven to hold these cities simply to deny the Christians their prized possessions which they found made them lesser fighters, or at least that was the theory.

 

Once these cities, Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem had finally been conquered, the next city of premium value and declared the third most important city for Islam became Constantinople. It replaced Jerusalem which had previously held that title until it was finally secured and defended and proven beyond the ability of the Christians to challenge. They treasured Constantinople so much they even gave it an Islamic name, Istanbul. Once they had finally broken through the walls of Constantinople and taken the city and renamed it Istanbul, they went the additional step of taking the Hagia Sophia, the largest and most decorative cathedral of the world at that time, and transformed it with the addition of four minarets and named as the Aya Sofya First Imperial Mosque of Istanbul (modern picture below where it now serves as a museum covering its entire history). The Hagia Sophia has had a spotted history of grandeur and falling into gross disrepair as well as suffering a number of earthquakes and one pillaging. Today it has had most of its frescos restored and the plaster removed to reveal others once again displaying its grandeur as a museum open to the public. One can only hope this grand structure and example of glorious architecture remains in all of its historic beauty for posterity but that will remain to be seen.

 

Aya Sofya First Imperial Mosque of Istanbul
Hagia Sophia Museum

 

Once the Muslims had taken Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul it eventually fell to the Ottoman Turks, themselves Muslims, and to the allies after World War I after which it was returned to Turkish rule as Turkey remained as a nation in the aftermath of the Great War. They needed a new third holiest city for the conquests to continue. This did cause some differences of opinion as there were three separate cities which served at times holding the honor of greatest target of Islamic armies. The Islamic armies of the west which had invaded Europe by crossing the Gibraltar Straights and entering Spain, or Andalusia as the Muslim named the area, first gave the honor to Madrid and then Barcelona as the third holiest city in Islam, simply the manner in which the next targeted assaults intended to conquer were named. The Islamic forces then took most of Portugal so quickly along with Spain that Lisbon, as far as we could discern, was never so honored. The next target was France and the Muslim forces had experienced no real opposition of consequence so set their sights high and named Paris as their next great conquest. They ran into a problem somewhere around Tours, France in October of 732, where the forces under the leadership of Charles “the Hammer” Martel who defeated the Islamic forces in such a definitive battle that they were turned back out of France and back into Spain.

 

Meanwhile, as well as much later in history, the next target was in the west of Europe where the Islamic Ottomans targeted Vienna. The interesting item here is the Ottomans made two separate attempts to take the city laying siege to the city in 1529 and again in 1683. The Ottoman Empire led by Suleiman the Magnificent made the first attempt to take Vienna laying siege to the city for almost three months when nature decided to turn upon the Ottoman forces. First there came rain storms which destroyed what tunneling efforts had not already been defeated by the defenders of Vienna. The frontal assaults broke first at distance by the use of arquebus, a rifle-like hand cannon (see image below), and at closer range the use of long pikes broke the assaults. This was followed by an early and particularly heavy snow leading to a rout where many supplies and artillery were abandoned and many men captured. This led to years of conflict between the Austria-Hungarian forces backed by Spanish and Holy Roman forces against the Ottoman Empire forces leading eventually to another attempt at taking Vienna.

 

Arquebus, a rifle-like hand cannon

 

Beginning on July 14, 1683 the Ottoman forces under Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha and Kara Mehmed of Diyarbakir initially fought their way to the walls of Vienna and laid siege to the city. The siege held for a couple of months until September 12, 1683, when relief forces arrived to relieve the city. King John III Sobieski of Poland had prepared his forces for a total war of relief for the city of Vienna during the summer of 1683. He requested and received guarantees from all the neighboring countries and backed by the Holy Roman Empire states for a pact of nonaggression while he mustered his entire army to march to relieve Vienna. His forces arrived and backed by Holy Roman Cavalry leaving sufficient forces at key junctions and guarding all bridges to sustain resupply of his forces, King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottoman forces laying siege to Vienna and broke the stalemate thus setting his name into the history books as the man who began the eventual defeat of the Ottoman Empire and broke their advances into Europe once and for all. Thank you for tolerating this trip through history though off topic. I do tend to ramble.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Why Must Israel and Jerusalem Remain One?

