Universal declaration against besieging nations issued in Gaza

[JStone]

Israel bombs, bulldozes, or blockades everything the Palestinians do.

They were not on welfare before Israel.

Arab Author Anwar Malek

The Arabs are afflicted with fantasies and obsolete bravado. False, empty bravado, which does no good to anybody. The Arabs invented or discovered the zero--but what did they do with it? Some of them sat on it, some put it on their heads, while others wore it around their waists and began shaking their hips, their belies, and their breasts in order to sell to the world the idea that modern Arabs are doing something

Today, the Arabs constitute nothing but thousands of zeros to the left. The Arabs have lost their worth, their humanity, their culture, and everything. There is nothing to suggest that the Arabs can be relied upon to produce anything. This false bravado is deeply rooted in the Arabs to an unimaginable degree. It is so deeply rooted that the Arabs believe they can go to the moon. If you asked your viewers whether the Arabs would be able to reach the moon by 2015, they would say, "Yes, the Arabs will get to the moon" By Allah, the Arabs will not go more than a few hundred kilometers from their doorsteps.

In all honesty, the Arabs are backward and are not fit for civilization at all. I am talking about the Arabs of today who have begun to export shawarma, falafel and lupin beans to Europe and they purport to be bringing something Arab to Europe

the reality of the Arabs is one of defeat, hitting rock bottom We are defeated, politically and militarily and economically, socially, and even psychologically. We have a discourse of conspiracy, and we blame everything on others. Take Egypt--What does Egypt--that superpower--have to offer? Nothing, it is incapable of doing anything. It has nothing but lupin beans. It is incapable of anything.

Look at how the Arabs live in the West. By Allah, they are a bad example. If you hear about thieves, they are always Arabs. Whenever a young man harasses a girl on the streets of London or Paris, he turns out to be an Arab. All the negative moral values are to be found in the Arab individual

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYgrziadQIo]Algerian author Anwar Malek talks about the arab world. - YouTube[/ame]

 

[P F Tinmore]

What Arab countries are in the financial toilet like almost all western countries including the US?

 

[JStone]

What Arab countries are in the financial toilet like almost all western countries including the US?

The Economist Magazine: Arab World Self-Doomed To FailureArab development: Self-doomed to failure | The Economist

WHAT went wrong with the Arab world? Why is it so stuck behind the times? It is not an obviously unlucky region. Fatly endowed with oil, and with its people sharing a rich cultural, religious and linguistic heritage, it is faced neither with endemic poverty nor with ethnic conflict. But, with barely an exception, its autocratic rulers, whether presidents or kings, give up their authority only when they die; its elections are a sick joke; half its people are treated as lesser legal and economic beings, and more than half its young, burdened by joblessness and stifled by conservative religious tradition, are said to want to get out of the place as soon as they can.

One in five Arabs still live on less than $2 a day. And, over the past 20 years, growth in income per head, at an annual rate of 0.5%, was lower than anywhere else in the world except sub-Saharan Africa. At this rate, it will take the average Arab 140 years to double his income, a target that some regions are set to reach in less than ten years. Stagnant growth, together with a fast-rising population, means vanishing jobs. Around 12m people, or 15% of the labour force, are already unemployed, and on present trends the number could rise to 25m by 2010.

Freedom. This deficit explains many of the fundamental things that are wrong with the Arab world: the survival of absolute autocracies; the holding of bogus elections; confusion between the executive and the judiciary (the report points out the close linguistic link between the two in Arabic); constraints on the media and on civil society; and a patriarchal, intolerant, sometimes suffocating social environment. The great wave of democratisation that has opened up so much of the world over the past 15 years seems to have left the Arabs untouched. Democracy is occasionally offered, but as a concession, not as a right. Freedom of expression and freedom of association are both sharply limited. Freedom House, an American-based monitor of political and civil rights, records that no Arab country has genuinely free media, and only three have “partly free”. The rest are not free

