In the first passage of this sūrah, God reminds the Muslims of their covenant with Him and directs them to always remember the blessings He has bestowed on them when He accepted their covenant and bound them to it. The reminder serves as further encouragement to them to fulfil their pledges and to beware of breaking God’s covenant. This new passage outlines the attitudes different groups of those formerly given Divine revelations had taken towards their covenants with God. The passage explains what punishment befell earlier communities as a result of their violation of their covenants. This serves as a reminder to the Muslim community, pointing out that God’s law never fails and admits no favouritism. It also reveals the true nature of the people of earlier revelations and their attitude towards Islam. It, thus, enables the Muslims to see through them and to counter their wicked designs against Islam which they treacherously work out under the guise of following the teachings of their religions. In truth, they had turned their backs on their faith and violated their pledges to God.

This passage firstly discusses the covenant God made with the followers of Moses, when He saved them from subjugation in Egypt and their subsequent violations of this covenant. As a result, they were cursed and rejected by God. They were also denied His blessings and guidance. It also refers to the covenant God made with those who claimed to be Christians. As a result of their following a course contrary to their covenant with God, the seeds of enmity were sewn among them. Hostility among their different sects will continue until the Day of Judgement. The passage also refers to the attitude of the Jews when they cowardly refused to enter the Holy Land, although God had promised them that they would have it for themselves.

They said to Moses: “Go forth, then you and your Lord, and fight, both of you. We shall stay here.” (Verse 24)

This exposition of these pledges and covenants, and the attitudes of those who were previously given revelations, also reveals the distortion that had crept into the Jewish and Christian faiths. Included in their covenants was a condition that they would continue to believe in God’s oneness and fully submit to Him. By so doing, they would fulfil their part of the bargain and earn all the blessings God had bestowed on them and the guarantees of victory He had given them. They refused all this and, consequently, incurred the scourge of God’s curse and ended up in disunity, suffering persecution by others.

This passage also calls on them anew to follow the Divine guidance embodied in the final message from God, conveyed by Muĥammad, His last Messenger. It refutes their argument that it had been a very long time since the last of their prophets had died and, hence, they had subsequently forgotten everything. A new Messenger who warns and gives happy news has now been sent to all mankind. Their argument is thus refuted by undeniable evidence.

Through this new call to them, the unity of the Divine faith becomes clearly apparent. God accepts the same covenant from all His servants, which binds them to believe in Him alone, and to believe in, and support, His messengers, making no distinction between them. It calls upon them to attend regularly to their prayers, to regularly pay charity and so financially support God’s cause. These are the terms of the covenant with God laying down the essentials of the true faith, defining proper worship and outlining the main features of a social system that is suitable to man and acceptable to God.

Indeed, God made a covenant with the Children of Israel and We appointed among them twelve captains. God said: I shall be with you. If you attend to your prayers, practise regular charity, believe in My messengers and support them and offer up to God a generous loan, I shall forgive you your sins and admit you into gardens through which running waters flow. But any of you who, after this, rejects the faith will indeed have strayed from the right path. Then for having broken their covenant, We rejected them and caused their hearts to harden. They now distort the meaning of [revealed] words, taking them out of their context. Moreover, they have forgotten much of what they have been told to bear in mind. From all but a few of them you will always experience treachery. But pardon them, and forbear. God loves those who do good.

Likewise, from those who said, “We are Christians, “We have accepted a firm covenant, but they, too, have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind. Therefore, We have given rise among them to enmity and hatred to last until the Day of Resurrection. God will make clear to them what they have done. (Verses 12-14)

The covenant God had accepted from the Children of Israel stated a specific condition and stipulated certain penalties in case of default. After explaining the circumstances leading to the confirmation of this covenant, the sūrah mentions its terms, conditions and penalties. It was a covenant made with the twelve captains of the Israelites, representing all twelve tribes descending from Jacob, or Israel. Each tribe descended from one of Jacob’s sons. The terms of the covenant are outlined as follows: “God said: ‘I shall be with you. If you attend to your prayers, practise regular charity, believe in My messengers and support them and offer up to God a generous loan, I shall forgive you your sins and admit you into gardens through which running waters flow.

