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Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear… Israel !
This year, many of us will join in celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel . This momentous event took place on May 13, 1948 , and after almost 1,900 years of homelessness, the Jewish people finally had a homeland. This was a fulfillment of the prophecy in the 66 th chapter of the prophet Isaiah when the Lord spoke about a nation being “born in a day.”
The re-gathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland since that day has been a fulfillment of promises made by God through many of the prophets. One example from the prophet Ezekiel is: “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24). This was the second time that God miraculously restored His people to the land He gave them.
The Temple built by Solomon, the son of David, was destroyed and the people sent into exile by the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar in the year 567 BCE . Prior to the exile, God had warned that unless there was national repentance, this would be the consequence. But He also promised through the prophet Jeremiah: “This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon , I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity” (Jeremiah 29:10-14).
“I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem . Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” (Daniel 9:2-3) Daniel's repentance on behalf of the nation touched the heart of God, and the new emperor allowed the people to return and rebuild the Temple . Hundreds of years later, Herod added to their modest structure and built the imposing Temple structure in which Yeshua was dedicated, where he debated the rabbis, and whose destruction He prophesied. That prophecy was fulfilled about 40 years later when the Temple was destroyed and the people dispersed by the Roman emperor Titus in 70 CE.
The re-establishment of the nation of Israel and the Hebrew language after almost two millennia demonstrate the faithfulness of God and His ability to keep the promise He made to His friend Abraham. “ On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land'.” (Genesis 15:18)
Blessings as you read God's Word,
Rabbi Neil
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