DRIVE THEM OUT!
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Brit-Am |
Contents:
Foreword from the Editor.
Canaanites Galore.
Palestinians and Jews.
Do Muslims Worship Idols?
Are the Palestinians Really Canaaanite Philistines?
The False god of Islam.
The Palestinians Must Be Moved! Israel will not be Exiled Again!
Can the Palestinians be Expelled at Present?
The Ten Tribes are Needed!
Divine Vengeance against the Heathen Nations.
EDOM (Palestinians of West Bank)
MOAB (Jordan)
AMMON (Jordan)
PHILISTINES (Palestinians of Gaza)
DAMASCUS (Syria)
Will Israel Use the Atom Bomb?
Do the the Arabs have a Chance to be Saved?
The Two State Solution and Brit-Am Editorial Interjection.
Canaanites Galore.
When, where and why did Israel's problems of idolatry, breaking of the Covenant and betrayal of God's trust originate? It started right after Moses' death at the age of 120, when the Israelite tribes under the leadership of Moses' successor Joshua (1450-1370) begun the conquest of Canaan, the Promised Land.
God said to Israel:
'I brought you up out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I will never break My covenant with you, and you shall not make any covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall throw down their altars: but you have not obeyed My voice: why have you done this'' (Judges 2:1-2)
It is a very interesting passage. Why would God prohibit Israel from getting friendly with the people of Canaan? Why were the Israelites obligated by God to drive them away from the Promised Land and break down their altars, smash sacred stones and cut out images of their goddess Asherah?
Because those people were God-haters, idol-worshippers and evil- doers! They were the opposite of everything God loves!
'You must destroy all the people the Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods or they will trap you. On account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' (Deuteronomy 7:16; 9:5)
It is for the love of Israel's forefathers and for the wickedness of those nations that God was doing this. And, indeed, God had given into Israel's hands many nations: the Girgashites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. God hated them for their idol-worshipping, and didn't want Israel to be defiled with their pagan gods.
The Israelites had failed God's commandments. They conquered the Promised Land, but they didn't drive the inhabitants of the Land out. Instead, they made the Canaanites and other peoples pay tribute to them. After the death of Joshua at the age of 110 and all his generation had died out, the new generation grew up, who didn't know the Lord or what He had done for Israel. And they had begun to do things which God prohibited them to do. They abandoned the Lord, and started to worship Baals and Ashtaroth. They took daughters of the people they left around to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons. And the Israelites were 'trapped.'
'So the LORD burned with anger against Israel and said:
'Because this nation has violated My covenant and has not listened to Me, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.' (Judges 2:20-22).
After Centuries had passed since the time of the Judges, by the request of the Israelites, God granted them a King:
'The Lord said to Samuel, listen to the voice of the people, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them.' (1 Samuel 8:7)
Israel still had not changed its attitude towards God and His commandments. God's warnings had come to pass and been fulfilled in every detail. The children of Israel defiled themselves with the surrounding nations and their pagan gods. Even King Solomon, wisest amongst men, in order to please his foreign wives, began worshipping Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. The People of Canaan were constantly causing the Israelites many problems: Wars and oppression, sins of idolatry, assimilation, apostasy from God and the Torah and, finally, exile from the Holy Land.
'If you do not drive out inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will constantly fight with you over the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.' (Numbers 33:55-56).
Wow! That is what exactly happened to the Israelites. Because they disobeyed God's command and didn't drive out the inhabitants of the Land, all the House of Israel was forcefully expelled from the Land, precisely as the Almighty foretold. Obviously, God has promised to return them back again, provided that they will have got the lesson and will correct their behavior in the future.
Palestinians and Jews.
Our reader might ask what connection this story has with the modern State of Israel and the ongoing Peace Process between the Jews and Palestinians? Surprisingly, the answer is a 'direct connection'! We are now been living in the time when the Bible's Prophecies slowly but surely here and there have become a reality.
The Creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was one of the most important prophecies ever fulfilled in our time. The real question now is: Should the Israelis follow the old command of God to 'throw all inhabitants of the land of Israel out without mercy and destroy all their sacred altars, stones and images of pagan gods which can't save, or not? First of all, there is no such thing as 'Old commandments' of God as we can see from these Scriptural verses:
'My covenant will I not brake nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips. All He does is just and good, and all His commandments are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, to be obeyed with faithfulness and uprightness. I have known from my earliest days that your Laws will last forever. All Thy commandments are Righteousness.' (Psalms 89:34; 111:7, 8; 119:152, 172)
God has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. 'For I am the Lord, I change not.' (Malachi 3:6).
Are the Palestinians Really Canaanite Philistines?
Secondly, are we dealing with the same people in Palestine today who have been living in the Land of Canaan for more than 3,000 years, namely the Philistines? Well, the Palestinian Arabs claim that they are direct descendants of the ancient Philistines who lived in Canaan before the Israelites moved in. Their motives are well understood in the light of the political battle for the Land's most rightful ownership in the Peace Process negotiations.
Most scholars do believe that the Canaanites, who were also called Phoenicians and Philistines were not Arabs, and had nothing in common with them. The Philistines are not even a Semitic people. They were invaders from the Aegean Sea and Anatolian areas. They are extinct, vanished from history. Any Palestinian link and identification with the Philistines is false. The Philistines were invaders from the Sea in ancient times. Meanwhile the Arabs invaded Palestine from the wilderness during the Arab's conquest in the seven century CE. That wilderness is the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabs' homeland. Prophecy said that Ishmael will live to the East in the presence of all his brothers (Genesis 16:12; 25:18). Not all the Land of Arabia is their homeland. In Southern Arabia there are no people of Ishmaelite descent at all. In Northern Arabia Ishmaelites mixed and assimilated with the Kushite and Semite peoples, who lived in Arabia before Ishmael (Genesis 10:7); with their Midianite brothers through Keturah (the wife of Abraham after the death of Sarah) and with other tribes living in that area. They intermarried and mixed with the Midianites so massively that even the Bible's verses did not distinguish among them: Ishmaelites are called Midyanites, and the Midianites called Ishmaelites.
'And the Midianites sold Joseph into Egypt unto Potiphar.'(Genesis 37:36).
'And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guards, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, who brought him into Egypt.' (Genesis 39:1).
That this identification is not a mistake, one can see from the verses in Judges 8:22, 24. Therefore, to say that all Arab peoples are descendants of Ishmael is wrong because Arabs had existed long before Ishmael was born.
King Salmaneser of Assyria called them Misuri, which means Egyptians. Well, Hagar, Ishmael's mother, was an Egyptian, and she found him a wife from the land of Egypt (Genesis 21:21). Ishmael's daughter by the name of Basemath or Mahalath married the oldest son of Isaac, Esau. (Genesis 28:9; 36:3). Following the death of their father at the age of 137, Ishmael and his youngest brother Isaac buried Abraham in the cave of Machpelah, which is near Mamre (Genesis 25:9).
Actually, for God it doesn't matter what names these tribes, peoples and nations previously or currently may bear. God judges people not for their names but for their moral and spiritual values, for their faithfulness and deeds. The Scriptures clearly tell us why God ordered the Israelites to rid the Promised Land of these peoples: It is hatred of the God of Israel, worship of gods which can't save, wickedness. All these things are an abomination in God's eyes. He doesn't want His Holy Land to be polluted with idolaters, who definitely will become a 'trap' for His people Israel and constantly will fight over the Land, as happened in the past.
Should the Israelis drive out the Palestinians?
The Land of Israel-Palestine now, basically, is occupied by two peoples, the Palestinians and the Jews. Should the Israelites drive out the Palestinians from the Promised Land, as God commanded? The answer is dependent upon whether this nation is idolatrous and wicked or not; whether they worship the God of Israel as the only Almighty God of the Universe, or they worship some other pagan gods, 'which cannot save.' The God of Israel is a very jealous God. He can't stand idolaters: Neither among His people Israel, nor among those who pollute His Holy Land.
Do Muslims Worship Idols?
