The Mid-East Conflict & its Origin
Part II
Sun. p.m., we began a 2 part series on the Mid-East conflict
& its origin. Actually, the Sun.
p.m. lesson was more like a world history lesson.
We talked about some of the
current issues of the day, & some of the differences in philosophies w/in
the Arab world—specifically that of Muslims & the Islam religion.
We also looked at
And this p.m., we are going to attempt to trace this conflict
back to its roots—to see how & why it began.
Even in the 1stcentury, during the life of Christ here on earth, there was a great deal of
hatred & discrimination between the people of that part of the world. The Jews & Gentiles hated
each other.
The Jews & the Samaritans
hated each other.
In Luke 10, we have the
example of the good Samaritan who helped a man who had been beaten & robbed
by thieves, after a Jewish priest & a Levite had passed him by & had
refused to help him.
In Jn. 4: 7-9, we see where the Samaritans had built their
own temple, because they wouldn't even worship w/ the Jews.
This is significant and understandable.
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This left the Southern
Kingdom of Judah to make up God's chosen people—this was some 700 years before
the time of Christ.
And when it comes right down to it—the Samaritans were only
part Jew. They were a mixture of Jew
& whomever. And as a result, their
worship was far removed from being acceptable in God's sight. II Kings
And although we are going to be able to pinpoint some
specific instances which contributed to the mideast problem we now face—it is
also vitally important to remember some earlier situations which, while not
directly influencing the mideast conflict—were never the less, events which
hopefully gives us more understanding about an ever present conflict between
mankind in general--& more specifically, between men of God & men of
the world.
For example—Gen. 4 deals w/ the first conflict between
man—that between Cain & Abel. Gen.
4:8-16.
And this was probably
somewhere in the area between
Then w/ the birth of Seth, we see the beginning of a new
people—a people submissive to God—a people from which would eventually come the
Savior—Jesus the Christ.
Now we know that all of the
descendants of Cain were killed in the flood—however—this shows us the tendency
that man has—to leave fellowship w/ God, & develop a hatred w/ each
other—which eventually develops into conflicts—first individually & later
on a much larger scale.
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And we do the same thing
today—we get our feelings hurt over something, & instead of taking care of
it & putting it to rest, we let it fester & grow & get others
involved, & first thing you know, we have a full blown conflict.
But when we come to the time just after the flood—some 2600
years before the time of Christ, we see people once again leaving the
fellowship w/ God.
Noah had 3 sons—Ham, Shem, & Japheth.
After approx. 5 generations
after Noah, the people began to build the
Now, if we wanted to, we could justify their actions.
Gen. 11:1-4
Their heart was in the right
place—they just wanted to worship God & be united as one.
What's
wrong with that?
That
shouldn't be a problem.
And this is just like it is at times in the church
today. We think we can make our own
rules—do what ever we want to do--& chalk it up to glorifying God. And nobody can tell us what we can or can't
do.
Note vs. 6 there in Gen. 11
So now we see them scattering
all over the earth.
Gen. ch 10 gives the general description of where they went.
Now remember that we have 5 generations & 3 basic family
units—Ham, Shem, & Japheth.
Japheth & his descendants went North & West—
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Ham & his descendants went south & west—N E
Shem & his descendants covered the basic mid-east as we
know it—
Thru the descendants of Shem, came the Hebrew nation—later to
be known as Israelites—later to be known as Jews.
Here then we have the emergence of Egypt(the descendants of
Ham), as a powerful nation, eventually holding Jacobs descendants captive for
400 years—some 500 years after the tower of Babel.
Beginning in Gen. ll:31, we see the family of Abraham leaving
Ur of Chaldees, (the area which is now known as the southeast corner of
Iraq—southeast of Bagdad)—going North to Haran, (the area now known as Northern
Syria), then Southwest thru the area now
known as Israel.
It is also thought that the Garden of Eden was probably
somewhere in this general area of Bagdad south—and as well—Mt Aarat in Turkey,
is probably where the ark landed after the flood.---------
----------a country full of
Bible history.
At any rate, Abraham's family eventually ends up in
Now we get to Gen. 16—and this is where things really start
to evolve to mark the real beginning of what we currently call the mid-east
conflict.
We see that Sarai—Abraham's
wife—was not able to get pregnant & she gives Hagar—her servant—to Abraham,
so he would have children.
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We won't go there today, but
Gal. 4:21-31 covers the relationship between Isaac & Ishmael—Isaac being
the child of promise, & Ismael being born of a handmaiden, & being at
battle continually w/ Isaac & his descendants.
And we see that this first started because of Sarai's desire
to provide children for Abraham & instead of maintaining her faith in
God—decides to take matters into her own hands, & gives her handmaid to
Abraham to provide him children.
Then when Hagar gets pregnant, the conflict begins—even
before Ismael's birth.
Gen. 17:15-21 So now,
God tells Abraham that Sarah will bear a child & that thru him, the
covenant will be fulfilled---what covenant?
Gen. 12:1-3—the 3-fold
promise:
Land—the
People—the Israelites as a
nation
Seed—that of Christ
So then in Gen. 21, we see the birth of Isaac, and the
conflict expands.
In
So now it's thru Isaac that all of the nations of the earth
will be blessed—thru Christ.
And it's thru Ismael that there will be a continual thorn in
the side of Isaac's descendants.
Now—if that wasn't bad enough.......