•Knowledge. “If God were to humiliate a human being,” wrote Imam Ali bin abi Taleb in the sixth century, “He would deny him knowledge.” Although the Arabs spend a higher percentage of GDP on education than any other developing region, it is not, it seems, well spent. The quality of education has deteriorated pitifully, and there is a severe mismatch between the labour market and the education system. Adult illiteracy rates have declined but are still very high: 65m adults are illiterate, almost two-thirds of them women. Some 10m children still have no schooling at all. One of the gravest results of their poor education is that the Arabs, who once led the world in science, are dropping ever further behind in scientific research and in information technology. Investment in research and development is less than one-seventh of the world average. Only 0.6% of the population uses the Internet, and 1.2% have personal computers.

•Women's status. The one thing that every outsider knows about the Arab world is that it does not treat its women as full citizens. How can a society prosper when it stifles half its productive potential? After all, even though women's literacy rates have trebled in the past 30 years, one in every two Arab women still can neither read nor write. Their participation in their countries' political and economic life is the lowest in the world.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Women's status

Women in Palestine have a literacy rate virtually the same as in developed countries The majority of students in higher education are women.

Women drive around in their cars with their hair in the breeze-even in Gaza.

The mayor of Ramallah is a Christian women. Women are judges, members of the cabinet, and members of parliament.

Palestinians are equal under the law without regard to race, religion, or sex.

Palestine is not Saudi Arabia.

 

[jillian]

who cares what they "decree" in gaza?

 

[JStone]

Women's status

Women in Palestine have a literacy rate virtually the same as in developed countries The majority of students in higher education are women.

Women drive around in their cars with their hair in the breeze-even in Gaza.

The mayor of Ramallah is a Christian women. Women are judges, members of the cabinet, and members of parliament.

Palestinians are equal under the law without regard to race, religion, or sex.

Palestine is not Saudi Arabia.

"Palestine" is a made-up word the Romans called Israel. Palestine is really meaningless. The Romans also called Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" but we no longer use that term.

Now, even you know.

Biblical Historian and Scholar Dr. Paula Fredriksen, Ph.D, History of Religion, Princeton University, Diploma in Theology, Oxford University...

The Judean revolt against Rome was led by [Jewish messiah] Bar Kochba in 132-135 CE. The immediate causes of this rebellion are obscure. Its result was not: [Roman Emperor] Hadrian crushed the revolt and banned Jews from Judea. The Romans now designated this territory by a political neologism, "Palestine" [a Latin form of "Philistine"], in a deliberate effort to denationalize Jewish/Judean territory. And, finally, Hadrian eradicated Jewish Jerusalem, erecting upon its ruins a new pagan city, Aelia Capitolina.
Augustine and the Jews: A Christian ... - Paula Fredriksen - Google Books

Jesus was King of Israel, not "Palestine"

Jesus Christ, King of Israel ...

John 12:12-13 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

John 1:49: Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King of Israel John 12 Commentary - Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King of Israel - BibleGateway.com

Passover was one of the three feasts that Jews were supposed to attend in Jerusalem, and consequently the population of Jerusalem swelled enormously at this time. As this great crowd is beginning to gather from around Israel and the larger world of the diaspora, news about Jesus is spreading, and people are wondering whether he will come to the feast. On Sunday, the day after the party in Bethany at which Mary anointed Jesus, news arrives that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and a crowd of pilgrims, presumably those who had been wondering if he would come, goes out to meet him. Mary's private expression of emotion is now matched by the crowd's public outpouring of enthusiasm.
They shout Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!. These are lines from one of the Psalms of Ascents sung as a welcome to pilgrims coming up to Jerusalem. As such, this is an entirely appropriate thing to do as Jesus is coming up to Jerusalem. The cry of Hosanna! is a Hebrew word (hoshi`ah-na) that had become a greeting or shout of praise but that actually meant "Save!" or "Help!". The cry of Hosanna! and the palm branches are in themselves somewhat ambiguous, but their import is made clear as the crowd adds a further line, Blessed is the King of Israel! (v. 13). Clearly they see in Jesus the answer to their nationalistic, messianic hopes. Earlier a crowd had wanted to make Jesus king (6:15), and now this crowd is recognizing him as king in the city of the great King. Here is the great dream of a Davidic ruler who would come and liberate Israel, establishing peace and subduing the Gentiles (cf. Psalms of Solomon 17:21-25).

