A. R. Pigdon: October 1999      

Arthur Pigdon   2001.      

Our Heavenly Father, we have come here today to offer you our worship and our love. You gave us life; you formed our marvellous bodies, our creative minds and our sensate feelings. You have given us this wonderful, living planet Earth, as our home. You have surrounded us with foliage, fruit and flowers to meet our every need. You have given us animals for food, for work, and for company.

You have given us freedom, making us in your own image. You equipped us with a creative imagination, giving us the ability to continue your work of creation. You have given us eyes to see the colour and beauty of earth, and ears to hear the sound of the waves and the songs of the birds. You have given us minds to think, speech to communicate, and feelings to love, so that we can be bound together into caring families and communities.

All that we are and have we owe to you, our Spirit Father. We have nothing to offer you which you have not given us except our gratitude, love and devotion. We simply say, "Thank you, Father, for giving us life. We love you with our whole being. We are bonded to you with a devotion that is unchanging, whatever the circumstances of our daily lives may be."

We are grateful that you chose to reveal yourself to us by entering our physical world as one of us, in the person of your Son, Jesus. We have celebrated with joy, the 2000th year since he came to earth as a man. He still lives vividly in our minds through the gospel stories, and by his Spirit which dwells within us. We love him for his compassion towards the poor, the sick and the social outcasts; for his passionate sense of justice and his denunciation of the uncaring rich. We are astonished at his humility and we marvel at his selflessness and total submission to your will. He has dispelled the mystery that hid you from us. In him we have seen your goodness and the greatness of your love for all your children. We can never be the same again.

As we enter this new century, we do not need to come with petitions or implore your favour for your loving provision has met all our need. We accept the circumstances of our lives, whatever they may be, content in the knowledge that your wisdom and love will sustain us in every situation. We offer ourselves to you afresh, asking only that your Spirit will live within us as he did within your son, Jesus. Our prayer is that we may be an instrument and channel through which you can minister to the needs of people and so fulfil your purpose for the world.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

A. R. Pigdon      

Prayer is an important part of any worship service. Jesus said My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations. Church prayers are group prayers--different from individual prayers. In our tradition, one person prays on behalf of the whole congregation. The worshippers are passive listeners--it requires concentration to follow a prayer. Traditional prayer is liturgical--Printed and read together, or with responses. Or, guided, silent, individual prayer is an alternate method giving participation. Jesus gave us a model prayer in response to the disciples request 'Teach us to pray.' Today we will use that model and amplify it so that it becomes our own prayer for today.

Our Father in heaven. Lord God, we are grateful that Jesus taught us to call you Father for we have earthly fathers who love us and take responsibility for our welfare. It helps us to understand how you feel towards us. We need your love, for this world can be a lonely and frightening place. We cannot see you with our eyes, for you are hidden in the symbolism of heaven, but we thank you that you are known to us through your Spirit whom you sent to be with us, and in us.

Hallowed be your name. We honour your name and your person. We pledge to you our loyalty and affection. We bow before you in homage, worship and adoration. We acknowledge you as the eternal Spirit who created all things and gave life to all creatures on earth. You are truly our father and we offer you the respect and obedience which is your due. We will worship you with our lives, as well as with our words.

Your kingdom come. We belong to this earthly nation of Australia, but we also pledge ourselves to live by the laws, and ideas, you have set before us. We acknowledge your right to be king over all the earth and we look forward to the fulfilment of Jesus' promise to establish the kingdom of God. We have seen the failure of all forms of human government and we pray for the return of the Messiah to reign over us, bringing righteousness and peace to our world.

Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. We pray for those who govern us at Federal, State and Council levels. At this present time we ask for wisdom for the Federal government, and all our fellow-citizens, as together we move towards a Republic. We pray for our Police Force, and judges, as they seek to administer our laws. We pray for all parents, teachers, and the churches, as they seek to prepare our children for citizenship. Give us the will to be responsible citizens of Australia so that one day we may enjoy citizenship in your eternal kingdom.

Give us today our daily bread. Our Father, we thank you for providing a great abundance and variety of food to sustain all life on earth. Forgive us for the wilful ignorance and greed that has diminished our capacity to provide food for everybody. Deepen our sense of justice, and may those who have wealth and authority, be made conscious of their responsibility to provide for the poor of our cities. We pledge ourselves to make some contribution to relieve the hunger of those who lack the very necessities of life.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lord, we confess that at times we trespass into forbidden attitudes, and actions, and in doing so, we bring hurt or unhappiness to ourselves and to others. We yield our wills to you afresh, so that in future we may be controlled by your Spirit. We pledge ourselves to forgive everyone who has hurt or wronged us, for we ourselves need your forgiveness.

Lord, there are many things that cannot be put right in this world. Help us to accept our own imperfections and the weaknesses of others. Give us grace to see the log in our own eye as well as the splinter in our brother's eye.

Lead us not into temptation. Lord, we live daily surrounded by many temptations. The ideals you have set before us, are so different to the lifestyle of many around us, who are motivated by pleasure, profit and power. We look to Jesus, who was tempted through his humanity, with all the desires that beset human beings, but whose commitment to you was so total that he was able to overcome. We thank you that you have given us the power to live victorious lives through your Spirit who dwells within us.

But deliver us from evil. Protect us Lord from evil persons who would harm us for their own advantage. May your angels protect us when danger threatens. Help us to be wise in the decisions we make, lest we carelessly make ourselves vulnerable to the harm that could come, to us through accidents and natural disasters: Yet Father, we remember that our Lord suffered unjustly at the hands of evil men: We know that sometimes you permit your children to suffer physical loss, but yet be unharmed in their spirit. Help us to be willing to endure whatever may befall us. We thank you for the testimony of your servant Paul, who said, 'In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, . . . or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, and ever. Amen

A. R. Pigdon.      

The spirit of Jesus is the spirit of love. That's all--nothing more. That is Christianity. On this single truth Jesus' followers have built an elaborate religious organisation that is fragmented into 23,000 denominations (1990 figure), developed elaborate diverse rituals, and profound intellectual theologies. Dogma and denominationalism, tradition and prejudice, have produced an organised religion far removed from the spirit of Jesus.

What instructions did Jesus leave his followers? First there was the simple personal command "Follow me". They were to pattern their lives on his character. Then there was their responsibility to their fellow disciples, "Love one another, as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Their love for each other was to be the only proof to the community that they were, in fact, his disciples.

Then there was their duty to everybody in the community, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." They were to emulate the spirit of Jesus by always acting in a loving way towards each other and towards everybody in the community. They were to do this even when others were hostile towards them. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be the children of your Father in heaven." Finally, they were to spread the good news of God's love for everybody so that his spirit could become a leaven of goodness in all societies on earth.

All the rest, church buildings and property, theological training and paid ministers, missionaries, Bible translation and distribution, education, medical and relief work and the highly organised structure of the institutional church, is built on the love of God which found its clearest expression in the spirit of Jesus. The organised church is only Christian to the degree that its every activity is an expression of the loving spirit of Jesus. Church members are only Christians to the degree that they manifest the spirit of Jesus in their daily lives.

The organised church has often pursued other objectives instead of making the practice of love its primary purpose. People everywhere are hungry for love but churches have given them formal ritualised services, arguments about beliefs, wars over religious issues, and authoritarian rules for their private lives, when all Jesus asked them to do was spread the good news of God's forgiving grace. The church has often behaved like a business enterprise making growth its main objective and size its measure of success.

As we enter a new century we are confronted by a generation that feels that the church has nothing to offer them that meets their need. They don't want ritual or dogma or theology and they are not impressed by size or authority. They are suspicious of the collection plate and the morals of the clergy. They live in a society [2] where they know they will be ripped-off if they are not wary; they have no long term job security, they have no assurance of secure personal relationships; they have to make it through life pretty much alone. So they plunge into the social jungle of today's society and, often regardless of the rights of others, they take what they can of life's pleasures and possessions.

But beneath the sophistication there is often the emptiness that only the unloved know. They need the security that only love can give; the kind of love that shares and sacrifices and creates community. But it has to be love with no strings attached. It has to be the spirit of Jesus that accepts them as they are, while challenging them also, to live by his code of unconditional love.

That is the mission of individual Christians and the organised church. To be there for others, to love them irrespective of their behaviour or unbelief. That is an end in itself. To win 'souls'; to increase membership; to plant new congregations; to build bier churches; to 'Christianise' the natives; these are all secondary objectives but not the real purpose for which Jesus came. He came to declare and demonstrate that God still loved the people he had created and to denounce all selfish and unloving behaviour. The mission of Jesus is our mission; it is to demonstrate unconditional love to our generation.

Arthur Pigdon 2000

The Serbs--History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia by Tim Judah 1997, Yale University Press, London Copy from Mornington Library 949.6 JUD

Tim Judah is a journalist who lived in Belgrade for four years from the outbreak of the war in Yugoslavia in 1991 and travelled constantly reporting the war from all sides for The Times and The Economist. His book traces the history of the Serbian people from their migration into the Balkan region in the sixth century until the break-up of Yugoslavia under Slobodan Milosevic but it predates the war in Kosovo. It is a detailed, thorough, and impartial view of a complex subject that can only be understood by taking into account all the historically diverse, conflicting factors, involved. Much of the material in this article is based on his book, but I have drawn from other sources also.

The region of central Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea comprising Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania and Greece is a politically unstable region where the pressures of the western countries of Germany, Austria and Italy meet the thrust of the eastern powers of Russia, Bulgaria and Turkey, producing a cultural and political region not unlike the physically unstable regions of earth where the continents crunch against each other creating earthquakes and volcanoes. The periodic wars and movements of population that have always been endemic to this region have created a society deeply divided by ethnic, religious and national loyalties and strongly influenced by its turbulent past. The present tragic events are the fruit of long cherished unfulfilled national aspirations and equally long cherished feelings of revenge.

The southern region where the Serbs have traditionally lived has been broken up into a number of independent states whose borders and allegiances have changed with the fortunes of war. Under Tito's communist regime they were held uneasily together under a common government for forty-five years. The disintegration of the post-war state of Yugoslavia since Tito's death, and the separation of these diverse elements, called ethnic cleansing, with the consequent burning of villages and forced migrations that are so graphically portrayed on our T.V. screens is nothing new for this region. It has been happening for centuries.

In addition to Yugoslavia's geographic location, (Yugoslavia means South-Slavs) religion has played a significant role in creating diversity. When the first major division of Christianity took place in 1054 A. D. the western Catholic church controlled from Rome was separated from the eastern Orthodox church controlled from Constantinople. The division cut right through this region and as each church ostracized the other it left a legacy of religious intolerance that is still strong today. The Croats are Catholics and the Serbs are Orthodox and, in the case of the Serbs, there is a very close link between church and state.

In addition to this, the invasion of the region in the fourteenth and fifteenth century by the Ottoman Turks introduced the Moslem faith and added another, even more diverse strand, to the religious, ethnic and cultural diversity.

Ethnic divisions are another divisive factor in Yugoslavia. The origin of the Serbs and the Croats is uncertain. Both speak the same language but the Croats use the Roman script and the Serbs use the Russian Cyrillic script. They have always lived close to each other yet retained separate identities and loyalties. The Serbs first emerged as the dominant ethnic group in the region of Kosovo and Montenegro with the founding of a Serbian state in the twelfth century which lasted for 200 years under the rule of the Nemanja dynasty until Prince Lazar was overthrown by the Turks at the famous battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389. Although defeated, this battle on Kosovo soil has forever made Kosovo sacred to Serbians in the same way that Gallipoli became a nation forming experience for Australians. Judah says, "In all of European history it is impossible to find any comparison with the effect of [the battle of] Kosovo on the Serbian national psyche" The two hundred years of sovereignty and the heroic defence at Kosovo Polje created a Serbian myth that became enshrined in epic songs that sustained the Serbian people during the period of Turkish rule and still motivates and inspires the Serbian national spirit today.

Judah says, "It [the Kosovo myth] provided far the Serbs an explanation for their oppression by the Ottomans. It also identified the whole nation with the central guiding raison d'etre of Christianity: resurrection." Professor Korac of Belgrade University says: "What it tells the Serbs is "we are going to make a state again". Just as Jesus is 'coming back' so is Lazar. It means that because we opted for the kingdom of heaven we cannot lose, and that is what people mean when they talk about the Serbs as a 'heavenly people.' In this way the Serbs identify themselves with the Jews. As victims, yes, but also with the idea of 'sacred soil.' The Jews say 'Next year in Jerusalem' and after 2000 years they recreated their state. The message is: 'We are victims, but we are going to survive."'

The founder of the Serbian dynasty, Stefan Nemanja, was a loyal supporter of the Orthodox church and, after establishing the first Serbian state, he appointed one of his sons as his heir and retired to a monastic life on Mount Athos. He was later canonised as a saint and this right was conferred on his successors. One of his sons, Sava, became the first head of the autonomous Serbian Orthodox church and thus both church and state were combined to forge an enduring national identity that has been maintained through the last six centuries. The historian Milos Blagojevic has written: "Thus, God had ordained that Nemanja's ancestors, he himself and subsequently his heirs should sovereignly rule 'the Serbian land.' They should take care of the 'flock' entrusted to them, i. e., of the Serbian people, defend it and keep all evils away from it, as well as keep it together. All these [ideas] largely influenced the feeling of belonging to a common ethnic group--the Serbian nation."

