Lessons from the Land

Israel: The Land Between

Ed Visser

by Pastor Ed Visser

“Israel was sandwiched between the superpowers to the north and south, and very often they were lunch.” That cleverly phrased statement by Wink Thompson, one of our teacher-guides on my trip to Israel, sums up a crucial truth about the land and history of Israel. The land in which God placed his people was, and still is, a land between.

Sign reading dangerIsrael is a land between the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Arabian Desert to the east. Both proved difficult for travel. Early ships were not made to survive the raging sea, especially in the fall and winter months. And people were not made to bear the intense heat and dryness of the
forbidding desert. Israel, then, served as a narrow land bridge between these areas.

But a land bridge for whom? Early cultures settled where they could survive, and survival in this region means water. Most of the dominant nations grew up around rivers. Around the Tigris and Euphrates to the north, Assyria, Babylon and Persia became powers. To the south, the Nile River became the source of life for Egyptians. These two regions form the northern and southern arms of the Fertile Crescent, and they needed each other’s products to survive. So Israel became the land bridge for trade between the main nations of the world.

LandBetween

The major trade route, the via maris, cut right through its heart. Entering the land to the north near Hazor, the via maris wound through Capernaum in Galilee, through the E-W Valley of Jezreel via Megiddo, then down the coastline on its way to Egypt.

Kings soon realized that if you control world trade, you could rule the world. And to do that, you had to rule Israel. For most of its history, Israel has been a land under occupation. Whether Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Rome, in the biblical period, or Muslim Arabs, Turks, Crusaders, Ottomans, or Brits since that time, the land and people of Israel have had few respites from foreign control.

Today, for one of the few times in history, Israel is actually an independent nation, winning their independence in 1948. Yet, Israel remains a land between. In the northern Golan region, we traveled right near the Syrian border (watch out for the mine fields from 1967 war!). At Dan we could look into Lebanon. From Masada the hills of Jordan were very clear across the Jordan River. To the south, Egypt looms large. If you extend the circle wider, large and hostile Arab countries are in range (as Iraqi Scud missiles proved in 1991).

Yet even within their land, Israel finds itself between a growing number of Palestinian Arabs who believe the land is theirs. We passed through the West Bank and its military checkpoints several times. The wall being built around it stands like a giant scar in the land.

So why did God lead Abraham and Moses to this land? Two divine reasons stand out:

  • The land between tests your faith and reliance on God.
  • The land between gives you an opportunity to influence the world by your faith as they pass by.

God still places us in a land between as we confront our culture and its influences. And he gives us the challenge of complete reliance on him, as we seek to witness to our culture about the true God who rules the world.

The Battle of Armageddon

Ed Visser

by Pastor Ed Visser

Then they gathered the kings together at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. – Revelation 16:16

Apocalypse. Judgment Day. The End Times. Armageddon. Most students of the Bible know it as the place where the cataclysmic battle between forces of good and forces of evil will unfold. Some believe that this battle will take place soon. But few know that Armageddon is a real place—one that has seen more fighting and bloodshed than any other spot on the earth.

Jezreel Valley from Mt Carmel

The name Armageddon is a corruption of the Hebrew phrase Har Megiddo, and it means “Mount of Megiddo.” More than thirty bloody conflicts have been fought at the ancient site of Megiddo and adjacent areas in the Jezreel Valley during the past 4000 years: Egyptians, Israelites, Greeks, Muslims, Crusaders, Mongols, British, Germans, Arabs, and Israelis have all fought and died here. The names of the warring leaders echo through history: Thutmose III, Deborah, Gideon, Saul & Jonathan, Ahab & Jezebel, Saladin, Napoleon, and Allenby, to name but the most famous (for more, cf. Eric Cline’s The Battles of Armageddon, Univ. of Michigan Press, 2000). Throughout history Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley have been ground zero for battles that determined the very course of civilization. No wonder that John, author of Revelation, envisions Armageddon to be the place of the final battle of good and evil on earth.

What makes this area so suited for battle? The Jezreel Valley is one of the few and largest pieces of flat land in Israel, prerequisite for ancient warfare with horses and chariots. The farm belt of Israel, this valley would be wet and muddy throughout the rainy season (late fall – early spring), thus unavailable for war. This is why the Bible talks of spring, following the rainy season, as the time kings go off to war (cf. 2 Samuel 11:1). From late spring to early fall, conditions were ideal.

