For those not familiar with the story, and even for those who are and just need a memory bump, Abraham was told by God that he would be the father of a nation and his children would be as multiple as the sands upon the seashore.

Because his wife, Sarah, seemed barren, Abraham, at her insistence, exercised his right to have a child with his Number One concubine, Hagar, so that he would have an heir.

Such an arrangement was acceptable.

Now God must have known about this, so when he said in Genesis 12:

2 “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing”
ב וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ, לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל, וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ, וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ; וֶהְיֵה, בְּרָכָה.

and, being able to see past, present, and future as one, He certainly would have known that upcoming events would cause a bit of confusion as Sarah eventually bore a child herself according to God’s own plan.

He’s the one who made it happen even as Abraham had some doubts considering he was around 100 and Sarah would be in her late 90s at child birth.

But, hey, God said it was okay.

So Abraham ended up with two sons with neither specified as the beginning of a great nation.

So, again at his wife’s insistence, Abraham throws his first son, Ishmael, along with his mother, out into the desert to die, and the happy family of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac continue on assuming that everything is just fine.

But, before sending Ishmael away, Abraham did have some questions about which son was to be the beginning of a nation, letting God know he didn’t think it was fair to make a promise and then introduce a second son creating a complication because both were technically his first sons by law.

So God eased Abraham’s doubts by assuring him in Genesis 21:

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.’
יג וְגַם אֶת-בֶּן-הָאָמָה, לְגוֹי אֲשִׂימֶנּוּ: כִּי זַרְעֲךָ, הוּא.

So it’s pretty clear that there were to be two nations.

Ishmael lives and founds his own nation (many assume the Arabs).

Isaac goes on to found the Hebrews.

So which nation is THE nation?
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The Hebrews who descended through Isaac, or the Arabs who descended through Ishmael?

Abraham was assured by God that both his kids’ descendents would go on to form nations, and certainly we can’t say one deserves the be preferred because they formed geographic centers and cities while the other remained rather nomadic for most of its history.

After World War II some of the land that had been occupied by the Palestinians was given to the Jews who, after centuries of persecution that culminated in  the Holocaust, wanted a land to call their own.

Just like with the Native Americans after the French and Indian War, heads of states in far off countries reassigned and redivided land among themselves and with others having no regard for the people who were actually there.

Isaac was given his half of the land, and Ishmael got to keep his.

Problem was that Europe instigated a war in the 1960′s that did not turn out the way they had assumed it would, and some of Ishmael’s land became spoils of war, and Isaac got more of the land.

Not content with what they now had, like settlers in the United States, the descendents of Isaac continued to encroach on the land of the descendents of Ishmael, building settlements and displacing  the people who had lived there.

The United States is a bit disingenuous if it now acts surprised that people whose land is stolen might not take too kindly to that.

It was our history, but the weapons weren’t as advanced then as they  are now.

While the song might say, “This land is mine. God gave this land to me”, the reality is, that according to his own words, He gave it to two nations without ever telling Abraham it was a temporary promise that He might just renege on.

And I assume He didn’t lie.

So perhaps grabbing land claiming it is yours by a really special arrangement while ignoring the whole plan that included at least one other group of people, and then,  when even your allies suggest that you stop just moving into occupied territory and building settlements, you thumb your nose at them, is not the best way to bring about a peaceful co-existence.

Unless your plan is to wipe out a whole group of people, guilt people into supporting you, and then just taking all the land for yourself.

Perhaps those who claim they are the people of God should honor His earlier arrangement and promise to the father of their nation?

Stop grabbing your neighbors’ land.

I believe there is a Commandment to that affect.