But any of you who, after this, rejects the faith will indeed have strayed from the right path.” (Verse 12)

When God says to any group of people, “I shall be with you”, He gives them a great promise. He who has God on his side suffers no opposition. Whoever and whatever stands against him is of no consequence. Moreover, whoever is with God will not go astray. To be with God is sufficient to ensure the right guidance and the proper support. Anyone who is sure to be on God’s side will never suffer worry or misery.

He is reassured and blessed with unfailing happiness. He need not ask for anything better than what he already has.

But God does not give this blessing of being with them as a special favour or a personal gift. This comes only after its conditions are fulfilled. It is, indeed, a contract that outlines conditions and specifies penalties. The first condition is to attend to prayer. This is more than merely offering prayers. It means that prayers should become a manifestation of a true relationship between man and his Lord. This makes prayer an educative element which purifies man’s behaviour and dissuades him from committing any blatant sin or gross indecency.

They have indeed broken their covenant with God; they killed their prophets for no legitimate reason, and they plotted to kill and crucify Jesus (peace be upon him)

the last of their Prophets. They also distorted their revealed Scriptures, i.e. the Torah, and abandoned its laws. They adopted a hostile attitude towards the last of all Prophets, Muĥammad (peace be upon him). They schemed against him and betrayed him and adopted an uncompromising attitude of hostility towards his message, not hesitating to violate the treaty they signed with him. As a result, God denied them His guidance and rejected them. Their hearts were caused to harden so that they could no longer be the recipients of Divine guidance: “Then for having broken their covenant, We rejected them and caused their hearts to harden. They now distort the meaning of [revealed] words, taking them out of their context. Moreover, they have forgotten much of what they have been told to bear in mind.” (Verse 13)

Indeed, God tells the truth. These were the distinctive features of the Israelites; a curse clearly apparent in their faces and deeply entrenched in their evil character, a hardness that left no room for a compassionate smile, and actions that took no heed of human feelings. They may appear gentle when they have something to fear or an interest to further, or when they try to sow the seeds of discord among people, but their hardness will nevertheless surface revealing how, deep at heart, they are cruel, devoid of mercy. Such was their essential nature that they distorted revealed words, took it all out of context. They distorted their revealed Book and presented it in a light different from that given to Moses (peace be upon him). They did this in more ways than one. They added to their Book much of what served their devious goals and gave them religious justification for pursuing their wicked ends, which they falsely attributed to God. They also interpreted such original statements as remained in their Book according to their prejudices, this to fit them to their wicked designs.

Furthermore, they deliberately abandoned or forgot the tenets of their faith and left them unimplemented in their society because such implementation would have required them to adhere to a clean and pure method, one acceptable to God.

“From all but a few of them you will always experience treachery.” (Verse 13) This is an address to the Prophet (peace be upon him), describing the attitude of the Jews towards the Muslim community in Madinah. They never hesitated to try to betray God’s Messenger (peace be upon him). Their treacherous attempts came fast and furious, one after the other. Indeed, that was their standard practice during the years when they were with the Prophet in Madinah, then in the whole of Arabia. It has continued to be their practice whenever they live within a Muslim community, despite the fact that the Muslim community has been the only one to provide them with safe refuge, allow them a life free of persecution and extend to them kindly treatment and a prosperous life. Nonetheless, they have continued to show the same attitude they adopted towards the Prophet; characteristics more suited to stealthy snakes and cunning foxes. If they are unable to level a direct low to destroy the Muslims, they resort to tricks and wicked designs instead. They scheme with every enemy of the Muslims until they find a chance to hit them hard, without mercy or compassion, paying no heed to any covenant or treaty. This is true of the great majority of them, as God described them in His Book and as He has told us of their nature which they acquired as a consequence of their breaking their covenant with God early on in their history.

