Blog

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

Rosh Hashanah (“head of the year” in Hebrew) is another miracle of promise-keeping by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This Jewish New Year celebration—the 5,782nd—commences at sundown on Monday, September 6, and ends at sundown on Wednesday, September 8. Israel continues to survive and thrive!

The holiday is considered the anniversary of the birthday of the universe and the creation of Adam and Eve. The Jewish New Year marks the first of the High Holy Days and begins 10 days before Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement—which is the holiest day of the year for Jewish people worldwide. The Jewish New Year, like many Christian denominational holidays, is celebrated in varying ways. But it’s full of special meals, gatherings, the sounding of shofars, special prayers, and apples dipped in honey signifying hopes for a sweet new year. 

A few days before the New Year, workers clear out tens of thousands of prayer notes in the Western Wall, sometimes called “God’s mailbox.” Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Western Wall’s rabbi, observes, “There are notes from all over the world.” He goes on to say that the notes are buried because they have the status of letters to God. Twice a year, they are collected and respectfully buried by Rabbi Rabinowitz and his helpers in the Jewish cemetery located on the Mount of Olives.

Leading up to the Jewish New Year is an ideal time to look back on a few of Israel’s latest innovations. The country’s small size and population has not stopped them from making enormous contributions to the world. It’s a “little giant,” a David stepping up to fight the growing Goliath of anti-Semitism and security challenges. Nevertheless, Israelis manage to innovate in ways that reach across the world. Israel never ceases to astonish me. 

Israel possesses a mere one-thousandth of the world’s population. Despite this, the little giant imitates its ancestor King David. He triumphed against all odds as the youngest of his brothers and the most unlikely Israelite to take on Goliath. Israelis could understandably play the role of victim due to the continual terrorism and terror threats on three of their borders. 

Iran’s newest leader, likely through a rigged election in August, President Ebrahim Raisi is deemed by human rights groups as responsible for thousands of Iranian deaths. The hardliner’s hatred of Israel from 1,200 miles away calls on his surrogates right next door to Israel—Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria—to do the job for him. Despite such threats, however, here are some of the cultural markers that enliven Israel’s Jewish citizens and their innovations.

Israel’s small size—just 260 miles from north to south—and modest population promotes the benefit of close collaboration on many levels. Its mandatory military service is a literal “idea incubator” across a broad spectrum of disciplines, from medicine and agriculture to technology. I’ve often commented when speaking to Christian groups that I’m not surprised God inspired the Bible through ancient Jewish scribes. Their skill, entrepreneurial inventiveness, and dedication to detail are also cultural markers. Ancient biblical texts survived so that we could read God’s profound words and encounter our Jewish Lord Jesus where we discover His strength and blessings in our faith.

Embedded in the Bible and Jewish culture is the concept of “repairing the world” (tikkun olam). It repeatedly motivates the Jewish people and the Jewish state to do good in the world. Tikkun olam has no boundaries. 

Despite COVID-19, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rescue team traveled to Florida in late June to help, following the tragic collapse of the Miami condominium. In July, an Israeli Ministry of Health medical team flew to the Philippines to help with their vaccination program. Tikkun olam was in force even during the latest Hamas-instigated war against Israel in May. Israeli semis trucked humanitarian aid into Gaza despite terrorists firing at them. In previous years, thousands of Israeli trucks have rumbled through the Erez crossing delivering tons of humanitarian aid to Gazans trapped by Hamas. 

John F. Kennedy once commented, “Israel was not created in order to disappear—Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.” 

One of my favorite go-to websites is www.Israel21c.org. When I read it to catch up with some of the latest discoveries, I’m always smiling. Israel 21 documents as best it can the thousands of Israeli innovations pumped out by the little giant. Every month, even every day, new innovations and discoveries flow out of the Holy Land. I especially enjoy looking over the past year’s list; however, innovations began right away in 1948 when Israel celebrated its first modern birthday. It was year 5708!

In 1948, Israel’s population numbered around 800,000. They opened their arms to resettle more than 500,000 Jews, the forgotten refugees, who had been kicked out of surrounding Arab nations. Although Israel was an impoverished land with a low standard of living, it welcomed expelled Jews from Arab lands and made do with very little. Inventions of necessity and cultural markers moved forward no matter what. 

In 1955, Israeli physicist Harry Zvi Tabor invented the first solar water heater. Three years later, Israel hosted the first international Bible contest. In 1973, Israel invented the first steel security door with a geometric door lock. Israeli librarians and computer analysts created the first automated library system in 1976. In 1983, Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu began exploring natural pollination techniques and natural pest control solutions that now are used on farms across the world. The Jewish Agency led the way in 1986 to farm the desert between the Dead Sea and Eilat, which now produces most of Israel’s exports of flowers, vegetables, and yes, fish produced in the desert! Even Israel’s cows are very productive, producing the highest milk yield per cow in the world!

On into the next decade, the emergency bandage that stops bleeding in physical trauma was developed in Jerusalem in 1990—a lifesaving innovation in military medicine. Also in the 1990s, in massive airlift operations, Israel rescued thousands of Ethiopian Jews and brought them to their ancestral homeland. At the turn of the new millennium, an Israeli company developed the first flash drive. Then in 2004, the ReWalk robotic exoskeleton enabled paraplegics to walk, and a few years later the popular WAZE navigation system enhanced ground traffic navigation. Another Israeli company’s stem cell technology holds the potential to treat diseases like ALS. In 2021, Bloomberg named Israel the seventh most innovative nation in the world. Again, the little giant competes against nations far bigger and with far greater resources.