In 1690 the Austrians and the Serbs joined forces in an attempt to drive out the Turks but their army was defeated. Rather than remain in Turkish servitude the Orthodox Patriarch, Arsenije, led thirty thousand Serbian refugee families north to settle beyond the Danube in the Habsburg territory of Hungary taking the bones of Prince Lazar, the last symbol of their former national life with them. These exiles in their dreams thought of their home land as 'heavenly Serbia' and cherished the idea of returning. It was the church that kept alive the idea of national resurrection. The Serbs always dreamed of regaining independence. During the 18th and 19th centuries around half a million Serbs gradually returned to Serbian soil.

The Serbs always dreamed of freeing themselves from Turkish rule and in 1804 a peasant named Petrovic, better known as Karadjordje (Black George), led an uprising against the Turks in which some 40,000 Muslims were driven from the province of Belgrade. The Turks cruelly smashed the uprising; villages were burned and thousands were sold into slavery. It is estimated that 100.000 Serbs fled northwards to the safety of Hungary led by Patriarch Arsenije. Another Serb leader, Milos Obrenovic continued the struggle and after limited autonomy was finally won the Serbs began to drift back again. But there would be no lasting peace under Turkish rule. In 1876 war broke out again resulting in the largest relocation of people in the nineteenth century. The Serbian historian Milan St. Protic says that some two million people, both Serbs and Muslims, fled their original homes. The Serbs drove out the Albanians and a quarter of a million Serbs fled from Kosovo to Serbia and Montenegro. The Turkish region absorbed 800,000 refugees from Greece, Albania and Macedonia. It is estimated that in the final struggle with the Ottoman empire in the Balkan war of 1913, half a million refugees were again driven from their homes. In his book on migrations during the Balkan wars Dimitirje Djordjevic of the University of California says that some two and a half million people were shifted from their homes between 1912 and 1923 due to war and population exchanges.

The Serbian national aspirations had been kept alive by epic poems such as The Mountain Wreath which glorified past war heroes and called on the Kosovo spirit to free Serbs from alien rule. It also called for the extermination of those who had converted to Islam under Turkish rule. It was a call for ethnic cleansing. It was this poem that inspired Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, the act that started the first World War. These patriotic poems have continued to serve as a strong motivating force for the creation of a greater Serbia under Milosevic and for his policy of ethnic cleansing.

Ilija Garasanin (1812-1874) played an important role in the rebuilding of Serbian national life. His Nacertanije (draft plan for Serbia's future) put forward long term objectives for a Slav-Serbian Empire. Judah says "It is the document that synthesises centuries of Serbian dreams as preserved by the church and epic poetry and formulates them into a statement of modern nationalism." (p. 59) Its weakness was that it had two contradictory ideas. It sought the union of Serbia and the other south Slav states which had some Serb populations but it also believed that the Serbs, being the largest national group, had the right to rule the whole south Slav region. The states with minority Serb populations were willing to accept federation, with autonomy, but not domination. Milosevic has sought to follow Garasanin's ideas and also his methods of ethnic cleansing.

Just prior to World War I the Balkan states of Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro formed an alliance to finally expel the Turks from the Balkan Peninsula. In the ensuing Balkan war of 1912-13 they succeeded, thus ending 500 years of Turkish occupation. One significant result was that Kosovo was restored to Serbian rule. The feeling evoked by the freeing of Kosovo was expressed by one of the soldiers who said, "The single sound of that word--Kosovo--caused an indescribable excitement. This one word pointed to the black past five centuries. In it exists the whole of our sad past--the Tragedy of Prince Lazar and the entire Serbian people." Kosovo evokes the same feeling among Serbs as Jerusalem does among Jews.

The Balkan war of 1913-14 resulted in the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of people in massive waves of ethnic cleansing as whole populations were relocated. War breeds hatred and it is customary to denigrate those you wish to destroy. The Greeks said of the Bulgarians "They are not human beings." The American Carnegie Report on the Balkan war said "Deny that your enemies are men and presently you will treat them as vermin." Hitler denigrated the Jews in the same way so that the Germans would not feel guilt in killing them. The Albanians are mostly Moslems who converted under the harsh Turkish regime and therefore the Serbs associate them with the hated Turks and want them annihilated.

When World War I broke out Croatia and Bosnia were occupied by Austria and 150,000 Serbs from those areas were sent to concentration camps and others used as forced labour. In response the Serbs decided to evacuate their country. Their ageing king Peter, the government, government officials, the army, priests, teachers and thousands of civilians including women and children made a famous retreat through Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania to the Adriatic coast where those who survived were rescued by the Allies. They even took with them the casket and remains of their first king Stefan Nemanjic who had died 700 years before. They firmly believed that Serbia would survive and rise again.

They trekked across the snow-clad mountains, the roads turned to mud, carts and cars broke down and were abandoned, food was short and some froze as they slept. Their route through Kosovo took them through hostile villages of Albanians whom the Serbs had harshly oppressed when they took the country in the recent Balkan war. The Albanians did not give them any assistance but set ambushes and killed and beheaded any they caught. Thousands died of disease and those who remained were evacuated by the French. On their journey to North Africa, France, Corsica and Corfu another 7000 died and were buried at sea. Nevertheless 120,000 soldiers survived and fought on the side of the Allies.

In his book Agonie and Resurrection, Petrovic says that these survivors were driven by an implacable lust for revenge waiting for the 'moment when the hour of Revenge would at last sound on the pitiless clock of history.' What we are witnessing happening in Kosovo in 1999 needs to seen against these events of earlier this century. During World War I the Serbs lost 275,000 men and 800,000 civilians. This was two-thirds of their male population between the ages of 15 and 55. In exile the leader of the Serb government Nikola Pasic was planning for the future. In 1918 he wrote "Serbia wants to liberate and unite the Yugoslavs and does not want to drown in the sea of some kind of Yugoslavia. Serbia does not want to drown in Yugoslavia, but to have Yugoslavia drown in her."

These tragic events of the first World War were overshadowed by the atrocities experienced throughout the Balkans during the second World War. Not only did they experience invasion by both the Germans and the Italians but they were involved in a three way internal struggle between the Communists (Partisans) led by Tito, the Croatian Ustashas (Fascists) led by Pavelic, and the regular Serb army (Chetniks) led by Mihailovic. When the Germans and Italians invaded Yugoslavia they appointed Ante Pavelic, the leader of the extreme nationalist movement Ustasha, as the Croatian Fuhrer.

The fanatical Ustashas set out to exterminate the Serbs living in Croatia and Bosnia declaring that one third would be killed, one third expelled and one third converted to Catholicism. It is estimated that 300,000 Serbs became refugees and about the same number 'converted' to Catholicism. The most infamous massacre took place at Gilna in 1941. Judah says that "1,200 Serbs dressed in their Sunday best were called to the church from surrounding villages to be 'converted' to Catholicism. Instead they were locked inside the church and murdered." The Bishop of Mostar wrote to his Archbishop reporting the Ustasha atrocities. "Men are captured like animals, they are slaughtered, murdered, living men are thrown from cliffs . . . mothers together with their children were thrown alive off the precipices." Hundreds of thousands were killed by the Ustashas in their fanatical 'ethnic cleansing' pogroms and purges. The Serbs have good reason the harbour an undying hatred of the Ustashas.

The Serb Chetniks under Mihailovic set out their aim in a document called 'Homogeneous Serbia' which declared their intention of establishing a Greater Serbia to include the whole of the Yugoslav region. They did not want a federation of independent states but wanted all the states to be merged under Serbia's rule. They anticipated that major transfers of population would be necessary to achieve this. The Chetnik army was a Serb army dedicated to achieving Serb control of the Balkans. Their main aim was to defeat the Axis powers but they also found themselves at times fighting both the Communists and the Ustashas and the Muslims. At the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal, Djurisic, a Chetnik commander, reported that all Moslem villages in his area had been destroyed and over 9,000 of their inhabitants killed including women, old men and children. For a time the British assisted the Serb Chetniks as their best hope of defeating the Germans but later they switched their support to the Communists who were more successful.

The Communists were the third group struggling to control Yugoslavia. Josip Broz, known as Tito, was the leader of a small band of Communists who believed that Russian style socialism was the answer to Yugoslavia's frequent political troubles. Tito was not a Serb, he was half-Croat and half-Slovene. He had fought in the first World War and after some years in Russia he returned to Zagreb and was appointed leader of the Communist party. Tito did not want to just drive the Germans out of Yugoslavia, his aim was to seize power at the end of the war and bring in a socialist revolution. For three years the Chetniks, the Partisans and the Ustashas fought among themselves as well as fighting the invaders so a virtual civil war was going on.

The Partisans rallying cry was the creation of a Yugoslavia that was neither Croatian nor Serbian but a free federation of all the Yugoslavian independent states. In 1944 the Partisans and the Red Army captured Belgrade and in 1945 the hated Ustasha rule in Croatia was brought to an end giving Tito control of the whole of Yugoslavia. The new Yugoslavia was made up of six republics, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Slovenia. Serbia contained two autonomous regions, Kosovo and Vojvodina.

Albanians are not Slavs and Albania was not part of Tito's Yugoslavia but a separate independent state. Its people had colonised Kosovo when it was under Turkish control and when the present conflict began 80% of Kosovo's population was of Albanian origin. Under Tito, Kosovo remained a province of Serbia, but was given autonomy because of its large Albanian population. Marshal Tito held this federation of independent republics together until his death in 1980 when the ethnic, religious and state loyalties rose to the surface again and resulted in forced migrations and 'ethnic cleansing.

When Milosevic visited Kosovo before he came to power the Serbs complained to him of the unjust treatment they were receiving at the hands of the Albanian authorities. He promised to support them. When he came to power he withdrew Kosovo's autonomous status making it an integral part of Serbia controlled from Belgrade. The new Serb authorities including the Police and the Militia turned the tables and for the next ten years made life miserable for the Albanians. Ymer Muhaxheri of the main Albanian political party in Kosovo in describing the situation said, "The pressure is continuous. Police expeditions, raids on villages, armed civilians parading around. They always use weapon searches as excuses. They harass families and beat parents in front of their children. They surround one part of the town and search everyone to collect hard currency. No one dares react."

The Kosovo Albanians reacted by forming their own underground party and shadow government and collecting their own taxes to support an underground army, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). When hostilities between the Serbs and Albanians intensified and the Serbs began destroying whole villages and murdering all the occupants the NATO countries felt that they could not stand idly by doing nothing. They commenced their bombing campaign to prevent this immoral slaughter and to try to bring peace to the region. Milosevic immediately declared war on the Albanians of Kosovo and his troops began a policy of ethnic cleansing by burning villages and murdering or capturing the men in an attempt to drive the whole Albanian population of 1.7 million totally out of Kosovo. The rest of the story we know from our daily news bulletins. Tim Judah's judgment is that Milosevic is a power-seeking opportunist who has used the Serbs' deeply ingrained historical traditions to stir up their nationalistic spirit to create for himself a Greater Serbia out of the ruins of Tito's Yugoslavia.

This short historical review helps to set the present in the total historical perspective and to give some background to the forces at work in Kosovo today. Both the Albanians and the Serbs have contributed to the present tragic situation but it should also be remembered that in a sense both are victims of their past. This in no way justifies the brutal, callous behaviour of the Serbs who see themselves as a 'heavenly people' but whose behaviour is the total opposite to what we would expect of a nation who see themselves as faithful members of the Orthodox Christian church. Their church leaders have been silent since 'ethnic cleansing' began in 1991. Where is there any evidence of the spirit of Jesus Christ whom they profess to follow. Their hypocrisy is open before the whole world. Their church leaders need to lead their people in the establishing of Christ's kingdom in the hearts of all the Yugoslav people so that peace may finally come to this troubled part of the world.

The greatest hunger of the human heart is for acceptance, friendship and love; the sharing of our life with other kindred spirits, both individually and in a larger, caring community. We sense our incompleteness as individuals. We need to merge our life with others to give us a feeling of completeness. We wither away in isolation and loneliness.

In his book, The Different Drum, M. Scott Peck tells how in his youth he felt the personal need to share his life with another. He writes, 'I was left with a nameless longing. I dreamed that somewhere there would be a girl, a woman, a mate with whom I could be totally honest and open, and have a relationship in which the whole of me would be acceptable.' In addition to the desire for a personal soul-mate he also felt the need to participate in an intimate community life. He says he had 'an inchoate [undeveloped] longing for a society in which openness and honesty would prevail.'

Michael Roland expressed this same desire to share life intimately with another when he said, 'Human beings have a basic need to know another person fully.' Norman Shanks also believes that without these close personal and community relationships we cannot experience proper self-development and fulfilment. Writing in Iona he says, 'Individual fulfilment is to be discovered only in community; self development cannot be achieved apart from a concern for one another and for the world around us; all this is embraced in our relationship with God.' (p. 85) When these deep longings for togetherness are unmet we all feel incomplete and unfulfilled.

What can we do to fulfil these longings? It can start with us; we can initiate the move to closer intimacy, we don't have to wait for another person to share their life with us, we can open the friendship door ourselves. We alone hold the key to the door of our secret self. Our hidden positive feelings; our hopes and dreams and unfulfilled longings, and the negative side of our soul, where guilt, shame and resentment hide, are so private that we can only open our souls to those who we know will accept us as we are. Tolstoy makes a discerning observation in Anna Karenin. He says of one of his characters, 'Without the key of love he let no one into his soul.' We can only risk intimacy with those who show that they truly love us.