The Jezreel Valley is guarded by mountains (hills, at least) nearly all the way around. Certain mountain passes were the only entry points. Whoever could take the high ground was usually assured victory. One of the most popular but treacherous routes was the Wadi ‘Ara, which passes under Megiddo. This location became the “mother of all battle fields” in Israel. Because of this, when John envisions a final battle between good and evil, Megiddo is the most logical place. This location is also prophesied in Zechariah 12:11 as the place where Yahweh will finally defeat his enemies.

Will an actual final battle take place here? Quite unlikely, given its small size. But symbolically, it is just the place!

The Tomb of Jesus

Ed Visser

by Pastor Ed Visser

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that had been cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
– Matthew 27:57-60

One of the great debates among biblical scholars and archaeologists is the site where Jesus was buried in or outside Jerusalem. We know a few facts from the Bible about this: 1) crucifixions and burials happened outside the city walls; 2) Jesus was buried in a new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea; 3) and it was cut out of rock, with a big stone rolled in front of it.

tomb stoneWhen you visit Jerusalem, you’re directed to two competing sites for the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The oldest site, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, is near the center of the present-day Old City. Destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, parts of the church date back to 135 AD, although the site itself is known to be the center of liturgical celebrations for 35 years after Jesus’ death. It is the traditional site of and divided among six groups: Catholic, Armenian, Coptic, Greek Orthodox, Syrian, and Ethiopian churches.

In 1883, Charles Gordon, dissatisfied with all the trappings surrounding this tomb, and concerned Garden Tombthat it resided within the walls of Jerusalem, found another site just north and outside the city walls: the Garden Tomb and its nearby Golgotha (a skull-like rock).

Which is it? While the Garden tomb is a much more pleasant site, the actual tomb would not have been “new” for Jesus; its style is actually several centuries older (possibly 700-900 BC). Gordon’s concern about the city walls is nullified by the fact that Jerusalem expanded in 41-43 AD, with the walls now encompassing the site of the Holy Sepulcher.

In addition, the Church is Joseph of Arimithea tombbuilt over an old quarry (usual crucifixion site; you can see the chisel marks) and has a an interesting tomb in its basement (below the ornate one of Jesus) which is called the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The style of this tomb matches that of other first century tombs in the area. Is this Jesus’ tomb? Who knows, but at least it fits the biblical & historical facts better. But ultimately, the most important fact is that the tomb is empty and our Lord is living!

Geshem – Drinking rain from Heaven

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

The land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. (Deuteronomy 11:11-12)

During our five weeks in Israel in late June and July, not once did it rain. In fact, almost 6 months go by each year without any rain, between May and October. In all of the Middle East, water is precious, like oil is nowadays. In ancient times, countries that had water in abundance became superpowers, and the countries with little barely survived. Egypt received almost no rain at all, but had abundant water from the flooding of the Nile. That was why when regional famine came, people went there to purchase food, like Abraham and later Joseph’s family. The water available from the Nile each year was 30,000 times more plentiful than the yearly rainful to Israel – an enormous difference indeed! It is therefore interesting that God saw the water of Israel as superior to that of Egypt. In Deuteronomy 11:10 – 12 it says,

The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

waters of Dan

The difference between Egypt and Canaan was that in Egypt the crops were irrigated by the labor of hand-watering, while in Canaan the land was entirely watered by rain, geshem in Hebrew. In the ancient Middle East, that had profound spiritual implications, because rain was understood to be a gift straight from God, whereas water drawn by hand was a seen to be human self-reliance without regard to God. Egypt and Canaan, therefore, were a contrast of security of human effort compared to dependence on God.

This was a spiritual lesson for the Israelites when they left the land of Egypt for the promised land of Canaan — that when God chose a land for his people, he didn’t choose a place where they could have security because of their own efforts, he chose a land where they would be far more dependent on him and would need his presence watching over them to send them the living water of rain, geshem.

