God not only provided a land for the Israelites, but He also gave an inheritance to the sons of Ishmael (which include the Arab Palestinian tribes). The sons of Ishmael were blessed to become a great nation (Genesis 17:20). The land given to Ishmael was to the east of his brother’s land.
The angel of the LORD said to her [Hagar] 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 16:11-12. (emphasis added)
Some Bibles say ‘in the face of’ or something similar, because all ancient maps faced east towards the rising sun, not north, as ours do now.
The Arab people are descendants of the Edomites, the Moabites and the Ammonites. Jacob’s brother Esau was also given an inheritance. His descendants, the Edomites, lived around Mt Seir (Gen 36:1-8), south east of the Dead Sea. When Israel came out of Egypt, they were commanded not to take the land of the Edomites (Deut 2:1-7). The Moabites and the Ammonites were the sons of Abraham’s nephew Lot’s daughters, after they fled from Sodom. The Moabites had settled in the land east of the Dead Sea from about the centre, south from the Arnon River to the brook Zered, the border with the Edomites. Israel was not permitted to take any of their land (Deut 2:9). The Ammonites lived around Amman, the capital city of Jordan, and to the north and east. Israel was directed not to touch their land either (Deut 2:19).
These lands are mostly in modern-day Jordan. These are the biblical ancestors of the Arabic peoples, and their God-given inheritance is the land of Jordan, just as the League of Nations’ partition had provided for them.
The ANZACs also helped liberate this land.
Pictures:
1. God’s provision of land for the Arabs – Richardprins
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kingdoms_around_Israel_830_map.svg