We begin the journey towards intimacy by being the kind of person we ourselves seek. If we are totally accepting of others, totally caring and loving towards them irrespective of their attitude towards us; if we respect any confidence they give us, not betraying them by retelling it, not talking about them to others behind their back, they will begin to trust us and feel safe to open their soul a little. There is an old and true saying that a friend is one who knows all about us and loves us just the same.

We need to move away from judging, blaming, criticising and gossiping about others. These attitudes build fences between ourselves and potential friends, they isolate us, fencing us off from the acceptance we crave. We will never see into the soul of another without the key of love that accepts them as they are. As we come to know them better we will understand why they feel and act the way they do; to understand all, is often to [1] forgive all. We remember that Jesus, despite all the injustice, humiliation and pain he suffered at his crucifixion, said as his life was ebbing away on the cross, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'

I doubt if we, ourselves, can manufacture this quality of understanding love everybody so much needs. It has to come from God who loves all human beings in their imperfection, simply because they are his children. We need to allow God's love to flow through us to others. Some of the words most frequently used in the Bible to define God's attitude to us are love, mercy, forgiveness and grace. Love triumphs over judgment. We can accept others imperfection because God in Christ, accepts both us and them.

Alcoholics Anonymous has discovered a great truth which we all need to learn, namely, that none of us can make it alone. Like the alcoholic, we need to get rid of the masks of respectability we all wear and acknowledge that none of us are as good as we make out. James says 'Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may he healed.' It is a strange anomaly that Christians tend to be less accepting and more critical than the general public. This is because they are committed to uphold high ideals, but it is possible to uphold an ideal without rejecting the person who has violated it. The depth of Christian fellowship in churches is often shallower than it ought to be, and it always will be while correct doctrine and behaviour are considered more important than love, acceptance and forgiveness.

We can be sure that the people we meet every day, the people we associate with in various organisations, and the people we worship with at church, have secret unfulfilled longings for deeper, more satisfying friendships than they are experiencing at present. One of the most meaningful things we can do in life is to reach out to others to build bridges of friendship over which they can cross to share their lives with us.

We are all looking for intimate relationships with friends who will accept us as we are, and with whom we can share the guilt of our past mistakes and the hopes of our secret aspirations. But we keep others at a distance by our compulsion to talk about generalities like our health, the weather, sport and current news. We need to practice the art of listening to the body language and speech of others to discover what they are communicating, then gently enter their world with some caring questions or comments and before long we will find that we entering into the deeply satisfying world of intimate friendship. [2]

Arthur Pigdon      

"My God! Oh My God!!" These were the words many Americans used on the streets of New York to express the horror they felt as they watched the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. Even if they were used irreverently they were appropriate because we cannot separate God from what happens on this earth. John Blanchard confronts the religious aspect of terrorism and violence in his booklet "Where was God on September 11th?" and says that the question is inescapable. He sums up the problem in the four simple propositions propounded by those who question God's existence or goodness.

1. If God were all powerful he could prevent evil and suffering. 2. If he were all loving he would want to prevent them. 3. Evil and suffering exist. 4. God is therefore impotent, loveless or non-existent.

We cannot challenge the logic of these propositions so we must question our understanding of God. It appears that God, as we have traditionally understood him, is either unable or unwilling to prevent evil and its consequent suffering. The question of God's impotence is not difficult to answer. Human beings are free to behave as they choose. so they, and they alone, are responsible for their actions. God cannot be held responsible for how humans behave. We might ask why God created a world with the possibility of evil; but the only other possibility is for us to be fully programmed like robots and surely we would not want that.

The real problem is that humans continually create evil and God does nothing. This became an urgent problem for the Jewish people in Hitler's concentration camps as they awaited the gas chambers. Their religion had taught them that they were God's chosen people and that he would protect them. Why was God doing nothing now that the whole race was threatened with extinction? They decided to put God on trial. There were legal men among them and so they set up a court with counsel for the prosecution and counsel for the defendant. They chose a jury and they charged God with failure to honour his promises and obligations. The case ran for several days. The jury found God guilty. Many Jews today have lost their faith in God because he failed to act to stop the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust. They can no longer reconcile their traditional understanding of God with the reality of a suffering world where evil is allowed to flourish unchecked.

Is the traditional understanding of God wrong or inadequate? Is it possible that both Jews and Christians have claimed more for God than he claimed for himself? Perhaps the Hebrew's understanding of God's nature was faulty. They called him 'El Shaddai,' the Almighty. That was a name the Hebrews coined themselves. They believed God had created the world and all life on the earth and therefore he could do anything; he was literally all-mighty. They believed he had the power to prevent evil and, because he failed to act against evil in society, they held him responsible for the suffering evil brought.

When God commissioned Moses to return to Egypt to seek the release of the Israelite slaves he needed a name to identify Israel's God because the Egyptians had many gods. So he said to God "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them? God said to Moses "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you." This [1] name which God gave to Moses seems a strange name to us; what does it mean'? It is a Hebrew word which is the first person of the verb 'to be.' In the present tense it means 'I am or, I exist.' It implies that God is not a created Being, he is self existent or eternal. It is also used in the future tense in which it means 'I will he all that is necessary as the occasion will arise.' The literal English transcription is Jehovah or Yahweh. This name is so sacred to today's Jews that they will not pronounce it lest they take God's name in vain.

So God did not claim to be Almighty but he did claim to 'be all that is necessary as the occasion will arise.' As David says in the 23rd Psalm, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me." The important word is 'through.' Those who trust in God do not remain in the valley of death; they walk through it to new life beyond. God does not save us from the experience of death but we do not make that journey alone; God is with us and assures us that there is nothing to fear. He walked through that valley himself during his earthly experience as Jesus of Nazareth and left us the promise; 'He who believes in me will live even though he dies.' This glimpse of God's nature revealed in the meaning of the name which he gave to Moses helps a little, because it shows that although God does not claim to be all powerful, he does promise to be with his people, supporting them with his presence in whatever circumstances they may find themselves.

In the New Testament, Jesus gave God a title which is more a description than a name. He said, 'God is Spirit.' He did not say a Spirit; he just said 'Spirit.' What did he mean by that? We cannot visualise 'Spirit.' Yet we know that we have a spirit within us that is distinct from our physical bodies. We also have a physical brain which can be compared to a computer. The spirit within us is the software that uses the physical brain to give expression to it's desires. Our spirit is the part of us that thinks and feels and wills. Our spirit evaluates, chooses and decides. In our spirit we experience feelings of pride and shame, anger and jealousy, hate and love, greed and generosity, compassion and selfishness. These feelings are the creative ferment where our decisions are made and our will is given direction. Our spirit makes decisions which determine our behaviour. Our creative faculties come from our spirit. So what is the relationship between God's Spirit and our spirit'?

The Bible says, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." What is meant by the statement that man was created in God's image? God is Spirit; he does not have a physical image so it must mean that the spirit in man was made in the likeness of the Spirit that is God. Where does the Spirit that is God dwell? In outer space? Surely not. Traditionally we say in heaven. Where is heaven? We cannot give it a physical location. Is it not most likely that God's Spirit lives within human beings through the spirit by which he imparted consciousness to them? We alone in all creation, are made in God's image and likeness and have the ability to communicate with him?

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you". God does not live in some nebulous abode in the sky called 'Heaven.' Surely that is just a figure of speech. He lives within human beings and is integrated with human society. He is integral with our spirit through which he works to produce right human behaviour. But he is limited by our willingness to give him control of our lives. He can control individuals and society only to the degree that they obey the 'voice' of conscience through which he speaks. In one sense God is different, separate and apart from human beings. The theologians refer to this as his transcendence. But in another sense he is totally within and part of every living organism, including humans, for he is the source of all life. They refer to this as his immanence. Both the Bible and experience support the view that [2] the Spirit of God speaks to people of all races through their conscience. He does not act apart from us but only through us. We limit God's ability to intervene in human affairs by not being sensitive to, or obedient to, the promptings of his Spirit.

The Apostle Paul says that the nations have the law "written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts accusing them." The Spirit of God speaks into the minds and consciences of all humans. Paul adds "Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind . . . They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity." Every human being, whether religious or not, is conscious of an inner 'voice' that speaks into their conscience distinguishing between right and wrong. 'That is the 'voice' of the Eternal Spirit seeking to guide our human spirit along the path towards social harmony. When we disobey that voice we render God powerless for he does not use force, he only offers guidance.

So it is not true to say that God does nothing to prevent the evil that afflicts the human race. When we ask questions like "Why did God allow the Holocaust to happen'?" and "Where was God on September 11?" we are visualising God as transcendent, as someone apart from us who ought to have done something to prevent these humanly planned atrocities. But God is not somewhere out there, apart and separate from us, his Spirit is within all of us, but his voice is silenced by the strident, assertive voice of our spirit. We do what we feel like doing whether God approves or not. When Hitler saw the Jews as a threat to the German national spirit he decided to destroy them. When the people who planned September 11 saw America as the enemy of the Arab people they decided to attack it. These were the actions of human beings who had silenced the voice of God and taken control themselves. They saw themselves as almighty and free to do whatever they desired to do. They bound God by their refusal to listen to his voice. God remained true to his essential nature. He did not force them to refrain because force is always evil and a denial of our essential humanity. If God had used force to stop all the evil that has happened on this earth it would be an acknowledgment that he had made a mistake in making us free. Do you think he did'?

There is a better way to overcome the potential evil in all of us; that is the way God chose. Jesus promised his disciples that after his departure his Spirit would come and live within them. Because it was God's Spirit he would be called the Holy Spirit. In a very real sense their lives were to be a continuation of the incarnation i. e. the eternal Spirit would live within them as he had within Jesus. Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him." Just as the Spirit of God had indwell and controlled Jesus the same Spirit would now indwell and control all who truly became Jesus' disciples. Having made humans in his own image God's purpose was that he would live in them in a beautiful relationship of love, trust and obedience, and the result would be harmony and peace. As the quotation above shows, the only condition necessary to make this a reality is that we should obey Jesus' teaching. This was the one vulnerable place where evil could, and did, enter our human society.

The story of Adam and Eve, to whom God gave the alternative of either trusting and obeying hum or following their own desires, is the story of us all. The choice between good and evil confronts every human being. When we do not allow God's Spirit to control our spirit we become rebels and take control of our own lives. In the degree that we disobey God's Spirit we expel God from our individual lives and from society. God can only act in human society through people who allow his Spirit to express his will through them. By rejecting God we tie [3] his hands. God doesn't act to prevent evil because, as we said earlier, having made humans free independent beings, he cannot intervene without taking away the one thing that makes us human: our freedom to act as independent persons.

The Hebrews made a mistake when they named the creator El Shaddai; he is not Almighty in relation to human society. Jesus demonstrated that God is willing to show his power in deeds of compassion but not in acts of control. He submitted to the indignity and humiliation of crucifixion and God did not act to save him. From the cross he cried out "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He was asking the same question we are asking today. "Why doesn't God do something to stop this terrible miscarriage of justice?" Yet God allowed his only Son to suffer and die at the hands of evil men and did nothing.

God's kingdom cannot be established by force but only as we yield up our wills to God, trusting ourselves to his goodness and love. This is why God does nothing to stop evil. Evil cannot be conquered by force because force itself is evil. When we use force to try to correct injustice innocent people suffer and more injustice is created. If God were to use force it would take away our moral quality, we would no longer be free. The use of force begins a viscous cycle of pay back and revenge that is never ending. God has forbidden us to take revenge, saying "Vengeance is mine, I will repay". Justice will be satisfied on the Day of Judgement. We must let God deal with the injustice that always afflicts society. Evil will always crucify goodness. Evil can only be conquered by positive justice, truth, forgiveness and love.

We are aware that evil is rampant in our human society and always has been.

We believe that God loves the whole of his creation, including all mankind.

We affirm that God is not all powerful in human society and cannot make humans good by force without destroying their essential humanness. [4]

Arthur Pigdon. August 2002      

Using the normal order of words in this question we would say "Who is the Devil? He appears to be an invisible, intangible entity of unknown origin who still lives in the thoughts of many people but nobody seems to be quite sure if he really exists and, if so, why? Decent people are becoming increasingly alarmed at the extent of evil that is evident in individual people and at the international level. A prisoner accused of murder said in his defense, "The devil made me do it." A woman was believed to be demon possessed and an exorcist was called in to cast the demon out of her. Osama bin Laden has called America, The Great Satan.

The well known evangelist, Billy Graham, is reported as saying that the one question he wants to ask God when he meets him is "Why is evil so entrenched in human society, what is it's origin?" We would add two more questions, "If there is a superhuman, invisible, personal devil who causes all the trouble in the world, how did he originate?" And, "If God is the sovereign ruler of the world why does he allow the devil to live and cause so much suffering and heartache'? These are questions we all want answered.

First let us examine the answers given by traditional Christianity. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible would be representative of the conservative Christian viewpoint. In the article on Satan these statements are made.

"The Biblical view of a personal devil who is a limited being under the control of divine sovereignty best explains the awful realities of sin and fits a monistic (one God as opposed to the polytheism of the pagan gods) world view."

"He is a superhuman being, but not co-equal with God. The power of Satan is derived and he is free to act only within the limits laid on him by God." "The operation of evil is always viewed as being under the sovereign permission of the eternal God."

"With Satan's substitution of his own will for that of his Maker there began the protracted conflict between good and evil which has extended through the ages. God has permitted the effort of Satan to establish his own will in opposition to the divine will to be thoroughly tested."

