Damn! You never try to learn History from sources do you?
The name of Palestine and or Palestina is mentioned on only four occasions in the Bible. With the subject of Palestine in the news so much these days, it is therefore practical that we should research into history and see where the name Palestine came from?
The commonly used name of Palestine today refers to that region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan valley and from the southern Negev desert to the GalileeLake region in the north. The word itself is derived from "Plesheth", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into the English language as the name of "Philistine".Plesheth, (
root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. The ancient Philistines were not Arabs, nor even Semites, but were most closely related to the ancient Greeks originating from Asia Minor. The word Palestine (
or Palestina) originally identified the region as "the land of the Philistines," a war-like tribe that inhabited much of the region alongside the Hebrew people. But the older name from antiquity for this region was not Palestine, but Canaan, and it is the term most used in the Old Testament regarding this particular parcel of land.
The Amarna Letters (
an advanced art of ancient Canaanite writing) of the 14th century BC referred to "the land of Canaan," applying the term to the coastal region inhabited by the Phoenicians. The Canaanites had many tiny city-states, each one at times independent and at times a vassal of an Egyptian or Hittite king. The Canaanites never united into a state.
The history of Palestine is complicated by the many different cultures and civilizations that have flourished in the region. The first historical reference to the inhabitants of Canaan occurs in Genesis 10, where the table of nations is recorded.
Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah is said to have fathered most of the inhabitants of the land. These include
Sidon(
the Phoenicians), Heth (
the Hittites), and the Jebusites (
who lived near Jerusalem), the Amorites (
in the hill country), the Girgashites, the Hivites (
peasants from the northern hills), theArkites (
from Arka in Phoenicia), the Sinites (
from the northern coast of Lebanon), the Arvadites, the Zemarites (
from Sumra), and the Hamathites. (
from Hamath) (Genesis 10:15-18) The history of Palestine gains its significance for the Christian with the beginning of the Biblical period. But the region was inhabited by other cultures long before Abraham and his family arrived.
The Bible and Palestine
Hebrew Streams: "Palestine" in the Bible
Your turn please name the source from which you utter your worthless words
And it was back than when Isrealis were supporting Jordan coz they didnt want Arafat to give confidence to Palestine...Why stop half way in history and not continue? Oh yes @
500 was watching you
Was there ever a Palestinian people or a nation called Palestine nation?
There never was a Palestinian people or a nation called Palestine. The Arabs invented the term after the fact. The so-called Palestinians lived mostly in Jordan and Syria. Yasser Arafat, the leader of the so-called "Palestinians," is actually an Egyptian!
Back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper "Trouw" published an interview it had with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. This is what he had to say:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
There Was Never a Country Called Palestine
By
Jerrold L. Sobel
Please forget one of the great fallacies of our time: Israel did not steal Palestinian land. It's not Palestinians' land; it's never been their land; it will never be their land. This land was given to the Jewish people, as stated in the Bible, by the Creator, and will remain the homeland of the Jewish people in perpetuity. Despite 27 invasions of Judea and Samaria (erroneously called the West Bank), conquests by many, forced conversions, exiles, massive oppression, generations of Diaspora, and cowardly acquiescence by a cadre of 5th-column Jews themselves, Jews have not only survived in what's known in Hebrew as
Eretz Yisrael (Israel), but they've taken a desert wasteland and turned it into a powerful little democracy, the envy of the world.
To her detractors, of whom there are many worldwide, the mantra remains the same, ad nauseam. "Israel is complicit in doing this."
"She omitted doing that." "We respect Judaism but are against Zionism." Attempting to mask their anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, Israel's enemies propagandize the most vile accusations in such numbers that much of it sticks. To cite just a few:
Myth:
"Israel discriminates against its Arab citizens."
The facts show
otherwise. Israel is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of a population of 6.7 million, 1.1 million are Muslims, 130,000 are Christians, and 100,000 are Druze. All have equal voting rights -- Israel is one of a very few place where Arab women have the right to vote, and Arabs currently hold 14 seats in the Knesset.
Following a five-year trial, in a
landmark decision for women's rights, an Arab judge, Salim Joubran, sentenced the former president of Israel, Moshe Katsav, to seven years in prison for rape. In what Muslim country do Jews have such rights? How many seats do Jews hold in the Saudi government or Jordan? Can anyone recall a Jewish judge sentencing a prominent Arab in Egypt? More to the point, has anyone even heard of a Jewish judge in Egypt?