God also relates to His Messenger (peace be upon him) and to the Muslim community that He accepted a covenant from those who described themselves as Christians, but they, too, were unfaithful to their covenant and suffered the consequences: “Likewise, from those who said, ‘We are Christians’, We have accepted a firm covenant, but they, too, have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind.

Therefore, We have given rise among them to enmity and hatred to last until the Day of Resurrection. God will make clear to them what they have done.” (Verse 14)

This verse begins with a particularly significant description: “Likewise, from those who said: ‘We are Christians’, We have accepted a firm covenant.” This mode of expression tells us that they simply professed to be Christians without giving practical credence to their claims. The essence of their covenant was to believe in God’s oneness. Yet it was in regard to this very issue that deviation crept into the history of Christianity. It is this central clause in their covenant which became the forgotten part of what they had enjoined. When it was forgotten, every deviation became possible and enmity broke out between the numberless sects and churches of Christianity, old and new, as we will shortly but briefly explain. God tells us that their enmity and hatred will continue until the Day of Resurrection. Moreover, they will suffer the punishment of the Hereafter, at the time when they will be shown a clear image of what they have done in this life.

Old and modern history has witnessed much conflict, hostility and enmity between those who claim to be Christians. All this gives factual endorsement to what God tells us in His truthful Book. Their wars against each other have caused much more bloodshed than the wars they fought against non-Christians throughout history. They have fought each other because of conflicts over principles of faith, disputes over religious supremacy and quarrels over political, economic and social issues. Many generations have passed but their hostility and their wars have not subsided. They will continue to flare up until the Day of Judgement as stated by the One who always says the truth. This is all a natural result of their violation of their pledges to God and their negligence of what He commanded them to do. As we have already said, the first item in their covenant is to believe in God’s oneness and it is this first item that they abandoned shortly after Jesus Christ had been raised by God.

Perhaps this is not the proper place to discuss the reasons for this deviation in detail.

Now that the attitude taken by the Jews and Christians towards their covenants with God has been made clear, the sūrah addresses both communities announcing the message of the last of all prophets and that it is addressed to them as well as to the Arabs and to all mankind. They are required to follow God’s last Messenger, and this requirement is part of the firm covenant they made with God. They are told that this last Messenger has come to make public much of what they have concealed of God’s revelations which were entrusted to their care, and concerning which they were unfaithful to their trust. They are also told that this last Messenger will also forgive them much of what they have concealed, because it is no longer needed in the new message. It points out some of the deviant beliefs which the last Messenger would rectify, such as the claim by the Christians that Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was God Himself, and the assertion by both Christians and Jews that they were God’s sons and beloved ones. This address is concluded with a clear statement that they would have no argument to press after the revelation of this final and clear message. Nor could they claim that a long time had lapsed after the revelation of their messages, and that this had caused them to forget and become confused.

Those people who received revelations in the past found it rather hard to accept that a Prophet who did not belong to them should call on them to submit themselves to God. This Prophet belonged to a nation of illiterate people whom they used to despise, on account of their being unlettered while they themselves had Divine Scriptures. God wanted to bestow a great honour on those unlettered people and, therefore, He chose from among them the individual who was to become the last of all Prophets. He also gave them His final message, addressed to all mankind. He taught those unlettered people to become the ones with the highest standard of knowledge on earth. This transformation made them the ones with the highest beliefs, the most consistent and sound way of life, the most complete system and legal code, the soundest social set-up and the most sublime standard of morality. All this was part of the grace God bestowed on them when He chose Islam to be their faith. Those unlettered people could not have aspired to be the guides for humanity without this grace they received from God. Indeed, they never had and will never have anything to offer humanity except for what their faith gives them.

