My perspectives on Israel and the Bible

Tag: Golan Heights

NIMROD’S FORTRESS

Nimrod’s Fortress, 13 April 2014

High in the Golan Heights, near the Lebanese border, lies the magical Nimrod’s Fortress. It stands on a hilltop, at an altitude of 816 meters (2675 ft) on the slopes of the towering Mt Hermon. It is surrounded by cultivated olive groves and a forest made up of mainly Calliprinos Oak. It overlooks the fertile Hula Valley and the Banias Springs.

THE NAME

Nimrod’s Castle is named after Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, and son of Cush. According to the Bible, Nimrod was a mighty hunter and warrior, and his kingdom extended over the Mesopotamian Fertile Crescent, which included the Babylonian and Assyrian region (see map below).

Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior.  He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

Genesis 10: 8-12

Although the Bible does not explicitly say so, it would appear that Nimrod was the king who ordered the construction of the Tower of Babel as recorded in Genesis 11:

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11: 1-9

The non-canonical Book of Jasher, referred to in Joshua 10:13 and II Samuel 1: 18, confirms and adds much detail to this account:

20 And king Nimrod reigned securely, and all the earth was under his control, and all the earth was of one tongue and words of union.

21 And all the princes of Nimrod and his great men took counsel together; Phut, Mitzraim, Cush and Canaan with their families, and they said to each other, Come let us build ourselves a city and in it a strong tower, and its top reaching heaven, and we will make ourselves famed, so that we may reign upon the whole world, in order that the evil of our enemies may cease from us, that we may reign mightily over them, and that we may not become scattered over the earth on account of their wars.

22 And they all went before the king, and they told the king these words, and the king agreed with them in this affair, and he did so.

23 And all the families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they went to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they sought in the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of the land of Shinar, about two days’ walk, and they journeyed there and they dwelt there.

24 And they began to make bricks and burn fires to build the city and the tower that they had imagined to complete.

25 And the building of the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build it, and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven.

26 And all these people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the first said We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We will ascend to heaven and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to heaven and smite him with bows and spears; and God knew all their works and all their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and the tower which they were building.

27 And when they were building they built themselves a great city and a very high and strong tower; and on account of its height the mortar and bricks did not reach the builders in their ascent to it, until those who went up had completed a full year, and after that, they reached to the builders and gave them the mortar and the bricks; thus was it done daily.

28 And behold these ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall from their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it, and if a man fell and died, none of them would look at him.

29 And the Lord knew their thoughts, and it came to pass when they were building they cast the arrows toward the heavens, and all the arrows fell upon them filled with blood, and when they saw them they said to each other, Surely we have slain all those that are in heaven.

30 For this was from the Lord in order to cause them to err, and in order; to destroy them from off the face of the ground.

31 And they built the tower and the city, and they did this thing daily until many days and years were elapsed.

32 And God said to the seventy angels who stood foremost before him, to those who were near to him, saying, Come let us descend and confuse their tongues, that one man shall not understand the language of his neighbor, and they did so unto them.

33 And from that day following, they forgot each man his neighbor’s tongue, and they could not understand to speak in one tongue, and when the builder took from the hands of his neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would cast it away and throw it upon his neighbor, that he would die.

34 And they did so many days, and they killed many of them in this manner.

35 And the Lord smote the three divisions that were there, and he punished them according to their works and designs; those who said, We will ascend to heaven and serve our gods, became like apes and elephants; and those who said, We will smite the heaven with arrows, the Lord killed them, one man through the hand of his neighbor; and the third division of those who said, We will ascend to heaven and fight against him, the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.

36 And those who were left amongst them, when they knew and understood the evil which was coming upon them, they forsook the building, and they also became scattered upon the face of the whole earth.

37 And they ceased building the city and the tower; therefore he called that place Babel, for there the Lord confounded the Language of the whole earth; behold it was at the east of the land of Shinar.

38 And as to the tower which the sons of men built, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up one third part thereof, and a fire also descended from heaven and burned another third, and the other third is left to this day, and it is of that part which was aloft, and its circumference is three days’ walk.

39 And many of the sons of men died in that tower, a people without number.

Jasher 9: 20-39


In Rabbinical literature Nimrod is also identified as the builder of the Tower of Babel and the epitome of rebellion against God. It is possible his name, Nimrod, actually derives from the Hebrew root m,r,d, meaning rebellion. There are many Rabbinical writings and other ancient writings concerning Nimrod but it is unclear how much of these is true and how much is legend. Whatever the case, it is certain that Nimrod, although he started out as a mighty hunter before the LORD, he led his people into rebellion against God (see v 25 above), desiring to conquer Yahweh himself and become god in his place.

