HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISRAEL! 65!

*Sorry for the delay. I started this yesterday, but could not post it until today.

Today ( 5 Iyar) is a day we stand in awe of G-d’s faithfulness.

In the words of Balaam (Numbers 23, verse 19):

G-d is not a man, that He should lie
Nor a son of man, that He should change His mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
I have received a command to bless
And I cannot change it.

The nation of Israel today is living testimony to the truth of G-d’s Word.



Let’s begin with the word, “everlasting”.
In case there is any question, “everlasting” means enduring through all time, eternal, never ending.
Psalm 105, verses 8- 11 tells us:
He remembers His covenant FOREVER,
The word He commanded for 1000 generations,
The covenant He made with Abraham,
The oath He swore to Isaac
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
TO ISRAEL AS AN EVERLASTING COVENANT
“To YOU I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

Is it possible, G-d said this to just prove how faithful and amazing He is?
Over 3500 years ago G-d spoke these promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Since that time:
There was 430 years of slavery in Egypt.

David made Jerusalem His capital (1010-970  BCE)
Solomon built the first temple

The Northern kingdom was exiled by Assyria
The Babylonians conquered Judah.
After 70 years some returned to the land.

A few hundred years later, Alexander the Great conquered it.
Then Rome ruled.
The second temple was destroyed in 70 CE.
Between 132-35 CE, in a second Jewish revolt, Rome killed 500,000 Jews, destroying 985
villages and changing the name of the Holy Land to “Palestine” to offend the Jewish people.
In 325 Constantine changed Passover to Easter and forbid intermarriage with Jews. The Council of Nicea created new holidays for worship, omitting everything Jewish.

In 614, a Persian general captured Jerusalem and allowed 150,000 Jews to run the
     city, but 3 years later kicked them out to 3 mile border outside the city.
In 637, Muslims captured Caesarea and forbid Jews to ride horses, hold office,
and forced the Jews to wear identification badges.
The wearing of badges to distinguish Jews continued throughout history in Austria, England, Spain, and in modern history Nazi occupied Europe.

Throughout the crusades, Jews were forced to be baptized or die.
Persian Jews were forced to convert to Islam.
The Jews were falsely accused of killing Christian children and drinking their blood .
The Jews were blamed for the Black Plague in Europe and over 200,000 Jewish
      communities were destroyed.

Jews, often more than once, were expelled from England, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, and Portugal  leaving all their possessions behind.
Jews lived under the Ottoman Turks for 400 years.
Not until 1788 (only 225 years ago) were the Jews allowed to hold public office
         granted to them in the United States Constitution.

In 1791, France followed. The first time Jews could be citizens since the Roman
      Empire.
In 1841, Denmark granted citizenship to Jews.
In 1830, Greece did the same; then a year later, Belgium followed.
A year later, Canada granted “political rights” to Jews.
In 1848, Germany granted “civil rights” to Jews.
Not until 1861, were Jews allowed to enter Norway.
In 1869, 1870 and 1871 respectively, Jews were given citizenship in Italy,
Sweden and Germany.
And in 1923, Romania granted its Jews citizenship.
In 1903, the British suggested giving the Jewish people Uganda as their homeland.

In 1920 The land of Israel was given over to the British to implement the
Balfour Declaration making “Palestine” a national homeland for the Jews.
Also in the 1920’s Henry Ford began spreading evil propaganda about the Jews with the Elders of the Protocols of Zion in his Dearborn newspaper. (Even though the London Times proved it was a fake and a forgery)

In1922, the population of Palestine, 757,182 11% Jewish.
In 1933 an anti-Jewish boycott begins in Germany.
In 1938, Kristallnacht, Jewish synagogues in Germany burned down.
In 1939 Jewish immigration to Palestine severely limited by British White Papers.
In 1940 Nazis established ghettos in Poland

Between 1942-1945 6 million Jews murdered
In 1947 Palestine Government placed Jerusalem’s 90,000 Jews under nightly
house arrest as they sent 4,529 Jews back to France .
Also in 1947 The Un proposes the establishment of  Arab and Jewish states
in  “Palestine”. The Arab Higher Committee rejects the UN Plan.

May 14, 1948 Declaration of the State of Israel.  

 

Arab armies invade the new state and there is a war from May 1948 until July 1949
Nov. 8, 1948 the First census indicates 712,000 Jewish residents, 69,000
 Arab residents in the State of Israel.

So, of course this is a very brief, highlighted history of the Jewish people.
The exodus of over 800,000 Jews from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Arabia, Egypt and Syria is not included.

 

 

The ghettos, confiscations. Pogroms, are not included.
These ALL add to the absolute MIRACLE of the nation of Israel and the
Jewish people!
How can a people survive 1000’s of years without their own home?
How can they continue to survive when they are systematically  expelled from
their homes and killed?
How did Hebrew get reborn as the national language?
How did a vibrant economy develop from nothing?

How did a desert and a swamp land become a leader in the world’s agricultural development?

The answer is in the scriptures at the beginning of this post.
The G-d of Israel is a faithful G-d. If He says it, He will do it!
 David says it best in Psalm 65, in honor of the nation’s 65^th birthday!

Praise awaits you o G-d in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled,
O you hear our prayer, to you all men will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.
You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O G-d our Savior,
The hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
Who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength,
Who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves,
And the turmoil of the nations.
Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns
and evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.
You care for the land and water it;
You enrich it abundantly.
The streams of G-d are filled with water to provide the people with grain,
For so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers
And bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the desert overflow;
The hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain;
They shout for joy and sing!