The Druzes—The Forgotten People in the Scripture
Israel’s President Herzog meets Druze leader after massacre in Syria’s Sweida region (JNS)
The Druze people are an ethnoreligious group. Today, there are Druze communities in Syria (the largest one), Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan (the smallest one). The Druze culture and language are Arabic, yet their social customs are different from the mainstream Arab nationalism, as the Druzes integrate fully in their adopted countries. What is peculiar for the Druzes is that they maintain close ties within the community across the borders, yet they remain loyal to the host countries even though the host countries may be enemies. The best example of this is the Druze communities in Syria and Israel, which are divided on which side of the sectarian violence fueled by the Syrian Islamists they should stand. Should Israel defend the Druze from “former” ISIS in Syria and why?
The Druze faith
The Druze faith is monotheistic and considered one of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Even though the Druze faith originally developed out of Islam, most of the Druze do not consider themselves Muslims, and definitely the Muslims do not consider them such.
The Druze religion is veiled in secrecy and closed to converts, as the Druze refrain from proselytizing, and no member of another religion or ethnic group can become Druze. Reversely, if a Druze leaves the Druze community and/or marries outside of it, he/she is no longer a Druze.
In the Druze faith, one of the main tenets is accepting the unity of God. The Druze concept of God is strict and uncompromising monotheism, according to which God is one, and both transcendent and immanent, He is above all attributes but at the same time He is present. According to the Druze faith, in God, there are no attributes distinct from his Essence. God is the existence, rather than above existence. Druze are forbidden to eat pork, smoke, or drink alcohol; they also believe in the incarnation of the soul.
Despite all this belief system in one and true God, as a religious minority in the countries they live, they have frequently experienced persecutions in the host countries, with the exception of one: Israel. The Druze community in Israel has a special status in the country as Druzes have reached high-level positions in the political, public, and military spheres, where Druze judges, parliamentarians, diplomats, and generals occupy the highest echelons of society. This cannot be said about Syria, Lebanon, or Jordan. Yet, when Israel captured the Golan Heights as a booty of war, in the 1967 War, and the Druze villages were divided on both sides of the border, some of the Druze in Israel accepted the new country, while others remained loyal to Syria even to this day, despite the massacre in Syria. However, in the wake of the recent events of violence in Syria, the number of Druzes willing to come under the Israeli jurisdiction has grown. The situation in Southern Syria is changing so rapidly that some of the Druze religious leaders even want Israel to annex the Druze villages close to the border with Israel for protection against the Islamists of the new Syrian regime. Thus, although much smaller than the other religions, the Druze faith and community seem to start playing an important role in reshaping the Middle East, as their national identity starts reshaping, perhaps. This has already become a fact in the news, but will the Druze people recall their historical relationship with their distant cousins the Israelites?
The whole subject of the Druze national identity and history is extremely confusing, when we look only at what has been shown in the news. In such a case, we need to resort to the Scripture to make better sense of this whole conflict in Syria. In the following, we would like to posit another way to look at the fight of the Druze people to survive in the undertaken genocide in Syria, specifically in reference to their call to Israel for help. The matter will become clear once we understand who the Druzes were before they became what they are today—loyal victims to their oppressing host countries. We will try to show that the matter of the Druze people is far from being political and hope to provide a more complex answer from the Hebrew Scripture, with which we now begin.
So, who were indeed the Druzes in the Scripture?
Insight: The origin of the name “Druze” is uncertain. Some authorities see it as derived from Arabic, while others hold that it comes from Persian. Due to the ambiguity of this name, we will not speculate as to its true meaning but will use it for identification and for historical reasons, which is fair to the Druze people. We will now return to the text.
Aside of the Jews, the Druze people (Hebrew: דרוזי druzi, plural דרוזים, druzim) are the only ethnoreligious group, meaning they both became nations at the same time they became religious entities. The Druze religion recognizes many prophets in the Hebrew Scripture, as Islam does. Yet their most respected prophet of the Druze people is Yitro of Midian, whom they highly revere as their ancestor, founder, and chief prophet. But who was Yitro of Midian?
