My wife and I recently returned from Branson, Missouri where we attended a musical drama at the beautiful Sight and Sound Theatre. The production was “Queen Esther”. It is a story of God’s sovereignty, protection, and power, as He lifts a young Hebrew woman named Esther from bondage to become the queen of Persia… placing her in a position to help save her people from genocide.
As I watched the drama unfold, my heart began to grieve for the descendants of Abraham who have been singled out for annihilation for thousands of years, and who are once again struggling to survive. In Esther’s time it was Haman who led the charge to kill all the Jews. In 70 AD, it was the Roman Emperor Vespasian. His son Titus led Rome's mighty army in destroying the nation of Israel. Those who survived were scattered throughout the old world for 2,000 years. In the 20th century, it was Adolf Hitler and his “Final Solution”, mercilessly murdering millions of Jews in hopes of annihilating the entire people group. After World War 2, when Jews began returning to their homeland, Israel was recognized as a legitimate nation by the US and immediately found itself fighting for its life against the surrounding nations. And now in the 21st century this same genocidal spirit is alive and well right here in the USA. After Hamas massacred over a thousand people in Israel, many celebrated. And today, at what once were prestigious campuses of higher learning, we have students supporting the terrorist group and shouting “Death to Israel”. They block streets, block bridges, shut down campuses, occupy buildings, and assault Jewish students.
Many of those participating do not fully understand what they are actually supporting. Some have even said as much in interviews. For many of them, it is simply “the cause of the month” and a chance to “stick it to the man”, whoever that is.
This hate is being directed toward a specific group of people who could easily be considered an ethnic minority. They are being devalued… called “dogs” and worse! But they are not dogs! They are beautiful children, and women, and men who have lived in the shadow of genocide for as long as records have been kept. If you replaced the word “Jews” in the hostile chants of today, with any other ethnic or minority group, cries of “racism” and “hate speech” would immediately rise from the very same mouths currently shouting the anti-sematic slurs.
And in an unfortunate twist, the young people doing the screaming today likely had great-grandfathers who fought in World War 2.... a war fought to guarantee that this kind of genocidal thinking would never come to our shores. But today, we find ourselves subsidizing this very thinking with our tax dollars. This seems like a very strange way of thanking the Greatest Generation for their service and sacrifice.
We must start asking ourselves why this tiny sliver of land, that very few can find on a world map, seems so important to so many people. Ask yourself why this group of people has been the target of genocide for so long. Ask yourself if this is how you really want your generation to be remembered. Ask yourself what you can do to stand up and push back on those calling for the destruction of a nation and the annihilation of an entire people. Ask yourself if you really want your youngster to attend a university where this kind of hate and chaos are allowed. Ask yourself if these demonstrations really qualify as “higher education”.
But taking over college campuses and blocking bridges when people are trying to get to work will not change anyone's thinking in a positive way. Intimidating and harassing people who think differently will not change their hearts or the situation in the Middle East. Wise up! Throwing a fit and holding your breath may have worked in the home where you grew up, but it doesn't work very well in the real world.
BRB