Quest for Peace: Shalom or Salaam?

Has your newsfeed been filled with reels, shorts, tweets, and updates about the Gaze Conflict? Has your heart been torn and broken for the millions of civilians caught between good and evil? Have you found yourself struggling to know how to pray or respond?

Just today, I received an email warning, "Due to increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution." Reminding me yet again of the struggles around the world.

The world's eyes are on the Middle East. The depth of the Palestinian and Israeli feud is far greater than this writer can ever understand. Some scholars spend their entire lives researching the history of these nations and gauging the plausible outcomes of restoration. The antagonism between these two nations is complex and deeply entrenched in the Middle Eastern region's social, economic, and spiritual culture. Other countries hold weighty control over how these nations relate.

Textbooks date the modern conflict to the Zionist Movement of the late 19th century. This action gave momentum to establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine but was met with obvious Palestinian pushback. (But I wonder if this feud doesn’t date back to the Biblical days of Abraham – when Ishmael and Isaac divided company because of their father’s lack of faith. A thought to ponder, for sure!) The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was a statement by the British government that expressed support for a "national home for the Jewish people," adding yet again to the underlying tensions. In 1947, the UN approved the Partition Plan, which mapped out Palestine as separate Jewish and Arab States. While Jewish leaders accepted the plan, the Arab leaders did not, thus leading to the Palestine War from 1947-1949. Israel was granted Statehood in May 1948 in the middle of this war. This triggered a full-on Arab-Israeli conflict, with neighbors in Jordan, Egypt, and Syria joining the fight. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel claimed control of the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The Oslo Accords of 1993 promised to bring significant rest to the area by giving Palestine control of Gaza and other regions. The Western world supported this new embryonic form of government; however, the Palestinian people struggled to see any benefit to this shift in control, as their living conditions didn't elevate. The people eventually rejected their Fatah-led government and elected a Hamas-controlled legislature in January of 2006. With significant bloodshed, this began 17 months of fighting between Fatah and Hamas. Ultimately, Fatah controlled the West Bank, and Hamas held the Gaza Strip. Israel occupied The Strip until 2005, when it withdrew unilaterally but maintained border and security control. The Gaza Strip has been called the most prominent "open-air prison" in the world. And while not entirely true, it's not completely false, either. A pedestrian gate allows approximately 17,000 Gaza residents to enter and work in Israel daily. But life in the Gaza Strip is rife with conflict, tension, and despair.

Hamas' charter carries statements such as, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." In contrast, Israel's founding purpose is to be a safe homeland for Jews. As you can see, the two stand in extreme opposition. Hamas' sole purpose is to obliterate a people group – the Jews. At the same time, Israel stands to be a beacon of hope and safety for the same people group. The two groups live in moral opposites.

Now, let me insert a significant footnote. I am not a student of Middle Eastern history. If there were a question-and-answer session on the account I have written above, I'm sure I would find myself in hot water! I cannot explain the why or the wherefore. I do not understand the ancestral enmity between these people groups. I do not know how other countries hold the puppet strings for certain statehoods. Nor do I comprehend America's power to sway an outcome. These are beyond my purview, not within my sphere of knowledge, and seriously outside of my wheelhouse!

So, for what reason did I start writing on this topic? Because I believe it is close to the heart of my Heavenly Father. There is something that warms the cockles of God's core when He looks down at the Children of Israel. They are indeed His Chosen. They are set apart with great privilege and yet great responsibility.

"It’s important to note that the idea of God's chosen Israel does not imply favoritism in the sense of special privilege or exclusion of others. It is often linked to the responsibilities and duties God placed upon the Israelites, including following His commandments, being a light to the nations, and carrying out God's plan for the redemption of humanity. The concept of being chosen is intertwined with the larger narrative of God's covenant and plan for salvation in the Bible.”[1]

In Genesis 17, God establishes a covenant with Abraham, the Father of Israel. That covenant is “… an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (The area known in Biblical times as Canaan now roughly corresponds to parts of modern-day Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan.) Wowser! This is a power-packed promise! Everlasting possession? Now a foreigner but one day as the landholder?

Dr. John F. Walvoord sheds light on the fulfillment of this covenant. “By no stretching of boundaries or spiritual interpretation can these boundaries mean other than a tremendous stretch of territory which Israel has never possessed, even in the glorious days of Solomon … The honest expositor of Scripture is faced with the problem of either admitting that this promise is subject to future fulfillment or that it will never be fulfilled. If it is not fulfilled, it is an attack upon the faithfulness of God to His promises. If it is fulfilled in the future, it involves the continuance of the nation Israel. This is, in fact, its chief significance. The promise of the land is given as a confirmation of Israel’s continuance as a nation ...”