 

The reasons are so basic and simple that they can be and often are expressed with singular thoughts with simple and easily understood words representing basic human understanding. Israel is the body, Jerusalem its heart. Jerusalem is the pearl and Israel its oyster. Israel is the glistening sands, Jerusalem the shining jewel completing the picture. Put in words of nationhood, Israel is the Jewish State and Jerusalem their longing and capital city. There are many prayers that when spoken outside of Jerusalem during the pilgrimage celebrations which say it clearly, “Next year in Jerusalem.” Often Jerusalem is called by a slightly different pronunciation, Yerushalayim.

 

Then there is in the Bible in Tehillim – Psalms – Chapter 137 – verses referred to often by the names, “Song of Babylon” and “By the Rivers of Babylon” with the latter being the first line of the verse. Jerusalem plays a special place in these verses where they state in verses 4 through 6,

4 “How shall we sing the song of the Lord on foreign soil?”
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill].
6 May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy.

Hebrew – עִברִית
דאֵיךְ נָשִׁיר אֶת שִׁיר יְהֹוָה עַל אַדְמַת נֵכָר: 4
האִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי: 5
תִּדְבַּק לְשׁוֹנִי | לְחִכִּי אִם לֹא אֶזְכְּרֵכִי אִם לֹא אַעֲלֶה אֶת יְרוּשָׁלִַם עַל רֹאשׁ שִׂמְחָתִי: 6

The meaning is obvious, for Jews as for our Israelite brothers and sisters before us, who were exiled a second time in Babylon, as it was with the first exile in Egypt and the third exile which was the Roman dispersal which resulted with time and numerous expulsions, pogroms and other catastrophes culminating in the Shoah, where we were thrown to every corner of the globe and from which our return is in progress. Our greatest loss was our beloved Jerusalem with the Temple which was the central point in our religion as it was where the sacrifices were made and the Holy of the Holies which held the spirit of Hashem and where the High Priest would enter to make the case and receive the judgement for the entire nation every Yom Kippur.

 

Jerusalem is so much more than the Capital City of Israel, it is a necessity for Israel as are the Biblical heartlands and the Muslims know this which is what drives their demands for us to release any claim to these lands and simply hand them over and tear them from our midst. What they have not figured on is whether Hashem will allow them to do such a dastardly act and in doing so give to Hashem such an insult. Hashem will not let such an act remain standing long and the Arab Muslims who call themselves Palestinians will know their mistake on the day that Hashem chooses. Allah will not be of any assistance once Hashem decides that His lands and His Capital City are to be returned to their rightful owners by International laws far older than the Geneva Convention or anything else modern society is based. These sets of international laws were set down millennia ago and were decided before the Earth was formed as it was to be an integral part of the reason for the Earth and the eventual birth of human-kind. No mortal may challenge these laws and have such stand long. The only difficulty is what is long for Hashem has no relationship to our time-frame and can be eons or an instant; all depends on Hashem, as it has been and always will be. So, let them huff and puff but that will never be permitted to last and they will be returned to the Israelite people once they have returned and the time determined ready or necessitated, Hashem will have His will be done.

 

So the United Nations can debate, make speeches, pontificate, declare and whatever else they do in Turtle Bay, New York, New York; it is all just a puff of hot air lost on that autumn day, nothing more. We do not make that decision as it is reserved for Hashem to inform us in its proper time. When that blessed day arrives there will no longer be any doubt to Whom this planet, this world and every grain of sand from which it is fashioned belongs and Who makes every decision which has weight and real meaning, Hashem, and there is no substitute. So, go ahead and sound your fury like a thousand horns as your orchestra is barely a whisper in the realm of Hashem but the tiniest whimper crying out the Jewish love for Yerushalayim will reverberate in Heaven and will unavoidably be heard by Hashem which will start in motion the vengeance of Hashem to make straight what man has twisted, defiled and broken as Hashem restores all to its chosen path cutting through history as a geodesic through the rough-hewn stones of fate. The fate of man will always be returned to its proper place at crucial unchangeable points chosen at the time of creation by Hashem and nothing in Heaven or Earth will bend Hashem and His will as these points were set by He.

