The Islamic Dome of the Rock on Israel’s Temple Mount
Today we seem to have an endless supply of world leaders offering their ideas and opinions on how to bring peace to the Middle East. Behind most of these ideas is the simplistic concept that Arab and Jew can sit down together, talk things out and eventually reach peace like most other people would do.
The fallacy behind such thinking lies in the fact that these world leaders usually see the Middle East problem as territorial and political, while in fact, the real problem is theological and spiritual. They also seem to have no appreciation of the historical depth of this struggle. The truth is that the Middle East problem is a religious one which has been festering now for almost 4000 years. In order to gain a proper and realistic understanding of the scope of this problem we must return to its ancient roots which are clearly spelled out for us in the Bible.
ROOTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST PROBLEM
When we turn to the Bible, we discover that the whole conflict in the Middle East began long ago as a family problem. Our first glimpse of this problem is found in Genesis chapter 16. We are told that God had promised Father Abraham an heir, however, the patriarch was 85 years old and an heir had not yet been born, due to the barrenness of his wife Sarah. In what might have been a weak moment in Abraham’s faith, he accepted his wife’s offer of her Egyptian slave, Hagar, in hopes that perhaps she could bear them a son and an heir. As a result of this arrangement, Ishmael was born.
Ishmael was described as a “wild man” whose hand would be against every man, or as the New International Version puts it, “…he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Gen. 16:12). It seems that much of the hostility in the Middle East can be traced back through the ages to this man. He is, in fact, considered by the Muslims to be the father of the Arab race.
This heir apparent to Father Abraham was now on the scene, but God immediately intervened in the situation and assured Abraham that Ishmael was not to be his heir. God promised Abraham a son of his wife, Sarah. That son was to be named Isaac, and God swore that he would establish an everlasting covenant with Isaac, giving him the land of Canaan as an eternal possession (Gen. 17:7 & 19). God still promised to bless Ishmael and to multiply him exceedingly, so that twelve princes would come from him (Gen. 17:20). But God was careful to promise that Isaac, not Ishmael, would inherit the land of Israel (Gen. 17:21). With this, the story of the Arab-Israeli conflict began. God did multiply the seed of Ishmael into millions and hundreds of millions as they are today. But there is more
to the story.
Later, after Sarah had died, Abraham took another wife, and another six children were born from her. Among these children and their descendants were other Arab names like Midian, Sheba, Dedan. Abraham gave gifts to these sons and also sent them off to the east country (the desert), away from his son Isaac (Gen. 25:6).
The antagonism was also carried on in the children of Isaac. His wife bore him twins, Jacob and Esau. Again we have God intervening and making a sovereign choice for his own redemptive purposes. God chose Jacob to inherit the promise as well as all the land of Canaan, or the land of Israel as is known today. Again, there was bitterness and resentment on the part of the one not chosen. Esau, like Ishmael, moved into the desert in the area of Mt. Seir, or Edom, a land to the southeast of the Dead Sea. There he became the progenitor of multitudes of other Arab peoples. These Arab peoples were joined by the children of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who make up many of the inhabitants of today’s Jordan, as well as other parts of the modern Arab world (Gen. 19:37-38).
The bitter rivalry between all these desert peoples and Israel is recorded throughout the remainder of the Old Testament. Time and time again these Arab forefathers came in fury and bitter hatred to destroy Israel. First, there were the Amalekites, then the Moabites or the children of Lot. Later, at different times, most all these Arab descendants of Abraham sought to destroy the seed of Isaac and Jacob.
Bible history is replete with the attacks of Edomites, Ammonites, Ishmaelites, Moabites and hordes of other Arab progenitors. They are all carefully enumerated for us in Psalm 83. In this Psalm, the clear and unwavering purpose of these Arab peoples is spelled out for us in verses 4 and 5: “‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more. With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you.'”
Much later, in 586 BC, the Edomites assisted in the destruction of Jerusalem, bringing down God’s eternal wrath upon themselves (Obad. 1:10-14). It has been said that the Edomites are Israel’s only neighbors who were not given any promise of mercy from God. Later, Arabs strongly resisted the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh. 2:19). When Israel was finally exiled after the wars of AD 70 and 135, these Arab peoples soon rushed in with “despiteful minds” to claim God’s heritage as their own (Ezek. 36:5-6).
THE RISE OF ISLAM
What the Arab people could not attain in the centuries of war against Israel, they at last achieved with the rise of Islam and its prophet Muhammad. In AD 622, this moody camel driver fled in fear for his life from his native city of Mecca. Scarcely two years later he returned in triumph, and in just a few years, half of the known world fell under the sway of his new religion. One of his first acts was to turn upon the Jews, killing them and driving them from the Arabian peninsula.
Muhammad had some exposure to both Judaism and in Christianity. He felt that his new religion would take the place of both of these older religions. Islam was to be God’s final and complete revelation to mankind. He taught that both Judaism and Christianity were true revelations of God, but that both been corrupted by their adherents. Now the cry was to be, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.” All other peoples were to be subjects. In fact, the very name “Islam” means “subjection.”
Within a few generations in all Muslim realms, Jews and Christians were made to wear distinctive clothing, to pay the heavy poll tax, and to suffer many other forms of humiliation. For instance, the dwelling of a Jew or Christian could not be higher than that of a Muslim; a Jew or Christian could not ride on horseback, lest they be higher than a Muslim; Churches and Synagogues could not be built or sometimes even be repaired. Both Jews and Christians were called Dhimmi – second class citizens.
The victorious Muslim armies rode out in all directions and soon they stood at the door of Israel. On August 20, 636 (AD), near the Sea of Galilee, they won control of the northern part of the country. Two years later, Jerusalem fell to the Muslim Khalif Omar. Muslim armies continued to sweep across Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain, until finally in AD 732, they were stopped by the Christian leader Charles Martel, at the Battle of Tours-Poiters just outside Paris. Much later, Islamic armies swept across Europe from the east conquering lands as far West as Austria, remaining until their defeat in the late 17th century.
ISLAM’S GREATEST INSULT
Over the centuries in Islam there developed some basic ideas that are critical to understanding the Middle East problem today. One idea is that all lands are to be subject to Allah and that once a land is subjected, it must remain in Allah’s dominion. Thus, jihad (holy war) becomes an urgent necessity in order to reclaim all lands that have been lost to Islam. This, of course, is the very situation with modern Israel today.
It was bad enough for Islam’s armies to be defeated by Christians in AD 732, and it was especially bad for the Muslims to be pushed out of Spain by the Christians in AD 1492. It was a further insult for them to become subjects of French and British “Christian” colonialism in the last two centuries. But the crowning insult to Allah was having a hated Jewish state declare itself independent in their midst, and on land that was once claimed by Allah. A further insult was having the Jews lay claim again to Jerusalem, which has lately become one of Islam’s three holy cities and the focus of Islamic aspirations in reaction to Israel’s presence.
We can begin to sense why a Jerusalem in control of the hated Jews seems especially designed by God to send the surrounding Arab nations reeling (Zech. 12:2-3). We can now glimpse why the Muslims have fought the establishment of Israel since the days of the earliest pioneers and why they have launched four unsuccessful wars and hundreds of terrorist operations to destroy Israel.
How can such a problem as this be solved by setting down at the negotiating table? In a very real sense, the presence of Israel undermines the credibility of Islam. The Muslims are obligated to declare an eternal holy war against Israel. There are those who think that Israel can somehow appease this ancient hatred by giving up some of their hard-won territory. Someone has remarked that if Israel gave up territory until she had only one square meter left on the sea coast, the holy war or jihad would have to go on until this square meter was brought back into the domain of the god Allah.
With this perspective we can see how futile and senseless are all the so-called “peace talks.” We can begin to see how 200 million Muslims in the Middle East see tiny Israel as a threat to Islam and why they are constantly building up their armaments. This also explains how Iraq, which has no common borders with Israel, feels so threatened. We must understand that it is a theological and spiritual threat and not a military one.
SCENARIO FOR AN ISLAMIC ARMAGEDDON
When we add to this situation the recent rise of Islamic Fundamentalism, we have an extremely explosive problem on our hands. This fundamentalism, which has been nurtured by Iran, not only threatens Israel, but it threatens the more stable and complacent Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt. What the oil crisis could not accomplish in bringing all nations to a showdown war with Israel, Islamic Fundamentalism may now begin to accomplish. After all, theological motivation is a powerful tool. Just a thousand years ago it was theological motivation that brought hordes of Crusaders on horseback to Israel, all the way from their homes in Europe.
We might be wise to consider that the hordes of armies coming from the North and East, that are spoken of by many of the prophets, just might be fanatical Muslim armies. These armies could come from the remote reaches of Soviet Azerbaijan, from Iraq, from Iran, from Pakistan, and from China’s Xinjiang region. Of course, these invaders would always be gleefully assisted by Israel’s Muslim neighbors.
Some well-meaning Christians have been lulled into believing that Christianity, Judaism and Islam all happily worship the same God. However, the nature and character of the Islamic god, Allah, is not the same as the God who revealed himself in the Bible and who is worshipped by Jews and Christians. A close examination of Islam shows that the god Allah is an entirely different deity. Obviously he despises the Judeo/Christian heritage. He is a warlike god who instructs his devotees that swords are the keys to paradise. Therefore the Muslim who dies in a jihad is assured of a place in heaven. With such a concept as this, we can see why Middle East wars must rage on and on.
We can be sure that the sovereign God, known repeatedly in the Bible as the God of Israel, will bring this age-old contest to a close. We are told that he will bring these nations into judgment, and that his Messiah will personally intervene and fight for Israel on that day (Zech. 14:3). Only then, we are told, will the nations of the world begin to understand that the Creator of the Universe has chosen the land of Israel as his land, and the people of Israel as his own treasured possession.
– Jim Gerrish
This updated article is offered courtesy of Bridges For Peace, Jerusalem, and was initially published just prior to the Gulf War of 1991.