In this Divine address to the people of earlier Scriptures, it is made clear that they are called upon to accept Islam, believe in Muĥammad and support him, as this has been part of their covenant which God accepted from them. They are clearly told that God Himself is a witness that this Prophet who could not read and write was His Messenger to them as well as to the Arabs and to all mankind. There is no denying the fact that his message was given to him by God, and no claim can be admitted that his message was addressed to the Arabs only; it is, indeed, addressed also to the people of earlier revelations: “People of earlier revelations, Our Messenger has come to you to make clear to you much of what you have been concealing of the Scriptures, and to forgive you much.” (Verse 15) He has sent a Messenger to you, and his role is to open things up to you so that you see them in their reality. You can thus see how he brings out into the open what you have conspired to suppress of the basic truth of the revelations given to you.

This applies to both the Christians and Jews. The Christians suppressed the very basic and fundamental principle of faith, namely, the concept of God’s oneness, and the Jews suppressed many Divine legislations such as the punishment of adulterers with stoning and the total prohibition of usury. Both the Christians and the Jews also suppressed the news of the future mission of the unlettered Prophet, “whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel in their hands.” (7: 157) He (peace be upon him)

pardons them for much of what they had distorted or suppressed as it is not included in his revelations. God has abrogated many of the rulings of earlier Scriptures and Divine codes as these had fulfilled their purpose in the particular community to which the message had been revealed. They had no longer any role to play in human society. Now the final, comprehensive and everlasting message has been revealed and become well-established as a demonstration of the perfection of the grace God has bestowed on man, when He chose self-surrender, or Islam, as the basis of the faith acceptable to Him. No abrogation or modification can be introduced into this message.

The nature of what the last Messenger has been given, the role it is destined to play in human life and its practical effect are then explained: “There has come to you from God a light and a clear Book.” (Verse 15) Perhaps nothing expresses the nature of the Qur’ān and the Divine message of Islam more accurately and comprehensively than stating that it is “a light”. In his heart of hearts, in everything in his life, in his evaluation of things, events and people, a believer realises as soon as he accepts the truth of faith that he has a light that makes everything clear to him. Everything brightens up in front of him. No longer is he confused about anything; no longer does he suffer any hesitation before taking a serious decision; no longer is he travelling an unmarked road and no longer is he uncertain of his direction. His ultimate goal is clear. His way towards it is straight and he is certain of his footsteps.

Two qualities describe the message which was given to the noble Messenger: “a light and a clear book” It has been God’s pleasure to choose self-surrender, or Islam, as a religion for mankind. Anyone who follows what God has been pleased to choose for him and accepts it with pleasure will be guided by God “to the paths of peace”. How true and accurate this description is. What this faith imparts to life as a whole is peace, in the broadest sense of the term. It is peace within the individual, the community and the whole world. It is peace with one’s conscience, with one’s mind and body. It is peace within the home and family, society and the community and with humanity at large.

It is peace with life, the universe and with the Creator, God. Mankind never knew or experienced this sort of peace except through following this faith and implementing its laws and systems.

It is a true fact that through this religion of Islam God guides anyone who seeks His pleasure by following it “to the paths of peace” in all the aforementioned aspects of life. No one can appreciate how profound a blessing this is except a person who has experienced what life is like along the paths of war in ignorant societies, old and modern, or one who has experienced the turmoil of worry and restlessness generated within man’s conscience by deviant faiths, or erroneous laws and systems. Those who were the first to be addressed by these Qur’ānic revelations realised, as a result of their past experience in ignorant societies, the true meaning of this peace which brought happiness into their personal lives.

We badly need to understand this basic truth. We see ignorance all around us playing havoc with man’s life, as it continues to cause wars to flare up within human conscience and human society, generation after generation. No one needs to understand this true wisdom more than us since we have lived in this state of peace for a period of our history, only to leave it for a life of war that crushes our spirits, morality, behaviour and society. We put up with being choked by the tightening grip of darkness and endure the unabating war it wages against us, all when Islam and the peace it imparts to mankind is well within our reach. We only need to accept for ourselves what God has chosen for us to enjoy this blessed peace. What a raw deal we accept for ourselves when we barter good for evil, truth for error and peace for war.