At this point in time we cannot know for sure if the Fortress site ever had any direct connection with Nimrod, but as it lies on the southwestern margin of his kingdom and overlooks an important transport route, it is possible. Recent research claims to have uncovered proof of a structure dating back at least to the Hellenist era, underlying the current Fortress.

The southwestern side of outer walls of NImrod’s Fortress, 13 April 2019

HISTORY of the FORTRESS

After the Crusader armies lost the battle of the Horns of Hittim in 1187 they lost their hold on the Land of Israel. The Muslim Salah-e-Din systematically destroyed all the Crusader fortresses but the Crusaders attempted to return and reconquer the Holy Land. They only managed to gain control over the Coastal Plain and the Galilee, however. In 1227 the army of the German Kaiser, Frederick II, arrived in the Holy Land. Fearing that the Crusaders were about to attack Damascus, the Governor of the Banias region, al-Aziz Othman, the nephew of Salah e-Din, together with his older brother, Al-Moatis, initiated the building of the Fortress in 1227. The Fortress was intended to defend the road that connected Tyre, in Lebanon, with Damascus in Syria. After the danger had passed the Fortress was expanded and completed in 1230, but just seven years later the Mongols, invading from Central Asia, destroyed it. The Mongols were defeated by the Mamelukes at the great battle of Ein Harod. One of the Mameluke commanders, Baybars, named himself Sultan of the Mamelukes and gave the Fortress to his second-in-command, Bilik. Bilik restored and expanded the Fortress and some of the most impressive structures, such as the ‘Beautiful Tower’, date from his time. The Beautiful Tower, overlooking the road below, is semicircular on the outside but octagonal inside, with slits for archers facing in every direction. Bilik, in 1275, memorialized his accomplishments and the name of his sultan in the magnificent Baybar’s Inscription.

Baybars Inscription

After the Crusaders were finally evicted from the Holy Land at the end of the 13th Century, the Fortress lost its prestige and was eventually abandoned. It was used as a prison for rebels during the 15th Century but it eventually fell into disuse, used only as shelter by shepherds and their flocks. It is now a National Park under the auspices of the National Parks Authority, the Antiquities Department , the Golan Regional Council and the Israeli Government Tourist Corporation.

OUR VISIT

It was a glorious spring day the day of our visit. The temperature was just right for a picnic in the olive grove before we set off to see the Fortress. Since my last visit, at least 20 years ago, the number of stairs seem to have multiplied, but nevertheless we made it all the way to the top of the highest point of the fortress, the Donjon (or Keep).

An olive grove at Nimrod’s Fortress, 13 April 2019.

The Beautiful Tower and the Donjon looking towards Mt Hermon in the distance
13 April 2019

The views from the Fortress were absolutely stunning. To the north east we could see the patches of snow on Mt Hermon, and below it the Druse town of Majdal Shams. Stretching below the town lie orchards and fields on the basalt rubble of the volcanoes in the region. From these orchards we enjoy the juicy and delicious Hermon apples. To the south and west we could see glimpses of the Huleh Valley far below.

Majdal Shams, 13 April 2019
The fields and orchards below of Majdal Shams.
13 April 2019
The northern reaches of the Huleh Valley from the Fortress Walls. 13 April 2019

NATURE

The hills around Nimrod’s Castle are surrounded by low Mediterranean shrubland dominated by the Calliprinos Oak ( Quercus calliprinos) and the Atlantic Pistachio (Pistachio palaestina). The Calliprinos Oak is also known as the Palestine Oak and the Kermes Oak. In Hebrew it is ‘ alon matzui’ (the common oak), because it is the most common of Israel’s three oak species, the other two being the Tavor Oak (Q. ithuraburensis) and the Allepo oak ( Q. infectoria).

