Arab v Jew - an endless conflict?
Often we think tension in the Middle East must have reached breaking point
especially in Israel where religious, territorial, and cultural jealousies are
it seems always at fever pitch. Any Arab misdemeanour triggers impetuous
reprisals by Jews - and vice versa of course if the Israelis step out of line.
To make matters worse, so much of the oil we seem unable to live without, lies
under this troubled region. Of all the world's trouble spots, this is the one
we would most like to see peacefully stable. Yet peace is tantalisingly
elusive. Even though we have from time to time seen attempts to broker peace
between the two sides. Why is this?
If no explanation is required, the blunt answer is that God decreed that it
would be so! We have time for only a brief expansion of this point.
God promised Abraham, the first Jew, a son who would be the beginning of the
Jewish nation. But Abraham's wife was very old, and the prospect of having
their first child seemed laughable. Taking matters into his own hands, Abraham
had a child by his wife's servant girl. Ishmael, the servant girl's son was the
father of the Arab nations. Later his own wife Sarah had the promised son
Isaac.
In Genesis chapter sixteen we read that Ishmael would be the father of great
nations, and in verse twelve that he -
"- shall be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand
against him -"
Similarly when Isaac was born - the real son and heir - jealously and conflict
was inevitable. The Arab Israeli conflict was born, and will continue until the
time is ripe for God to settle it once and for all. Settlement of this conflict
and the return of Jesus will herald the dawn of a new and peaceful world. The
Bible tells us that this will be soon.