Unbelievers indeed are they who say: “God is the Christ, son of Mary.” Say: Who could have prevailed with God in any way had it been His will to destroy the Christ, son of Mary, and his mother, and everyone on earth? To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what He wills and God has power over all things. (Verse 17)

The message Jesus (peace be upon him) conveyed as given to him by his Lord was the message of God’s absolute oneness which has been given to every messenger.

Total submission to God alone as the only God and the Lord of the universe was the attitude adopted by every messenger. This clear faith, however, later became distorted after pagans adopted Christianity, retaining some traces of their old pagan beliefs which they were keen to introduce into the faith based on God’s oneness. As time passed, these deviant beliefs became an integral part of the whole faith.

These deviant beliefs were not introduced all at the same time. Ecclesiastical councils introduced them at different intervals until they eventually produced this singularly confusing mixture of legends and concepts that defies even those of its advocates who try to give a logical interpretation of it.

The basic concept of God’s oneness was preached after Jesus (peace be upon him)

by his disciples and their followers. The Gospel of Barnabas, one of many written at the time, speaks of Jesus Christ as a Messenger of God. Internal differences then broke out, with some maintaining that the Christ was not different from other messengers sent by God. Others acknowledged that he was a messenger but they claimed that he had a special relationship with God, while a third group said that he was the son of God because he was created without a father. Nevertheless, he was one of God’s creation. A different group claimed that he was God’s son, and that he was not created; he shared with the Father the quality of being eternal.

To settle their differences, a great synod met in 325 AD, attended by 48,000

patriarchs and bishops who were described by Ibn al-Baţrīq, a historian of Christianity, as follows:

They differed greatly in views and faiths. Some of them maintained that both the Christ and his mother were gods, while others, Sabilius and his followers, viewed the relationship between the Christ and the Father as a brand of fire separated from a torch, which continued to burn unaffected by this split. A third group, Ilyan and those who followed his lead, claimed that Mary did not bear Jesus for nine months, as mothers bear their children. He only passed through her belly as water runs through gutters. The Word went through her ear and came out instantly through the passage where a child is born. Another group claimed that the Christ was a human being created from the Divine with an essence similar to that of any one of us. The beginning of the son started with Mary, and he was chosen to maintain the human essence.

Divine grace was bestowed on him with love and Divine will. It is for this reason that he was called the son of God. They maintained that God is an eternal, single essence and single hypostasis who had three names. They did not believe in the Word or in the Holy Spirit. This was the view advocated by Paul Shamshati, the patriarch of Antioch and his followers who were called the Bulikanians. Yet another group believed in a trinity consisting of three deities: good, evil and a middle one in between. This view was advanced by Markiun whom they claimed to be Jesus’s Chief Disciple, denying Peter. A further group maintained that Jesus Christ had a Divine nature. This was the belief advocated by St. Paul and 318 bishops who followed him.1

The final message gives the ultimate ruling on this whole issue, with the final Messenger declaring to the people who received revelations in former times the true nature of the Divine faith: “Unbelievers indeed are they who say: ‘God is the Christ, son of Mary.‘“ (Verse 17) “Unbelievers indeed are those who claim that God is one of a Trinity.” (Verse 73) An effort is made here to persuade them to listen to the voice of reason, upright nature and fact: “Say: Who could have prevailed with God in any way had it been His will to destroy the Christ, son of Mary, and his mother, and everyone on earth?” (Verse 17) This represents an absolute and undeniable distinction between God, His nature, will and dominion on the one hand and the nature of Jesus (peace be upon him); his mother and all beings on the other. The difference is clear and total. God is single; nothing is like Him; His will is absolute; His authority is total; no one can do anything to reverse His will should He desire to destroy the Christ, son of Mary, his mother and everyone on earth. He, the most glorious owns and creates everything, while all else are created: “To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what He wills and God has power over all things.” (Verse 17)

The Islamic faith thus appears to all in its true light: simple, clear, straightforward.

Its clarity is even more enhanced in comparison to all erroneous concepts, legends and pagan beliefs which have crept into the faith of a section of those who were given earlier revelations. The first distinctive feature of the Islamic faith becomes prominent as it states without any trace of ambiguity the true nature of Godhead, as well as servitude and submission to God. It separates the two positions most decisively.

