Looking back at the Six-Day War
Tony Benson
The fortieth anniversary of the Six-Day War has created
a lot of interest in the Brotherhood. This article looks back
at the war and shows how the hand of God was at work in
bringing about events which had great consequences for
the fulfilment of Bible prophecy.
T
HE JEWISH HISTORIAN Sir Martin Gilbert
said in a recent interview in the International
Jerusalem Post that, when he studies the archives of recent events when they become open
to the public, he often finds that the reality was
very different to the perception at the time. This
is certainly so when we look at the Six-Day War
with hindsight.
Our perspective on these matters is that of the
hand of God at work. At the time we saw it at
work giving Israel a miraculous victory against
overwhelming odds. Looking back we can still
see that the hand of God must have been at work
because of the fulfilments of prophecies arising
from Israel’s victory, but we can now see that it
worked in ways too subtle to be appreciated at
the time.
The significance of the war
First we consider briefly the significance of the
war. Although God is in control of all things,
clearly there are times when God’s hand is particularly at work to fulfil His purpose, especially
in relation to His people Israel; and it is regarding
such times that we look at how events worked
out to fulfil God’s purpose. The Six-Day War was
a significant event in the following ways: 1
1 The bringing of East Jerusalem under Israeli
control marked an end to the treading down of
Jerusalem by Gentile powers (Lk. 21:24), and
provided an apt termination to the 2,300-year
time period of Daniel 8, which had been anticipated for 250 years to terminate in 1967.2
2 It gave Israel control over the holy places of
Christianity and Islam situated in Jerusalem.
Israel is now determined to hold onto Jerusalem, Muslims want it back and the major
churches of Christendom would like it to be
under international control. Jerusalem has
become “a burdensome stone for all people”,
as predicted in Zechariah 12:3.
The Testimony, July 2007
3 It gave Israel control over the hill
country of Judea and Samaria, which,
as “the mountains of Israel” of Ezekiel
38:8, needs to be part of Israel when
Gog invades.
Looking back, it can be seen that
the war also had more general consequences for Israel, the Middle East and the
whole world in relation to the fulfilment of Bible
prophecy:
1 It made Israel confident that it could defeat
any combination of Arab nations that would
come against it, a reliance on its own strength
rather than trusting in God. This is part of
the reason why God is yet to humble them by
more powerful invaders so that they will at last
be forced to turn to Him in their extremity.
2 It created the Palestinian problem—the desire
of the Palestinians to get back the West Bank
territories (Judea and Samaria) and the Gaza
Strip—with all the trouble this has meant for
Israel. (In fact there was, of course, no independent Palestine prior to the Six-Day War;
the West Bank had been seized by Jordan,
and the Gaza Strip by Egypt, in the 1948 War
of Independence, prior to which these areas
had been ruled by Britain, and before that the
Ottoman Empire.)
3 The settlement of West Bank territories by
Jews has created internal conflict within Israel.
Some, mainly religious, Jews wish to retain
the whole area; others would be prepared to
give it all back in return for peace. There is
now a disunited nation, not a nation united
in its worship of God—a situation which had
existed from independence but was accentuated by the conquests of 1967. In ancient times
the nation was seldom united, and this will
continue in modern times till Christ comes.
4 Before June 1967 Israel was regarded sympathetically by most of the world as the underdog. Its victory showed that this was not
1.
2.
These were referred to in Brother Nigel Bernard’s
article, “Israel—forty years on” (Jun. 2007, p. 182).
Dissertations on the Prophecies, Thomas Newton, twentyfirst edition, p. 291. This book was first published in
1754.
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so, and it has become widely criticised by a
world that is largely ignorant of the facts of
recent history and of the intransigence of the
Arabs. It thus began a process that will lead
to “all nations” coming against Jerusalem to
battle (Zech. 14:2).
5 Because the USA supported Israel in the SixDay War, the USA lost influence in the Middle
East. In 1956 the USA intervened when Britain
and France colluded with Israel to invade
Egypt (the Suez crisis), and forced them to
withdraw. From 1967 onwards it consistently
allied itself with Israel. In contrast, the Six-Day
War caused France to change from being a
supporter of Israel to being perhaps her most
severe critic in Western Europe.
6 Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem and the West
Bank territories, and the support of the USA,
has been a major factor in the growth of extreme Islamic movements, with all that this has
meant for the world by way of terrorism.
