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Although they lived in Russia, Sergey and Ludmila were upset by the Russian attacks on Ukraine. Sergey said, “It was horrible, watching this war escalate between people who speak the same language.” Because of their own political beliefs, they knew they had to leave.

Since Sergey is Jewish, they decided to immigrate to Israel. Ludmila wanted to give her children a better life although she feared the move might traumatize them—fears that proved to be correct. When Sergey had to take a lesser-paying job in his field, it became hard to afford furniture, a washing machine, basics for their kids’ rooms, and other essentials for their empty apartment. Yet who could help them?

Then Sergey heard about CBN Israel from Israeli relatives we helped a few years ago. Caring donors provided Sergey’s family with the furniture and washing machine they needed. They also gave them food, made the children’s rooms comfortable, and provided emotional support. 

Ludmila said, “We felt a lot of uncertainty when we got here, but CBN Israel gave us hope things would work out.” Sergey added, “Thank you… It is very touching to know there are people who care so much about families like ours. We feel like we have a future in this country.” 

Your gift to CBN Israel can help so many immigrants like Sergey who now call Israel home, especially with the surge of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. And you can also aid Holocaust survivors, single moms, and others in desperate need. 

Your support can bring groceries, housing, financial assistance, and more to those who are hurting—while sharing vital reports and stories from the Holy Land. 

Please help us reach those in crisis today!

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The menorah refers to the seven-branched candelabra which God commanded Moses to have fashioned as part of the vessels of the Tabernacles (Exodus 25:31-40; 37:17-24). Artisans fashioned the menorah from a single ingot of gold, with the lamps carved separately from gold. Within the First Temple, the Temple of Solomon, ten golden menorot (plural, menorah) stood in the Temple building, five on the northern wall and five on the southern wall. It is not certain whether these lamps had branches, like the menorah of the Tabernacle. The Babylonians took the menorot from the Temple when they destroyed it and Jerusalem.

The rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem required the Judeans to refashion the vessels of the Temple including the menorah. The Jewish writer Jesus ben Sira mentions the golden menorah in the Second Temple in the early second century B.C. The Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, removed it when he converted the Jewish Temple into a Temple to Zeus. Judah the Maccabee made new vessels as part of his purification of the Temple, after he reconquered it from the Seleucid Greeks. It remained in the Second Temple until the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. They took the menorah with them to Rome and placed it in the Temple of Peace. Rome’s celebration of the conquest of Judaea appears on the Arch of Titus in Rome where the menorah is shown being conveyed into Rome.

The menorah became a Jewish symbol during the Second Temple period. The last Hasmonean ruler, Mattathias Antigonus, stamped a menorah upon his coins. Archaeologists have discovered menorah graffities in homes and on stones. The menorah stood in the interior of the Temple building, not the Holy of Holies, but the preceding hall. Within the Holy Place, the menorah stood with the incense altar and the table of shewbread. Twice a day priests entered the Temple to tend the lamps of the menorah and offer incense on the altar, at the time of the morning and evening sacrifices. The graffities discovered in Jerusalem depict these three elements together: the menorah, the incense altar, and the table of shewbread.

Archaeologists uncovered a unique stone in a first century synagogue in Magdala, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. This stone, which archaeologist suggest was a base for a Torah reading stand, bears images from the Jerusalem Temple. The iconography of the stone comes from the Temple. It depicts the menorah and incense altar; some suggest it also shows the table of shewbread, which would be consistent with depictions of the menorah in this period.

After the menorah was taken to Rome, it became a more prominent Jewish symbol appearing in synagogue art throughout the Jewish world. The menorah was the earliest Jewish symbol identifying the presence of Jews. Many today think of the Star of David as a Jewish symbol, but this is modern. Ancient Jews made their mark with the menorah. Some mistakenly refer to the nine-branched candelabra used at Hanukkah as a menorah. It is not. It is a Hanukkiah, the special candelabra for Hanukkah.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last week, Iran International television news made history in a first-of-a-kind broadcast by featuring an Israeli prime minister—Benjamin Netanyahu—speaking directly to the Iranian people. On March 9, journalist Pouria Zeraati held an exclusive interview with Netanyahu, in which Bibi praised the protestors’ bravery on the streets of Iran and called the Islamic regime a “common enemy.” He expressed his personal admiration for the Woman, Life, Freedom resistance movement, describing it as “a miraculous achievement” by not bowing down to tyranny. 

