A Legacy of Peace

Yitzhak Rabin, Twenty Years After

 

Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with Yasser Arafat during the Oslo Accords
(September 13, 1993) at the White House as US President Bill Clinton
proudly looks on.

"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."  (Isaiah 2:4)

As Israelis face the worst outbreak of violence in decades, they are solemnly marking the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin (March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995). Rabin took an historic step toward peace with the Palestinians by signing the Oslo Peace Accords in September 1993.  This Israeli prime minister shook hands with Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn while President Clinton looked on. Oslo gave the Palestinians limited self-governance over parts of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza through the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Not everyone was happy with the agreement or the other peace initiatives that Rabin was considering with Israel’s neighbors.  An Israeli ultranationalist named Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin with two bullets to his back on November 4, 1995 after a pro-peace rally in what is now Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. Five years later, the Palestinians launched the Second Intifada.  Today, many wonder if a third one is currently unfolding, making the dream of peace in Israel seem distant and elusive.

 

Yitzhak Rabin's family grieves at his funeral. 

A First Generation Leader

Yitzhak Rabin, who served twice as prime minister of Israel, is an outstanding example of a military and political leader who can be considered a first generation Israeli—born in the Land when it was under the authority of Britain. As a military leader, he helped to bring about a positive outcome when the nascent state was fighting for its existence in 1948. Rabin served the Jewish state for 27 years as a soldier.  While still in his teens he joined the pre-state Palmach (Strike Force), the elite commando fights force of the Haganah — the underground army that served the Yishuv (Jewish community) living in British Mandate Palestine from 1920 until 1948. It was during Israel’s War of Independence that he reached the rank of the Palmach’s chief of operations.  With the formation of the Israel Defense Forces in late 1948, he joined the IDF and began to rise in the ranks.

The Israeli delegation to the 1949 Armistice Agreements
talks.  From left to right: Commanders Yehoshafat Harkabi,
Aryeh Simon, Yigael Yadin, and Yitzhak Rabin.

During the 1948 war he commanded operations in Jerusalem and fought against the Egyptian army in the Negev.  Prior to this he had commanded the Harel Brigade, which was instrumental in opening up the road to Jerusalem that had been cut off by Arab forces (including the Jordanian British trained Arab Legion) who had surrounded Jerusalem. He was also involved in the opening of the “Burma Road” which traversed the Judean hills, bypassing the Jordanian-controlled Latrun area in order to bring troops into and ultimately reclaim the capital city. The Burma Road now runs through Yitzhak Rabin Park, located where Rabin’s Harel Brigade and other forces broke through the opposition forces and opened the road. During the 50s, Rabin helped to shape training doctrine and led the IDF’s Operations Directorate from 1959 to 1963. In 1964 he was appointed Chief of General Staff and, as such, led the IDF in its 1967 victory over the several invading Arab armies in Israel’s victorious Six-Day War. In 1967, Rabin pushed for the pre-emptive strike that led to Israel’s swift victory over the Arab forces.

 

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Yitzhak Rabin in the
entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem during the
Six Day War, with Moshe Dayan and Uzi Narkiss.

From 1968 to 1973 Rabin served as Israel’s ambassador in Washington and was appointed Prime Minister of Israel following the resignation of Golda Meir. As Prime Minister, Rabin signed the Sinai Interim Agreement, which took a step toward Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.  He also ordered the raid on Entebbe in which some 94 mainly Israeli passengers of the hijacked Air France Flight 139 and several of its crew members were rescued. He stepped down as prime minister over controversy regarding an undisclosed US bank account in his wife’s name. During much of the 1980s Rabin served as Israel’s minister of defense and was re-elected prime minister in 1992, promising to bring about peace with the Palestinians.  This led to the signing of several agreements as part of the Oslo Accords. That same year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Shimon Peres and PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He also signed a peace treaty with King Hussein of Jordan. In November of 1995 while in the process of negotiations with President Assad of Syria to return the Golan Heights, he was assassinated.

