From the River to the Sea–Which River?

Israel was savagely attacked through the towns along the Gaza border by Hamas a week ago, Shabbat October 7, which coincided with the last part of the feast of Sukkot, almost exactly 50 years after the Yom Kippur war—yes it was on Yom Kippur, the Holiest Day of the year for Israel and Jews everywhere. The express reason underlying all other reasons was and still is that “we want to annihilate Jews” and they will drive Jews “into the sea, claiming they will “reclaim” all the land “from the river to the sea” meaning from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean as the land of the Palestinians, or should I say, Arabs who hate Jews. But it is not only Jews that they hate. They hate anyone who does not worship the Muslim god and they have stated this. Christians will be next if they have their way. But why does this evil hatred of Jews exist in the world? And why in particular Jews? What do Jews have that inflames them? Is it the land of Israel? I don’t think that is the core issue.

Why did Hitler specifically design the cleansing of Jews from Europe? Why Jews? Why is there antisemitism in the world? These and others are age-old questions for which on any other level than a religious or Biblical one, make no sense. Jews are different, but how and why? It cannot be a racial issue because there are Jews of many colors and from almost every country on the globe. Perhaps the only thing that Jews have that other peoples do not have is a Covenant with the Creator of the world and those who hate the Covenant, hate the people of the Covenant. If they hate the Creator, they will hate the people designated by the Creator as His people. If they love sin they will hate any law that condemns sin.

So what about Jews that hate the Covenant and pretend to not be Jewish? Perhaps they even assimilated into other religions because of fear or worse yet, to rid themselves of the responsibility to keep the Covenant. But why are so many Jews suddenly becoming Zionists? What is there about the Promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land? And who really owns the land from the river to the sea anyway? And which river was given in the promise to Abraham anyway? The River Euphrates. So when Israel gets back its land according to the Promise, it will be from the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea. Here’s the promise:

“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” Exo 23: 31-33.

Do these evil ones somehow recognize that the God of Israel keeps His Word? It seems they are just watching for Jews to mess up so they can be weakened and then perhaps their God will not defend them. They are like the spoiled sons of Esau and Ishmael, siblings that hated the chosen ones. They act like jealous dogs who sit in the manger keeping the cows from eating even though they don’t eat straw. More specifically, this is the mind set against the Creator of the Universe and His laws. This is the mind of evil and when evil has taken full hold there is no coming back! It gets ugly—no!–Worse than ugly—it is savage, worse than any animal fight. It is too close for comfort here in Israel. The battle rages very close–even two hours down the road is too close! The world has seen footage of the bodies of innocent youth and children battered and their corpses paraded for all to see as these evil beasts exult in their deaths.

But the unfathomable question is why do strong men find value and rejoice over the killing of the innocent? This is cowardice! It is perhaps more of an addiction to blood—to the murder of innocents! It is one thing to kill fighters in a war, but children and youth and women? This should be something to be ashamed of—not something to post graphic videos to the world of dancing and celebrating over the victims of rage so that all the nations will see!

The element that most upsets me is seeing our own government seduced by American propaganda and empty promises of help! Where is the God of Elijah? And what about Amalek with Moses raising his hands to heaven to help the soldiers of Israel wipe them out? This is a situation where the God of Israel says: “not by might nor by power but by My Spirit,”! Who will pray? We can do this! Who will form a prayer chain and not stop praying until Amalek is completely destroyed?

From all appearances, this government will side with the advice of the nations that promise military aid. But it is not about horses and chariots, so says the Word of the Almighty. Making alliance with the nations has never been the right thing to do! We may be like Gideon’s small band of 300 unarmed soldiers, but the whole camp of the enemy can and will be routed if the God of Israel gets involved. We have no other hope. There WILL be a genocide if we do not take hold of the power of the One and Only Almighty God that called us to come out of darkness—the darkness that even now enfolds us as we see our leaders teetering on the edge of compromise with nations controlled by those who hate us. How so? Just watch this government change its tune about flattening Gaza and accept the compromise of military aid at the cost of a two-state solution. We need NO compromise! We need to take THEIR lands and extend OUR borders. It is time for those who trust the one who promised to go out with our armies. We will and MUST win, but it will NOT be by making alliance with America or anyone else! May the false leaders fall and a messianic spirit of prayer bring a leader to Israel that will work hand in hand with the Holy One, Blessed be He!