Netanyahu’s comments are timely, since Iranian protestors have risked their lives to spread their demands for freedom from the hateful Ayatollahs and their nearly 190,000 enforcers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The regime’s ruthless reaction has, since September, led to more than 500 deaths and 22,000 arrests. One hundred and ten Iranians are set to face a death sentence, joining four other dissenters who have already been executed. On March 13 the Ayatollahs alleged that they now have granted amnesty to 80,000 prisoners, including some 22,000 protestors who had been arrested. That remains to be seen.

In his Twitter account, British-based Iranian journalist Zeraati also reported that the Islamic regime has poisoned school children, declaring that the regime’s message is “loud and clear, they will do whatever it takes.” The numbers are frightening to parents, with school poisonings having occurred since November in more than 100 schools. The Iranian Health Ministry claims that 13,000 students have been treated. While difficult to prove, it is easy for Iranians to view the poisonings as direct warnings from the Islamic regime’s oppressive history. 

The Israeli Prime Minister made remarks about ancient Persia and future ties between Israel and Iran. In 539 B.C., Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. Looking to the future, Netanyahu envisions a renewed and strengthened friendship between Israel and Iran. He noted that prior to the Islamist takeover, their friendship had been strong. Obviously, his remarks are based on stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons capability—which threatens the Middle East, United States, and the world.

My friend Marziyeh (Marzi) Amirizadeh is an author and Iranian activist who was formerly imprisoned in Iran for sharing her Christian faith and giving out thousands of Bibles. Now that she’s an American citizen, her expert opinion is that many Iranians inside the country watched Netanyahu’s broadcast captioned in Farsi. She reports that the viewers reacted positively and admire Israel’s prime minister. As usual, since the protests began, the Ayatollahs have plotted internet disruptions and blackouts, thereby handcuffing freedom of speech on social media. However, Marzi notes that Iranians watch three major news media outside Iran: Iran International, Voice of America, and Manoto TV. 

Netanyahu concluded his remarks with two more messages. To Western leaders, he paraphrased Moses’ demand to Pharaoh—“Let my people go!”—by challenging the Islamic regime, “Let YOUR people go.” He added a no-nonsense point to the Ayatollahs: “We’ll be here long after you’re gone.”

Netanyahu described stopping Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons as the  “quintessential heart of my foreign policy.” His clear statement is evidenced by the ramped-up military exercises in the last few months with the United States military. On January 26, the U.S. Central Command and Israel Defense Forces completed Juniper Oak 2023 with a massive military exercise in the Middle East described as the biggest joint drill on record. Now, as of March 12, the Red Flag 23-2 exercise is underway for two weeks, hosted by the United States Air Force at Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base. Israel has sent seven F-35I fighter jets and two Boeing 707 refueling planes for the drill. Joint military operations with Israel are common in both Israel and the United States. Israel has participated in five previous Red Flag drills at the U.S. base. 

I consider the joint midair refueling as one of the most significant drills, since Iran’s nuclear development sites are 1,200 miles from Israel. One drill focuses on an Israel Air Force (IAF) tanker refueling American fighter jets, with the U.S. in turn refueling Israeli aircraft. These refueling exercises make it possible for the IAF to reach Iran for the purpose of targeting Iran’s nuclear complexes—and only the nuclear complexes. 

Clearly Netanyahu speaks for Israel, which has no quarrel with the Iranian population themselves (more than 86 million people). Prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution, 80,000 Jews lived in Iran. Tens of thousands fled. Reports vary, but few in the Jewish community remain in Iran, and approximately 250,000 Jews of Iranian ancestry live in Israel. 

The Abraham Accords instituted dynamic and exciting changes in the Middle East. However, multiple levels of other sweeping changes in that region are advancing. It is essential to remain aware and prayerful for our greatest ally Israel, the suffering of the Iranian people, and wisdom for Israeli and American leaders’ decision-making. While the military alliance between Israel and the United States is vigorous, the U.S. influence in the Middle East is lessening.

One example stands out. China is now a kingmaker in the Middle East. In a secret four-day meeting, they brokered a deal in Beijing between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Chinese leaders agreed last Friday to reopen the embassies in both countries after seven years of weighty tensions. Although the deal revives the Saudi-Iran security cooperation pact of 2001, a hidden element may be at work. The deal is not official for another two months, and much could change. It is possible that Saudis would still rather connect more closely with Israel in order to rely on the Jewish state’s security against Iran. Plus, Saudis are not fond of the current U.S. administration and may be sending a wake-up message to a compromised Mr. Biden.

