A world that had become inured to crisis after crisis since the beginning of the so-called cold war was nervously agitated over the Middle East trouble, and not without reason. Attention was focused on the impasse between the little nation of Israel and the United Nations. Israel refused to give up the positions they had seized at Sharm el Sheikh at the Red Sea inlet to the Gulf of Aqaba, and at the historic site of Gaza where Samson pulled down the temple over the lords of the Philistines. This involved not only Israel and Egypt, but all the Arab world, and the great powers, both East and West. The rich Middle East oil fields and the very important waterway at Suez were at stake, and the struggle threatened the peace of the world and could have been the spark to touch off another world holocaust.
Israel felt justified in defying for a time both the United Nations' warnings and the pressure applied by the United States, for Egypt had continued a state of war with Israel ever since the armistice was signed between Egypt and Israel in 1949; and the same great powers who were pressuring Israel had been unable to protect her from boycott, murderous raiders, and blockade by Egypt. The moral suasion of the United Nations was considerably weakened by its failure to enforce the 1949 armistice agreement and thus to protect Israel. Egypt had not only closed the Suez to Israeli shipping, but to foreign ships bound to or from Israel; they had built shore batteries at Sharm el Sheikh and thus closed the Strait of Tiran to shipping to and from Israel's port of Elath at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba (the port from which Solomon's ships sailed east); Egypt had also used the narrow Gaza strip (25 miles long and 5 miles wide) to harass Israel's Negev region by making it the supply headquarters for the Fedayeen raiders who had killed or seriously wounded 447 Israeli citizens on their own soil. Many other warlike acts were committed against Israel by Egypt, along with similar acts by other neighboring Arab states.
Russia has strengthened Egypt's hand in this matter and has aided and abetted them and other Arab states in making trouble for Israel, for Russia has been sporadically opposed to the Jews since the days of the Czars, and now has sought opportunity to make trouble for the West in that region in the hope of cutting the West off from the Middle East oil and taking it for herself. The recent crisis has really pitted East against West with Israel in the middle. It appears that Russia is today re-arming Egypt since Israel destroyed much of Egypt's Russian-made arms. She is also reported to be transforming the old cite of Resafa in the Syrian desert into a major modern air base so that 100 miles around it is now a restricted area, and is shipping many arms and jet fighter planes into Syria through the Syrian seaport of Latakia—all this in preparation for making further trouble for Israel from which Russia hopes to gain.
Little do the world's statesmen and strategists know that they are only helping to prepare the way for the things that God has foretold will happen. God has said, "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land." Joel 3:2. Jerusalem is the world center as God sees it, and much sad history is yet to be made in that vicinity.
As long as Israel's Arab neighbors steadfastly refuse to recognize Israel's right of existence as a legitimate nation, Israel will not be safe. And as long as Russia promotes Arab hostility to Israel, Israel is destined to live constantly under fear of attack, and the world's peace is in danger. The untiring efforts of certain great leaders to bring about peace in that troubled area remind us of what God said in Eze. 13 "Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?" Chap. 13:10-12. As it was then, so it is now; the wall of peace they are seeking to build and repair will not stand, and God refers to those who work on it as daubers. Peace in the Middle East is not to be had by globetrotting statesmen working out a compromise here and exacting a promise there in a valiant but vain effort to preserve the status-quo. God who dispersed Israel after their rejection of their Messiah has allowed them to regather there for the further fulfillment of His purposes concerning them and the nations, and He has said that He will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all nations (Zech. 12:3).
The question might well be asked, What did Israel gain then by withdrawal from the Gulf of Aqaba coast and the Gaza Strip, for while she held these, her position was better than after they were relinquished. The answer to that seems quite apparent, and it also fits into the prophetic picture of the time to come.
Now that the West forced Israel to give up certain advantages without a guarantee of anything from Egypt, the West is morally obligated to see that Israel does not lose thereby. And by Israel's prolonged holding of the trouble spots, the West, and the United States in particular, were forced to go beyond their original intentions of committing themselves to secure Israel's withdrawal. When they finally withdrew, the United States was placed in a position of being implicitly bound to see that Israel did not suffer thereby. President Eisenhower wrote to Ben-Gurion that he had faith that "Israel will have no cause to regret" its decision to withdraw. Thus it may well be that Israel's diplomatic skill in delaying the withdrawal has gained a very significant victory, for they made it known that while they were not given guarantees, they withdrew with the "assumption" that they would have the freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba and not be subjected to attacks from the Egyptian Fedayeen out of Gaza.
All this is very significant in the light of Scripture, for it is evident there from that Israel is due for more and more attacks from the Arabs, both North and South of Palestine.
Neither the United Nations nor the United States is going to produce peace in the Middle East by conciliatory means. Sooner or later the West must come into open conflict with the Arab world to protect Israel, and the events of the last few months have been but preliminary to the great alignment for the time of the end.
At the close of Balaam's prophecy, he says, "Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish forever." Numb. 24:23, 24. This early prophecy of the end foretells of the West's coming east to afflict the Arab world, and then later perishing as the revived Roman Empire will do at the hand of the King of kings who comes to make His foes His footstool.
Another prophetic scripture that shows the West's future involvement with Israel as their protector is Dan. 9:27. "And he [the Roman prince that will come] shall confirm [a] covenant with [the] many [the mass of the Jews] for one week [or heptad—a period of seven years]." The man who will head the revived Roman Empire will come to the aid of the Jews when they are beset by the Arabs, and he will make a concrete agreement with them—they will not have to go on "assumptions" then, but the events of the last few months are paving the way for this.
In Isa. 28, we are told that the "scornful men" who will rule in Jerusalem will say that they have made an agreement for their protection which is "a covenant with death," and an agreement with hell. (vv. 14, 15.) This is the way God describes the covenant that the head of the Roman Empire will make with the mass of the Jews in Israel, but He says it "shall not stand." v. 18. The Jews will in the main be apostate and accept the antichrist, and he will be in league with the Western "beast."
Now as we go to press, the Suez Canal has been partially reopened, and Egypt has plainly stated that Israel's shipping will not be allowed access, and that they do not intend to be bound by any international understanding that the Gulf of Aqaba is to be open for navigation to and from Elath. Also Israelis have been killed by marauders from Gaza again. So we see that peaceful gestures and concessions to Egypt have not changed their refractoriness in the least. Eventually a showdown must come between the Arabs and the Western nations who are now morally bound to aid Israel. Thus we see things taking definite shape for the days that are to follow our translation from this scene to be with Christ forever.
Surely that blessed moment is near at hand. Not one thing need take place before we hear His shout. Therefore we should not be distressed by any unrest about us, but may we be found in the attitude of "men that wait for their lord"; that is, that we have everything in readiness for His coming, so as to "open unto him immediately." (Luke 12:36.) We all know the figure used here, for we have called at homes where the occupants were not ready to open up at once; they had to do certain things before they could receive guests. May it not be so with us; may our homes and our lives be such that we would welcome that shout at any moment, for truly we may hear it at any time.