"At present the efforts of Satan on earth are restrained and frustrated by the operation of the divine Restrainer, with the removal of the restraint, Satan will be allowed to achieve the full outburst of evil in the end time in the manifestation of the man of lawlessness."

"Satan is permitted to afflict God's people but they are assured that he will never experience complete victory over them." "God at times even uses Satan as his instrument to chasten and correct erring saints."

"Satan is not eternal or self-existent . . . His limitations are consistent with his nature as a created being."

These statements, while consistent with a literal understanding of scripture, raise a very real moral problem. They pose more problems than they answer. This view of the devil makes God responsible for all the suffering and evil in the world because God is said to be sovereign and in control, and therefore responsible for all that happens in human society. They say God created the devil; that he is a superhuman being, that all his evil activity is with the permission of God; that he is permitted to afflict God's people, that [1] God uses him to chasten erring Christians, that toward the end of history God will remove his restraining influence and allow the devil full freedom to rule the world in a reign of lawlessness. Is God really that irresponsible? Sinful though we are, we do not sit by and do nothing when people are threatened by evil. America's reaction to the evil of terrorism amply demonstrates that. Surely we are no more moral and righteous than a just and loving God who is pledged to judge evil doers.

We will go to another recognised conservative authority, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE). The emphasis here is somewhat different. The writer here points out that the Hebrew word Satan simply means 'adversary,' 'accuser,' 'slanderer.' It can be applied to anyone in this sense. The widely accepted New International Version (NIV) of the Bible translates it in this way several times. In Numbers 22:22 it is used to describe the angel of the Lord who had come to oppose Balaam. It says, "The angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose (Satan) him. In 2 Samuel 19:22 David says, "This day you have become my adversaries (my Satan). In 1 Samuel 29:4 the Philistine commanders would not allow David and his men to fight in their army for they said, "He will turn against (Satan) us," meaning that they did not trust him, believing that he would become their adversary. Psalm 109:6 reads, "Let an accuser ( a Satan) stand at his right hand. When he is tried let him be found guilty."

When the definite article 'the' is used with Satan it becomes a proper name. It is used in this sense in 1 Chronicles 21:1 where it says, "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel." It is also used as a proper name in Job 1 & 2 and in Zechariah 3:1-2. These are the main passages where it occurs in the Old Testament. The I. S.B.E. article concludes "There are, no doubt, serious difficulties in the way of accepting the doctrine of a personal, superhuman, evil power as Satan is described to be . . . The scriptural doctrine of Satan is nowhere systematically developed." Hieber, in his article in the Zondervan Encyclopedia comments "It is a remarkable feature of the theology of the Old Testament that so little mention is made of Satan as the great adversary of God and his people."

Hieber's article stated that Satan was a created being. It is inconceivable that God who is good, and has the welfare of his creation at heart, would create an evil being. Some Biblical scholars have tried to solve this dilemma by citing two statements from the prophets to support a view that Satan is an angel who sinned and was cast out of heaven. These passages are found in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-15. To support this view both these passages have to be ripped out of their context and made to mean something quite different from their contextual meaning. The Isaiah passage is specifically addressed to the king of Babylon who is called Lucifer, the bright morning star (See 13:1 & 14:3). The Ezekiel passage is specifically addressed to the king of Tyre. (See 28:2 & 12). Both passages are part of a series of prophecies directed to the kings of the principal nations surrounding Israel. Satan is not mentioned in either passage. There is another passage in Daniel 10:13 which is said to refer to Satan but it has to be inferred that 'the prince of the Persian kingdom' is a reference to Satan who is not mentioned. It would be bad exegesis to base a belief that Satan is an angel who sinned, on these passages.

The Old Testament does not give any clues to the origin of Satan which remains a mystery. The I.S.B.E. says, "Ethical evil cannot be con-created. It is the creation of [2] each free will for itself. We are not told in definite terms how Satan became the evil one, but certainly it could be by no other process than a fall, whereby, in the mystery of free personality, an evil will takes the place of a good one." This linking of evil with free personality introduces us to the possible nature of Satan and gives us a clue to the possible origin of evil.

The N.T. book of James says, "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:14). Temptation is only possible because the Creator has endowed humans with the power of free will. We choose how we will behave, and in particular, whether we will obey God or be our own Master. The human preference to be our own Master and do things our way is well illustrated by the popularity of Frank Sinatra's famous song, "I did it my way." If we choose to ignore God and follow our own desires we are rejecting God's authority; we are in rebellion in relation to him; we become his adversary--his Satan. All the evil in the world is created by us when we follow our own desires instead of God's ideals.

In this view Satan is not a superhuman being distinct from human beings but the self-centered, independent spirit within us that rejects God's sovereignty over our lives. We ourselves become God's adversary, God's Satan. We create Satan. This is the view expressed in the I.S.B.E. to which we referred earlier. It says, "Ethical evil . . . is the creation of each free will for itself . . . in the mystery of free personality, an evil will takes the place of a good one." Some other statements from this article throw further light on the nature and origin of Satan. Here is a relevant quotation. "Almost nothing is said [in the Bible] concerning Satanic agency other than wicked men who mislead other men . . . Nor are we taught anywhere that Satan is able to any extent to introduce disorder into the physical universe or directly operate in the lives of men . . . Satan's power consists principally in his ability to deceive."

We are not victims of Satan. We are participants in our own deception. The article says, "It would seem that to make Satan pre-eminently the deceiver would make man an innocent victim and thus relax the moral issue . . . The Old Testament emphasises man's responsibility for his own evil deeds . . . Men are not tempted by evil, per se, but by a good which can be obtained only at the cost of doing wrong." All temptation is an attack on moral standards; we have to ignore, lower, reject, and break the moral standard to get the good we want cheaply, without paying the price.

As part of our study of Satan in the Old Testament we need to examine the record of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Firstly, it is important to take account of the literary nature of the passage. It is not presented as an historical account but is a truth presented in figurative language. There is no mention of Satan. Temptation is pictured as a snake which talks. The snake is a figure of speech representing Adam's own inner thoughts that are questioning God's prohibition. Adam is forbidden to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This name makes it clear that it is also a figurative expression as no such physical tree has ever existed. Its fruit is the wisdom to know what is good and what is evil.

The temptation was to be totally free. Adam didn't want to be told what he could and couldn't eat, or do. He wanted to 'know,' or rather decide for himself, what he [3] considered to be good and what he considered to be evil. Then he would be like God. He would be his own master, answerable to no one. Thus moral confusion entered the world at the very beginning. Adam's desire, and decision to be totally free to do whatever he liked, made him a competitor and adversary (Satan) in regard to God. This same desire to be free from God's restrictions has been the source of all the evil in the world to this day. God's prohibition means that we must not take to ourselves the right to decide what is good and what is evil. God was telling Adam that He alone has the right to decide the moral standards for his creation.

Evil is always attractive because it offers immediate gratification, it is a short cut to happiness without considering the consequences. As both Jesus and James say, temptation is born out of our own desires, it does not come from without but from within ourselves. We cannot blame the devil for our feelings and actions. Like Adam and Eve, we stand confronted with God's prohibition not to tamper with or alter his value system of good and evil. We must accept it or reject it. When we reject it we become God's adversary (Satan).

Only one other Old Testament passage needs to be examined. It is the first two chapters of the book of Job. In our attempt to arrive at the truth presented here we must first look at the book of Job as a whole and note its purpose and literary structure. We will again refer to the I.S.B. Encyclopedia for the views of Biblical scholars. In J. Genung's article on the book of Job the following statements are relevant. "It is difficult to determine whether Job was an actual personage or not . . . It was the Job of literature, rather than the Job of legend, who lived in the hearts of men; a character so commanding that, albeit fictitious, it could be referred to as real, just as the may refer to Hamlet of Othello." Genung calls the book "The greatest production of the Hebrew Wisdom literature and one of the supreme literary creations of the world." In both the Hebrew and Greek canons of scripture it is classified with the poetical, not the historical books. It is written in Hebrew poetical style, not the prose narrative as is used for historical books. The Hebrew punctuation used shows that the Jews regarded it as poetry. Unlike the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the O.T.) and the Prophets, it was not designated for public reading in the synagogue. It is a philosophical work, not the history of any actual person.

The purpose of the book is to explore the question of why good and godly people suffer. God had told Israel through Moses that he would bless them for faithfulness to his commands and that they would be punished for disobedience. In real life this was not always the case. Good people suffer and the book is an attempt to discover why. The structure of the book confirms that it is literature and not history. Job is introduced as a godly man who is also prosperous. That is the way Moses said it should be. 'Then Satan is introduced and he questions the genuineness of Job's integrity by suggesting that Job only serves and worships God because it pays him to be good. He questions Job's motive.

So God allows Satan to take away his prosperity. In one day, in an obviously contrived series of events. all his livestock are either killed or stolen: the oxen, donkeys, sheep and camels and all his servants are killed. On the same day, his seven sons and three daughters are gathered in a house feasting when the house is hit by a cyclone and they are all killed. He loses his ten children, all his servants, and all his possessions in a single [4] day. But he still retains his faith in God saying "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." God then permits Satan to threaten his life with sickness for Satan said, "Stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face." So he was afflicted with terrible boils which threatened his life. His wife then became his tempter. She said, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" Job replied "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

These dramatic events set the stage for the debate about why the good suffer. Job's friends hear of his tragedy and three of them come to help him reconcile these tragic events with his trust in a good God. The content of the debate does not concern us here, but it is important to note that their discussion of the recent events does not follow the normal conversational pattern. Anyone who is familiar with Jewish social life knows that when a controversial subject is being discussed the rest do not sit silent while one presents a viewpoint. It is everyone in at once. This does not happen in the book of Job which follows the pattern of a formal debate.

Each friend speaks in turn and each presents an answer from a different angle. Job replies to each one in turn. This procedure is followed three times; each friend makes three speeches and each time Job answers them. Then a young man speaks and, with the arrogance of youth, he answers both Job and the three friends. Finally God speaks but he does not provide an answer except to say that there are many more mysteries in the world than the mystery of why the good suffer and we must continue to trust God where we do not understand. God restores Job's family and prosperity. He has another seven sons and three daughters to exactly replace his former children and the number of animals he now has, of each group, is exactly double the number of animals he lost. This does not happen in real life, so it confirms the view that the book of Job is a literary production rather than an historical event.

Against this background we are now in a position to evaluate the reference to Satan in this story. Since everything else in the story is fictional why must we regard mention of Satan here as literal? Job is tempted to question God's justice and so Satan is depicted as God's adversary. He is Job's doubt personified but Job stedfastly refuses to give in to doubt. He continues to believe in God's goodness despite his tragic circumstances.

THE CONCEPT OF SATAN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Jews of Jesus day spoke Greek and the New Testament was written in Greek so the word, Devil, which is the Greek equivalent of Satan, is generally used. In addition, the words, demon, demon possession, evil spirits, and unclean spirits are also used. The concept of personalised evil occurs more frequently in the gospels than in the rest of the New Testament.

To get a complete understanding of how the concept of evil spirits developed we will need to look beyond the New Testament to the Jewish literature of the inter-testamental period and to the non-Jewish literature and beliefs of the surrounding nations. To what extent did these beliefs influence the ideas current among the Jews in Jesus time? Throughout this study we must keep in mind that we are trying to understand the [5] culture and beliefs of people who lived 2000 years ago. There is the possibility that the concept of a personal devil who caused illness was due more to ignorance of the causes of physical and psychological sickness than demon possession. Today's medical knowledge and diagnostic ability makes it possible to identify a physical or psychological cause for every illness. We do not have any medical evidence of demon possession in today's western civilization even though there is just as much evil in our society as in Jesus time. Our human unwillingness to accept responsibility for our behaviour could also be a factor. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. In the cases where there was not actual illness did the Jews find the idea of Satan a way to avoid accepting responsibility for their own behaviour?

There are two statements in the New Testament that support this view. One is by Jesus and the other is by his brother, James. In Matthew 15:18-19 Jesus says, "The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. These are what make a man unclean." James 1:13-15 says, "For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Both these statement attribute evil to human choice. Everywhere throughout the Bible humans are held responsible for their actions. We cannot 'pass the buck' We alone are responsible for moral evil. The only question at issue is whether physical sickness can be caused by evil spirits and whether an evil spirit can live in a person's body and control their behaviour.

Before we examine the passages in the gospels that speak of demon possession we will look at the views of the spirit world that could have influenced the Jews of Jesus time. There were four sources. We have the earlier Jewish extra-biblical literature such as the Apocrypha* and the Pseudepigrapha* (*Apocrypha means hidden or spurious. It refers to the 1.6 writings that were valued but not considered canonical, i. e., part of the Hebrew Bible, but they were included in the Greek translation of the Bible which was used by the Jews of Jesus day. The *Pseudepigrapha comprises apocryphal books which were attributed to long dead famous men such as Enoch, Moses and Solomon in an attempt to give them more credibility.) which had been written from one to three centuries before Christ. Then there was the literature and beliefs of the surrounding nations of Egypt, Babylon, Rome and Greece. We will recall that the Israelites had lived in Egypt for 400 years and the Egyptian beliefs in various gods and spirits would have had some influence on Israel's culture. During the period of their captivity in Babylon the nation was again forced to live in the midst of a culture which believed in gods and spirits of the underworld. At the time of Christ, in addition to the culture of their Roman masters, the Jews were influenced by Greek culture through their use of the Greek language.