Myth:
"The Palestinian Authority protects Jewish holy sites."
If only that were true. Then one important element blocking a sincere peace would be eliminated, but
the facts speak otherwise. Just in the years between 1996-2000:
- In Septemer 1996, Palestinian rioters destroyed a synagogue at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
- Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem has been repeatedly attacked since 1996.
- In October 2000, Joseph's Tomb was torched after the Israeli garrison guarding it was temporarily withdrawn. It was subsequently rebuilt as a mosque.
- In October 2000, the ancient synagogue in Jericho was destroyed by arson, and a second historic synagogue was damaged.
Forget about protecting these sites -- in textbooks, speech, and daily life, the Palestinians and their supporters absurdly deny any Jewish connection at all to these ancient landmarks. This all occurs under nominal Israeli control of these areas; one can only imagine the fate of Jewish holy sites left to Palestinian stewardship.
This brings us to the greatest canard of them all, the foundation on which every pro-Palestinian lie is based: "The Jews are building settlements on Palestinian land."
This grand daddy of all fabrications makes great copy for the media and is excellent for denigrators of Israel, but it lacks any basis in historical fact. There is no Palestinian land, plain and simple. If there were, when would it have been founded, and by whom? What would its borders have been, and what about the name of its capital? What would its major cities have been? What would have constituted the basis of its economy? What form of government would it have lived under?
Was Palestine ever recognized as an entity by another country? By whom? What was the language of the country called Palestine? What was Palestine's religion? What was the name of its currency? Since there is no such country today, what caused her demise?
These questions
were posed by a Japanese writer, Yashiko Sagamori. Only the most revisionist adherent of the Palestinian narrative could even attempt to answer her queries. Pose these same questions regarding Israel and Jewish connection to this land, and except for the willfully blind and delusional -- of which, admittedly, there are many, each can be factually answered.
At no time in history has there ever been a nation called Palestine. During the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299-1922 CE, the land dubbed by the Romans as Palestine was controlled by the Turks; there was never an outcry for a Palestinian State then. During the illegal annexation of Judea and Samaria by the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan subsequent to the 1949 Armistice and prior to 1967, there was never talk of "occupied territory" or a Palestinian State. Why did the dynamic change subsequent to Israel's glorious victory in the Six-Day War -- a conflict unprovoked by Israel?
Search as you will -- throughout the annals of history, Israel is the only nation victorious in war on successive occasions and then expected by the vanquished and the world at large to sue for peace, to cede land she reclaimed that was historically hers to begin with. It raises the question: which of the "Quartet" cajoling Israel to acquiesce to Palestinian demands should be allowed land won in conflict?
The Russians? It's beyond the scope of this essay to delve into their inglorious, extensive imperialist history and their oppression of native peoples, but as one example, isn't it time they relinquish the Kuril Islands to the Japanese? The Second World War has been over for 67 years.
The same holds true for my favorite imperialists, the British, who never miss an opportunity to castigate the Jewish State but somehow fail to look at their own sordid history. Just this past week, they proudly announced sending a sophisticated warship 7,700 miles into the South Atlantic to dissuade Argentina from re-establishing sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which lie just 250 miles off Argentina's coast. Why are the Falkland Islands controlled by the British to begin with? Historically, doesn't Argentina, which controlled these islands until 1830, have a greater claim to them?
For that matter, when will the British finally relinquish Gibraltar to its "rightful owner," Spain?
Likewise, if not for hundreds of years of British tyranny and greater military strength, wouldn't Northern Ireland be part of the Republic of Ireland?
What about the United States? Let's face it: if they had more sticks and stones than we do, wouldn't Mexico wrest back the American Southwest and all its resources? Basically, wasn't all this land stolen by the harsh dictates of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? Why is there such uproar over illegal immigration in the United States? After all, when Mexicans sneak across the border, in effect, aren't they just practicing "the right of return"?
Unquestionably, with the exception of the United States, it was from countries like these that Jews in Diaspora were forced to escape repression and rejoin their coreligionists who maintained a three-thousand-year continuous existence in Judea, Samaria, and the outlying areas.
Does might make right? With exceptions made against Israel, it seems to. The Jewish people were driven out of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria by the Babylonians. They returned to their homeland and rebuilt the Second Temple only to have it burned again, this time by Romans, and to be once again exiled from their land.