The sūrah then mentions another claim pressed by the Jews and Christians: “Both the Jews and the Christians say: ‘We are God’s children and His loved ones.‘“ (Verse 18)

They allege that some sort of parenthood belongs to God. If this fatherhood is not a physical one, then it is spiritual. Whatever it is, it throws an element of doubt on the concept of God’s oneness and detracts from the decisive separation between the position of God and that of His servants. The fact is that this separation is necessary for the clarity of faith and the proper order of human life. It is essential so that all worship is addressed to God by all His creation. They, thus, have a single legislative authority which sets for them their values, standards, laws and systems, with no confusion of authority resulting from a jumble of qualities and positions. It is not merely a question of deviant beliefs, but a question of their consequences that are bound to corrupt life as a whole.

As a logical consequence of their claim that they are the children of God and His loved ones, the Jews and Christians claimed that He would not punish them for their sins, and that they would not be in Hell for more than a few days, if at all. This means in plain terms that God’s justice is not administered properly and that He favours a section of His servants by allowing them to spread corruption on earth without punishing them as He punishes others who would do the same. Can we imagine the sort of corrupt life that may result from such a concept?

At this point, Islam rejects most decisively such deviant beliefs and their practical consequences which corrupt life. It stresses the fact that God’s justice is absolute:

“Say: Why then does He punish you for your sins? You are only human beings of His creation. He forgives whom He will and punishes whom He will.” (Verse 18) Their claims of being God’s children are, thus, stated to be false. They are no more than other human beings. Forgiveness or punishment is determined by the same rule, based on God’s will which has established certain reasons for forgiveness and different ones for punishment. Neither is determined by any special relationship with God.

We then have a reiteration of the fact that everything belongs to God and returns to Him: “To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and to Him all shall return.” (Verse 18) It goes without saying that the owner is different from what is owned. Limitless as He is in His glory, His will is absolute and to Him will all return.

A renewed address is then made to the people given earlier revelations in order to allow them no excuse whatsoever. They are made to visualise most clearly their eventual destiny: “People of earlier revelations! Now after an interval during which no messengers have appeared, Our Messenger has come to you to make things plain to you, lest you say: ‘No one has come to give us good news or to warn us.’ Now there has come to you a bearer of good news and a warner. God has power over all things.” (Verse 19)

At this point in the sūrah, the attitude of the Children of Israel towards God’s Messenger sent to them, Moses (peace be upon him), is given. Moses was their saviour who led them out of Egypt towards the holy land God had assigned to them.

The sūrah also exposes their attitude to the covenant they made with their Lord and how they violated it and were punished for that violation.

And so Moses said to his people: `My people, remember the favours which God has bestowed upon you when He raised up prophets among you, made you kings and granted you what He has not granted to any other community. My people, enter the holy land which God has assigned to you. Do not turn your back, for then you will be lost.’” “Moses,” they answered, `mighty people dwell in that land, and we will surely not enter it unless they depart from it. If they do depart, then we will enter.” Thereupon two men who were God-fearing and on whom God had bestowed His grace said: “Go in upon them through the gate. As soon as you enter it, you shall be victorious. In God you should place your trust, if you are true believers.” They said, “Moses, we will never go in so long as they are in it. Go forth, then, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you. We shall stay here.” “Lord, “he said, `I am master of none but myself and my brother. Do, then, draw a dividing line between us and these wrongdoing folk.” He replied, “This land shall, then, be forbidden to them for forty years, during which they will wonder aimlessly on earth. Do not grieve for these wrongdoing folk.” (Verses 20-26)

This is only one episode in the story of the Children of Israel which is related in the Qur’ān in extensive detail to serve several purposes. One purpose relates to the fact that the Children of Israel were the first to confront the Islamic message with wicked designs, plots and open warfare both in Madinah and the whole of Arabia.

