Defying the God of Israel

Abraham is called "the friend of God" (Jas 2:23), an expression used of no other person in the Bible. As a result of that relationship, God made an "everlasting covenant" with His special friend (Gen:17:7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
See All..., 13, 19; 1 Chro:16:16-18 [16] Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; [17] And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, [18] Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;
See All...; Ps:105:8-12 [8] He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. [9] Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; [10] And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: [11] Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: [12] When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.
See All...; 118:9, etc.) that extended to Abraham's descendants for all time.

This covenant involved (1) the promised land and (2) the promised Messiah. Only in the Messiah could God fulfill His pledge to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: "in thee [and in thy seed] shall all families [or nations] of the earth be blessed" (Gen:12:3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
See All...; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). As for the land, God's promise was clear: "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever" (Gen:13:15For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
See All...); "...the LORD made a covenant with Abram,...Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river...Euphrates" (Gen:15:18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
See All...); "...all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession..." (Gen:17:7-8 [7] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. [8] And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
See All...).

Abraham had several sons: Ishmael through his wife Sarah's Egyptian maid, Hagar; Isaac through his wife Sarah; and six others through Keturah, whom he married after Sarah died (Gen:25:1-2 [1] Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. [2] And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
See All...).

Sarah was unable to bear children. Neither she nor Abraham could believe God's promise that she herself would bear him a son (Gen:16:1-4 [1] Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. [2] And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. [3] And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. [4] And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
See All...). Abraham was satisfied with Ishmael and begged for God's covenant to be fulfilled in him (Gen:17:18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
See All...). But Ishmael was an illegitimate child, born through the unbelief of Abraham and Sarah, and not the son God had promised to them. Rejecting Abraham's plea, God emphatically declared, "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son...; thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael,...I have blessed him....But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee..." (Gen:17:19-21 [19] And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. [20] And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. [21] But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
See All...).

That Isaac, miraculously born to both Abraham and Sarah, was the one through whom God's promises of the land and of the Messiah would be fulfilled, and that Ishmael was not the son whose descendants would possess the promised land, is so clearly and repeatedly declared in Scripture that it cannot be honestly disputed. Yet the Arabs, who claim to be descended from Ishmael, lay claim to the promises given by God to Isaac and through him to the Jews. Islam's claim that Ishmael was the son of promise not only contradicts Scripture but irrationally gives an illegitimate son priority over his half-brother, the true heir.

Distinguishing Isaac beyond dispute from the other sons born to Abraham, God called Isaac the "only son" of Abraham and commanded that he be sacrificed on Mount Moriah (Gen:22:2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
See All...). It was Isaac who, in submission to God's command, willingly allowed his father to bind him upon the altar, and whom God delivered at the last moment when He had proved the complete obedience of both father and son (Gen:22:1-14 [1] And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. [2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. [3] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. [4] Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. [5] And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. [6] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. [7] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? [8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. [9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. [10] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. [11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. [12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. [13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. [14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
See All...). This is the testimony of Scripture from the God who "cannot lie" (1 Sam:15:29And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
See All...; Ps:89:35Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
See All...; Titus:1:2In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
See All..., etc.) and whose "gifts and calling...are without repentance" (Rom:11:29For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
See All...).

Isaac had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Contrary to custom of the time, instead of Esau, the firstborn, God chose Jacob, the younger son, through whom His promises would be fulfilled. Before these twins were born, God specifically revealed to their mother, Rebecca, the destiny of their descendants: "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people...and the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen:25:23And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
See All...). The prophecy did not pertain to Jacob and Esau as individuals (Esau never served Jacob in his lifetime) but to the nations that would descend from them. The Arabs come from both Ishmael and Esau because the latter and his descendants intermarried with the descendants of Ishmael (Gen:28:9Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
See All...).

The Jews, in contrast (isolated in Egypt for 400 years and brought as an identifiable ethnic group into the promised land), are the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel. The promise of the land and of the Messiah was renewed by God to Isaac: "Unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries,...in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed..." (Gen:26:3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
See All...,4). Also, to Jacob (Israel) God said, "...the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;...and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen:28:13And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
See All...,14).

