Introductions to Lebanon + History of Lebanon

We finally finished our series on Israel, so we are moving onto Lebanon. I am going to structure each country's study like I did for our study on Israel. I also updated the labels on the blog, so you will be able to find each country by the label.

Lebanon is a neighboring country to the north of Israel. This country's flag has two red stripes signifying blood, one white stripe in the middle signifying peace, and a green cedar signifying immortality. The Old Testament occasionally mentions the "cedars of Lebanon." Modern-day Lebanon is also includes the cities of Phoenicia (Tyre, Sidon, etc.). I will lay down the basics like I did for the article on the Introductions to Israel:

• Capital: Beirut (on the small projection of land in the middle west of the country)
• Area: 4,036 square miles (almost half of size of Israel)
• Population: 6.007 million (2016)
• Location: North of Israel, south and west of Syria, and east of the Mediterranean Sea
• Language: Arabic
• Religions: 54% Muslim (27% Shia; 27% Sunni), 5.6% Druze, 40.4% Christian (21% Maronite, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Melkite, 1% Protestant)

Because this article will be very short otherwise, I will include a short summary of the history of Lebanon. I already mentioned that Lebanon (Phoenicia) was mentioned in the Old Testament a few times. Phoenicia was conquered by many of the empires in world history including the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman.

The temple of Solomon had cedars from Lebanon because King Hiram respected Solomon's father, King David. Later in the Old Testament, the destruction of Tyre was prophesied. Tyre was the major city of Phoenicia. The widow whose flour and oil never ran out after she baked her last bread for Elijah was from Sidon, another city of Phoenicia. In the New Testament, Christ said that the judgement of God would be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for the Jewish city of Bethesda because Bethesda had heard the gospel but rejected it. In the book of Acts, Paul also traveled to Tyre and Sidon.

The Muslims conquered the Middle East around the 7th century AD. The Druze religion was formed as a sect of Islam. Also the Maronite faith formed as a sect of Roman Catholicism once the crusades swept the Eastern world. After World War I, France claimed Lebanon as their territory. Lebanon received more independence with the fall of France in World War II, but England stationed their troops in this country to protect the Middle East from Nazi Germany.

After the Middle East faced no more threats from Germany, General Charles de Gaulle, who later became the president of France after the war, visited Lebanon and declared its independence due to political pressure. Lebanon was also one of the earliest members of the United Nations.

In the last geography article, I mentioned that Lebanon helped its neighbors attack Israel several times. Additionally, during the 1970s and 1980s, Lebanon had a civil war that weakened the country. During this time, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed and stationed in Lebanon. Syria also occupied Lebanon for a time. When Syria withdrew, Hezbollah and Amal seized the country. These are terrorist organizations that still may occupy the country today.

This week's verse is Psalm 27:1. "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Trust in the Lord because He will protect His children. If we are His, we don't have anything to be afraid of.