Yitro of Midian
The account of Exo 2:16-18 tells us that Yitro (Jethro) was a prominent man, the priest of Midian, who had seven daughters at the time when Mosheh arrived in Midian. Mosheh, who would become the greatest prophet, married one of them; her name was Tsipporah. Yitro’s title, “the priest of Midian”, given in the Torah, shows that he was the spiritual head of one of the clans of the Midianites located there.
The land of Midian is a land in northwest Arabia lying east of the Gulf of Aqaba and south of both Moav and Edom. Gen 25:1-2 also tells us that the Midianites were the descendants of Midian, the son of Avraham and his second wife Keturah.
And Avraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, and Yokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. (Gen 25:1-2)
And the sons of Midian were,
And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. (Gen 25:4) See also 1Ch 1:32-33.
Insight: After the death of Sarah, Avraham took another wife, Keturah. The name Keturah comes from the Hebrew word ketoret קְטֹרֶת, which is the incense offered in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. We now return to the text.
Avraham gave gifts to the sons of Keturah and then sent them away from Yitschak his heir (Gen 25:5-6). Given his direct connection with Abraham, it is believed that Yitro and his descendants might have been worshippers of the Elohim of Avraham, and even it is believed that he was a priest of YHVH. If so, Yitro must have been the one who taught Mosheh about the Covenant the Eternal had with his grandfather Avraham and everything else the new son-in-law needed to know when he escaped Egypt. So, when Mosheh arrived in Midian, he married Tsipporah, the daughter of Yitro, from whom he would have two sons, the first he named Gershom, and the second, Eliezer (Exo 18:4).
Some forty years later, at the revelation at the burning bush, Mosheh was called to return to Egypt and take his people out of the land of slavery. Mosheh took his wife and sons and headed for Egypt. On his way to Egypt, however, Mosheh sent his wife and sons back to Yitro. Even though he sent them back to Midian, he believed that he would meet them again, because YHVH assured him that the children of Israel would be brought to the same mountain on their exodus from Egypt (Exo 3:12). When that happened and shortly after having heard of all that YHVH had done for Israel (Exo 18:1), namely, about the splitting of the and the defeat of Amalek at Refidim, Yitro left Midian with his daughter and grandsons and came to Mount Sinai to meet Mosheh. Thus, Yitro joined Israel.
Now, the Rabbis differ concerning the timing of Yitro’s arrival in the camp; whether before or after the revelation at Sinai. Although this issue is not germane to our study, it is worth noting here that we hold the position of Ramban and Rabbeinu Bahya on the issue, namely, that Yitro came before the giving of the Torah, and he and his household that came with him witnessed the revelation of the Covenant at Mount Sinai. But who was Yitro?
The priest of Midian was called by seven different names in the Scripture, and they are: Reu’el, Yeter, Yitro, Chovav, Heber, Keini, and Putiel. He was called Yeter (יֶתֶר) in Exo 4:18). He was called Yitro (יִתְרוֹ) in Exo 3:1, which means in Hebrew, “His abundance”. He was called Chovav (חוֹבָב) which means “lover” because he loved, chavav, (חִבָּב) Israel and the Torah (see also Num. 10:29 and Jdg 4:11). He was called Reu’el, רֵעוּאֵל, “friend of God”) indicating that he was a priest who served the God El אֵל. Here too the Rabbis differ on the issue of this name. Some of them hold that Yitro was Reu’el, for indeed Exo 2:18 seems to call him such: “They (the daughters) came to their father Reu’el”. Others, however, say that Reu’el was Yitro’s father, because young children call their grandfather “Father” and because Num 10:29 identifies Reu’el as the father of Chovav, who is Yitro, “And Mosheh said to Chovav, the son of Reu’el the Midianite”. Nevertheless, what is more important than Yitro’s names is his lineage and title, for Torah declares that Yitro was the priest of Midian. And the second in importance is the identity of his descendants today.