Indisputably, the land of Israel ("from the river of Egypt unto the great river...Euphrates" - Gen:15:18-21 [18] In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: [19] The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, [20] And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, [21] And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
See All...) was given to the Jews forever. God declared, "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine..." (Lev:25:23The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
See All...). In blatant disobedience, Israel's leaders have been trading land for "peace" with Arafat, who has sworn to exterminate Israel. Israel has abandoned the biblical conviction expressed by her first premier, David Ben Gurion:

Our right to this Land in its entirety is steadfast, inalienable and eternal....This right...cannot be forfeited under any circumstance...[Israelis] have neither the power nor the jurisdiction to negate it for future generations to come....And until the coming of the Great Redemption, we shall never yield this historic right. ¹

To further make certain that all mankind understands that the Jews are God's chosen people, the word "Israel" dominates the Bible, appearing 2,565 times in 2,293 verses. In contrast, Arabians are mentioned only ten times.

Anyone who claims to believe the Bible must acknowledge that there is only one nation and one people—the Jews alone—to whom God ever gave a land and specific, perpetual promises. The Jews are the only people still existing as a nation, though scattered, whose genealogy is preserved in Holy Scripture and who are identifiable in the world today. Were that not the case, there would be no fulfillment to hundreds of God's promises and He would be a liar.

We have documented in the past that Yahweh of the Bible and Allah of the Qur'an are not the same (see especially the Q&A section of TBC Reprints for Feb. 2000). Twelve times Yahweh calls himself, or is referred to as, "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." An overwhelming 203 times in 201 verses (from Ex 5:1 to Lk 1:68), Yahweh is called "the God of Israel"—never the God of Ishmael.

In contrast, Islam and Allah express hatred for Israel and all Jews. That fact alone is enough to distinguish Yahweh from Allah. The Qur'an and authoritative Islamic tradition cited in the hadith vilify the Jews repeatedly:

Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews...We have prepared for [them] a painful doom" (Surah 4:160-161); Allah hath cursed them [the Jews] for their disbelief (4:46); Allah fighteth against them. How perverse are they! (9:30); Ignominy shall be their portion wheresoever they are found...(3:112); The resurrection of the dead will not come until the Muslims will war with the Jews and the Muslims will kill them;...the trees and rocks will say, O Muslim...here is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. ²

Sadly, the Arabs, persisting in the false claim that Ishmael was the legitimate son of promise, have rebelled against God's Word. Their jealous hatred of the descendants of Isaac (exacerbated by the teachings and example of Muhammad and Islam) has left a blot on the history of mankind unequaled even by that left by Hitler.

In Muslim lands for 1,300 years, Jews suffered from inhumane treatment and periodic bursts of violence. Take only one country, Morocco, as an example of what occurred everywhere under Muslim rule. Jews were forced to live in ghettos called mellahs. One historian writes that rape, looting, burning of synagogues, destruction of Torah scrolls and murder were "so frequent that it is impossible to list them."³ As only one instance of many, in Fez, in A.D.1032, about 6,000 Jews were murdered and many more "robbed of their women and property." ⁴ Such slaughter continued periodically in Fez and throughout Morocco (as in other Muslim countries). Interestingly, the fierce persecution of 1640 in which women and children were murdered was called the al-Khada. Chouraqui (p 39) says that Jews suffered "such repression, restriction and humiliation as to exceed anything in Europe."

Most Jews today do not believe God's promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Nevertheless, there has always been a nucleus through the centuries who did believe His promises—and even recognized and admitted that the dispersion of Jews was God's judgment on their sin. Maimonides, the famous Jewish physician and philosopher, whose family had fled from Islamic persecution in Spain to, of all places, Fez (and who himself had to flee from Morocco later), wrote in his "Epistle to Yemen" in 1172,

It is...one of the fundamental articles of the faith of Israel that the future redeemer of our people will...gather our nation, assemble our exiles, redeem us from our degradation....On account of the vast number of our sins, God has hurled us in the midst of this people, the Arabs, who have persecuted us severely...as Scripture has forewarned us....Never did a nation molest, degrade, debase, and hate us as much as they.... ⁵

Such persecution has continued against those few thousand Jews who have not yet escaped Muslim lands. In a letter dated July 10, 1974, to then UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, Ramsey Clark declared, "Jewish people living in Syria today are subjected to the most pervasive and inhuman persecution....Young women and children are harassed in the streets. Old people are knocked down. Homes are stoned....They are forbidden to leave in peace and cannot remain in dignity....Many have been arrested, detained, tortured and killed."