The Religion of the Palestinian Arabs is Islam. They have often maintained that Islam worships the same God as the Jews and Christians. The only difference is in the name. Allah is the same God as [THE ALMIGHTY] of the Bible. Our Gods and religions are almost the same, they say.
Is it so?
Of cause, not!
They are as different as heaven and earth. Allah is not the same as the God of the Bible and never has been. Allah is the demon god of the Moon who was worshipped by Akkadians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and all the Arabian peninsula as supreme deity under various names many hundreds of years before Muhammad. The Moon in Islam is considered the holiest object in the sky among astronomical planets and stars; it is the guiding light of all Islamic traditional ceremonies, rituals and festivals.
Archeologists have found temples of the Moon-god all over the Middle East from the mountains of Turkey to the banks of the River Nile in Egypt; and plenty of artifacts with symbols of a crescent moon and stars from pre-Islamic times, such as nowadays sit on top of minarets and mosques, and decorate Islamic flags, graveyards and monuments. Their holiest temple, the Kabah, in Mecca is the ancient place where pre-Islamic Arabian tribes worshipped Allah, the male lunar god , who was the husband of the female solar god, and the stars were considered to be their children (daughters). It was also the house of 360 idols, demons, jinni and other pagan gods and spirits, the merchants of Mecca had worshipped. Jews and Christians have rejected Allah as a false god. The Hebrew Bible strongly warned the Israelites not to worship other gods, especially the powers of heaven, and not to serve them. (Deuteronomy 17:4; 2 Kings 21:3). 'I will consume those who go up to the roofs and bow to the sun, moon, and stars.' (Zephaniah 1:5).
We have in Islam another version of 'Replacement Theology'. This time it is produced not by Christians, but Muslims. They have the same motive to rob the Israelites of their God, chosenness and blessings of the Bible and bestow all of it on the Muslims; with the same arrogance, intolerance, anti-Semitism and jealousy; with fanatical hatred, Jihad and bloody terrorism as consequences.
How could the Muslims have worshipped the same God as the Jews if the Bible explicitly said that the Almighty chose Isaac instead of Ishmael, and Abraham blessed Isaac with the firstborn blessings, and sent Ishmael with his mother away to Arabia?
'Your son Isaac is the one through whom your descendants will be named' (Genesis 21:12).
God has established the Covenant forever with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not with the Ishmaelites.
The False god of Islam.
The Holy Bible, the most precious Book in the World, brilliant work of God Almighty, has perfectly accomplished its purpose of life and salvation from the first verse of Creation in the book of Genesis to the last words of the prophet Malachi. God doesn't need people to revise His sacred Words or add some new 'revelations' of other gods, which 'can't save', be it Allah, the pre-Islamic moon god, or any other deity or idol.
The Muslims have shown no respect for the God of Israel or for His Prophets. According to them, the last and final divine revelation was given to Muhammad (570-632 CE), therefore these new revelations supersede and nullify the God of the Bible, His Covenant, Laws and the Prophets. The Koran, they say, is God's final book and has to be accepted by the whole world. Their ultimate goal is world sovereignty by the means of subjugation of all infidels (unbelievers), if not by persuasion, then by the sword. It is not a religion of peace and tolerance; it has become more aggressive and violent, with the spirit of Jihad as the way and duty of every Muslim.
Islam is not a religion based on the Hebrew Bible and Prophets: It is nothing else than a revival of the ancient cult of the moon god with all its pagan symbols and ceremonies. In other words, there is no God but Allah, and there are no prophets but Muhammad. They made the pagan lunar god, al-ilah, who all Arabs had worshipped before Muhammad, the supreme God, "Allah". The pilgrimage to Mecca, running around the temple of the Moon god, called the Kabah; praying toward Mecca several times a day; kissing the black stone; fasting in the month which begins and ends with the crescent Moon; throwing stones at the devil, all of this was practiced by the pagan Arabs the same way as it is today by the Muslims.
At least the Christians have given a reason as to why God 'rejected' Israel i.e. for not accepting [their Messiah]. The Muslims don't give any such explanations, except that Allah revealed himself to Muhammad as supreme God of the Universe and appointed him to be Allah's only Messenger. The Jewish and Christian religions were abolished and superseded by Islam.
