All Roads Lead To Israel/Jerusalem

Western minds, Western eyes, and Western culture have difficulty accepting or even understanding what is happening to Israel today, especially with its Islamic neighbors. The utter significance of this piece of real estate seems remote and of little concern to so many. Even those who consider themselves "up to speed" with the news often neglect to read, digest, and think about the ancient history of this region of the world. Perhaps the most required reading material is that of the Bible, the world's most read book of all times. We can read from as many books, etc. from the past, present and into the future, but the one required reading should be Scripture/the Bible. For without that basic foundation and knowledge, it would seem foolish to try and have any logical conversation within a household, community, our country, or any other country. For those who have entered the country of Israel and have witnessed the constant archeological "digs" taking place all over that land, it is a "classroom" experience. To visit the Israeli National Museum in Jerusalem, where one sees the judicial chair that Moses actually sat in while determining how to settle various problems that came up during his time with God's people in the desert, is like being handed evidence in a courtroom as a member of the jury. That is just one of the "history coming alive" moments while traveling in Israel. To understand why Israel is the piece of land, tiny as it is, that is going to affect us all, let's take a look at it geographically. Israel is surrounded by enemies, both near and far. The nearby antagonists who isolate Israel from the outside world by land are: Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, Palestine, Somalia, Djibouti, Tunisia, and Libya. At one time or another in Modern Israel, most of these nations have not recognized Israel's right to exist, and many have vowed openly to annihilate Israel. These hostile nations occupy a land mass of more than 5 million square miles, while tiny Israel occupies a land mass of almost 9 thousand square miles. It is therefore acknowledged by Israel that she has been forced to maintain a constant state of warfare throughout its 68 years of existence. While these Middle Eastern eyes see Israel as expendable, there are also many in the West who do not see Israel as being in a fight for its very existence. Does the West actually care about what happens to this little nation? We should. It matters. Even Sam Harris, a devout and strident atheist, a real hero to many on the Left, has said about Israel, "The truth is that there is an obvious, undeniable, and hugely consequential moral difference between Israel and her enemies. The Israelis are surrounded by people who have explicitly genocidal intentions towards them. The discourse in the Muslim world about Jews is utterly shocking. Not only is there Holocaust denial--there's Holocaust denial that asserts that we will do for real if given the chance...There are children's shows in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere that teach five-year-olds about the glories of martyrdom and about the necessity of killing Jews".

So what should we know here in the West? How can we begin to think about what we say? What will bring more understanding "to the table"? Going back to the first book, Genesis, in the Old Testament, is where the history of the Jews begins, and also, that of their neighbors. Moses, who is credited by Biblical scholars as being the author of the first 5 books of the Old Testament, reveals that as the Jews were growing into a nation, they were slaves for 400 years in Egypt. In that powerful nation, the Jews were treated with persecutions and opposition. The Jews' servitude was in an alien culture where foods, language, and customs were totally different. But the Jews learned to survive by blending in and even intermarrying in many cases. After the 400 years of slavery, Moses was chosen by God to lead His chosen people out of bondage and into a new land (Exodus 2). What should have been a 2-3 month journey for the Jews turned out to be a 40 years experience due to their disobedience, lack of trust, and "stiffness of neck" towards their God, according to the writings of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). After the death of Moses, his "right-hand" man, Joshua, leads the people of God into the promised land of Canaan and conquers that territory from totally unfriendly tribes. However, even though the Jews found themselves in "the land of milk and honey" as Moses was promised by God that it would be, there was continual conflict between Israel and the other inhabitants of that area called in Biblical times 'Canaan". It was only under the reign of David, Israel's second king, that the Jews would see days of glory. According to Scripture, God selected this young shepherd boy to become king and to be anointed by the prophet, Samuel. However, this selection of David as king over Israel would take time because Israel's first king, Saul, was still alive and very much in control. Eventually, King Saul would become not only jealous of David's talents and exploits, but Saul would eventually plot the death of David. From a highly favored position in the king's palace to a hunted man, David would have to rely upon his best friend, Jonathan, son of King Saul, for protection from the spies and plots of the king. Upon the death of King Saul who fell upon his own sword purposefully, David reigned as king of Israel for forty years (1 Samuel, 2 Samuel). The capital was Jerusalem and David's palace was in Jerusalem.

Upon David's death, his son Solomon would bring Israel into its golden age. Solomon's wealth and wisdom were acclaimed worldwide. His advice and insight are well recorded in the Old Testament book of Proverbs. But as Solomon married many wives, some of them pagan--not of the Jewish faith or lineage, his leadership began to falter and fail God's people. Not only were the seeds of personal failure sown by compromising the laws of Moses as given by God to his people, but the seeds for Israel's eventual downfall and division were also sown. Rehoboam, King Solomon's rebellious and foolish son who would gain the throne at his father's death, would allow the nation of Israel to become separated into two parts--the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. (1 Kings). The unity and strength of Israel that his grandfather and father had both achieved were lost..

When the glory days of Israel's united kingdom had ended, the Jews were beleaguered by wars with neighboring countries. In 722 BC, the Assyrians (part of modern day Syria) conquered northern Israel and deported those Jews back into Assyria. In 568 BC, Babylon (a part of modern day Iraq) conquered southern Israel and exiled those Jews back into Babylonian territory. However, the Jews returned 70 years later to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem under the skills and building talents of Nehemiah, a Jew who had been the highly trusted cup bearer to the Babylonian king. Again, to the Jews misfortunes, the Romans finally crushed Jerusalem in 70 AD and dispersed the Jews to the four winds. For the next 1,878 years the Jews would have no country, and as history has recorded, even in the countries of exile, the Jews would be oppressed, denied rights, isolated in ghettos, and persecuted relentlessly. The worst of these persecutions came in the 1930's and early 1940's when Hitler managed to execute nearly 6,000,000 Jews in his final pogrom, the "final solution".

So considering ALL OF THIS, why do the Jews still survive? There is no other history of a people who have been driven from their homeland, have still maintained their identity through 18+ centuries of exile, and then emerged as an intact nation with one of the strongest military forces in the world?. In terms of Middle Eastern productivity, wealth, and freedom, there is no other neighbor in the region who can match Israel's position. And yet Israel remains extremely vulnerable. And that makes the rest of us, no matter what area of the world we reside in, also at high risk for attack and oppressiveness.

Just what that may mean involves Part 2 of this discussion. It is the hope that you, as a reader, and as a learner of history, both past and present, will come along on this investigative journey. It is also noteworthy that James Chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of copies sold over the last 50 years. He found that the Bible far outsold any other book by a whopping 3.9 billion copies. The second listing was "Quotations From The Works of Mao Tse-tung" with 820 million copies sold, and "Harry Potter" was third with 400 million copies sold.

Carol Paz npazcar@aol.com