Why can’t we have peace in the Middle East?

The irony of the Abraham Accords

People often wonder why there can’t be peace in the Middle East, why Middle Eastern countries are continually at war with one another and even within themselves, and wonder what can be done to end the hostilities. What is seldom pondered, however, is the underlying reason for the conflict. Have you ever considered why there is such strife among the Arab countries and Israel? Some believe the dissension is a land dispute. Others say it is a matter of opposing religions. Yet others look at the disdain for Western capitalism. While these each play a role in the modern contention, there actually is a single historical event that brought about the Middle Eastern discordance:

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. “He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

Genesis 16:1-12, emphases mine

Perhaps you aren’t Jewish or Christian, or you don’t believe in the Bible. You don’t need to be, nor do you need to believe the Bible or the miracles of which it speaks in order to understand that archaeologists have shown it to contain a very accurate historical record. Thus, we look to Abraham (or Abram, at the time) and his wife Sarai. God had promised them children, but Sarai didn’t trust the promise and instead had Abram impregnate her handmaid. Of course, as most wives would, Sarai then became jealous of Hagar. After all, what woman would be happy with her husband if he committed adultery? Worse, having to live with the mistress? So, as Sarai takes out her frustration on Hagar (frustration caused by her own decision), Hagar seeks refuge away from Sarai. God, finding her wandering in the desert makes a promise: her descendants, through this offspring, will be many. Thus, her son Ishmael, fathered by Abram, would be the father of the Arab nations. There was a caveat to this promise however: Ishmael will be a wild ass of a man, who will always be at war with everyone and with whom everyone will always be at war, including his brothers.

For those unaware, Sarai did end up bearing a child for Abram. His name was Isaac. Isaac then bore a son, Jacob, whose name would later be changed to Israel. He is the one through whom the nation of Israel (not the Middle Eastern state that we know by that name - the Israelites, the Jews - but that’s a discussion for another time) descended. Thus, we should not be surprised at the unending upheaval in and coming from that desert land. 

An interesting point to note about this prophecy is that it provides no termination date. The statement is one of continued chaos, a perpetual perturbation. The brothers Isaac and Ishmael shall be forever entangled in a family feud, and Ishmael’s descendants eternally enraged against one another and everyone else. That is, until a point in the future when a temporary and deceptive peace shall be introduced by one who promises prosperity, but this false peace will result only in further destruction:

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

Daniel 8:23-25, emphases mine

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And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Daniel 9:27, emphasis mine

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Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

Dan. 11:21-24, emphases mine

Herein lies the interesting bit. The man who will usher in this “peace,” this false sense of security, and even prosperity, is not a hero; he is a deceiver. Many biblical scholars equate this man with the beast or “antiChrist” of Revelation. It is then quite ironic that a man many lauded for bringing a peace treaty to bear, President Trump, is almost worshipped by many. Are we seeing some of end-times prophecy play out before our eyes? Perhaps even more ironic is the name of the peace treaty - the Abraham Accords - considering that the person responsible for instigating the animosity was Abraham himself.

No, there will be no peace in the Middle East. Such promises are little more than gimcrack. Based on Scripture, the struggle will end only when Jesus returns to claim His kingdom. In the meantime, we should be quite wary of anyone claiming the ability to bring peace to the Middle East. Such a person should not be trusted and is likely only to usher in further frustration.

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As if to affirm the timeliness of my article, another from the Jerusalem Post came to my attention shortly after I completed writing this piece:
'Six or seven' Muslim nations to make peace with Israel after Saudis - FM