With the Lebanon maritime border agreement set to soon be signed (it’s actually an agreement between the US and Lebanon, with Israel’s approval), a group of national religious rabbis have issued a letter prohibiting the ceding of any part of the Land of Israel on biblical grounds.
The rabbis belong to a movement known as “Redemption of Zion.” In the letter they wrote:
“In the face of the attempts of a provisional government to hand over territories from the Land of Israel to the enemy, the people of Israel call out in protest.
“The Land of Israel is not private property, neither of a single person nor of a government. The land was given to Israel by the Creator of the world, and there is a prohibition in the Torah to hand over anything that belongs to it to foreigners.
“It is explicitly said in the Torah: ‘And the land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine.’
“Delivering the treasures of the Mediterranean Sea to Israel’s enemies is an unforgivable crime. The nation declares: Any ceding of the Land of Israel is null and void. And the signing of an agreement that includes the ceding of the land will be remembered forever. Israel stands on its promise that the people will soon return to the areas they gave up.”
Israel and Lebanon have been negotiating over the maritime border for over a decade. That Interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid and his cabinet suddenly made signing a deal a matter of urgent national security was seen by many as a pre-election ploy.
More frustrating was that the deal Lapid agreed to essentially surrendered Israel’s positions held up until that point. And that this was done while Hezbollah threatened to attack Israeli natural gas platforms was perceived as a capitulation to terror.
For more on this topic, see:
- Analysts Offer Pros and Cons on Lebanon Deal, But Agree It Will Not Make Israel Safer
- 10 Reasons Faulty Israel-Lebanon Gas Deal Smells Foul
- Lebanon Deal: ‘Not a Historic Achievement, But Also Not a Surrender’
It is true that the Promised Land was given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Ysrael), and their Seed by YHVH Elohim, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, and all that is in them. However YHVH retained ownership, while giving it to them as a possession and inheritance. He said (Lev 25:23 KJV), “The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.” He also required (Lev 25:13,14,17 KJV) that oppression of one other was not to be done. He said (Lev 25:18, “Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.” The Children of Israel’s safety was and is dependent upon keeping the Torah and doing its statutes and judgments as YHVH commanded. The PENALTY is severe as recorded in Lev 26 and 28 among other scriptures.
Natural descent from Jacob did not and does not take precedent over keeping and obeying the Torah (Law) of YHVH given through Moses. Even the prophet Isaiah quoted YHVH in Isaiah 56:1-8. YHVH assured that the son of the stranger and the eunuch who took hold of his covenant a place in house and a name better than of sons and of daughters.
The enemies of YHVH and the Children of Ysrael are those foreign and domestic, who oppose the Torah, the Royal Law of Love, and they should have no governance or control over YHVH’s land or his people. When we (the House of Ysrael and the House of Yehudah, along with our God fearing companions) are not safe it is because their is sin in the camp, that is, the transgression of the Torah, that has not been atoned for (KiPuRYM) and we must return to YHVH from sin to restored to the proper state of blessing.
Yes, the land of Ysrael is our blessing along with the Torah of YHVH’s love if we keep it. This is what the disciples of Ye’shua Mashiach and the circumcised Seed of Abraham have in common.
The enemies of Israel, both foreign and domestic, should be aware that they do and will have to answer to YHVH for their own sins and whether they bless or curse the Children of Ysrael (Deut 13; 18:9-14; Eze 35 & 36; Rom 2). YHVH is not partial to persons, but does show partiality to his word and promises.