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T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
July 1932
tory o f the Edomites, using only “ the King’s Highway.” The Edomites replied with a threat to attack. Jehovah commanded, “ Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother” (Deut. 23:7). Because of this, the conquer ing Israelites in Canaan never disturbed the Edomites. But the sons of Esau never returned such kindness. They gloated gleefully over Judah’s fall and the captivity in Babylon. No wonder the weeping captives in Babylon hanged their “ harps upon the willows” and prayed, “ Re member, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jeru salem, who said, Rase it! rase it! even to the foundation thereof” (Psa. 137:7). And it was none other than the Edomite, Herod the Great, who sought the destruction of the promised Seed, when Rachael wept for her children (Matt. 2:18). It was little wonder that Israel sang her lament, “ Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace” (Psa. 120:5, 6 ). Nearly one-half of all the Jews of the world today dwell in the land of which “ Mesech” (Moscow) is the capital. And through the centuries, they have had for their closest neighbors the peace-despising descendants of Kedar, the second son of Ishmael, who lived ever on the borders, and now lives within the land of Palestine. Armageddon T h e Word of God is quite emphatic in its statements that man’s kosmos will topple to its doom, and man’s day will draw to a close when taps sound on the battlefield of Armageddon. The immediate cause of Armageddon will be the quarrel over the mastery of Palestine. Thus the present death-struggle between Arab and Jew becomes a matter of supreme interest. Knowing the tremendous forces that back the lawless Arab,- not only the Moslem certainly, but the world’s lawless communistic forces most probably (Ezek. 38 and 39) ; and then, knowing also the tremendous forces back of the Jew, “ Tarshish [Britain] with all the young lions thereof,” it is not hard to see that the spark that may soon set the world aflame for its last bloody struggle may find its tinder in Palestine. Esau Seeks David’s Throne It is not enough that the “ancient places” are in their possession, but these sons of Esau fain would sit on David’s throne. Some interesting news comes from Pal estine even as we write. Dr. Gaebelein, Editor of Our Hope, says: There is a throne in Jerusalem, which is empty now. . . . A struggle is on between three men who would like to occupy this throne. They are Abbas Hilmi, the former Khedive of Egypt; King Feisal o f Iraq; and Ali, who is a brother o f Feisal and hails from Syria. The ex-Khedive appeared recently with a large retinue in Palestine and received the notables and leaders from the Jews and Arabs. He stopped in the Hotel David in Jerusalem, and the Arab Press suggested that he should be transferred from the Hotel David to the “ Throne o f David.” So far as we can learn, there is a strong movement on to accom plish the unification o f Palestine and Transjordania into a single state with a powerful central government, and the replacement o f the Palestine Mandate by a treaty sim ilar to that recently signed between Great Britain and Iraq. This situation will bear the closest watching. Under any circumstances, it holds forth nothing but trouble for the Jew, although, ostensibly, the aim of Abbas Hilmi, the Turk, is to solve the delicate problem of the Arab-Jew- ish relationship. Need we be surprised when we pick up
August— the Youth Number he A ugust issue o f T he K ing ’ s B usiness will be the number extraordinary! It will be devoted largely to the interests o f young people. For instance, it will contain such articles as the follow ing: “ Youth and the Open Door”- —a commencement address delivered by Louis S. Bauman, on the occa sion of the graduation o f 115 students from the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles on June 1. “ When Jesus Speaks to Youth” —a young man’s message to young people, by Harold F. Graham. “Revealing the HiddenLife in Christ," by Susie Willems, and “ The Unveiling o f Christ,” by Herbert Peterson—two class day addresses of especial clar ity and charm.
rent events. Is this the commencement of ‘Jacob’s trouble’ [Jer. 30:7], the final tragedy?” The strife between the famous twin brothers continues. Hyman Jacobs, a Hebrew Christian, now a missionary liv ing in Jerusalem, sizes up the situation exactly: Palestine is like a house where two brothers claim ownership; each side shows the will of their father writ ten in his favor, and each cries, “All is mine!” The two documents are the Old Testament and the Koran; the two brothers are modern Ishmael and Israel, and the fight is on. W e shall not be surprised if these little sparks falling on dry prairie land may some day burn into a prairie fire which will bring ruin and desolation from “Dan to Beer- sheba.” Although the chief actors in this latter day quarrel are the descendants of Esau and Jacob, the strife is not wholly confined to them. The children of Ishmael and Isaac are likewise playing their part in this modern drama of hate. Was it not even so in the beginning? “ But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now” (Gal. 4 :29). Read that which was written nearly four thousand years ago: “ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking” (Gen. 21 :9). Now read this, written last December: The Wailing Wall is the only portion of the old tem- ple to which the Jews have access. They assemble there every Friday afternoon, sometimes in hundreds, and there they kiss the stones, and flood them with tears. . . . While the Jews thus display their religious fervor, the Arabs mock and ridicule from the wall above, which is ever calculated to provoke revolt. Not alone at the Wailing Wall, but at the sacred cave o f Macpelah in Hebron, where lies the precious dust of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah; at the tomb of David on Zion ; and on Mount Mo riah, where Abraham would have offered Isaac, and where the profane Mosque of Omar now stands—on all this sacred ground, dear to the Jew beyond the power of words to express, stand the mocking Esaus, fulfilling the proph ecy as to their derisive cry, “ Aha, even the ancient high places are our’s in possession” (Ezek. 36:2). And they fulfill this prophecy today to the letter. The Edomites— Children of Esau T h e Palestine Arabs are mainly descendants of Esau. “ He is Esau the father of the Edomites” (Gen. 36:43). The Edomites established themselves south of the Dead Sea at the time of the exodus. When the Israelites left Egypt, they sought permission to pass through the terri
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