Aside from the seeming Chinese successes, Russia and Iran have agreed on the sale of Russian fighter jets for Iran’s recently revealed underground air force base. They named it “Eagle 44.”  EAGLE 44? I view that as the Islamic regime’s arrogance in appropriating one of the United States’ national symbols. 

We live at a time when Isaiah 5:20 is epidemic. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.” As believers, let us make sure that we pay persistent attention to our Lord Jesus, the Light of the world, amid darkening world events. We can rely on Him to help us navigate life steadied by Him. We also know that in His time, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus will settle every conflict regarding Israel, His Land, and His people, the Jews. May God have mercy on us as we await that day. 

Please join with CBN Israel this week in prayer for Israel and the Middle East:

• Pray for Israeli and all Arab leaders in the Middle East to make wise decisions about the Islamic regime’s threats. 
• Pray with thanks for the beneficial bonds between the U.S. and Israeli military.
• Pray for strength for the Iranian people to endure as they seek their freedom. 
• Pray for Israel’s internal peace amid controversial opinions about reshaping their Supreme Court.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her part-time as Outreach Director for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, guest columnist at All Israel News, and has frequently traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is a board member for Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on Facebook.

As a single mother, Anna lived with her little boy in Eastern Ukraine when the war broke out. She recalled, “We were totally unprepared… We had to hide in the basement— it was cold and scary.” After weeks of living in fear with her son, she decided it was time to escape.

A rescue train organized by their Jewish community took them to western Ukraine. From there, the Israeli government allowed Jewish refugees to immediately make Aliyah—Israeli citizenship for Jews—and return to their ancestral homeland of Israel as immigrants. 

When they arrived, a government grant enabled them to rent an apartment. Yet, Anna needed a refrigerator and couldn’t afford one. She was alone and jobless in a new country. 

But friends like you were there. Through CBN Israel, caring donors gave her a refrigerator—plus, food vouchers, groceries, and basic furniture! Anna shared, “What a headache it is to live without a fridge… You got it for us quickly. It was a big relief, and we’re very thankful.” 

Today, just a few months later, Anna is working part time and earning an income. We visit her and her son regularly, and she adds, “Your words, your prayers, and your support help restore my faith. These acts of kindness show that there is still good in the world.” 

And your gift to CBN Israel can share God’s goodness with many in need—by bringing them nutritious meals, essentials, financial help, and more. Your support can reach out to Holocaust survivors, immigrants, terror victims, and others with nowhere to turn. 

Please join us as we bless others in this special land!

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Replacement theology refers to the faulty belief that God replaced Israel as His chosen people with the Church. According to those who hold this view, God’s promises to Israel now belong to the Church, and His plans no longer extend to the Jewish people or Israel. The origins of this belief are ancient. They stem from social and theological forces.

Ancient Judaism attracted non-Jews. Most chose not to identify fully with Judaism, which required a man to undergo the rite of circumcision. So too, the Jewish commandments proved too hard for non-Jews and alienated them from their families and civic identities. Non-Jews attracted to Judaism were called God-fearers (or God-worshippers).

The Jewish followers of Jesus attracted non-Jews as well. The Jewish followers of Jesus decided non-Jews could remain non-Jews, but they had to avoid meat sacrificed to idols, prohibited sexual unions, and bloodshed. Jesus’ community required them to adopt a Jewish morality without fully converting to Judaism. They lived Jewishly without being fully part of the Jewish community. This was Paul’s position as well.

Non-Jews stood on the edge of the synagogue, not fully part of the community. This created an inferiority complex, a sense of being an outsider. Such feelings can produce resentment over time. They can be overcome by the outsiders concluding they represent the true faith. Jews failed, and God rejected them. Their laws were null and a hinderance to salvation. Scattered evidence of this logic appears among non-Jews prior to the rise of Christianity, but with the rise of Christianity, these ideas became more widespread as Christianity showed itself as the true religion and Israel’s replacement.

An apocryphal work known as Fifth Ezra reflects this belief. This work likely dates to the second century A.D. Preserved in Latin, it was originally written in Greek. The author proclaims, “What can I do about you Jacob? You would not listen to me, Judah. I will turn to another nation and give it my name in order that they may keep my decrees. Because you have forsaken me, I will forsake you…I am going to deliver your houses to a coming people who, though they have not heard me, believe; [those] to whom I showed no signs will do what I decreed. They did not see the prophets, yet they will keep in mind their time-honored [admonitions]” (1:24-25, 35-36).

