| (Copyright 2023) by Richard T. Ritenbaugh (Charlotte, North Carolina) |
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I The early-morning Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023—a Sabbath day as well as the Eighth Day (see Leviticus 23:36, 39)—shocked the world. Beginning with a barrage of at least 3,000 rockets, militants crossed into Israeli territory via both ground and aerial (paragliding) units. The stunning attack, which overcame Israel’s complex physical and technological defenses, killed 859 civilians and around 345 soldiers and policemen, wounding over 5,100. In addition, Hamas took about 250 hostages (thirty of whom are children), both civilians and soldiers, transporting them to the Gaza Strip. Israel claims to have killed around 1,500 militants in its response. Since then, according to the historically unreliable Gaza Ministry of Health, the death toll has climbed to over 15,000 in total. Most of the dead were Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, which is being pounded to dust by the relentless Israeli bombardment. More than 20,000 have been wounded, and thousands more are missing. An estimated 300 people have died each day since the initial assault. While Hamas’ October 7 attack erupted into war and markedly elevated casualty numbers, Palestinian aggression toward Israel is nothing new. Whether it is Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, or one of the many militant groups striking out at what they see as their oppressors, such attacks have been an unhappy facet of life in Israel since the Jewish state began in 1948. In recent decades, attacks—usually rocket launches and mortar shelling’s—have occurred on a fairly regular basis, usually an incident every few months. Islamists have also perpetrated other forms of terrorist activity, like bombings, shootings, and knife and even axe attacks. For this reason and others, Christians should be cautious about proclaiming the present, lopsided war in the Holy Land to be a sign of the end. In reality, the State of Israel has been in a de facto war with its neighbors, particularly the Palestinians, since its founding. It ebbs and flows depending on the leadership of each side and the resources the Palestinians can muster to use against its perceived satanic overlords. The grisly pictures on our news feeds show us the results of perpetual hatred on both sides, and it is not pretty. We can take this long war back still further—more than 3,500 years further! Scripture tells us of the enmity between Abraham’s sons, Ishmael and Isaac, an antagonism primarily based on the older son’s jealousy and bellicose attitude (see Genesis 16:11-12). A generation later, Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob, feuded over their father’s blessing to where Esau, who hated his younger brother, vowed to kill him after their father died (Genesis 27:41). A tribe of Esau’s descendants, the Amalekites, acted so maliciously against the children of Israel as they left Egypt that God promised He would “have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16). Finally, when the Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon, the Edomites, the main body of Esau’s descendants, hunted down Jews trying to escape their nation’s calamity (see the book of Obadiah; Psalm 137:7-9). Thus, the current war between the Jews and the Palestinians, whose ancestry likely originates in Israel’s longtime enemies—the Ishmaelites, the Edomites, and the remnant of the Philistines—is sadly normal, even traditional and unsurprising. Add in the animosity between the Jewish and Islamic faiths, as well as the substantial economic and technological disparities between the two peoples, and explosive conflict is unavoidable. It is surprising that more clashes have not occurred between them! While many people have taken sides in the conflict, the world’s nations have so far done little more than voice support or condemnation and raise humanitarian concerns. On Israel’s southern border, Egypt has reluctantly made the flow of humanitarian aid easier but wants nothing to do with taking refugees or joining the fray under current conditions. Even the Islamist terror group Hezbollah, lying in wait on Israel’s northern border, has only made a show of support for Hamas—trading fire with Israel Defense Forces—but the government of Lebanon, an Iranian proxy state, has publicly stated that it wishes to avoid war with Israel. Iran itself has been aggressively belligerent, but strategically placed U.S. and allied military assets in the region deter it. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at Israel and expressed support for Hamas, but he has done little to back his words because of his country’s strong economic ties to Israel. Jesus’ warning about war in the end time in Matthew 24:6-8 should guide us in situations like the current one in Gaza: And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. . .. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Wars are a deplorable part of the human condition. Without God’s Spirit, people, and nations, consumed by self-interest, will turn to violence to take or keep what they believe is rightfully theirs. (Hamas connotes “violence” in both Arabic and Hebrew.) Conflicts great and small are inevitable in a crowded world filled with self-centered, aggressive people. Our Savior warns that not all wars—even massive, worldwide conflicts (like two world wars) or those in sensitive areas (like the Holy Land)—presage the end of the age. Instead, they are grievous reminders of human sinfulness and its resulting destruction and death (Romans 6:23). In Scripture, God has provided other signs of Christ’s coming that must be present in tandem with warfare—and even if we recognize them all, Jesus tells us He will return “at an hour [we] do not expect” (Matthew 24:44)! So, we must temper our expectations about what the Israel-Hamas War will lead to. If it widens with the addition of other nations, triggering regional or even world war; if it reveals a strongman who begins gathering nations into a one-world government; or if it initiates increased persecution of God’s elect, among other signs, then we should definitely give it more heed prophetically. Until then, as Jesus advises in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” or as He puts it in Luke 21:36, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” ——————————————————————————————————————- See Richard T. Ritenbaugh’s other articles at: Ritenbaugh, Richard T. – Church of God, Bismarck (church-of-god-bismarck.org) Reprinted with permission from: Church of the Great God https://www.cgg.org/ ——————————————————————————————————————– |
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