Israel--Alone Among the Nations

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BIBLICAL STORY:
Israel Israel is the most unique nation on earth. We know that. 

The prophet Balaam was hired by the Moab king Balak to place a CURSE on Israel. But it wasn’t working. The only response Balaam was getting from God was a BLESSING.

A CURSE: Basically, that’s what the Muslim neighbor-nations are trying against the State of Israel today, but it’s not working.

A CURSE: Anti-Semites the world over would like to attempt the same.  

Balaam, the ancient prophet, DID get an oracle from the Lord. It was clear. And It was surprising.

Balaam said:
                                                        Balak has brought me from Aram,
                                          The king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
                                                               ‘Come, curse Jacob for me;
                                                                  Come, denounce Israel!
But, he continues:
                                         How can I curse whom God has not cursed?….
                                                      Here is a people living alone,
                                          And not reckoning itself among the nations!

QUESTION: The king wanted a curse pronounced on Israel….for what reason?

ANSWER: A mixture of fear and loathing. Fear because the nations were hearing of Israel and Israel’s God who worked miracles, making Israel invincible. Loathing, because they were different. 

In the October 31st issue of The Jerusalem Post, this observation is made about the United States under President Trump’s leadership withdrawing forces from Syria: Israel is concerned that as the U. S. leaves, it will create a vacuum; and that means that Israel will be “alone among the nations”--among nations that wish to destroy her and annihilate all Jews. That would be Iran, but Iran would be cheered on by many other Muslim nations.

Prime Minister Netanyahu on October 10th:
“We do not aspire to be ‘a nation that dwells alone’, but that is how we were forced to stand at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War [in 1973]….We always remember and apply the basic principle that guides us: Israel will defend itself, by itself, against any threat.” (Jerusalem Post, 10/31/2019)

“Alone among the nations.” This from a divine oracle and made clear in history. 

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Did you ever hear of foreign armies or militias taking positions in Israel on behalf of the Jewish people?

Who came to the aid of the Jews when the Romans besieged Jerusalem. No one. But even though Rome was by far the greater power, the Jews fought viciously and came close to victory. THE JEWS WERE ALONE. Not Greece nor Egypt nor Persia came to her aid. 

How about when the five nation neighbors of the State of Israel when they fought to destroy it in 1967? Would any great power go to Israel’s aid? How about…let’s say Russia….no way. Let’s say Japan….by international law they were de-militarized. Let’s say NATO….not. NATO was formed to protect Europe from the Soviet Union. Other countries that might have done it are Communist or Muslim, and those nations were scandalized by the idea of coming to the aid of those "Chosen People,” and were more likely to provide armaments for the Egyptians, Syrians, Jordanians, Iraqis

When in 1967 the American president, Lyndon Johnson was informed that preparations for war were in place for Israel’s neighbors to attack, he pointed out that America was involved in the Viet Nam War and was severely limited in its ability to assist Israel.  He urged Israel’s Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, not to initiate hostilities.

But Egypt and Syria had been readying their forces for many months. President Johnson warned: “Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone.” (!) WRONG! The United Nations had already removed its protective forces from the Sinai. Who were the U. N. forces to protect? Israel, of course.  But Egypt’s Nasser demanded that they leave! ‘Get out of our way, so we can destroy Israel,’ was, in effect what Nasser was saying. And the UN forces left… leaving Israel alone!

THE JEWS WERE ALONE. Neither the U. S. nor Britain nor Russia nor the United Nations came to their aid in the face of the threat to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.   

Such a small nation. You’d think that some other nation in the world would provide some troops to assist them in their fight for their lives. But NO.

If a small NATO country would be attacked, the rest of all Western Europe and the United States would be required by treaty to come, militarily, to their aid. But not to tiny little Israel.  

It is David against Goliath….as usual.

It’s the way it was in the Old Testament. Could Israel depend upon her cousins to assist them militarily? You’re joking. EXAMPLE: The Edomites (next door neighbors), descendants of Esau, rejoiced when Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians. The Jews were captured. The Edomites came and watched, laughed, danced and gloated and may have captured some of the Jews themselves to sell them into slavery.  (SEE: The Prophecy of Obadiah)

No nation ever wanted to get involved in the Middle East just to help the Jewish State.

There are a good number of Jews who despise this characterization of the Israeli people as being alone. They don’t want to be “a people alone”—separate and distinct from others. Some want to be like the Europeans; and they mimic the European calls for universalism, diversity in the population, in philosophy, in the way of life. They rather like their ancient traditions but dislike any dependence upon the Lord.

In 20th century Europe, many were even more adamant: ‘We Jews are no longer a nation but a fossil and should cast off our identity of being chosen. We are just humanists.’

Some despise the Judaism of their grandparents and have retained nothing but an insipid and uninspiring “progressivism.” Let there be freethinking…O yes! But not this separateness from the nations, they say. 

Still, they cannot wipe away their identity. For it is God the Lord who graciously has called them. 

                                                        Here is a people living alone
                                          And not reckoning itself among the nations!
                                                               -- (Numbers 23:9)
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P. S. And it is Jesus Christ, also called by the Father, to dwell as one man in the midst of mankind--separate from sinners, alone, yet blessing them in His life, death and resurrection.
 

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