A Biblical Devotion on Land Confiscation: Kairos Palestine Christmas 2012

Kairos Palestine has produced an advent booklet for this Christmas season. The booklet highlights four themes that are relevant to the Palestinian daily experience under the occupation: Settlements, Land Confiscation, the Separation Wall, and the Water issue. In addition to updated facts about these four themes, which were provided by the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ), the booklet also includes biblical devotions about these themes. I wrote the part on Land Confiscation, and I used the text in 1 Kings 21 about the vineyard of Naboth. The booklet can be accessed here. In it I say:

The way in which Naboth and Ahab related to the land manifested a startling contradiction. One treated it as a gift, the other as an entitlement. One believed that it belonged to the community; the other wanted it for his empire.  

The attitude of Naboth is similar to that of many contemporary Palestinian farmers. It is no surprise that Palestinians take the olive tree as a symbol, for it reminds them of their rootedness and belonging to the land. This attitude can be summarized by the words of Brueggemann:  

"Naboth is responsible for the land, but is not in control over it. It is the case not that the land belongs to him but that he belongs to the land."

Read the rest on the devotion here.