Justin Martyr (about A.D. 100-165) also embraced this belief. In his Dialogue with Trypho a Jew, he interpreted Genesis 9:27 as, “Accordingly, as two peoples were blessed—those from Shem, and those from Japhet—and as the offspring of Shem were decreed first to possess the dwellings of Canaan, and the offspring of Japhet were predicted as in turn receiving the same possessions…so Christ has come calling men to…a living together of all the saints in the same land whose possession He promised, as has already been proven.

Whence men from all parts, whether slave or free, who believe in Christ and know the truth in His and the prophets’ words, know that they will be with Him in that land, there to inherit the things that are eternal and incorruptible” (139:4-5). Justin elsewhere described Gentile Christians as the “true Israel” (Dialogue 11:5; 120:5). The idea emerged quite early within Gentile Christianity that God had rejected the Jews, and their laws were not relevant.

It is critical that Christians understand the dangers of these distorted beliefs. For centuries, sermons and writings espousing replacement theology have planted the seeds of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. Not only did this lead to widespread discrimination and violence against the Jewish community in much of Western society; it left the door wide open for six million Jews to be murdered in the Holocaust. 

While not all Christian groups accept this theology, it has seen a resurgence in recent years within many Christian circles, and it is absolutely imperative that we oppose and root out this toxic thinking. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Apartheid is an ugly accusation, and absolutely wrong when it is used to describe Israel. Israeli Apartheid Week, a series of university rallies and lectures that began in 2005 to “raise awareness” about Zionism, will again be crowded with anti-Israel events held this year between March 13–27.

A disturbingly effective disinformation campaign, Israeli Apartheid Week is an offshoot of the Palestinian invention of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The simple definition of BDS is “economic warfare against Israel.” It is anti-Semitism in another guise and now forcefully promotes its own kind of apartheid—only against Israeli Jews.

The truth: Israel is not an apartheid nation. It treats its citizens—Jewish, Arab, Druze, Ethiopian, and Christian—with equality. Palestinians are not citizens, but that is by the choice of their own dictatorial leadership, who instead prefer violence and hate-mongering media. 

An evil policy, apartheid takes its name from South Africa’s former system of institutionalized discrimination that brutally enforced segregation against non-white citizens. South Africa’s decades-long racial tyranny officially ended on April 27, 1994. However, BDS propaganda and its campus spinoffs have grown for 17 years into Israeli Apartheid Week at more than 200 universities.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) helps us better understand Israeli Apartheid Week. A highly respected, non-partisan source of information, CAMERA monitors media in order to promote accurate, fair reporting about Israel and the Middle East. Among many of their resources is their CAMERA on Campus outreach, where they expose the rampant threats against Jewish students on university campuses. Such threats now overlap against pro-Israel Christian students. This year, for the third time, CAMERA on Campus is running its Apartheid Week Exposed (AWE) campaign. CAMERA coalitions operate on some 80 campuses, including such institutions as Princeton, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Duke, and William & Mary.

The CAMERA coalitions are confronted by an anti-Israel organization called Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), among others. SJP claims a presence on 200 campuses. The lies are endless: “Israel refused to vaccinate Palestinians. Israel steals Palestinian water. Israel imprisons children. A wall completely surrounds Bethlehem. Israel will not allow Palestinians into their hospitals. Israel turns off electricity in Gaza.”

Threats mark the SJP’s actions to individual students, lobbying university presidents to deny Israeli or conservative speakers on campus, or calling for disruptive demonstrations when they come.  

The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy published a report several years ago titled “National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) and the Promotion of Hate and Antisemitism on the University Campus: The Threat to Academic Freedom.” They listed a few quotes from their membership that characterize their animosity. Wrote a member at San Diego State University, “I hope all of you have sweet dreams of slaughtering Zionists.” A member at the University of Texas Dallas posted, “Three words a day to live by. Blame the Jews. #Hitler.” Yet another at New York University wrote, “May Allah not help them and burn them in the hell fire. Let the Jews burn silently.”

Hali Spiegel, CAMERA’s North American campus director, explains: “They depict the State of Israel as a manifestation of pure evil: racist, genocidal, murderous. Worse yet, they pitch this false narrative to students looking to support a just cause. That’s where our campaign comes in. Their lies cannot go unchallenged.”

Student leaders in the CAMERA on Campus coalitions will face opposition in their on-campus efforts to disseminate facts, host expert speakers, and pass out information. Their bravery is inspiring.

