Lion Of Judah

Lion of Judah

"Behold, the Lamb of God!" (Jn. 1:36)

"Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . ." (Rev. 5:5).

Jacob said, “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

 He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:8-10).

In this passage God looked at Judah as a strong warrior and likened him to a young lion sleeping in its den after devouring its prey. Perhaps it was this strength of character and determination that God foresaw in this tribe that influenced Him to choose Judah to be His lawgiver and the tribe from which His Son would later be born (Hebrews 7:14).

Israel Proposed & Offered Arabs Rejected all

 

Arabs Only Reject Palestinian 

 PEEL COMMISION: 1937 Rejected By Arab

The Commission was established at a time of increased violence; serious clashes between Arabs and Jews broke out in 1936 and were to last three years. On 11 November 1936, the commission arrived in Palestine to investigate the reasons behind the uprising. The Commission was charged with determining the cause of the riots, and judging the grievances of both sides.

 Chaim Weizmann made a speech on behalf of the Jews. On 25 November 1936, testifying before the Peel Commission, Weizmann said that there are in Europe 6,000,000 Jews . "for whom the world is divided into places where they cannot live and places where they cannot enter."

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, testified in front of the commission, opposing any partition of Arab lands with the Jews. He demanded full cessation of Jewish immigration. Although the Arabs continued to boycott the Commission officially, there was a sense of urgency to respond to Weizmann's appeal to restore calm. 

Top 10 Israeli inventions you should know about

1) Israel developed the PillCam – the first pill that can be swallowed to record images of the digestive tract. The capsule is the size and the same shape as a pill, and contains a tiny camera. This invention is used very widely and was an extremely significant development in the field of medicine.

2) Israel was the country to develop the USB flash drive. Used by nearly everyone I know, it surely is one of the most useful modern inventions. It allows you to store all your files in a compact way, making it easier to access and work away from your computer.

3) Waze was invented by Israel. This GPS- based travel app gives you turn- by- turn information and up to date traffic statistics. It is now in use in over 100 countries, making it a hugely popular app for motorists.

4) Israeli inventions in the consumer goods market continue to thrive, as seen by the invention of the epilator. The first one, Epilady, was originally manufactured by a Kibbutz in Israel in 1986, and has since sold more than 30 million units.

5) In 2008, Israeli company EWA developed the technology to produce drinking water out of thin air. A condenser absorbs the air’s humidity, holds it in silica based gel granules, then condenses it into water. Better still, 85% of energy used is pumped back into the system. Yoffy toffee!

6) Ok, not strictly an invention but an amazing use of technology. Israel really is ‘the land of milk and honey’ thanks to its ‘super cows’, which produce far milk than other countries. Israeli cows produce up to 10.5 tons a year – 10% more than North American cows and almost 50% more than Germany’s cows! A combination of air conditioning, constant monitoring and pedometers to tell when the animals are getting fidgety helps to keep the milk flowing, according to Bloomberg.

7) Israel invented modern drip irrigation in the early 1960s. Drip irrigation allows you to save water and fertiliser by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants through a network of plastic pipes, which is highly useful in areas where water is scarce.

8) Israel has even made its mark on salads! Two Hebrew University professors worked with a genetics company to develop the beloved cherry tomato. Modifying a regular tomato into one that ripened slowly and stayed fresh in transportation, the Israelis created a tastier and sweeter fruit that is a favourite of many.

9) Israel developed the BabySense device, which helps prevents cot deaths by monitoring a baby’s breathing and movements through the mattress while they sleep. An auditory and visual alarm is activated if any irregularities occur during their sleep, which has helped parents prevent the horrors of cot death worldwide.

10) Lastly, and one of my favourite inventions by Israel is Viber. Available for download on any smart phone, the app allows you to make calls across the world for free, using Wifi. Its high speed connection and ability to keep in contact with anyone anywhere truly makes it one of Israel’s best inventions.

Israel—God Chosen People

The study of biblical prophecy has been my daily bread. My father was an evangelist who specialized in the area of Israel and Bible prophecy. Every night of the week, my  sister and I were in a church somewhere hearing our father expound on world events in the light of Bible prophecy. He would often sit us down and read from the newspaper and then say, “Girls, this is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy…let’s read the Bible and you will see.” We watched the entire 1967 Six Day War on television with the knowledge that we were witnessing something significant. Only afterwards did we realize that, at that time, we were watching the fulfillment of Luke 21:24b, which says, “And Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (NASB). June of 1967 was the first time since the dispersion in AD 70 that Jerusalem was under Jewish sovereignty.

We often heard my father talk about future events the Bible foretold. Little did we know that we would live to see many of them literally fulfilled in our lifetime. At Bridges for Peace, we have a little saying: “Why just read about Bible prophecy when you can be a part of it?” I consider it an awesome privilege to be alive today and even more so to be called to be an active participant
in the fulfillment of God’s prophetic Word. I am sure the prophets who recorded the Word of God would have loved to be in our shoes, but God in His infinite wisdom chose us to be the ones to partner with Him in these last days.

Frequently I meet with Christian groups visiting Israel. A number of times, a pilgrim has said to me, “Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be here when Jesus and His disciples were here, in the days of the Bible?” I chuckle and think to myself, “Oh, but these are Bible days—these are the days when God is fulfilling His promises, written in the Bible for the nation of Israel, while the world watches.”

Israel is God’s object lesson to the world. It is on this small piece of ocean-front real estate that God is showing the world that He can be trusted to keep His Word. Think of the statistical improbabilities of all the following coming together to fulfill ancient prophecies.

The Ingathering after
a 2,000-Year Dispersion

There has never, in the known history of the world, been another people group who were dispersed to multiple locations for over 2,000 years and came back to their ancient homeland. Yet, in the late 1880s, we saw the stirrings of the Spirit of God, as the Jewish people began to arrive in what was then known as Palestine. It was as if God had placed a homing instinct in them set to go off at a certain time in history, and they were compelled to come home. God dispersed the people because of their sin, and now He is bringing them back, not because they have proved themselves holy, but because He is proving His faithful character to the nations of the world. (See Ezekiel 36:19–24).

Photo by Adherent My family became involved in this effort before the Iron Curtain fell. In those days, many Jewish people were refused permission to immigrate to Israel, and some were imprisoned. They were called refusniks or prisoners of conscience. One Christmas, my father came home a few days before the holiday and told my sister Sandy and I that this Christmas was going to be different. This year we were going to think about others instead of just thinking about our presents. He presented us with gaudy, cheap, star-of-David necklaces each with the name of a refusnik on it. It was a takeoff on the Vietnam POW (prisoner of war) bracelets that everyone was wearing in the United States in the early 70s. We prayed for our person regularly. My sister really took the project to heart and prayed diligently for the person on her necklace as well as the others. One of the names was Silva Zalmonson.

Some time later, while reading The Jerusalem Post International Edition, we saw a small story about her, saying that by a miracle, she had been released from prison and was now living in Israel. We were over the moon with excitement as we realized that our prayers had been answered. Later on a trip to Israel, my sister was able to meet with Silva and tell how she had prayed every day for her release. Silva cried and said that she had always wondered why she, one of the infamous Leningrad 11, was released and none of the others were. Now she knew why—it was the power of prayer. Since 1990, over 1,112,000 Jewish people have come home to Israel from the nations of their dispersion, and they are still coming. As of 2010, of the 5,700,000 Jews in Israel, around 1,720,000 came as immigrants, most of the remainder being children or grandchildren of immigrants.

National Identity

Rishon LeZion
Amos Meron/wikipedia.org The Jewish people were dispersed to over 100 nations throughout the world, and yet they maintained their Jewish identity and their heart connection to the Land of Israel. If you visit the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel, you will see exhibits that show common elements of Jewish practice, which could be found in every Jewish home, regardless of whether that home was in Europe, Asia, or Africa. I grew up in the United States. In comparison to the ancient world, the US is a youngster. My family’s ancestors (on my father’s side) have been in the US since before the Civil War, some since the days of independence—more than 200 years. But, when you ask my father what
nationality he is descended from, he will tell you that he is a mixed-breed. It is hard to find a European country from which he doesn’t have an ancestor. The United Sates has been called a melting pot, and my father is proof.

Compare our experience in the United States with the Jewish experience. For over 2,000 years, the Jewish people have resisted the melting pot temptation and remained a unique people. Over the long centuries of dispersion, they were not forgotten by God; He preserved them as a people.

A Nation Born in a Day

In spite of overwhelming odds against her, Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. The next day, five hostile Arab armies attacked the fledgling state. With little ammunition, soldiers (many of whom were refugees just off the ships from Nazi-torn Europe), and an air force that consisted of a few small planes, Israel defeated her enemies. The Arab world was stunned, and the nations looked on in amazement. God was not surprised! This moment in history was foretold over 3,000 years earlier: “Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons” (Isa. 66:8, NASB). On May 13, the State of Israel did not exist, and then the next day, she was a reality!

Dead Language Revived

The Jewish people came from over 100 nations and spoke a wide variety of languages. How do you create a nation when you can’t even communicate in a common language? Hebrew was nearly a dead language, only used for prayers and Bible reading. A visionary by the name of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, upon arriving on the shores of Palestine, refused to speak anything but Hebrew. His child was the first child in nearly 2,000 years whose native tongue was Hebrew. Eliezer was instrumental in Hebrew becoming a living language once again. Today, Hebrew is the native tongue to millions. A language that was only used for religious purposes is now used for the sacred and the mundane.

A Depleted, Tired Land Restored

Mark Twain visited the Land in the 1800s and described it in his book Innocents Abroad. He called it a “blistering, naked, treeless land.” He called the villages “ugly, cramped, squalid, uncomfortable and filthy.” Other descriptive phrases say “solitude to make one dreary; unpeopled deserts, rusty mounds of barrenness that never, never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines; this stupid village of Tiberias, slumbering under its six funereal plumes of palms; yonder desolate declivity where the swine of the miracle ran down into the sea and doubtless thought it was better to swallow a devil or two and get drowned into the bargain than have to live longer in such a place.”

Nachmanides, a Talmudic scholar, visited in 1267 and described Jerusalem as “deserted and laid waste and Judea was more destitute than Galilee.” George Sandys reported in 1610 that the “land is bare of trees. The country is a vast empty ruin.” Colonel C. R. Condor wrote in 1877 that “Palestine is empty. The population is not large enough to till the land.” In 1831, Michael Russell wrote in his book Palestine or the Holy Land that “Jericho, once famous for its palm and balsam trees, is treeless and almost deserted.”

Today, as you visit Israel, you will see a far different reality. The Land is being restored to its former beauty as prophesied:

•     “On that day I raised My hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands” (Ezek. 20:6).

•     “I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree; the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together, that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it” (Isa. 41:18–20).

•     “The desert and the wasteland will be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the excellency of our God” (Isa. 35:1–2).

gkuma/shutterstock.com There is a special connection between the fruitfulness of the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. The Land flourishes when the Jewish people live here and falls into desolation when they are gone. I believe that this land/people connection is a direct result of the special covenant that God made with the Jewish people.

God claims in Leviticus 25:23 that He is the owner of this Land. “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine…” God chose to give the Land to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an everlasting inheritance. “‘I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,’ says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:15, NIV).

www.wikipedia.org Why did God make this unusual covenant between a people and a land? There is a good answer! God placed the Jewish people in Israel to be a witness of His character. In the ancient world, all the peoples had gods who they looked to for fertility, rain, crops, etc. Most of the peoples were polytheistic, praying to multiple gods, but God had revealed Himself as the One True God to Abraham and his descendants. Their presence in the Land of Israel as His worshippers was a constant witness to the peoples round about. Israel was the highway of the ancient world, forming a natural land bridge between three major continents. If you wanted to travel from Africa to Europe or Asia, you had to pass through Israel. To the east, the treacherous deserts made travel extremely difficult, and to the west was the Mediterranean Sea. Traders, armies and travelers all passed through Israel, and on their way, they heard about the miracle-working God of the Israelites. In this way, God caused His fame to spread throughout the ancient world. Only when the Land and covenant people are together in combination, do both flourish in accordance with God’s divine plan. The prophet Ezekiel confirms it is the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel that triggers the restoration of the Land. “But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come” (36:8, NASB).

The Bible contains many beautiful prophecies concerning the Land that have seen their fulfillment in modern times:

The desert shall blossom as the rose (Isa. 35:1–2). Today, millions of flowers grown in the deserts of Israel are exported to Europe. Holland even imports tulips from Israel!

Israel will fill the earth with fruit (Isa. 27:6). Millions of fruit trees have been planted in Israel, reaping a huge export harvest every year. Around the world, people eat the juicy “Jaffa” orange.

Israel will become like the garden of Eden (Isa. 51:3).

Christians all over the world have become involved in the restoration of the Land of Israel through planting trees, praying for abundant early and latter rains and eating the produce of Israel.

Miracles in Battle

Israeli soldiers leave Lebanon
Photo by Ashernet There are many stories of miracles on the battlefield. Let me tell you one of them that we heard firsthand from a young Israeli man. My husband and I volunteered on a kibbutz (a collective community) for nearly a year when we first came to Israel. During that year, we met a young Israeli man named Ari. He was thoroughly secular in his lifestyle and was a difficult person to be around. One day, Tom asked him why he didn’t believe in God. Ari became indignant and protested, saying, “Of course I believe in God.” So, Tom asked him to explain.

Ari told a fascinating story of God’s miraculous protection of a group of soldiers. Ari was a commander of a group of 10 soldiers. They were in a canyon doing reconnaissance in southern Lebanon, when suddenly an enemy soldier popped from behind a rock and began to fire with a Kalashnikov automatic weapon. He was at point blank range, and there was no place to run. He emptied a clip into the group and started a second clip before one of the soldiers managed to shoot him. Shaken, the soldiers looked around, expecting to see their comrades lying dead on the ground. Instead, to their utter amazement, they were all standing, and not one had been hit by a single bullet. That is an absolute miracle! “So, how do you explain that, Ari?” Tom asked. “It was like angels were standing in front of each of us, batting the bullets out of the way. We all felt them whizzing by.” Ari went on to say, “How can I not believe in God after an experience like that?”

Future Miracles

I hope I have whetted your appetite a little. If God fulfilled all of these promises in the life of modern Israel, surely we can trust Him to fulfill the rest! There is more to come! It is God’s plan that the people of Israel know Him, love Him, and put their trust in Him. We have the awesome privilege to be part of what God is doing now and in the days to come. Consider a few marvelous prophecies to come:

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the highway of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it. It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:5–10).

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you: I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezek. 36:26–28).

“‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the LORD: ‘I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD.” For they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’” (Jer. 31:33–34).

“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written; ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob [Paul quoting Isa. 59:20]; for this is My Covenant with them, when I take away their sins [Paul quoting Isa. 27:9]’”(Rom. 11:26–27).

Israel—God’s Miracle in the Making

Bridges for Peace blessing Israel for more than 50 years God’s Word resounds down through the ages with the promises for the restoration of Israel. God is bringing the people back from the nations of their dispersion, establishing the State of Israel, and restoring the Land. I am confident He will finish His work in such a way that the nations of the world will know that He is God.

Isaiah 62:10 is part of my own call from God. “Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway! Take out the stones. Lift up a banner for the peoples!” Truly God is using Christians today to assist in His great plans for Israel. No one knows at what speed the Lord will move to finish His plans. But this I know, there will be Christians ready and willing to assist in any way He asks. James said that faith without works is dead. My father paraphrased that statement and said, “Belief without action is deception.” We see God at work, and we believe He will finish what He started, so let’s partner with God in prayer and action to see His name glorified throughout the world.

The Genealogy of Yeshua (Jesus Christ the Messiah)

There are many genealogies in the Bible. It is important to realize that many of the genealogies are not solely for the purpose of revealing who begat whom. Often there is a theological message contained in these genealogies. This message can be related to the reader through a variety of means. This means that Biblical genealogies are most unique and challenge a western view of accuracy. For example, David was the eighth son of Jesse. This fact fits nicely with the Hebraic significance of the number eight. The number eight has theological significance of “newness” and / or “redemption”. From where is this derived? There were eight individuals who lived through the flood, Noah and his three sons and their wives (see I Peter 3:20). G-d reestablished the human race a new after the flood through these eight individuals.

Also, a male child under Torah law is circumcised and brought into a new relationship with the people of Israel. Of course circumcision takes place on the eighth day. The idea of “newness” is so emphasized that the son does not even receive a name until he is circumcised reflecting this new identity, which he received on the eighth day.

Early Christian churches were often built in the shape of an octagon in order to reflect that Messiah, who resurrected from the dead, did so on the eighth day (Sunday, the first day of the week plus the seven days of the previous week 1 +7=8). This emphasis on the number eight was to teach the correlation between the resurrected Messiah and redemption.

David, the eighth son of Jesse, brought a new era to the children of Israel and the Messiah / Redeemer will do this same thing but in an even greater way in the last days; therefore the Messiah is called the son of David. Although David was the eighth son of Jesse, what should one make with the verse within the genealogy of Judah from I Chronicles 2,

“And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliav, and Avinadav the second, and Shimah the third, and Netanel the fourth, and Rahdai the fifth, and Ohtzehm the sixth, and David the seventh.” I Chronicles 2:13-15

This is a perfect example of how genealogies are used to convey a theological message rather than an absolute fact. The Chronicle passage is not ignorant of the fact that David is actually the eighth son of Jesse, but prefers to list him as the seventh son. The number seven carries a meaning of “set apart” or “sanctified”. Therefore the writer of First Chronicles chose to list David as the seventh son in order to speak to the fact that David was sanctified (set apart with a purpose) to be the son of Jesse who would be king. Some scholars suggest that perhaps one of David’s brothers had died and now David was in fact the youngest of seven remaining sons of Jesse. Whether this is the case or not is irrelevant because Jewish genealogies convey revelation and are not simply the restating of a chronological order of who is the father of whom.

Another important aspect of Biblical genealogies is the meaning of “father”. There are numerous examples in genealogies where although the reader is told that X begat Y, yet it is clear that X is not the father, but grandfather or some other male relative. For example in Yeshua’s genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew one reads,

“Asa begat Y’hoshafat, Y’hoshafat begat Yoram, and Yoram begat Uhziyahu.” Matthew 1:8

In actuality, Yoram did not beget Uhziyahu; rather there are three generations missing. These generations are Achazyah, Y’hoash, and Amatzyahu. Many of the Biblical genealogies skip generations not because of a lack of knowledge but due to some theological concern. Sometimes, as previously mentioned, the one who is said to begat is not even a grandfather or in the straight lineage at all but a relative. Case in point is Matthew 1:12 and Luke 3:27. In this verse we are told that Sh’altiel begat Z’rubahvel. This is also stated by Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai; however in the genealogy of I Chronicles 3:17-19 it is stated that in reality Z’rubahvel was the son of Sh’altiel’s brother P’dayah. Scholars give a variety of explanations for this, as perhaps P’dayah died and his brother adopted Z’rubahvel. Once again there is no reason to speculate, but simply accept that Biblical genealogies take liberties to make a point that may or may not be understood by the readers today.

Now let us consider Yeshua’s genealogy in Luke. There is no question that from Joseph to David there are considerable differences with Matthew’s account. How can one explain these changes? The most common response is that Luke is actually tracing Yeshua through His mother Miryam (Mary). There are a few problems with this claim. First of all, the genealogy itself never claims to be through Miryam,

“Yeshua was about thirty years old when He began (His ministry) being considered the son of Yoseph, the son of Eli.” Luke 3:23

There is not even any hint of Miryam in Luke’s genealogy or in all of chapter three. Furthermore Jewish genealogies are not traced through the mother. When one examines Yeshua’s genealogies in Matthew and Luke it becomes clear why there are such differences between them. All one has to do is go to Luke 3:31 to find why there are these discrepancies,

“…the son of Nathan, the son of David,”

This verse is different from Matthew’s genealogy which has Shlomo (Solomon) as the son of David instead of Nathan. It is now clear that while Matthew traces Yeshua’s genealogy through Shlomo, Luke does so through a different son of David, Nathan. What are the implications of this? We have already seen how genealogies may use other male relatives for a variety of reasons. To say emphatically, like a large number of Christian commentators that Luke traces the lineage of Yeshua through Miryam as the reason for these differences is without foundation. This standard response seems to stem from a desire to defend Yeshua’s royal lineage, as Shlomo represented this lineage and not Nathan. But as we have learned from the fore-mentioned Biblical genealogy of Z’rubahvel, which lists an uncle as his father, this is not a problem for Jewish genealogies. Instead of offering an explanation based on speculation one should accept the Biblical genealogies for what they are and in the manner they are given, because only when one does so can he receive their intended purpose.

Why does Luke prefer to take Yeshua’s lineage through Nathan and not Shlomo and what problem(s) if any does this cause? There are those who state that Luke’s genealogy actually disqualifies Yeshua’s Messianic claim because of what one reads in First Chronicles,

“Behold, a son is born to you, he will be a man of rest and I will give rest from all his enemies around for Shlomo will be his name; and peace and quietness I will give to Israel in his days. He will build a house for My Name he will be to Me for a son and I will be to Him for a Father and I will establish the throne of his kingdom upon Israel forever.” I Chronicles 22:9-10

If Yeshua is from the lineage of Nathan and not Shlomo as Luke asserts, then it would seem that according to this passage that Yeshua is not a viable candidate for Messiah. There are two flaws with such a view. First, the New Covenant is a unit and one must let it speak as such. Matthew’s Gospel has already established for the reader that Yeshua is a descendant of Shlomo so there is no need for Luke to repeat this fact. Rather Luke is following the tendency of Scripture and desires to make an additional point. He wants to present Yeshua as the Messiah and do so without any connection to Y’hoyachin, who Jeremiah prophesies is cursed by G-d and that none of his descendants will sit upon the throne (see Jeremiah 22:28-30). This in one sense poses a serious problem for G-d’s promise of the Messiah. How can there arise one who has a legitimate claim to the throne, i.e. a descendant of Shlomo; yet not be a descendant of Y’hoyachin?

Matthew boldly proclaims Yeshua as a descendant of Shlomo (Mt. 1:6-7) and also includes Y’hoyachin (verses 11-12) in his genealogy. Matthew handles the obstacle of Jeremiah’s prophecy with stating that Yeshua was conceived by a virgin by means of the Holy Spirit. Therefore Yeshua is not the biological son of Yoseph, but nevertheless according to Jewish law, a legal descendant of his. This allows for Yeshua to meet the qualifications of Davidic lineage through Shlomo, but not a biological descendant of Y’hoyachin. Luke does not speak of the virgin birth, not because he was unaware of it or doubted its authenticity, but rather simply used a method very much accepted by Judaism and took Yeshua’s lineage through Nathan instead of Shlomo to avoid the issue of Y’hoyachin altogether.

An important point which must be made is that it is most disingenuous for scholars out of Judaism to attack and attempt to discredit the New Covenant and Yeshua’s Messianic lineage due to idiosyncrasies within the two genealogies when such characteristics are also found in the genealogies of the Old Covenant. If one applies the same standards to the New Covenant as the rabbis allow for the Old Covenant, then the results are that the New Covenant is just as reliable and inerrant as the Old Covenant.

In conclusion, due to the nature of Jewish genealogies and the liberties that they employ, one should heed the admonition of Paul, who wrote,

“And do not give heed to fables or endless genealogies which give rise to speculations, rather than godly edification in faith.” I Timothy 1:4

The Mystery of the Lost Jubilee: Part I – An Invitation!

What if we told you that there was a mystery right in front of us? A mystery that is not just imaginary but real, a mystery that when solved could have implications to the entire world. Would you be interested to read such a story? More than that, would you be interested to join in with such a story?

What we are about to embark upon could be every bit as exciting as a Sherlock Holmes mystery novel. Everyone loves a good mystery novel! We get caught up in the writer’s story, identifying with the characters as they seek to solve the mystery in front of them. But when the book ends, the adventure also ends. A book can be a needed escape, perhaps, but then we must go back to real life.

But we would like to offer you something different. To become detectives with us – in real life, in a mystery of epic proportions.

Which mystery? Not the mystery of when the Messiah will appear! Yes, that is the most important mystery of all, but let us agree that such a mystery can be left to many others, and has defeated many a detective over the years.

No, the mystery we propose to work on together is the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee. We propose that we work together in a series of articles and to communicate with each other in the comment fields below, in order to try to solve it.

This mystery novel, we would suggest, is a novel itself being written by God and all Bible-believing people are characters in the novel, and all are invited to be detectives if they choose to be. We—Bob, an evangelical Christian from America and Gidon, an Orthodox Jew from Israel—are co-authoring this series together. This mystery is most certainly a shared mystery, of great interest to Jews and Christians alike. Gidon Ariel, recently wrote an article on the subject, asking the question of whether the release of Jonathan Pollard on November 20th was a sign and signal that we are currently in a Jubilee year.

To “find the lost Jubilee” is to definitively find any Jubilee, and then to definitively find a second Jubilee, and then with that pattern established, solving the mystery means finding all Jubilees to come. If we are in a Jubilee year right now, and we were all to agree upon it, then we may have just solved the mystery. But, we are a long way from understanding the possibilities, or agreeing with the evidence, evidence which we have not even begun to present just yet, but which we will present as these articles go forward—physical, historical and biblical evidence.

If things go well, we might be able to solve the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee as early as Spring 2016, and if not perhaps by Summer or Fall of 2016, but—and here is the best part—we have a lot of confidence that, with God’s help, together we should all be able to propose a definitive solution to the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee no later than by the end of 2017.

Suppose we find it. So what? What does finding the Lost Jubilee imply for our world? We begin by establishing a few simple facts that those who have studied the Jubilee will already know.

What is the Jubilee?

The Jubilee is a special year that was instituted by God thousands of years ago when it was announced to the children of Israel in the Sinai desert just after their Exodus from Egypt. It is instituted in scripture in Leviticus 25:8-10:

“8 You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. 9 You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through you land. 10 You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.” NAS with emphasis added.

The English word “jubilee” in verse 10 in Hebrew is pronounced “yovel” and literally means “a ram’s horn.” The ram’s horn and horn mentioned in verse 8 is pronounced “shofar,” which is itself ram’s horn.

Why is the Jubilee important?

The Jubilee is a year of freedom and restoration. But beyond that, since it is a year that is consecrated to the Lord, the time of Jubilee hints at heavenly participation in earthly freedom and restoration.

Why should Jews and Christians care?

Jews in Israel may have restored during a Jubilee something critically important to their national identity, namely physical land. Christians are grafted into the seed of Abraham and Israel, so the Jubilee can bring, at the very least, spiritual blessings to Christians even as it brings, at the very least, physical blessings to the Jews.

When does Jubilee occur?

God explains that it is to be the 50th year, occurring after seven 7-year long cycles. There is great controversy about whether this fiftieth Jubilee repeats every 49 years or 50 years. We will study this later, but if our overall objective of together finding the Lost Jubilee is met, we should be able to answer this question once-and-for-all.

Is any specific year designated as the Jubilee Year by the Jews?

No, not officially, although interest to identify this year has been growing among Jews recently. There are many obstacles to an official recognition of the Jubilee in Israel today, the first of which is that lack of recognized boundaries for what land belonged to which of the twelve tribes. We will cover this more detail in future articles in this series.

Was Jubilee observed in ancient Israel?

Not that we know of. We do not possess any definitive evidence of such observance.

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Is Jubilee recognized by Christians?

Not in general, except by the Catholic Church, which is coincidentally declaring a Jubilee year to begin on December 8th, 2015! We will discuss that in part III of this series.

How will we solve this mystery?

By praying, watching, and sharing our insights together. We will pray for God’s will to be done regarding the Jubilee; we will watch to see what happens on the earth; and we will share with each other our thoughts in the comments section following each article in this series. If God decides, he can make it very obvious to all of us that a Jubilee year has occurred. We will see it with our own eyes, and hear it with our own ears. It should be that obvious.

And what if nothing happens?

If we reach December 2017 and nothing substantial has happened, then we may simply have to declare the mystery still unsolved. Our promise to you is that we won’t try to force future events to fit into our preconceived notions. Detectives follow the evidence wherever it leads, even if it means they have to go back to the beginning and start over.

This is where real life differs from a novel. If we read a good mystery novel, we are guaranteed to reach a meaningful conclusion by the end of the book. In our case, God has no obligation to grant us the right to solve a mystery in any certain time period.

We have no guarantees! But the rewards are real, not imaginary. And the Bible says in Proverbs 25:2 that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out.

We therefore to humbly invite you to join us in treasure hunt! Would you like to put your detective skills at work, and jump into this story with us? Shall we try to search it out together, as Jews and Christians who share a common interest in the outcome?

As the authors, we will gather together for you, in a series of articles, all the main facts and clues that have been written about the Jubilee, especially those hints that appear in the Bible. We will also review the facts and clues you provide as well on the comment pages! Together we will attempt to solve this mystery, by finding a treasure not hidden in the ground, but hidden in time, the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee.

Next Time…

In the next article we will travel to Jerusalem to see why so many people are wondering if we might be entering a Jubilee year, either right now, or at least very soon.