From right to left, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat receive
the Nobel Peace Prize following the Oslo Accords.

Remembering Rabin: 20 Years Later

Although today is the anniversary of the assassination according to the Gregorian calendar, Israel began remembrance on Cheshvan 12 (October 25), the anniversary according to the Hebrew calendar. Since then there have been several events remembering Rabin and his legacy.  There has also been much analysis regarding where we are at today in terms of peace.  Some wonder if the peace movement is dead. Rabin’s daughter, Dalia, who was Deputy Minister of Defense from 2001–2002 while serving a four-year term in the Knesset, said at a memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery last Monday: “There is no peace process.  We are facing terrorism.  Blood is being shed again.  I have no other country, and my country has changed.”
 

This memorial at Rabin Square marks the spot where Rabin fell.

That same day at the president’s residence, President Reuvin Rivlin said, “As long as I am president, Yigal Amir will never be pardoned.  May my right hand wither if I ever sign a pardon for that damned man.” Although Rivlin has acknowledged his disagreement with Rabin’s approach toward the Palestinians, which entailed the giving away of land, he warned against violence as an eroding force of Israeli democracy.  “The killer broke down a fence maintained by generations of Jews, and he may have left it broken,” he said, referring to a Jewish belief that a life of truth, justice and peace among the many factions in Israel is best accomplished through nonviolence.  “It’s been 20 years since the murder, and we have to ask ourselves, ‘Are we doing enough to seal what was breached by the murderer?’”  Rivlin stressed how important it is that Israel remember the loss of Rabin in a unified manner, “with all its camps, all its sectors, a day of self-examination for the Israeli people, a time of self-examination for Israeli democracy.” Following the speech, Rabin was remembered with the singing of Shir LaShalom — Song For Peace.  The singers were backed by 18 children from the Yitzhak Rabin School in Ashdod, after singing the usual Hebrew stanzas, they added one in Arabic.
 

President Reuven Rivlin, together with Israeli children, lights a memorial
candle for Yitzhak Rabin.

Originally written for and sung by the IDF Infantry Ensemble during the Israel-Egypt war, it has since become an anthem for the Israel peace movement, expressing the deep desires of the hearts of Israelis. The last verse sums up that desire:

Don’t say the day will come.

Al tagidu yom yavo. |  .אל תגידו יום יבוא

Bring the day about!

havi'u et hayom!  |  !הביאו את היום

For it is not a dream

ki lo khalom hu. |  .כי לא חלום הוא

And in all the city squares,

uvekhol hakikarot,  |  ,ובכל הכיכרות

Cheer for peace!

hari'u lashalom!  |  !הריעו לשלום

Just minutes before being shot, Rabin had sung that song at the rally.  The bloodied lyrics were found in his pocket.

Netanyahu remembers Rabin.

At a Knesset event commemorating Rabin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Rabin’s murder as “traumatic” for Israelis.  Even after 20 years, they are still trying to come to terms with it. “This tragic event ripped open a hole in the heart of Israeli democracy, and we must close it up.  There are still those among us who deny the legitimacy of our democracy — that we make decisions in the ballot box, not in public squares or through the barrel of a gun,” said the prime minister. Netanyahu stressed that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and that “sometimes even a thriving democracy stands before a great test and crisis that threatens its ability to operate, its stability, and its values.” Noting that none of the six prime ministers that have served since Rabin’s death have managed to actualize his vision of peace as outlined in the Oslo Accords, he said that an unwillingness to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and the ongoing teaching of Arab children to hate Jews, are the main causes for the failure. Nevertheless, to help turn things around for the Palestinians, who have been tragically short-changed by their leaders, Netanyahu vowed to improve the Palestinian economy and to work toward a reduction of tensions, with or without Palestinian help.