 

Meanwhile we heard a great speech we have read by Prime Minister Netanyahu (see video below), something we can always expect as his words are great but his actions do not always reflect what he promised and for good reason, Netanyahu may not be the chosen person to implant Hashem’s will on the future as the time might not yet be right and more preparations are required of man by Hashem. The words spoken by Prime Minister Netanyahu rang true but still we await the proper actions. Even the initial conquest of the lands which made up the original tribes did not proceed in a straight line and without struggle. Life and reality are always some form of struggle through which we are cut and hewn making us whatever our finished self will become and be prepared to stand before Hashem and receive our just and final judgement. That is the point where we fully understand that Hashem loves each and every one of us and we are all blessed in Hashem’s eyes. Still, now comes the difficult part for the Israeli Prime Minister and the rest of us while we make this land whole again. But once again, in plain and simple language we all understand the case for Israel was made and the sins accumulated against Hashem were partially enumerated once again as even the best mortal cannot begin to understand Hashem and His ultimate plan. But just as Hashem assisted Bibi in making the Prime Minister’s speech remarkable, Hashem will work making what many will believe was magical and completely miss the miracles within. That time is approaching fast yet we should be patient and wait the proper time, but is it not always that way? Hashem be blessed for returning many of us and raising the others as natives in their own lands. One need remember a single truth, Israel has been occupied by the Babylonians followed by the Persians followed by the Greeks followed by the Romans followed by the Caliphate followed by the Ottomans followed by the British leading finally on the mortal calendar as May 15, 1948 where the land of Israel, home to close to half of the world’s Jews and climbing. Yet we will wait the proper time which Hashem has chosen for our dreams to be realized. This is the story of the Valley of the Dry Bones from Ezekiel 37.

 

 

 

 

All of the above are meaningless if not for the will of Hashem, the singular truth in all creation. Pharaoh realized this truth even if only for a moment and Pharaoh reaped the reward for opposing Hashem, though there are those who claim that the Pharaoh had no choice in what he did as he had to be laid waste such that the nations in every corner of the world could witness the miracles and power of Hashem. Yet still men demand to play Pharaoh in this and every age opposing Hashem and believing their power even compares with the infinite power of Hashem. Hashem will make Israel whole and in the process Jerusalem becomes inseparable from that which is Israel. Even elsewhere mankind is destined to travel, Jerusalem and the Holy Temple will remain a central concept and the Jewish People will place their Holy Temple within an area designated as Jerusalem which will be where Hashem places them on the central hill which it turns out may not necessarily be the highest peak but will be the central of seven hills. It is the Temple which elevates the hill, not the hill elevating the Temple.

 

What does this mean for today? It means one has to have a fair degree of faith and the rest will work itself out and the truth will become reality. It means that anything which steals from the Israelis any of the Promised Land, and especially any part of Jerusalem, is a theft which Hashem will never countenance. The United Nations can make their decrees from the General Assembly and in time there will be a true Israeli leader who will follow Torah and the instructions of Hashem. By that date every nation which had forsaken Israel or oppressed and hated the Jews will have been dealt their just rewards for opposing the very desires of Hashem. That has never been a good idea as the justice for that transgression has almost invariably been quite harsh. Perhaps their final rewards will come from the hands of Israel as they defeat them even worse, they may very well be handing out the fury of Hashem and the final disposition. The decisions of the United Nations General Assembly are but suggestions and with Europe on the verge of falling before their Islamic surging refugee problem as these are not so much refugees as they are an Islamic foothold. By the turn of the next century Europe, with the exception of Switzerland, may all be Islamic states where the institutions which sought equality of the two genders will crushed as will gay rights and same sex couples will be arrested initially and likely sentenced to death by one or another barbaric means. Think what a Europe ruled by Imams dictating the laws and deciding the fates of millions as they retrain their lives to obey blindly and without complaint. Such a map might look like the one below showing Europe after an Islamic takeover.

