Understanding Conflict in the Middle East–Part One (Resources & Notes)
[Note: Sarah was in charge of Abraham’s household servants and so she had the authority to cast out the bondservants Hagar and Ishmael, and this event became the solution to the issue of the birth-right inheritance, and this solution became the basis for the Apostle Paul’s allegory that explained the nature of the two covenants relative to the lives of Sarah and Hagar.] [Note: The Mount of Mercy (Mount of Arafat) is beside the Plain of Arafat near the city of Mecca. The Mount of Mercy (Jabal ar-Rahmah) is according to Islamic tradition the hill where the prophet Muhammad delivered his farewell address to the Muslims who had accompanied him for the Hajj.] [Note: Jeddah or Jiddah in Arabic means “grandmother,” and tradition claims that Eve was buried near the sea in the town of Jeddah.] [Note: Persian rulers recognized the city of Jerusalem as the capital city of the displaced Israelites, and this is understood from the decrees of Cyrus II, Darius I and Artaxerxes I. For we read in Ezra that: “During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form: AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (Ezra 1:1-2, ISV). (See also, Ezra 4:1-16).] [Note: Some equate the area of Hejaz that includes Mecca in Saudi Arabia with the biblical wilderness or desert of Paran.] [Note: His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan is the 43rd generation direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad.] [Note: Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to those peoples who inhabited the deserts within the Roman province of Arabia-Patraea and these Saracens were considered by some to be distinct from the southern Arabs. The term “Saracen” eventually became synonymous with “Muslims” during the time of the Crusades. In some Christian writings the name Saracen was interpreted to mean “not from Sarah,” while in Jewish tradition the Saracens were believed to be descended from Hagar’s son Ishmael. Some Christians also called them the Hagarenes or Ishmaelites.] [Note: The priestly nation of Israel was immersed in continual sacrificial duties, rituals and observances, and according to the biblical record the people of Israel were responsible for carrying out the will of God in overthrowing the inhabitants of Canaan. The people of Israel were only able to take it by struggle and conflict as they were not an exemplary nation that lived by faith in God.] [Note: Some consider the prophet Muhammad to be a descendant of Ishmael, but this claim is generally disputed by Muhammad’s own statements regarding his family genealogy. Likewise, the Palestinian Arabs and others within the Arab world also claim to be descendants of Ishmael, and thus descendants of Abraham. This conclusion is, however, problematic and difficult to authenticate from biblical, genealogical and historical records regarding the peoples of the Middle East.] [Note: “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. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him” (Gen.12:1-7).] [Note: “And he said unto him [Abraham], I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it” (Gen. 15:7).] [Note: “And he said unto Abram [Abraham], Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 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: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (Gen. 15:13-21).] [Note: “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this