Question:
David says about Palestine as “Uncircumcised” but they follow Islam and they are also Circumcised. Where is the present Palestine different from the old one?
Answer:
The word “Palestine” only appears once in the Bible, and that is in Joel 3:1-5, which says, “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 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. And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of PALESTINE? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head; Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.” The people of Palestine have treated the Jews badly, and have set up their own temples in the land of Israel. For this, God will judge them.
The word “Palestina” appears three times in the Bible. First, in Exodus 15:13-18 says, “Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of PALESTINA. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.” Once again, this passage is rebuking the people of Palestine, and warning that He will judge them, and will once again plant His people, the Jews, and His sanctuary back in the land of Israel.
The second passage is Isaiah 14:29-32, where the word “Palestina” appears twice. “Rejoice not thou, whole PALESTINA, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole PALESTINA, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.” Once again, the people of Palestine are given a warning, that judgment will fall upon them.
God owns this whole world, and He has given the land of Canaan and Palestine to His chosen people Israel. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Leviticus 25:23 says, “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.” Any people who fight the Jews for the land of Israel, are fighting against God, and are disobeying His Word.
The followers of Islam are not true believers and followers of Jesus Christ, but of Mohammed. They have set up their own temple on the holy mount, and have persecuted the Jews, and have tried to drive them back out of the Promised Land. Though the followers of Islam may be circumcised in the flesh, that does not bring them favor with God. They are disobeying God’s Word. The true issue is the heart.
Abraham had faith in God BEFORE he was ever circumcised. Rom. 4:8-13 says, “Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of THE FAITH WHICH HE HAD YET BEING UNCIRCUMCISED: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
The inhabitants of Palestine are said to be “uncircumcised,” because they are not true believers in God. I Samuel 17:26 says, “And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this UNCIRCUMCISED Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Romans 2:28-3:2 says, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But HE IS A JEW, WHICH IS ONE INWARDLY; AND CIRCUMCISION IS THAT OF THE HEART, IN THE SPIRIT, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. WHAT ADVANTAGE THEN HATH THE JEW? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that UNTO THEM WERE COMMITTED THE ORACLES OF GOD.” Salvation does not come through a physical procedure, but through personal faith in Jesus Christ. It is a matter of the heart. The oracles of God, the Bible, were committed unto the Jews, not to anyone else. No other religious writings are Scripture.
True salvation is only through the Jews, through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 4:7-26 says, “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. YE WORSHIP YE KNOW NOT WHAT: WE KNOW WHAT WE WORSHIP: FOR SALVATION OF OF THE JEWS. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I KNOW THAT MESSIAS COMETH, WHICH IS CALLED CHRIST: WHEN HE IS COME, HE WILL TELL US ALL THINGS. JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, I THAT SPEAK UNTO THEE AM HE.”
There is only one way to be saved, and that is by repenting of your sin, and by placing your faith totally in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him alone for your salvation. Acts 3:19,20 says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” John 14:6 says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Acts 4:12 says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”