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Spies and the Bible – History – News – Islam and Muslims in Russia and the world

Espionage called the second oldest profession. According to the Bible, so it is. If the Holy Quran and the Prophet of Islam openly negative attitude towards any attempt to “peep” and “spying” for anyone and thought it was all very unworthy deed, the ancient Jews for such activity was viewed more favorably, or at least as necessity. Thus, in the Old Testament Book of Numbers / included in the five books of Moses, called the Jewish Torah / Moses and Joshua acted as heads of intelligence. And in the New Testament, Romans used Judas as the agent in the camp of Jesus Christ, whom he ultimately betrayed.

The first reference to espionage, see the book of Genesis / 42:9 /, where ruler of Egypt, Joseph, second only to Pharaoh’s people on this earth, to meet with his brothers, who did not recognize him. “Where did you come?” – He asks. “From the land of Canaan to buy food” – meet the brothers. “You are spies, – accusing them Joseph. – You have come to see the nakedness of this land. Under the “nakedness” he means the weak spots along the north-eastern border of Egypt – the most vulnerable militarily plot. Therefore natural that any appearance of strangers in the area qualified as an attempt of espionage.

The first description of the intelligence mission is contained in the Book of Numbers / 13 /. The chapter begins with the words: “And the Lord said to Moses:” Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel, one man from the tribe of their fathers send … »

Moses chooses one representative from all 12 tribes and sends them out on reconnaissance in the Promised Land for 40 days. He explained the order:

«… go this way southward, and come up the hill and see the land, what it is, and people living in it, whether it is strong or weak, whether it is small in number or many? And what the land on which he lives, whether it be good or bad? And what are the cities in which he lived in tents, whether he lives or in strong And what the land, whether it be fat or lean? Are there any trees on it or not .. “/ Numbers, 13:18-21 /.

The work of Moses faced with the problem, which is familiar to modern heads of special services: returning agents bring him conflicting information. Some of them say that in the land of the living giants and therefore strongly object to the military campaign. Only two of the twelve spies recommend invasion. Frightened by reports of the strength inhabitants of the land, the Jews panic. And then the Lord decides to punish them, not allowing for the Promised Land for 40 years, “according to the number of forty days in which ye searched the land” / Numbers, 14:34 /.

One of the reconnaissance missions failed. Arad, the Canaanite king, conquered several people of Moses and, as often happens, to keep them in captivity and, apparently, strongly questioned. Obviously, the freedom they had been returned after the Israelis captured the Canaanite city / Numbers 21:1 – 3 /.

After the death of Moses replaced by a Joshua and takes their hands but not limited executives espionage operations. “And he sent Jesus, son of Nun, of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying:” Go and see the land and Jericho / Joshua 2:1. These representatives of the second oldest profession find shelter in the house of representatives of the first oldest profession – harlot Rahab. The informant communicates about the king of Jericho, and he commanded Rahab to give spies. She said that the Israelis actually stayed in her house, but left, having had time to slip out of the gate just before their closure. People rush in pursuit of the king, and Rahab, meanwhile removes spyware on the roof, and sheltering them under the stalks of flax.

After receiving assurances that neither she nor her family Israelis not touched when the city will take it “let down by their cord through the window: for her house was in the city wall …” / Joshua, 2:15. Before leaving, she spies told to hang in the window a red rag to serve as a signal to Israelis that the house can not be touched. Then spies reconnoiter the situation, returned to Jesus and talk about everything. Jesus, based on their intelligence, attacking Jericho. House with a red cloth, as arranged, the Israelis are not touched. / It is interesting that during the Civil War in America helped Northerners one secret society whose members wore as their distinguishing mark red lace; society called “red laces» /.

Experts American CIA once decided for fun to explore “the spy issue” in the Bible. The result was the first secret report, whose author has placed emphasis on the differences in intelligence operations, which led Moses and Joshua. Chief among them is a different methods used by spies for the transfer of intelligence collected by them. Spies Moses talked about them publicly, causing panic among the people. And Jesus spies reported only to his boss. Author of the report wrote that the situation faced by Moses, very similar to the one in which was the U.S. intelligence community, after him was established oversight by Congress.

« Operation Moses, carried out by non-professionals, and quite openly – is noted in the report of the CIA – has weakened the authority of Moses, the people have lost confidence, and incurred the punishment of God, common to all the people. Operation of Jesus, by contrast, were conducted secretly and professionally, and have led to a nationwide rise. And then, added the report’s author, before Jesus “was not on the problem of oversight by, and he did not have to rack their brains over how to adjust the exploration under the policy».

In other biblical parable it is the betrayal by the woman plays the role of a secret agent. When Samson went to Gaza and came to the harlot, she reported him to authorities, and at the city gate Samson ambushed. But he tore the gates from the ground and threw them on the mountain. And yet he could not escape his destiny: to be faithful to the woman. Samson fell in love with the beautiful Delilah, which was sent specially to the fact that she seduced menacing strongman / KGB, such operations were called “bait fish”. Over the betrayal of Samson the Philistines paid her 1100 silver coins. Lost because of love vigilance, Samson told her that the secret of the extraordinary strength lies in his hair. Delilah and her accomplice hiding in the room waited until he fell asleep, and then cropped his hair. Samson weak. The Philistines gouged out his eyes and imprisoned. Once the hair is growing back again, Samson committed suicide by taking down the head of his house, which, besides him, there were thousands of enemies / Book of Judges, 16. Thus, it can be considered as the first martyr and the first terrorist in history.

In the New Testament use of Judas as a “mole” is a typical example of an espionage operation in the Roman colony : rulers recruited agents of local residents who have no language barrier and are able to dissolve in the bulk of the people, without attracting too much attention from people around them.

On one of the spy missions of the story Paul, speaking about the mysterious “false brethren”, who came “to spy out our liberty … to enslave us …” / Epistle to the Galatians, 2:4 /.

Obviously, that during the past millennium, despite the existence of spy satellites and electronic surveillance capabilities, little has changed in the practice of intelligence, and today almost every religious community, as before, continue to operate all sorts of “false brethren” who were sent to “spy” and “kike” and, finally, “to enslave us.” And it is doubtful that this situation may change in the foreseeable future.