Dividing Israel - the Wisdom of Solomon!
Around 3000 years ago, King Solomon was faced with a challenge (1 Kings 3). Two women argued that a living child belonged to them (another child had died). With wisdom that echoes to today, Solomon proposed dividing the child, and asked for a sword - to cut the child in half! One woman agreed – divide it!. The other woman said not to divide the precious child! King Solomon granted the child to this true mother.
This is not just an decision 3000 years ago, but wisdom for deciding on the division of Israel today. While I am not an expert on Israel's history, it is clear that it has treasured and transformed the land, especially since miraculously becoming a nation on 15 May 1948. The true heart of the nation surrounding Israel is clear in Psalm 83: that the name of Israel be remembered no more!
For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”As nations approach the UN decision on recognition of the Palestinian State, they face a stark choice: side with those who wish to divide Israel (placing the very existence of Israel as a Jewish nation at risk), or heed the Wisdom of Solomon (and the One Who is wiser than Solomon). Jesus Christ will gift the full promised land to Israel forever when He returns!!
Dividing Israel - God's Judgment on the Nations
Joel makes it crystal clear that God will judge those nations which vote for the division of Israel! The upcoming vote on Palestine will provide up-to-date accountability of nations who make the wrong choice to divide Israel! Many, many nations have already signalled their choice. Australia has indicated that they will recognise the state of Palestine, albeit subject to some conditions. Joel 3 (NKJV)
For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.
3 They have cast lots for My people.The Glorious Prophetic Future for the Middle East
Israel and surrounding Middle East nations are mainly in the news for violence and wars! However, Biblical prophecy looks through this violence and hatred for Israel to a glorious future for at least some Middle East nations: Israel, Egypt and Assyria. Assyria represents many of the core Middle East nations (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, part of Iran, and perhaps even Turkey and Cyprus). In Isaiah 19, we read Amplified).
24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic league], a blessing in the midst of the Earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage.”
While this looks primarily to the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ, it highlights just how loved these nations are, in spite of their treatment of Israel. Nations elevated in the midst of the Earth!
The Promise of Citizenship in a Great Nation - Israel
One further key issue remains. What about those who accept Israel as God's chosen nation, and choose to be part of this great nation. There is a wonderful promise in Ezekiel 47 regarding citizenship in Israel:
1 “Thus you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 It shall be that you will divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who dwell among you and who bear children among you. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger dwells, there you shall give him his inheritance,” says the Lord God.
Maranatha! Denis in Canberra
Solomon’s Wise Judgment (1 Kings 3)
16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. 17 And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18 Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; [d]no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22 Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”
And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”
Thus they spoke before the king.
23 And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”
But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
27 So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
Israel, Egypt and Assyria in Isaiah 19
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of [the Hebrews of] Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One [of them] will be called the City of [c]Destruction.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord near its border. 20 It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior, a [Great] Defender, and He will rescue them. 21 And so the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know [heed, honor, and cherish] the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifices [of animals] and offerings [of produce]; they will make a vow to the Lord and fulfill it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing it; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship and serve [the Lord] with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic league], a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage.”