Two months before this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week, Bard—a private New York college—launched a new course titled “Apartheid in Israel-Palestine.” Bard’s syllabus includes this description: “This course will examine Israel-Palestine and the crime of apartheid.”

As examples of what sort of events occur during Israeli Apartheid Week itself, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign directed some of its branches to hold a Boycott Israeli Goods in stores on March 4 telling shoppers not to buy any Israeli products in Irish stores. In England, to offset the Irish activism, a delegation of Israeli students traveled from Israel to advocate alongside the British CAMERA team in the Apartheid Week Exposed campaign. That group included CAMERA on Campus Israel’s campus advisor, Tom Yohay, who explains, “As Israelis, we have a responsibility to share the truth about Israel. We are calling for dialogue, even if we are confronted with hostility and bigotry, our willingness to sit at the table sends an important message.”

Not to be left behind in disinformation efforts, some American churches are creating their own programming. For example, on March 15, the Methodist Federation for Social Action will present a Zoom panel discussing “Apartheid-Free Communities: Exposing & Resisting Israeli Apartheid, Occupation, and Settler-Colonialism.”

Canadians are joining in—with Buses Against Apartheid rolling down the streets of St. John’s, Newfoundland, throughout March. Three public buses will display big placards on the back of their buses spreading the falsehood: “The State of Israel Practices Apartheid.” 

The theme for Israeli Apartheid Week 2023 is “People Against Apartheid.” In its own advertising, BDS is seeking to unite more grassroots organizations including Black Lives Matter. They highlight their versions of “liberation, decolonization, and racial justice” across the world.

The BDS movement—and students, churches, and institutions lured into their way of thinking—claims to promote policies that help the Palestinians. Yet the boomerang effect on the Palestinians is anything but helpful. For example, in 2015 a BDS uproar drove the SodaStream company out of the West Bank—Israel’s biblical heartland. Palestinians were earning better salaries at SodaStream than anywhere else on the West Bank and wanted to work there alongside Jews. Forcing SodaStream to relocate to another part of Israel meant Palestinian workers and families suffered by losing their jobs. It’s estimated that Israeli companies employ around 35,000 or more Palestinians in the biblical heartland, where employees make better salaries working for Israeli companies. 

BDS especially targets the biblical heartland, calling Judea and Samaria “occupied” and belonging to Palestinians. The bottom-line motive behind the BDS movement is not peace or even a Palestinian state. It is hatred and destruction. Their goal is to eradicate Israel. The BDS slogan is clear: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

We live in an upside-down world described by the renowned prophet Isaiah: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). BDS is putting “darkness for light” as a global stalker not only against Israel itself but infecting students on college campuses. That results in shaping student minds in two ways: either with propaganda and anger or fear and threats to those who subscribe to biblical truth.

We must find ways to constrain the tentacles that are wrapping around students on their campuses. Here are a few practical ways to bless brave students on campuses. Become familiar with CAMERA and support the students standing up for true justice. Post their excellent advocacy on your social media. Passages Israel, a 501(c)(3) Christian organization, has taken more than 10,000 college students for trips to Israel to educate and equip them in pro-Israel advocacy. Camera on Campus and Passages Israel are two excellent ways to contribute to students’ understanding and involvement!

Join our CBN Israel team expressing thanks to God for campus revivals sweeping across the United States and other countries. Pray for diminished threats against both Jewish and Christian students! Focus on this scripture passage as you pray for students advocating for Israel on campus: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV).

Please join CBN Israel this week in prayer:

• Pray for students who are leading Apartheid Week Exposed (AWE).
• Pray for each student who hears or reads the unbiased facts about Israel to gain clear understanding about truth.
• Pray for the safety of all students on each campus.
• Pray for Christian activism to increase in order to spread truth in conversations, social media, and churches. 

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her part-time as Outreach Director for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, guest columnist at All Israel News, and has frequently traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is a board member for Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on Facebook.

By Marc Turnage

The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on earth. It sits 600 feet below sea level. It is a lake, and not a sea; thus, the Evangelist Luke correctly describes it often as a lake (5:1; 8:22, 33). 

The Lake of Galilee sits in the Jordan River Valley, which is part of the Syro-African Rift Valley. The Jordan River flows through the lake from the north where its three headwaters converge south of the ancient site of Dan to form the Jordan River and flow south into the lake. The river continues out of the south end of the lake on its southward journey towards the Dead Sea. The modern exit of the Jordan River on the south end of the lake is not the ancient exit of the river; the modern exit was created for the dam used to regulate the flow of water out of the lake.

