India and Israel Against Islamic Terror

History of Israel
f’^61
Section 1: People of the Book
A little land thrown up by a geographical accident during the

early Diluvial period, blocking the expansion of the Mediterranean

sea eastwards, later called Palestine did not have much to

recommend it to a present day tourist. A wandering ground for

the nomads, a poor cousin to the greener Egypt and Babylon

it had little grace or scenic beauty, consisting as it did of barren

hills punctuated by a few fertile oases, located next to the Dead

Sea depression and separated by an inhospitable desert eastward.

Who could imagine that one day this little cjrab land will become

one of the most important spiritual centres of the world. The

little green patches coveted by the nomads attracted hordes of

vandals and despoilers who rerjejjed by the desert wastes flocked

to this land in search of food and shelter. Invaders came and

went but some made it their home. Placed at the crossroads of

ancient world, little Palestine not only became a refuge for the

homeless but also a haven for the more enterprising, and always

remained at the hub. centre of the civilised world west of India.
The Amonites, the first recorded settlers in the third

millennium B.C. who conquered the land upto the district of

Lebanon, were hedged between two great powers-the
-• R 2 HISTORY OF ISRAEL 19
, yionians on the north and Egyptians on the south-whose

• ffijence’and sovereignty alternated over the’Tand. OF the two,

he Babylonian influence in the early period was deeper.

I uealzaggisi, the first Babylonian Emperor, spread his empire

westward upto the sea, followed by Sargon of Agad around

2600 B.C., which name figures in fables along with Moses a

century later. Sargon completed the conquest, and finally

Hammurabi by the end of third millennium B.C. formalized the

assimilation of Palestine into the Babylonian Empire. Lightly

controlled, fairly taxed and wisely and benevolently ruled and

administered, Palestine was culturally transformed with its

country’s customs, laws and even myths, acquiring a Babylonian

hue.
Abraham and Hebrew Genesis
Instead of treating the slow and tortuous route of chronology of

events, fairly well documented by more competent authorities,

an attempt is made here to emphasise events and personalities

as they shaped the Jewish nation. Simply stated the Jews in

some form existed as early as 4500 B.C., the beginning of the

Pagan period, as a historiologist would like to describe. This was

the time of proto-history when pre-Mohenjodaro and Indus

Valley culture existed in India contemporaneous to Sura and

Kest in Babylon and the pre-dynastic period of Egypt. By 3600

B.C. Sumerian civilization was fairly weil-known and by 3500

B.C. the first dynasty in Egypt came into being. Before 2800

B.C. Akkad had established a great kingdom around Saragon.

Later, uniting the kingdom of Sanana and Akkadia he laid the

foundation of Babylonian supremacy. The Middle Kingdom in

ESVPt is dated around 2400 B.C. and the period 2000 B.C. to

k can rough’y De described as the era of wandering for
the Chosen people. Around 2000 B.C. Abraham, the father_of

rjfjevvs, and Sarah, hiswife, left Ur in Chaldea within Babylonia?

. LfinTe _qfNoaTTand the great TToocT according to many historians

^much earlier than Abraham and is placed around the time of

anu, the first man who appeared on the soil of Bharat through

Wate^ ice and flood.
20 INDIA AND ISRAEL CHAPTER 2
As per Genesis Chapter 7 to 9, Noah was six hundred years

old when the great flood came which lasted a hundred and fifty

days. After that he lived another three hundred fifty years. This

gives him a total life span of nine hundred fifty years. Noah’s

sons and the new generation of Nimrod and Babel feature

thereafter till in Chapter 11, the whole world became of one

tongue. The last progeny of Noah’s lineage Terah begot Abraham,

Nahor and Haron. Haron begot Lot and the story of Abraham

and his wife Sarah starts then in Ur in the land of Chaldea. It

would be imprudent to put too fine a point on the time span

of Babylonian account since that would upset the applecart of

historical time frame. So we come straight to the time of Abraham

and take as read the story of Abraham’s journey from Ur to the

land of Canaan and from there to Haran, where he lived for

some time till Cod ordered him out to a new land, blessed him

and promised to make R’is seed a great nation. Thereupon,

Abraham left Haran with his coveted Sarah who was fair, and

a plague descended upon the land forcing Abraham to leave

Egypt till he reached Bethal and Hai and built an altar to his

Loid. Later Lot under entreaties from his uncle Abraham left the

overcrowded habitat of Cannanite and the Perizzite and

journeyed east to Jordan. And then in Chapter 13, Para 14 ibid

’And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated

from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place

where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and

westward:
”15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,

and to thy seed forever.
”16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so

that if a man can number the dust of the earth then

shall thy seed also be numbered.
”17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in

the breadth of it; for I will give it into thee.
”18 Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in

the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there

an altar unto the Lord.”
CHAPTER 2
HISTORY OF ISRAEL 21
\A/ hear of the word Hebrew associated with Abraham for the

r t time in Chapter 14 Para 13 ibid ”And there came one that

h d escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the

nlain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of

Aner: and these were confederate with Abraham.”
Later Abraham on insistence from Sarah fathered a child

named Ishmael from his Egyptian maid servant Hagar, and then

the Lord entered into Covenant with Abraham and blessed him.

