This essay was written by Arthur C. Donart, Ph. D.
The recent violence in the Middle East was a “George Floyd” event that settles nothing. First a group of White Supremacists march through a Black neighborhood shouting, “Kill all niggers.” Sorry for the mix up! It was a group of Jewish Nationalists yelling, “Kill all Arabs,” echoes of the Nazis shouting, “Kill all Jews.” Sounds pretty ugly, doesn’t it?
That’s because it is. Hatred of any People is simply wrong and very destructive! The three Abrahamic Religions all agree on this tenant.
Adding insult to injury, the Israeli Police assaulted some worshipers on the Islamic Holy Day at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is the third-holiest site in Islam for Sunni Muslims located in Jerusalem. These events triggered the violent reaction from Hamas, the Palestinian group which controls Gaza, a strip of land on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Gaza strip borders both Egypt and Israel.
It is 25 miles long and 7.5 miles wide. It is home to about two million people, and Israel maintains a blockade. Gaza has few resources and no Army, although Hamas fighters seem adept at making rockets with no guidance systems.
On the other hand, we have Israel with a population of about 9.3 million people; a land mass of about 8522 square miles; a military that is the largest, best-trained and best-equipped in the area. So who is the “David,” and who is the “Goliath?”
As I read First Samuel, Chapter 17, the story of the battle between the Philistine Goliath and David fighting for Israel, I note that little David gives a very interesting explanation to King Saul, for his victory over the giant Goliath. David is fighting for the “real” God and against false gods.
Throughout the Old Testament Yahweh [God] is the champion of the dispossessed and oppressed. Could that be the Palestinians? the ones whose homes are being demolished? those whose land is being taken away, by Jewish Nationalist settlers?
Anyone who reads the Psalms and Prophets might wonder, What has happened Are God’s people back in the desert worshiping false gods, like they did in Exodus 32:1? There they created a golden calf. Is not taking someone else’s land worshiping a false god?
David fought for a God who sees, who speaks, who listens, who loves. The prophets worn, “You will become like the god you worship.”
Perhaps this time, the people of Gaza are the David.