When Yitro witnessed the revelation at Sinai and the giving of the Covenant and the Torah, as a system of justice for the nation of Israel, he suggested, for expediting the judicial process (Exo 18:19-24), a better legal procedure, which Mosheh accepted right away. Yitro advised Mosheh to appoint men whom he should enlighten in the laws of Torah, so that they would fear the Eternal, love truth, and hate unfair gain. And he would choose leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. And they should rule the people all the time concerning small matters, but every great matter should be brought to Mosheh, so that it would be more bearable for him (Exo 18:19-22).
Insight: Since there were more than 600,000 adult men, from 20 to 60 years old in the census, this means that there were 600 leaders of thousands, 6,000 leaders of hundreds, 12,000 leaders of fifties, and 60,000 leaders of tens: total of more than 78,600 leaders in the new judicial system of Israel. We now return to the text.
Thus, the Covenant, the Torah, and the judicial system Yitro introduced to Israel, in which the Lawgiver is above all, became the framework for the building of the new nation and prerequisite towards entering the land. Torah mandates the priests and later on the prophets to challenge the authority of the king, if he would act against the laws of the Torah. Now, equipped with Yitro’s judicial system Mosheh would be able to rule the nation more efficiently. For this wisdom of Yitro, a whole Parsha of Torah was named after him, “Yitro”, in respect to Mosheh’s father-in-law (Parashah “Yitro”, Exodus” 18:1-20:23).
Insight: Why did Mosheh’s sons not merit to be in the leadership of Israel and part of this judicial system? Because, as we argued in the article “Why did the sons of Mosheh not merit any leadership?“, they did not experience the Exodus from Egypt and did not traverse the sea with the people of Israel, as they were [in Midian] with Yitro —see Exo 18:1-6). We now return to the text.
Israel received the Covenant (the Ten Statements), the Torah, and everything needed for the proper service of the Eternal and was ready for its journey to the Promised Land. And Mosheh said to Chovav, the son of Reu’el,
We are setting out for the place of which the Eternal said, ‘I give it to you’. Come with us, and we shall do good to you, for the Eternal has spoken good concerning Israel. (Num 10:29)
But Yitro (Chovav) replied to him, “I will not go, but I will go to my country and my birthplace”. Perhaps, it was Yitro’s wish to die there and not in a foreign land. However, the 13th century Torah commentator Chizkiah ben Manoach (author of Chizkuni), noted here that Yitro preferred the evil he knew (in the land of Midian) to the evil he did not know (in the land of Kana’an). Mosheh attempted to change his father-in-law’s decision by asking him and his sons to be “our eyes” in the desert, but at this point in the Torah the narrative is interrupted, and we do not hear whether, Yitro had accepted Mosheh’ request or headed back for Median. The story ends shortly here, and the narrative moves on to introduce us to the travelling of the Israelites with the ark, without telling us whether Yitro joined Israel or not.
But we should notice something here. When Mosheh said to his father-in-law, “Come with us, and we shall do good to you”, what good did he actually mean to bestow on him? According to the Rabbinic sources [Sifrei], when Israel apportioned the Land, there was a fertile area of Yericho which the Israelites gave the descendants of Yitro, as it says, “The sons of Keini (that is Keinite), Mosheh’ father-in-law, went up from the city of the palm trees (that is Yericho)” (Jdg 1:16). In the period of the Judges, the sons of Yitro went into the desert of Yehudah to the south along with the sons of Yehudah. This comes to prove that Yitro’s descendants had entered Kana’an with Israel, and even more that they were still there in the time of King Shaul (see 1Sa 15:6), but at that time they were called “Keinites”. Why were the descendants of Yitro, who were Midianites, called “Keinites” in the post-Torah Scripture? To understand this, we will resort to Chizkuni commentary on Num 10:32. Chizkiah ben Manoach says,
“Mosheh promised Yitro and his family the land belonging to the Keinites. This had been included as one of the ten nations whose lands God had promised to Avraham as being part of greater Israel (Gen 15:19). This is why in future years the descendants of Yitro are usually referred to as Keinites, as for instance in Num 24:21, where Bil’am prophesied about them.”