At a march held this year on the day prior to the Hebrew calendar anniversary date, one attendee, Hermine Antelman, 62, a behavior specialist formerly from Philadelphia said, “This is very important: the idea that we’re 20 years after the death of Yitzhak Rabin, who did [the] Oslo [peace accord with the Palestinians], and we haven’t gotten anywhere.  The last month of terror attacks, every side tries to up the ante. ... It’s time to stop all of that.” Irit Ezra, 41, a designer from Tel Aviv, came to the event held at Rabin Square with her young daughter, Alma.  “I am against everything that happened, all the violence, and I do believe in peace and I do believe we have to talk and do something,” she said.  Will the situation improve?  “I’m afraid it won’t, which makes it more important, not for me, but for her,” she said, pointing to her daughter. Rabin’s daughter, Dalia, in an interview with the Times of Israel said that Israel would have been a much better place if her father had lived; still, she is not sure if there could ever be peace with the Palestinians.She said that Rabin had developed a certain trust with Arafat but was not naive about the process of peace—a process costing Israel blood. “There would have been a stage where he would have decided: We’re in a phased process.  Let’s evaluate what we have achieved and what the price has been.  He wouldn’t have stopped Oslo, but he would have done what Oslo enabled him to do: to look at it as a process and assess whether it was working. “So it’s hard to say what would have happened with the Palestinians.  Could this personal Rabin-Arafat connection have brought Arafat to decide to do more, to stop the terror?  And could it have increased the feeling that there is a chance for this process?” she lamented. We will never know. 

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein sign the
Washington Agreement on the White House lawn as US President
Bill Clinton watches.

 On Saturday, Dalia Rabin introduced former US president Bill Clinton, who fondly remembers Rabin, to the crowd of 100,000 at a non-partisan rally. Calling the day on which Rabin was killed the worst of his presidency, Clinton urged Israelis to pursue Rabin’s legacy and not give up the dream of peace in the face of terror. “Rabin’s legacy in one way is clear and untouchable,” Clinton told Israelis.  “He risked his life to create and defend Israel.  He spent his life serving Israel to advance your values and your interests.  And he gave his life so that you could live in peace.” “What does it all amount to?  Now that is up to you,” he said.  “All of you now must decide when you leave here tonight … how to finish the last chapter of his story.” “The next step in the magnificent story of Israel … the next step will be determined by whether you decide that Rabin was right, that you have to share your future with your neighbors, that you have to stand for peace, that the risk for peace isn’t as severe as the risk of walking away from it.  We are praying that you will make the right decision.” His speech was viewed by the entire country.

 

Yitzhak Rabin shares a laugh with US President Bill Clinton.

Though pursuing peace with the Palestinians is indeed necessary, Rabin's legacy entails direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel has shown that it can make lasting peace with willing states, such as with Egypt and Jordan. Negotiating with the Palestinians has been a different story. John Hayward of Breitbart News Network has noted that the 25-year-old Jewish law student/assassin could not find accomplices (beyond his own brother and a friend) to help him carry out his extremist murder plot.  Yet, many Palestinians have in effect become his accomplices through continued violence: “The day after Bill Clinton delivered his message to the Rabin rally, another knife-wielding Palestinian was shot in self-defense by Israeli soldiers; a second Palestinian rammed his car into a group of Israeli pedestrians in the West Bank; and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Palestinian Authority for giving a state funeral, with full military honors, to two terrorists who knifed Israeli civilians,” writes Hayward. The Palestinians have shown themselves most unwilling peace partners.
 

Although Arafat seemed to be a willing peace partner, he
repeatedly told Muslim audiences that the peace process
was a fraud intended to weaken Israel.