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Because of the sin of Lot's daughters, who thought that Lot
would have no heirs after Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed, along w/ Lot's
wife who was turned into a pillar of salt in Gen. 19—they got Lot drunk—had sex
w/ him—both became pregnant—giving birth to Moab & Benammi—from whom
originated the Moabites & the Ammonites—another thorn in the side of the
Israelites—2 more groups of people who would eventually form part of the Arab
world.
Not to mention Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, who couldn't
get along w/ each other—Esau eventually sold his birthright to Jacob for a
meal—Gen. 25.
Then Rebekkah the mother
& Jacob lies to Isaac because Isaac was blind & they got Isaac to give
Jacob his blessing, when it should have gone to Esau, the eldest. Gen. 27:34-42—more division—more conflict.
And as if that wasn't enough—there's more.
In Gen. 36, we see Ishmael's
daughter marrying Esau & now we have another tribe formed—the Edomites.
A couple of generations later, we see the formation of the
Amalekites.
But we're not done yet—there's still more.
Just when you think that it
can't get any worse—it does.
Jacob—later named
Leah has the 1st 4 children of the marriage,&
then when Rachel can't get pregnant, she is jealous of Leah, & gives her
handmaid Bilhah to Jacob—to whom the next 2 children are born. Then not to be outdone, Leah gives her
handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, & she gives birth to 2 children.
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Then Leah has 2 more children
& finally Rachel has 2 children.
Now you say—so what's the point?
Gen. 37:1.2 Note here which of the sons were involved
here—the sons of the 2 handmaidens—where were the sons of Leah & Rachel?
Why didn't they take care of
the flocks together?
Because vs 2 shows that there was a division between the sons
of Leah & Rachel, and the sons of Bilhah & Zilpah, and they became
envious of Joseph.
Vs.4—"They could not speak
peaceably unto him"
They would not wish him well ¬ even acknowledge his
presence. Even today, the Arabs refuse
to acknowledge the very greeting of someone they don't like, & if there is
an opportunity—they will do him harm.
This is exactly what happened to Joseph—they refused to
acknowledge his presence & at the first opportunity, strove to kill him.
He was saved by Rueben—really
strange here—seeing that Rueben—the son of Leah—was the one that went in &
had sex w/ Bilhah—Rachel's handmaid—the mother of Dan & Naphtali—2 of his
brothers(Gen, 35:22).
I mean—talk about 'all in the family'.
So then, who are the Jews in
Arabs come from some of the descendants of Ham, Shem, &
Japheth—the 3 sons of Noah.
In addition, some Arabs come from descendants of Abraham.
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Originally, the word Arabs,
came from those who lived in
As we've seen, conflict has been present w/ man since the
beginning of time. And specific periods
of conflict originated w/ man's departure from fellowship w/ God.
And in one way or another—all conflicts between God's people,
& their neighbors in the O T, as well as current conflicts in the mid-east,
can all be classified as holy wars.
Because in OT times, as well as today—disagreements leading
to armed conflicts, originate from each particular group's philosophy
concerning their own religious responsibilities to their own personal concept
of God.
So, what application can we, or should we make from this
lesson to our lives today?
l. We must never put ourselves in the position of those who
condemn others because of their religious views, or because of their
nationality. Rather, we must strive to
understand their views, so that we might be better equipped to study w/ them
& help them see how the message of Jesus can change their lives.
Matt. 24:14
Rev. 7:9,10
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There is no doubt that God expects those who are members of
the church that Jesus built, to take on the responsibility of taking the Word
to the lost—no matter where they are or who they are.
And that responsibility must begin at home.
I am not against
missionaries—either in the U S of abroad.
I think that we should be
involved in missionary work.
However, we must get our
priorities straight—our work must begin right here at
If we can't get it right here at
Will there ever be peace in the mid-east?
I don't know.
But the question we should be concerned w/ even more than
that of peace in the mid-east—would be this—
Will individuals in
And—will I be a part of that
purpose of God to take the Word to the lost?
2.
The second part
of our application from this lesson is this—What kind of example are we setting
for those around us—especially our children & grandchildren?
We saw that the current
mid-east conflict actually began not only w/ Isaac & Ishmael—but also w/
their mothers.
The conflict actually began
w/ Sarai & Hagar's jealousy of each other.
It expanded w/ the pride of
It grew even more w/ the
division among the 12 sons of
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We hear the comment—LIKE
FATHERS- LIKE SON, &
LIKE MOTHER-LIKE DAUGHTER.
We pass on our attitudes to those around us—especially w/in
our families.
How can we expect our
children & grandchildren to have good positive attitudes towards others in
the church, when all they hear is criticism of others?
Why do you think—when we hear about a child's bad attitude in
Bible class, or in school—you hear the comment
--They didn't suck that out
of their thumb, or The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
It's about time we start thinking about others welfare—having
others best interest at heart—instead of having selfish attitudes & wearing
our feelings on our sleeves—just waiting for someone to offend us—to disturb
our comfort zone—and then off comes the gloves.
Then we can exert our rights & set them straight—or at
the very least, take cheap shots at them---
--and in doing so, set the
example for others around us—especially those in our family & in the
church.
There is very little if anything we can do about the mid-east
conflict.
However, there is a lot we can do about conflict w/in the
family & w/in the church.
And it all begins w/ my personal attitude.
My attitude or responsibility
to myself.
My attitude or responsibility
to God.
My attitude or responsibility to others.
