Bibas boys returned to Israel in black boxes

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, murdering close to 1,200 people and dragging 251 hostages back to Gaza. On Saturday, they released six more hostages, the last to be freed under the first phase of their fragile cease-fire with Israel. Sixty-two hostages taken on Oct. 7 remain in Gaza, including many whom Israel has concluded are now dead. Of all the horrific stories to come from this unspeakable atrocity, the Bibas boys are the most heart-shattering.

Kfir Bibas was ten months old and his brother Ariel was four when they were kidnapped along with their parents on October 7. Their tiny bodies were returned in black boxes last Thursday. Watching the video brought tears of grief, anger, and outrage to my eyes and heart.

The terrorists had claimed that the boys and their mother were killed in Gaza by Israeli bombing. However, after examining the remains, Israel said forensic findings showed they had been killed with “bare hands” just weeks after their kidnappings.

An IDF spokesman stated, “Contrary to Hamas’s lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Babas were murdered in cold blood by terrorists.” He added that they have “shared these findings, intelligence, and forensics with our partners around the world so they can verify it.”

“Ponder How the Bibas Boys Died”

I’m not writing this Daily Article in the belief that you want to start your week with this horrific story. I’m sure the opposite is true, in fact. Accordingly, I intended to make today’s article a website commentary or wait until later in the week to write it. Then I read a Wall Street Journal column by the French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy that pierced my soul and compelled today’s response.

Titled “Ponder How the Bibas Boys Died,” it should be required reading for us all. A brief synopsis cannot do his deeply emotive words justice, but consider these paragraphs:

One must imagine the life of Kfir and Ariel as hostages if, as is probable, they were torn from their mother’s arms. Imagine the life of a baby who spends most of his time in dark, damp tunnels. Imagine the life of a toddler, ripped from his family without understanding. Picture them playing, because children always play. Did they have stuffed animals or spent shell casings? . . .

Were they hungry? Thirsty? Did they scrape mud with their tiny nails or drink contaminated water? Did the captors change Kfir’s diapers, or did they let him sit in his own filth until his skin burned? Did they have talcum powder? Medicine for fevers? What did the masked jailers do when the boys cried, were scared of night noises, or asked the stars about their fate when they were briefly allowed outside? Did they hit them? Strike them with rifle butts? Did they amuse themselves by firing their Kalashnikovs into the air to frighten them further? . . .

How and when did they die? During a tunnel collapse or a deluge of fire and iron early in the war, as claimed by their captors, who used the boys as shields? Or did the men in black, weary of their tears and noise, their games in the tunnels, or perhaps simply because they thought they were spoiled little Jewish children, strike them to quiet them, torture them to death, execute them? The identification process just confirmed the latter.

Take a moment to ask yourself: What would compel anyone to kidnap children? How are they a threat? What could possibly justify using them as human shields (Hamas’s version) or murdering them (as the forensics indicate)?

Hamas knew that children would be especially potent bargaining chips against Israel, which is deeply revealing with regard to the character of the two sides. But the larger story is the age-old plague of antisemitism that dehumanizes and demonizes Jews and their babies, beginning with ancient Egypt (Exodus 1:15–22) and continuing around the globe today.

“Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas”

Ideology is driving the news in much of the world this morning. Some is political, such as Germany’s elections that saw the far right capture more votes than ever before and the rising popularity of the right-wing leader Nigel Farage in the UK. However, some is dangerously militant, as with the growth of the Islamic State and other jihadist groups in Syria and across much of Africa and the outpouring of support for Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at his funeral yesterday.

Helen Keller observed, “Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.” However, ideas can empower tyranny.

If you’re seeking an idea to defeat the horrific ideologies of our day, consider this summary of Jesus’ ministry in a sentence: “He went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1). As we read the narrative that follows, we discover these results from this “good news”:

• Women are engaged in his kingdom movement (vv. 2–3).
• A demoniac is healed (vv. 26–38) and becomes the first cultural missionary in Christian history (v. 39).
• A diseased woman touches the fringe of his garment and is immediately cured (vv. 43–48).
• A girl is raised from the dead (vv. 49–56).

When we “proclaim” God’s kingdom in words and “bring” it into being through actions, Jesus changes the hearts and lives of all who respond to him by faith. Cowardly disciples (Matthew 26:69–75) become fearless apostles (Acts 4). Fanatics who persecute Christians become their greatest apologists and advocates (Acts 9). Jews who reject Gentiles as “unclean” preach the gospel to them and welcome them into God’s family (Acts 10–11). Men hiding behind locked doors in fear (John 20:19) “turn the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).

How “despair turns to hope”

The living Lord Jesus can do in us and through us what no one else can. St. Anselm of Canterbury (died AD 1109) therefore prayed:

Jesus, by your dying, we are born to new life; by your anguish and labor we come forth in joy. Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness; through your gentleness, we find comfort in fear. Your warmth gives life to the dead; your touch makes sinners righteous.

He therefore prayed:

Lord Jesus, in your mercy, heal us; in your love and tenderness, remake us. In your compassion, bring grace and forgiveness; for the beauty of heaven, may your love prepare us.

Why do you need such “mercy”?

With whom will you share it today?

Quote for the day:

“The Spirit brings order out of chaos and beauty out of ugliness. He can transform a sin-blistered man into a paragon of virtue. The Spirit changes people. The Author of life is also the Transformer of life.” —RC Sproul

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