A Legacy from War to Peace

Dalia Rabin recalls her father having a balanced view of war and peace as both a soldier and civil leader:  “In ‘67 he thought this war was necessary. And the day after ’67, he writes in his biography, ‘Now I take off the uniform, and I’m going to Washington to turn the outcome of this war into peace.’” To pursue her father’s dream of peace as a process, Dalia has invested many years into her role as Chair of the Yitzhak Rabin Center, which aims to ensure that the vital lessons from Rabin’s life story “are actively remembered and used to shape an Israeli society and leadership dedicated to open dialogue, democratic value, Zionism and social cohesion.” A focal point of the Center is the museum, walking visitors through the critical turning points in the life of Israel and Rabin. The Center also conducts educational programs and workshops such as sensitivity training for 40,000 IDF soldiers to date.  It offers studies to pre-collegiate students in democracy and law, and hosts workshops on leadership, responsibility, pluralism, identity as a citizen and as a person living in the democratic nation of Israel, among other topics. Dalia explained to the Times of Israel one program: “We have been running a project at the center for the last seven years where we bring professors from the fields of political science, Middle East studies, and public administration from all over the United States, and it expanded to Chinese and European professors. . . . in order to deal with the “campus problem,” the anti-Israel atmosphere on international campuses. . . . And up until a year ago, they used to meet with the entire top level of the Palestinian Authority.”  Delegations and individuals from around the world come to Israel to participate in many of the Center’s programs.

Although Palestinians currently seem bent on achieving statehood while bypassing peace with Israel, the Bible promises that the Prince of Peace will not only bring about peace here in Israel but all over the planet. When He comes again, He will bring the nations into harmony, and they will stream to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end."  (Isaiah 9:6–7) "The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks."  (Micah 4:2–3). Let us share the truth of the Good News that Yeshua is the long-awaited Jewish Messiah — the Prince of Peace. May each of us be about the Father's business: Yeshua is returning soon.

Shabbat Shalom

The Power of the Father's Blessing is the Toldot.

 

The Hebrew text of the Torah

Welcome to Toldot (Generations), (Torah Portion). This is the portion of Scripture that will be read in synagogues around the world during the Shabbat (Saturday) service.  Please read, you will be blessed!

TOLDOT (Generations)

Genesis 25:19–28:9; Malachi 1:1–2:7; Romans 9:6–29

“And these are the generations [toldot] of Yitzchak [Isaac], Avraham’s [Abraham] son: Avraham begat Yitzchak.”  (Genesis 25:19)

Yitzchak (Isaac), the son of Sarah and Abraham, carried on the legacy of his parents’ faith and obedience to Adonai.  After his mother died, Abraham sent his servant to bring home a wife for Yitzchak from among Abraham’s kinsmen. At the well where the women of the town would soon appear, the servant prayed for God’s help in locating the perfect wife for Yitzchak.  Just then, Rivkah (Rebecca) arrived and provided water for him and his camels.  Yitzchak was 40 when he married her.

Reading the Torah at the Bimah in the synagogue

Prayer Brings Blessings

“Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer [atar], and his wife Rebekah became pregnant."  (Genesis 25:21)

Here we discover that Rivkah is barren; in fact, according to Jewish tradition, she was born without a womb.  She is one of seven women in the Torah who have difficulty conceiving but finally come to bear children by the grace of God, in this case, in answer to her husband’s prayer. It is traditionally believed that he prayed for 19 years.  Moreover, it is also believed that he prayed in unity with Rivkah. What a lesson for us today!  Just because we pray once and do not receive an answer does not mean we should stop praying!  God wants us to bring our requests to Him in the unity of faith. The Hebrew expression used in Genesis 25:21 for prayer (atar עָתַר), which can also mean to dig, is related to the Hebrew word for pitchfork (eter).  The Talmud (Jewish Oral Law) explains the connection: “As a pitchfork turns the sheaves of grain from one position to another, so does the prayer of the righteous turn the dispensations of the Holy One, blessed be He, from the attribute of anger to the attribute of mercy.” Yitzchak’s prayer penetrated the foundation of heaven, and just as grain is turned over with a pitchfork, so too was God’s judgment of barrenness upon Rivkah “turned over” and reversed by God’s mercy because of prayer.

A Jewish man prays at the Western.

