This week in Israel:
On August 12th in a New York Times article entitled "Israel is Wary of Calm Days that may end in Turmoil", Ethan Bronner wrote "Israel is flourishing this summer, and one might imagine its people and leaders to be breathing a sigh of relief after nearly a decade of violence and unease. That, however, is far from the case. On every front, Israel is worried that it is living a false calm that could explode at any moment. Its airwaves and public discourse are filled with menace and concern." This week, the Fall Festivals having drawn to a close and Israel moving out into the Hebrew year 5770, there is a sense here of being circled by wolves-a circle which is getting tighter daily. We do not write this to be alarmist-the very reading from the Prophets for this week (see below) promises to Israel "But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!" (Isaiah 43:1-3b). Yet, as we enter this new decade (See Torah section below), it must be with our eyes opened-to what is taking place by powers of darkness as well by those of the Light.
THE TEMPLE MOUNT IN JERUSALEM: The past two weeks has seen a sharp increase of violence in the area on or surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. False accusations (the same as have been used for decades) have fanned the flames. "Israel is digging under the Mountain"; "Israel is planning on attacking the Al Aqsa Mosque"' "Israel is trying to bring religious Jews onto the mountain to pray on Islamic holy sites". In fact, as Israel moved through her Feasts, hidden wheelbarrows of brickbats were discovered on the fringes of the Mount, prepared in readiness for Muslims to hurl down on Jews praying at the Western Wall. Israel's Public Security Minister reports that between mid-September and this past Friday there were in the capital "some 48 rock-throwing incidents, 12 gasoline bombings, and the stabbing of a soldier.some 36 border policemen were lightly wounded and 112 people were arrested" ( "Aharonovitch.": Jerusalem Post, 13 Oct 2006, p3). Many of the incidents took place near or on the mountain. In covering the rioting, it was discovered that some Arab stations used footage from past riots in order to give the impression that what was taking place was even more agitated then it was. For the first time in a long time, the U.S. issued a travel advisory cautioning its citizens from moving about in the Old City of Jerusalem.
PLEASE PRAY: For the Peace of Jerusalem. For wisdom, courage and divine guidance on Jerusalem's Mayor and Chief of Police in administering authority over this holy place where God has placed His Name; where "all the house of Israel" has been promised freedom one day to worship YHVH (Ezekiel 20:40); where the Most High will set His King (Psalm 2:6). Pray His Kingdom come and His Will and sovereignty be established both there and in the surrounding areas, where the enemy would like to snuff out many lives, both Jewish and Arab if his spirit of cruel violence (Hebrew: hamas) is allowed to be unleashed. PRAY FOR ANGELS TO BE RELEASED TO ENCOURAGE, INSTRUCT AND PROTECT BELIEVERS IN THE AREA-AND TO MINISTER TO THOSE WHO WILL INHERIT SALVATION (Hebrews 1:14).
TROUBLING REALIGNMENTS IN TURKEY: Relations with Turkey, with which Israel has enjoyed a close alliance for many years, appear to be deteriorating rapidly in the past few weeks. Within an extremely short interval of time, there has been accelerated warming between old enemies Greece, Armenia, and most worrying, Syria. Last week Turkey informed Israel that it would not be allowed to take part in the "Anatolian Eagle" military exercise which for years included pilots from Israel and NATO. Then yesterday it was revealed that even while Turkey was delivering the snub to Israel, she was at the same time holding joint military maneuvers with Syria near Ankara. On Tuesday ten Turkish ministers travelled to Syria to take part in a new Turkey-Syria "High Level Strategic Cooperation Council", reportedly signing a treaty to end visa requirements for each country and to strengthen military ties. At the same time, Turkey has sharply raised its criticism of Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" last January (an action precipitated by Israel having her citizens battered with thousands of rockets after having completely removed itself from Gaza several years before). Yesterday, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan even went so far as to imply that Israel fired phosphorous bombs at innocent Gaza children "while the world sat and watched in comfortable seats."
Analysts believe that Turkey, which since WW I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire has been forced by its military to govern in a secular way, is with the present government seeing the strengthening of ties with the Islamic world preferable to those with western nations. The countries within her focus at present appear to be Iran and Syria.and this of course means distancing from Israel. Interestingly, an alliance between Turkey, Syria and Iran would be an Islamic link between three completely different races-Turkic, Arabic and Indo-European. And Israel would be without an ally in this part of the world.
When the Jews were kicked out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, Turkey welcomed a large number of refugees into its borders; the Jewish community thrived there for more than a century. We believe that this blessing released a reservoir of return to that land which continues today. All of the seven churches mentioned in the Revelation were located in present-day Turkey. At the same time, in ancient times this was the domain of Meshech and Tubal.two spirits which are mentioned again in Ezekiel 27, 32 and 38.
PLEASE PRAY: That any alliances between Turkey and its neighbors which are outside of God's timing will not be allowed. Pray for the Body of Messiah in Turkey; as you know, there have been martyrdoms amongst believers there in recent times. Pray that the lights of believers there will shine like stars-leading many to righteousness. Pray for Kurds in the east of the country to come to life in Jesus and rise into their end-time destiny in His Body. Pray for wisdom and grace and keenness of insight and direction on the part of our Prime Minister and Foreign Minister regarding reactions as a new theatre to our north begins to come into focus.
