Sharon and the Peace of the Jewish Prophets

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

sattarkassem@hotmail.com

At his joint press conference with American President Bush on 14 April 2004, Sharon stated that he seeks to establish peace according to the teachings of the prophets of the Jews. In this article I try to put before the reader a few excerpts from the book that the Jews regard as their Torah and their holy scripture. Let me note at the outset, however, that what is meant here is the prophets of the Jews as the texts appear in the Torah currently in the hands of the Jews, not the prophets of the Jews as they appear in the Noble Qur’an. Sharon believes in the book he holds, and, by his own account, derives his definition of peace from it and from no other book.

It is clear in the Torah that the relationship of the Hebrews with others operates on three levels: the sons of Abraham through Hagar, the Canaanites, and the other peoples. This relationship is marked specifically by a lofty, superior outlook, in which the Hebrews regard themselves as God’s chosen people, distinguished from the other peoples, for whom the Lord never expressed any wish to be their god. The other peoples are of lesser standing and lesser respect, and fall outside the divine framework that watches over the Children of Israel in their wanderings, their settling and unsettling, and their homes. The way the relationship of the Hebrews with these peoples is set out serves to entrench the belief that the world is divided into two peoples: a people who have God and His grace, and other peoples marked by savagery and coarseness.

As for the sons of Abraham through Hagar, there are clear texts that deny them the standing enjoyed by the sons of Abraham through his second wife, Sarah. Hagar, as the Torah portrays her, was nothing more than Sarah’s maidservant, and the angel of the Lord ordered her to remain so when she tried to flee, in a dialogue between the two of them. The Torah says: “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.” (Genesis 16:9)

It appears from the context of the Torah’s account that Abraham was angry when Sarah asked him to cast out Hagar and her son Ishmael because he was playing. Yet the Lord found no justification for this anger, saying to Abraham: “Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” (Genesis 21:12) There is, moreover, a Torah tendency to disregard Ishmael as a son of Abraham. The Lord commanded Abraham to take Isaac to one of the mountains, saying: “Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee…” (Genesis 22:2)

The Torah does not disregard Ishmael entirely, but his standing remains inferior compared with Isaac’s. In the midst of the account exalting Isaac, there comes, at the end, a mention of Ishmael — that God will make of him, the maidservant’s son, a nation, because he is of Abraham’s seed — yet it does not say whether that nation will be as great as the nation born of Isaac. (Genesis 21:18) Even Ishmael’s birth, as it is portrayed, was not for the sake of good and blessing, but rather as a kind of pity for Hagar, who had suffered much humiliation. The angel of the Lord told her she would bear a son and call him Ishmael, “and he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.” (Genesis 16:12) That is, this child is wicked, and does not reach the standing of his half-brother, who receives the commands of the Lord his God.

As for the Canaanites, the commandments of the prophets, as the Torah records them, forbid dealing with them or showing them mercy. When he had grown old, Abraham charged the eldest servant of his house not to take a wife for his son from the daughters of Canaan. (Genesis 24:3) Isaac likewise charged his son Jacob not to take for himself a wife from the daughters of Canaan, because they were wicked. (Genesis 28:1) They do not worship the god of the Children of Israel, and are therefore unfit, given that the religion of the Children of Israel is not for the Canaanites. Yet the Torah, in any case, does not say why the Lord does not make Himself known to the Canaanites, who might well have believed.

The Lord urged the Children of Israel to make their relationship with the inhabitants of the land of Canaan one of enmity. He exhorts them, in the event of the occupation of the promised land, to tear down the altars of its inhabitants, break their pillars, and burn their idols, because the Children of Israel are a people holy unto the Lord their God. (Deuteronomy 7:6) The Lord commanded the Children of Israel to kill everyone they found before them in the cities they occupied, even the children and the infants. In accordance with these commands, the Hebrews killed every man, woman, child, and elder when they occupied Jericho. They spared not even the cattle, sheep, and donkeys, and they set upon the houses and burned them. (Joshua 6:21) This is also what Joshua did to the people of Ai: he killed every human being living in the city, laid the city to ruin, and mutilated the corpse of its king. (Joshua 8:29)

The other peoples fare no better than the Canaanites. These peoples may not stand on equal footing with the Hebrews, and they are not even permitted to live in safety and security. The Lord assures Moses that He will deliver the inhabitants of the land into the hands of the Hebrews, on condition that they “make no covenant with [these other peoples], nor with their gods.” (Exodus 23:32) The standing of these peoples, should they be permitted to remain, is to be in the service and obedience of the Children of Israel. As it is written: “Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” (Isaiah 61:5-6)

The Lord defined the relationship of the Hebrews with the other peoples — the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites — saying: “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.” (Exodus 23:24) No covenant may be made with them, for they are unholy and do not attain the standing of the Children of Israel, the choicest and best of the nations, the people of God. And as long as this remains so, the Lord will continue to grant the Children of Israel victory and providence. Yet the Lord warns: “But if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.” (Joshua 23:12-13) And the Lord opposes their dwelling in the land of the Children of Israel, lest they become a cause of seducing God’s people away from His worship. (Exodus 23)

It is not difficult for the reader of the Torah to grasp that the nations fall into two categories: the category of the Hebrews, who have a god, and the category of the rest of the peoples, who have no god. The function of the first is to obey the Lord, so that He opens to them the gates of worldly bounty and prosperity; the function of the second is twofold: first, to be the target of the Hebrews’ victories when they are in obedience to the Lord, so that the Hebrews may savor the ecstasy of triumph; and second, to serve as God’s instrument for punishing the Hebrews when they are in disobedience to Him. In either case, the other nations are but a mount, ridden either by the Hebrews or by the Lord who wishes to punish His people. Beyond this, the Torah shows no sign that the nations have any other function that might be considered noble. The other nations are denied any invitation to join a religion, and denied good treatment.

I have offered above only a few examples concerning Sharon’s own private god and his prophets. It is left to the reader to draw his own conclusions about that peace which Sharon establishes according to the teachings of the prophets of the Jews.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “شارون وسلام أنبياء اليهود” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.