Who Owns Palestine?
by John M. Frame
[Christian Culture (June, 2002), 2.]
Throughout
the long middle-east conflict, much has been said about rights, possessions,
inheritance, ownership of land. Palestinian Arabs complain that in 1948 the
Jews expelled them from their homeland, creating by force a state for
themselves. The Jews reply that Palestine
is their ancestral homeland, an area in which some Jews have always lived.
Conservative religious Jews, with many evangelical Christians, assert more--
that the land was given by God to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac. Israel’s international supporters, however,
prefer the argument that the Jews have experienced such oppression during their
dispersion, through such infamies as the inquisition, the pogroms, and the
holocaust, that the world owes them a homeland, and that homeland may as well
be in Palestine.
First
we should ask, did God give Palestine to Israel? In a
word, yes. But the Israel to
whom he gave Palestine is not the same nation
that we call Israel
today. God gave the land to a people united to him by a solemn covenant (Ex.
19-20). The present state of Israel
is avowedly secular, a state that does not recognize the God of the Bible as
its supreme Lord.
The nation
covenanted to God today is not the present day state of Israel, but “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), the faithful remnant. It is the vine from
which some branches—unbelieving Jews—have been broken off and
others---believing Gentiles—grafted in (Rom. 11:1-24). In other words,
God’s chosen people today is the Christian church, the body of all those Jews
and Gentiles who acknowledge Jesus the Messiah as Lord and Savior from sin.
Does the church,
then, hold title to Palestine?
Only insofar as they hold title to the whole earth. The church is an
international body, a people without borders. Jesus sends them throughout the
earth to take the gospel everywhere, baptizing and teaching everything Jesus
taught (Matt. 28:18-19). And as they spread over the earth, they bring his
presence with them: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (verse 20). Thus Jesus intends to make the whole world his special dwelling, as
God dwelled with Israel
in the ancient tabernacle and temple.
The church has no
interest in making a political claim to the Holy Land,
contrary to the theology underlying some of the crusades
[1]
and
contrary to the theology of Islam. The Lord calls Christians to spread the
Gospel, not by the sword of warfare, but by the sword of the Spirit which is
the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). By that sword, Jesus conquers and brings people
everywhere to acknowledge his dominion.
The political
issue itself must be settled either by negotiation, or by war, or by some
combination of these. Neither Jews nor Palestinians have such a clear claim to
the land that everyone must instantly recognize it. The Arabs gained the
territory through military conquest. The Jews gained some of it back through
their own conquest in 1948 and subsequent wars. This is the time-honored way of
establishing sovereignty throughout human history. Modern observers should not
be scandalized at the thought of such issues being settled by military force,
nor should we refuse to recognize a regime simply because it was established
through force. Most every government today owes its existence to someone in the
past who conquered its territory by war or revolution.
Christians should
pray for the peace of the area, particularly for the safety of Christian
believers who are caught in the middle between these warring parties. We should
seek to bring the love of Christ to bear on those whom the war has injured the
most. We should suggest reasonable compromises that may lead to resolution. Yet
we must not presume to advocate the case of one people against the other.
As we stand at the
moment, it hardly seems conceivable that this conflict could be resolved
peacefully. Sovereignty over Jerusalem
seems to be an issue that neither party can concede. And the Palestinians
cannot give up the right of return of refugees to Israeli territory, nor can Israel accept
those refugees if their country is to remain Jewish. Nobody seems to have the
wisdom or the motivation to find a viable third alternative beyond the two
positions.
But it is the
triune God of the Bible who owns Palestine,
as he owns all the world. Jesus reigns even now from heaven as King of the
nations and Prince of Peace. We can do no better than to pray for him to send
his grace upon these warring peoples, granting them a love and wisdom beyond
any of their natural inclinations.