Lesson of History: Don’t Mess With Israel!

You may get away with messing with Texas but not with Israel!

At Israel’s beginning, Abraham went to Egypt for food during a famine instead of trusting in Jehovah. His whole family (70 of them) ended up there and within 400 years they became a mighty nation. Then, a new Pharaoh came to the throne that was not favorable to the Hebrews. He made them slaves and sought to kill all newborn males. Moses grew up in his palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, after she found him beside the Nile River, and he became the heir-apparent to the throne of Egypt. The very thought of a Jew sitting on the Egyptian throne was breathtaking.

Moses, at 40, refused the power, prestige, and possessions of Egypt and identified with his people the Jews, and spent his next 40 years in desert training. He led Israel from the land of bondage to the land of blessing when he was 80. When they fled Egypt, each family was commanded to kill a lamb and put the blood over their doors and everyone would be safe when the Angel of Death passed over that last night. The Egyptian homes all experienced the death of their first-born sons while the Hebrews’ sons were unharmed. Christians memorialize that incident when they sing, “When I see the blood, I’ll pass over you” referring to the Death of Christ.

The Jews left Egyptian slavery and returned to the land of promise; and since that time, Jews have celebrated that night of deliverance by observing the Passover. The story of their deliverance has been remembered, rehearsed, and retold as it is memorialized with the statement, “Next year in Jerusalem.” Meaning, wherever they were at the time, maybe next year, they would be back in their homeland. During the observance of the Passover, (either seven or eight days) the celebration begins with the Seder (meaning order) meal, symbolic of their deliverance from Egypt.

“The Festival of the Unleavened Bread” is celebrated with the first two days of delicious meals called Seders when the Egyptian Passover is remembered and memorialized. Six more days of celebration follow the first two. On the eve of the Passover, each home is searched to remove any vestige of leaven. According to Exodus 12:11 the meal was to be eaten “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover.” They were to be in a hurry to leave bondage! According to Exodus 13:3, they were to “keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.”

The “Festival of the Unleavened Bread” begins with a hard-boiled egg dipped into saltwater. A rabbi was once asked why Jews eat eggs on Passover. “Because eggs symbolize the Jew,” the rabbi answered. “The more an egg is burned or boiled, the harder it gets.” Seems that way.

During the Seder, the family recalls their Egyptian slavery by eating matzo, known as the “poor person’s bread.” Bitter herbs, called “maror,” are eaten which symbolize the bitterness of slavery, and a sweet paste (charoset) representing the mortar which the slaves used to cement bricks. They dip vegetables into saltwater, and it recalls the tears the Jews shed during their servitude. Roast lamb or goat is a main portion of the meal.

An extra cup of wine is at the table for the prophet Elijah. It is almost electric when a child is sent to the door to open for the prophet who will be the messenger of messianic times ahead.

The whole celebration is to remind them of their slavery and the goodness of God in delivering them, not because of their greatness but because of His goodness and grace.
Israel was overshadowed by the greatness of Egypt, the grandeur of Babylon, the growth of Nineveh but they had what no other nation had going for them: They were the “apple of God’s eye.” Judah was caught in the middle of the constant struggles among the three powers, but Jews survived while the others did not. Will Durant wrote, the “Jews who are as old as history, may be as lasting as civilization.” Obviously.

Jehovah was faithful in showing His grace by delivering the Jews from slavery and He will further show his faithfulness with the construction of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount, the most important and contested 35 acres on earth, claimed by Muslims and Jews! Hummm, that will be an interesting development! Muslims have not learned the truth that you can’t mess with Israel but they are destined to learn that truth the hard way as did Egypt.

While the Passover reminds Jews of their release from slavery, it should be remembered that Pharaoh and his army were destroyed as the Jews were delivered.

The message of the Bible and history is: Don’t mess with Israel.

EVOLUTION

Fact, Fraud or Faith?

by Don Boys, Ph.D.

Only an uninformed fanatic says that evolution or creation can be proved scientifically. Christians believe in creationism because we believe in the veracity of the Bible but we also have scientific evidence to support our position. In every debate I’ve had with evolutionary scientists, the arrogant, asinine accusation is made, “Well, evolution is scientific while creationism is religion.” Evolution is about as scientific as a voodoo rooster plucking ceremony in Haiti. Almost.

Purchase Now from Amazon