Was it a miraculous victory?
Was Israel’s quick and comprehensive victory in
the Six-Day War a miracle? The word ‘miracle’ has
become a debased word in modern society, and it
is easy for contemporary usage to affect our use
of the term. It is right that we should recognise
the hand of God in everything, but we should
reserve the word ‘miracle’ for its prime meaning
of “an event that is contrary to the established
laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural
force”.3 When an angel destroyed 185,000 Assyrians overnight it was a miracle; when the tables
were turned on Haman’s evil designs so that
the Jews could destroy their enemies it was not
a miracle.4
Did the Six-Day War involve any open manifestations of God’s power? I know of no evidence
that it did. However, in view of the significance of
the war, including its timing to fulfil Daniel 8:14,
God’s hand must have been at work. How He acts
to fulfil His purpose without open intervention
can be illustrated from the time of the return from
exile in Babylon. Ezra 1:1-4 refers to Cyrus the
Persian emperor decreeing that the Jews could
return to Jerusalem. Esther records how, somewhat later, through a remarkable combination of
circumstances, the Jews of Persia were placed in
a situation where they could avoid destruction
by their enemies and turn the tables on them. No
miracles are recorded in either case. However,
Daniel 10 shows us the angels busily at work
at the time when Cyrus made his decree, but in
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ways unseen to men, and only known to Daniel
because it was revealed to him; and this is surely
in Scripture to show us how God is working out
His purpose all the time.
Looking at the Six-Day War in retrospect, the
Divine hand can be seen at work in the circumstances that brought about the war, and also in
how the Israeli forces were able to secure a swift
and decisive victory.
How the war arose
The Six-Day War was triggered by two actions
by Gamal Abdul Nasser, the Egyptian president.
He expelled a United Nations peacekeeping force
stationed on the Egyptian-Israeli border in the
Gaza Strip and at Sharm el-Sheikh at the bottom
of the Sinai Peninsula. He then blocked the Straits
of Tiran, at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, to
all shipping, preventing access to the Israeli port
of Eilat at the head of the gulf. Blockading access
to shipping in this way is widely regarded as an
act of war.
Egypt then amassed forces in the Sinai Peninsula while Egyptian radio poured out a stream
of bellicose threats against Israel, and other Arab
nations offered their support. Israel launched a
pre-emptive strike, apparently believing that an
Arab invasion was imminent. In fact, it is now
said, Nasser had no intention originally of actually going to war, and there is a revisionist view
today that says that Israel was well aware of this
and deliberately went to war for its own ends.
Whatever the case, the war came with all the
significance outlined above because events simply
got out of control, humanly speaking, though of
course fully under the control of the angels.
The way the war came about illustrates the
truth of several Scriptures, such as:
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise
in their own craftiness” (1 Cor. 3:19, citing
Job 5:13);
“the LORD . . . That turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish”
(Isa. 44:24,25);
“The king’s heart is in the hand of LORD, as
the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever
He will” (Prov. 21:1);
3.
4.
Collins English Dictionary.
Brother Robert Roberts distinguished between the
open intervention of Divine power and God working
out His purpose behind the scenes in his two books
The Visible Hand of God and The Ways of Providence.
The Testimony, July 2007
Picture: © iStockphoto.com/Gert Kelu
Sharm el-Sheikh at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Six-Day War was precipitated
by Egypt demanding the withdrawal of a UN peacekeeping force from here to enable it
to block sea access to the Israeli port of Eilat.
“the most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will”
(Dan. 4:17).
We will look at the various nations involved in
the war and see how remarkably things worked
out to bring the triumph of Israel and all the
consequences outlined above. This will involve
looking at developments prior to the immediate
buildup to the war.
Syria
Although the war came about because of the
belligerence of Egypt, as outlined above, in the
longer term it was the actions of Syria that caused
the buildup of tensions in the area. There had
been constant provocation of Israel by Syria over
a long period, with incursions by Syrian-backed
guerrillas growing. Israel retaliated strongly,
leaving the Syrians feeling humiliated and the
government unpopular. A war was seen by
the government as being a means of recovering
popularity, and in typical Arab fashion it made
bellicose threats against Israel which it was incapable of carrying out, relying on its alliance with
Egypt and the background support of Russia to
carry it through.
