THE TIME OF JACOB'S TROUBLE
On Tuesday this week the red alert sirens sounded twice over most of Israel as the IDF carried out a Home Front Preparedness exercise. At our school the children moved silently and in an orderly manner to the 'safe areas' with the solemnity of experienced veterans. How eerie it was to see all our usually vibrant, noisy, happy children totally silent. How sad that they so clearly understand the importance of knowing what they must do should the sirens sound again. And the very next day, sirens blared out over Sdot Negev, Netivot, Bnei Shimon, and Ashkelon once more, and this time it was not an exercise. At least two missiles were fired from Gaza and into Israel, landing in an open area. This follows a similar attack the previous week when a mid-range Grad missile landed in an open space near Gan Yavne. None of these attacks caused any injuries or damage, but they represent a worrying escalation of tensions in the south. These were not only the first mid-range Grad missiles to have been fired from Gaza since the end of hostilities last summer, but they represent something entirely new. The Sheikh Amar Hadid Brigades, a Salafist group affiliated with ISIS, has claimed responsibility for the attack and stated that it was fired in revenge for “the death of an Islamic State member in Gaza by Hamas members" . Hamas in recent weeks has been rounding up ISIS affiliated operatives, and on the previous day (Tuesday) one of their leaders had been shot dead by Hamas forces in Gaza City as they tried to arrest him. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/196330#.VXKlEJv75LM. How crazy is this? To attack Israel to wreak revenge on Hamas! However it was a ploy that worked. Israel holds Hamas responsible for maintaining law and order in Gaza and thus ultimately responsible for these attacks, which violate the cease fire agreement of last August, even if they themselves did not fire the missiles. Consequently the following day, Israel bombed several Hamas military targets in the Gaza strip, ironically doing just what the ISIS groups wanted - punishing Hamas.
Can the world get any crazier? It seems that the answer to that question must be a resounding "Yes". This week too the 'word' on every Israeli's lips is BDS. What is BDS? BDS stands for the now global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement which is attempting to increase economic and political pressure on Israel forcing it to comply with its stated goals: the end of Israeli 'occupation' and 'colonization' of Palestinian land, full equality for Arab-Israeli citizens, and the right-of-return of Palestinian refugees. This campaign was started in July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions. Until now this movement has not had any significant impact on the Israeli economy which has remained very strong. However the movement is gathering strength in a way frighteningly reminiscent of the anti-Jewish groundswell in Europe in the 1930s before the Holocaust. Its danger lies in the fact that it is essentially a non-violent movement that "speaks in the language of human rights and international law rather than Islamic theology" and therefore attracts "allies who would never join a movement defined by suicide bombings and the Hamas charter".
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.659525 It is therefore gaining legitimacy amongst the left wing, human rights groups, and more and more individuals and organizations, that tend to support any group seen as victims and oppressed. Here are some headlines from the BDS official website ( http://www.bdsmovement.net/) that give a good indication of the seriousness of the growth of this movement:
- More than 10 000 South African School Students March Against Woolworths over Israel Trade
- BDS roundup: Lauryn Hill cancels Israel concert and Israeli company loses Olympics security contract
- 2016 Olympics: After BDS pressure, Brazilian government denies relations with Israeli company ISDS
- Barclays bank no longer listed as Elbit Systems shareholder
- Veolia sells Israel businesses targeted by Palestinian-led boycott campaign.
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| Orange employees protest the CEOs statement by covering the Orange Logo with an Israeli flag at the "Partner Orange" Communications Company's offices in Rosh Ha'ayin . June 4, 2015. Photo by AP http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.659819.1433491671!/image/1895559777.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_640/1895559777.jpg |
Shimon Samuels, the Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, had this to say, "The influence of BDS on policy is more than a trickle; it’s a flow, and it’s happening all over Europe” http://www.timesofisrael.com/orange-pullout-seen-as-sign-of-bds-influence-on-french-policy/. Sadly it is not just in Europe this is happening but all over the globe.
More and more we see Israel painted as an 'apartheid state' and 'pariah nation' and a cruel occupier and oppressor of the poor, suffering Palestinian people. She is becoming the scapegoat for all the world's ills, from the Palestinian conflict, to the rise of ISIS, the specter of nuclear Iran, the economic instability of the world, and so on. We here are feeling more and more alone on the world stage, isolated, criticized unjustly and facing severe threats to our very existence.
There are some who claim that it is Israel's occupation of and settlement policies in the Palestinian territories that is fueling the BDS. If so, then Israel is falling victim to the 'spirit of the age' which no longer tolerates conquest and occupation, in spite of the fact that most of those most outspoken on the issue live in countries that were themselves founded by conquest and occupation, which after all has characterized all human history from its very beginning. Such hypocrisy!
