Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. “‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’” – Numbers 34:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 27, 2012): Numbers 34

So much of what we do – or do not do – is emotional. That was the actual meaning behind the words of Yoda in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” as he teaches the young Luke Skywalker to “Do or do not – there is no try.” His words were encouraging Luke to make a decision, and to leave the emotion of the moment behind him. But Yoda’s words are easier to say than to follow. Emotion makes up so much of our life decisions – and emotion lies at the bottom of so many of our disagreements.

That is also what makes forgiveness so hard. Our arguments may have had a logical start (even that is often questionable), but it does not take long for the argument to cross over into emotional ground. And once that happens, it is hard for logic to regain control. And forgiveness is actually a logical decision – one made in protection of ourselves.

And that has been the problem behind the argument over possession of the West Bank in Israel. The West Bank was not included in the plan to remake the nation of Israel. But in the 1967, Israel defended itself from attack and took the West Bank as its own spoils when the conflict finally ended. The problem behind the idea was that the United Nations has a resolution that bans countries from gaining land through war – even when that gain happened in self defence. But war is never logical – it is always emotional. The gain became almost immediately an emotional part of the new Israel.

But the emotion in this political situation goes beyond just a war that happened decades ago. The New Israel looks back fondly (as they should) on the old Israel. The borders of the nation under the kings of the Old Testament – especially David – and the borders that God handed down to the tribes of a fledgling nation saying that this is the land that I have promised you became the emotional promise of the nation. And the border that God spoke of included the Jordan River on the East – and the controversial West Bank is on the West Bank of the Jordan River – inside the boundaries of the land that God gave to Israel. This was their traditional boundary set out in the Scriptures themselves. We can question where the boundaries of traditional Israel are on the North and the South, but that Israel was to stretch from the Mediterranean Sea on west to the Jordan in the East clearly in Hebrew Scripture. And that drives the emotions of the nation.

Please, on both sides I recognize the problems. And we will have treaty after treaty that will attempt to deal with the situation in the West bank, but we need to understand the emotional basis that lies behind the situation on both sides. And it might be that a lasting solution will never be reached until both sides get through the emotion and really begin to forgive each other for the things that have gone before.

     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 35