Tomorrow is Nakba, the day that Palestinians (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and irreligious) remember their displacement from the land commonly called Palestine when the country of Israel was created in 1948.
We're also nearing the one year anniversary of the day (May 31, 2010) a Gaza aide flotilla was illegally boarded by the Israeli Defense Forces on international waters. The ships carried food and construction materials for the people of Gaza. Though most ships in the flotilla responded to the attack nonviolently, one of the ships chose to forcefully defend themselves from the armed soldiers on their ship. This resulted in the death of nine activists by the IDF, and a firestorm of media attention and controversy.
In this season I am reminded of the first entries I ever made in this blog. I decided to look them up and read them again today. I was surprised to discover that I still wholeheartedly agree with what I wrote here over a year ago. In fact, I feel that I could have stated some of it in stronger terms.
Since I have a lot more readers today than when I first wrote these, I thought they would be worth reposting. Here they are exactly as I originally wrote them. They are to be considered together.
Blessings on this sober day.
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Psalm 103:6 - The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
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The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures wept with grief when they saw the nation that they loved breaking their covenant with God. They believed there was a covenant, with conditions spelled very clearly, and they called their people to account.
In these scriptures, the nation of Israel was addressed not as a country with borders, or the government of such a country. The nation of Israel was seen as a people, regardless of where they live or which flag they live under.
Of course, most of these people did live in one place at the time of these writings, in what we now call the Middle East. They did not live alone. Many other nations lived around and among them, just as they do today.
Some of the conditions of the covenant given to the Israelites regarding non-Israelites were as follows:
Non-Israelites were to be included in religious ceremony and worship. (Ex 23:12, Num 9:14, Num 15:14, Josh 8:33)
Non-Israelites were to be included in the same social justice programs as the Israelites. (Lev 19:10, 23:27, Deut 24:19-21, Lev 25:47-50 - they also received some of the tithes of the Israelites - Deut 14:29, 26:12)
Non-Israelites were to be included in the same system of justice as the Israelites. (Num 35:15, Josh 20:9, Deut 1:16, 24:17, Lev 24:22, Num 9:14, 15:16,29)
They had to receive fair wages. (Deut 24:14)
AND God made it very clear that the Israelites were not to oppress the non-Israelites among them. (Lev 19:33,34, Deut 10:17-19, Deut 24:16-18)
God also makes it clear that the land DOES NOT belong to the Israelites, but to God, and that God has a purpose for them being there.
Leviticus 25:23-24 " 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land."
In Genesis 12:1-3, when God promises the land to Abraham, he says that through him all nations of the earth will be blessed. That also goes along with the promise.
Are the nations of the earth blessed by Israel in the Holy Land? Is the land being redeemed? Are they keeping the covenant conditions on the land that they believe to be borrowing from G0d?
In Leviticus 18:24-30 God warns Israel very explicitly that the conditions of the covenant must be met, or the land would "vomit them out". This is repeated also in Lev 20:22.
Like I said, the prophets who loved their people wept for sorrow when they saw their people not keeping the covenant. They called them to repent (turn around; act in a different way).
Many of those prophets are considered to be heroes and models today. I wonder if in their day they may have looked something like our most passionate activists and advocates for social justice.
Listen to the warnings of the prophets of the past, pleading with Israel to be the blessing and redemption God called them to be:
Micah 2:1-3
Woe to those who plan iniquity,
to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning's light they carry it out
because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them.
They defraud a man of his home,
a fellowman of his inheritance.
Therefore, the LORD says:
"I am planning disaster against this people,
from which you cannot save yourselves.
You will no longer walk proudly,
for it will be a time of calamity.
Jeremiah 7:4-8
Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!"
If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
Zechariah 7:8-14
And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
"But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.
" 'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. 'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.' "
Isaiah 1:15-17
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
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I realized since writing my first entry yesterday that these first entries in particular may set a tone for this blog and the perceptions of those who follow it.
For this reason I wanted to make it abundantly clear that I love the Jewish nation and Jewish people, and do not support anti-semitism in any way. My faith has its' roots in the Jewish faith and history. The entire Bible, Jewish and Christian scriptures, was written by Jewish people.
We are all from the same Creator, made Imago Dei - in the image of God- and all persons are incredibly valuable and worthy of kindness, love, and justice.
I was privileged to be brought up with a very "whole world" perspective. My mom (my hero) raised my brother and I with a strong awareness of a multicultural and multiethnic world. This love for a diversity of human experience in my life has not diminished. On the contrary, I will intentionally try to surround myself with a diversity of people from many different walks of life and different backgrounds. This value is part of what led me to L'Arche, an international community for people with disabilities, made up of people from dozens of countries, from every continent in the world. I am honoured to be among them.
I was also brought up to believe the politics and theology of evangelical Zionism. This is what I have come to wholly reject. Let it be well understood that my ardent criticism of the policies of the Israeli government and its' supporters is not to be taken for one moment as anti-Jewish in any way. I do not support or condone racism or oppression of any group. This is why I have rejected Zionism, and especially the dangerous theologies within evangelicalism that support it.
Righteousness and Justice for all the oppressed.
-Shawn
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