Jewish destiny
The miraculous sweep of Jewish destiny from the Exodus to nuclear Iran - and what it means today.Please listen to the amazing words of the Chief Rabbi of South Africa in this video and then read the article below entitled "The Miracle of Israel"
The Miracle of Israel
Despite approximately 2,500 years of the land of Israel being repeatedly conquered and the Jewish people being scattered and exiled to distant countries, subjected to campaigns aimed at exterminating them, even banned from ‘entering the land of their fathers’, the Jews today remain a distinct, separate, identifiable people and are back in their land of Israel.
Israel and the Jews are indeed a living miracle.
A Brief History
The people of Israel, the Jewish people, can be traced back to Abraham.
Abraham, his son Isaac and grandson Jacob (who later had his name changed to Israel), are referred to as the 'patriarchs'. All three lived in the Land of Canaan that later came to be known as the Land of Israel.
Jacob, now Israel, had 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel that later developed into the Jewish nation. The name Jew comes from Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob.
So, the names Israel, Israeli or Jewish refer to people of the same origin.
The descendants of Abraham ‘became’ a nation about 1300BC after their Exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Soon after the Exodus, Moses told the Israelite people of the Law and the Ten Commandments that he had been given by God to give to them.
After 40 years wandering in the wilderness of the Sinai desert, Moses led the Israelite people to point of entering the Land of Israel, the Land that is promised in the Bible by God to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The rule of the Israelites in the land of Israel starts with the conquests of Joshua (about 1250BC). The period from approx 1000-587BC is known as the ‘Period of the Kings'; those kings included King David who made Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and his son Solomon who built the first temple in Jerusalem.
In 587BC, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (modern day Iraq) captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to Babylon.
The year 587BC marks a turning point in the history of the region. From this year on, the region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpowers of the time in the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires. The Islamic and Christian crusades followed, then the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.
Around AD70 the Jewish nation was evicted by the Romans from Jerusalem and the land and those that escaped the destruction of the city fled through out the world.
In the first half of the 20th century there were waves of immigration of Jews back to Israel from Russia, from the Arab countries and from Europe.
In 1948, the Jewish Community in Israel under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion re-established sovereignty over their ancient homeland. The Declaration of Independence of the modern State of Israel was announced on the day that the last British forces left Israel, May 14, 1948.
Arab-Israeli wars
Just one day after the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, the armies of five Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, Trans-Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, invaded Israel, but miraculously, Israel won.
Arab states have jointly waged four full scale wars against Israel:
1948 War of Independence
1956 Sinai War
1967 Six Day War
1973 Yom Kippur War
Despite the vast numerical superiority of the Arab armies, Israel, each time, won.
Now, let’s just repeat our opening paragraph....
Despite approximately 2,500 years of the land of Israel being repeatedly conquered and the Jewish people being scattered and exiled to distant countries, subjected to campaigns aimed at exterminating them, even banned from ‘entering the land of their fathers’, the Jews today remain a distinct, separate, identifiable people and are back in their land of Israel
How is this possible? How is Israel and how are the Jews still alive today?
Of the Israelites, God, through the prophet Isaiah, says
“You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no saviour. I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God.", (Isaiah 43 v 10 - 12)
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, records these words about Israel…
“Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the LORD of hosts is his name: If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus says the LORD: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 31 v 35 - 37)
The modern day miracle that is witness to these verses is the very existence of the Jews and Israel itself and the continuing return of them to the land of Israel, which itself was reformed by mandate of the United Nations only in 1948.
The following quote from Jeremiah gives a good summary of these prophecies… "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land." (Jeremiah 23 v 7 & 8) In other words the very existence of Israel is witness to the existence of God. As Malachi writes… “For I am The LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
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