John the Baptist's witness to Israel (1:31) finds its initial response in the confession of Nathanael, a true Israelite (1:47), when Nathanael confesses Jesus to be the Son of God, the King of Israel (1:49). Nathanael stands in marked contrast to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel (3:10), who is unable to understand earthly things, let alone heavenly things. So the first three chapters are characterized by a concern with the initial witness to Israel, and this motif now finds its fullness in this crowd's acclamation of Jesus as the King of Israel. Jesus is indeed King of Israel, and this motif now comes to the fore as the story nears its end His kingdom, however, far transcends Israel's boundaries. "What honor was it to the Lord to be King of Israel? What great thing was it to the King of eternity to become the King of men?".

The crowd is probably not aware that the line they have added to the acclamation is an echo of another passage that further contributes to the depth of revelation concerning Jesus in this story: "The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm"

.

 

[P F Tinmore]

"Palestine" is a made-up word, blah, blah, blah...

Does that matter?

 

[Ropey]

Universal declaration against besieging nations issued in Gaza

Universal?

Wow!

You rock PF.

 

[JStone]

"Palestine" is a made-up word, blah, blah, blah...

Does that matter?

The Roman occupiers who arbitrarily renamed Israel the Latin "Palestina" matters to the Jews who established Israel 500+ years before a Rome or Romans even existed and 1000+ years before the Roman occupation of Israel. The Romans went back to Italy 1500 years ago and Italy doesn't own Israel.

Palestine does not occur in the Hebrew Bible nor the Christian Bible nor even the Quran. "Palestine" is bogus.

Eminent Historian Bernard Lewis...

The countries forming the western arm of the Fertile Crescent were called by the names of the various kingdoms and peoples that ruled and inhabited them. Of these, the most familiar, or at least the best documented, are the southern lands, known in the earlier books of the Hebrew Bible and some other ancient writings as Canaan. After the Israelite conquest and settlement, the area inhabited by them came to be described as "land of the children of Israel" or simply "land of Israel" After the breakup of the kingdom of David and Solomon in the tenth century BCE, the southern part, with Jerusalem as its capital, was called Judah, while the north was called Israel

 

[P F Tinmore]

"Palestine" is bogus.

Oh my, we will have to tell the world not to call them Palestinians anymore.

 

[JStone]

"Palestine" is bogus.

Oh my, we will have to tell the world not to call them Palestinians anymore.

Jews would be Palestinians given the Romans renamed Israel "Palestina" 1000 years after Jews established Israel.

So-called "Palestinians" are merely illegal Arab vagrants from Arabia.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Charles Krauthammer...

Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.

Winston Churchill, Nobel Prize Laureate For Historical Literature...

It is manifestly right that the Jews should have a national centre and a National Home...And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?

Eminent Historian Andrew Roberts...

Jerusalem is the site of the Temple of Solomon and Herod. The stones of a palace erected by King David himself are even now being unearthed just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Everything that makes a nation state legitimate – bloodshed, soil tilled, two millennia of continuous residence, international agreements – argues for Israel’s right to exist

Tel Dan Stele Verifying King David Dynasty 3000 years ago
The Tel Dan Stela and the Kings of Aram and Israel

Jewish Bar Kokhba Coins Minted 2000 Years Ago...
Bar Kochba Revolt coinage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judaea Capta Coins Minted By Romans against Jews 2000 years ago
Judaea Capta coinage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jewish Dead Sea Scrolls 2000 years old.
Dead Sea Scrolls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yale University Press: The Archaeology of Ancient Israel

In this lavishly illustrated book some of Israel's foremost archaeologists present a thorough, up-to-date, and readily accessible survey of early life in the land of the Bible, from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. It will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background of the region.
The Archaeology of Ancient Israel - Ben-Tor, Amnon; Greenberg, R. - Yale University Press

PBS Nova...