GOLDSTONE REPORT TO UN: Prime Minister Netanyahu opened the Knesset's winter session with a sobering assessment-that "Israel's basic rights to self defense and to exist as a Jewish state are under continued attack, which has become even stronger." Today the U.S. Security Council began debating the so called "Goldstone Report" which found Israel's defense force guilty of possible war crimes during "Operation Cast Lead" last January. Thursday the UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session in Geneva to endorse the report and its recommendations, which could open the way for individual Israelis being brought to prosecution by the Independent Court of Justice in the Hague for their "actions" in Gaza. We would strongly recommend that our readers look up on the internet and read PM Netanyahu's September 24th speech to the UN in which he brilliantly assessed Israel's predicament leading into and her actions during that conflict, all blatantly ignored or misrepresented in this biased report. In his speech earlier this week, the Prime Minister pointed out that the fact-finding mission which forms the basis of the Goldstone mission was asked "to probe the violations of international law by the Israeli occupying force against the Palestinians.I ask you to pay attention to the wording-'the Israeli occupying forces'-this is after we cleared out of every centimeter of Gaza." In his speech to the UN three weeks ago Netanyahu pointed out how "For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities. Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks. We heard nothing-absolutely nothing-from the UN Human Rights Council." This report was slated to be tabled for the present, but under the coercion of Muslim nations it is being raised again. The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem today issued an "urgent call to action" to Christian supporters of Israel worldwide "to immediately contact their respective national governments this week and voice their opposition to the UN Human Rights Council's consideration of the Goldstone report."
PLEASE PRAY: That God's truth would prevail.that Israel depend upon Him as her defense and Judge. Pray for courage and clarity of reasoning and thought for Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev. That a zeal for righteousness would rise up in those who will stand with Israel during this time of growing pressure to alienate her.
This week's Torah Portion:
From ancient times there has been a weekly portion from the five books of Moses (The Torah) and from the prophets (Haftarah-final reading) read on the Sabbath in synagogues around the world. This portion is given a Hebrew name taken from the opening words of the passage. An illustration of this practice appears to have been recorded in Luke 4:16 where Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in the synagogue in Nazareth and was asked to read the Haftarah portion (Isaiah 61) from the Prophets. We have found that in perusing these weekly readings, not only are we provided opportunity to identify in the context of God's Word with millions of Jewish people around the world, but very often the Holy Spirit will illumine specific passages pertinent that week in our intercession for the Land and people of Israel. All texts are those of English translations of the Scriptures.
LAST WEEK WITH THE END OF THE FALL FEASTS CAME A CELEBRATION AT HAVING COMPLETED THE CYCLE OF READINGS FROM THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 'SIMCHAT TORAH'. IN WHICH THE LAST READING WAS MADE FROM THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY, FOR THE HAFTARAH THERE WAS A LEAP OVER TO THE FIRST CHAPTER OF JOSHUA-AFTER WHICH THE SCROLLS WERE ROLLED ALL THE WAY BACK FOR A SHORT READING AT THE BEGINNING IN THE BOOK OF 'BEGINNINGS' - GENESIS.
The readings for October 11-17 are called B'resheet-"In the Beginning" and include:
TORAH: Genesis 1:1-6:8
HAFTARAH: Isaiah 42:5-43:10
It would be impossible here to comment at length on these incredible sweeping introductory chapters of the Bible. Reading them prayerfully is a wonderful, bracing way to begin this new season. Suffice to point out that we have entered the Hebrew year 5770-the beginning of a new decade of "70's". In ancient Hebrew letter-numbers 70 is represented by the letter ayin. This letter is derived from andliterally means 'EYE". We believe that this decade will be one in which "seeing" both spiritually and literally will be of extreme importance. We would here draw your attention to passages, both at the beginning and ending of our Torah reading and within the Haftarah, which are related to this:
Genesis 1:3-4. "Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night." The first place in the Bible where "seeing" is mentioned is in these verses, and the thing Elohim sees is the LIGHT He has just spoken into being. This Light is called "good" (vs. 4).
There will be many false lights this year. Psalm 36:9 tells us that "In His (good) light we see light. Please pray that this be a year of walking in the Light of His Face (Ps 44:3).of having eyes to see and to discern the light from the darkness, the good from the evil, the holy from the common.
Genesis 6:8. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." In modern Hebrew we use this expression commonly to simply mean that we "like" or "are pleased" with something. It is used often in the Scriptures (here for the first time) to indicate that person or action which has awakened the pleasure and the favor of God. Psalm 33:13-14 says that the LORD looks from heaven, sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling, He supervises/oversees all those who dwell on the earth. Yeshua (Jesus) warned in Luke 17:26 that "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man." Please pray that as darkness increases, this will be a year when many Israelis will, like Noah, come into the Light and find favor in the eyes of the LORD! A few years back an Israeli teenager wrote a Hebrew song which we find voices the cry awakening in the hearts of many believing Israelis here in the Land:
Come Spirit, Come Spirit, Come Today
The desire of my heart is to find grace in your eyes
The desire of my soul is to be more like You
Come God, dwell within me
Make me pure
Focus my eyes on what pleases You
That I will be devoted to You!
--Boi Ruach © 2004 Karen Seguin
Isaiah 42:18-20a. "Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.Who is blind but my servant.like the servant of the LORD. You have seen many things, but have paid no attention [Lit Hebrew: "but you will not watch/be on your guard"]..." (Emphases ours). Please pray that the eye of the watchman be opened and alert in this new season in Jerusalem and all of Israel.
