The Everlasting Hatred (5 page)

Who would have believed as the twentieth century dawned that a small, backward, neglected land that had become as desolate as the moon would become the center of a controversy so great that all the major world powers would be dragged into it? For
centuries, world attention focused on the Gentile civilizations of Europe, the Americas, Russia, and the Far East. Until the middle of the twentieth century, many people couldn't even find Palestine on a map. But today, the headlines aren't about Western or Asian civilizations; they are about the peoples of the Middle East. For the first time in modern history, ancient Biblical names are making global headlines.

One of the main predicted signs that the world is entering the “last days and the end of history as we know it” is that the strategic center of the world would shift back to the region where history began. Today, the world's focus has returned to a place that had been bypassed by the modern developments of science and technology.

This book will reveal many vital facts about the Middle East conflict that are little known. It will take you into history and reveal the real causes of the growing world crisis that will seriously affect your life. Writing this book has been a great sobering adventure. So press on through the history and facts. I promise it will be rewarding. And I believe you will find a vital basis for hope in the coming perilous times.

“Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, while on his Palestinian campaign, asked one of his generals, ‘Can you give me a proof that the Bible is the Word of God?' He replied, ‘Your Majesty, the Jew. Against all historical precedence, he has survived centuries of dispersion and yet has remained a distinct people—a nation in exile—though scattered over the entire world and terribly persecuted, just as the Hebrew prophets predicted he would be, patiently waiting for his promised return to the land of his fathers.'”

— N
APOLEON
B
ONAPARTE
, A.D. 1798

Most of us have heard at some point in our life the saying that “the Jews are God's chosen people.” But in view of their catastrophic history over at least the last two thousand years, one wonders, “If they are God's chosen people, for what purpose were they chosen?”

From the founding of Islam onward, Muslim Arabs have disputed the Jewish claims of being the chosen people. Ishmael, Abraham's first-born son and the father of the Arabs, was angry over the foundations of the Jewish claim from the very beginning. This smoldering enmity toward the Israelites was passed
along to his descendants from generation to generation. Mohammad enshrined this enmity toward the Jews in the Koran and teachings of the Muslim religion.

So the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict really took root more than four thousand years ago. A man was called for a special mission that would forever change the course of human history and the destiny of mankind. It is impossible to understand the hatred behind the present Middle East crisis without knowledge of what exactly happened then and why.

This all began at a time when all nations were determined to push the knowledge of the one true God out of their culture and memory. The Bible records that because of this, God chose a man for the purpose of creating a special nation. God's purpose for this nation was to preserve a true revelation about Himself, to reach out to the world through it, and ultimately to provide salvation for all mankind. God's great love for all mankind is what motivated Him to create this special people and nation.

The Bible records how God chose a man named Abram, whom He later renamed Abraham, from an advanced civilization known as Ur of the Chaldeans. God made a special irrevocable covenant with him and his descendents to facilitate this purpose.

In this covenant made with Abraham, God's plan for all mankind is laid out in broad outline. In terms of its effect upon the history and destiny of mankind, nothing else can be compared. It is truly amazing, but the rest of the Bible is a commentary on the full meaning of this covenant. To put its importance into perspective, the main focus of the Bible message from Genesis 12 to Acts 2 are the recipients of its promises—Abraham and his descendents.

The covenant is formed around God's declaration of four direct and three understood “I wills.” This is the God of the Bible's consistent formula for expressing an unconditional promise.
When God makes a promise and says, “I will,” it is the end of all uncertainty as to its fulfillment. The one condition on Abraham's part was to, by faith, leave his country, his home, and his relatives to travel to a land that God would show him.

In response to that faith, God promised Abraham the following:

Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,

From your family and from your father's house,
To a land that I will show you.

I will
make you a great nation;

I will
bless you

And [I
will
] make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will
bless those who bless you,

And
I will
curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

— G
ENESIS
12:1–3, (emphasis added)

So much is contained in these few words that they must be carefully analyzed. Let's consider the passage above point by point.

The Promise of a Nation
: “I
will
make you a great nation.” This statement implicitly contains the promise of a son through whom this nation would be created. It also implicitly promised the land to which Abraham was ordered to go, since you can't have a nation without a land.

However, there was one major problem—Abraham and his wife were childless. Yet everything God promised Abraham depended upon him having a son. Now since he was seventy-five years old and his wife was sixty-five years old, Abraham understood that it would take some kind of divine intervention for him to have a son. But Abraham had a lapse of faith when God
delayed fulfilling this promise. He kept checking his biological clock, thinking the promise was becoming more impossible by the day.

The Promises of Special Personal Blessings
: “I
will
bless you and [I will] make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.” God promised to bless Abraham in three ways: First, God blessed him with special protection, great wealth, with vibrant health even into old age, and made him successful in all his dealings. Second, God promised to make Abraham's name great—and his name has been reverenced all over the world for more than four thousand years. He is recognized as a spiritual father by three of the world's major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And third, God promised to make Abraham a blessing. Untold millions of people have recognized him as the father of their faith. The example of Abraham's faith, permanently recorded in the eternal Word of God, has been a blessing to countless millions throughout history.

The Promises of Divine Protection
: “I
will
bless those who bless you, and
I will
curse him who curses you.” These “I wills” anticipated that Abraham and his descendents would be the objects of special attack. In view of their special mission of redemption to the world, it is only logical that they would be singled out as prime targets by the devil. Anti-Semitism has been a relentless fact of history.

Abraham and his divinely chosen line of descendents through Isaac and Jacob have been consistently persecuted and attacked. There is a mystical quality behind the intensity of hatred toward the Israelites. This is especially true of the descendents of the
Southern Kingdom, which is composed of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. The Israelites were first called “Jews” while in Babylonian captivity, the word
Jew
being derived from the name of their geographical origin,
Judea
. The Jews have been singled out for special hatred since they were driven into global exile after the destruction of Israel in A.D. 70. The name
Jew
has come to be indiscriminately applied to survivors of all twelve tribes of Israelites in recent centuries.

Only a person who understands the one the Bible calls “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) can begin to understand this mystery. Any objective study of the irrational outbreaks of hatred all over the world toward the Israelites—the mindless slaughter of them in every century—will reveal that there is a malevolent spiritual force behind it all.

The Promise of Blessing upon All Who Bless Israel: “I will
bless those who bless you.” Individuals, groups, and nations that have sought to help Abraham and his descendents in their times of need have all been blessed by God. The United States has received, helped, and protected the dispersed Israelites. The United States has stood for Israel's survival as a nation from its rebirth in 1948. I believe this is one of the main reasons God has so blessed America in the past. But as we will see, our attitude toward Israel is changing—to our peril.

The Promise of Judgment upon All Who Curse [Harm] Israel: “I will
curse him who curses you.” Since God chose to create the nation of Israel for the special mission of redeeming the rest of mankind, beware of mistreating or harming the Jewish people. God's promise of protection to Abraham and his seed serves as a warning to the nations or Gentiles
—“I will
curse him who curses
you.” All attacks upon Israelites will ultimately bring retribution from God. When Gentiles attack them, they are attacking God's chosen instruments of their own redemption.