Hills surround the lake on its western, northern, and eastern sides. To its south, one finds the continuation of the Jordan River Valley. On its northwest and northeast corners sit two fertile valleys into which water runoff from the surrounding hills flow. The northwest valley is known as the Gennesar Valley, which the first century Jewish historian Josephus says was the name given to the lake by the locals (see Luke 5:1). The valley on the northeast side of the lake is the Bethsaida Valley, so called for the ancient site of Bethsaida, the home of Jesus’ disciples Peter, Philip, and Andrew, which was located in the valley along the shoreline of the lake. 

The Bethsaida Valley, while fertile, has three large water tributaries, including the Jordan River, flow through it, which made it more challenging for travel by foot. Two of these tributaries flow out of the Golan Heights feeding the water of the lake along with the Jordan River. Between the Gennesar Valley and Bethsaida Valley ninety-five percent of Jesus’ ministry recorded in the Gospels took place. He fed the 5,000 in the Bethsaida Valley (Luke 9:10). Within this area, one finds the villages of Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, which Jesus cursed (Luke 10:13-16). 

South of the Gennesar Valley sits the modern city of Tiberias, which was built by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, in the year 19-20 A.D. Antipas moved his administration from Sepphoris to Tiberias, which was where he resided during the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist. 

The lake itself provided a fishing industry for the locals. The water off the Bethsaida Valley provided excellent fishing, especially for the local tilapia. People used the lake not only for fishing, but also for travel. Both Josephus and the Gospels indicate that people traveled around the lake by boat much more than they did by foot.

The Gospels record the sudden storms that occur on the lake. The topography of the surrounding hills and canyons create wind funnels across the lake, particularly the northern part of the lake. Storms on the Lake of Galilee are serious, especially the wind storms that blow in from the east off the Golan Heights down onto the lake. The easterly wind storms that hit the land of Israel are quite severe, and even in the present day, can cause damage to property and agriculture, even the loss of life. These easterly winds are known as sharkia, from the Arabic “shark” (east). They are most prevalent from October-May. They turn the lake’s waters into churning, violent swells, easily 10 to 12 feet high. 

The Lake of Galilee provides the setting for many of the stories in the Gospels, sayings and actions of Jesus. On its shores, He taught the people about the kingdom of Heaven and performed many miracles. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

To build bridges and to bring healing, we must diagnose the disease. Jews have suffered at the hands of Christians for two thousand years. Modern Christians often retreat into claims of, “Those weren’t true Christians,” or “I support the Jews and Israel,” or even “My church are not Nazis.” Such defensive claims fail to grasp the role Christian theology played in the atrocities of the past. They also refuse to see how such theology remains within most branches of Christianity today.

So how do we build bridges?

We begin with ourselves. We learn. Jesus belonged to the world of ancient Judaism. He did not seek to create a new religion. What does it mean that He was a Jew? We do not need to be. But He was not like us. We acknowledge. We investigate the history of Christian anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. We do not simply learn the facts. We discover their penetration into our theologies. Before we can build, we must properly understand the depths of these roots within Christian movements.

We hold ourselves accountable. Preaching and teaching need to reflect the reality of the ancient Jewish identity of Jesus and His early followers, including Paul. Separating them from their Jewish identities impacts how Christians relate to Jews and Judaism. It influences, even in subtle ways, the fermentation of Christian anti-Judaism. When we have done these things, we equip ourselves to listen and communicate with Jewish people.

To date, the Catholic Church is the only branch of Christianity to address the questions of Jews, Judaism, and Israel in a post-Holocaust world. They did this in the Second Vatican Council. Protestant Christianity has not. But even more significant, Protestantism has not confronted the anti-Judaism at the heart of its theology. To perform such a surgery may be impossible.

We cannot pass by the deep scars Jewish people bear because of Christianity. We cannot pass over them with trite affirmations. We must recognize we confront two thousand years of history and doctrine when we do this. But when the Jesus of history becomes the Christ of the Church, then Christians will know how to speak to Jews. When we hear Jesus’ words within the world of ancient Judaism, we can convey His solidarity with His people, to His people. We can lend our voices intelligently to call out and challenge anti-Semitism within our world. We can see Jews as more than the object of conversion and mission.