Despite 27 invasions and conquests subsequent to the Grand Monarchy of Kings David and Solomon, Jews have always had a contiguous connection to this land. Only in the minds of the disparaging and the uninitiated did she ever relinquish it. If not the land of Israel, where are Jews from? Poland? The Ukraine? Russia? Only hateful revisionists such as Helen Thomas, Mel Gibson, Oliver Stone, and some sanctimonious loonies with Ph.D.s inculcating our kids with venom believe that.
As to the other detractors of Israel in the EU and the U.N., I ask the
following questions. Who legitimately owns Alsace-Lorraine -- the Germans or the French? It's changed hands so many times over the past five hundred years that no one has a clue. What's Turkey doing in Northern Cyprus? Where is the world uproar over China's occupation of Tibet, East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia, and Manchuria?
We can go on and on and on with this. Certainly the Jewish people have at least as great a legitimate claim to their historic homeland than any of these other nations, and certainly more so than the so-called Palestinian Arabs do.
Why are the rules of international relations being changed for Israel? Is it because after thousands of years, the world at large can't bear to see the Jewish people once again in charge of their own land and their own destiny?
Please forget one of the great fallacies of our time: Israel did not steal Palestinian land. It's not Palestinians' land; it's never been their land; it will never be their land. This land was given to the Jewish people, as stated in the Bible, by the Creator, and will remain the homeland of the Jewish people in perpetuity. Despite 27 invasions of Judea and Samaria (erroneously called the West Bank), conquests by many, forced conversions, exiles, massive oppression, generations of Diaspora, and cowardly acquiescence by a cadre of 5th-column Jews themselves, Jews have not only survived in what's known in Hebrew as
Eretz Yisrael (Israel), but they've taken a desert wasteland and turned it into a powerful little democracy, the envy of the world.
To her detractors, of whom there are many worldwide, the mantra remains the same, ad nauseam. "Israel is complicit in doing this."
"She omitted doing that." "We respect Judaism but are against Zionism." Attempting to mask their anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, Israel's enemies propagandize the most vile accusations in such numbers that much of it sticks. To cite just a few:
Myth:
"Israel discriminates against its Arab citizens."
The facts show
otherwise. Israel is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of a population of 6.7 million, 1.1 million are Muslims, 130,000 are Christians, and 100,000 are Druze. All have equal voting rights -- Israel is one of a very few place where Arab women have the right to vote, and Arabs currently hold 14 seats in the Knesset.
Following a five-year trial, in a
landmark decision for women's rights, an Arab judge, Salim Joubran, sentenced the former president of Israel, Moshe Katsav, to seven years in prison for rape. In what Muslim country do Jews have such rights? How many seats do Jews hold in the Saudi government or Jordan? Can anyone recall a Jewish judge sentencing a prominent Arab in Egypt? More to the point, has anyone even heard of a Jewish judge in Egypt?
Myth:
"The Palestinian Authority protects Jewish holy sites."
If only that were true. Then one important element blocking a sincere peace would be eliminated, but
the facts speak otherwise. Just in the years between 1996-2000:
- In Septemer 1996, Palestinian rioters destroyed a synagogue at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
- Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem has been repeatedly attacked since 1996.
- In October 2000, Joseph's Tomb was torched after the Israeli garrison guarding it was temporarily withdrawn. It was subsequently rebuilt as a mosque.
- In October 2000, the ancient synagogue in Jericho was destroyed by arson, and a second historic synagogue was damaged.
Forget about protecting these sites -- in textbooks, speech, and daily life, the Palestinians and their supporters absurdly deny any Jewish connection at all to these ancient landmarks. This all occurs under nominal Israeli control of these areas; one can only imagine the fate of Jewish holy sites left to Palestinian stewardship.
This brings us to the greatest canard of them all, the foundation on which every pro-Palestinian lie is based: "The Jews are building settlements on Palestinian land."
This grand daddy of all fabrications makes great copy for the media and is excellent for denigrators of Israel, but it lacks any basis in historical fact. There is no Palestinian land, plain and simple. If there were, when would it have been founded, and by whom? What would its borders have been, and what about the name of its capital? What would its major cities have been? What would have constituted the basis of its economy? What form of government would it have lived under?