The Testimony, July 2007
Russia
Russia saw the opportunity in the growing crisis
to stir up trouble for Israel and increase its influence with the Arabs. It told President Nasser that
Israel was amassing troops on the border with
Syria. There was no truth in this, and Russia is
believed to have invented the story to get Egypt
to move troops to Sinai to deter Israel from retaliating too strongly against Syrian incursions.
Russia did not apparently want war, knowing
Egypt’s weakness, but encouraged Egypt and
Syria to think they could rely on its support if it
came to war, though not seriously intending to
do so. It badly miscalculated, and events got out
of its control.
Egypt
In the spring of 1967 the Egyptian president,
Gamal Abdul Nasser, was in difficulties. His
forces were bogged down in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to replace the monarchy in Yemen
with a republican régime. He had economic
problems due to being unable to pay money
which the country had borrowed. He allowed
the Voice of the Arabs radio station to broadcast
inflammatory words about Israel. His intelligence
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service told him what he wanted to hear about
Israel, rather than the truth. Other Arab nations
accused him of being a coward, afraid to go to
war. The result was the preparations for war outlined above. The distinguished Jewish American
commentator Walter Laqueur makes some telling
comments:
“Events soon acquired a momentum of their
own; once Nasser had taken the first step there
was a very strong temptation to advance farther towards the brink. And then, at a certain
point, retreat became impossible”;
“Nasser . . . stumbled into war without a
plan, hoping somehow that Israel would
crumble”.5
More recently the view has been expressed that
Nasser would have withdrawn his forces rather
than commit them to war against Israel. Whatever
the case, it is now recognised that Egypt was in no
position to wage a successful war against Israel,
due to widespread incompetence and mismanagement in the military, despite the fact that it
considerably outnumbered the Israeli army. His
best troops were in Yemen. He appointed a commander-in-chief who was not up to the job and
who committed suicide after the humiliating defeat; the troops were ill-trained and unprepared;
the commanders on the ground were in dispute
with each other and involved in meetings instead
of preparing the forces in the field. Half the planes
were not ready for combat, and most of the pilots
not properly trained. Intelligence warnings that
Israel was preparing a pre-emptive strike were
ignored. What was on paper an impressive force
was incapable of performing effectively.
Not for the first time, Ezekiel 29:15 was fulfilled: “[Egypt] shall be the basest of the kingdoms;
neither shall it exalt itself any more above the
nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall
no more rule over the nations”.
Jordan
King Hussein of Jordan had no desire to be involved in a war, and the Israelis quietly warned
him to stay out of it. Relations with Egypt were
bad, for President Nasser was against monarchies.
However, in a dramatic move he flew to Cairo
on 30 May and made a mutual defence pact with
Egypt. This made an Israeli pre-emptive strike
inevitable, for if Egypt invaded first, Jordan, occupying what became known as the West Bank
territories of Judea and Samaria, was only twelve
miles from the Mediterranean at the nearest point
and could have cut Israel in two while Israeli
228
forces were dealing with an Egyptian invasion
in the south.
Why did King Hussein do this? For one thing
he feared that if war did break out and he remained neutral, Israel might use it as a pretext
to take Jerusalem anyway. For another, since
other Arab nations were making threats against
Israel he felt he could not do any other than join
in, otherwise he would be in danger of being
overthrown by his own people. It was all very
well for nations further off to threaten Israel,
however; but Jordan was Israel’s neighbour, and
King Hussein’s action turned out to be a colossal
blunder which resulted in Jordan being the real
loser in the war. Thus does God act through the
folly of men.
Other parties
When Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran in
what was effectively the first act of war, there was
much talk of the USA, perhaps aided by Britain,
sending a flotilla of ships through the Straits of
Tiran to break the blockade; but it came to nothing. This could well have prevented the situation
from escalating into war. Why did it not happen?
One answer is that the USA was heavily engaged
in the Vietnam War, the ultimately unsuccessful
attempt to prevent South Vietnam from becoming Communist. Another answer is that the
USA was secretly in collusion with Israel to give
Israel an excuse to take Jerusalem and the West
Bank.