The real reason might be found back and deepdown in the Bible's story of God's decision to make an everlasting covenant with Isaac, not with Ishmael, first born son of Abraham. The bitterness of Ishmael accumulated over centuries has grown into hatred and an urge for revenge. Muhammad gave the solution: A new God and a new religion, where Muslims are the Chosen people and the Jews are rejected. Ancient brothers have become the enemies, and Ishmael still wants to kill Isaac.
We are not going here to analyze Islamic religion in depth and criticize the personal life and deeds of its founder because this objective is not the theme of our work. It is worth mentioning however the Jewish Rabbis' opinion of Muhammad as 'the madman', 'possessed', 'wicked impostor pretending to be a prophet.'
The Palestinians Must Be Moved! Israel will not be Exiled Again!
The answer to the question, 'Should the Israelites drive out the Palestinians from the Promised Land as God commanded?, has not been answered yet. So, what is the answer? Yes, the Israelites must obey God and drive the Palestinians out of the Land!
Why? For the same reasons God commanded to destroy heathen peoples in the time of Joshua: Idolatry, worshipping the pagan gods that 'cannot save', evil-doers. The Land of Israel, 'My Land', is a Holy Land. God doesn't want His Land to be polluted with all these abominations. The Palestinians fit precisely the above descriptions of wickedness and idol worship. On top of it all there is radical Islam with bloody terrorism, fueled by the spirit of Jihad; fundamentalist ideology of intolerance, use of physical force and violence against Governments, institutions and individuals, who do not share their views on Islam.
Remember, God said, 'On account of their wickedness I drove those nations out of this land. If you disobey My command and will not drive inhabitants of the land out, they will harass you, continually fight for the land,' torture you with the 'Peace Process', we add. This is an exact characteristic of the Palestinians today! 'They shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will trap you with their idolatry: moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.' If you don't get rid of them, I will exile you again!
No, this is not going to happen any more. Israelites have learned their lesson:
'They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions'(Ezekiel 37:23).
Israel will listen to God, and never again will be uprooted from the Holy Land.
'I will plant Israel in their own land. They will never be uprooted from the land I have given them.' (Amos 9:15)
Idolatry is Forbidden!
Again and again God has reiterated His uniqueness and Oneness:
'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.' (Deuteronomy 6:4)`
'But I am the LORD your God. You must acknowledge no God but Me, for there is no other Savior.' (Hosea 13:4)
'There is no other God ' there never has been, and there never will be. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Savior. From eternity to eternity I am God. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.' (Isaiah 43:10, 11, 15)
God's first commandment is against idolatry because in His sight this is the heaviest sin of all sins.
'I am the Lord, that is My name! I will not give My Glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.' (Isaiah 42:8)
This is the main reason why the Palestinians should be driven out of the Land of Israel, which in the turn will end the Peace Process and heal Judah's spiritual wound forever.
Can the Palestinians be Expelled at Present?
The Ten Tribes are Needed!
Can the Israelis alone drive the Palestinians and the other people out of the Promised Land now? We think they can't. There are many internal and international obstacles that will prevent the Israelis from accomplishing this task successfully. God's multiple prophecies of future defeat and subjugation of the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites will not come to fruition until one more condition will be met: Reunification of the 'Lost' Ten Tribes of Israel with Judah. When this sleeping giant, Joseph, being the strongest superpower in the world, fully awakes to his Israelite identity and acknowledges his God and Savior, God of Israel, they will, finally, reunite with their brothers from the Jewish nation. This reunification of all families of Jacob will be the beginning of the new Messianic age of Liberation and Redemption. Their unity will be much stronger then before, when Moses led them from out of Egyptian bondage. Everything we are saying here was expressly prophesied by God:
'He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.' (Isaiah 11:12, 13).
Who could stop such a superpower?
Nooobody!