We cannot condemn the Holocaust and continue to blame the Jews for the death of Jesus in our Easter services. We cannot claim the crusaders who murdered Jews in the Rhineland as “not Christian” and continue to use the term “Pharisee” as a pejorative term for who and whatever we do not like in the Church. If we truly want to build bridges, healing bridges, between Christians and the Jewish people, we need to understand the questions to ask of ourselves before we try to listen to the voices of others.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Undeterred by recent bloodshed, Christian lovers of Israel walk with wonder in Jesus’ footsteps. In those footsteps, they also enhance the Israeli economy as they patronize hotels, restaurants, public transportation, and souvenir shops—businesses large and small, benefitting both Jews and Arabs. 

Despite rising hostilities and violence within Israel between Jews and Palestinians, I am aware of at least four current Christian tour groups, led by pastor friends and others, who have slated visits on their 2023/24 calendars. These tourists represent a simultaneous escalation of Good News and support from evangelicals. 

To enhance their understanding of this region, in the last 15 years evangelicals have added the borders of Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria to their itineraries. They step off tour buses eager to hear a briefing by an Israeli security expert—while standing in Israel overlooking Iran’s terror proxies only yards away. This area serves as an important location for gathering facts and sending up prayers. Having traveled to Israel upwards of 25 times now, I treasure each trip and always learn more about the world’s only Jewish nation. 

Biblical Judea and Samaria are called the “West Bank” by most media in referring to the Jordan River’s west bank. However, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob calls it His land in Leviticus 25:23: “The land is the Lord’s land, and it is His to assign and dispose of.” In Deuteronomy 32:43, God declares a special message for us non-Jews: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. … He will provide atonement for His land and His people.” Clearly, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not forget us. He grafted Gentiles onto the ancient olive tree, nourished by its Jewish roots through our Savior, a Jew, the only Son of God born into the earthly Jewish culture.

Indeed, for evangelicals God’s repeated words in Scripture are obviously what we hold in the highest esteem. Nevertheless, it is vital that we understand some facts on the ground to better articulate our advocacy for this Jewish country. 

Regarding Jews who live in Judea, Samaria, or the West Bank (what some call “Occupied Palestine”), let us explore the nomenclature of “settlers” and “citizens” through the lens of two heartbreaking murders that were carried out just days ago, on Sunday February 26. 

A traffic jam turned into a terrorist “opportunity” to murder two brothers—Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19—who lived in Har Bracha in Samaria. A Palestinian shot the brothers dead, scattering bullets into their car during the traffic jam on Highway 60 near the town of Huwara, home to 7,000 Arabs. Route 60 runs through Huwara to the turnoff to Har Bracha. The mainstream media are calling Har-Bracha a “settlement,” while referring to Huwara as a “town.” In modern terms, Har Bracha is 40 years old and situated on Mount Gerizim in Samaria (Shomron in Hebrew). It is a religious community with a population now exceeding 2,000, with some 350 Jewish families and growing. Herein lies part of my point.

In today’s Israel, to me the word “settlement” implies “poaching” and “temporary” with no connection to the 3,000-year-old Jewish homeland. I have visited many Israeli “settlements” that are towns of varying sizes. Businesses, schools, medical facilities, grocery stores, and synagogues line the streets. If you live in a small U.S. town or in the suburbs of any American city, this kind of place is easy to visualize, where much of what you need for daily life is near your home. 

Mount Gerizim, where the town of Har Bracha is located, is mentioned in Deuteronomy 11:29. “When God your Lord brings you to the land which you are about to occupy, you must declare the blessing on Mount Gerizim.” Today, Har Bracha is known for its Torah-honoring lifestyle. It enjoys public and religious schools, businesses, community services, a library, pizza shop, clothing store, day-care centers, six kindergartens, and flourishing vineyards that create a successful winery. Har Bracha is blessed with about 1,000 children, ranging from newborns to 18-year-olds. But as of Monday, February 27, two of its native sons who served in the Israeli Defense Forces are buried on Mount Herzl, Israel’s national military cemetery. 

“There are no words to describe such a disaster. Instead of taking children to the [marriage] chuppah, we bury them.” The anguished words of Yagel and Hallel’s mother, Esti Yaniv, reflect the emotions of too many Israeli parents whose sons and daughters have died in military service. “We have a huge hole in our hearts. Nothing will ever fill this hole—not construction, not protests, nothing.”

On Israel’s Memorial Day in 2022 (Yom HaZikaron), 24,068 names were remembered, engraved on the hearts of all who loved them. Terror victims are also recognized—4,2016 in 2022. Sadly, more names will appear on Yom HaZikaron the evening of Monday, April 24, until the evening of Tuesday, April 25, 2023. 