In the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt in 1896, British archaeologisit Flinders Petrie unearthed one of the most important discoveries in biblical archaeology known as the Merneptah Stele. Merneptah's stele announces the entrance on the world stage of a People named Israel.

The Merneptah Stele is powerful evidence that a People called the Israelites are living in Canaan over 3000 years ago

Dr. Donald Redford, Egyptologist and archaeologist: The Merneptah Stele is priceless evidence for the presence of an ethnical group called Israel in Canaan.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvg2EZAEw5c]1/13 The Bible's Buried Secrets (NOVA PBS) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[P F Tinmore]

So-called "Palestinians" are merely illegal Arab vagrants from Arabia.

Actually, Palestinians are Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others from many places.

 

[JStone]

So-called "Palestinians" are merely illegal Arab vagrants from Arabia.

Actually, Palestinians are Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others from many places.

The Romans renamed Israel "Palestina" The Romans left Israel for Italy 1500 years ago.

Biblical Historian and Scholar Dr. Paula Fredriksen, Ph.D, History of Religion, Princeton University, Diploma in Theology, Oxford University...

The Judean revolt against Rome was led by [Jewish messiah] Bar Kochba in 132-135 CE. The immediate causes of this rebellion are obscure. Its result was not: [Roman Emperor] Hadrian crushed the revolt and banned Jews from Judea. The Romans now designated this territory by a political neologism, "Palestine" [a Latin form of "Philistine"], in a deliberate effort to denationalize Jewish/Judean territory. And, finally, Hadrian eradicated Jewish Jerusalem, erecting upon its ruins a new pagan city, Aelia Capitolina.
Augustine and the Jews: A Christian ... - Paula Fredriksen - Google Books

Jesus was King of Israel, not "Palestine"

Jesus Christ, King of Israel ...

John 12:12-13 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

John 1:49: Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King of Israel John 12 Commentary - Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King of Israel - BibleGateway.com

Passover was one of the three feasts that Jews were supposed to attend in Jerusalem, and consequently the population of Jerusalem swelled enormously at this time. As this great crowd is beginning to gather from around Israel and the larger world of the diaspora, news about Jesus is spreading, and people are wondering whether he will come to the feast. On Sunday, the day after the party in Bethany at which Mary anointed Jesus, news arrives that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and a crowd of pilgrims, presumably those who had been wondering if he would come, goes out to meet him. Mary's private expression of emotion is now matched by the crowd's public outpouring of enthusiasm.
They shout Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!. These are lines from one of the Psalms of Ascents sung as a welcome to pilgrims coming up to Jerusalem. As such, this is an entirely appropriate thing to do as Jesus is coming up to Jerusalem. The cry of Hosanna! is a Hebrew word (hoshi`ah-na) that had become a greeting or shout of praise but that actually meant "Save!" or "Help!". The cry of Hosanna! and the palm branches are in themselves somewhat ambiguous, but their import is made clear as the crowd adds a further line, Blessed is the King of Israel! (v. 13). Clearly they see in Jesus the answer to their nationalistic, messianic hopes. Earlier a crowd had wanted to make Jesus king (6:15), and now this crowd is recognizing him as king in the city of the great King. Here is the great dream of a Davidic ruler who would come and liberate Israel, establishing peace and subduing the Gentiles (cf. Psalms of Solomon 17:21-25).