Both the Romans and the Greeks believed in many gods and spirits of the underworld. In each of these four pagan cultures belief in both good and bad demons was part of their religion. Greek philosophy was animistic, that is, inanimate objects of nature were thought to have spirits with similar emotions and passions as the human spirit. These disembodied spirits were responsible for good or bad crops and good or bad health. Aristotle accepted the popular belief that all men had spirits which remained with them throughout life. As demons had no place in the religion Moses had bequeathed to the [6] nation, it is reasonable to assume that the belief about demons being the cause of sickness came from these pagan sources.

In researching this subject I have used four extra-biblical sources. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (ZPEB), The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (IDB) and The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (WDB). I have depended on these sources for information from the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha.

Here are several quotations from the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. "During the period of the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, popular thought gave fuller expression to the concepts concerning good and evil spirits which had appeared in the canonical literature . . . Some of the Apocalypses carried the belief in good and evil spirits to great extremes." "In popular thought the demons became a distinct order of malign spirits operating under the control of Belial or Satan." "In order to explain the ills which afflicted human beings some writers thought of Satan as the arch demon who tempted man and led him astray. Such writers called Satan by his Greek name diabolos or devil and identified him with the serpent of Eden."

"In The Book of Enoch, a 3rd. century B. C. book of the Jewish Pseudepigrapha, another view of the origin of evil involved a presentation of a theory of demonic beginnings. Devils, it was assumed, had at one time been angels who had rebelled against God and had caused mischief on earth by mating with human wives (cf.Gen.6:1-4; Ezek. 28:13-17)." "Perhaps the most rational demonology in pre-Christian times occurred in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and The Ascension of Isaiah, where the evil propensities of man were personified and placed under the control of Beliar (a variant form of Belial). This avoided the fanciful practice of associating 'fallen angels' with human mating procedures, and related most of the evil in the world to aberrant behaviour."

"During the inter-testamental period most people, including the Jews of Palestine, believed that the world was full of supernatural agencies working for good or ill. Just as angels were able to accomplish beneficent deeds, so demons or devils were always at hand to perpetrate calamity, sickness or misfortune. So pervasive had Near Eastern superstitions become that Jews and Gentiles alike regarded the onset of disease as the work of demonic powers." The article on Demons concludes by saying, "The soundest approach to the situation is ultimately a theological one, which recognizes that because of the depravity of human nature the mind is peculiarly able to the influence of evil. In imbalance this constitutes a form of possession, however mild, since the personality is then at the disposal of the powers of darkness to some extent."

In the Qumran writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Manual of Discipline, attributed "all mortal plagues and difficulties to the 'spirit of perversity,' whose control of evil forces was a continual embarrassment to the spirituality of the sons of light and righteousness." The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible says that the Greek word 'demon' is variously applied to a heathen god (Dent. 32:17 & 1 Cor. 10:20), to the soul of a dead hero, to one's own genius, and to an inferior evil spirit subject to the Devil. In the case of the boy with the deaf and dumb spirit (Mark 9:14-29) it notes that the symptoms were similar to epilepsy and says, "Hence the opinion of many is that [7] possession was simply a Jewish hypothesis to account for bodily and mental diseases and for the visible effects on body and will of enslavement to sin." It adds, "The Jews held various notions on the subject; such as, the demons were the spirits of the wicked dead (Josephus Wars 7:6, 3), and could be exorcised by means of roots and the name of Solomon (Josephus Antiquities 8:2,5) or driven away by fumes from the roasting heart and liver of a fish (Tobit 6:7, 16-17)."

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible says that in the Judaism of Jesus day, and in the New Testament, the mythology of the old underworld gods reappears in a new symbolic complex. The enemy of God and man is variously called the Devil, Satan, the great Dragon. It says, "Hellenistic [Greek] and Jewish views about demons are reflected in the New Testament, especially in the Synoptic gospels [Matt., Mark, & Luke] and Paul. In general, Heaven was occupied by God and the angels, and the air by demons and the spirits of heroes, while men occupied the earth." The article concludes by saying, "Both Jewish apocalyptic and pagan astrology seen to have contributed to these beliefs. Christ has deprived these forces of their power." (Col. 2:15, 20).

Here are some comments and quotations from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia under the article on demons. It states that the Babylonian incantation texts which are addressed to the supposed activities and powers of demons form a surprisingly large proportion of the extant documents. It quotes the following statement by Rogers: "These demons were everywhere: they lurked in every corner watching their prey. The city streets knew their malevolent presence, the rivers, the seas and the tops of the mountains . . . To these demons all sorts of misfortune were ascribed--a toothache, a headache, a broken bone, a raging fever, an outburst of anger, of jealousy, of incomprehensible disease."

The article further states that, "In the extra-canonical Jewish sources the same exuberance of fancy appears in attributing all kinds of ills of mind and body to innumerable, swarming hosts of demons lying in wait for men and besieging them with attacks and ills of all descriptions." These writings contain numerous forms of words and ceremonies for the expulsion of demons. " It adds, "Of this affluence of morbid fancy there is no hint in the N.T' . . . In 11 instances the distinction between demon possession and diseases ordinarily caused is clearly made."

In reference to instances of demon possession mentioned in the N.T. the article says that "N. T. demonology provides no materials for a discussion of the nature and characteristics of demons . . . In the N.T. we are told practically nothing about the origin; nature, characteristics or habits of demons . . . And it is worthy of more than passing mention that no theoretical discussion of demons occurs . . . Certain passages seem to indicate that the demons were able to speak (Mark 1:24, 26, 34; Luke 4:41, etc.) but comparing these statements with others (Mark 1:23; Luke 8:28) it is seen that no distinction is drawn between the cries of the tormented in the paroxysms of their complaint and the cries attributed to the demons themselves . . . It [the N.T.] clearly teaches that the power of Christ extends to the world of evil spirits and that faith in him is adequate protection against any evils to which man may be exposed."

"A summary of the entire material leads to the conclusion that, in the N.T. cases of demon possession, we have a specific type of disturbance." "While this group of [8] disorders is attributed to demons, the victims are treated as sick folk and are healed . . . Every feature of the N.T. narratives points to the conclusion that in them we have trustworthy reports of actual cures . . . It is also evident that Jesus treated these cases of invaded personality, of bondage, of depression, of helpless fear, as due to a real superhuman cause." The article concludes by saying, "The most distinctive and important words we have upon this obscure and difficult subject, upon which we know far too little to speak with any assurance of authority, are these: 'This kind can come out by nothing save by prayer." (Mark 9:29).

There is an interesting passage in Matt. 12:43-45 which Jesus used as an illustration rather than an actual event. He spoke of a man from whom an unclean spirit had been cast out but who had not been morally reformed. Jesus pictured the unclean spirit returning and finding "the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." It shows that casting out an evil spirit does not necessarily cure a person unless the person also experiences a moral reformation in which the will is involved and the person rejects evil and chooses good. In this illustration Jesus shows that the man was morally responsible for his continued demon possession. Unless a person chooses to allow God and goodness to control their life, evil inevitably will. It is evident that this story was merely an illustration because Jesus concluded by saying "That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

We have reached the point in our study where we may be forced to choose between belief in demon possession and our view of the way the writers of the gospels were inspired. It would be easy for us to think that the writers of the gospels were influenced in their statements by the popular beliefs which had come down to them from both Jewish and pagan writers. But this would not account for Jesus own statements concerning demons. We cannot assume that his view was shaped by popular opinion. On various occasions he said, "Come out of this man you evil spirit" and "Be quiet. Come out of him" and again ""You deaf and mute spirit, I command you 'Come out of him and never enter him again." When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles during his ministry he gave them authority over unclean spirits and commanded them to drive out demons. It was said that Jesus had cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene. We know nothing of her symptoms, only that she was healed.

Three different Greek words are used to describe demon possession. The first is 'akathartos' which literally means 'unclean': the second is 'poneros' which means 'evil'; and the third is 'daimonion' which is generally translated 'demon' or 'devil.' The Jews accused Jesus of being demon-possessed; they said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?" Jesus actually said very little about demons. All he said on several occasions was "Come out of him" and once "Never enter him again." All the other references to demons are in the reports of the writers of the gospels. On more than one occasion the diagnosis of demon-possession was made by the people themselves. The Canaanite woman brought her daughter to Jesus saying, "My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." A father brought his son saying, "I brought you my son who is possessed of a spirit." He went on to say "it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid." These are the classical symptoms of idiopathic epilepsy. [9] There is very little mention of evil spirits ire the rest of the N. T. The Devil is mentioned on several occasions and his ultimate destruction predicted. Despite this research I have not been able to reach a firm conclusion on the subject of Satan (the Devil) or demons and demon-possession. The articles in the Encyclopedias confessed that it was a difficult question about which they hesitated to speak authoritatively. It would have helped if we had been able to establish the origin of Satan but the Bible did not provide a definite answer. It would also have helped if there had been a good reason for a Sovereign God to permit an evil being to continue to live and produce such suffering to the human race. The concluding sentence of the article on Satan in the Zondervan Encyclopedia says, "God allows Satan to continue his work in order to give a cosmic demonstration of the bankruptcy of the satanic lie." That seems to me to be a ridiculous piece of reasoning. Why would a good and all powerful God allow Satan to exist and inflict suffering on every generation since Adam just to prove that Satan is a liar and deceiver?

That kind of reasoning is necessary if we believe in the absolute sovereignty of God; i. e., that God is in total control of events on this earth. This is expressed in the phrase 'God is omnipotent.' This is inconsistent with the whole tenor of scripture and is therefore, incorrect. God is potentially Sovereign and omnipotent but when he granted freedom of choice to human beings he became no longer sovereign and omnipotent on earth. He is now only Sovereign over those who grant him sovereignty and to the degree that they give him sovereignty. This is confirmed by the fact that we are held responsible and accountable for our behaviour. If we ourselves are responsible then God is not. When we disobey God and reject his rule over our lives we become his Adversary (Satan). Perhaps Satan is not someone apart from us but something within us that refuses to bow to the sovereignty of God. If God did not create Satan perhaps we did; perhaps he can be identified as our spirit of rebellion against the rule of God over our lives. This is only speculation and contrary to the literal words of scripture. It is put forward because the literal understanding of Satan by scripture is also unsatisfactory.

Some missionaries have told of cases which they believed were due to demon possession. Some who are involved in New Age ideas claim to receive messages from the spirits of dead persons through their channelling. We still have astrologers advertising in our papers and offering to tell our fortunes by our particular star. These things are our present day equivalent to the belief in evil spirits of Jesus day. The O.T. writers warned against any attempt to communicate with spirits. In Deuteronomy 18:9-12 Moses warned the people against the cult of spiritism. He said, "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord."

God alone is to be worshipped and we should turn to him alone for healing and for guidance for the present and the future. It would appear that the Jewish belief in a personal Satan or Devil, and evil spirits or demons from the underworld who live in humans causing all kinds of illnesses, had its origin in the pagan culture which had [10] always surrounded the Israelites. There is no doubt that the Jews of Jesus day believed in demon-possession. These beliefs certainly had not come from Moses. The first commandment was "You shall have no other gods beside me." When God is honoured and worshipped in a life that person is controlled by the Spirit of God and cannot be taken over or possessed by evil.

The story Jesus told about the man whose life had been cleansed but remained empty is relevant here. Because he had not given the Spirit of God control of his life he was open to the entrance, not of an evil spirit, but of a spirit of evil. Any person who is controlled by evil is responsible for that evil because they do not worship and honor God. As Jesus said, evil comes from within ourselves, from our heart, which figuratively, is the source of all our feelings and desires. When we neglect, or refuse to worship God, not allowing him to control our feelings and actions we are in a state of rebellion against him, we become his Satan (Adversary). There are comparatively few lives in today's world that have been given over to God's control and there are no lives which God controls completely. Therefore evil is widespread and the spirit of evil which originates from our human free-will and has its roots in greed, selfishness, pride, anger, hatred, ties, lust, revenge and injustice, erupts anew every day and devastates individual lives and society, leaving tears and suffering in its wake.

But Jesus came with a message of hope and good news. He taught and lived by the spirit of unconditional love. He refused to allow greed selfishness, pride, anger, hatred, revenge, lies and lust to have any place in his heart. He assured us that God still loves us despite our rebellion, disobedience and evil propensity. He assured us that God delights to forgive all who turn their back on these evil feelings. His answer to the problem of evil was as simple as it was difficult. It asked only two things of us. First, he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Secondly, "Love your neighbour as yourself." Both strands are essential. It is impossible to fulfil the second unless we fulfil the first. Humans have a natural spirit of selfishness. The spirit of unconditional, total love, comes only from God. When we commit ourselves to love God with all our heart we slowly learn to overcome the evil in our hearts. Only Jesus, who was a human manifestation of the spirit of God, can cast out our demons. [11]

Arthur Pigdon      

I. WHAT MAKES JEWISH PEOPLE DIFFERENT?

The Jew is the eternal foreigner. Jews are scattered over the whole earth and are citizens of all the nations yet they never totally assimilate. They always remain different. Why is this so? There is no single answer; it will be necessary to trace their history from both biblical and secular sources to explain their uniqueness.

I learned about the Jewish people from two different sources; from my studies as a theological student and from my later involvement in a Christian witness to the Australian Jewish community. The Jews are mostly city dwellers and, having grown up in the country where there were no Jewish people, I was not aware of their existence. During my biblical studies I learned of their origin and history up to the time of Christ. I discovered that they had a unique role in God's plan for the human race. Then, early in my ministry, I became acquainted with a Christian organisation that used a literature mailing program that sought to encourage Jews to reconsider Jesus' claim to be the Messiah. I was actively involved with that organisation for several years and, although I had few personal contacts with Jewish people, I learned much about their culture and their history from the time of Christ to the present day. It is very important for Christians to understand Jewish beliefs, traditions and history, especially their sad relationship of persecution by the institutional church, so that they may be more understanding of this unique race to which Jesus belonged and which is still struggling for acceptance and security in a hostile world.

THE RESTORATION OF STATEHOOD AND LANGUAGE.

The founding of the State of Israel in 1948 was a very significant event, not only for the Jews, but also for Christians. Many Christians see it as the fulfilment of prophecy and a sign that the church age is nearing its close. For the Jews it meant the restoration of their national life after nineteen centuries of wanderings without a country. It was also the restoration of the people to the ancient homeland that God had given to Abraham by promise and by covenant.

Another remarkable event was the restoration of the Hebrew language which had not been used by the Jews as a spoken language since before the time of Christ. In the countries where they had been scattered they had spoken the languages of the people among whom they lived. Hebrew had been the language of worship and study only. [1] This is a fitting time to look at the uniqueness of the Jewish people, especially in relation to the church and the prophecies of the end times.

THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF JEWISH IDENTITY

1. GOD.

(1) Monotheism. Abraham lived in an age of polytheism. Moses was raised in Egypt which also had many gods. When Moses declared that there was only one God, not many, he was pioneering a new and radical religious concept. The Jews introduced monotheism to human civilization. The central declaration of the Jewish faith is "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. " (Deut. 6:4)

(2) Morality. The Jewish faith was the first religion to link religion and morality. The gods of the ancient world did not demand justice and love of others but the God of Israel did. Their God was a holy God and he demanded holiness in his worshippers.

2. COVENANT.

Gen. 12:1-3; 15:5-18; 17:1-8; Ex.19:5-6; The people were called to be uniquely God's people and the land of Canaan was promised as their everlasting possession. This covenant relationship between God and Israel is the key to their uniqueness, their survival, and their chequered history.

(1) God's Covenant with the People. The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and l will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.' (Genesis 12:1-3.) This sevenfold covenant with Abraham (Abram) was initiated by God and imposed on Abraham and his descendants. It was confirmed by a solemn covenant according to the custom of the times.(Genesis 15:7-21)

The Jews did not choose God; he chose them and imposed the covenant on them. They did not have the option of refusal. God made circumcision the sign and seal of the covenant. All male babies are circumcised on the eighth day after birth so entry into the covenant is not by personal choice but by ancestry. Their commitment to the covenant is irrevocable; you cannot be uncircumcised. Many times during their persecutions they have resented their role and cried out in despair; "0 God, why didn't you choose somebody else?" The French atheist, Voltaire, who hated both. Jews and Christians is reported to have quipped "How odd, of God, to choose, the Jews."

Moses reminded the Jewish slaves whom God had rescued from Egypt of their divine mission. "You are a people holy to the Lord your God he Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you [2] were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you. " (Deuteronomy 7:6-7) God called Israel "My servant". He needed a human agent to whom he could reveal his purpose for mankind and through whom he could communicate the behavioural standards necessary for good human relationships. He promised them blessings for obedience and punishments for disobedience.(See Deuteronomy 28. This is a very significant prophecy for their future).

(2) God's Covenant with the Land. 'On that day the Lord made a covenant faith Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land from the river (or Wadi) of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates. " (Genesis 15:18). When Abram was ninety-nine years old God renewed both these covenants with him and changed his name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of many). God said 'I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you. for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 'The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, l will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.' (Genesis 17:7-8)

The covenant with Abraham was ratified through Moses at Sinai. "If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will he for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Ex. 19:5-6) This covenant is the bond that links all Jews everywhere and gives them their reason for existence as a separate and unique people. It is extremely important and essential to understanding the Jewish people.

3. TORAH.

Torah (Instruction) is used in both a narrow and broad sense.

(1) The Written Torah. Torah primarily refers to the first five books of the Jewish Bible and more particularly to the revelation God gave to Moses at Mt Sinai and the detailed commandments that amplified that revelation.

(2) The Oral Torah. Torah also refers to the interpretations which leading Jewish scholars have deduced from that original revelation. Over the centuries these interpretations have come to have equal authority with the written Torah. In their written form they constitute the Talmud, an encyclopaedic compendium of Jewish law. The written Torah (The Pentateuch) and the oral Torah (Talmud) define Judaism.

The Torah preserved the. Jews as a separate people during the long centuries of stateless exile. The Jews are firstly a people, not a nation- state. Land and nationhood are not necessary to their existence as a distinct people. Without land and nationhood they became rootless wanderers among the nations of earth where they often had no rights as citizens, but the centuries of exile have shown that the Jews can survive as a separate people held together by Covenant and Torah, without land or statehood. [3]

4. MESSIAH.

The Jewish hope of a Messiah and a future Messianic Age is another unique contribution to human thinking. The Jews have a. unique view of history. The earliest religions saw the history of society as cyclical; what had been would be repeated again and again. The Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, taught that individuals were caught in an endless cycle of rebirths through reincarnation.

No one in the ancient world saw life and human history as having any ultimate purpose or moving towards a final fulfilment except the Jews. Their future hope was enshrined in the concept of a Messiah who would come to judge the world, destroy evil and usher in the reign of God with justice and universal peace. God gave the Jews the idea that history is going somewhere; it will have an end; it is moving towards a final climax. The concept of a Messiah brought hope to a suffering, pessimistic world.

These four elements, MONOTHEISM, COVENANT, TORAH and MESSIAH are the principal distinctive elements of Judaism.

CHRISTIANITY BEGAN AS A JEWISH SECT.

Judaism was the cradle in which Christianity was born. It is impossible to understand Christianity apart from its Jewish roots.

1. We have a Jewish Bible--Both Old and New Testaments were written by Jews. If we take away the Old Testament the Christian faith has no past roots. The Old Testament with its story of the creation, its history of God's dealings with Israel, and the ethical teaching of the Hebrew prophets, is an essential part of our Christian tradition. The Jewish scriptures give us roots. The Jews also gave us our New Testament; the apostles and all the New Testament writers, except Luke, were Jews. Without our Jewish Bible we would have an incomplete faith. We remember that Jesus said "Salvation is of the Jews"

2. Jesus was a Jew. He grew up within the Jewish culture. All his teaching is thoroughly Jewish. In Jesus' day, the Jews placed the emphasis on right actions. Jesus emphasised the importance of motive and attitude which was also part of Moses' teaching. He took the Jewish custom of proselyte baptism and made it the initiation into the church. The Jewish mikvah bath that is still used by Jews today, became the Christian initiation rite of baptism. Jesus teaching differed from Judaism on three important points.

(1) Jesus Messianic claim. This was an acceptable claim to the Jewish people who were looking for a messianic leader to deliver them from their Roman rulers. His claim to be the Messiah was supported by his miracles and teaching. Their welcome to Jesus on Palm Sunday as "the son of David" was a messianic welcome. But he did not fit their expectation of a Messiah who would throw off the Roman yoke and restore their independence as a nation. [4]

(2) Jesus Son of God claim. Jesus also claimed that he was the Son of God and that is why he was charged with blasphemy. The Jews regarded the Messiah as human, not divine. Jesus claim to be the Son of God denied the pure monotheism that was the central belief of Judaism and he was rejected on the ground of blasphemy.

(3) Jesus included Gentiles in the covenant. He sent his disciples to invite the Gentiles to become his followers under a new covenant which did not require them to observe all the commandments of the Torah. At the first church conference (Acts 1.5) it was decided that the Gentile followers of Jesus were not required to observe the ritual requirements of the laws of Moses. This was contrary to the exclusive covenant God had made with Israel and it made the separation of the Christians from traditional Judaism inevitable. This was what finally led to the separation of Jesus' followers from the synagogue.

THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH & ISRAEL. Rom. 9:1-5. Eph. 2:11-22. Rom. 11:13-33

The church Jesus established is grafted on to Jewish roots. Scholars rightly speak of the Jewish-Christian tradition.

(1) In Romans 9:4-5 Paul states the special contribution of the Jewish people to Christianity. "Theirs is the adoption as sons, theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen"

(2) In Ephesians 2:11-22 Paul reminds the Gentile Christians that their faith and hope is built on God's covenant with Abraham's descendants and that, through their faith in Jesus Christ, that also have become part of the people of God. "Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ . . . Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. "

(3) In Romans 11:13-33 Paul likens the Jewish people to a cultivated olive tree. Gentile disciples of Jesus are likened to a wild olive that is grafted on to the Jewish stock. There could be no more intimate union than that described in this analogy. The church of Gentile believers is part of the people of God, linked into the original covenant through Abraham, by faith in Jesus, but dependent on a new and separate covenant made through Jesus Christ.

Paul is emphatic that the covenant with national Israel is still valid. He says, "As far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable." (v.28-29) So it is evident that at the present time two [5] covenants are co-existing; the national covenant with Israel and the international covenant with the followers of Jesus, both Jews and gentiles.

THE CENTURIES OF EXILE--70 A. D. to 1948

In 70 A. D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. When the Jewish rebellion against Rome began in 66 A. D. the Christians fled across the Jordan to Pella. Jesus had warned them to flee when they saw Jerusalem encompassed with armies. They were considered traitors and heretics and were expelled from the Jewish community. A special prayer against heretics, called Birkot ha-minim, was added to the daily prayer service. It is still part. of daily Jewish prayer.

The loss of nationhood was a terrible blow to Jewish life. It is said that 1000 villages of Judea and Galilee were systematically destroyed and the houses razed. Jerusalem, including the temple, was reduced to rubble. The Jewish historian Josephus estimated that half a million died in the war. The captives were sold as slaves. When the fortress of Massada fell almost a thousand of its defenders committed suicide rather than face capture.

It would be nearly 2000 years before their national life would be restored in the land God promised to Abraham and Isaac. This restoration has happened in our lifetime. We cannot help asking if this return is related to God's plan for his covenant people. We will look at that in the light of the prophetic scriptures in our third study. In the next section we will follow the Jews during their exile and discover what happened to them during those 2000 fateful years.

References:

II. THE EXILE--WANDERERS AMONG THE NATIONS.

THE EXILE PREDICTED.

Deut 28:58-59, 64-68. "If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law . . . then the Lord will scatter you among the nations from one end of the earth to the other . . . among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot . . . you will be in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life."

Hosea 3:4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones [temple] without ephod [priest] or idol. "Hosea 9:17 'My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations."

Ezekiel 12:15 "They will know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries."

Numbers 23:9 "Lo, I behold him, a people dwelling alone and not reckoning itself among the nations."

THE COMMUNITIES OF THE EXILE

JABNEH--During the siege of Jerusalem, a leading Rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, was smuggled out of the city in a coffin. At Jabneh (Palestine), he established a centre for Jewish life by making the Torah the new focus of Jewish life and a replacement for the state. The Synagogue and Prayer Book replaced the temple and sacrifice. This made the Jewish faith portable. Wherever the Jews went during their centuries of exile the Rabbis, the Prayer Book and the synagogue (centre for worship and learning) went with them. The Torah replaced the state. "Having lost the Kingdom of Israel, the Jews turned the Torah into a fortress of the mind and spirit, in which they could dwell in safety and even in content. " (Johnson p. 149) Jewish life and continuity was thus preserved by making Torah and Prayer the new centres around which life revolved. This meant that the Jewish communities of the exile were religious, not political.

BABYLON became a centre of Jewish life and learning during the first exile and it continued to be an important centre of Jewish study during the second exile. There the Torah became the new focus of Jewish loyalty and the study of the laws of Moses became an obligation for every male Jew. The dialogues and interpretations of the leading sages were remembered and passed on to following generations; they became known as the Oral Law. These opinions were later recorded and became the Talmud which was committed to writing about 500 A. D. It is a 30 volume work defining Judaism. So that they would not forget their origin and destiny, significant national events from their historical past were enshrined as annual anniversaries such as Passover, (Pesach) commemorating their escape from Egypt's slavery; Pentecost, (Shavuot) commemorating the giving of the Law at Sinai; and Tabernacles, (Sukkot) commemorating the end of the desert wanderings. The annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) continued to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer in which personal repentance replaced the former animal sacrifices. These annual festivals, and the weekly observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest and spiritual renewal, enabled the Jews to retain both their national culture and their sense [7] of destiny during the years of their exile. When the Moslems overthrew Babylon they allowed the Jews to continue their communal and religious life so Babylonia remained the main centre of Jewish life and Rabbinical study for 1000 years.

SPAIN became the next centre of Jewish life and learning. The Jewish population of Spain gradually grew until the seventh century when the church council of 680 A. D. introduced restrictions against the Jews. The Moslems captured Spain in the 8th century and ruled until the 16 century. The Muslim rule was a relatively free and prosperous period for the Jews and this permitted their religious and intellectual life to flourish. Some of the great Jewish scholars of the exile arose during this period. Around 1500 A. D. the Moslem rulers were defeated and Spain came under Christian rule. Persecution of the Jews by the church soon began with the expulsion of all Jews and the confiscation of their property. The practice of the Jewish faith was forbidden. Many Jews outwardly professed conversion but secretly retained and practiced their faith. Some were forced into slavery and made to wear distinctive clothing and an identifying badge.

Then followed the Inquisition by the Catholic church. It sought to find and punish Jews who were nominally Christians but still practiced their faith secretly. Many were arrested, tortured and burned at the stake by the church. They died rather than renounce their faith. One historian records a trial in Madrid where the King and Queen and their entourage sat in royal splendour on a special platform surrounded by nobles and soldiers. Forty prisoners were brought before them and ordered to renounce their Jewish faith and practices. Those who refused were sentenced to death. After a sermon and prayers, seven, including three women, were burned at the stake.

POLAND. Following the Crusades there was a migration of Jews from Germany to Poland where they were welcomed by the Polish nobles who were the land owners. They appointed them as managers of their estates and as taxation farmers. For some 500 years they enjoyed considerable freedom and developed a rich cultural and religious life. It was in Germany and Poland that they developed a hybrid language called Yiddish. It was basically German with some Hebrew words and was written in Hebrew characters. Poland became the third major Jewish community of the exile.

The oppressive Polish nobles were hated by the peasants, and because the Jews managed their properties and collected their taxes, the peasants hated them also. Their work became their undoing. The terrible Chmielnicki Massacres in 1648, when the Cossack peasants rose against the nobles, resulted in the slaughter of both nobles and Jews. Whole families were murdered. An estimated 100,000 Jews perished. The Jews who survived became a poor and despised section of Polish society, confined to ghetto existence, but 300 years later, at the beginning of World War II, Poland was still the major Jewish centre of Europe with a population of some 3 million. Most perished in the Holocaust including 400,000 in the Warsaw ghetto.

CAUSES OF EUROPEAN PERSECUTION

THE CHURCH. The Catholic church continued to blame each succeeding generation of Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus. In France, each Easter the Jews would have to supply a representative who would be publicly slapped on the face by the Bishop as punishment for the [8] crucifixion of Jesus. In Poland, every Easter the Jews feared for their lives and property as mobs ravaged the Jewish quarter.

THE CRUSADES. As the first millennium approached, there arose a belief that Christ's return was imminent, and many began to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem where the Moslem rulers denied them access. Pope Urban II, at a church council in France in 1095 A. D., called on Christians to free the Holy Land from Moslem rule. Armies of knights and peasants set out across Europe and on the way attacked Jewish communities in the Rhine valley, killing many and destroying their homes and synagogues. Some synagogues were burned with their worshippers inside. Some were taken captive and sold as slaves. At Worms 800 were killed and at Mainz 1000. The Crusades continued intermittently for about 300 years and an estimated 5000 Jews perished.

BLACK DEATH. When tragedy strikes people always look for a cause and someone to blame. Being ignorant of the real cause of the plague they blamed the Jews whom they accused of poisoning the wells. The rumour spread throughout Europe and Jewish communities were attacked and many Jews were murdered.

THE BLOOD LIBEL. Medieval Christians noted that the Jews prayed in a foreign language (Hebrew) when at worship and, once a year, took part in a special ceremony in which red wine was used as part of the ritual. They did not understand the language or the meaning of the ritual so it is not surprising that superstition soon invented an explanation. Someone started the rumor that the Jews drank the blood of a Gentile child at their annual Passover ritual. The rumor soon spread throughout Europe. There were anti-Jewish riots in Germany, England and France where 33 Jews were murdered at Blois. The blood libel rumour is still circulating in some countries today.

POPULAR FICTION. Two famous English authors, Shakespeare and Dickens, did much to discredit the image of the Jews by casting a Jew as the villain in their popular plays. Shylock the money lender in the Merchant of Venice, and Fagin the thief and corrupter of young boys in. Oliver Twist, reflected the contemporary English perception of the Jews and cast an indelible stigma on the Jewish character that still influences the popular image of Jews today. To offset this unbalanced image, Australians may recall that our first Governor General, Sir Isaac Isaacs, and our most celebrated Military General, Sir John Monash, were both members of the Jewish community. All races have both famous and infamous members. We should not allow our image of others to be determined by fictional characters.

GHETTOS. These were separate areas within a city where the Jews were forced to live under curfew conditions. The ghetto in Venice was one of the first, but later it was common practice in all European cities to separate the Jews, who were considered foreigners. They were denied citizenship, forbidden to own property, and excluded from the trade guilds. In order to make a living they were forced into hawking old clothes (the Rag Trade) and opening pawnshops where jewellery could be pawned (the origin of Jewellers shops). This is why many Jews are engaged in the clothing and jewellery trades today. Because Jews were forbidden to own property, any assets they could acquire was held, not in property, but in money. Hence, they became money lenders. Their law forbade them to charge interest on loans to their fellow Jews but it permitted them to charge interest to Gentiles. "Do not charge your brother interest . . . You [9] may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to. " (Deuteronomy 23.19) This ability to borrow without interest gave the Jews a considerable advantage over the Gentiles as they were able to pay off their debts much quicker. Having their assets in money also made it easier for them to flee when they were persecuted.

This persecution during their exile had been foretold by the prophets Jeremiah 50:6-7: "My people have been lost sheep . . . they wandered over hill and mountain and forgot their own resting place. Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said 'We are not guilty, for they sinned against the Lord!"

Zechariah 1:14 "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry but they added to the calamity."

ENLIGHTENMENT & EMANCIPATION.

When the Renaissance movement brought Europe out of the Dark Ages in the 16th century it challenged traditional social patterns. It was a time of enlightenment and renewal. It brought about the lifting of some of the worst restrictions against the Jews. In some European countries they were granted citizenship and admitted to the Universities. Their emancipation gave them an equality with Gentiles but, socially there was still a harrier. There are still some clubs in Australia where Jews cannot be members.

They eagerly grasped the new opportunities of citizenship and university training and soon they were taking their place in the intellectual and business life of their host countries. The traditional study of the Torah diminished and they began to give their first loyalty to their host countries. Assimilation weakened their traditional loyalty to Torah and the synagogue and some became secular Jews. Intermarriage with Gentiles further weakened their traditional faith and strong community life. Emancipation also created problems in the secular world. They were so successful in business and the professions that their very success produced a new kind of non-religious anti-Semitism. The Gentiles were jealous and became afraid that the Jews were taking control. This fear found expression in the circulation of a forged document called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Assimilation and emancipation became a greater threat than all the persecutions of the Middle Ages. Anti-Semitism continued to be as strong as ever in Europe and Russia.

THE VARIED CAUSES OF ANTI-SEMITISM.

1. The Chosen People--This led to resentment and a charge of a superior attitude.

2. The Christ killers. This fuelled Christian anti-Semitism.

3. Foreigners--Not citizens. They had no rights so were open to attack.

4. Racism--As Non-Aryans they were resented, especially by Germans.

5. Their Wealth--Jews had money and the poor are always jealous of the rich. Also the rich often make their money at the expense of others. This is a major cause of anti-Semitism. [10]

6. Gentile Jealousy. They were successful in the previously forbidden areas of education and business. They rose to prominence and power and were hated for their success.

7.The Protocols of Zion. This is an anti-Semitic document which originated in Russia last century. It claims to be a record of the secret meetings and plans of the Elders of Zion for world domination. It is a forgery but many have been only too ready to believe that it is true. It was widely believed in Russia and Germany. It became a tool in the hands of the enemies of the Jews. It is still circulated by Arab communities today to foster Jew hatred.

8. Anti-theism. Martin Buber says that anti-Semitism is at heart anti-theism (anti-God).This is a more universal and fundamental reason for anti-Semitism than all the other more specific reasons. It is rooted in an innate desire to keep God out of our life so that we can be absolutely free to do whatever we like. God is an authority figure who restricts our freedom by his laws and the behavioural standards he imposes on us. He is our judge to whom we are accountable and we don't want to be accountable to anyone; we want to be totally free. When we are children our parents and teachers tell us that we must not do certain things and we must not behave in certain ways, but when we reach maturity we want total independence to do as we like. When we are confronted by the typical Jew with his Torah and Prayer Shawl, mumbling his Hebrew prayers to his unseen God, he represents an unwelcome intrusion into our carefree world. We resent his very presence because we want to be free from the claims of the God he represents. When a person rejects God's authority over their life they tend to reject the Jew who brought God into our world. Haters of Jews tend to be haters of God.

MARTIN LUTHER represented the religious anti-Semite. His tract against the Jews was the first modem anti-Semitic book. He advocated that their synagogues be set on fire, their prayer books burnt, their houses destroyed, and they he made to live like gypsies. His attitude set the tone for German anti-Semitism.

VOLTAIRE, a French atheist and leading intellectual of his day, represented the new anti-Semitism based on race hatred. Voltaire stated that Jews were not the same species as the rest of mankind; they were evil, corrupt and alien and he called their faith the most revolting superstition. He hated both Judaism and Christianity. Other European writers and leaders also freely expressed their hatred of the Jews.

In the 19 century, the Russian pogroms (violent mobs that looted and killed Jewish communities) made life unbearable. On Easter Sunday, 1903, a pogrom in Kishnev lasted for 2 days. It left 2000 Jews homeless, 50 dead and 500 injured. Jews knew they had to get out of Europe and Russia. Whenever Jewish numbers and influence reach a certain level anti-Semitism rises and persecution begins. It will happen again in America and it could happen in Australia. Anti-Semitism arises in direct proportion to the degree that the people of a country see the Jews as a threat to their security. As a result of the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and Russia many Jewish families migrated to England and North and South America and Australia. There was also another very significant development; the Zionist movement was horn.

THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT.

When the Viennese Journalist, Theodore Hertzl, attended the trial of the French Jew, Captain Dreyfus who was falsely accused of spying, he heard the Paris mob shout "Death to the Jews". He realized that the Jews would never know freedom and safety through citizenship in their [11] host countries. He saw that the time had come for Jews to have a land of their own where they could be safe. There was no country on the face of the earth where they could feel secure. He founded the Zionist movement in Switzerland in 1897. Its objective was to create a Jewish state where they could be safe from Gentile domination and persecution. They were offered a small area in Africa to establish a Jewish state but the majority believed that a Jewish state could only be established in the land God had promised to Abraham. They began to buy up land in Palestine and collective farms called Kibbutzim were established by some Russian Jews. But before Hertzl's dream came to fulfilment the Jews of Europe were to face the severest trial of their whole existence.

HITLER'S FINAL SOLUTION

Adolph Hitler was always open about his hatred of the Jews. It was part of the policy on which he was elected to power. Anti-Semitism was strong throughout Germany. His campaign against the Jews was supported by the Germany people. As soon as the war began he commenced to deliberately and systematically exterminate the Jewish people.

Many German people could not help knowing what was happening. The Nazis established concentration camps in both Germany and the captured countries in which all the Jews who could be found were interned. At first they were murdered by being gathered into the camps, shot by firing squads, and their bodies buried in mass graves. This was too slow to process the numbers involved so portable gas chambers using carbon monoxide gas were introduced. Then they built the large gas chambers and cremation ovens at the Auschwitz concentration camp for mass killing. Train loads of Jews would arrive daily from all over Germany and the occupied countries.

The five Auschwitz gas chambers could murder 60,000 men, women and children every 24 hours. For many months in 1942, 1943 and 1944, Jews were shot and their bodies were bulldozed into mass graves or they were gassed and their bodies incinerated. Sometimes over 100,000 people a week, or an average of 4000 a day for four years, were murdered in this way. In total, nearly 6 million Jews perished during the Nazi regime. The evil and horror of such cold blooded killing is beyond the comprehension of ordinary decent people. It is a blot on the human race that will never be erased.

When the war ended and the world was told the terrible truth many refused to believe it. The most shocking aspect was that this had not happened in some primitive and pagan culture but in the most highly civilised country on earth. It shattered for ever the idea that human civilization was steadily moving towards a utopian era of harmony and happiness. Civilization had sunk back to the most cruel and primitive standards of pre-civilization days.

Consider for a moment the wider implications of this terrible genocide. In one sense it is irrelevant that the Jews were the victims. Genocide is an evil that cannot be tolerated whoever the victims may be. The Nazi philosophy was the logical outworking of a new view of human beings. The Jews had taught the world that man was made in the image of God and that all men were equal and their person inviolate, therefore murder was forbidden. The Nazi's did not believe that God existed. They accepted the Darwinian theory of the origin of life and all species, including humans. They saw human beings as just one form of animal life and, as [12] such, they were subject to the same principle of the survival of the fittest; humans were no more sacred than any other animal. This application of Darwinism to human populations came to be known as Social Darwinism. The superior species would inevitably prosper and the inferior species would die out. The German intelligentsia regarded the Aryan race as the most advanced form of human life and the Jews as an inferior branch of humanity which would die out in time and therefore could be exterminated with impunity. (See Professor Vernon Kellogg's statement quoted by Stephen Jay Gould, p. 424 of his book, Bully for Brontosaurus). This kind of thinking can be applied to any group of people and is the justification for genocide everywhere. It must he challenged and opposed whenever it is expressed.

Following the Holocaust it became imperative that the Jews have a state of their own. In 1947, the United Nations voted to support the formation of a Jewish state. And so the state of Israel came into being in 1948, after 19 centuries of stateless exile. Today there are between 4 and 5 million Jews in Israel but the exile has not totally come to an end. There are some nine million Jews still scattered among the nations, the largest number, approximately six million, are in the U.S.A.

What does the future hold? In the next chapter we will consider the Messianic hope that Jews have cherished during their centuries of exile. The new national anthem of the State of Israel is titled The Hope. Is the State of Israel the beginning of the fulfillment of their are-old Messianic hope?