 

 

Some have questioned as to why we often do not report of the United States as standing with Israel in the conflict which is approaching much faster than many believe. The truth be told about the United States is that they may not even play any role in the coming conflict. The coming election could result in an isolationist United States at best and an ally of Islam at its worst. Hillary Clinton blindly following the path set forth by Barack Obama will cause the United States such internal strife that as a nation they would be unable to look beyond their borders. Donald Trump, on the other hand, may continue to send arms though in a far more limited manner as he rebuilds the American economic engine, that which provides the means for such activities. Trump also is stressing a stay at home and mind our own business outlook with his emphasis on introspection above seeking out their place on the world stage. Trump appears to believe that by repairing the home-front that by that process the world will also take care of those matters which need addressing. Hillary will continue the Islamization of the American society. United States educational institutional systems, both private and especially public, have by-and-large have been slowly but inexorably altering the system from an education system to a reeducation, an indoctrinating center. This in-and-of-itself would have sufficed to change the landscape of the United States somewhere down the road but these leftists want the change and they want it now. That was the secret behind Bernie Sanders campaign and near success. One should not rule out the United States sliding leftward and becoming indistinguishable from France, Britain, or worse, Greece. Whatever the final result of the Europeanizing of the United States, they would be ill-prepared to fight any sustained war as they would have insufficient funds unless they simply went all in as in World War II.

 

The coming war will be either the culmination of the long war Islam has been fighting since around 625 CE (AD) and continued through to the modern age, currently being reengaged full force by the Islamists and on the way to drafting all Islam for what they hope will be their final victory and the completed conquest of the Earth. There can only be two endings to Islam’s war; either the complete surrender and subjugation of all planet Earth or the eradication of Islam, similarly as was Nazism, rendering it to cult status equal to one of the cult churches from the late 1960s and early 1970s mostly in San Francisco or possibly Greenwich Village in New York. Islam could also repair themselves through a reformation where the new Islam is based on the Mecca Quran instead of the later verses from Medina. It was this question we addressed a few years back in our article Which Quran, Mecca or Medina? This article has many additional links to further information from all sides and points of view entered within the commentaries by numerous readers and others passing through reading just this article making it also a resource tool. This war on our horizon will start in Europe, particularly one of the nations bordering the southern Balkans up through Germany and Poland and ending in Scandinavia, and from there spread to North America then through to South America and then remainder of Africa and ending striking India, China, Russia and the remainder of Asia. The question which is first and foremost, will the non-Islamic world band together or will they permit each area to be sectioned out and conquered slowly but inexorably eventually leaving Islam possess them each one-by-one.

 

That is the Islamic plan, inundate Europe and subsume their democracies electing their own and when they have sufficient power, declaring each to be the newest member of the final Caliphate. After the world has been brought to kneel before Allah one nation after the other, then comes the next question, which version of Islam will be permitted and this is important as it will define who are permitted as Imams and thus the just deciders of Sharia, Quranic Law. One could hope that the fighting would then be complete and finished but we have an aching feeling that will not be the case and further divisions will come to the fore and many will result in further fighting. Islam is not a religion which can be pacified as it has always been at conflict. As Islam has a deity that is separate from Judaism and Christianity it is no wonder that it has a completely different tenor. Judaism and Christianity follow Hashem, the deity of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob while Islam follows Allah, originally the name of a pagan moon god worshipped in the Arabian Peninsula and was the deity from Abram, Ishmael and Mohammad. Articles delving further into this can be read here and here. Look up the birth of Ishmael in the Old Testament Book in Genesis – Chapter 16 where it states:

1) Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne to him, and she had an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar.
2) And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing; please come to my handmaid; perhaps I will be built up from her.” And Abram hearkened to Sarai’s voice.
3) So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to Abram her husband for a wife.
4) And he came to Hagar, and she conceived, and she saw that she was pregnant, and her mistress became unimportant in her eyes.
5) And Sarai said to Abram, “May my injustice be upon you! I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and she saw that she had become pregnant, and I became unimportant in her eyes. May the Lord judge between me and you!”
6) And Abram said to Sarai, “Here is your handmaid in your hand; do to her that which is proper in your eyes.” And Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from before her.
7) And an angel of the Lord found her by a water fountain in the desert, by the fountain on the road to Shur.
8) And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where are you coming from, and where are you going to?” And she said, “From before Sarai my mistress, I am fleeing.
9) And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and allow yourself to be afflicted under her hands.”
10) And the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your seed, and it will not be counted for abundance.”
11) And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your affliction.
12) And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be upon all, and everyone’s hand upon him, and before all his brothers he will dwell.”
13) And she called the name of the Lord, Who had spoken to her, “You are the God of seeing,” because she said, “Have I seen [him] here also after I have seen?”
14) Therefore the well was called Be’er Lachai Ro’i; behold it is between Kadesh and between Bered.
15) And Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar had borne, Ishmael.
16) And Abram was eighty-six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Note in the final line that Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. Abraham, or the rebirth of Abram into Abraham, came in the next chapter in Genesis Chapter 17 where it states:

1) And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and God appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me and be perfect.
2) And I will place My covenant between Me and between you, and I will multiply you very greatly.”
3) And Abram fell upon his face, and God spoke with him, saying,
4) “As for Me, behold My covenant is with you, and you shall become the father of a multitude of nations.
5) And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6) And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will emerge from you.
7) And I will establish My covenant between Me and between you and between your seed after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be to you for a God and to your seed after you.
8) And I will give you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, the entire land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be to them for a God.”

 

Note verse 5 where Abram becomes Abraham and then receives the Covenant with Hashem for Abraham and his seed after him. Ishmael received his promise of a nation under Hagar meeting with an angel and while Abram has yet to receive the Covenant so the two are completely different Covenants and never have been equal. The question remains as will the world with almost no exception become under Islam and a form of idol worship? That is a question which may see an answer sooner than many believe, and it will end after the most serious bloodletting the planet will ever come to know and that is the curse for transgressions which we will leave for each to decide the why.

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

The Israel I Learned in Bible Class in my Youth

Over the years we covered the stories in the Old Testament, also called the Jewish Bible, and were taught many stories about the ancient Hebrews and Israelites as they were known depending on which period of ancient Jewish history you are talking about. There were also the biblical figures whose nationality was left unstated or other than one of the ancient names used by the earliest Jews. One well known example being Noah who while being a believer and obedient follower of G0d was not Jewish as he predates Abraham who is the father of the Jewish religion. We were also taught that in many ways the real originator of Judaism as we know it today was Moses who is referred to as the law-giver as he gave the Jews the Ten Commandments and the Torah in which are contained the laws which Jews are to observe. What fascinated me were the stories of the Israelites once they had settled in the Promised Lands and their struggles and how they seemed to be constantly falling away from following their Commandments only to face hardships which often took the form of outside civilizations invading their lands and how when facing defeat or other hardships they would find their way back to following the path laid out for them by G0d through His Laws. As with any young boy, I was always most interested in their battles and the tactics and maneuvers they used to repel or defend against these invaders.

 

There was one feature of almost all of these battles which strikes me as being of paramount importance to modern times and the problems concerning Israel and the constant demands that they surrender lands to the Arabs, Bedouins, Palestinians or whomever. The one constant in these battles were the Judean Hills which the ancient Israelites used to great advantage as it seemed that everybody who invaded used chariots and heavily armored infantry while the Israelites utilized archers, slingers, and mostly light infantry. When your strength is mobility and speed and the other army uses brute force and heavy equipment, then you pick the worst terrain you can find in which to confront them. The other tactical weapon the ancient Israelites would use was to try fight holding the invaders off and not directly engaging them until the seasons of rain were upon the lands making chariots next to useless. Apparently their lands had a tendency to become swamp-like which made the use of even horses difficult and often defeated every advantage the invaders normally enjoyed.

 

Then there was the most famous stronghold, Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a great walled city that had the most wonderful secret that enabled it to hold out against sieges, a culvert that was dug, concealed underground, which brought fresh spring waters into the city supplying the one absolute necessity, water. This not only provided drinking water but water for all purposes and apparently Jerusalem had enormous stores of grains and foods kept by the Priests within the Temple complex. Jerusalem also had tunnels that allowed raids to be loosed on any siege force which would come seemingly out of nowhere, strike, and disappear almost as fast as they had appeared never leaving any traceable signs. It is little wonder that Jerusalem was not conquered as frequently as most other cities. Add to the mystique that is the history of Jerusalem the fascinating tale of how King David as a warrior led a small band into the city by the very channel which supplied water to conquer the prize that became the eternal Capital City for the Jewish People from that day forward. Jerusalem was far more than just the Capital City and fortress of last resort, Jerusalem was the cultural and religious center of the Israelites. It was the central hub that wed the twelve tribes into one peoples. This was where three times every year every Jew would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the three Jewish pilgrimage holidays, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Much of Jewish life, customs, and religious observance in the ancient times revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. There are many of the six-hundred-thirteen commandments which are at the core of Jewish belief which pertain solely to the Temple and the rituals which must be carried out in the holy place. Some pertain to daily, weekly, or monthly observances and others to particular services attached to certain holidays. Until the Jews are permitted to erect the Third Temple these commandments go unfulfilled.