Of course, the Bible makes it clear that we are to be fruitful and multiply; however, though seed is sown, it is God who opens the womb. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”  (Psalm 127:3–5) Sarah, Abraham’s wife, came up with her own solution for her barrenness — she suggested a surrogate mother — Hagar.  In her own efforts, she received Ishmael.  Hannah, another barren woman, went to the Temple and cried out to the Lord for a child and she received the prophet Samuel. Rikvah did neither.  Instead, she turned to her husband who was her spiritual covering to entreat the Lord on her behalf, and God answered Isaac’s prayers for the miraculous gift of new life.  Rivkah found herself pregnant with not just one child — but twins — a double portion!

Birthright Bring Blessings

“And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.”  (Genesis 25:27)

The twin boys grew up with distinctive character traits, which are reflected in their names. Yaacov (Jacob’s Hebrew name) is related to the word eikev means the heel of the foot.  He was so named because he grabbed his brother’s heel at birth. This shows Jacob’s tenacity to win the birthright and carry forward the spiritual blessings that God promised to his father Abraham. Esau, however, was named Esav, from the Semitic root, seir, meaning thick-haired.  He was also nicknamed Adom, the Hebrew word for red, since he was born “red and hairy.” Adom is also related to adamah (land) and dam (blood) which conveys Esau’s love of living off the land, hunting and thirst for blood.
 

The Mess of Pottage, by James Tissot

While Jacob had a quiet and seemingly spiritual-minded nature, Esau had a carnal one, as shown in the way he so easily trades something of eternal spiritual value (his birthright) for something that satisfies his physical hunger (a bowl of lentils).  To him, they were equal. “'Look, I am about to die [of hunger],’ Esau said. ‘What good is the birthright to me?’”  (Genesis 27:24) Birthrights come with responsibilities as well as blessings. Even though Jacob was not the firstborn, he receives great blessings bestowed upon him by his father Isaac, coupled with the responsibility to lead nations. “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine.  May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.”  (Genesis 27:28–29) Esau, however, who is the firstborn son receives curses: “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above.  You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.”  (Genesis 27:39–40) Jacob received his father’s firstborn blessing because it was pre-ordained according to the will of God who said, “Jacob have I loved; but Esau I hated.”  (Romans 9:13)

A 13-year-old boy prays at the Western (Wailing) Wall before reading
the Torah.

The Descendants of Curses Bring More of the Same

Just as Cain’s jealousy turned into a murderous plot to kill his brother Abel, Esau plotted to kill Jacob but without success. This struggle between the brothers did not suddenly appear.  Even in Rivkah’s womb, the boys jostled with each other.  Rivkah sought wisdom from the Lord, who revealed to her a truth that continues to this day: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”  (Genesis 25:23) Rabbis over the centuries have compared the jealous, hate-filled character of Esau to the perpetual struggle between the descendants of both brothers. Jacob’s descendants were birthed out of obedience to his father Isaac, who told him not to marry a Canaanite woman, and he did not. Esau, on the other hand, married two Canaanite women.  One of Esau’s Canaanite offspring was Amalek who became an archenemy of pre-state Israel by attacking Moses and the Israelites while in the wilderness (Exodus 17).  They also invaded Israel during the time of the Judges: “Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.”  (Judges 6:3)

 

Reading from the Torah scroll

Many try to link the genealogy of Esau and the Amalekites to the modern enemies of Israel.  While this might be accurate to some degree, the truth is that the spirit of Esau and the Amalekites to destroy the heirs of blessing has remained alive among many nations. We saw this hatred in modern pre-state Israel during the expulsion of Jews from England (1290), the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834), and the genocide of six million Jews in the Holocaust (1941–1945). We saw its vibrancy continue as surrounding nations invaded the newly-formed modern Israel in 1948, again in 1967, and most recently with terrorist groups that vow to claim the land “from the river to the sea” for their own birthright.

Orthodox Jewish children pray at the Western (Wailing) Wall.

