LEARNING DAILY

 

Judges 11:13, And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

 

I am going to take a chance and say not too many have written a devotional about this verse. Jephthah has been used by God to gain possession of the land held by the Amorites in the Promised Land. Before doing so, the king of the Amorites tried to negotiate for Israel to restore all the land taken from God had given Israel as they first entered the Promised Land under Joshua. Be sure to read the rest of Judges 11.

 

Here is my point today. I find it very interesting that negotiations over the land given to Abraham, through covenant, continues to this day. Think back to all the presidents who have believed they would be the one to settle the problems of ownership of land in the Middle East.  Everyone who reads this blog knows that there are strong disputes over land controlled by Israel. There have been numerous attempts to settle the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. There have been numerous wars between Arab nations and Israel; each time Israel has miraculously been victorious and gained additional territory held by the Arab nations.

 

When considering the land now known as Israel, God’s covenant with Abraham and Isaac must be remembered. The land was given to them and their descendants forever. Their descendents came into the land as directed by God, and claimed what He had given to them. But because of their disobedience, God forced them to be dispersed for something like 1900 years. The land was still theirs because of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Jewish people continued their desire for the Promised Land.

 

Their return to the land after WWII, eventually declaring the nation of Israel in the land in 1948, has been heavily disputed by the Arab people. Their claim is the Jewish people have never had any actual ties to the land; this includes the city of Jerusalem. The Arab assertion is the Jews are occupying the land as foreigners or colonists. The attempts by American presidents to bring resolution to this land has not been successful. Today, we see the problems between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East have become international in scope. Terrorists that have plagued Israel have become bold taking their acts of violence to other nations of the world. We have seen acts of terror against our own land. World leaders continue to demand Israel divide the land with Arab nations who are dedicated to destroy and annihilate Israel. A group known as Hamas has publicly said their goal is to deny Israel’s right to exist and has done all they can to see this through. Nations like Iran and Syria are doing all they can to develop weapons of mass destruction to achieve this goal. And, if I am understanding what I read and hear on the news, the United Nations seem to be pretty much against Israel as well.

 

For such a small area of land, Israel is the focus of the world’s attention. What we are seeing today in this area is drawing the world into its final days and one final battle. I will explain tomorrow.