A literal reading of the Old Testament is seriously damaging the Palestinian people. For it is written within the Old Testament, clearly and repeatedly, that God has given the whole of Palestine – and more – to Abraham’s seed. Here is the text of the covenant made with Abraham (Genesis 15:18): ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land…’ Other pertinent references in Genesis include 12:7 and 17:8.

The religious settlers in Israel, accordingly, believe that they are exercising their full rights, if not an obligation, in settling within Palestine.

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Comments

• Posted by billthequaker on January 29, 2010

  Michael Oppenheim should not blame the Hebrew Bible, he should blame those who interpret things literally that were written long ago for who knows what reasons?  The events described in Joshua for example didn’t actually happen (archeologists have discovered).  More likely these are Assyrian war myths expressing the frustration of the Israelites with a “super-power” that had overwhelmed their culture. It would better serve the cause of world peace if Mr. Oppenheim would first educate himself in biblical criticism and focus his attacks on those who deserve them: the fundamentalists who, like Mr. Oppenheimer are ignorant of biblical scholarship and use the ‘words’ to justify what is nothing more than their own political views.

• Posted by billthequaker on January 29, 2010

  I want to appologize to Michael Oppenheim for the way I delivered my comments above; my wife, dear Pat read them after I sent them, and she has reported me to the Quaker police.  Michael I am simply so angry with some Friends, who attack the messenger and leave the guilty unscathed.  However, this is no excuse to let bitterness seep into my response to you.  So let me amend.  The Bible is a great literature.  The only reason it has survived is that it has allowed people to experience God directly through stories that shake our souls to the core.  In 19th century America, a Protestant movement began that completely overturned thousands of years of tradition in scriptural reading begun by the teachers of all of us, the Hebrew people.  These Protestants admitted only a literal understanding of scripture, which of course eliminates the possibility of any real encounter with truth. The Bible records the struggle of men and women to understand what God wants of them.  It is nothing more than that.  Imperfect therefore is that understanding, but it is the struggle that is inspirational.  When we ‘get over’ the fact that God (evidently) has asked Abraham to kill his beloved son, we see that here are the beginnings of a testimony against war, the killing of anyone for a ‘sacred cause’.  The testimonies we live by as Quakers are all to be found in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.  The Catholics have always understood that the Bible is a complex and ‘dumb’ book (that is it cannot speak for itself).  The Protestant fundamentalists ignore this.  The Bible, thousands of years old, some of the stories, cannot be understood without hard work, and an article in this issue (above) gives some excellent modern writers who can help Friends expand their understanding of the writings that undergird the Judeo-Christian tradition.  It is I feel the responsibility of all Friends to have this understanding, otherwise we are left only to our own devices without the aid of the wisdom of the ancients who struggled with the same issues we struggle with today.