In Israel’s Six-Day War (June 5–10, 1967), despite being beset by the combined might of Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian armies, Israel’s military miraculously reunited east Jerusalem with west Jerusalem. They won back Judea and Samaria, their ancient heartland, which Jordan had occupied along with east Jerusalem in the aftermath of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. 

Under Jordanian rule, they outlawed Jews from their holiest sites, the Temple Mount and Western Wall (Kotel). Isaiah 66:8 eloquently describes Israel’s modern-day victory: “Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.”

Upwards of 500,000 Jews now populate Judea and Samaria—approximately 5% of Israel’s Jewish population. According to a list of various towns in Judea/Samaria, 2019 shows Ariel with a population of 120,456 and Shiloh with 4,783. Simply looking at these numbers and names helps make my case for the rights of Israelis to live in their biblical heartland. After all, Shiloh was for 369 years the location of the Tabernacle containing the Ark of the Covenant prior to Solomon’s Temple, the First Temple built circa 990–931 B.C.E. 

Vested with a 3,000-year-old land deed, the Bible is the most popular document in world history. I contend that the so-called West Bank belongs to Jews as the rightful residents. Citizens of Israel, these people are productive, proud, and brave to live in their biblical heartland amid the opposition of the Palestinian Authority and most of the world. 

Israelis are not attempting to kick Palestinians out of towns and villages. They simply want peace. 

Settlers? Settlements? Let us delete those descriptions from our vocabulary and replace them with “citizens” and “Israel’s biblical heartland.” 

Please join CBN Israel this week in prayer for the nation and people of Israel:

• Pray for all Israeli families and friends who have lost loved ones in terrorist murders during January and February.
• Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is attempting to manage the multiple crises surrounding him. 
• Pray for the Israel Defense Forces who serve on the frontlines in Judea and Samaria to quell the violence. 
• Pray for media to report fairly and factually—not inflaming even more violence.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, a guest columnist at All Israel News, and has frequently traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is a volunteer on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. Arlene has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times and hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on Facebook.

Religious Jews recite the Shema twice daily, in the morning and in the evening. It receives its name from the first word of Deuteronomy 6:4—Hear (in Hebrew, Shema). The Shema consists of three portions from the Pentateuch—Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; and Numbers 15:37-41. They are read in this order.

While Deuteronomy 6:4-9 commands the Israelites to speak of God’s commandments upon rising and lying down, as well as walking along the way and sitting in your homes, we do not have evidence of the practice of reciting the Shema in the period of the Old Testament. The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, mentions Jews reciting the Shema once or twice a day within their homes. Jewish tradition also mentions the priests in the Temple reciting the Shema as part of the daily offerings. With it, they recited the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 commanded the Israelites to “bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead.” Deuteronomy did not specify how exactly one did this, but by the first century, Jewish men wore tefillin on their forehead, between their eyes, in adherence to this command.

Archaeologists uncovered tefillin at the site of Qumran, on the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, where most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These leather cases contained pieces of written parchment. The writings do not correspond to the biblical text required in later rabbinic tradition, but it does include Deuteronomy 6:1-9. Tefillin fragments were also discovered in Wadi Murabba’at from the second century A.D.

One of Jesus’ contemporaries claimed, whenever one recites the Shema, he accepts upon himself the kingdom of Heaven (the reign of God). Jesus identified the “Great Commandment” as Deuteronomy 6:5, which is part of the Shema. The Shema affirms God’s oneness and His kingship. By reciting it, it places the individual in submission to His rule and reign, an obedient servant.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 also commanded the Israelites to write these commands “upon their doorposts.” The word for “doorpost” in Hebrew is mezuzah. By the third century A.D., Jews interpreted this command by fixing boxes containing parchments inscribed with Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 upon the doorposts of their houses. Jewish homes to this day will have mezuzot on the doorposts of their homes, and religious Jewish men will don the tefillin on the hands and foreheads for certain times of prayer.

Jews inscribed jewelry with the Shema to serve as amulets and sources of protection. A silver armband from Egypt, dating from the mid-sixth to mid-seventh century A.D., bears the inscription of the Shema and Psalm 91:1—a verse used to protect Jews from evil.

The Shema provides the doxology of Judaism. It is central to Jewish faith and daily practice. Jewish worship and the home are centered on the Shema.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast