Purely Commentary
Israel's Title to the Land of Israel . . .
Claims About Euphrates and the Christian
Elaboration on Four Titles Shown in Bible
former of which Israel was at that moment
"It is difficult to say anything that encamped. "The river," when not other-
Our Friends the Enemies
would convince him. During the last wise
and the Quislings Within
qualified, always denotes the Euphrates
Why are there so many enemies sur- two decades, we have repeatedly said in the Old Testament. The Red Sea, the
rounding us and in our very midst? When we are ready to discuss our problems Arabian desert, the Euphrates and the Med-
Israel was reborn —it was never dead, it with Nasser. I am still ready to fly to iterranean coast are declared to be the ul-
needed rebirth only as an autonomous Cairo tomorrow. I don't want to talk timate boundaries of the land, agreeably
state!—there were so many non-Jews who to him as a conqueror. I want to rid to the definition given to Abraham in Gen.
took special notice of the fact that the Bible his mind of the ridiculous notion of a 15:18 four centuries earlier.
they were reading contained prophecies of greater Israel. He cannot base his
such rebirth. But soon the antagonisms were
TITLE DEED No. 3
revived. For a brief few weeks, when it was policy on a phrase that has been utter-
The third title deed was awarded a few
apparent that Israel would be destroyed un- ed by individuals who represent months later, when Israel was about to
less something drastic happened—in May of nothing but themselves. Even the leave Sinai. "Turn you, and take your jour-
1967—a few friendships were revived. Then, Bible doesn't use that phrase. The ney, and go to the Mount of the Amorites,
because Israel was successful — isn't this "river of Egypt referred to in the Old and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in
how enmities arise: because Jews are oft- Testament is not the Nile but the El- the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and
times successful?—the adversaries came out Arish River—a muddy stream a few in the south, and by the sea side, to the
of their temporary hiding places.
miles inside Sinai. I can pledge my land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon,
This must be said in view of a rather word to Nasser that greater Israel unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
puzzling review by a correspondent at the never has been and never will be our Behold, I have set the land before you; go
in and possess the land which the Lord
United Nations, who should have known
better, of an unfriendly book by a part policy. I am ready to meet him any- swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
where,
anytime,
and
I
won't
quarrel
and Jacob, to give unto them and to their
Jew. This raises the double question about
the unfriendly non-Jew and the Quisling about procedure, agenda, or the shape seed after them" (Deut. 1:7, 8). The Mount
of the Amorites was the elevated region
of the table."
Jew.
The review referred to appeared in Satur- But an important Christian group, Asso- extending for many miles east of the Jor-
day Review. It was by Drew Middleton, of ciated Bible Students, in its current periodi- dan; the "plain" (arabah), the deep valley
Maxime Rodinson's "Israel and the Arabs." cal, The Herald of Christ's Kingdom, insists in which the Jordan flows from Galilee to
In comment upon his review, Joseph B. that the Jewish possession must go as far as the Dead Sea; the "hills" (her-high peaks),
the hill country of Judea and Samaria;
Kushner, of Evansville, Ind., wrote this in- the Bible indicates.
the "vak" (ha-shelizzlah), the low plain
We do not adopt that attitude, and we extending
teresting.letter to the Saturday Review:
from Joppa southward, the south
wish to emphasize it! Yet the views of (negeb), the territory toward Sinai and the
Drew Middleton's review of Maxima
Bible
Students
group
is
deserving
of
this
Gulf
of
Aqaba,
the seacoast in the west,
Rodinson's book Israel and the Arabs
attention because it reminds Christians of Lebanon in the north, sweeping across to
(SR, Feb. 1), it seems to me, was granted
Euphrates
in
the
east. This vast terrain
the origin of Bible-land.
far more space and prominence than it
we turn to the current issue of was only partially won, even in the days
merited either as a work of scholarship The Therefore
Herald of Christ's Kingdom to quote of David; the full accomplishment of the
or as an unbiased history of the problem.
Divine mandate lies still in the future.
Mr. Middleton has leaned over backwards from it (an article by A. 0. Hudson) four
"fair"
treatment
to
an
obviously
evidences
of the Title Deeds to Israel. Here
TITLE DEED No 4
to give a
The fourth title deed, given 40 years
slanted piece of propaganda for the United they are, as presented by these Christians:
later as Israel was at long last about to
Arab League.
TITLE DEED No. 1
BY Philip
SiOMOYitZ
Genesis is this promise reiterated. "I cm
with the lad," said the Most High, "/ have
blessed him; I will make him a great na-
tion" (Gen. 16:10-12; 17-20; 21:13,
These words are not meaningless and 18).
the
very significant fact that not one of the
Semitic Arab nations appears in Ezekiel's
list of those who join the forces of Gog
the attack provokes the question as to their
whereabouts and their attitude at that time.
The land of Arabia proper, one-third the
size of Europe and something like four
times the size of the Holy Land of the End
Time, if restored to the fertility it enjoyed
in early ages, could support many times the
present populations of the Arab nations of
the Middle East. Calling to mind the prog-
ress ' now being made in restoring the
present land of Israel from its past desola-
tion it is not too fanciful to surmise that
something of the same kind might be
achieved in Arabia. God said of Ishmael
that he was to dwell to the east of his
brethren, i.e., of Isaac (Gen. 16:12). The
geographical definitions of the land orig.
inallx settled by the sons of Joktan (Gen.
10:30) cover the whole of Arabia to the
Indian Ocean. History concurs in pointing
to that- land as the natural home of the
Arab, peoples just as Israel is that of the
Israelis. It might well be, therefore, that
the outlines of the promised Holy Land
will begin to take shape.
OUT OF ZION SHALL GO FORTH THE LAW, AND
THE WORD OF THE LORD FROM JERUSALLII
This is the land, therefore, which is to
become the center of the closing events
of this Age and the opening events of the
next. It will be literally true that "Out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3)-
Not for nothing has the Holy City pre-
served its existence and its name for so
many centuries. It was already there when
history began — the earliest records we
have speak of Urusalim, the City of God
of Peace, a place sacred to the worship of
The first definition was given to Abraham pass over Jordan into the land, is con- the Most High God. To the three great
I say slanted because just one phrase
in the central conclusion of the book clear- and recorded in Genesis 15:18-21. The Lord firmatory of the third. Said Moses, "Every religions of the world — Judaism, Chris-
reveals the decaying rodent in the had concluded a covenant with the patriarch place whereon the soles of your feet shalt tianity, Islam — it is still a sacred city.
woodpile: "But for one thing, they cannot under the terms of which his seed was to tread shall be yours, from the wilderness Besieged, overthrown and destroyed at
be said to have a historic right to a piece become the means of blessing all families of and Lebanon, from the river, the river least seventeen limes, leveled with the
even unto the uttermost sea ground and plowed up more than once,
of territory because of some of their an- the earth. Later events showed that the line Euphrates,
cestors supposedly (italics mine) inhabit- of descent to the "seed of blessing" was to shall your coast be " (Deut. 11:24). "Wild- stripped and despoiled of its treasures
erness"
here
is mitbar, rendered "desert" time after time, always has the city risen
ed it two thousand years ago." If Mr. Rod- be traced through Isaac, Jacob, and eventu-
second title deed (Ex. 23:31), so that again, still it stands, a symbol of the eter-
inson had been doing his homework. he ally, the twelve tribes of Israel. Said the the the
boundaries
here defined also extend nal things that can never pass away.
would have known that archaeological evi- Lord, "Unto thy seed have I given th i s
Where else in all the world could God
dence gives undisputed proof of this fact. land, from the river of Egypt unto the from the Arabian desert in the south to find so fitting a land and city to be the
Also he would have known that there is great river, the river Euphrates: the Ke- Lebanon in the north, from the Euphrates center of administration for the new earth
clear-cut evidence that Hebrews or Jews nites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kad- in the east to the Mediterranean ("utter- which is to be? "Beautiful for situation, the
were living in the Holy Land after the monites, and the Hittites, and the Pens- most sea" is acharon, the "hinder sea" a joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, .
the city of the great King" (Psa. 48:2).
first diaspora, well before the nomadic zites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, Hebrew term for that sea) in the west.
is much in. all the Scriptures which
and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites,
Arabs came in.
ounmiCNT There
speak
of the day when God sets his hand
thuu
e fo Til
urr"E deD cl E arati
m s oARE
The unfortunate thing is that even and the Jebusites." A significant element ' Io "
ns, sie N para
lk ted from to recover
this land a people which
though Mr. Middleton faults it for its ex- in this passage is the list of peoples then each other, first to last, from th time of will build up to
desolate wastes and raise
aggerations, distortions and tendentious- existing whose territory is to be included Abraham to that of Joshua, agree together
together a standard of the
righteousness
in the eyes of
on the boundaries of the land as it is finally
ness he also gives it a measure of credit- in the Holy Land.
all nations. Here, where Europe, Asia, and
The "river of Egypt" is the Nile. The to be constituted when the Divine purposes Africa
ability by stating, "Mr. Rodinson's ideas
meet, it is the Divine intention to
come
to
fruition
and
the
Kingdom
of
God
demand a sympathetic reading from same expression is used some half dozen upon earth is at hand. The fact that Israel create a gathering place for that nation
Americans." Why? Because Mr. Rodinson times in the Old Testament to describe the of old never possessed more than a part which shall enter the most fiery trial that
is of Jewish extraction and therefore "his Wadi-el-Arish, a seasonal stream running of this great area is immaterial; Israel's has ever confronted a people — and, in
analysis and conclusions cannot be con- down from the middle of the Sinai peninsula failure to measure up to the conditions of the power of God, emerge victorious.
•
• *
sidered the work of a political propagan- into the Mediterranean sea at El-Arish. In her calling accounts for this as well as
dist." Mr. Middleton, don't look now but these cases the word for river is "nachal" many other deficiences in her attainments
What is described here is the Israel
your naivete is showing! Need he be told meaning a torrent bed dry in summer and in history. This is the land as it will be
the ideal Israel, the Holy Nation of of antiquity, and for the truly reli-
that there are Simon Girtys in every war, flooded in winter—the Arabic "wadi." When when
the End Time, takes its stand for God in gious Christians it is still the Israel
the Nile is intended, as in Gen. 15:18, the face
renegades in every religion?
of world opposition.
that should be. But Israel was willing
word is "nahar" meaning a permanent run-
* * *
The territory thus defined includes not
Two important points are struck here by ning stream. The Nile delta or its vicinity only contemporary Israel but the whole of to accept a crumb in 1947! Israel was
the Evansville correspondent. He tackles would therefore appear to be the western the State of Jordan, and parts of Egypt, ready to live in a UN made ghetto.
both well. Indeed, we have enemies in our frontier of the Holy Land. David's Kingdom Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. There But the Arabs begrudged even that,
must obviously be a considerable political and now they'd like to return to the
midst: how else have we ever suffered, if reached as far as the Wadi-el-Arish.
The 10 nations mentioned as occupying adjustment of frontiers to be effected be- status quo ante in which Israel would
not because there are Quislings among us,
fore the Holy Land assumes the shape fore-
this
territory
in
Abraham's
day
have
long
as at Wayne State University, among the
seen in the Pentateuch, and nothing in the be crushed—they would like to re-
pathetically misled New Leftists, in the since disappeared from history, although in prophetic
Scriptures gives ground for turn to a small area whence they
most cases a good deal is known about
ranks of the Young Socialist Alliance.
thinking this is to be attained by physical were unable to oust Jews who were
Then there is the question of who pos- them.
force or by aggressive warfare. Any terri- holding on to a sacred heritage, be-
torial changes achieved by conflicts between
sesses what — whether Israel (Palestine?)
TITLE DEED No. 2
belongs is the Jews.
The second title deed was the gift of God the present State of Israel and her Arab lieving that with Russian arms (also
We have made the point time and again to the emerging nation of Israel at the neighbors have to do with the fortunes of French, M. de Gaulle?) they can now
— and Mr. Kushner also emphasizes it— time of the Exodus. "I will set thy bounds the kingdoms of this world rather than destroy Israel. But "we shall not die
that Jews never left the Land of Israel— from the Red Sea even unto the Sea of the those of the next. And in any case, the but live," saith the Psalmist—antici-
of today is very far removed from
that's what the land is — Eretz Israel — the Philistines, and from the desert unto the Israel
the God-believing "Holy Nation" of the pating Amalek and Ishmael! There-
Land of Israel!—and that no one can erase river" (Exod. 23:31). This statement defines future
is going to survive the great fore our indestructibility and our re-
the rights as they are recorded in the Bible, the north-south and east-west limits of the attack which
because it has put its trust in God fusel to condone the reduction of
land. The expression "Sea of the Philistines" instead of in armed force.
the writings of the Prophets, in history!
Israel first to another UN- and Nazi-
No one in Zionism has ever claimed that is in itself an interesting internal proof of
ARAB-ISRAEL PROBLEMS TO BE
made ghetto and then to shambles
SETTLED PEACEFULLY
Jews wanted to go as far as the Euphrates, the early date of the Book of Genesis. The
It
that there is expansionism in our minds or Philistines were immigrants from Crete
must be expected, therefore, that the and to ashes. So, Israel and the Is-
hearts. Whatever land was repossessed by (Caphtor in the Old Testament, Egyptian future holds in prospect a much more raelis' kinsmen say NO! And while
Jews—indeed, liberated!—was the result of Keftu—see Ter. 47:4 and Amos 9:7) and peaceful settlement of Arab-Israel prob- we do not even wish to go to the
than at the present time seems pos- Euphrates and plead for the right to
war imposed by Arabs and the need to pro- were settled on the coast of Canaan primar- lems
sible. It has to
remembered that in the
tect the lives of 2,500,000 Jews. Because, as ily for the purpose of growing corn for their past these two be
peoples have not always remain where Israel is, we call atten-
we have said again and again, and as the homeland. Crete was the dominant sea been at variance, that their present antag- tion to a Christian viewpoint that de-
million survivors from Nazism and Moslem- power in the Mediterranean in the days of onism is largely inspired by the conflicting fies Arab intransigence and arro-
Soviet terrorism assert in Israel, there shall Abraham and that sea was then known as commercial interests of other nations. gance.
never again be another Auschwitz!
the "Sea of the Philistines." Less than a Most important of all, the same series of
• • •
In relation to the Euphrates, the ques- century after the Exodus the supremacy of Divine promises which set the sons of Isaac
If Christ were to arise anew there is DO
for a specific destiny also provided
tion was raised by Arnaud de Borch- Crete was broken and her sea power passed apart
specially for the sons of Ishmael. The Arab
doubt—let Bible students attempt to den,
grave, Newsweek's senior editor, in his to the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon. From
race originated from a number of sources
it!—that he would assert that he was or
interview with Israel Prime Minister Levi then the sea was known to the Hebrews and but for the most part are of Semitic stock,
the Jews (authority: New Testament), ai
Eshkol. He asked: "President Nasser in the Old Testament as the "Great Sea." in the main from the thirteen sons of
Jerusalem and Nazareth and Bethlehent-•
charges that your objective is a greater
From the Red Sea to the Mediterranean; Joktan (Gen. 10:26-30) and twelve sons of
of which are Israel's! and that b.
all
Israel, from the Nile to the Euphrates.
from the desert to the river! "Desert" here Ishmael, many of their names surviving as
rael's heritage can not be denied to the
What can you say that would convince
is "midbar" which defined the desert of main Arabic divisions to this da y. Concern-
People Israel! And if Mohammed, with
him this is not so?" And Eskhol replied:
Sinai and northwestern Arabia, in the ing Ishmael God declared that he would
ail his hatred for Jews because they re.
make of him a great nation and multiply
him exceedingly, so that he could not be
fused to adopt the Muslim faith—would
2—Friday, February 21, 1969
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
numbered for multitude. Four times in
not deny this basic right ! Sufficient !
-
—