Callliprinos Oak in flower, Nimrod’s Fortress, 13 April 2019

Calliprinos Oak flowers, Nimrod’s Fortress, 13 April 2019

Mount Hermon is a cluster of extinct volcanic mountains that lie at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountain Range. It straddles the borders between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The peak lies in Syria and is 2,814 m (9232ft) above sea level, the highest elevation in Syria. Its southern flanks lie in Israel and sport Israel’s only skifield. Snow falls abundantly on Mt Hermon in winter and filters down through the layers of basalt and limestone emerging at its foot in many crystal clear, sparkling springs which water the Golan and feed the rivers that drain into the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

Mt Hermon skifield in summer, 30 July 2012

As the water drains off the mountains it cuts deep gorges through the layers of solidified volcanic lava, basalt, and the softer layers of limestone which make up the region. These alternating layers create many waterfalls, many of which are dry in the summer months. We passed one of these spectacular waterfalls, the Saar Waterfall, as we left Nimrod’s Castle on our homeward journey.

Saar Waterfall, below Nimrod’s Castle, 13 April 2019

POSSESSING THE LAND

A Land of Milk and Honey, Beit Guvrin in the Judean foothills

Today is the first day of the LORD’s Passover Feast. It is my favorite of the Feast days of Israel, perhaps because it was the first I became acquainted with, but also because of its rich symbolism and its close ties with the coming of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah. Every year we celebrate it but every year it is as if I come to it anew. It never grows tiresome and I love the prayers and songs of this time which are full of our collective memory of how God has kept and provided for us through the generations. Its a time that stimulates faith and fills the heart with joy.

The story of the Passover focuses on the Exodus from Egypt, when God stretched forth his hand and brought the Israelite people out of slavery with mighty signs and miracles, and led them through the wilderness for forty years providing for their every need, until they entered into the Promised Land, Israel. For those of us whose Lord is Yeshua, it is a powerful parallel and foreshadowing of our personal salvation in which we were set free from slavery to sin and death, and given a full life of freedom and liberty as sons and daughters of the living God. Of course, it is also especially meaningful because our saviour and Lord, Yeshua, was crucified on the day of the Passover sacrifice and rose on the third day, the first day of the week following the Passover Shabbat, the day of the Wave Offering (Leviticus 23:9).

This Passover my focus has shifted a little. Instead of concentrating on the Exodus from Egypt I have been considering in more depth the entrance into the Promised Land. Perhaps this was largely triggered by a trip a friend and I made last week up into the Galilee and the Golan, during which we were reminded of the abundance and beauty of this glorious Promised Land. It is a good land, full of fruitfulness and health, but one that is totally dependent upon the blessing of God. If He withholds the rain, the land languishes and dies, but when God blesses us with good rain, as he has done this year, the land simply bursts forth with life.

Butterfly and wildflowers on Har Yona, Nazareth Illit, Galilee, April 2019.

” Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;  a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.”

Deuteronomy 8: 6-9

Saar waterfall, Golan, April 2019
Fields on the Golan, April 2019

The People of Israel crossed over the Jordan River on the 10th Day of the First Month (Nisan, as it is known today). On the same day, all the men of Israel were circumcised and while they were still raw and healing 4 days later, all Israel celebrated the Passover on the 14th of Nisan. On the next day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the manna stopped and they ate for the first time of the fruit of the Promised Land, their own God-given land. How wonderful that must have felt!

On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho….

On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after[d] they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

Joshua 4: 19 ; 5: 10-12

Some years ago I was visiting a friend in Eilat and as I left we prayed together for my journey. I was surprised when in the midst of our prayer she asked God to give me revelation as I journeyed northwards to my home. I admit I was a bit skeptical at that moment, but as I traveled I did indeed receive a revelation that has never left me. It was mid-summer and the desert of the Negev was sere and seemingly lifeless, and it stretched on mile after mile after mile. Then suddenly, and it was suddenly, just a few kilometers south of Tel Aviv, the landscape turned green and fertile. In that moment I understood just how vulnerable we were. We teeter on the very edge of the great desert that stretches across the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula. How desperately we need to cling to God and his provision of rain in order to survive. God has not given us a land of abundant rainfall and lush greenness, as in the countries of western Europe for example, but rather a marginal land, a ‘land of milk and honey’, right on the edge of the desert, so that we may not grow lazy and lax and forget our need for total reliance on God. This is the grace of God for Israel, and indeed it has also been the grace of God in my own personal life.

Israel’s possession of the Land and the enjoyment of its abundance was always conditional. As long as they were faithful to the LORD God of Israel they would remain in the land and be blessed with prosperity, but if they should turn aside to foreign gods or forget the God of Israel, and sin against Him, then He would cast them out. However it was never final, there was always a way of repentance and return. Moses warned the people of Israel saying.

