My Enemy, My Friend [antikvár]

Foreword Today, Job gave me the idea for the foreword to this valuable little book. Job? What did he know about the conflict in the Middle East? Of course he did know about conflicts - big, life-threatening conflicts that affected him deeply, even though he didn't understand them. Was it Jesse Penn-Lewis or Oswald Chambers who remarked that God and Satan had chosen Job's body and life as their battleground without letting Job know? Job's conflicts were way beyond the scope of his understanding -and even further beyond the understanding of his "friends", who didn't know God in the same way that Job did and so had only empty words to offer him. To what extent are we observers, commentators or critics of the situation in the Middle East today? How far do we sympathize with one side or the other? No amount of knowledge qualifies us to be the ultimate umpire in this situation - no human could be impartial enough. Today, in my daily reading, 1 saw Job's reply to his negative and critical friends, ''Have I not wept for those in trouble?'' (Job 30:25). Whatever standpoint we view - or have viewed - the situation from, 1 deny anybody the right to an opinion on the Middle East situation if they have not shed real tears for those in trouble. Whether or not we try to put the blame or credit on God (or Allah), the fact remains that wherever we turn in this conflict, we are confronted with the most terrible suffering. Every word of