Water from Stones: Conflict-Resolution through Gentleness

siege that lasted several months, he entered Jerusalem, where he completely destroyed the Jewish Temple. This happened in 587 B.C.E. The Jewish king Zedekiah tried to flee, but he was captured, along with many of his men. A large number of Jews were also taken into slavery. They were taken to Babylon to work as slave-labourers. The Jews (who were the muslims or ‘submitters’ of the ancient period) faced many such difficult times in their history. They considered all these events to be a result of the oppression by other people. But God knew this to be entirely different. God attributed all these events to the Jews themselves. They were divine punishment for the corruption and degeneration that had set in among the Jews, and not, in fact, an expression or result of oppression by others, unlike what the Jews thought. A study of Jewish history reveals that in the period of their degeneration, a number of leaders emerged among them, driven with false dreams and wishful thinking. These people have been termed as ‘false prophets’ in the Bible. The Bible relates that they used to stir up the Jews with their talk about the Jews’ glorious history, feeding them on the wine of false pride. They greatly exaggerated the status of the Jews, while denigrating their enemies. With their emotionally-driven rhetoric, they fed Jews with dreams of an imaginary world. This made the Jews turn extremely unrealistic. In place of realistic efforts, they were led to think that emotionally-driven efforts would solve their problems. At this very time, some people emerged among the Jews whom the Bible tells us were true prophets. They exhorted the Jews to be realistic. They pointed out their internal weaknesses. They told them that they would gain nothing from their false pride, and that in God’s world, truthful action has value, not false pride and wishful thinking. But the Jews did not like what they said to them. Instead of listening to them, they were attracted by men