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| WHY ARABS HATE THE JEWS BY WESLEY
SMITH I just finished reading one of the most informative books I've ever read: A PLACE AMONG THE NATIONS, by Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a "must-read" for everyone who is interested in Israel, the Middle East, Terrorism, and the final play-out of history in these last days. Reading this book gave me the desire to go back to Genesis chapter 21 and refresh my understanding of what caused the descendants of Ishmael to despise God's people in such a fanatical way. We all know the basic story: God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son through whom the nation of Israel would be blessed. The "minor" problem was that Abe was around 75 years old and both he and Sarah had passed the time when folks that age can have children. However, Abraham believed God in spite of their physical limitations. Sarah definitely jumped the gun on this one. By the time Abraham was about 87 years old she decided to take things into her own hands, thinking, "If we are going to have a child, then I am definitely going to have to make it happen." She had an Egyption servant named Hagar who fit the bill perfectly. And when she suggested to Abraham that he should take her to bed, he was only too willing to do so. Thus, the birth of Ishmael. Abraham loved the little guy and spent about 13 wonderful years with him (We do not know if he continued a sexual relationship with Hagar or not). Imagine the close relationship you would have with your teenage son after being with him day after day, teaching him to walk, teaching him to speak, and training him up in the ways of the Lord. Then an astounding thing took place--Sarah become pregnant--just as the Lord had promised. She gave birth to Isaac and what a party they had! The day Isaac was weaned Abraham "made a great feast" and everyone attended. It was a real blow-out! But sometime during the party Sarah noticed that Ishmael was mocking. After being the center of Abraham's affection and attention for 12 or 13 years it was more than Ishmael could take. Mockery is the product of jealousy. And Ishmael was very jealous. This was the first of the seeds planted in his heart that would eventually produce decades of terrorists in Israel, and eventually the destruction of the World Trade Towers in New York City. And something happened in Sarah's heart, too. She decided that Ishmael would never be an heir, he would never share the benefits of her husband's vast wealth (see Genesis 13:2). A seed was born in her heart, too, one of selfishness. Even though Sarah and Abraham were multimillionaires (by today's standards) she did not want Ishmael to end up with one red cent of the money. We might ask, "Why would it matter?" She had so much. Why would it matter if Ishmael shared in the fortune? It only mattered to Sarah. She hardened her heart toward the boy and his mother, Hagar. Instead of opening her hand to them, she closed it. She instigated the entire thing and then did not have the fortitude to live with what she had created. And what a difference it has made down through the centuries! But she not only decided to disinherit Ishmael, she told Abraham in no uncertain terms that he was to get rid of the two of them. And "when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" But Abraham was caught between a rock and a hard place. By this time he certainly loved Ishmael deeply. We don't know how he felt about Hagar. The Bible does not tell us. So his wife would not be happy unless he threw Hagar and her son out. But he would not be happy if he did it. Then the Lord stepped in and spoke to Abraham: " . . . in all that Sarah has said unto you, hearken to her voice; for in Isaac shall your seed be called." Abraham had no choice. He had to obey the Lord. So he took Hagar and Ishmael, handed them a thermos of water and a loaf of bread and sent them into the dry and bitter wilderness of Beer-sheba. They had no help, no protection, and no way to survive in this harsh and barren wilderness. (Beer-sheba is just south east of Gaza). This was definitely not a "politically correct" thing to do. Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest men in the world--similar to Abraham in his time. Can you imagine what public opinion would say if they knew Bill Gates sent a woman and her 13-year old son into the desert to die with a canteen of water and a loaf of bread? He would be despised if he did such a thing. But that is exactly what Abraham did. I cannot even imagine the pain in Abraham's heart as he watched Hagar and Ishmael disappear into the wasteland. GUILT with a capital "G". But he knew that this would not only please his wife, but that God had told him to do it. REJECTION with a capital "R" must have raged inside the hearts of both Hagar and Ishmael. This was injustice magnified many times over. She had willingly had sexual relations with a man who was not her husband, simply because Sarah had asked her to do it. And now she was being treated like this. Sure, she had become a little haughty toward Sarah when she conceived and Sarah could not conceive. But surely she did not deserve this. What about Ishmael? What about all the good memories of going fishing with Dad, working by his side, listening to the fireside stories before bed time, adoring his father, hanging on his every word--emulating him. Now that was all dashed to bits in a matter of minutes. All of his dreams were destroyed. All of his love was torn from him. The man he had trusted the most was sending him and his mother into Beer-sheba to die. Dark thoughts came into the mind and emotions of this young teenager. "I will never trust anyone again. I will harden my heart so that I cannot ever be hurt again. I will kill anyone that I distrust. I will become a wild man." Certainly very dark seeds were planted in his heart, in his very soul, and they went into his bloodstream, into his blood, into his genes, and would be passed from generation to generation. For neither Ishmael or his mother died in the wasteland. God rescued them. But would you be jealous of an Isaac after that? Would you want to destroy him for inheriting so much, when you received worse than nothing? I believe, and many Bible scholars believe, that the root of the Arab/Jew relationship was formed in the womb of Genesis 21 and has continued to this present day. Many of us have suffered pain in our lives. And, if we choose to do so, we could give birth to resentments, anger, jealousies, and, yes, even murder. Each of us has this potential to allow our evil, lower nature to control our thoughts and actions. Most of us could never overcome the pain and its results without Jesus and His power working inside of us. We just "don't have it in us" to overcome some of the things that have been done to us injustly in our past. People have been raped, children have been sexually and physically abused, others have been disinherited, rejected, reviled, and made to feel like the scum of the earth. I believe that these are the motivations working especially obviously in the modern terrorist. He has never been able to reconcile his inner feelings and find peace. Then Satan has entered and magnified the past injustices into huge mountains--causing the terrorist to actually believe that murder on a mass scale, torture, rape, or any atrocity is justified because his own personal rights were trampled upon by someone--even if that "someone" lived centuries in the past. The Bible says that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and this Truth is no more clearly seen than in the attitudes of the Arabs toward the Jews. Let me insert here that there are many Arab people who love the Jewish people. They have come to know Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, and He has used His power to break the stronghold of Satan that has come down through the bloodline from the time of Ishmael and Hagar. As far as I am concerned, this is the only solution to the century-old hatred of Arabs toward Jews. So at least there is a solution. God does have an answer for each of us. If we allow Him to do it He will reach inside of us and change our hearts, change our emotions, and, if you will, even go inside our bloodstream to defeat the ancient genes that wants to hold onto unforgiveness and harbor resentment and murder. He has the power to do this. And He has done it for countless millions of people world-wide. Even if you are not an Arab, you need Him to change your heart's condition. We all do. The Scripture makes it very plain that all of us have sinned. We all need a heart change. We all need to be changed from the inside out. The consequences of this not taking place within our souls and spirits can lead to something so horrendous as the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is not hard to understand that these actions emanated from hearts that tended toward unforgiveness, rage, jealousy, and murder. Allowing these wicked thoughts and spirits to churn around inside of us opens each of us up to actions of unspeakable magnitude. But for the grace of God go I. So as God's people the very best thing we can do is to continue to teach and preach the message of God's love. Jesus died and rose from the dead that we can become free and have eternal life. Cult leaders kill, and the result is that it produces more killing, torture, rape and violence. We are looking forward to the return of Jesus when the lamb will lie down with the lion. One day both Arab and Jew will live together in peace. Between now and then we all have a big job to do. And it all starts in my heart and yours. Contact Us! Full Life Crusade 1-574-267-7546 EMAIL |