The fertile crescent today is largely controled by the nations that practice Islam such as Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Iran. These are the nations of Ishmael, the turned out firstborn son of Abraham with the Egyptian concubine servant Hagar. This family had enjoyed centuries of semi-peace through war. But now their history was to come to a close. Powerful nations trembled, rose up, bargained, battled and lost.
War is a brutal thing, especially when the goal is total elimination of the enemy. The reality is that the Israelites grew tired of the battles and pushed only so far as was convenient for all the people to have room for their own families. Israel never finished God's plan for their land.
How history would have been different without the bitter, warring peoples who were left in the lands God wanted for Israel! How our world today would be different, but sadly it is not.
Herein is the key lesson from this review: When God sees something that will become a trap or limiter of our soul He speaks up and asks us to eliminate that something. Kill the destroyer! Why? Because it will limit our peace, our shalom, our life with God.
So what to make of the hard sayings in Scripture? The ones that tell people, "No, you can't do that." You follow them. Or, like the Israelites, live compromised, at war, vulnerable and ultimately die separate from the relationship with God. Follow them and live.
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