For all the supporters of Israel and Zionists is the settlement issue between the Palestinians and Israelis in East Jerusalem, with the hope that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not cave in to mounting and unrelenting pressure from the international community, including the United States, into stopping their expansion efforts for building and selling more homes in the disputed territory. It is even asserted by students of the Bible that one of the mistakes that King Solomon made was in “selling the land” and the subsequent loss of blessings from God in doing so; or something like that. It is prudent to go back and investigate that portion of Scripture and other passages to shed some light upon what some contend; as in below:
1 Kings 9: 1111-13
(Hiram the King of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul (“Good for Nothing”), as they are to this day.
NOTE: These cities were not sold to Hiram but given to him; and not only that, they were apparently not the best lands because King Hiram certainly was not impressed, and they were located in the Northern territory of Israel [Galilee], not in the Southern territory of Judah [Jerusalem].
Joshua 13: 8 thru 21: 43
The Division of the Land (in Canaan)
NOTE: There is nothing whatsoever in the commandments of Moses or even the instructions of Joshua and Eleazar the priest (Cp. Joshua 19: 51) pertaining to selling the land. The prophet Ezekiel has a little something to say about the Division of the Land, however, and the entire narrative can be found in 48: 1-35, but I want to concentrate on the verses below:
Ezekiel 48: 13-14
“Opposite the border of the priests, the Levites shall have an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width; its entire length shall be twenty-five thousand and its width ten thousand. “And they [Levites] shall not sell or exchange any of it; they may not alienate the best part of the land; for the land is holy to the LORD.”
NOTE: This land that is parceled out to the Levites from all the other tribes (Cp. Joshua 21: 1-42) is NOT TO BE SOLD because of its holiness to the LORD, but there is no such regulation that I have found pertaining to the disposition of the other tribal lands in Israel, Samaria, Gaza, Judea, Palestine, etc. Also, the belief that the Israelis and Palestinians cannot live together, religious and cultural traditions notwithstanding, is not an excuse because the children of Israel and descendants of pagan nations that they were supposed to destroy continued for perhaps centuries; as in the following:
Judges 3: 5-6
Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods (Cp. Ezra 9: 1-2).
2 Chronicles 8: 7-8
All the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel- that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy- from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 30, 2010
pbks@hotmail.com