He promised that he shall be the father of many nations and

his seedTshaii multiply on the earth. Then Sarah in old age bore

Abraham a son named, Isaac, while the Lord as part of His

covenant bode Abraham to get every eight days old child and

himself circumcised. The story thereafter of Abraham’s willingness

to sacrifice Isaac and the intervention of the Angel is well known

and told elsewhere. Now we come to the story of Essau and

i J Jacob, twin sons of Isaac. The treachery of Jacob to steal the

^S/r blessings of his father at the behest of his mother, Sarah, offering

of fresh blessing on Essau by Isaac and ordering away of Jacob

to a distant place whose subsequent flight and wanderings took

him to East and finally his entry into Egypt are chronicled

elsewhere. We leave the proto-history of the dynasty of Abraham

into two main branches, one of Jews and the other born out of

Ishmael who bore a new race which embraced the religion of

Islam, and return to the other momentous events in the life of

tfuTlsraelites!
During the Egyptian exile around 2000 B.C. Palestine

prospered well, its figs and grapes were plentiful. Water and

honey abounded and wheat and barley crops nourished its

people and it’s cattle wealth. Baked bricks were used in frail

houses and huts, the art of amulets and wine presses and

potteries prospered and long tunneTs at Gezar led to a flowing

spnng, mythologically linked to the great Flood. Politically, the

land was undeveloped with constant clan feuds making it easy

tor the invaders to subdue the warring tribes. By the beginning

°f 2nd millennium, B.C., the Canaanites and Semetic tribes

Probably came to inhabit the land and gradually overpowered

e earlier Amonites. Simultaneously, the Babylonian influence
22 INDIA AND ISRAEL CHAPTER 2
gave way to Egyptian paramountcy, helped by an invasion of

the Kassites from the East which distracted the Babylonian state

and its own dynasty lasted for 600 years.
Egyptian King Thutomose in (1501 to 1447 B.C.) ransacked

Palestine and enriched his coffers with the tributes and spoils of

the land, letting his soldiers live off the countryside and carried

the children to Egypt for education in order to completely

Egyptianise the country. The Canaanites lived by agriculture,

their produce being plundered by the king’s soldiers, they toiled

hard to cultivate the land and maintain a rather workable

economy. Arts and crafts flourished but the land was still riven

by petty jealousies and torn by rivalries of petty princes. The Tel

El Amara letters of 1887 throw considerable light on the period

of Canaanite survival under the Pharoah’s rule, which reduced

them to a state of utter servility and humiliation, constantly

prostrating before the king, seeking help against the invaders

from the north and east. Troubled as the land of Canaanites was

and the Egyptian king Amenhotep IV, preoccupied with his own

kingdom, the Hittites, a virile northern tribe, took control of

Canaanites as far as south Palestine and even challenged by now

the nominal Egyptian king. Ramses managed to contain any

further Hittite’ advance southwards and in 1271 B.C. signed a

treaty of peace. These were troubled times. Pressed by rapacious

hordes from the desert in the east, and the sea in the west, the

Canaanites fought almost half a dozen enemies liyjngJrojTijcrJsjs

to crisis.
A fog now descends on the story of the land and little is

known till it lifts five_centuries later. By then, Egyptian .power

declines, Hktites lose control, Babylon and Assyria busy

themselves fighting each other and little Palestine left uncared

got a reprieve. The vacuum is soon filled by the Philistines moving

in from the sea and the Armeans from north penetrating upto

Syria. And in this confused kaleidoscope of racial movements

the Hebrews eager for a piece of land in the fertile crescent

make their appearance. As the fog clears after these five centuries,

records begin with the Biblical narration where the Hebrews and

their ancestors have long ago been settled in the land of Palestine,
CHAPTER 2 HISTORY OF ISRAEL 23
named after the latest entrants, the Philistines. They occupy

important places, ruled by monarchy and worship a strange

new Cod, Yahweh. The early period of Hebrew arrival is shrouded

in mystery, folk- lores and fables resulting in an accomplished

miracle of scattered tribes arriving from different directions into

this land, metamorphosed into a unique national religion.
Moses and Exile in Egypt
Less of myth and more of a fact as generations to come later

believed the Egyptian bondage left a permanent scar on the

Jewish psyche and burned into their consciousness a hatred for

oppression and tyranny. This found place in many of their laws,

some of them preambling ”Remember your_ bondage in Egypt.”

EvejTjif peopje forgot, their Prophets constantly reminded them

that they had been oppressed and a Semitic fervour ordained

them to show consideration and compassion to the orphan,

widow, slave or an alien. These exhortations transformed the

soul of the Jewish nation to practise and preach the gospel of

freedom, its meaning and responsibilities.
The saga of exodus revolves round one man, unique in

Jewish history. Moses, who according to Napoleon, was even_a

8r?M§L Biblical ”figure IRarTJesus, and to Heme, even .greater

trTan Mount Sinai. Mo^e£Treated_lhe Jewish Nation. Leader,

Prea^hejl and prophet rolled into one hg_reorganised Hebrew

reTigion_and thought. A moral titan with immense influence

over his folk, he created the Hebrew people by binding them

through the laws of religion. Though of uncertain scientific

historicity based on evidence till date, Moses according to Bible

was born during the height of Pharaos’ oppression. Escaping the

child slaughter ordered by the Pharaos, cleverly hidden by his

mother in the Nile and discovered by the King’s own daughter,

Moses wasjarqught up in royal luxury. BuU]is_heart,wept for the

”H£5l6rhis people. Having slained the tormentor of a Jew, he

’led to escape the wrath of the Pharaos, seeking shelter with the

wandering Medianites in the desert and married the daughter of

eir Priest Chief. In the solitude of the desert, Moses_cameJace

•£°-Iacewith Yahweh, His first revelation to a man. Fortified and
24 INDIA AND ISRAEL CHAPTER 2
inspired he returned to Egypt to save his people. The story of

the exodus is well documented in the Biblical account and by

later day historians. He consecrated the freedom of his people

at Sinai through a covenant with Yahweh and gave to successive

generations the laws and religion based on the immortal

Decalogue, better known to the world as The Ten

Commandments. A masterful leader and law giver, through his

wanderings in the desert, he schooled his flock in hardships,

trials and tribulations. Striving for the Promised Land, fighting

desert tribes like the Amalekites, overcoming strifes and dissensions

within he steeled his people into a formidable, virile and bedouin

nation capable of winning a home for themselves. Thus, leading

and preaching, he brought them to Canaan, the land he only

saw from a distance, never reaching there, as God gave him to

death_ and ”no man knoweth of his sepulchre”. Moses, myth or

fact, left a legacy that profoundly influenced the Hebrews on

the threshold of history. Emulated by their Prophets, ”a pillar of

light” as described by philosopher Ahad Ha’m, the greatest

”Hebrew who lived as the quintessence oTtfie best in the Hebrew

genius, Moses through his influence catalysed into unity one

Semitic tribe after another, bound by laws, and moulded them

into a Nation.
In Mosaic faith, Yahweh is an inseparable part of the lives (5f

man and the spirit of universal order. He is the source and

sanction for all secular laws made, not for convenience of man,

but to accomplish a higher divine purpose. To_break laws was

not merely the sin against society but against YahweTTHfffiself

a’ncTHis wishes. This resulted in a unique bond between Hebrews

and their Cod Yahweh, who sought to help, teach and protect

his chosen seed. He helped his children in destroying their

enemies but punished them all the same for their trespasses and

breach of the moral code. Unlike other religions his code was

rigid and there were no laxity or extenuating circumstances to

allow deviations. Hejielped his Chosen people when they were

right but_srnote them_with vengeance when they erred. This

magnetic austerity and unfailing adherence to the principle of

law depicted in a Michaelangelo masterpiece puts Moses in a

unique position amongst world’s religious leaders.
CHAPTER 2
HISTORY OF ISRAEL 25
Steeped in the spirit of the desert Moses wove his people,

Yahweh and the moral law in a sublime trinity. Yahweh^ loving,

cold, hard, extremely jealousj)f_hjs rigb.ts,~~filled his people with

avv

code. The law of Moses in various modes, spread through the

pases of Pentateuch and the simple Decalogue of Exodus XXXIV,

14-26, being the oldest suited to the needs of a nomad people.

The code djemanded only the worship of Yahweh and forbade

eraverTimages and jdpjs. Sacrifices and some rituals, however,

wefe~added and Sabbath made a day of rest. Deuteronomic

code owed its essence to the genius of Moses and his remarkable

document called for the suppression of baser passions, forbade

stealing, adultery, murder, being false witness and coveting. It

thus went far beyond the narrow compass of ancient morality.

Though many heathen customs and distortions crept in Hebrew

worship with time and the Israelites fell into wicked ways due to

alien influence, these were checked by the Prophets, and the

religion of Moses remained unsullied, purified by the fire that

scorched his soul when he was in communion with his God. \ ? £ /£