JOLLYBLOGGER: Pat Robertson esplainifies himself, or does he?

A quote of a quote from the Jolly Blogger...

JOLLYBLOGGER: Pat Robertson esplainifies himself, or does he?: "“In the book of Joel, the prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has ‘enmity against those who divide My land.’ God considers this land to be His. When you read the Bible, He said this is my land. For any Prime Minister of Israel who decides he will carve it up and give it away, God said, “No, this is Mine.”"



I am trying to look up the passage Pat Robertson is talking about. I just do not see where this quote is coming from in the book of Joel. As I search, I see passages that have wording sort of like this but nothing exactly like this. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong versions.

What I do see is Joel 3:2 in the NIV:

"I will gather all the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there because of My people, My inheritance Israel. The nations have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided up My land. "

I would find this a difficult passage to apply to anyone who supported Palistinian control of Gaza or peace with Palistine. While generally I am supportive of Israel as an ally of the U.S., and I do see the nation of Israel as a fulfillment of prophecy, I would see Palistinian Christians as my brothers in Christ. Who do I back? Well, it is not a simple loyalty test, but let me examine each issue that needs to be discussed. In a sense I welcome Pat Robertson talking about this because many Christians have a single deminsioned veiw of the Middle East. That is that there is going to be final battle there called the battle of Armegeddon. In the mean time, people are living there and trying to pass on a state that is safe for their children. Yes, I mean both Palistinian and Israeli.

Comments

pgepps said…
I'm not sure I understand or agree with your position on the Israeli/Palestinian problem, but your intuition about the verse above is quite right.

God does indicate hostility to "the nations" for having divided up "the land," but this doesn't have to do with drawing property lines. It also doesn't have to do with modern Israeli leaders.

Leave the "times and seasons" out for a moment, and we still have:

1) "the nations" never means "Israel"

2) "the land" doesn't refer to political borders, but to "the people dwelling in the place of promise," i.e., the problem is that the people were separated from their dwelling, to which God would restore them

3) the "divided" here refers to what the pagan conquerors did: they "divvied up" the spoils of war, including the resettled and enslaved people

So what relevance that could have to the health of an Israeli who, for the peace of Jerusalem, pulled back from some territory while putting up a fence/wall to keep the enemy at bay--I haven't the faintest.

Robertson is a first-order kook, and I wish the national news elites would lose his card out of their Rolodexes.

Cheers,
PGE
3:29 PM
pruittcommunications said…
Well, the only thing I really said about Israeli/Palistinian problem is that rather than backing one side or the other, we need a balanced veiw. The politicial solutions should be Christian in that we take a just and loving perspective with each nation. But in regard to policy, we should have the same standard for Israeli/Palistinian politics as the rest of the 170 some nations of the world, that is a safe, sovreign nation should be respected. It seems that we as Christians would support that for every nation except these two. I think perhaps it is the issue of prophesy seems to make many Christians have one set of standards for Israel and another for all other nations.

You are right that I did not develop the issue of how to deal with modern state of Israel, but what I was wanting to really say is that I don't see Joel as stated in the Robertson Press Release. I would agree with your interpretation of the words you chose to exposit, but I'm not sure I chose the right passage. This is sort of a faux pas for Robertson's PR gang not to reference the passage they quoted.
5:07 PM
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