A Real Estate Transaction of Biblical Proportions

Unless you’re a hermit that doesn’t have a television, newspaper or the Internet, you’re probably aware that the Middle East is an area of great conflict. You are also probably aware that it has been a contentious region for as long as anyone can remember.

Why?

What makes this region so unique that entire civilizations can track their rise and fall against it? Why are so many polarized over it? What is behind it all?

Political situations are usually complex and take longer to understand than a two minute segment that nightly news stations will allow. However, the situation as it relates to the nation of Israel boil down to a few key passages in the Old Testament. “You mean the Bible?” Yes!

The story of Abram

Abram of Ur was born in 2165 B.C. Ur of the Chaldeans–as it was known–was located about 220 miles SE of present day Baghdad.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I show you; and I will make you a great nation.” –Genesis 12:1-2.

At this point, Abram was married to Sarai but they had no children. Abram did as he was instructed by God and made the journey of 1,500 miles to an area that is present day Nablus. Here is the first appearance of the promise God made to Abram.

If we fast forward a few chapters, we see God reiterating His promise, even though he was advanced in age and his wife Sarai was still barren. In spite of this, God reassures him that He will make him a great nation. Abram is still not sure how this is going to happen, so he asks God how he will know that he will possess the land that God is promising him.

So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. –Genesis 15:9-10.

In those days, when a covenant was made, the two parties involved would cut the animals in half and then each party would walk in between the halves. Strange? Gross? Well, to our modern day practices perhaps, but the point is “May this happen to me if I break my side of the deal.” In other words, the parties are saying you can cut me up if I don’t keep up my end of the deal. Sometimes I think it’s too bad we still don’t do this. But I digress.

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peaces; you shall be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” –Genesis 15:12-16.

What God is prophesying to Abram is:

1. The enslavement of the Jews (Abram’s descendants) in Egypt for 400 years.
2. Their subsequent deliverance from Egypt.
3. And Joshua’s conquest of Canaan.

It came about when the sun had set; that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. –Genesis 15:17.

Remember how we said both parties passed through the halves of the animals? Well, here God alone is passing through the halves! It in a unilateral covenant that God alone is responsible for.

And now for the most critical portion of this unilateral, land covenant:

On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.” –Genesis 15:18-21.

It’s a mouthful; a lot of names of peoples that no longer exist. So what does this area look like? See the map below.

This is what Israel is supposed to have!

Israel is supposed to dwell in a land as far east as the Nile River in Egypt, as far west as the Euphrates in Iraq, as far north as Syria, and as far south as Jordan/Saudi Arabia.

What does Israel have right now? See the map below.

Can you even see Israel on the map?

The Sons of Ishmael

So this explains what Israel was promised, but who is so upset and causing so many problems?

As we said, Abram and Sarai were barren at this point. Abram was also about 85 years old, not exactly ancient by the standards of those days, but certainly was not a young man. They decided to take matters into their own hands. Little did they know that the decision they made would still cause the world a huge headache some 7,000 years later!

Sarai told Abram to have a child through her maid, whose name was Hagar. This was an acceptable practice according to the laws of that day, but this was not in accordance to what God told Abram. Hagar bore Abram his first child, a son. After Sarai threw Hagar out of their tent due to jealousy, Hagar went into the wilderness. There God spoke to her and told her to return to Sarai and submit to her as this was proper.

Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count.” The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.” –Genesis 16:10-12. (Emphasis mine.)

First, the “angel of the Lord” is an Old Testament theophany: an appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus. Jesus Himself spoke to Hagar in the wilderness and promised that the descendants of Ishmael would be great. Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations.

You might also think that “wild donkey of a man” was insulting. The Hebrew word used is “pere,” which is translated “wild ass.” Again, it doesn’t sound too flattering. However, one commentary suggests that it was an epithet of praise, as the “onager” or “wild ass” was an admired and valuable animal to the people of the day.

God also plainly states that Ishmael’s descendants’ hands “will be against everyone.” Is this not still true today in the Middle East and–since 09/11–in the United States?

The angel of the Lord also says exactly where the Arab nations are to live: east of all his brothers (the Jews). More on this in a bit.

Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and the Covenant

God had to remind Sarai and Abram that He had a plan and in spite of them taking matters into their own hands, His will is always done.

God changes Abram’s name to Abraham (“exaulted father” to “father of many”) and Sarai’s name to Sarah (“my princess” to “princess”). He repeats His land covenant to Abraham and also tells them that they will have son of their own flesh.

Still, Ishmael is Abraham’s son and he asks God for favor on Ishmael’s life.

And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” –Genesis 17:18.

Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah is 99 at this point. He still doesn’t see how he is going to have a son through Sarah. He is still trying to get to the promise through Ishmael. God has other plans.

But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” –Genesis 17:19-21. (Emphasis mine.)

God is quite clear on this covenant. It is through Isaac, the father of the Jews, not Ishmael the father of the Arab nations. But that is not to say that God didn’t promise to bless Ishmael’s descendants. He did! He promised that he would make them a great nation and that they will “live to the east of his brothers,” the Jews.

“East of his brothers” can have two possible meanings. One we have already touched on in a physical sense: Ishmael’s descendants are to live east of the land that God is giving to the Israelites. Another meaning–and I would like to think that they aren’t mutually exclusive–is that Ishmael’s descendants will always live with hostility and in defiance of the covenant that God made with Isaac’s descendants. Either meaning has implications even today.

Does any of this matter?

As you read this, the Abrahamic and Land Covenants are being challenged right before our eyes. President Obama himself is putting the United States in jeopardy by not supporting Israel to the land promised by God. If you live in the United States, then all of this matters more than you might care to admit. This issue is truly a real estate transaction of Biblical proportions.

The Bible isn’t just a book of fables and fiction. The Bible is the very word of God, the Creator of the universe. The Bible is truth. The Bible points to Jesus, our Messiah, our coming King. If you are a Christian, now is the time for prayer that all might come to Jesus.

If you are not yet a Christian, I beg of you to turn your life over to Him today. If you have a Bible and have never read it, or it’s been awhile since you’ve been in it, then review these chapters in Genesis as a starting point. These are passages that are crucial for you to understand what is going on in Israel and the Middle East even at this very moment. Make today the day you follow Jesus.

May He Increase!