This week the world has continued to witness the horrific conflict between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The assault on Rafah has been a disaster. Protests are continuing to grow around the world over Israel’s disregard for civilians in the area.
The physical war is a manifestation of the spiritual war raging in the Holy Land. Satan is continuing to corrupt and pollute the Promised Land (Genesis 12:1- 3; 17:3-5.) The spiritual warfare has polluted the land of God’s people.
- War
- Famine
- Deception
Until 1947 Palestine was an Ottoman territory governed by the UK. The other territories eventually became independent states. Palestine became a national home for the Jewish people who were fleeing Europe because of Nazi persecution.
In May 1948, Israel became a sovereign nation and occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. And ever since there has been conflict in the region. It is a war that was predicted long ago (Psalm 83:4, Ezekiel 36-40, Zachariah 12:3-4.)
Israel was promised a pure peaceful land by God (Exodus 33, Joshua 1-24.) However, Palestine and other nations have defiled it with war and corruption.
Defiled
In the West, we understand evil as corruption, but in the Middle East and in biblical times, corruption means to be defiled. The file is defined as, “To make unclean or impure; to corrupt the purity or perfection of, or to desecrate.”
After the fall in the garden (Genesis 3:1-27,) God’s perfect creation became corrupted by sin and decay. Later, God promised Abraham and his descendants a perfect holy land to separate them from the corrupt world.
The Promised Land was meant to be an oasis for God’s people in a corrupt and dying world. God’s people must be careful to not be defiled by the ways of the world we live in (Isaiah 24:5, Malachi 1:7, Mark 7:21-23, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9.)
The Apostle Paul learned from his Jewish upbringing that our bodies are temples that belong to God and every Jewish person knew the temple should never be defiled (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:11.)
Gâ’al
God’s people are called to holiness and purity (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16,) they cannot let the world defile them. The Hebrew word for defile in the Old Testament is gâ’al and it can also mean, “To pollute, stain or desecrate,” depending on the context it is used.
For God’s people to remain pure, they must avoid anything that could defile them. Below is a list of what defiles the people of God:
- Eating unclean food or animals.
- Discharge of bodily fluids
- Touching unclean things.
- Coming into contact with dead bodies.
- A woman’s menstrual cycle.
Religious people look at the outside, but God looks at the inside of us for purity (1 Samuel 16:7-12.) Jesus often clashed with the Pharisees and religious people about being clean, because they worried more about the outside than the inside (Matthew 23:16-26.)
All of mankind has been defiled by the sin within us. And everything on the earth has been corrupted by sin since the fall in the garden.
Remember the curse was caused by the first Adam when sin defiled the land (Genesis 3:17). One day the earth will be redeemed and restored because of the sacrifice of the second Adam.
Climate Justice
Judaism also emphasizes climate justice, because as God’s people, we are commanded to be good stewards and caretakers of both the planet and those in need (Genesis 2:15, Psalm 82:3.)
Regardless of your political affiliation, we’ve all been affected by severe weather at some point. This year there has already been a drastic increase in tornadoes and now scientists are predicting a more active hurricane season.
It is clear that the earth is getting hotter and the planet continues to decay because it is defiled. However, the planet isn’t burning up because of chemicals or any pollutants mankind has released into the atmosphere.
The earth has been defiled and polluted since sin entered the creation in the garden and there’s nothing mankind can do to reverse what happened in the garden in the beginning because this fallen world has a sin problem.
- Greed
- Pride
- Deception
- Injustice
The prophets and Apostles warned us about the Earth’s demise over 2000 years ago (Job 18:16, Isaiah 2:12; 5:24, Malachi 4:1-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10.) This world will be destroyed before God restores it to new, all because the present earth is gâ’al!
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