The borders of the Jewish State

“The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand” (Deuteronomy 28:49).

When reading verse 1 of chapter 28, we are confronted with the pronunciation of blessing, conditioned upon the little word “if”: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.”

But then in verse 15 is the other “if,” in which curses are pronounced upon Israel: “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.” Verse 37 declares: “And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.” Note the words “all nations,” and in the introductory verse, “from the end of the earth.” That simply means the whole world without exception. 

We know that for the last 2,000 years, the Jews were severely persecuted in many nations throughout the world. The most horrendous crime was committed by Nazi Germany, when they systematically murdered about 6 million Jews —just because they were Jews, no other reason. 

Going back to the beginning, we find God’s unconditional covenant with Abraham. It wasn’t Abraham making a covenant with God, but “the Lord made a covenant with Abraham.” We immediately notice that this is written in the past tense; that means God has already done it. It’s not from the river to the sea, but from the rivers to the sea: the River Euphrates, the River of Egypt, and we know from the Bible, the River Jordan—These are the established borders of the Promised Land. Looking at a map of the Middle East, we notice that a number of Arab countries are occupying Israeli territory, such as Lebanon, Syria, parts of Jordan, and of course, Gaza, as well as parts of the Sinai Peninsula up to the River of Egypt, which is not the Nile but the little creek in the area of El Arish. 

How do we know? Moses was told by God that he would see the Promised Land, but he would not enter it. Subsquently, when we follow the various places mentioned during the Exodus, we know that wherever Moses traveled with his people, it was not the Promised Land. 

A recent article in the Jerusalem Post shows that the Meta platform (Facebook) condones statements that call for the erasure of Israel. 

The decision by Meta’s Oversight Board to allow the phrase “From the river to the sea” to run on its platform by users without automatic removal is not only antisemitic; it is senseless and dangerous in its undermining of the legitimacy of the Jewish state.
-www.jpost.com, 6 September 2024

It is no longer the borders of the Jewish State that are being put into question, but the very existence of Israel. The article adds: “‘From the river to the sea’ does exactly that, implicitly calling for Israel’s destruction, as The Jerusalem Post’s Diaspora Correspondent Michael Starr pointed out in April in the context of the phrase used widely in university protests.” It then concludes: “The phrase stands hand-in-hand with Hamas’s goal to destroy Israel. The Board’s decision contributes nothing to the true dialogue that should be taking place around the issue, threatens the safety of Jews, and should be revoked.”

We should not make the error in assuming that certain nations are very pro-Israel, despite their public support. When we observe this on a Biblical, prophetic level, then we know there is no nation on planet earth that would agree with the Scripture: “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” (Genesis 15:18).

This again proves without a shadow of doubt that today’s Israel is the continuation of the ancient Israel, which God has chosen for His peculiar people. 

Here, it is appropriate to carefully read Paul’s statement relating to the Gentiles and to Israel: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:25-26).

Midnight Call - 11/2024