References:

III. ZIONISM AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE THE MYSTERY OF JEWISH SURVIVAL.

The survival of the Jews as a distinct people through 4000 years of history is unique in the annals of history. It is so contrary to the usual rise and fall of nations that students of history have stopped and wondered. One such was the Russian historian Nicolas Berdyaev who wrote "I remember how the materialistic interpretation of history . . . broke down in the case of the Jews . . . this people ought long ago to have perished. Its survival is a mysterious and wonderful phenomena demonstrating that the life of this people is governed by a special pre-determination. "The only explanation seems to be the one that they themselves offer, namely, that God has chosen them and given them a particular ministry and destiny that is being worked out in the history of the world.

THE MESSIANIC VIEW OF HISTORY.

The concept of the Messiah is an essential part of Judaism. Judaism gave to the world a unique view of history. No other religion or philosophy saw humanity steadily moving towards a pre-determined climax and fulfilment--an "end time". Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, looked only to the past for inspiration or had a cyclical view of history that required endless reincarnations.

Hyatt, in his book 'Prophetic Religion,' says "The Hebrews were the first people in the ancient world to have a sense of history. They were the first to conceive of God as a God of history, manifesting himself on the stage of time and controlling the destiny of men and nations" ( Quoted by Herberg in his book Judaism and Modern Man p. 194) Judaism, and its daughter faith Christianity, share a belief that history has a God-given meaning and the human race is not blundering blindly along from one crisis to the next but is steadily moving towards a pre-determined end; an era of peace and righteousness called the kingdom of God.

This will not be ushered in by human efforts but by the Messiah who will be sent by God. This Messianic hope helped sustain the Jews throughout the sufferings of exile. One of Israel's famous scholars, Maimonides, wrote in the 12 century, "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and. though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming. " The hope of a Messiah who will bring salvation to Israel is just as strong today. A modem writer says, "The belief in the Messiah, whether it be in a personal Messiah or in a Messianic age, is as fundamental to us in our modern world as ever it was in days gone by" (Pearl & Brooks p. 105.)

ORIGIN OF THE MESSIANIC CONCEPT.

1. Gen 12:3. God's promise to Abraham, "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you" is the first hint of future universal blessing to all mankind through Abraham's descendants.

2. 2 Sam. 7:4-16. God's promise to David developed into the Messianic hope. [14] "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established for ever." The Jews looked for a future king of David's line who would be chosen by God (Messiah means anointed one) to bring peace to the nation.

3. Isaiah 11:1-10. "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse [The father of David]; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit". Also v. 10 "In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations [the Gentiles] will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious."

4. Isaiah 9:6. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty Clod, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne . . . from that time on and forever. " The Jewish scholar, Dr. Joseph Klausner, says in his book, Messianic Idea in Israel, "I, along with most modem scholars, consider this whole prophecy Messianic." (p. 64)

5. Jeremiah 33:14-16. "The days are coming declares the Lord when I will fulfil the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line . . . This is the name by which he will be called: 'The Lord Our Righteousness.' " This 'Branch' of which both Isaiah and Jeremiah speak is understood by Jewish scholars to be the Messiah. The Jewish Encyclopedia (vol. 8, p. 506) commenting on this passage says, "The Messiah will he 'a righteous sprout of David,' who will establish just judgment and wise government in the country,"

6. Isaiah 2:1-4. "In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established . . . and all nations will stream to it . . . they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, and they will train for war no more."

From these and similar passages of scripture the Jews look for the coming of a descendant of David, called a branch or sprout, who will become the Messiah through whom God will usher in a new era of universal peace. This Messianic Age is the ultimate future to which all history is moving.

The prophet Isaiah has a series of passages that speak of one who is God's Servant. Isaiah 53 is very well known to Christians as it prophesies the sufferings which the Servant will endure to redeem his people. This passage is so descriptive of the crucifixion that Christians regard it as a detailed prophecy of Jesus' death. It identifies him as the suffering Messiah. So we have two opposite portraits of the Messiah; the suffering Messiah who redeems his people by his death and the reigning Messiah who ushers in the rule of God at the end of history.

There is a phrase that occurs in scripture--"the end of days" or "the last days". The Greek word for 'end' is eschaton. Will Herberg says, "If there is no eschaton, there is no future, for it is the eschaton, 'the end,' that gives history its direction. " (Herberg p. 225). Both [15] Jewish and Christian doctrine teach that human history is steadily moving towards a divinely determined destiny. That destiny will be achieved when Messiah comes.

It appears that not only human history, but the planet on which we live, is also moving towards a pre-determined end. The research scientists, Dr. Donald Brownlee and Dr. Peter Ward tell us that our Earth is slowly moving towards extinction. The Herald-Sun of January 19, 2003, carried a review of their new book "The Life and Death of Planet Earth " in which they state that the earth's body clock is steadily ticking towards a fiery end, which, fortunately for our generation, is still in the distant future, but there are already disturbing signs.

Humanity is currently reaching crisis level in the physical areas of global warming, population saturation, recurring famines, and depletion of our limited resources of energy and raw materials. In the non-physical area of human society we are also experiencing growing problems of world-wide financial insecurity at national and corporate levels, an international crisis of refugee migrations, and a new hate driven threat of international terrorism. Earth's population overload has produced almost insoluble problems. Trust between nations has broken down producing a widespread fear of weapons of mass destruction. The prophecy of a promised Messiah who will bring lasting peace to our troubled human society is a wonderful ray of hope in an otherwise gloomy prospect. When Jesus' disciples asked him for signs of the end of the age he gave them some details then he said "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. " (Luke 21:28) The coming of a Messiah to rule in righteousness over all nations seems almost too good to be true and we eagerly wait in faith for his coming.

ZIONISM AND THE MESSIANIC HOPE

How does Zionism relate to this age-old Messianic vision?

1. The emancipation and assimilation which Jews have experienced in recent centuries has failed to bring relief from discrimination and persecution. The Pogroms in Russia; the persistent anti-Semitism in Germany and Poland; and the Dreyfus case in France showed the Jews that even though they had now been granted equality and citizenship in their host countries they still had no real acceptance or security. They needed a homeland of their own where they could live with dignity and without constant fear. There was an historic inevitability about the rise of Zionism.

2. Theodore Hertzl's vision of statehood was an idea whose time had come. It coincided with the move by Russian Jews to establish the first settlements in Palestine and it paved the way for the establishment of a Jewish homeland following World War II.

3. The United Nations voted for partition in 1947 and the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948. The partition of Palestine only gave the Jews a tiny state of 8,000 square miles, which is one eleventh the size of Victoria, Australia. Much of this territory had already been bought by the Jews for the settlement of refugees from Europe and Russia. The Arabs refused to accept the United Nations decision and five Arab armies attacked the [16] Jews on the day the State of Israel was proclaimed. They failed in their efforts to destroy the new State and each successive Arab/Israeli war ended with Israeli victories which pushed the cease-fire line into Arab territory, thus increasing the area of Arab territory occupied by Israel. The 1967 war was particularly significant as the Jews captured Jerusalem and the territory to the west of the Jordan River which the Jews had not occupied since 70 A. D. The religious Jews saw it as a fulfilment of prophecy and an important step towards the fulfilment of the Messianic hope.

THE PROPHECIES OF A RETURN TO THE LAND

Is. 11:11-12. "In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people . . . He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

Ezekiel 36:8-35. "But you, O mountains of Israel. will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel . . . for they will soon come home . . . v. 101 will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt . . . v. 35 they will say 'This land that was laid waste has become like the Garden of Eden."

Ezekiel 37 1-6; 11-14, 21-22. The vision of dry bones that came to life describes the restoration of the Israel's national life. v 11 "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel . . . I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.'" . . . "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. "

Amos 9:14-15. "I will bring back my exiled people Israel; and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them . . . I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God."

Zech 8:8. "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God."

Some of these prophecies would have referred to the return of the exiles from Babylon but the scope of others, such as Isaiah's statement that they will return from the four corners of the earth, goes far beyond that time.

THE RETURN OF THE EXILES.

With the establishment of the State of Israel whole Jewish communities returned from countries where they were suffering persecution. Some [17] communities that had been exiles for over 2000 years have now returned to their ancient homeland.

YEMENITES. This community traced their history back over 2000 years to the first exile. The whole Yemenite community of approximately 50,000 has now returned to their original homeland.

FALASHAS. These black Jews of Ethiopia have lived there since the time of Solomon but they have now returned to Israel. 14,000 were air-lifted out in one day. A total of 27,000 have returned after 2,500 years of exile.

REFUGEES FROM ARAB COUNTRIES.

After the Arab-Israeli wars following 1948, Jews in Arab countries were attacked and they migrated to Israel for refuge. From Iraq 135,000; Morocco 120.000; Egypt 75,000; Lybia 35,000, Tunisia 30,000; Iran 39,000; Syria 26,000; Turkey 37,000; Poland 104,000; Russia 340,000 and more still coming. Israel's population is now over 5 million (including a million Arabs). The world Jewish population is approx. 14 million. The largest Jewish population today, around 6 million, is in U.S.A. The Australian Jewish population is around 80,000.

THE END IS NOT YET

Traditional Jewish belief has always affirmed that the end of history will be preceded by a period of great trouble. In his book, "Judaism and Modern Man", Will Herberg says, "Nowhere in Scripture or rabbinic tradition is there any suggestion that history itself brings mankind into the Kingdom of God slowly and gradually, through cumulative, unending progress. On the contrary, this notion, still so popular in 'liberal' circles, is directly repudiated in Jewish tradition by the teaching concerning the 'troubles' that are to usher in the Messianic Age. On the very eve of the fulfilment, we are told, the world will find itself not in a state of near perfection but in the grip of terrible suffering, turmoil and conflict." (p. 228)

Herberg quotes J.H. Greenstone as saying "Like the early prophets and the later apocalyptic writers, the Rabbis also taught that the Messianic period will be preceded by many tribulations, called Messianic Woes,' not only for Israel but for all the nations of the earth as well. These trials preliminary to the advent of the Messianic era will be of all kinds, social and political both."

The coming of Messiah at the "end of days" is the redeeming act of God. Herberg says, "In his own good time the prophets proclaim, God will take decisive action to redeem Israel and the world. He will send his Messiah and bring the reign of evil in history to an end by rooting out sin and hatred from the hearts of men and by allaying the violence and conflict in nature. " (p. 233) So the restoration of statehood may be a step towards the Messianic age but it is certainly not its fulfilment. Its fulfilment must involve both the Messiah and all nations. [18]

ISRAEL'S PRESENT DILEMMA.

The Zionism that inspired Israel has created a major internal problem for the State. Zionism is secular and democratic; the laws are decided by a government elected by the people just as in any democratic society. The Orthodox Israelis are constantly demanding that Israel should be governed by the laws of Moses. It is an internal conflict which is almost as intense and unresolved as the Arab-Israel conflict. Many Israelis are either secular or liberal Jews who do not strictly follow the biblical commandments. The State of Israel is not the Messianic Age pictured in the prophets but it could be the beginning of the "end time" toward which human history is moving. A new prayer has been added to the Jewish prayer book. It reads "Bless the State of Israel the dawn of our redemption" Christians could well make this their prayer also.

CHRISTIANS LOOK FOR THE RETURN OF CHRIST.

Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and at his return he will bring history to a close; he will judge the nations and will reign over a redeemed humanity. A Jew is reported to have said, "The Messiah came first to the Gentiles but he will come again to fulfil the Messianic hope of Israel. " Christians tend to be sympathetic to the idea of the Jews having a state of their own where they can feel secure; partly because history has shown that there is no country in the world where they can be guaranteed permanent security, and partly because they believe that their restoration to their ancient God-given homeland must take place before Jesus returns at the "end time". This does not mean that Christians necessarily support the present policies of Israel. The Palestinians must also be given justice with land and a state of their own, but this must be achieved by negotiation, not by Arabs killing Jewish civilians and Jews killing Arabs in retaliation.

In the meantime, Christians should examine their attitude to the Jewish people and see that their hearts are free from prejudice, hatred, and indifference. They are our Lord's brethren. Jesus said "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. " In the past, the attitude of Christendom towards the Jews has been deplorable. The traditional church has often treated the Jews with hostility, or at best, indifference. Christians need to rid themselves of prejudice. The Jews, as a race, are still God's covenant people. Paul says, "As far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable".

There is no doubt that some individual Jews have behaved badly in the business world. So have some people of every race. It is never right to generalise blame based on the behaviour of one or a few individuals. That is racism. Because some individual Jews have failed to behave honestly we should not conclude that the Jews are a dishonest race of people. After their rejection and ill-treatment by Gentiles for two thousand years it is understandable that Jews should regard non-Jews as their enemies and that they should take advantage of them sometimes. Why should we expect them to always deal with us honestly when we have not dealt justly and honestly with them? [19]

Finally, having in mind all that has been written above, and not forgetting that God chose them, bound them to himself with an everlasting covenant, and commissioned them for a special mission that would benefit all nations, calling them, "My servant", we will surely be answerable to God, both as individuals and as nations, for our behaviour towards them. We pray that God will hasten the day when the Messiah will come and bring peace to the troubled nation of Israel and our over-stressed, war-torn world.

References:

Books recommended for an understanding of the Arab-Israeli problem:

The Closed Circle--An interpretation of the Arabs, by David Pryce-Jones, Paladin Books, London, 1990.
Their Promised Land--Arab and Jew in History's Cauldron--One Valley in the Judean Hills, by Marcia