“…but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land. Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger,  I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

Deuteronomy 4: 22-31

We know that on two occasions God did cast the people of Israel out of their land because of their idolatry and sin, but in our days he has had mercy upon us and brought us back home again. Not only that, but he has prospered us beyond all imagining. Today Israel proudly stands amongst the most powerful nations on this Earth and as I travel about the land I am constantly awed by what has been achieved in just 70 or so years. But herein lies great danger, the danger that we will take the glory to ourselves and forget the LORD and his mercies. It is He who has done it and not us. Please pray that the people of Israel will not be puffed up and proud, glorying in our accomplishments, but that we will humble ourselves and pray to God with thankful hearts for what He has done, so that we may continue to enjoy his abundant blessings.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 8 : 10-20

Orchards in the Galilee

OTHER PRAYER POINTS:

Elections:

We prayed, we voted but it is God who establishes our leaders for His purposes. The elections are over and the Likud Party, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, and the Blue and White Party, ed by Benny Gantz, were tied with 35 seats each. To form a government, a party has to have a minimum 61 seats in the 120-strong Knesset (Parliament). This means that each party will have to form a coalition with other parties in order to reach this minimum. There is no way the Blue and White Party can do this, because the left is currently very weak. Only the Likud Party has the possibility of succeeding. This means that Likud is currently negotiating with the right-wing religious parties in order to gain the required 61 seats. It seems likely that Netanyahu is set to serve a record-breaking 5th term as Israel’s Prime MInister. In short, the elections have changed little, with the religious right coming out more powerful than ever. The exceptional success of the Blue and White party may however serve as a warning to Netanyahu that there is growing discontent with the inordinate power yielded by his religious coalition partners, alienating the secular majority. Please pray that the new government, whoever they are, will pay due attention to the internal distribution of wealth, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, and boosting the education, health and welfare sectors.

Gaza border tensions:

Since the Egyptian brokered ‘ceasefire’ came into effect the Gaza border tensions eased some. Some of the troops and weapons that had been moved there have now been redeployed elsewhere. The situation still remains very tense and the ‘March of Return’ demonstrations continue IDF forces. On Friday about 6,000 Palestinians demonstrated at the border and according to Hamas sources, 46 were injured (1). A shot was fired at Israeli forces defending the border and in response an Israeli aircraft and a tank attacked two military positions belonging to Hamas (2). As I am writing reports are coming in of a loud blast heard by residents of Israel’s Shaar Negev region, adjacent to the Gaza border. It appears at this stage that two rockets fired at Israel fell short, landed in an open area in Palestinian territory and exploded. The Israeli airforce has already responded. This could signal another escalation of tensions there. Please pray for peace and a long-lasting resolution of these issues.

Passover security

There is always a heightened threat of terrorism during the Jewish Feasts in Israel. As is usual, the West Bank and Gaza are under ‘lockdown’ for the duration of Passover, in an effort to prevent attacks. Today a 20 year old Palestinian attempted to attack soldiers at the Tapuah Junction in the West Bank but was thwarted. Please pray that our streets, synagogues, churches, parks and other places where many people gather during this festive season will remain safe. Pray too for the safety of all those who daily put their lives on the line so that Israeli citizens, pilgrims and tourists can be safe.

May you all have a peaceful and blessed Passover and Easter season, in the name of Yeshua and the LORD God of Israel.

References:

  1. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/262100
  2. https://www.timesofisrael.com/rocket-fired-from-gaza-falls-inside-palestinian-territory/
  3. https://www.timesofisrael.com/border-police-say-they-thwarted-stabbing-attack-in-west-bank/

BACK FROM THE BRINK

I am sitting out on my deck enjoying the peace of Shabbat and the green lushness of Spring (aka the weeds in my garden!!) Spring has truly come now after a long and wet winter. The Land is a garden of glorious wildflowers and all the fields and open spaces are green – for a few short weeks, until the first sharav (hot, dry east wind) comes and kills them all off. The birds are all singing joyously and the air is full of butterflies.

Spring wildflowers in Nazareth, Israel 4 April, 2019

Just a week ago, when I last wrote, we seemed to be on the brink of yet another war with Gaza. Seven Israeli civilians had been injured, and their home destroyed in the central town of Mishmeret by a missile fired from Gaza. Hamas claimed that this attack was another ‘mistake’. Forgive me if I don’t believe it was any mistake. It is the third time that Hamas claimed a missile was fired by mistake – the first towards Beer Sheva in October last year, followed by two towards Tel Aviv in February this year and then this latest one. Hamas seems rather accident prone!! The truth is that either rouge elements in Hamas, or Islamic Jihad operatives probably fired them. Whether or not these attacks were sanctioned by the Hamas leadership is unclear, but Israel always takes the position that Hamas is to be held responsible for any attacks coming from its territory. Consequently, Israel retaliated by attacking many Hamas positions and bases in the Gaza Strip, and during the following night some 60 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza.

The weekend following was the first anniversary of the so-called March of Return and also Palestinian Land Day. Hamas called for massive rallies along the border fence. They hoped for a million men to come. In preparation for these expected riots and attempts to infiltrate Israeli towns the IDF brought forward several armored divisions, tanks and artillery, canceled weekend leave and called up many reservists.

In the event only 40,000 ‘demonstrators’ turned out – perhaps largely due to the unseasonably wet and cold weather. Although the numbers were lower than Hamas expected, the riots were particularly violent and as a result some 4 Gazan rioters were killed. They were however prevented from infiltrating Israel.

Whilst all this was happening an Egyptian delegation was in Gaza trying to broker a ceasefire agreement between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Israel. This past Wednesday it was announced that Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Israel had agreed on calm and Hamas and IJ had promised to stop the border riots and the release of incendiary and explosive balloons into Israeli territory in return for some concessions from Israel, including the reopening of the Erez Crossing and the expansion of the fishing zone. In spite of Israel’s concessions, which have already been enacted, the violent riots along the border continued this Friday as they have done for the last year. Both Hamas and Israel are now claiming that no ceasefire has been reached and this coming Tuesday Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are planning to begin an open-ended hunger strike demanding the unjamming of their cell phones, family visits and improved conditions.

Although we do seem for now anyway to have taken a step back from the brink of war, nothing has really changed. There is growing feeling here that Hamas is just playing cat and mouse with us and we are the mice! They are cynically taking advantage of the fact we are reluctant to go to war, which would exact a high price on all sides with a lot of civilian deaths and suffering. They push us to the brink and then demand concessions to ease the pressure. This has been going on for years and years, and the Israeli population, especially those living in the south have had enough. A large group of southern residents have set up a protest tent camp in the middle of Tel Aviv demanding a stronger and more decisive action from the government and our armed forces. We seem to be getting closer and closer to having no choice but the retake the whole of the Gaza Strip and depose Hamas and disarm Islamic Jihad. This would be almost impossible as several generations now have been brainwashed from birth to hate Israel. We could not rule such a population and no one else wants to try either. Nor do they seem capable of ruling themselves. It is a seemingly insoluble dilemma.

The “Jewish Press” published a summary of the border incidents over the last year (3), saying that,

The total number of border incidents since March 30, 2018 stands at 2,199, including:

* 1,233 rocket/mortar bomb launches
* 18 incidents of gunfire from the Gaza Strip
* 94 IED incidents, where one or several explosive devices were hurled across the security barrier
* 600 Molotov cocktail incidents
* 152 incidents of arson/burning tires/hurling of various objects.”

In addition, “arson balloons and kites launched from the Gaza Strip are believed to have caused a total of 1,963 fires, sometimes as many as 30+ in a single day.

These fires have caused extensive damage in a land area of approximately 35 square kilometers, including 13 sq. km. of nature reserves and 11 sq. km. of Jewish National Fund forests. The combined damages suffered by Israelis due to rocket fire and arson balloons from Gaza are estimated at approximately NIS 35 million.”

Perhaps the most affected Israeli town is Sderot, a town of some 28,000 inhabitants. Sderot lies less than one kilometer from the north-eastern corner of the Gaza border, and since 2001, it has ‘absorbed’ a rain of some 13,000 rockets fired from within Gaza. Can you imagine that? What if 13,000 rockets were to fall on your town or neighborhood? What if your children are growing up knowing nothing else but ‘code red sirens’ and bomb shelters. Sderot is the ‘bomb shelter capital of the world’! All homes, schools and public places have bomb shelters and often, specially reinforced roofs. Residents have less than 10 seconds to reach shelter when the sirens go off. It means you must live in a constant state of hyperalertness, always looking around for the nearest shelter in case the sirens sound. Most of the population are suffering from some degree of PSTD. Yet, in spite of this, the town is growing as new neighborhoods and even a new shopping mall are being built. This is the spirit of Israel. The more our enemies try to destroy us the more determined we are to not only survive, but flourish.