And here we go:
'They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east; they will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.' (Isaiah 11:14)
The united armies of Israel under the leadership of the brilliant Commander- in- Chief, Messiah son of Joseph, will conduct this attack swiftly and decisively. They will have a convenient military base right in the land of Israel, where the Palestinians will be on their west, and the rest of their enemies will be on their east. They will deliver a terrible blow to these nations and subjugate them. The Land of Israel will be restored to its Biblical borders from the Nile to Euphrates River.
Divine Vengeance against the Heathen Nations.
The Bible gives more details of Divine vengeance against the heathen nations:
EDOM (Palestinians of West Bank)
'The Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. For My sword has drunk it's full in the heaven; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, the nation I have marked for destruction.' (Isaiah 34:5, 8)
'And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD has spoken it.' (Obadiah 1:18)
'Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah, and has incurred grievous guilt in taking vengeance on them, therefore I will raise My fist of judgment against Edom. I will wipe out its people with the sword. I will make a wasteland of everything from Teman to Dedan.' (Ezekiel 25:12, 13)
MOAB (Jordan)
'The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hastens fast. We have heard of Moab's pride, for his pride is very great. We know of his lofty pride, his arrogance, and his haughty heart. There shall be no more praise of Moab. Moab will be destroyed, her little ones will cry out. I will put an end to Moab, for the people offer sacrifices at the pagan shrines and burn incense to their false gods. Woe be unto you, O Moab! Your cities will fall, and its strongholds will be seized, and the hearts of the mighty men of Moab in that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
And Moab shall be destroyed as a nation because he magnified himself against the Lord. (Jeremiah 48-all).
AMMON (Jordan)
'The days are coming, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it will become a desolate heap of ruins, and the neighboring towns will be burned. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out. I will bring terror on you, every one of you will be driven away, and no one will gather the fugitives.
I have heard the taunts of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who mocked my people and made threats against their land. Surely Moab will become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will possess them.
This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the Lord. The Lord will terrify them as He destroys all the gods in the land. Then nations around the world will worship the Lord, each in their own land.' (Zephaniah 2:8-11)
PHILISTINES (Palestinians of Gaza)
'Because the Philistines have acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah, therefore I will raise My fist of judgment against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Kerethites and utterly destroy their people who live by the seacoast. I will execute great and terrible vengeance to punish them in My wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 25:15-17).
Ashkelon will see it and fear, Gaza will shake with terror, as will Ekron, for their hope will be dashed. Gaza's king will be killed, and Ahkelon will be deserted. Foreigners will occupy the city of Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.' (Zechariah 9:5-6).
DAMASCUS (Syria)
'Damascus has become feeble, and all her people turn to flee and panic. Fear, anguish, and pain have gripped her as they grip a woman in labor. I will kindle a fire in the walls of Damascus, and her young men will fall in the streets and die. All her soldiers will be killed.' (Jeremiah 49:24, 26, 27).
'Look, the city of Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.' (Isaiah 17:1).
Will Israel Use the Atom Bomb?
All these vows and great destructions God will inflict by the hands of His people Israel who will act as 'the blacksmith' who fans the coal into flame and forges a weapon, for utter destruction. Looks like nuclear weapons will be used, otherwise how will such huge modern cities like Damascus of Syria or Rabbah (Amman) of Jordan 'become a heap of ruins'? Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinians will be destroyed by fire.
Moab and Ammon are brothers, the sons of Lot, nephew of Abraham. Their origin is given in Genesis 19:30-38. Lot and his two daughters were the survivors of the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They lived in a cave. In order to preserve seed to their father, the sisters decided to make their father drunk with wine and sleep with him. So they did as they planned. And Lot was so drunk that he 'perceived not when they lay down, nor when they arose.'
That is how Moabites and Ammonites were born. They are of similar stock to the Israelites, but from Ancient Times had developed hatred and animosity toward Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3-5). Together with Edom these three nations attacked Judah, and were destroyed by God who made them fight each other and kill everyone. 'The Children of Moab and Ammon turned against Edom, utterly to sly and destroy them; and after every one helped to destroy another.' (2 Kings 20: 22, 23) Their lands in modern days are part of Jordan, along the east shore of the Dead Sea, east of Jordan and Gilead.
