Of course, there is always wisdom from all the proverbs in the Bible, but when you take these two, together, and think about the political battles in America, as well as the Middle East situation, you can see how they really describe current events.
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
Let’s take a look at these two proverbs, in reverse order.
Proverbs 18:17 says this:
The first to state his case seems right,
till the other one comes and cross-examines.
And Proverbs 18:2 says:
A fool takes no pleasure in trying to understand;
he only wants to express his own opinion.
With regard to politics in the USA, there is one party that constantly blames the current president for almost everything from bad weather to acne. The country has become so polarized, which has been both encouraged and proliferated by the media, that even when someone tries (as I have tried to do, constantly) to find a middle ground, something that we can agree on, it is impossible.
So, people are acting like those referenced in 18:2, not because they are a fool, per se’, but because they refuse to listen to anyone else’s opinion or facts. They just want to express their feelings, which (I believe) are more a reiteration of what they have heard and not what they have researched. In that respect, they also demonstrate the type of people in 18:17, who only want to hear the one side.
We also see this sort of refusal to hear both sides or even consider another side in the Middle East situation, which has been brewing since, oh, what? Maybe around the time when Abraham allowed Sarah to kick Hagar and Ishmael out of their camp?
Yeah, I’d say that’s probably when it all started.
There are so many people who represent both of the above-stated proverbs, going around supporting Hamas and wearing shirts or carrying signs that say, “Free Palestine.”
Now, when we try to explain to them that there is no “Palestine” to free, and that “Palestinian people” don’t really exist, but were created as part of a propaganda campaign by Yasser Arafat back in the 1950’s or so, they refuse to even listen to these historically validated facts.
These so-called “Palestinians” are living in Israel illegally. You can tell which houses are theirs because they all have large, black plastic rain barrels on the roof, since the houses were built without permits or licenses so are not connected to the state-supplied water system.
And as for the terrible living conditions that the media (especially the Arab media) displays to create pity for these innocent people living in poverty, well…that’s because they are there illegally, and their own country doesn’t even want them back.
In the Shechem Valley, there are bleak cinderblock buildings with many, many Syrians living there who aren’t allowed in Israel, but cannot go back to their own country, either because their own country won’t let them in or they don’t want to go there because of the violence and how dangerous it is to live there now.
The truth is this: almost every Arab living outside of Israel wants to live IN Israel!
Israel is the only free country in the entire Middle East, and the gentiles (meaning non-Jews) legally living there receive all the same rights and protections that a free country offers. They are given the same job opportunities, the same pay, and the same healthcare as the Israelis receive.
The land was given to us in 1948 by those who “owned” it, and even if you choose to reject our biblical rights, the fact is that there have constantly been Jews living there since the 5th century B.C.
Those non-Jewish people there have no claim to the land, at all. We have been there for nearly 7,000 years, and anyone who is there now who is not Jewish has no claim to the land. Even when the Jewish population was very small, and the Arabs surrounding Israel could settle there, they never did anything to improve the land or create permanent settlements.
These supposedly mistreated people don’t want the land- they just want the Jews gone, preferably through genocide. History has proven that no Arab nation wants to have the land of Israel, except for the area with the Dome of the Rock and Eastern Jerusalem.
So, the point of this message is that if you come across someone who represents either of these two proverbs, remember this proverb before you throw your pearls before swine (not a proverb, but it makes sense):
Proverbs 26:4-5:
Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. But answer a fool according to his folly, so that he won’t think he is wise.
And the way I suggest to answer those who refuse to listen is to say this (smiling all the time you say it):
I know we don’t agree on this, and we each have a right to our opinion: yours is based on what you have heard and mine is based on facts, and I guess we’ll just have to leave it at that.
Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!