Muslims falsely claim that the animosity toward Jews is the result of the founding of the state of Israel. This is so obviously not the case that this lie ought to be an embarrassment. The Qur'an's official religious denunciations of Jews existed more than 1,200 years before Israel's rebirth. Joan Peters, in her invaluable book, From Time Immemorial, writes (p. 72),

The late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia told Henry Kissinger [a Jew] that "...Before the Jewish state was established, there existed nothing to harm good relations between Arabs and Jews...." Ironically, no Jews were allowed [since Muhammad killed or sold them all into slavery] to enter or live in Saudi Arabia [still true today]. Jordan's King Hussein stated, "The relationship that enabled Arabs and Jews to live together for centuries as neighbors and friends has been destroyed by Zionist ideas and actions." Yet the Jordanian Nationality Law states that "a Jew" cannot become a citizen of Jordan.

Jordan annexed to itself most of that part of "Palestine" which UN Resolution 181 had assigned to the "Palestinians" in November 1947, destroyed every Jewish house of worship and expelled all Jews months before the state of Israel was born.

The hatred against Jews by Muslims in obedience to Muhammad, and the wicked support thereof by much of the world (which we have documented more fully elsewhere), continues to this day in the satanic determination to wipe out the state of Israel. This hatred provides the key to Middle East problems, which would be solved if the Muslims and the world would accept and obey the clear language of the Bible.

Of course the secular world in its gross immorality and selfish pursuit of the "lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 Jn:2:16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
See All...) demonstrates continuously its rebellion against God. Even the ungodly know, too (Rom:1:32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
See All...), that all who engage in these things will be held accountable by "the judge of all the earth" (Gen:18:25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
See All...; Jn:5:22For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
See All...; Rev:20:12-15 [12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. [14] And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
See All...). There is another grave disobedience to God, however, amounting to open defiance, in which almost the entire world is united: the support of Ishmael's descendants to establish a "Palestinian State" within Israel.

The willful persistence in this illegitimate claim, and its support by the rest of the world, constitutes rejection of the clear testimony of Scripture and rebellion against God. These twin crimes have created the Mideast crisis facing us today. Abba Eban in Personal Witness records that when President Truman wanted to recognize Israel, Secretary of State George C. Marshall stated angrily: "They don't deserve a state, they have stolen that country."

The dual fulfillment of biblical prophecies concerning Israel as chronicled in the daily news is approaching its foretold climax in our time—the last of the "last days." Our important new video, Israel, Islam and Armageddon, offers powerful graphic footage documenting these prophecies' historical background and the broad sweep of their modern consummation, especially through Nazism and its close partner and now successor in anti-Semitism and terrorism, Islam.

Today's fulfillment of biblical prophecy in current events is a topic of great interest to non-Christians, offers irrefutable proof of God's existence and that the Bible is His infallible Word to mankind, and is a valuable tool in evangelism. We hope that our readers will take advantage of the materials we offer for this purpose.

The prophesied burden of Israel and Jerusalem continues to grow heavier until it threatens to crush the whole world under the weight of a global conflict. Tragically, that conflict has already manifested itself globally in the despicable scourge of international terrorism. Here, too, Israel is the scapegoat.

Yahweh claims repeatedly that He is the only true God: "Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God" (Isa:44:6Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
See All...,8). Yahweh also declares, "beside me, there is no saviour" (Isa:43:11I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
See All...; Hos:13:4Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
See All...). Isaiah foretold that the promised Messiah who would come to pay the penalty for sin demanded by His justice would be "The mighty God, The everlasting Father" (Isa:9:6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
See All...). Thus Jesus declared, "I and my Father are one" (Jn:10:30I and my Father are one.
See All...). He warned that all who denied His identity as Yahweh the Savior would die in their sins and be separated from Him and heaven forever (Jn:8:21-24 [21] Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. [22] Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. [23] And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. [24] I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
See All...). We need to make this gospel clear. TBC

Endnotes

1. "BETRAYAL," American Friends of Women For Israel's Tomorrow, Norfolk VA, (757) 857-4708, ad in The International Jerusalem Post, Nov. 30, 2001, 11.
2. Moshe Ma'oz, The Image of the Jew in Official Arab Literature and Communications Media (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1976), 14.
3. Andre Chouraqui, Between East and West: A History of the Jews of North Africa (Philadelphia PA 19680, 51.
4. H. Z. Hirschberg, A History of the Jews in North Africa (Leiden, Netherlands, 1974), 108.
5. Isadore Twersky, ed., A Maimonides Reader (New York, 1972), 456-57.