No 14

(The Middle East Then)

In Biblical times, the Middle East was not as it is today; it was not necessarily any better, it was just different. As we know, various powers have almost always held control over the land – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and others. But during all that time, there was no strife between the Jews and the Arabs over who should have control of the land. After 70 AD, when Titus and his army marched over Israel and dispersed the Jews, the land was left desolate. It was under Roman control until the 300’s AD when the Byzantine Empire took over. In the 600’s AD, Muslim Arabs conquered most of the Middle East and controlled the region until the early 1900’s. At that time, the Zionist Movement grew stronger and stronger and after World War I, the British issued the Balfour Declaration giving a portion of the land to the Jews who were fleeing persecution in Europe. This is when the Arab/Jewish conflict began and in 1948, when Israel became a nation much to the dismay and dislike of the whole Arab world who vowed to push them into the Mediterranean Sea. This did not happen and will never happen because the God of Israel made a promise to Abraham that is outlined in Genesis 12: 1-3 –“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”