Whatever the case, there had been a significant
change in American leadership in the years before
the war. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated, bringing his vice-president, Lyndon
B. Johnson, to power unexpectedly. Johnson was
president in 1967, having won an election in between. Kennedy had favoured Egypt, but Johnson
was a supporter of Israel. Significantly, he came
from a Christadelphian background, though never
one himself, surely providence at work.6
Another significant step on the road to war was
the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces, as
mentioned above. Why did the secretary-general,
U Thant, act immediately in response to Egypt’s
demands instead of bringing the matter before the
5.
6.
The Road to War: The Origin and Aftermath of the ArabIsraeli Conflict 1967-8, Pelican, 1969, pp. 97,123.
Lyndon Johnson’s Christadelphian background was
brought out in “Lyndon Johnson and his support of
the Jews”, Testimony, Jan. 1992, p. 29. The article was
written by Brother George Booker, himself a relative.
The Testimony, July 2007
Picture: © www.HolyLandPhotos.org
The St Stephens or Lion Gate on the east side of the Old City of Jerusalem. At 9.50 am on
Wednesday 7 June 1976 Israeli forces entered by this gate and captured the Old City.
Security Council? We do not know, but if he had
done the latter, war may have been prevented.
Israel’s triumph
And what of Israel? Her victory seemed at the
time to be an amazing triumph against all the
odds. In fact it was not so. British and American
intelligence advice was that in the event of a war
Israel could be expected to win in seven to ten
days, based on their estimate of the two sides’
strengths. Israel’s military commanders were
confident of victory and were keen to go to war
to get rid of the niggling cross-border incursions
of her Arab neighbours.
Numerically Egypt had by far the strongest
forces, but its weaknesses, as pointed out above,
prevented it from being an effective fighting force.
In contrast, Israel had developed one of the most
effective fighting forces for its size that the world
has ever seen. Its planes were flown by highly
trained pilots who had practised over and over
again the manoeuvres that would be necessary
should war come. The Sinai War of 1956 had
given the generals a good knowledge of the Sinai
The Testimony, July 2007
Peninsula, and its plans for dealing with a war
situation were finely honed.
Israel also had a well-organised system of
calling up its reserve forces in the event of war,
which, in view of the fact that it had compulsory
military service, meant that a large proportion of
the able-bodied men of the country were available to fight. The country united “as one man”, to
use a Scriptural phrase (Judg. 20:1), with women,
children and the elderly doing their best to fill
in for their departed menfolk. The nation knew
that they would be fighting for their survival; if
they lost, at best they would lose independence,
at worst there would be a new holocaust.
The war was effectively won early on Monday
morning 5 June when wave after wave of Israeli
planes, flying low to avoid radar, destroyed the
Egyptian air force. Despite the tense situation,
the Egyptians had left their planes parked on the
runways of their airfields instead of concealing
them in shelters. Their commanders followed a
daily routine of breakfasting at their homes, then
driving to the bases all at the same time; and
the Israelis, aware of this from their intelligence,
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Picture: Tony Benson
View from the Golan Heights looking northwest over Lake Galilee. Prior to the
Six-Day War, Syrian troops on the Heights were able to shell Israeli agricultural
settlements on the shore below.
timed their attack for the time when the commanders were in their cars and unable to issue
orders. Devoid of air protection, confused and
disorganised, the Egyptian forces proved no real
opposition to the Israeli ground forces, which by
Wednesday had reached the Suez Canal.
Despite the destruction of his air force, President Nasser claimed success for his forces, and
deceived the world for a while until the truth
gradually emerged. This had two beneficial effects for Israel and the fulfilment of the prophecy
that Jerusalem would be taken. Firstly, although
Israel had informed King Hussein of Jordan when
war broke out that there would be no attack on
Jordan, the king, believing that the Egyptians
were winning, attacked Israel, leading Israel to
respond and take the Old City of Jerusalem on
Wednesday 7 June. Secondly, Russia blocked efforts by the United Nations Security Council to
call for a ceasefire, in the belief that Egypt was
winning the war. Only when the falsity of Nasser’s
claims emerged did Russia support a ceasefire,
and it was Saturday by the time a resolution
was passed and pressure brought upon Israel to
cease fighting, by which time it was triumphant
on every front.
