The Promised Land and the Prophecy of Isaiah

In Gaza, 40,000 Palestinians, 16,000 of whom are children, have been killed.

A nation that suffered the Nazi genocide continues to bomb hospitals and schools and kill children without showing any hesitation in committing genocide itself.

Netanyahu made a statement saying, “We will see the prophecy of Isaiah,” citing the Torah, the holy book of the Jews, as justification for this genocide.

Who is this Isaiah?

Isaiah, or Joshua as he is known in the Torah, is accepted as the prophet who succeeded Moses. The 6th book of the Torah, the Book of Joshua, contains the commands Joshua received from God and includes prophecies.

It is believed that the tomb located in the Anadolu Kavağı district of Istanbul, known as the “Hill of Joshua (Yuşa Hazretleri),” belongs to Joshua. It is a fact that people visit this shrine and make wishes.

It is mentioned in commentaries that Moses, Joshua, and Khidr are referred to—without being named—in verses 60-82 of Surah Al-Kahf in the Quran. In other words, Joshua (Yuşa) is a figure to whom the Islamic religion also attributes sanctity.

Now let us come to Netanyahu and the relevant section of the Torah that he cites as justification for so much bloodshed.

In the Book of Joshua in the Torah, the command given by God to the Israelites is written as follows:

“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan (Jordan River), you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites (Anatolia), and to the Great Sea (Mediterranean) toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.”

“Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.”

“Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The region described above is known as the “Land of Canaan and the Promised Land.” For religious Jews, settling in these holy lands, which also encompass a part of Anatolia, is a divine command. However, the primary target is Palestine.

For Netanyahu, the way to make his own people accept the genocide he is carrying out is to use religion as a tool for hatred and massacre.

How should we evaluate the fact that the prophecy of Joshua—who is accepted to have lived in the 13th century BC, though his exact dates are unknown, and who spent his youth with Moses—is influencing the world's geopolitics 34 centuries later?

Is there any explanation for the fact that the tomb accepted to be that of an occupying Jewish prophet on Joshua's Hill has turned into a place of pilgrimage blessed by thousands of Muslims, despite his name not being mentioned in the Quran?

Undoubtedly, there is not. Because fanatical, fundamentalist belief is flowing and spreading without recognizing any boundaries, being used as a tool of politics…

THE CRUSADES AND THE DARK AGES

Pope Urban II ignited the fuse of the Crusades with the speech he gave at the Council of Clermont in France in 1095.

The call was this: Christians would embark on a pilgrimage, thus cleansing themselves of all their sins, and their souls would earn indescribable rewards in the afterlife.

In Medieval Europe, religion dominated every aspect of life. Pilgrimage was a common form of worship. The idea of sin was very widespread. Therefore, what the Pope did—offering “exemption from the consequences of committed sins”—was a very striking promise. The audacity of Popes to forgive sins by considering themselves the representatives of God would gradually dominate the entire Middle Ages.

To incite the public, Pope Urban went on preaching tours describing how Christian monuments were being desecrated and how faithful Christians were being subjected to persecution and torture.

According to the theocratic historical narrative, world history consisted of the struggle between God and Satan. At the end of this struggle, God would be victorious and the “City of God” would be established. The Popes would head this state and rule the world as God’s representatives.

Following this call, a monk named Peter the Hermit took action. Barefoot, wearing a hair shirt on his back, he began to travel around Europe on a donkey. Participation gradually increased. First, 20,000 people gathered. Then, this mob of looters, which recognized no morality, plundered everywhere it passed, and showed mercy to no one, grew steadily. In 1096, it reached Constantinople (Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

Thus, the First Crusade began.

The primary goal of the Crusades, which were initiated by the Catholic Church and lasted for exactly 197 years, was to reach the Holy Land and Jerusalem and to cleanse the region of Muslims. Eight major expeditions were carried out, four of which were significant.

Undoubtedly, the support of those who fed on war was also important. Goals such as gaining land, collecting spoils, earning titles, and gaining new trade opportunities were hidden behind the sanctity of religion.

The Church had a large propaganda army: the priests.

Through the priests, it became quite easy to pull the public, as well as political and military powers, toward the direction of the Papacy.

The process of using religion as the most effective power to establish authority in society and to establish absolute dominance continued throughout the Middle Ages.

No one dared to oppose the authority of the clergy.

While science was completely excluded, superstition, prophecy, fear, and violence established dominance.

The Church became increasingly wealthy. Even the simplest priest attained great wealth.

The Italian astronomer and philosopher Bruno was burned to death because he insisted on the claim that there were many planets in the universe other than Earth.

Galileo, who pioneered astronomy, physics, and mathematics, spent his life in a hut reading penitential psalms from the Torah because he insisted on the heliocentric astronomical system.

Lavoisier, the founder of modern chemistry, was beheaded by the guillotine.

Physicians were counted as witches and burned alive.

Ordinary natural phenomena were considered the wrath of evil spirits or the devil.

The Papacy began to be passed from father to son and even sold for money.

The exploitation regarding “cleansing from committed sins,” which Urban had done before the Crusades, was put back into play in a different form. “Indulgence Certificates,” which were called certificates of forgiveness, were offered for sale by the church in exchange for money. Whoever paid the money was forgiven for their sins.

The power of the dark order, which was strengthened through the cooperation of the Church, the Monarchy, and the feudal structure, was the religion held under the monopoly of the clergy.

The understanding that reduced all knowledge in the universe to the Holy Book and excluded science also held the Holy Book under its monopoly.

The Holy Book consists of the Torah and the Bible. Although the true language of the Torah was Hebrew, the Bible was in Greek. The Church, however, used the Holy Book in Latin, and Latin had entered the sacred languages of the Church. The public did not even know what was written in the Bible.

After the printing press was invented by Gutenberg in 1450, the Bible began to be printed on the press. In 1522, Martin Luther, one of the pioneers of the Reformation movement, had the German translation of the Bible printed. In 1534, the Holy Book (Torah + Bible) was published and distributed in German. Later, it was translated into other languages.

The language used in the translation was a language that the public spoke and could easily understand.

The role of the public meeting their Holy Books in the enlightenment of European peoples and the start of the Reformation Movement cannot be denied.

The meeting of the public with the sacred texts, which were held under the monopoly of the Papacy, the Church, and the clergy, eroded the power of those who used religion as a tool for ruling and enrichment, and paved the way for the Enlightenment Revolution.

Starting from this concrete example, it will not be difficult at all to understand the truth behind the imposition of the Arabic Quran.

(To be continued)