It was a moment of sanity, in the midst of the insanity of war. Deep in the battle between Israel and Judah, war was raging. After King Saul’s death, some had followed Saul’s son and others followed David. The war had reached a tipping point.

And in that moment, Abner commander of one force called out to Joab commander of the other, “Must the slaughter go on forever? Can you not see the bitterness that will result? How long before you recall the troops from the pursuit of their kinsmen?’ . . . Joab answered, ‘If you had not spoken, they would not have given up the pursuit till morning.’ Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops all halted; they abandoned the pursuit of the Israelites, and the fighting ceased.”      II Samuel 2:25 – 28.

Slaughter has continued in Gaza, and bitterness grows, with over 37,000 deaths. To destroy a culture, housing, hospitals, orchards, farm land, places of worship . . . even cemeteries,  all in the name of self-defense, is to defend the indefensible.

Some of the Ultra Orthodox in Israel refer to Palestinians as Philistines or Amalekites, as if they are battling a war millenniums ago . . . distancing themselves from the very real lives of real people in today’s world.

Starvation hovers over the people in Gaza. Slowing humanitarian supplies, the destruction of hospitals and thousands of dead children, have revealed deep truths about the Israeli Defense Force.

Watching the war in Gaza from a distance, is to see the innocent suffering. We see the heartache of families ripped apart by a bomb or shelling.  We see children dying from lack of food and tainted water.

On one side of the war, we hear the cries of Israeli’s weeping for lost family, and aching for hostages to be free. Yet able to feed and care for its citizens, while maintaining it’s first world status. On the other side, we see people without resources, scrambling for scraps of food, watching family and friends dying, praying for humanitarian aid to reach them.

Some are referring to the actions of Israel in Gaza, as genocide. It is a difficult word to place upon a nation who is supposed to be one of our trusted allies. A painful word, that even human rights advocates in Israel are using.

Meanwhile, suffering and bitterness grow.  How could it be otherwise? Our inability to see the humanity in the other, is a disease. For only when we recognize the humanity of the other, when we see the other as made in the image of God, and realize we are all kin, will  healing and peace truly begin.