Their hostile attitude could be traced back to the very early days of the Islamic message. It was they who encouraged and nurtured hypocrisy and the hypocrites in Madinah, providing them with the means to scheme against Islam and the Muslims.

They also incited the pagan Arabs to fight the Muslim community and gave them their active support. It was they who started the war of false rumours against the Muslim community raising among them doubts and suspicions about the Muslim leadership and circulating distortions of the Islamic faith before they confronted the Muslim community in open warfare. It was necessary, therefore, to expose them to the Muslim community so that it knew its enemies: their nature, history, methods and means as well as the nature of the battle it had to fight against them.

Another purpose can be seen in the fact that the Israelites were the followers of a Divine faith revealed before the final faith of Islam. They had a long history before Islam, during which distortions crept into their faith and they repeatedly violated their agreement and covenant with God. The practical consequences of these violations and deviations were seen in their lives, their moral values and their traditions. As the Muslim nation is the heir to all Divine messages and the custodian of the monotheistic Divine faith as a whole, it is necessary that it be made fully aware of the history of the Israelites with all its ups and downs. This gave the Muslim community an accurate knowledge of the way it should follow, what slips lay ahead of it and the consequences of such slips, as these are reflected in the history and morality of the Jews. This enabled the Muslim community to add the experience of the Jews to the total sum of its own experience and to benefit by it in future. It could, thus, avoid the slips and deal effectively with deviation right at the start before it had a chance to develop.

The Israelite nature appears here unmasked, without cosmetics. They were facing danger and, therefore, all attempts to put on a brave face were abandoned. Not even God’s promise to them to make this land theirs was sufficient to motivate them. They wanted an easier prize, without having to pay any price. It should come to them from heaven just as manna and quails were sent down for them to eat. “Mighty people dwell in that land, and we will surely not enter it unless they depart from it. If they do depart, then we will enter” (Verse 22)

Victory, however, does not come in this manner as the Jews wanted when they were devoid of faith: “Thereupon two men who were God- fearing and on whom God had bestowed His grace said: ‘Go in upon them through the gate. As soon as you enter it, you shall be victorious. In God you should place your trust, if you are true believers.’” (Verse 23)

The value of having faith and of being God-fearing appears very clearly. These were two men who feared God, and being God-fearing made them totally fearless when they confronted mighty people. They had all the courage needed to dispel the imaginary danger. They made this testimony, highlighting the importance of faith and the time of trial and difficulty. They wanted to show what it meant to fear God alone at times when people fear each other. God does not combine the two feelings of fear in any one man’s heart: fearing Him and fearing human beings. A person who fears God fears no one else.

“Go in upon them through the gate. As soon as you enter it, you shall be victorious.” (Verse 23) This is a basic rule in how to fight the enemy. The Jews are advised here to launch an offensive which takes them right through into the other people’s homes.

Once they are in, the others will be demoralised while their own morale will be high indeed. Those attacked will suffer a total loss of confidence and the attackers will win.

“In God you should place your trust, if you are true believers.” (Verse 23) A believer relies on no one other than God. This is the distinctive mark and the correlative of faith. But who were these two men addressing them with these true words? They were after all addressing the Israelites. True to their nature, the Children of Israel said: “Moses, we will never go in so long as they are in it. Go forth, then, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you. We shall stay here.” (Verse 24)

Cowardly people are increasingly impudent. They start to kick around like donkeys but they never step forward. Often, cowardice and impudence go hand in hand. A cowardly person is reminded of his duty, but his strength fails him. His neglect of his duty embarrasses him and he abuses this duty as well as the message which imposes on him what he does not want.

“Go forth, then, you and your Lord and fight, both of you. We shall stay here.” (Verse 24)

A perfect example of rudeness from weak people who realise that rudeness costs nothing but words. Fulfilment of their duty, on the other hand, requires them to fight in a real war. “Go forth, then, you and your Lord, both of you.” He is, then, not their Lord if his lordship means that they will have to fight. “We shall stay here.” We neither desire a kingdom, nor sovereignty, nor even the promised holy land, if it means that we will have to fight these mighty people.