This week in Israel:
Hanukkah December 12-19
This week in Israel:
1. A MEETING IN BRUSSELS
"The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation" (Psalm 33:10-11).
This Monday and Tuesday at a meeting of 27 EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the Swedish government (which presently holds the rotating presidency of the EU) plans to present a proposal that the EU officially recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The document further states that the EU would not accept any changes made by Israel to the 1967 borders without Palestinian approval. (This 1967 border, the so called "Green Line", actually the 1949 Armistice lines drawn at the end of Israel's War of Independence, includes large areas of Jerusalem, not just the eastern part.) The draft as it presently stands also strongly implies that the EU would immediately recognize any future unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence. After discussion of the draft on Monday and Tuesday a new EU Middle East policy statement is expected to be released.
If the resolution is implemented, it would in effect imply that at the discretion of the EU, with absolutely no input from Israel herself, the Palestinians could be given a state and a large part of Jerusalem without even having negotiated for it, without having to live up to any of the security requirements which have always been seen as prerequisites for working out an agreement. We believe such a resolution to be unjust, unwise and extremely dangerous. As we write, Israel and the Palestinian Authority are furiously lobbying foreign ministers for their respective positions.
PLEASE PRAY:
*That the initiative being presented before the EU ministers in Brussels today and tomorrow will not become part of the EU policy statement for the Middle East. Pray for insight and courage on the part of the ministers to vote against it.
* For Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, that his country will oppose the plan, and that he will be given grace and wisdom in relation to Israel as his country assumes the rotating presidency on January 1.
*For Sweden. Some have suggested that the initiative on the part of this government is an attempt to "make a mark" while still in leadership (which ends on Dec. 31st. However, the foreign minister has still to even visit Israel (He would be the first not to do so while holding the Presidency). Last summer relations between the two countries were strained after a Swedish tabloid published an article accusing Israeli soldiers of capturing Palestinians in order to "harvest their organs." The Swedish government refused to distance itself from this scandalous "blood libel". Please pray for Swedish believers to have revelation and encouragement in the Spirit on how best to pray for their country, that it be steered away from policies which bring harm on Israel and God's judgment back upon itself.
2. HANUKKAH BEGINS FRIDAY EVENING
Hanukkah is the Hebrew word for "dedication". The eight-day Jewish celebration bearing that name remembers the "dedication" of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been recovered by the Jewish forces of Yehuda Maccabee in 164 BC. The Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (a fore-runner of the Anti-Christ, foretold in Daniel 11:21), seeking to coerce Jews into abandoning their religion and culture for that of Greece, had issued edicts forbidding circumcision, observance of Jewish Sabbaths and feast-days. He had defiled the Holy Temple by offering a sow on the altar and raising up in the Sanctuary a statue to Zeus. As depicted in the First Book of Maccabees (an account of Jewish history found in the Apocrypha), a revolt was launched by the priest Mattathias and later led by his son Yehuda (Judas) Maccabee. It led to the defeat of the Syrian forces, and the defiled Temple was cleansed and re-dedicated. Another account relates how during this cleansing there was only enough sanctified oil left to burn in the menorah for one night-yet a miracle occurred and it continued burning for eight days. The victorious warrior Yehuda ordained "that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Kislev, with mirth and gladness" (I Maccabees 4:59). Today, part of the celebration includes the lighting of a new oil lamp or candle each evening on an eight-branch menorah. Each light is ignited from the flame of a separate branch called shamash-"servant". Remarkably, the Haftarah reading for this Saturday, the beginning of Hanukkah, includes Zechariah 3:8, "Behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH." John 10:22 records Yeshua (Jesus) walking in the Temple during this feast. He is the Light Inextinguishable, who illumines all coming into the World (John 1:9).
Hanukkah-the "Feast of Dedication"-the "Festival of Lights" is a season for allowing the Holy Light of the Spirit to shine within ourselves, revealing any idolatry or uncleanness which may have defiled our bodies (which are the Temple of the Holy Spirit) and removing it. It is a time for surrendering our selves anew to the infilling of the Holy Spirit from an inexhaustible supply. It is a time for letting our "lights" shine brightly in the darkness-reaching out and joining with those of other believers. A popular Israeli Hebrew Children's song for Hanukkah is called BANU HOSHEKH ("FLEE DARKNESS"):
We have come to drive out darkness, in our hands light and fire:
Each of us is a small light, but together we are a strong, steady light.
Flee Darkness in the Blackness-Flee before the Light!
We will write more on this Celebration in our next Prayer Update.
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.
The readings for December 6-12 are called VaYeshev "Jacob dwelt in the land." , and include:
TORAH: Genesis 37:1-40:23
HAFTARAH HANUKKAH I: Zechariah 2:10-4:7
This week we begin the story of Joseph and his brothers. A special Haftarah reading from Zechariah is substituted because the Sabbath falls during Hanukkah. However, we would recommend also reading the usual passage Amos 2:6-3:8, because the powerful verses on prophets and prophecy there bear a strong affinity to the giftings of Joseph evidenced in the Torah Portion.
*Genesis 37:11. "His brothers were jealous of him [Joseph's prophetic dream], but his father guarded the Word." As the Lord returns to Zion with deliverance and an outpouring of His Spirit, PLEASE PRAY for mature instruction in the prophetic among Israelis-when and how to share prophecies and dreams; how to guard and save a Word of the LORD until it comes to fruition; how to guard against giving place to the flesh which can awaken jealousies of those more gifted in certain areas than we are.
*Genesis 39:8-9. "But he refused [his master's wife's seductive advances] and said, 'Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house.he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?" PLEASE PRAY for clean minds and hearts and the Fear of the Lord in believing Israeli youth who are under constant temptation to compromise their integrity and sexual purity. Revelation 14 speaks of 144,000 who will not have defiled themselves. Perhaps there are some of that army already alive in the land; of course, the evil one will do all he can to divert them from their destiny. Pray for a new wave of bold and victorious ones governed by godly integrity-who would have hatred of the very thought of sinning against their neighbor and their God.
*Genesis 40:8. "And they said to him, 'We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.' So Joseph said to them, 'Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please."
This is answered centuries later by another godly young Hebrew captive, Daniel, "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets." (Daniel 2:28).
*Zechariah 3:2. "And the LORD said to Satan, 'The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?'" Revelation 12:11 speaks of a time when the Accuser will be overcome "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." We infer from this Zechariah passage that part of that "word of testimony" will include a linking of the name of the LORD with his choosing of Jerusalem. An acknowledgment and confession of the LORD's covenant link with Jerusalem will release a power to silence the Accuser in the last days!
*Amos 2:11-12; 3:7-8. " 'I raised up some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as Nazirites. Is it not so, O you children of Israel?' Says the LORD.Surely the Lord YHVH does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to his servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord YHVH has spoken! Who can but prophesy?"
PLEASE PRAY for the raising up sons and daughters in Israel who move confidently and soundly in the prophetic giftings. For the restoration of the office of "prophet" in the Land. Satan hates this-because the spirit of prophecy involves "the testimony of Yeshua (Revelation 19:10b), and so much of Israel is still behind a veil regarding their Messiah. It is this gift and office which bring clarity, understanding, instruction and encouragement to the Body regarding what "the Spirit is saying to the congregations."
[The Torah and Haftarah portions for next week (13-19 Dec "Miketz") will be: Genesis 41:1-44:17; I Kings 7:40-50]