Many of us have seen God do the same thing in our own lives, when we step out to follow him and he takes us from security in our own efforts and brings us to a point of dependence on him, which doesn’t always include prosperity as the world sees it. God often desires dependence for his people rather than abundance, contrary to what “prosperity gospel” teachers may tell us. While we may not have the material wealth as if we lived in “Egypt,” we know that God’s eyes are on us from the beginning of the year to the end.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Metzudah – God is Our Refuge

Bruce Okkema

by Bruce Okkema

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. – Psalm 71:1-3

Masada stands as a huge outcropping of rock jutting 1,440 feet above the desert floor on the western shore of the Dead Sea. It is located fourteen miles north of the southern end of the sea and eleven miles south of En-gedi. Masada remains today one of the Jewish people’s greatest symbols, and except for Jerusalem, it is the most popular destination of people visiting Israel.

MasadaIts history as a desert fortress goes back far into the past. David moved throughout this region of the southern Judean desert as he was hiding from Saul, and quite likely spent time on this mountain. Although Masada is not mentioned by name in the Bible, we see glimpses of it in several places where God is called a “rock of refuge,” or “my fortress.” Metzudah means “refuge” or “fortress” in Hebrew. (In addition to our text above, see also 1 Sam 22:4-5, 23:14, 24:22, and Psalms 18:2, 31, and 144:2.)

The remains that we we see today are from the time of Herod, who not only increased the fortifications, but built magnificent garden palaces on either end of the mountain. It almost never rains here, yet Herod built an elaborate water system to divert water that originated in the Judean mountains into cisterns at Masada. Servants carried water from there to upper reservoirs servicing the palaces, to an Olympic size swimming pool!

The reason Masada is one of the Jewish people’s greatest symbols is for what occurred there during the Jewish revolt against Rome during 66 – 72AD. A group of Zealots took Masada and it became a place of refuge for other Jews fleeing the Roman terrorism. For three years they were able to fend off the Romans and worship the Living God while enduring the rigors of desert life. Finally, faced with certain capture and torture, the group of 960 chose to take their own lives, rather than become slaves of Rome. “The valor of the Jewish zealots residing on Masada during the Roman siege is celebrated as the supreme example of self-sacrifice for the preservation of the nation of Israel. Today, when the recruits of the Israel Armored Corps take their oath of allegiance, they do so on Masada to remind each generation of the price their forefathers paid for their nation. They cry: “Masada shall not fall again!” (1)

Masada

A view of the snake path from the top of Masada

To climb the arduous snake path in the 120° sun, to imagine looking down helplessly from above on your fellow countrymen enslaved to build a siege ramp against you, to stand at the precipice thinking across history about all the many who have served the Lord at the cost of their lives is to wonder if I will have the courage to stand that test for my Lord one day.

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. – Psalm 2:10-12

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Tzel – The Necessity of Shade

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. – Psalm 121:5-6 NASB

Many times in the Psalms, God is referred to as “shade,” tzel in Hebrew, and the Bible speaks of us under the “shadow of his wings” (Psalm 63:7). This image didn’t speak to me powerfully until I experienced the heat and sun of the land of Israel myself, especially in the mountains near Jerusalem.

Many days reached nearly 100° F, and near the Dead Sea, it was over 120° F. Clouds are extremely rare in the summer, so nothing protects a person from the power of the sun’s rays. When we stood in the sunshine we could quickly feel our skin burning, but under a tree, the breeze made us quite comfortable. We also sensed the sun’s heat as the temperature rose each day from below 60° F at dawn to almost 100° F by afternoon.

Qumran ScriptoriumIt is interesting to see how in Psalm 121, it speaks of the sun “smiting” us, the same word also translated as “to hit, attack, or strike down.” In ancient times, it was thought that just as the sun was the source of heat that “attacks” us by day, the moon is the source of cold that “attacks” us by night. So when God led his people in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, God was sheltering them from the ever-present enemies of cold and heat in the desert .

We can also see why the image of “shade” is often used to mean protection. For instance, in Numbers 14:9, Joshua reassures the people that the Canaanites will not be able to win against them because their protection (shade, tzel, literally) has been removed from them. Without shade, it is impossible to survive in that land, and if their shade has been removed, they are defenseless.

Now that we have a better understanding of the great need for the cool of shade, which was a picture of protection by God, we can better appreciate the following psalm, among many others:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow (tzel) of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” – Psalm 91:1-2

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).