In other words, the descendants of Yitro became known as “Keinites”, when they settled in the land previously by the Keinites, one of the ten nations Israel dispossessed from the land of Kana’an.
The war of Israel against the Midianites
At the closure of the Book of Numbers, Mosheh wrote down in the Torah a war the Elohim of his fathers commanded him to wage: the war against the Midianites.
Israel came to threshold of the Promised Land and camped in the desert plains of Moav across the Yarden River of Yericho. Balak the king of Moav saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, and he became so exceedingly afraid of them because he said, “Now this multitude is licking up all that is around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field” (Num 22:1-4). And he sent messengers to Bil’am the prophet to bring him to Moav to curse the people that came from Egypt (Num 22:5-6). Bil’am was promised good pay to do his divinations, but he had some reservations: he told the king that he would speak only what YHVH would speak to him (Num 22:8).
Bil’am arrived in Moav and attempted several times to curse the Israelites, but as he himself said, he spoke only what YHVH put in his mouth. After Bil’am failed to curse Israel, which made King Balak exceedingly angry, the prophet gave the king a counsel, “I will advise you how to make them stumble, but also I will tell you how they will punish Moav at the end of days”. So, what was the counsel Bil’am gave to the worst enemy of Israel: the Moabites? The counsel was this: “You will not be able to overcome them, for you saw for yourself that they are more numerous than you. Come, and I will advise you what to do. The Elohim of these people hates immorality. Therefore, in order to get them cursed, entice them to sin with your women”.
And indeed, the Israelites began to whore with the women of Moav, as a result of Bil’am’s advice. But before that the women invited the Israelites to sacrifice to their idol Ba’al Pe’or. We learn that Bil’am also went to the Midianites and advised them to do the same: to seduce the Israelites by tempting them to worship Pe’or in exchange for sex. One of them from the tribe of Shimon brought a Midianite princess named Cozbi before the eyes of Mosheh at the Tabernacle and had sex with her. That was a defiant act of rebellion and sin in front of the Tabernacle. The displeasure of YHVH burned against Israel (Num 25:1-3).
When Pinechas, son of Eleazar, the priest, saw the abomination, he took a spear and thrust both of them through their genital organs (literal translation). Thus, the plague stopped but at the cost of twenty-four thousand lives (Num 25:4-9).
Insight: According to the tradition, Pinechas’ father, El’azar the son of Aharon the High Priest, married Yitro’s daughter. For whom Pinechas was, refer to the article “Pinechas: The High Priest Who Did Not Die” for more insight. We now return to the text.
Bil’am knew that as long as Israel was shielded by Elohim there would be no possibility to defeat the enemy of his employer. Therefore, his counsel to Balak was to cause Israel to stumble through immorality: sin Elohim exceedingly hates. And then YHVH spoke to Mosheh,
Harass the Midianites, and smite them, for they harassed you by their tricks with which they deceived you in the matter of Pe’or, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian. (Num 25:17-18)
We will return to this war to explain later in our commentary, but before the war, while Bil’am was preparing seven altars in order to do his divinations, YHVH came to him and said, “Go to Balak and say this” (Num 23:16). To say to Balak what? Most unfortunately, we are not told what YHVH said to His prophet. But whatever it was it is important to note here that Bil’am fully understood how to defeat Israel, because he said to the king of Moav the following,
El is not a man, to lie; nor a son of man, to repent! When He has said, and will He not do it? Or when He has spoken, will He not confirm it? Behold, I have received, to bless. And when He has blessed, I cannot reverse it. (Num 23:19-20)
What did the prophet of YHVH convey to the king? What he told Balak was this, “Elohim of Israel does not lie, nor would He repent if He has done something. Whatever He says, He will do it, and I cannot reverse it. But this is what you should know”. And here is the lucid moment of “enlightenment” in the conspiracy of the prophet for profit,
He does not see wickedness in Ya’akov, nor has He seen trouble in Israel. The Eternal his Elohim is with him, … (Num 23:21)
What Bil’am actually said was that Elohim had not found any wickedness in Israel, nor any blemish in His people, and Bil’am understood that as long as this status was maintained, YHVH would be always with Israel, meaning YHVH would be always their shield. And here is the moment of truth. The opposite, Bil’am concluded in his mind, should also be true. If Elohim would find any wickedness in His people, His protection would not be with them any longer, and He would punish them or leave them at the mercy of their enemies. Bil’am knew how much YHVH hated sexual immorality and idolatry. What a brilliant evil mind Bil’am was!