 

There is one story which I found particularly unusual and it has to do with the initial conquest of the lands from the Canaanites at the beginning of Israelite history after the Exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt, and it pertains to right before they received their last instructions from Moses, as he would not cross the Jordan with them, and before Joshua as Moses’s successor led them against the walled fortress of Jericho. Two of the Tribes of Israelites, Dan and Rueben, who were made up of herders found the lands east of the Jordan River to be favorable for grazing their herds and approached Moses with a request to settle these lands. Moses was less than receptive to their request and admonished them for attempting to forgo their obligation to conquer the lands as commanded and instead leave all of the warfare to the other tribes to go alone. They replied that not only would they assist with the conquering of the Promised Lands but that they would take the lead in every battle and not take up their flocks until every tribe had received their lands. They asked only that they be allowed to build pens to hold their flocks and a defendable city to hold their women and children in safety. This too enraged Moses who reprimanded them for their placing the safety and security of their flocks ahead of that of their women and children. After Moses had sufficiently cowed them he allowed for them to proceed and reminded them of their promise and had them restate their intent to make honest on their promise to the other tribes.

 

What does all of this have to do with modern times? Well, the Israelites of today have not requested to have those lands the tribes of Dan and Rueben settled east of the Jordan River despite these lands being well described in the historical record of the early Jewish tribes, the Bible. The debate the world has forced upon the Jews is for them to sacrifice some of the lands where much of their most important events throughout their history took place. The world is demanding that the Jews surrender half of the city which has been at the heart of their world for over three-thousand years. The Jewish tribes had a civilization centered around Jerusalem before either Confucius or Buddha was preaching their philosophies and religious beliefs. There are demands that Israel allow the descendants of the Arabs who were displaced largely due to their own fleeing the oncoming warfare under the promise given them by the Mufti of Jerusalem that once the Jews had been eradicated they would be allowed to take from the spoils and have possession of all the land. Something of a miracle came to pass and Israel survived and even could be said to have thrived. Despite the constant claims for these Arab refugees who have been imprisoned by their brethren, nobody has bothered to demand restitution or the return to their lands of the over three-quarters of a million Jews who were forced through persecutions to flee much of the Arab and Muslim world after the formation of Israel. The majority of these Jews made what could be called a second exodus to Israel where they were welcomed and absorbed into the society and not placed in squalid camps for the next sixty-five plus years. What was nothing more than an exchange of populations similar to numerous other such exchanges that have taken place through recent history, this one is treated as something different, something other than ordinary. Nobody is demanding that restitution be made or a return forced for the Hindus and Buddhists who migrated in one direction and the Muslims who migrated in the other direction when India and Pakistan became separate entities. Similar comparisons can be made with the lands that were taken from Germany after the World War and presented to France and Poland. Furthermore, when after the War of Israeli Independence when Jordan claimed the areas of Judea and Samaria and renamed them the West Bank and made the Jews depart from lands they owned and gave the Arabs citizenship and divided the Jewish lands presenting them to those who were owed favor, the entire world including the Arab and Muslim nations with the exception of Britain and Pakistan refused to recognize the Jordanian claims. Here is a question, who exactly did the world believe that land belonged to that they refused to recognize the Jordanian annexation? There were no such peoples invented as of yet called Palestinians as when people referred to Palestinians at that time and before 1948 they meant the Jews living under the British rule. The British even had a Palestine Brigade fighting in the Sinai and North Africa during World War II which was made up entirely of Jews from the British Mandate Lands. There were no Arabs as they mostly fought on the side of the German Nazis during World War II and hated the British. So, the lands that the Jordanians called the West Bank and the rest of history called Judea and Samaria should belong to whoever was believed to have been the rightful owners while the world condemned and refused to recognize Jordanian ownership. A small hint, they believed it rightfully belonged to Israel, surprise.

 

Beyond the Cusp