Click on the link below for a Map of Sderot

https://www.google.co.il/maps/place/Sderot/@31.5198523,34.6123021,10.75z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x15028152b5bc422b:0x9eca44351ad2130a!8m2!3d31.522694!4d34.595581?hl=en

Hamas has vowed to turn Sderot into a ‘city of death’, but when the Messianic believers in the town began to fast and pray for its safety
a vast number of miracles began to occur. Although a constant barrage of rockets were being launched daily, even hourly, the great majority of them failed to reach their targets and actually fell between houses rather than on houses. If they did fall on houses, it always happened when people were not home and the houses were empty.  Whether they were shopping or on vacation, it was remarkable that this was the pattern.” (2) I would recommend you read this full article published in Kehila News. It is a great testimony to the power of prayer and the courage and boldness of the believers in Sderot. an example to us all:
https://kehilanews.com/2019/04/03/city-of-life-in-every-sense-of-the-word/

IN THE NORTH

In the midst of all this, developments were taking place also in the north. On the same night that the missile struck the house in Mishmeret, US President Trump signed a declaration recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Israel conquered the Heights during the 1967 war, and they have had the status of occupied territory every since. This high, plateau covered in large basalt volcanic bolders, was sparsely populated in 1967. Some 80-130,000 of the local residents fled to Syria. The remaining 7,000 now live in a handful of towns and villages around the foot of Mt Hermon. These are mostly Druse, about 50% of whom have accepted Israeli citizenship. and even serve with great distinction in the Israeli army. The others still see themselves as Syrian citizens under occupation, and of course many still have close family members in Syria. Jews have settled the area and it is now home to some approximately 20,000 Israeli residents living in 32 settlements, the largest of which is Katzrin.

In 1981 Israel passed the Golan Heights Law which extended Israeli
“laws, jurisdiction and administration”, in effect a de facto annexation. The Golan Heights Law has not been recognized by the UN or any nation until this recent signing of the declaration by the USA. Of course, Syria is not happy about this latest turn of events and vows to ‘reconquer the Heights’ at any cost. It is doubtful that Syria, still reeling from its five-year long civil war, is in any position to do so, but they do have some very powerful allies, Iran and Russia, not to mention Hezbollah. Needless to say the tension on the northern border continues to build and the situation there is as volatile, and greatly more dangerous, than that on the southern border. Please keep praying!


Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=204608

ELECTIONS

In just 3 days Israel goes to the polls to elect a new government. It is a national holiday in Israel designed to encourage people to vote. For many it is an excuse for an outing to the beach or the nature reserves. Polls indicate that the election will be closely fought between the incumbent Likud Party, with Netanyahu seeking a 5th term in office as Prime Minister, and the Blue and White Party headed by Benny Gantz. It is very likely that even if Gantz were to win a majority he would have difficulty forming a coalition large enough to oust Netanyahu’s block. Many are very uncertain about how to vote. Please pray that God will raise up in Israel a righteous government that will act according to His will.

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings

Daniel 2 : 21-22

God reigns over the nations;
    God is seated on his holy throne.
The nobles of the nations assemble
    as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings
[c]of the earth belong to God;
    he is greatly exalte
d.

Psalm 47:8-9

BUTTERFLIES FOR LOCUSTS

I was driving home the other day when I ran into a swarm of insects splatting on the windscreen. At first I thought they must be locusts but I quickly realized they were butterflies, much to my astonishment. A few weeks ago we were warned that, because of the abundant rains this year, large locust swarms were moving up the Arabian Peninsula and might soon arrive in Israel (4). They didn’t – they hit Saudi Arabia and Eygpt instead. And us? We got butterflies!!!! Millions and millions of Painted Lady butterflies, having bred in the lush rain-fed vegetation in the Arabian Peninsula, are now passing through Israel on their way to Europe (4). It was just lovely to watch so many butterflies passing through. God is good isn’t He?

A Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui) Nazareth 4 April, 2019

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS – THEY MATTER MORE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK – AND MAY ALL YOUR LOCUSTS TURN INTO BUTTERFLIES!

References:


  1. https://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/hamas/its-been-a-year-of-violence-at-the-gaza-border-the-statistics/2019/03/27/

  2. https://kehilanews.com/2019/04/03/city-of-life-in-every-sense-of-the-word/
  3. https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Speak-Of-The-Bible-Locust-Swarms-Imminent-In-Egypt-Saudi-Arabia-581377

  4. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5483476,00.html

© 2024 Talia's Joy

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