January 6, 2006
Ignore Pat Robertson
We keep telling you people, ignore Pat Robertson. He only gets media attention because he fits their caracature of a right wing Christian. Move along.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at January 6, 2006 12:25 PM | Current EventsAmen to that, brother!
Out of curiosity, I looked up the "divide the land" passage in the Bible. Here is Joel 3:1-3 in the New International Version:
1 "In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. [a]
There I will enter into judgment against them
concerning my inheritance, my people Israel,
for they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine
that they might drink.
The prophecy in context quite clearly refers to the non-Israel nations: "Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia" in verse 4. Joel 3:2 does NOT refer to Israel herself or to any ruler of Israel. On the contrary, Ariel Sharon has issued a call for all Jews to emigrate TO Israel from all corners of the earth. That's gathering the people, not scattering them.
Joel 3:2 reasonably can be interpreted to refer to Greece and Rome, who both coveted Israeli territory and dispersed the Jews from it. One could infer that God doesn't like Israeli territory being divided by anybody anytime, even a ruler of Israel who seeks some kind of security for his people, so God wacked Sharon in the head. That's what we call an "exegetical stretch"; taking the verse farther than it wants to go.
So Pat Robertson has mis-interpreted a Bible verse here. Sooprise, sooprise! Funmurphys already took a position on Pat Robertson, and you can watch that position being confirmed on a monthly basis. He's irrelevant. Just ignore him.
