Reflection for Today ▶️ ⏩ ⏹️
Palestine, 1948. Image from Al Jazeera (reference in footnote)
Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.
— 1 Chronicles 11:3
It's interesting how the chronicler decides to omit all reference to the seven years prior to this event where David was acknowledged king only by the tribe of Judah, all the other tribes turning to Saul's son, Ishbosheth. If this were the only record of the events, we'd think David was acknowledged by all Israel from the moment of Saul's death. As rife as it is today, it appears that selective journalism is not a recent development.
Reading the mainstream news at this time of writing it is easy to believe that Palestine is a violent aggressor, threatening the peace and stability of Israel. What is omitted is the long history of oppression practised by Israel against the Palestinian people, in what amounts to a slow, systematic process of "ethnic cleansing".1 It's so easy to be misled by what we read or hear. The writer of Chronicles clearly had his own agenda, wanting us to believe that David's sovereignty over all Israel was never in doubt, and whitewashing seven years of strife. A similar journalistic whitewashing is occurring right now. We'd be wise to investigate further.2
1 Tomorrow, 15 May 2023 is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, but the history of conflict in the region goes back much further, as documented in this Al Jazeera article from 2017, The Nakba did not start or end in 1948: Key facts and figures on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
12 I recommend the above article, and this documentary: Gaza Fights For Freedom, directed by Abby Martin, 2019