The final phase of the war was against Syria
in the north, resulting in the taking of the Golan
230
Heights. Here too the folly of Israel’s enemies can
be seen. The Syrian forces were disorganised due
to internal dissension and were slow to join in the
war, giving the Israeli forces the opportunity to
deal with Egypt and Jordan while operating in
defensive mode in the north. By Thursday, Egypt
and Jordan were defeated and Israel turned its attention to Syria. The Syrian forces failed to make
proper use of their strong defensive positions
overlooking the Jordan valley, and were soon
defeated. The Israeli forces were greatly assisted
in this because their spy in Damascus, Eli Cohen,
had given them detailed knowledge of the Syrian defences on the Golan Heights.7 Here again
providence was surely at work.
Conclusion
The above account shows that Israel did not need
miracles to triumph in the Six-Day War. We see
instead angels working behind the scenes, as
they did in Daniel’s day, to bring about God’s
purpose. They brought about a war which no
one really intended, and ensured that through
the pride and folly of its enemies Israel was in
7.
See, for example, The Mossad, Dennis Eisenberg, Uri
Dan & Eli Landau, Paddington Press, London, 1978,
pp. 68-132.
The Testimony, July 2007
a position to achieve an overwhelming victory.
Those dramatic six days of conflict produced
effects which reverberate throughout the Middle East today and were part of the outworking
of God’s purpose to humble His people Israel
and bring the nations to a recognition of the
one true God Who has a purpose with this
earth.
Sources
The Six-Day War, Randolph Churchill and Winston
Churchill Junior, Heinemann, 1967.
The Road to War, Walter Laqueur, Pelican, 1968.
Six Days: How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East,
Jeremy Bowen, Pocket Books, 2003.
Various articles published in the International
Jerusalem Post in recent months.
Two-part article
Whatever happened to Tyre? (1)
Mark Taunton
This two-part article considers a prediction by Ezekiel
against the city of Tyre, counters sceptical objections to
the prophecy’s truth, and presents new evidence for its
complete fulfilment.
T
HREE CHAPTERS of Ezekiel contain
predictions about Tyre (26, 27) and her
prince (28). We focus on his first prophecy
(26:1-14), about the physical city—her walls, towers, garrisons, etc.—her great wealth, and what
would become of both. God through Ezekiel sets
Himself against Tyre, having determined her utter destruction.
In 26:2 Tyre is condemned by Yahweh for what
she said against Jerusalem. Tyre was perhaps
gloating over damage to Judah’s trade from the
activities of the regional superpowers—Egypt,
Assyria, and later Babylon—as their forces moved
through the Levant in waves of conquest. The
word for Jerusalem being “laid waste” is used
about Assyrian kings drying up the water supplies, and hence the power, of cities they attacked
(Isa 37:18,25). Tyre herself was mighty and rich
from her vast trading network. As a strong city
(though she was attacked many times), perhaps
she felt safe, and expected to benefit from Jerusalem’s woe. But Ezekiel shows this hope to be
utterly vain.
The prophecy
The prophecy starts with a summary. Yahweh
tells Ezekiel how He will bring up many nations,
like waves from the sea, upon Tyre, to destroy
her walls and towers, and kill her daughters. God
The Testimony, July 2007
would scrape her dust from her, and
make her like the top of rock where
nets could be spread. Tyre was to become a spoil to the nations. As a result,
God says, “they shall know that I am
the LORD [Yahweh]” (26:6).
Next comes detail of a two-stage destruction:
1 Nebuchadrezzar would first besiege and then
enter Tyre, breaking down her walls and killing her people (vv. 7-11).
2 After this the nations would spoil and destroy
the city; they would lay her stones, timbers
and dust in the midst of the water (v. 12).
Beyond that, Tyre was to be built no more; the
city would never be found again (vv. 14,21).
The fulfilment
Some years after God’s words to Ezekiel, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon attacked Tyre, just as
was predicted in stage 1. Josephus reports from
earlier writers that the siege lasted thirteen years; 1
Ezekiel was told that it was long and hard, but
unrewarding (29:18). Eventually, Nebuchadrezzar
did “break”, “enter” and “slay” (26:9-11), but
some escaped by ship, taking the city’s wealth
with them out of his reach.
After an interval of about 240 years, stage 2
was fulfilled by Alexander the Great and his allies. As part of his campaign against Persia 2 (Tyre
supported Persia), he made his reputation for
1.
2.
Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 10, chapter
11.1.
Predicted in Daniel 8:1-7, 20,21.
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