John the Baptist's witness to Israel (1:31) finds its initial response in the confession of Nathanael, a true Israelite (1:47), when Nathanael confesses Jesus to be the Son of God, the King of Israel (1:49). Nathanael stands in marked contrast to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel (3:10), who is unable to understand earthly things, let alone heavenly things. So the first three chapters are characterized by a concern with the initial witness to Israel, and this motif now finds its fullness in this crowd's acclamation of Jesus as the King of Israel. Jesus is indeed King of Israel, and this motif now comes to the fore as the story nears its end His kingdom, however, far transcends Israel's boundaries. "What honor was it to the Lord to be King of Israel? What great thing was it to the King of eternity to become the King of men?".

The crowd is probably not aware that the line they have added to the acclamation is an echo of another passage that further contributes to the depth of revelation concerning Jesus in this story: "The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm"

.

 

[P F Tinmore]

The Romans renamed Israel "Palestina" The Romans left Israel for Italy 1500 years ago.

How could the Romans leave Israel after they renamed it Palestina? It is still called Palestine now.

 

[JStone]

The Romans renamed Israel "Palestina" The Romans left Israel for Italy 1500 years ago.

How could the Romans leave Israel after they renamed it Palestina? It is still called Palestine now.

The Romans returned to Italy after the fall of the Roman Empire. Jews never relinquished sovereignty over Israel.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Charles Krauthammer...

Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.

Winston Churchill, Nobel Prize Laureate For Historical Literature...

It is manifestly right that the Jews should have a national centre and a National Home...And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?

Eminent Historian Andrew Roberts...

Jerusalem is the site of the Temple of Solomon and Herod. The stones of a palace erected by King David himself are even now being unearthed just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Everything that makes a nation state legitimate – bloodshed, soil tilled, two millennia of continuous residence, international agreements – argues for Israel’s right to exist

Tel Dan Stele Verifying King David Dynasty 3000 years ago
The Tel Dan Stela and the Kings of Aram and Israel

Jewish Bar Kokhba Coins Minted 2000 Years Ago...
Bar Kochba Revolt coinage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judaea Capta Coins Minted By Romans against Jews 2000 years ago
Judaea Capta coinage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jewish Dead Sea Scrolls 2000 years old.
Dead Sea Scrolls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yale University Press: The Archaeology of Ancient Israel

In this lavishly illustrated book some of Israel's foremost archaeologists present a thorough, up-to-date, and readily accessible survey of early life in the land of the Bible, from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. It will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background of the region.
The Archaeology of Ancient Israel - Ben-Tor, Amnon; Greenberg, R. - Yale University Press

PBS Nova...

In the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt in 1896, British archaeologisit Flinders Petrie unearthed one of the most important discoveries in biblical archaeology known as the Merneptah Stele. Merneptah's stele announces the entrance on the world stage of a People named Israel.

The Merneptah Stele is powerful evidence that a People called the Israelites are living in Canaan over 3000 years ago

Dr. Donald Redford, Egyptologist and archaeologist: The Merneptah Stele is priceless evidence for the presence of an ethnical group called Israel in Canaan.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvg2EZAEw5c]1/13 The Bible's Buried Secrets (NOVA PBS) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[P F Tinmore]

Jews never relinquished sovereignty over Israel.

 

[JStone]

Jews never relinquished sovereignty over Israel.:ll::ll::ll:

Can you name even one other nation established in Israel except the Jewish nation in the past 3000 years?

No, I didn't think so.


Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Charles Krauthammer...

Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.

Winston Churchill, Nobel Prize Laureate For Historical Literature...

It is manifestly right that the Jews should have a national centre and a National Home...And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?

Eminent Historian Andrew Roberts...