Although I myself have some doubts about Israel's current settlement policies, as do many Israelis, I do not believe this is the real issue. It's just the excuse. The growth of the BDS movement is the result of two things, the latent anti-Semitism of the Muslim and Western worlds, and jealousy over the success of the tiny, beleaguered Jewish State. The world of Islam is being torn apart by internal strife today, but the one thing that unites all Muslims of every sect and creed, is a mutual hatred of Israel. It is anathema that Israel exists at all, unthinkable that it has succeeded to build a modern, economically stable State which offers the highest standard of living of any in the Middle East. Israel represents a great affront for any believer in the Koran. At the bottom line the spirit of BDS is the spirit of Islam, and of the anti-Christ at work in the world, opposing God's will and plans for the ultimate redemption of the world.
In addition, the BDS movement is also thriving on misinformation disseminated both by the official and the social media. For example this week BDS voices were calling for Israel to stop the occupation of Palestine and Gaza. Granted, Israel still occupies Palestine, but we pulled out of Gaza in 2005 (10 years ago), and not one Israeli citizen or soldier currently stands on Gazan soil. What occupation of Gaza are they talking about?
Perhaps they are referring to the so-called blockade? Israel currently supplies both Palestine and Gaza with most of their water and electricity, and buys most of their exports. Without Israel there would be no Palestinian economy. It is through Israel that most of the aid and supplies that reach Gaza flows. Do they really want us to stop doing all this? After all, Israel is not legally or morally responsible for the Gaza Strip any more. Egypt has also closed its border with Gaza, but we hear nothing about that, in spite of the fact that, in 2013, Ghazi Hamad, a senior official of the Hamas controlled Foreign Ministry in Gaza, admitted that Gaza is a "big prison as a result of the continued closure of the Rafah border crossing by the Egyptian authorities since June 30." http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3923/egypt-blockades-gaza Where is the outcry against Egypt for their blockade of Gaza, and who is calling for sanctions against Egypt?
The situation in Gaza today is a sad reminder of what would happen should Israel cave in to the pressure of BDS. If Israel were to pull out of the Palestinian Territories tomorrow, the rival factions of Fatah, Hamas and the Salafist groups affiliated with ISIS would surely tear it apart, causing the citizens of 'Palestine' a great deal more suffering than they currently experience under Israeli occupation - just look at Syria and Iraq!
I am currently reading a very interesting book called "For the Love of Zion" written by Kelvin Crombie, the CMJ historian based at Christ Church, in Jerusalem's Old City. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the rise of the Zionist movement, the early years of the Jewish waves of immigration which lead to the founding of the State of Israel, and the rise of the Messianic movement in Israel. In this book Crombie quotes the Reverend Maxwell's statement made in relation to the orchestrated Arab attack on Jews in Hebron, Motsa and Safed on 27 August 1929, in which some 133 Jews were killed and 399 wounded, in which he suggested that this event might well mark the beginning of 'the time of Jacob's trouble as prophesied' in Jeremiah 30 : 1-7,
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’”4 Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
5 “For thus says the Lord:
‘We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask now, and see,
Whether a man is ever in labor with child?
So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins
Like a woman in labor,
And all faces turned pale?
7 Alas! For that day is great,
So that none is like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it
Whether or not, the 1929 massacres marked the beginning of Jacob's Trouble, it is true they marked the beginning of organized violent Arab opposition to the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel, and this opposition has continued to grow until this day. It is significant that this opposition is now spreading far beyond the reaches of the Middle East and becoming a global reality. It seems the stage is being set for the culmination of Jacob's Trouble, the great battle for Jerusalem, when all the nations will gather against her, as is prophesied in Zechariah 12:
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.Just this morning I read these words in Ezekiel, and it sent a shiver down my spine,
Sigh therefore, son of man, with a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes. 7 And it shall be when they say to you, ‘Why are you sighing?’ that you shall answer, ‘Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,’ says the Lord God.”
Ezekiel 21 : 6-7.Behold, it is coming! Whether it comes tomorrow or next year or some time in the far distant future, I cannot predict, but my sense is that it is coming soon, very soon. I have never felt the degree of dread in the face of the gathering darkness that I am feeling these days. How much more dark and evil can the world become? How many more threats to her existence can Israel withstand?
That said, as frightening as the future outworking of Jacob's Trouble may be, it is but the birthing pang of Israel's salvation and the final redemption of the world. When all seems lost, God will intervene and save Israel and all the world will know it. All Israel's enemies will ultimately be destroyed and Israel will recognize Yeshua, He who was pierced for our sakes, and bow down to him and be saved.
In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ 6 In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.7 “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. 8 In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. 9 It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Zechariah 12
Therefore sigh with me for Israel who must pass through Jacob's Trouble, with great fear and trembling. Pray that it will pass quickly and that those who fear will turn and cry out to their God and so be saved. Pray for your own nations, churches, families and friends that they will not turn their hearts against Israel and so be counted amongst the enemies of the LORD God of Israel, marked for destruction.
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