No weapon turned against Israel will succeed. And any voice of protest or accusation against Israel will be refuted and silenced in judgment:
'This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me.' (Isaiah 54:15-17).
Do the the Arabs have a Chance to be Saved?
God's prophecies are for sure. They are the most powerful proofs of the veracity of the Bible. Nobody can prevent them. They definitely will come to pass, unless?
Unless what?
Unless the nations, facing 'the fist of God's judgments,' repent of all their wrongdoings before God, reject the idolatrous religion of Islam, and acknowledge the God of Israel as the One and True God Almighty of the whole Universe.
Is this scenario possible?
We think it is.
God has no pleasure in the death of sinners. He wishes that all people be righteous, obedient to His commandments, live happily in peace, prosperity, and harmony. And serve God.
Of course not! God wants wicked people to stop sinning, return from their evil ways and live.
'Have I pleasure at all that the wicked should die? And not that he should return from his way and live?' (Ezekiel 18:23)
Remember, God pleaded with His people Israel the same way, with the same message.
'Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?' (Ezekiel 33:11)
The Arab's world, and especially that of the Palestinians, should stop for a moment their daily activities, take a deep breath and plunge deep into thought about their future. It is impossible to go against God Almighty and His people Israel. History has proved that all prophecies of the Bible are true and have been fulfilled in every detail; so the rest of Prophecy aimed at the future will definitely come to pass. The Fanaticism of radical Islam, bloody violence of Jihad's spirit, hatred and vengeance eventually will lead to doom and destruction as the Biblical verses above have surely demonstrated. You have only one hope: Turn and pray to the God of Israel that He may forgive your wickedness that you and your children may live.
'If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation, I warned, repents of its evil, then I will not destroy it as I had planned.' (Jeremiah 18:7, 8)
What a golden, beautiful opportunity for sinful nations to repent and turn to true God who can save!
The best example of this is the story recorded in the book of the prophet Jonah. The inhabitants of the great ancient city of Nineveh had sinned very badly, and their wickedness had come up before God. So, He sent Jonah to Nineveh to announce His judgment of destruction of the city and its inhabitants, unless they were to heed the warnings of the prophet and repent.
'So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. When Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: 'Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!'
The Ninevites believed God. Probably, the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah were very well known to them. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth to show their repentance. The king and his nobles issued a decree throughout the city: 'No one should eat and drink; everyone must wear garments of mourning and urgently pray to God; and must turn from their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? Perhaps even yet God will change His mind and hold back His fierce anger from destroying us.
When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened. That is how the great city Nineveh was spared by God (Jonah 1:2; 3:2-10).
What a wonderful story! Any individual sinner, city, or nation can be forgiven by the Merciful God of Israel, as long as they follow the example of the great ancient city Nineveh in their sincere and total repentance and turn to Him.
The Israelite and Palestinian peoples come from the same Semitic stock, from the same ancestral father Abraham. They are brothers, and should live together in a happy brotherhood as good and decent peace-loving neighbors. We think that it is Islam that is the root of all problems that have divided the two nations and made them sworn enemies. Hatred, revenge, bloody wars, - all of it is the product of Islam.
It is not a battle between Jews and Arabs, as International media try us to believe; the real battle is between Judaism and Islam. Judaism does not intend to conquer and convert all the World. Islam does. Judaism doesn't teach violence, terror, death. Islam does. Judaism doesn't avenge the nations for not accepting their God, Torah and Prophets. Islam does.
One of the dogmas of Islam which prevent peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Israelis is the underlying teaching of the Koran that any land captured by Muslims, can't be given back to infidels, even if they were the lawful owners. Muhammad himself originated this doctrine, as if it was Allah's command to never give up sacred Muslim territory; to fight for it until victory or martyrdom. This is the reason why the Arab Muslims have rejected the two state solution and are most reluctant to sign any peace agreement with the Israelis. Muslim religion is categorically against any Jewish presence in the land of Israel. They may never quit the jihad-like struggle until the last Jew is killed, or they be soundly defeated and physically relocated.
The Two State Solution and Brit-Am Editorial Interjection.
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Brit-Am Editorial Interjection. |