Jerusalem is the site of the Temple of Solomon and Herod. The stones of a palace erected by King David himself are even now being unearthed just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Everything that makes a nation state legitimate – bloodshed, soil tilled, two millennia of continuous residence, international agreements – argues for Israel’s right to exist

Tel Dan Stele Verifying King David Dynasty 3000 years ago
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/pos...n-Stela-and-the-Kings-of-Aram-and-Israel.aspx

Jewish Bar Kokhba Coins Minted 2000 Years Ago...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kochba_Revolt_coinage

Judaea Capta Coins Minted By Romans against Jews 2000 years ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaea_Capta_coinage

Jewish Dead Sea Scrolls 2000 years old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls

Yale University Press: The Archaeology of Ancient Israel

In this lavishly illustrated book some of Israel's foremost archaeologists present a thorough, up-to-date, and readily accessible survey of early life in the land of the Bible, from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. It will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background of the region.
http://yalepress.yale.edu/OtherVendors.asp?isbn=9780300059199

PBS Nova...

In the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt in 1896, British archaeologisit Flinders Petrie unearthed one of the most important discoveries in biblical archaeology known as the Merneptah Stele. Merneptah's stele announces the entrance on the world stage of a People named Israel.

The Merneptah Stele is powerful evidence that a People called the Israelites are living in Canaan over 3000 years ago

Dr. Donald Redford, Egyptologist and archaeologist: The Merneptah Stele is priceless evidence for the presence of an ethnical group called Israel in Canaan.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Can you name even one other nation established in Israel, blah, blah, blah...

No.

It has been Palestine for a couple thousand years now.

 

[JStone]

Can you name even one other nation established in Israel, blah, blah, blah...

No.

It has been Palestine for a couple thousand years now.

You're allowed to be uneducated. That's why you have zero reputational points after 2 years.

Jesus was King of Israel, not "Palestine"

Jesus Christ, King of Israel ...

John 12:12-13 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

John 1:49: Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King of Israel John 12 Commentary - Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King of Israel - BibleGateway.com

Passover was one of the three feasts that Jews were supposed to attend in Jerusalem, and consequently the population of Jerusalem swelled enormously at this time. As this great crowd is beginning to gather from around Israel and the larger world of the diaspora, news about Jesus is spreading, and people are wondering whether he will come to the feast. On Sunday, the day after the party in Bethany at which Mary anointed Jesus, news arrives that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and a crowd of pilgrims, presumably those who had been wondering if he would come, goes out to meet him. Mary's private expression of emotion is now matched by the crowd's public outpouring of enthusiasm.
They shout Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!. These are lines from one of the Psalms of Ascents sung as a welcome to pilgrims coming up to Jerusalem. As such, this is an entirely appropriate thing to do as Jesus is coming up to Jerusalem. The cry of Hosanna! is a Hebrew word (hoshi`ah-na) that had become a greeting or shout of praise but that actually meant "Save!" or "Help!". The cry of Hosanna! and the palm branches are in themselves somewhat ambiguous, but their import is made clear as the crowd adds a further line, Blessed is the King of Israel! (v. 13). Clearly they see in Jesus the answer to their nationalistic, messianic hopes. Earlier a crowd had wanted to make Jesus king (6:15), and now this crowd is recognizing him as king in the city of the great King. Here is the great dream of a Davidic ruler who would come and liberate Israel, establishing peace and subduing the Gentiles (cf. Psalms of Solomon 17:21-25).

John the Baptist's witness to Israel (1:31) finds its initial response in the confession of Nathanael, a true Israelite (1:47), when Nathanael confesses Jesus to be the Son of God, the King of Israel (1:49). Nathanael stands in marked contrast to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel (3:10), who is unable to understand earthly things, let alone heavenly things. So the first three chapters are characterized by a concern with the initial witness to Israel, and this motif now finds its fullness in this crowd's acclamation of Jesus as the King of Israel. Jesus is indeed King of Israel, and this motif now comes to the fore as the story nears its end His kingdom, however, far transcends Israel's boundaries. "What honor was it to the Lord to be King of Israel? What great thing was it to the King of eternity to become the King of men?".

The crowd is probably not aware that the line they have added to the acclamation is an echo of another passage that further contributes to the depth of revelation concerning Jesus in this story: "The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm"

.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Jesus was King of Israel, not "Palestine"

Does that make you a Christian?

I am an Israelite.