Armed with this key information concerning Israel’s vulnerability, Bil’am went to the kings of Moav and Midian and counseled them to send their beautiful women to seduce the Israelites. But before the pleasure would be consummated, the women were to require worship of their idol Pe’or. And that was the ultimate goal, as we read further,
And Israel dwelled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moav. And they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. And the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto the Ba’al of Pe’or. And the anger of the Eternal burned against Israel. (Num 25:1-3)
But Nachmanides comments that the harlotry described here was not a sexually motivated kind of harlotry initiated by the Moabite women at all. The women were encouraged to trap the Israelites into committing a capital offence against the Torah, and thus they would become guilty of the death penalty. The elders of Midian were instrumental in all this by sending a Midianite princess to seduce the leader of the tribe of Shimon, as we read in Num 25:14-15 that the name of the man of Israel whom Pinechas, the son of El’azar, the High Priest speared together with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, the leader of the tribe of Shimon. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Kozbi, the daughter of Zur, who was the head of one of the clans of Midian.
Later in Num 31:16-18, we understand from the words of Mosheh what Bil’am’s advice was. Mosheh tells us that through the words of Bil’am the seductresses of Moav and Midian made Israel trespass against YHVH in the matter of sexual immorality and idolatry. As a result of this Elohim had to punish His people for having sinned with the women of Midian, and many lives indeed were lost in the punishment: twenty-four thousand Israelites died. And Bila’m went to receive his reward for the twenty-four thousand Israelites whose destruction he had caused by his advice. But his ultimate reward the prophet for profit received at his own death by the sword (Num 31:8).
Now, who is who in that war Israel was commanded to wage? In order to understand correctly what exactly happened in Shittim, we need to consider the whole context of events, which we will do in the following.
Israel arrived at the Mount of YHVH after the exodus from Egypt. When Yitro the Midianite heard what YHVH did for Israel, He arrived at the camp with his daughter, grandsons, and family to meet Mosheh. They all witnessed the revelation at Sinai and entered into the Covenant with the nation of Israel. About a year later, when Israel received the Torah, built the Tabernacle and all that was need for the proper service, the nation was ready to march to the Land. At that point, Mosheh begged Yitro to come with them and promised him that blessing bestowed upon Israel would be bestowed also upon him and his clan. Yitro politely declined, but his clan joined the nation and headed for the Promised Land. When the land was conquered, partitioned, and allotted among the tribes of Israel, Yehoshua gave the fertile land near Yericho as an inheritance. Now, who was who in the war of Israel against the Midianites?
When YHVH commanded Mosheh to punish the Midianites as a retribution on account of the harlotry and idolatry (see again Num 25:18 above), despite the fact that Mosheh spent many years of his life in Midian with Yitro, He commanded him to disregard any compassion he might have had for them and to smite them. From the plain meaning of the text, however, the campaign was aimed only at the Midianites, not at the Moavites who also participated in the conspiracy to entice the Israelites. Why only the Midianites?