Israel. God’s chosen people.[2] The promisee of Canaan.[3] A holy nation.[4] Blessed and favored.[5] The light to the nations.[6] Those who bless them will be blessed.[7] Those who curse them will be cursed.[8]

“Israel is special to God by covenant,” says Author and Pastor Max Lucado. “Jesus was born there. He died there. He rose from and will return there. It’s no wonder that the tiny nation of Israel has been the most disputed land in history. It is the staging ground of God’s story of salvation.”[9]

Consequently, my heart was moved as my social media began filling with news of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s response. Headlines splashed across my screens. I read accounts from those living in Gaza. I watched shorts from those in Israel. The atrocities kept me awake at night as I struggled even to know how to pray. Both civilian sides became real to me. At the time of this writing, over 2,800 Palestinian lives have been lost, while an estimated 1,400 Israeli hearts no longer beat. What was I to think? How was I to respond?

While it seemed elementary to update my status to “I stand with Israel!” and change my profile picture to an Israeli flag, I struggled. What about all the pain and sorrow I saw coming from Gaza? It didn’t feel straightforward for me to throw all of my sympathy and mourning toward Israel while ignoring the fait of the Palestinian people. “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”[10] This felt different than other conflicts I had watched around the globe. There was a weightiness that flooded my heart. I began to ask the Lord, “Father, what should my response to this hostility be? How does Your favor and yet your mercy collide?”

Let me take a break to be very clear on one point. I strongly condemn the leadership and actions of Hamas. Their clear mission of the genocide of Israel is heinous. My struggle is not with my opinion of Hamas's belief system but instead with its effects on the innocent lives under their control.

Psalm 122:6 commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Indeed, as I studied the history of Israel, they have never known the taste of peace’s nectar. Instead, it has been skirmish after battle after war after fighting. Webster defines peace as: “A state of tranquility or quietness achieved by the absence of war, conflict, or hostility.” Peace: A completely foreign concept for those who call Israel home.

As I began to pray for peace in Israel, I also began to mourn. Mourn the chaos and anarchy being felt by both sides of the conflict. I mourned the loss of life. Lives snuffed out without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I weep for the cries of the mother whose baby is now gone. For the innocence lost by the daughter raped. For the blood in the streets from a missile off its mark.

Recently, I listened to a podcast with N.T. Wright and Kate Bowler. “…There is no good Christian answer for this except lament.[11] The Bible gives us plenty of lament ... And the point about lament is that we’re not telling God what He ought to be doing, and we’re not telling one another what God is doing. We’re saying, ‘Hey, what’s going on? This is not the way it should be. Do something.”'[12] He further asserted, “And out of lament grows love…” My heart gravitated towards that last statement. Do I have a love for the people of Palestine? Not a love for their belief system or actions… but a love for them as a people group?

We often lump a governing authority and the people under the regime as one. But for many living in the Gaza Strip, they have no options. They are stuck in the generational pull that poverty, religion, and culture hold on them. But more solemnly, millions of lives there have no Jesus. Whether Palestinian or Israeli, they have rejected the truth of Scripture by embracing a false prophet as God or still looking for their Messiah.

Have we taken the time to look into the eyes of the suffering? Those locked in the Gaza Strip? Those living on the edge of a war-torn statehood? Those without food? Those without water? Those weeping in constant fear? Have we taken the time to lament the pain and suffering of our fellow humans? And have we allowed that lament to turn into a genuine love?

For Americans, it may feel like a love of our enemies. After all, it was terrorist groups like Hamas that caused our world to stop spinning on September 11th. We have been trained to resist their regime and their belief system. As we should. But fighting the regime is not equal to rejecting their people.

With tear-filled eyes, I have prayed for peace in Israel. I have lamented the destruction and death in Palestine. What does God require of His people? “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”[13]

What does it mean to act justly as we watch this war unfold? How do we love mercy? In what ways can we uphold righteousness with the gracious gift of humility? As our lament turns to love, what does our love look like in physical form?

When I started writing this post, I thought to answer the question, “How should a Christian respond to the war in the Gaza Strip?” As I studied history, delved into theologian’s debates, and pondered before the Lord, I realized something. Giving a blanket answer to this question is complex at best and impossible at worst. We must go before the Lord and ask those questions for ourselves. And each must then follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, realizing we will stand alone before God and give an account of our actions.

Despite the complexity of the question, I believe we are held to a high standard of loving what our Father loves. I believe the case for peace in Israel is paramount to the Father’s heart. And I am as profoundly convinced that our Lord God also desires peace for His people’s declared enemies.

So, I close this post with a challenge to you, my dear readers. What has your response been to the conflict in Gaza? How has your heart changed? Are you to be God’s hands and feet? How can you be part of bringing peace to the hurting in Israel and Palestine? Not just physical peace but eternal peace in salvation through Jesus Christ.

[1] ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI, GPT-3.5, accessed October 2023. [2] Deuteronomy 7:6 [3] Genesis 17:8 [4] Deuteronomy 7:6 [5] Deuteronomy 33:29 [6] Isaiah 49:6 [7] Genesis 12:3 [8] Genesis 12:3 [9] www.foxnews.com/opinion/pastor-world-wounded-worried-weary-respond [10] Matthew 5:44 [11] Note that the speaker was referring to the Covid epidemic, not the Israeli War. [12] https://katebowler.com/podcasts/the-mystery-of-god/#transcript [13] Micah 6:8