Was Palestine ever recognized as an entity by another country? By whom? What was the language of the country called Palestine? What was Palestine's religion? What was the name of its currency? Since there is no such country today, what caused her demise?
These questions
were posed by a Japanese writer, Yashiko Sagamori. Only the most revisionist adherent of the Palestinian narrative could even attempt to answer her queries. Pose these same questions regarding Israel and Jewish connection to this land, and except for the willfully blind and delusional -- of which, admittedly, there are many, each can be factually answered.
At no time in history has there ever been a nation called Palestine. During the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299-1922 CE, the land dubbed by the Romans as Palestine was controlled by the Turks; there was never an outcry for a Palestinian State then. During the illegal annexation of Judea and Samaria by the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan subsequent to the 1949 Armistice and prior to 1967, there was never talk of "occupied territory" or a Palestinian State. Why did the dynamic change subsequent to Israel's glorious victory in the Six-Day War -- a conflict unprovoked by Israel?
Search as you will -- throughout the annals of history, Israel is the only nation victorious in war on successive occasions and then expected by the vanquished and the world at large to sue for peace, to cede land she reclaimed that was historically hers to begin with. It raises the question: which of the "Quartet" cajoling Israel to acquiesce to Palestinian demands should be allowed land won in conflict?
The Russians? It's beyond the scope of this essay to delve into their inglorious, extensive imperialist history and their oppression of native peoples, but as one example, isn't it time they relinquish the Kuril Islands to the Japanese? The Second World War has been over for 67 years.
The same holds true for my favorite imperialists, the British, who never miss an opportunity to castigate the Jewish State but somehow fail to look at their own sordid history. Just this past week, they proudly announced sending a sophisticated warship 7,700 miles into the South Atlantic to dissuade Argentina from re-establishing sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which lie just 250 miles off Argentina's coast. Why are the Falkland Islands controlled by the British to begin with? Historically, doesn't Argentina, which controlled these islands until 1830, have a greater claim to them?
For that matter, when will the British finally relinquish Gibraltar to its "rightful owner," Spain?
Likewise, if not for hundreds of years of British tyranny and greater military strength, wouldn't Northern Ireland be part of the Republic of Ireland?
What about the United States? Let's face it: if they had more sticks and stones than we do, wouldn't Mexico wrest back the American Southwest and all its resources? Basically, wasn't all this land stolen by the harsh dictates of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? Why is there such uproar over illegal immigration in the United States? After all, when Mexicans sneak across the border, in effect, aren't they just practicing "the right of return"?
Unquestionably, with the exception of the United States, it was from countries like these that Jews in Diaspora were forced to escape repression and rejoin their coreligionists who maintained a three-thousand-year continuous existence in Judea, Samaria, and the outlying areas.
Does might make right? With exceptions made against Israel, it seems to. The Jewish people were driven out of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria by the Babylonians. They returned to their homeland and rebuilt the Second Temple only to have it burned again, this time by Romans, and to be once again exiled from their land.
Despite 27 invasions and conquests subsequent to the Grand Monarchy of Kings David and Solomon, Jews have always had a contiguous connection to this land. Only in the minds of the disparaging and the uninitiated did she ever relinquish it. If not the land of Israel, where are Jews from? Poland? The Ukraine? Russia? Only hateful revisionists such as Helen Thomas, Mel Gibson, Oliver Stone, and some sanctimonious loonies with Ph.D.s inculcating our kids with venom believe that.
As to the other detractors of Israel in the EU and the U.N., I ask the
following questions. Who legitimately owns Alsace-Lorraine -- the Germans or the French? It's changed hands so many times over the past five hundred years that no one has a clue. What's Turkey doing in Northern Cyprus? Where is the world uproar over China's occupation of Tibet, East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia, and Manchuria?
We can go on and on and on with this. Certainly the Jewish people have at least as great a legitimate claim to their historic homeland than any of these other nations, and certainly more so than the so-called Palestinian Arabs do.
Why are the rules of international relations being changed for Israel? Is it because after thousands of years, the world at large can't bear to see the Jewish people once again in charge of their own land and their own destiny?
“Palestine” in the Bible
by
Paul Sumner
The names "Palestine" and "Palestina" occur four times in the Old Testament portion of the King James Bible (1611), the most influential English translation in history.