The reason why no confrontation with Moav was permitted is the fact that Moav and Ammon were descendants of their founding father Lot who had joined Avraham and faithfully served him, when Avraham moved to the land of Kana’an. Respectively, the land YHVH gave to occupy was not to be disturbed by Israel. For this reason Mosheh asked Balak the king of Moav for a permission to pass through his land and the food and water the Israelites and their cattle would consumed would be diligently paid. Balak refused and hired Bil’am to curse them. The Moavites had any reason to fear the Israelites, because three million people with their cattle would ecologically and economically devasted his land. But what was the motivation of the Midianites? They did not even have a common border with the land promised to Israel. The Midianites joined the fight against Israel from a pure hatred. Those Midianites were not the Midianites who joined Israel forty years earlier at Sinai. The Midianites who joined Israel were descendant of Yitro, whose family was only one of the clans of the large community of Midianites.
The forgotten history by the Druzes
At this point in the discussion, it is necessary to understand seemingly minor episode on account of its shortness recorded in the Book of Jeremiah. The reader’s mind will settle when he/she reads this prophecy.
1 Chronicles 1 and 2 lists all generations from Adam through Avraham to the Midianites. In 1Ch 2:55, according to the account, the Rechavites were a branch of the Keinites, i.e., descendants of the Keini[te], the father-in-law of Mosheh (see Jdg 1:16, 1Sa 15:6, 1Sa 27:10, 1Sa 30:29, Jdg 4:11, Jdg 4:17, and Jdg 5:24). The father of these Keinites was Rechav, the father of Yehonadav (2Ki 10:15, 2Ki 10:23).
The word of YHVH came to Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) the prophet, saying,
Go to the house of the Rechavites. And you shall speak to them, and bring them into the House of YHVH, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink. (Jer 35:1-2)
And the prophet took the family of the Rechavites, brought them to the Temple of the Eternal, and said to them, “Drink wine” (Jer 35:5). But they said to Yirmeyahu the prophet of the Eternal,
We do not drink wine, because Yonadav (Yehonadav) the son of Rechav, our father, commanded us, saying, “You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons, forever. And do not build a house, neither sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have any of these, but dwell in tents all your days, so that you live many days on the face of the land where you are sojourners”. So we obeyed the voice of Yonadav son of Rechav, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in. And we have no vineyard, field or seed. But we dwell in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Yonadav our father commanded us. (Jer 35:6-10)
Yehonadav, the direct descendants of Yitro through Rachav, had laid on his sons the obligation to live in the nomad lifestyle observed by their father Yitro, in order to keep them set apart from the cities and the settled life in them. Now, his descendants explained that they did not drink wine, because their father had forbidden them to drink wine forever, but also to build houses, etc., he forbade them to settle down in permanent dwellings but to live a nomad life.
This example of the Rechavites was to serve as a lesson for the tribe of Yehudah among whom the Rechavites dwelled. The prophet was to proclaim the word of the Eternal to the people of Yehudah, as we keep on reading in Chapter 35,
Thus, saith the Eternal of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim: “Have you not receive instruction to hearken to My words?, says the Eternal. The words of Yonadav the son of Rechav, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed, and to this day they drink none, for they hearken to their father’s command. But I have spoken to you, speaking early and often, and you have not hearkened to Me”. (Jer 35:13-14)
And then the Eternal reminded that he had sent His prophets to warn them and turn from all evil ways and start making good deeds, so that they should dwell which he had given to their fathers. And He continued,
The sons of Yonadav son of Rechav have indeed carried out the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me. (Jer 35:16)
And to the Rechavites the Eternal said,
Because you have hearkened to the commandment of Yonadav your father and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you, therefore, thus says the Eternal of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: “There shall not cease a man of Yonadav the son of Rechav to stand before Me forever”. (Jer 35:18-19)
“Because you have hearkened to the command of your father … there shall not cease a man of Yonadav the son of Rechav to stand before Me forever”. This declaration regarding the descendants of Yitro was not given until now that even fidelity to the father’s trivial commands the Eternal considers its own reward. This was stated now in order to signify to Israel and to make the words uttered against Yehudah all the more impressive, namely, that they were obligated to hold the commandments of the Father to be binding forever, as Yitro’s sons were obligated hold their father’s command. There is too much in this episode to reflect, as the prophet tries to tell us something beyond what is immediately obvious.
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