Gilad

This morning Gilad Shalit was released by Hamas in exchange for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. Many of the Palestinians being released were convicted of horrendous crimes, and it is understandable that families of Israelis whom they murdered or hurt are outraged that they are being freed. Vengeance and the wish, even need, to punish are normal human feelings, even divine feelings, that we hold as part of our godly image. 

In our Bible story for this coming Sunday, God takes Moses to the top of the mountain and lets him look at the Promised Land, then Moses dies, biblically reported (Deut 32:51) because of his sin at Meribah. If it sounds like capital punishment, so be it, that's what it was. The Bible mandates the death penalty for many crimes, sins; but many of the released Palestinian prisoners owe their lives to the fact that capital punishment is generally illegal in Israel.

From another viewpoint entirely, the value that Israel places on one of their soldiers, Sgt. Shalit, is enormously and blessedly all out of proportion to the numbers in the prisoner exchange going on this morning. In an age of war by suicide bombings, this could be a better and more hopeful world if everyone and every nation put such value on one human life.

TW+