What have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon,
and all the coasts of
Palestine? (Joel 3:4a = 4:4a Heb)
The people shall hear, and be afraid;
sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of
Palestina. (Exod 15:14)
Rejoice not thou, whole
Palestina ... (Isa 14:29a)
Howl, O gate; cry, O city,
thou whole
Palestina, art dissolved. (Isa 14:31a)
The 4th century church historian
Eusebius (writing in Greek) twice mentions "Palaistine" in his
Ecclesiastical History (2.2.6; 7.15.1). He notes that the coastal city Caesarea is in that region.
In the Hebrew Bible there is one word behind the various English renderings Palestine, Palestina, and Philistia. It is
Peleshet.
Note the consonant link between Hebrew and Greek.
Peleshet [Hebrew]: P-L-SH-T
Palaistine [Greek]: P-L-S-T [there is no "sh" sound in Greek]
The geographical term
Peleshet is used eight times in the HB (Exod 15:14; Isa 14:29, 31; Joel 4:4[=3:4 Eng], Pss 60:10[=v.8 Eng], 83:8[7], 87:4, 108:10[9] ).
The inhabitants of Peleshet are
Pelishtim, a plural noun that occurs 287x in the HB (Gen 10:14; 26:1; Exod 13:17, etc.), mostly in Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles. Lexicons say the root
palash is a verb meaning to roll (in dust or ashes) as an act of mourning (Jer 6:26; Ezek 27:30; Mic 1:10). How that relates to the people (rollers, mourners) is not clear.
The Pelishtim
From the time the Israelites first entered Canaan, under Joshua's leadership, the "Philistines" were perennial enemies. Their center of power was the Pentapolis, a cluster of five cities along the coast of southern Canaan: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. [See map below.] Their influence, however, stretched farther north up the coast.
The Coastal Cities of Philistia
The warrior giant
Goliath (from the city of Gath) taunted the timid Jewish battle lines with inflated ethnic bluster: "I am
the Philistine" [anokhi haPelishti]" (1 Sam 17:8). Interestingly, the Greek Septuagint renders his boast as:
"I Am Foreigner" [ego eimi allophylos].
Goliath's boast elicits teenager David's famous response: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of Yahveh Tzeva'ot, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied" (1 Sam 17:45).
The three main gods in the Pelishtim pantheon were
Dagon (Judg 16:23; 1 Sam 5:1-7),
Ashtoreth (Judg 10:6; 1 Sam 31:10), and
Baal-Zebub (2 Kgs 1:1-6, 16).
Some 200 years after David,
Isaiah condemns his fellow Judeans for forsaking God's "light" and for being "full [of practices] from the East ... [abounding] in customs of the aliens." These include "soothsaying like the Philistines [Pelishtim]" (Isa 2:5-6).
Septuagint Translation
The Septuagint (LXX) one time renders "Peleshet" as a reference to the people:
Phylistiim (Philistines, Exod 15:14).
Everywhere else, "Peleshet" is translated
hoi Allophuloi, "the Foreigners." This rendering is also reflected in Isaiah 2:5-6 which refers to "the land of the Allophuloi and many strange [Allophuloi] children were born to them."
— Isa 14:29, 31; Joel 4:4 [3:4 Eng], Ps 59:10 [60:8 Eng], 82:8 [83:7 Eng], 86:4 [87:4 Eng], and 107:10 [108:9 Eng].
Clearly, the Jewish scholars in Egypt who did the LXX considered the Pelishtim as
aliens and strangers. Some might view this is an historical irony, since the Israelites arrived in Canaan after the Pelishtim. But the Biblical perspective is that the Land was an eternal gift from God to the Israelites, alone.
Whence the Pelishtim
Evidence from Egyptian inscriptions identifies them as "Sea Peoples." Pottery from Ekron and Ashdod mirrors styles in Cyprus, and the temple at Tell Qasile (near Tel Aviv) is similar to ones in the Aegean Sea area and on Cyprus. No inscriptions in a Philistine language have been found, suggesting they adopted the languages where they invaded.
Amos refers to "the Pelishtim from Caphtor" (Amos 9:7). Jeremiah forewarns that "the day is coming" when "YHVH will ravage the Pelishtim [who are] the remnant from the island of Caphtor" (Jer 47:4). Archeologists believe Caphtor is likely the island of Crete. Zephaniah says:
Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the
Cherethites! [Heb:
Ke
Rei
Tim; cf. CReTe]
The word of YHVH is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines. (Zeph 9:7)
“Palestine” in Christian Bibles
Neither "Palestina" or "Philistia" occur in the Greek New Testament.
