I love all things Israel.
When I began work on my Doctor of Theology degree at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, I knew I wanted to study the Bible but I had a number of programs from which to make my choice. My decision became easier as I thought about how much I love the Hebrew language. Most students think Hebrew (the primary language of the Old Testament) is hard, but I always thought it made sense. I used to joke that Greek (the language of the New Testament) had rules only so you could learn all the exceptions. Hebrew, on the other hand, seemed quite logical to me.
I also love the land of Israel. I have been privileged to visit the land of the Bible five times. Each time brought new and interesting insights. Though the land doesn’t look like my native American south, it is a beautiful land.
News of Israel always interests me.
For these reasons, I was amazed to hear that Israel has opened the Tamar Natural Gas field off the Mediterranean coast 90 kilometers west of the city of Haifa. When we made our trip to Israel last year, we heard talk about the field and the possibility that Israel might actually have mineral deposits to help with its energy needs.
Years ago, Golda Meir, the Israeli Prime Minister joked that Moses really wasn’t as smart as everyone thought. He picked the only place in the middle east without oil!
Now Israel has natural gas which will be shipped 150 kilometers by undersea pipeline to Ashdod on the southern Mediterranean coast. Ashdod was one of the five Philistine cities mentioned in the Old Testament. Israel also has another field which promises even greater results.
Many people are predicting Israel to be energy independent very soon and possibly exporting natural gas by the end of the decade.
All of this promises to change the middle east.
Besides my obvious interest why does this matter? This is one of the most volatile places on earth. Will a gas discovery make a difference? Possibly, but we don’t know. We should pray, as Scripture tells us, for the peace of Jerusalem. We should pray for the peace of God to come over the people of this region.
We also should pray for the salvation of the people of the region. This is a region that desperately needs the gospel. 100 years ago many Christians lived in this region. Now, the numbers of believers are very low. Persecution and the political climate has diminshed the number of believers throughout the middle east. Let us be people who pray for the message of God to go to the ends of the earth and specifically to the people of the land of the Bible. Pray the Lord of the harvest that He would send laborers into His harvest.
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3 Responses
Of all the languages in the world that have been, I understand all of them have changed. I also understand the Hebrew is the language that has changed the least. Since God chose Hebrew, it seems only logical to me to want to first learn something about it before learning the Greek of the New Testament, which is different from the classical Greek and quite different from the comment Greek that is spoken today. At least that is where my Greek Professors, Winbery and Glaze seemed to agree. There are other places they seem to have agreed as well: After teaching Greek for more than thirty years and examining many textbooks, I can say without any reservation that this is the best book on Greek morphology that I have seen. Professors Brooks and Winbery have made an invaluable contribution to the study of the Greek language in both colleges and seminaries.>>> (R.E. Glaze )
Time and distance often provides a vantage point of appreciation. Reflection facilitates an appreciation for the wonderment of God, the specialness of His Plan, and the Treasure His People are to Him. Remarkable is my assessment in the flesh, completely expected is my assessment in the Spirit. No wonder the Gospel is foolishness to those who see with flesh eyes and a stumbling block for those who hear the simplicity of what comes out of letting God do the Work after getting yoked up with Him in Christ Jesus.
As I reflect on my parents this week of their birthdays, I remember my mother saying, “I always felt safe with your Dad.” I remember my father’s letters to my Mother he wrote from Europe in WW2. He loved her with his whole being. Through many tough times they stuck together when he came back a transformed man in many ways. A hospital ship brought him back from Europe. He recounted the experience of seeing a G. I. buddy in his ward he thought was dead. His buddy said, “No, thanks to you I’m still alive. When you closed the wound on my head and put my scalp back and my helmet on, you saved me. I know you didn’t know I wasn’t dead, but I heard the prayer you said over me before you went on in the fight.” He had a metal plate in his head and life ahead in 1945. Still alive? So many things I wanted to research after achieving the goal of passive income from over five million dollars in March 2000.
Guess those things don’t really matter as compared to the lessons of people claiming to be transformed victimizing one another in the primal animal aggression characteristic of the flesh. “In the world but not of the world” is the direction His are to take. The battle continues in sorting out, who is serving the Lord. Oops, forgetting for a moment, that’s not my job. He can handle it. He can let the scales on eyes fall from those washed clean in His Blood, yet fail to produce His Fruit while they “thank God they are not like those sinners.”
Have Mercy on me O Lord, a sinner. May these Works of Yours through me be Meet for Repentance. Amen
John 15: 1-11, Great message, wonderful delivery. May all who hear have ears that shall hear. AMEN
Blessings
Waylon, I am 100% with you on Israel and I pray for them too. But this on a humorous note……I have so many books on how to learn Hebrew, I can’t tell you the number. I even have the Rosetta Stone. And one of these days I’m gonna learn. I know you were a professor of Hebrew. I honestly wish you could teach a class at church. I would sign up tomorrow. In the meantime, this past Sunday while getting ready for church, I had on JLTV, a channel on Direct TV, listed among the Christian channels. It is Jewish Life TV. I love watching it, because it gives you so many updates on Israel. Anyway, tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Guess what came on? Shalom Sesame!! They have a Jewish Sesame Street and it has all the regular Muppets. Now I am learning!!! haha. I laughed out loud and I know God was chuckling too. It’s so much fun being a child of God, this was just another treasure I found. God Bless……..
I cannot wait to watch Shalom Sesame! Thanks for the heads up!