Where is God in Gaza?
Seeking a cure for the curse
“This is Biblical,” said the Christian news announcer the other day about the war raging between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas in Gaza.
What? Are you kidding me? Should we believe that the Bible condones this kind of behavior? Can holy scripture really uphold such rampant destruction, senseless bloodshed, the suspicion, the hatred and hard feelings? Where is God in all of this?
The Promise
Looking for the root of the problem as far back as we can in the Bible, we come to these verses in Genesis: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’ … Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ … On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, …’” [1]
At that time, there were people living in that vast area, and they are listed in subsequent verses as Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites. Of course, the offspring of Abram (who was renamed Abraham) did not immediately settle all those lands. But this promise, to my understanding, is the root cause of the problems we see today. A group of people claims that God promised them land, and yet there were and are people already living there. How can this be fair? It makes you wonder.
Expecting God to be fair and just, we continue searching the Bible for clues. Eventually we come across a hint of explanation. It turns out that the “promise” in “Promised Land” is conditional.
Blessing and Curse
In the book of Deuteronomy, it says, “… by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. “ [2]
First we see the conditions: 1) Love God, 2) walk in his ways, and 3) obey His laws. That will allow the Israelites to live and multiply. And, when these conditions are met, then they will be blessed when they go into a land to take possession of it. That is the blessing.
Of course, the original inhabitants may not see it that way. But there is more to the story. There is also a curse. Deuteronomy continues, “But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.” [3] In other words, if the Israelites turn away from God, they will perish and not live long upon the land. That is the curse.
Subsequent books of the Bible recount the story of how this blessing and this curse played out in history. Sometimes the Israelites followed God, were blessed, and lived in the land. And sometimes they turned away, and were cursed — driven from the land.
In the past two millennia, it seems that the curse was dominant. With the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 CE and subsequent suppression of revolt in 135 CE, most Jewish people fled or were exiled from their land and spread across the empire. But in accord with various Biblical prophecies, for more than 100 years now they have been returning from many parts of the world.
This return has not been completely smooth; the current conflict in Gaza being the most recent example. Since learning of this conflict in grade school, I always wondered if there might be some kind of guidance from the Bible to make things right. Imagine my surprise a few years ago when I came across these verses:
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” [4]
There you go. That must be the way to the blessing. This is certainly God’s way, is it not? How different things would be in Israel today if everyone treated each other according to these verses. No more we/they mentality. No need for fences, walls or barriers. No more suicide bombers. Nobody moving into an area without the consent of it occupants. These are hallmarks of God’s teaching, the Golden Rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Pondering this guidance, I had to ask myself, who is the stranger in that passage today? The Palestinians? You might think so. But maybe not. Remember, to whom was the land promised? The offspring of Abraham.
Offspring of Abraham
Abraham had offspring from three wives. His first born child, from Hagar, was Ishmael who had 12 sons, from whom many Arabs and others in the Middle East claim ancestry. Clearly, they would not be strangers, but offspring.
Then of course there was Isaac, born from Sarah, who fathered Jacob, whose 12 sons fathered the 12 tribes of Israel. These are the ones most often associated with the promise of the Promised Land.
Those two large groups are the physical offspring. But what about the spiritual offspring? Some early Christians claimed that Christ opened the door for all nations to worship the one true God of Abraham, and to follow His teachings. Many Christians today see themselves as spiritual descendants of Abraham, and feel close ties with the land of the Bible.
So, it could be said that Jews, Muslims, and Christians are all offspring of Abraham in one sense or another, and that each one of them may have a role to play in the blessing and the curse. Surely, in each of those three religions we find teachings to not wrong those who live among you, but rather treat them as you treat yourself. If enough of these offspring of Abraham were to wholeheartedly abide by this basic teaching of God, we may discover it to be the cure for the curse.
A new vision
There is more to the story. Abraham’s third wife, Keturah, had offspring as well. The Bible tells how she and all her sons were sent away to the east country. They settled in an area south of the Caspian Sea, and prospered. Their descendants still live in that area. One of the more recent of them was an individual named ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who although born in Persia, spent most of his adult life in Akká and Haifa, Palestine. He was exiled there with his whole family to share the undeserved imprisonment of His father, Bahá’u’lláh, Founder of the Bahá’í Faith.
After the passing of His father in 1892, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was tasked with leadership of the Bahá’í Faith. Despite this great responsibility, and still a prisoner, He always found time to help the needy, cheer the downcast, and befriend everyone who crossed His path. He was well-known and respected throughout the area. People from all classes, creeds and backgrounds came to Him with every sort of problem and question, and were never turned away. Years before the outbreak of war in 1914, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá saw the storm clouds gathering, and arranged to stockpile food for the city of Haifa. His foresight saved many of its citizens from starvation. At His funeral in 1921, “no less than ten thousand people participated representing every class, religion and race in that country,” including “notables of Palestine, Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Druze, Egyptians, Greeks, Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Europeans and Americans, men, women and children.” [5]
From the late 1800s the children of Israel, then known as “Zionists”, were starting to return to Palestine. In the summer of 1919 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was asked by a newspaper reporter about this phenomenon. Regarding their relationships with other inhabitants of the land, He said, “If the Zionists will mingle with the other races and live in unity with them, they will succeed. … The Zionists should make it clear that their principle is to elevate all the people here and to develop the county for all its inhabitants.” [6]
This vision of the fundamental unity of humanity is rooted in the teachings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s father, Bahá’u’lláh, who said: “Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship. “ [7]
Somehow the people of Haifa got the message. Although just up the coast from Gaza, in the very same State of Israel, relations between Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and other groups in Haifa are remarkably harmonious. People generally get along, work for a prosperous future, and raise their families in relative peace. One recent visitor described the city as giving “Lessons in Tolerance.”
If there is peace and prosperity in Haifa, why not Gaza? Where is God in Gaza? in Palestine? in Israel? Maybe that’s not the question. Maybe we should be asking where are the peoples of this dearly cherished, this holy land? Where do they stand before God? Are they living the blessing or the curse? As it was in times past, so it seems today. If they follow the Bible teachings and learn to treat the stranger as a native, loving him as they love themselves, they will be blessed, and God will truly be with them — all of them. They will become the true offspring of Abraham, one family under one God. Surely, this must be Biblical.
Notes
1. Genesis 12:1, 12:7 and 15:18
2. Deuteronomy 30:16
3. Deuteronomy 30:17–18
4. Leviticus 19:33–34
5. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By p 312, 313
6. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Star of the West, Vol 10 #10, Sept 8, 1919
7. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh CXXXII
