Jewish Claim To Palestine: Biblical Or No?

This subject is difficult. It is embedded deeply in history as well as Old Testament and New Testament prophesy and history. The reader may be as confused upon completing this article as when he started. Although I am quite familiar with the claim of the Jews and what the Bible teaches concerning it and I also know what legalities supposedly took place through the United Nations in 1947, it is very hard to explain and keep it lucid.

This story begins 1921 years before Jesus Christ, and is recorded in Genesis chapter twelve. God told Abram (Abraham) to move out of his father's house and he would show him a land where he would make of him a great nation. And in verse three He says this: "And I will bless them that bless thee and I will curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the nations of earth be blessed." This last phrase is a direct reference to the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Then again in Genesis 13, God again renews His promise to Abraham in the following words: "...Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever."

The preceding verse is one of the primary verses used to contend that the land which God did indeed give unto the Israelites (Although Abraham did not live to see this), it's language is very deceptive. There are other scriptures where we will show that this promise was definitely with conditions attached. However, it is not as absolute as written as is supposed when it is read. The words "for ever" is from the Hebrew word, olam, which has several meanings. It could be that of eternal but it is obviously not used so in this sentence. It can, and does here, mean throughout an age or era. Or moreso here, a dispensation. There are other instances of promises God made to the Israelites where it is used as "your generations".

Later in chapter 15 verses 13 and following, God spoke to Abraham again in a dream and told him that his progeny would be taken into captivity in a foreign land and after 400 years, he would lead them out of that captivity and give them all the land Abraham had seen.

Abraham and his wife Sarah, had one son, Isaac. He also had a son by his wife's handmaid Hagar, whose name was Ishmael. Then later after his wife Sarah died, he married another, named Keturah and she bare him six more sons, Their names were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

The period of time from here on to the time God did indeed lead them out of Egyptian captivity is long and extensively covered. It is not too pertinent to our efforts in this article so we will fast forward to their being freed from captivity. We do need to explain the choices of God made via Abraham.

We need to realize one thing however, from the first promise to Abram, the entire purpose of God was preparatory to the coming of His Son, Jesus the Christ. God chose Abraham, his son, Isaac, Isaac's son Jacob (who God later named, Israel). Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons whose extended families became known as the twelve tribes of Israel. These were the ones chosen through Abraham to furnish the lineage to Jesus Christ. They were also supposed to be a people through whom, God would show the world that he was God. Through His miraculous means of taking them from within the grasp of Pharaoh, and  his watch-care over them as they traveled through the wilderness and by miraculous means gave the land into their hands.

But he warned them from the time they left Egypt, of the consequences if they failed to follow His commands. Much of the books of Exodus and Leviticus are taken up with commands, laws, rules and way of life God expected of the children of Israel if they were to remain in His favor. Very extensive and very strict. One would do well to read these two books now so as to understand the covenant he made with these people. But it is imperative that you read entire chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, it isn't a long chapter but it details the conditions placed on the Israelites. Bear in mind the consequences that are spelled out if they break the covenant. His promises are null and void if they desert Him.

As time went on, they did desert Him time and again, and he would punish them via their enemies and pestilences as He had promised, until they cried out for His forgiveness. Most of the Old Testament prophesies are the words of God through His chosen prophets either pleading with Israel to repent and return to their position of following God's commands or otherwise informing them of their forthcoming doom. But they became so far removed from His wishes that he finallay allowed them to be taken captive and lost their control of their lands.

This all happened several hundred years before the coming of Jesus Christ so the Israelites, although in captivity, were allowed to continue to worship and remain a remnant of a nation until Jesus birth, His mission was completed and His church was established and progressing. This was the ending of the Jewish law, their mode of worship and then, according to Jesus predictions, the town, their temple and their entire society were destroyed in A.D. 70. with the totally devastatingly destruction of Jerusalem. Their records were destroyed, well over one million of them were slaughtered and the remnant scattered abroad.

Jesus' doctrine was that all men, Jew and Gentile alike, would now become children of Abraham, spiritual Israel, through obedience to Him. God made the record plain by the emphasis on the mount of transfiguration. Jesus took Peter, James and John up into the mountain where he was transfigured and glorified, there appeared Moses and Elias in their midst Here is what transpired:

Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him . This was not a simple complementary exclamation, it was a directive. He wanted those three Jewish men to know that, from this day onward, their allegiance was to His Son, no longer Moses or Elijah. (Underlined phrase, if spoken in my language would be "You listen to him, boy")

Then later, after Jesus ascension, the writer of the Hebrew letter, through inspiration, makes it very plain in the first two verses of the book saying: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." This verified that tha the era of Moses was gone forever and now His Son is the Lord of all.

The days of the Israelite nation are over. Spiritual Israel, the new Jerusalem is the body of Christ, His called out, His church. It is open, not just to the Jew but to all those who will only obey th gospel of Jesus Christ. So the Jews no longer, or ever will, have any Biblical claim to the land of Canaan, Palestine. The tiny remnant that is left of them and even tinier portion who live in Israel are not the Israel of long ago. Their tribal ancestry was of vital importance, only those from Levi were allowed to perform and/or work in the religious activities and only those Levites who descended from Aaronwere allowed to be priests. According to accredited scholars, there is not one Jew alive today who can verify from which tribe he has descended.

Before He ascended, Jesus knew of the approaching destruction of the Israel nation, signified by the total destruction of their treasured Jerusalem and he muttered these words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34).

For a more extensive, thoroughly researched and referenced article concerning this subject, I urge my readers to visit this URL: http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/28-god-and-the-nation-of-israel

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