First and Second Temple destruction and other Jewish tragedies that happened ON THIS DAY

Today is one of the most significant dates in all of history. In the Hebrew calendar, the 9th of Av (Tisha b’Av) begins this year at sundown on 31st July and ends sundown on 1st August.

It is a solemn day in which Jews fast, pray, and reflect on the most destructive events in biblical history and marks the culmination of three weeks of mourning for the Jewish people. On this day, Jewish people remember the destruction of First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, both events which occurred on the same day, the 9th of Av. Marking the First Temple destruction, Zechariah refers to the 9th of Av as, “the fast of the fifth” (Zechariah 8:19), as Av is the fifth month on the religious Hebrew calendar. 

Due to differences between the two calendars, the day falls during July/August. Along with the Temple destruction, the 9th of Av has been the date for some of the most tragic events affecting the Jewish people.

Here are some of them:

1313 BC
The spies returned from the Promised Land with bad reports
Although Joshua and Caleb trusted the Lord and had faith that He would deliver the people and the land “into their hands,” the others were faithless and feared the people of the land. The result of their disobedience to God was catastrophic. God decreed in Numbers 13 that they would therefore wander in the desert for 40 years.

586 BC
The First Temple destroyed by the BabyloniansOn the 9th of Av, the Holy Temple, built by King Solomon, was set on fire and destroyed by the Chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s army.  Approximately 100,000 Jewish people were killed during this invasion of Judah, the southern kingdom. Most of the remaining survivors were taken captive to Babylon for exactly 70 years, as prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah.

AD 70
The Second Temple destroyed by Romans
The Second Temple, built under Nehemiah’s leadership, was destroyed by Roman legions under Titus on the 9th of Av. The arch of Titus, located in Rome and built to commemorate Titus’s victory in Judea, depicts a Roman victory procession with soldiers carrying spoils from the Temple.

AD 135
Jews at Betar massacred in revolt against Romans
A Jewish revolt against the Romans, led by Shimon bar Koziva (also known as Bar Kochba) ended defeat in the final battle at Betar on the 9th of Av. The Jews of Betar were butchered and the Temple Mount was plowed one year later on the same date.

1190
Jews martyred in England
At least 150 Jews – who had taken refuge in York Castle – were massacred during anti-Semitic rioting. This also happened on the 9th of Av.

1290
The Jews expelled from England
The edict was sign on 18 July, which that year was…9th of Av. It followed decades of persecution including England becoming the first European nation to require Jews to wear a badge and the imposing of taxes and other financial restrictions against the Jews.

1306
Jews expelled from France
This didn’t happen exactly on 9th of Av but we have included it because it happened the day after on 10th of Av (22nd July). They were given one month to leave the kingdom.

1555
Jews in Rome moved to a ghetto
On the 9th of Av, Pope Paul IV ordered all Jews to be moved to an enclosed area by the Tiber river. It became known as the Rome Ghetto until its abolishment in 1870. Jews were not allowed to own property and had to identify themselves with a yellow head-covering.

1492
The Jews expelled from Spain
The edict of expulsions was signed by Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand on 31 March 1492 and the Jews were given exactly four months to leave the country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed to remain in Spain was…9th of Av.

1914
Germany declares war on Russia
World War I began when Germany declared war in Russian on 9th of Av. WWI would lead to the rise of Nazism in Germany, WWII and, of course, the Holocaust. The same year the British captured Jerusalem from the Ottomans and issued the Balfour Declaration.

1941
The Final Solution receives approval
SS Commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for “The Final Solution” on 31 July….or 9th Av. This was the central element of the Holocaust that led to over 6 million Jews being murdered.

1942
Mass deportation of Jews from Warsaw Ghetto to extermination camp
On 23 July, 9th of Av, the systematic deportation of Jews from Warsaw Ghetto began. Thousands were rounded up daily and transported to a newly constructed extermination camp at Treblinka. Within the first seven weeks, approximately 300,000 Jews were murdered.

From everyone at CUFI we stand in solidarity with the Jewish nation on this most solemn of days. After two weeks of hostilities surrounding the Temple Mount, it seems relevant that today, on the 9th of Av, an unprecedented of Jewish people, back in their homeland, ascended the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the undivided, eternal capital of Israel.