Nearly all Bible translations today use "Philistia" in their Old Testament portions for the original
Peleshet. This designates the geographical area along the coast of Israel and southern Lebanon (including Tyre and Sidon). A few Christian versions have "Palestine" in their biblical text or in marginal notes. They may do this to orient readers to modern political boundaries. But some may have biased theological motives.
The Roman Catholic
Douay-Rheims (revised 1899) has "the people of Palestine" at Jeremiah 47:1 and "the daughters of Palestine" at Ezekiel 16:57. In both verses the Hebrew reads "Pelishtim" (Philistines).
The conservative Protestant
Amplified Bible (1965) includes "Palestine" in their text in brackets:
Ezek 38:11, 12 — "I will fall upon those...who dwell at the center of the earth [Palestine]."
Dan 11:30a — "...he shall be grieved and discouraged and turn back [to Palestine] and carry out his rage and indignation against the holy covenant and God's people."
Dan 11:41a — "He shall enter into the glorious land [Palestine], and many shall be overthrown."
[Also: 1 Chron 13:5; Jer 8:16; 22:20; Ezek 33:24]
The conservative Protestant
New American Standard Bible (NASB)(1973, 1995) has "Palestine" in the margins at Daniel 8:9 and 11:16 to explain the biblical words "Beautiful Land." This isn't necessary, for the context is clear that Israel and Jerusalem are the subject at hand.
In contrast to these versions, the conservative Protestant
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) (2009) translates Daniel 8:9 and 11:16 without bias. It renders the Hebrew literally as the "Beautiful Land" and puts "Israel" in the margin. Mentioning "Palestine" is anachronistic. There was no such name in Daniel's time.
The Message of "The Message"
Twice in his paraphrased version
The Message (2002, 2007), Eugene H. Peterson interpolates "Palestine" into his main text of Daniel:
Daniel 8:9 — "[Another horn] started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward
lovely Palestine [my emphasis]."
Daniel 11:16 — "[The king of the north will] take over that
beautiful country, Palestine, and make himself at home in it."
[Note: The Hebrew behind Peterson's phrases "lovely Palestine" and "beautiful country, Palestine" is
HaTzevi, "the Beautiful (Land)" and
Eretz HaTzevi, "the Beautiful Land." In the Bible,
Israel is called "the Glory [
tzevi] of all lands" (Ezek 20:6, 15), "a pleasant land, the most Beautiful [
tzevi] inheritance of the nations!" (Jer 3:19).]
When Peterson substitutes "Palestine," in place of "the Beautiful [Land]," he interjects a name loaded with religious-political C-4. He didn't compose his paraphrase before 1948 when "Palestine" was a hypothetical political entity created by European powers. He wrote when the so-called Palestinian cause is PC orthodoxy among liberal intellectuals and the State of Israel is an object of disdain by most nations of the world, including liberal branches of Christianity.
Peterson's choice of "Palestine" is surely intentional, especially when he has no biblical warrant for doing so. His substitution would be like calling the modern state of Texas "North Mexico."
As a
Christian leader, perhaps Peterson thinks the occupants of "lovely Palestine" in the future will be Arab
Christian converts from Islam. Or perhaps he envisions a two-state reality:
Peleshet/Palestine for Christians and
Eretz Yisrael/Eretz HaTzevifor Jews.
Sadly, some Christian scholars will not allow the Bible to speak unfiltered truth. They politicize it for modern readers. They attempt to rewrite prophecy and history — all to nullify God's promises. Peterson might remember God's ancient forewarning:
Because the
Pelishtim, in their ancient hatred, acted vengefully, and with utter scorn sought revenge and destruction — assuredly, thus said Lord YHVH: I will stretch out my hand against the
Pelishtim and ... wipe out the last survivors of the seacoast." (Ezekiel 25:15-16)
At the same time, the warning of judgment also includes an offer of redemption for the Pelishtim from the God of Israel, the owner of Eretz HaTzevi:
Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord YHVH, "rather than that he should turn from ways and live?... I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord YHVH. "Therefore, repent and live. (Ezekiel 18:23, 32)
Wonder where the 97% really are? And how did these 3% end up becoming over 74-75% right before the Holocaust? 
