Which nation is the legitimate owner of the Levant - that narrow strip of land that the Palestinians and Israelis are fighting over - which is called the ‘Landbridge between Africa & Eurasia?’ What peoples have occupied the Levant historically? Well, many peoples according to the Bible & Archaeology - including the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Horites, the Jebusites, the Israelis and the Philistines - to name a few.
So who should decide which of these former and current occupants of the Levant have the most legitimate claim to it today? Should the United Nations be convened to vote on it? Should the World Court at the Hague in Europe decide the matter? Or should God have the final say? And which god? The god of the Quran or the God of the Bible? Well, it just so happens that the God of the Bible & the god of the Quran are in perfect agreement about which people are the legitimate owners of the Levant - and I’ll show you which people - right from the pages of both books!
But we also need to see what your Bible prophesies about Israel and the people of Gaza. Was the war between Israel and Gaza, which we’re seeing unfold on our televisions on a daily basis, actually foretold? Where is all this headed? Is this the beginning of the ‘End Times’ prophesied in Scripture?
In the Table of Nations found in the 10th chapter of Genesis, we read of where some of the descendants of the 3 sons of Noah (Ham, Shem & Japheth) migrated: “The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon (Modern day Lebanon) as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.” (GENESIS 10:19) If you google a map of this text - you’ll see that it encompassed most of what is called the Levant, and very similar to the later borders of the nation of Israel.
We also read this in the first book of the Bible: “So Abimelech… returned to the Land of the Philistines.” That historical statement is made hundreds of years before there was a Jew alive and dwelling in the Levant. A fact which causes many to say that Israel cannot lay the oldest claim on the Levant.
But the book of Genesis also records this statement: “The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place you are - northward, southward, eastward, and westward; For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (GENESIS 13:4,15) The second book of Chronicles adds: “Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this Land before Your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend, forever?” (II CHRONICLES 20:7)
So why did God make and fulfill this promise of Israel dispossessing the Land of the Canaanites? He told Abraham’s son Isaac part of the answer: “I will give to your descendants all these lands, and in your seed (Christ) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; BECAUSE Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” (GENESIS 26:3-5)
A second reason is given in the book of Deuteronomy: “Do not think in your heart (Israel), after the Lord has cast them (the Canaanites) out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this Land; BUT IT IS BECAUSE of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.” (DEUTERONOMY 9:3,4) God sent the descendants of Abraham into Egypt for 400 years because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (GENESIS 15:16) But after 400 more years of corruption - the people of the Levant had become so wicked that God now sentenced them to death through the Divine disasters and the sword of Israel He brought upon them. And to show God’s fairness - He later displaced the Israelites from the Levant for their sins (read II KINGS 17). But because of the promise He made to Abraham, about the Levant belonging to Israel forever, God inspired Persian King Cyrus to write a decree allowing Judah to return to their lands and rebuild (EZRA 1).
And you’ll be shocked to read that the god of the Quran also gave the Levant to the people of Israel: “We (Islam’s god is always referred to in the majesty of plural) gave the persecuted people (the Jews) dominion over the Eastern & Western Lands which we had blessed (The East & West Banks of the Jordan River). Thus your Lord’s gracious word was fulfilled for the Israelites, because they had endured with fortitude; and We destroyed the edifices and towers of Pharoah and his people.” (Surah 7:137) There’s also this in the Quran: “We settled the Israelites in a blessed Land and provided them with good things.” (Surah 10:93)
So what does your Bible say prophetically about Israel and the people of Gaza? Is this war between Israel and Gaza the beginning of the ‘End Times’ prophesied in Scripture? Watch our television program by the title ‘Israeli-Palestinian War prophesied?’ when it debuts on YOUTUBE Saturday October 21st to find the answers to these questions! Just type the words ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY in the search line on YOUTUBE and you’ll see this and other titles of programs.