Articles - From the Vicar

The starting point for the following 1st century rabbinic midrash, or biblical exposition, is Genesis 13 verse 7.

The herdsmen of Abraham and his nephew Lot fell out over pasture rights. Although Abraham's herdsmen kept their cattle muzzled while they were on Lot's fields, Lot's herdsmen let their cattle graze freely on Abraham's land. When challenged about this they replied that, although Abraham had been promised the whole of the land of Canaan, everyone knew that he would have no direct descendants. Lot's cattle were simply grazing on land that would soon belong to him, as Abraham's only descendant. God said, "Yes, I have indeed given the land to Abraham and to his descendants, but only after the seven native nations have left the land. Today, the Canaanites and the Perizzites are still living there so they have right of possession, until the proper time comes for Abraham and his descendants to take it over."

There are many ways of interpreting this piece of rabbinic wisdom. One way is to see it as a warning that in times of threat for the Jewish people it is wise diplomacy rather than outright military confrontation that is more likely to bring ultimate freedom from oppression. In the current Middle-East conflict, the deliberate and long-standing provocation of Hezbollah has finally resulted in just the sort of reaction from the Israeli government that had been hoped for by those who wish Israel ill: a Lebanese people traumatised, brutalised and increasingly persuaded that Hezbollah is their only protector. That cannot be in the long-term interests of the citizens either of Lebanon or Israel. Those of us, Christians, Jews and Muslims, who wish peace and prosperity for both these countries must hope and pray that the tender shoots of the diplomatic process at the United Nations will soon bear fruit that will last.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay