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Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tag: Middle East politics

  • The Promised Land Forever?

    mayberetiredpastor

    The Promised Land Forever?

    The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.

    Jeremiah 18:1-8, Old Testament, The Bible

    According to a recent poll, 82% of Israelis are in favour of expelling the Palestinians from Gaza (1). The validity of the poll is disputed but there can be no doubt that a significant fraction of Israeli opinion is in favour of not only the expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza but also from the West Bank. The reasons for this may be mixed but it is clear that for many in Israel, and especially the Israeli government, it is a theological conviction – as one Israeli woman put it in a recent BBC interview, “God gave us this land” (see e.g. 2). But they are not alone in  holding this belief, it is a view held by some Christians outside of Israel whose attitude is that Israel is justified in anything it does to “recover” the lands given to it by God.

    Such a belief is based on a profoundly faulty understanding of the Bible. The promises of God are considered, in this belief, as unilateral and unchangeable, but the relationship between God and His people is actually defined by covenant. God’s promises to His people are covenant promises. There are two sides to a covenant, on one side, God promises to uphold His obligations provided that the other side – His people – uphold theirs. Since God is faithful and does not change, the question  is will the people be faithful and uphold theirs? The whole history of the people of Israel in the Bible is that they consistently fail to do so, and as a result, they lose their privileges under the covenant. God’s graciousness is evidenced by the fact that He repeatedly offers the people a way back.

    The prophets in the Bible constantly rail against the people of God warning of their many failures and the consequences if they fail to repent and keep the covenant. The quotation above from the prophet Jeremiah is one such warning. Here, the famous example of a potter and how the potter shapes and decides the fate of a piece of pottery is used to drive home the point that God can and will punish the people if they fail to keep the provisions of the covenant. Jeremiah’s prophecy is particularly relevant to the question of the “Promised Land” because he explicitly warns that the land will be taken away from the people which is exactly what happens with the Babylonian conquest.

    For those holding a theological view of the ownership of Gaza and the West Bank, the unbridled vengeance carried out by the Israeli government since the Hamas attack and the deliberate programme of ethnic cleansing places them far outside the covenant and thus beyond the privileges of the covenant. The covenant demands better of the people of God.

    Since Jesus Christ, the only way back to the covenant is to recognise that He is the Son of God and own Him as Lord and Saviour (3).  And, in the renewed covenant, the Promised Land can now be seen as merely a pre-figuring of the true Kingdom which comes only with the new creation. There is nothing special about the patch of land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean, no special rules apply, and certainly no difference in the ethical and moral treatment of the land and its people.

    1. “Yes to Transfer”, Haaretz, 28th. May, 2025
    2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d1j3v2y3mo
    3. Gospel of John, 3:18, New Testament, The Bible

  • Judgement Comes

    mayberetiredpastor

    Judgement Comes

    13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace. 15 They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.

    Jeremiah 6:13-15, Old Testament, The Bible

    37 Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

    Matthew 5:37, New Testament, The Bible.

    Apart from a few initial expressions of outrage and astonishment there seems to be little continuing outrage expressed at President Trump’s proposals for Gaza. Although many do object and deride the proposals it is in terms of what is practical and possible. The proposal to remove all the Palestinians from Gaza and turn it into a playground for the rich is being given legitimacy. Gone is the language of “ethnic cleansing”. Yet, this would be the clearest example of ethnic cleansing since World War II and it would be perpetrated by an American President with the agreement and delight of a Jewish Prime Minister and his government.  There seems to be an awful irony here.

    It gives us a clear insight into the moral framework of Trump and his administration: the world is seen entirely through the lens of the real estate developer and a rather shady one at that! Everything is up for grabs to the one who has enough market muscle to make it their own. Hence, Putin will have his way and annexe a huge portion of Eastern Ukraine and Ukraine will have no say in the matter, in fact, Ukraine will have to give up its mineral wealth to the US as well or face obliteration!

    Returning to Gaza, it is noticeable that the proposal for removing the Palestinians does not include an offer by the US to give refuge in the US, rather they are to be taken-in by Egypt and Jordan. Thankfully, Egypt and Jordan have refused to take part in this charade.

    With the ascendancy of Trump we have truly entered into a great moral darkness. It is more important than ever that truth be spoken so that the light can shine in the darkness. The proposal to remove all the Palestinians from Gaza must be named and condemned for what it is – ethnic cleansing – and it must not be sanitised and legitimised by describing it as anything else. There is a judgement that is coming and it will not deal lightly with those who oppress the widow and the orphan or who teach that good is bad and bad is good.

  • Rachel Wept

    mayberetiredpastor

    Rachel Wept

    When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

    18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
        wailing and loud lamentation,
    Rachel weeping for her children;
        she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

    Matthew 2:16-18 New Testament, The Bible.

    Matthew’s Nativity account contains the harrowing account of the massacre of the innocents, the result of the actions of a ruthless political leader. Mary and Joseph had to flee with Jesus to escape Herod’s persecution and, as many a sermon has pointed out, Jesus began life as a refugee.

    Herod the Great, the politician in question, was a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler. The killing of unnumbered young children mattered not the least to him in  the pursuit of his political objectives. That was twenty centuries ago. Today, the land is again ruled by a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler whose actions are orders of magnitude greater in ruthlessness than Herod’s. And once again the words of the prophet Jeremiah can be aptly quoted – Rachel indeed weeps once more for her children as Prime Minister Netanyahu pursues his political objectives with little, if any, regard for the price paid by thousands of innocent families.

    His excuse is that it is a matter of self-defence, and in this he has been supported by many we would have hoped would judge better, arguing that the right to self-defence trumps all other concerns. Others do not see it in the same way and are appalled at the tragedy and loss inflicted on innocent families. Regardless, whatever human courts might say there is one court which no ruler, no government can avoid. Against the rulings of this court there is no appeal.

    The Bible declares that vengeance must be limited to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:23-25) a limit that has been contemptuously breached by the Netanyahu government. More critically, it is clear that, by making His Son share in the tragedy of the massacre of the innocents, God has declared in favour of the innocent and the persecuted.

    Jeremiah’s prophecy is simultaneously a word of comfort and promise to those who have suffered, and, a divine judgement against those whose deeds have poured out tragedy on the lives of those who weep. While Netanyahu’s government may hold human courts in contempt they will be held accountable to the one court that matters: they will each, individually and corporately, have to give account before God Himself.   

    As for you mothers who weep, your cries have been heard; the Lord God Almighty Himself will hold your persecutors to account.