A PRECIOUS, GOOD AND SPACIOUS LAND
"We thank You, LORD, our God, for having given as a heritage to our fathers a precious, good and spacious land"
from the Passover Haggadah
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| Wildflowers at Gamla on the Golan Heights |
These words from the Passover Haggadah, read at the Seder which we celebrated last evening, resonate with my heart that is still full of the joy of a mini-vacation in the Galilee from which I have just returned. What a precious, good and spacious land the LORD has indeed given us. The Galilee is so green and lush, and full of wonderfully colorful flowers, after our abundant winter rains this year. Here are some more photos of the Galilee in Spring.
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| Styrax trees in bloom, Agmon HaHula |
For around 3500 years Israelites have been celebrating the Passover, commemorating and thanking the LORD for the time when the people of Israel were set free from slavery to the Egyptian Pharaohs and brought to the Promised Land by the 'outstretched hand' of the LORD. The Passover was instituted by the LORD himself, even before the Passover occurred, when he commanded Moses to prepare for the final plague, the killing of the first-born of Egypt (Exodus 12). The Passover lamb was to be killed, its blood spread on the lintels of the doors of the people of Israel, so that their first-born would be spared.
During the long years of the Second Exile from the Land, Jews concluded the Seder with the words " this year here, but next year, Lord willing, we will celebrate it in Jerusalem." What a joy and a privilege it is to now be able to celebrate it in Jerusalem as a free people. The LORD has restored the Land to Israel, Jerusalem is being rebuilt, and the desert has begun to bloom. The Second Coming of the Messiah Yeshua is drawing near and He will establish the New Jerusalem, so we can now conclude our Seder saying, "Next Year in Jerusalem!".
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| The Mount of Beatitudes from the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) |
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| Wildflowers |
Two of the symbols that speak most powerfully to me in the Passover Seder are the shankbone of a lamb and the afikoman.
Of course the shankbone symbolizes the Passover Lamb and the Bible clearly identifies Yeshua with the Passover Lamb (for example: John 1:29,35; Revelation 5:12).
The meaning of the afikoman is more controversial. Towards the beginning of the seder the afikoman, the middle of three pieces of matza, is broken and hidden away. Later the children search for the hidden piece and when they find it they are given a gift. The meaning of the afikoman and the three pieces of matza are not explained during the seder and the origins of these traditions are lost in the mists of time. Today the three matzot are explained by the Rabbis as symbolizing either the three Fathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the three categories of Israelites, the Priests (Cohanim), the Levites and the People. Messianic commentators however often link them to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Similarly there is much debate over the meaning of the word afikoman. This Greek word is believed by most Jews today to mean 'dessert' or 'that which comes after' since a small piece is eaten at the end of the seder, replacing the lamb that was eaten before the fall of the Second Temple. At least one eminent Jewish scholar, David Daube however believed the word means 'he has come', which would thus link it with Yeshua, the Messiah who has come.
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| Swallowtail butterfly on Splendid Centaury |
Sunday 5 April
Today is Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday and the Jewish Festival of the First Fruits, the Sunday after the first Shabbat of the Passover. Because of the differences in the ways the calendars are calculated this occurs only rarely.
You might be wondering what the Festival of the First Fruits is. God instituted this festival as follows:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord.
Leviticus 23: 9-12
It is significant that Yeshua rose on the Festival of the First Fruits, since he was both the first and only son of the Father, and the first 'fruit' of the Resurrection, and that he was raised up before God, for our acceptance as children of God.
This festival, like the Passover itself, is closely linked to the promised land of Israel. The Festival of the First Fruits was only to be celebrated after the people of Israel entered into the Promised Land, and it began to yield its harvest.
This emphasizes the close connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Even during the long years of Israel's exile these festivals served to maintain those links, and they once more take on new meaning as the people return and settle once more in their promised land.
As I travelled the Galilee last week I fell in love with the Land once again. It was clothed in all its lush Spring glory - a land of plenty, richness and great beauty, indeed. Yet for all that, I could not escape the fact that our hold on this Land is in danger. Distant booms, combat helicopters overhead and tanks gathering in the fields were reminders of the fact that our enemies surround us and grow ever more threatening. Below is a photo I took that sums it all up for me - a land of milk and honey, and ... tanks.
The tank is facing the border with Syria, where only about 30 km away the Islamic State (ISIS) forces were moving into and occupying the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp, on the outskirts of Damascus. They now occupy about 90% of that camp. At the same time the IDF is warning us that in the next war with Hezbollah in the north, we can expect 1200 missiles to be fired into Israel from Lebanon every day http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4643066,00.html. Meanwhile in the south, Hamas is busy building tunnels and bunkers, and rearming itself, for the next Gaza war. On a wider circumference the Houthis in Yemen are making inroads in the city of Aden, ISIS continues to spread its rule and ideological poison, and 148, mainly Christian, students are killed by the salafist Somali terror group, al-Shabab, on the Garissa University campus in Kenya. Obama and his allies have signed a deal with Iran which will lift sanctions and improve the Iranian economy which funds much of the Islamic terrorism world wide. It is ominous that the Iranian representatives went home smiling after signing the deal.
If it wasn't for the LORD's promises in Scripture I would despair. The darkness all around us seems to be growing deeper and closer by the second. Our own resources are puny in comparison. However I do trust that, although war seems inevitable in the near future, God will continue to protect Israel supernaturally, as he has done for 3500 years, and promises to do until Messiah returns and establishes the New Jerusalem. That is our hope and our light in this darkness. Please pray with me for the people of Israel, that in these perilous days they will call out to God for salvation, as they did in Egypt so long ago, trust in Him and find the true peace in His Messiah, Yeshua.
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| The Sea of Galilee and Migdal (home of Mary Magdalene) from Mt Arbel |