While half of the Jewish population has been wiped out in recent decades and specific plans to remove them from the land circulate today, ultimately the Lord will uphold His vows to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  I will give you [Jacob] and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and ... all peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.”  (Genesis 28:13–14) Those who attack God’s everlasting plans through Jacob are, in fact, placing curses over their own land. Isaac prayed over Jacob, “May those who curse you be cursed”  (Genesis 27:29), and God assures us through the Prophet Ezekiel that this curse continues to hold true. “Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, therefore, as I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.’”  (Ezekiel 35:5–6)

Christians stand with Israel at a rally in London.

The focus of this Parasha is not really curses, but blessings. The Hebrew word for blessed (baruch) is significant in this Parasha: out of 106 verses, baruch appears 34 times! This word, baruch, comes from brachah (blessing), but with a small change in vowel, it becomes breicha — a wellspring of water or even a pool. Today we see that God has kept His promise to turn the barren places of this land into wellsprings and pools of water: “I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.  I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.”  (Isaiah 41:18)

Children at Eshbah farm in Israel's Negev Desert.

Inheriting the Blessing

During the saga of Jacob and Esau, a famine came over the Land.  Although Abraham went down to Egypt for food at times of famine, the Lord instructed Isaac to stay. “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.’”  (Genesis 26:2)  Like Abraham, Isaac obeyed the Lord and, indeed, was blessed by God for it. “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father.”  (Genesis 26:3) This shows us the wisdom of seeking the Lord for solutions to our problems and not necessarily repeating what our father before us did, or what seems the logical answer.  God may ask us to stay in a situation when everything and everyone is telling us to get out—fast!   If God is instructing us to stay, then even in a famine we can “bloom where we are planted.”

 
 

An injured Israeli child

As the jealous and hateful spirit of Esau rises up in Jerusalem and Israel at large, there is a temptation to think we here in Israel should escape and “go down to Egypt” or perhaps to the US or Canada. But if the Spirit of God tells us to stay, then we can know that He will protect us and establish the oath He swore unto our forefathers to give us this Land. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.”  (Isaiah 55:8)

 
 

Lifting the Torah

Yeshua Brings the Ultimate Blessing to the Promised Land

“Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.”  (Genesis 26:18)

As God tested Abraham's faith, Isaac likely suffered some post traumatic stress from being tied up by his father and almost sacrificed.  But in this Parasha, we see that Isaac is a man of Godly character with Godly vision who continues to carry on his father’s business by re-digging the wells Abraham had dug on his way to Beer Sheva. Why are these wells significant?  They were vital sources of water in a harsh, dry desert land.  But here we see that these life-giving water holes had been intentionally filled with dirt.  This can only be interpreted as a barbaric act, done to discourage and even endanger life, in order to prevent Isaac from accessing his father’s wells. We see similar discouragement from lack of water when the children of Israel camped in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt.  When they finally came to a well, they sang praises to Adonai: “From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, ‘Gather the people together, and I will give them water.’  Then Israel sang this song: ‘Spring up, O well! ...’”  (Numbers 21:16–17)

 
 

An ancient well outside the city gates of Beer Sheva

Abraham had purposefully named these wells after God, to remind people that He is the source of all life.  It is with joy today that we draw from deep wells of living water. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”  (Isaiah 12:3) When Yeshua ministered to the Samaritan woman at a well, He made the bold claim of being the Jewish Messiah.  There, He proclaimed Himself to be the source of living waters that leads to eternal life. “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  (John 4:14) The ultimate heirs of blessing are the heirs of the promised Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, who became the final sacrifice for all who trust and believe that He is that promise. This salvation is a free gift that 99% of Jewish People do not yet know about because no one has explained to them how the Hebrew Scriptures reveal Yeshua as their promised Messiah. Nevertheless, the Bible promises that in these last days, as the Times of the Gentiles come to a close, all of Israel will be saved. "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all of Israel will be saved."  (Romans 11:25–26)

 

You can be part of this end-time move of God by praying to bring the Good News of Yeshua to the Holy Land."You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."  (Micah 7:19)