Looking at the past year, it’s difficult to choose highlights, but here are a few that attracted my interest. The list is truly endless. Maybe you’ll discover an innovation that will mean something to you or your family. 

Forty percent of Alabamans have high blood pressure, and many are without medical insurance. A major health center in that state has chosen a remote hypertension digital management system developed by DarioHealth—an Israeli-founded company—to help physicians better manage patients with hypertension.  

With 120 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves used globally each month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, safe disposal is presenting an enormous problem—one that’s of special concern to hospitals. Israelis have invented Envomed 80, a machine that reduces medical waste right on-site into a safe, environmentally disposable product.

On the agricultural front, a startup using artificial intelligence is helping indoor growers cut diseases in their harvests by 30 to 40 percent. 

And one of my favorites: Israeli ophthalmologists have successfully implanted the world’s first artificial cornea in a 78-year-old Arab-Israeli citizen.

In Genesis 26:3-4 God speaks to Isaac, saying, “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

Join us in prayer as we celebrate Israel and prepare to enter the Jewish New Year:

• Pray for the Israelis to continue, even increase, their discoveries—which are gifts to all of humankind.
• Pray for those who are anti-Semitic for their eyes to be opened to Israel’s outsized contributions to our world.
• Pray for Israel’s increased security innovations so that they can maintain the safety of the world’s only Jewish state. 

May we thank God for His eternal promises to Israel and to all those throughout the world who benefit from the endless innovations He gives us through His chosen people, the Jews!

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 now an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel 25 times. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited by Artist Pat Mercer Hutchens and sits 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 her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

He lived in a depressed area, where the economy was weak, and work choices were few. Carmi was very grateful for his factory job—and it provided just enough for his wife and two children. 

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the economy worsened. Carmi lost his job—leaving his wife as the sole breadwinner with her small wage. Although they survived with emergency government welfare, their debts began piling up. Then, terrorism suddenly escalated from Gaza. 

Carmi’s city had seen sporadic rocket fire, but nothing like the 12-day barrage of sirens and rockets. After a year of lockdowns, the family was now confined to their bomb shelter. 

One day, Carmi took the children out for a little fresh air. Just then, the siren sounded, and he rushed his kids to the shelter. The children were safe—but as a rocket exploded nearby, he was hit with shrapnel. It left him 50% disabled, unable to work—and battling depression. 

Thankfully, friends like you were there for Carmi, through CBN Israel. We eased his family’s financial worries with immediate emergency aid. And we are giving Carmi the emotional support he needs to recover from the trauma he faced. Through local professional counselors who partner with us, he is finding peace again. Carmi shares, “I am very thankful you got in touch with us.” 

And your special gift to CBN Israel can help other terror victims—as well as single mothers, aging Holocaust survivors, immigrant families, and more. At a time when many are struggling to survive in the Holy Land, your support can provide food, compassionate relief, and God’s love to those in need. 

Please join us in reaching out to bless others!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Roadways are one of the most significant aspects of biblical geography. Roads often gave significance to locations, villages, and cities. In fact, roadways influenced and dictated settlement patterns, the building and establishing of cities and villages. Controlling roadways meant control of travel, commerce, and communication. Many of the events described in the Bible happen due to their strategic locations along important roadways. This aspect of biblical geography is often missed by the casual reader of the Bible. 

One of the challenges faced by Jerusalem in the period of the Old Testament was that it did not sit directly on major roadways. The principal north-south road through the central hill country laid west of the city, and deep canyons to its west and east made access from these directions very difficult. Therefore, the Central Benjamin Plateau, the tribal territory of Benjamin, was so important for Jerusalem; it provided the convergence of north-south and east-west roads. It was Jerusalem’s crossroads. If a resident of Jerusalem wanted to go to the east or west, he or she first traveled north to Benjamin where they met up with the east-west roads.

This reality continued to some extent into the New Testament period. However, with Jerusalem’s increased importance and the connection between it and Jericho, which sits about twenty-three miles to the east, a roadway was established between Jerusalem and Jericho. Over the course of these twenty-three miles, the land drops off between Jerusalem to Jericho from 2700 feet above sea level to 850 feet below sea level. 

This roadway, which still lay slightly to Jerusalem’s north, followed the route of a canyon system that cuts through the hills to the east of Jerusalem heading down towards Jericho in the Jordan Valley. The main branch of this system, above Jericho, become the Wadi Qilt. At the mouth of the Qilt sat Herod the Great’s winter palace; where, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Herod died in 4 B.C. Herod’s palace consisted of two parts that straddled the Qilt, and he diverted water from the wadi to serve his pools, bath, and palace needs. 

Jesus passed by Herod’s palace (see Luke 19:11) on His journey to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. One route Galilean pilgrims took to Jerusalem brought them down the east bank of the Jordan River; they crossed near Jericho, and then ascended to Jerusalem via the roadway that followed the Wadi Qilt. This also served for the setting of the story Jesus told about the man “going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,” who fell among thieves, and eventually a kindly Samaritan helped him (Luke 10:30-37). 

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

“What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:14-17 NASB).

Western Christianity has come to view the word “works” in a negative manner. We tend to juxtapose “faith” and “works” as if they are opposites. But that’s not what James, the brother of Jesus, says. 

He did not see faith and works as two opposites fighting against each other; rather, he viewed them as collaborative and working in tandem with one another. He implies that faith alone cannot save you. You need works together with your faith. 

But what kinds of works? 

When James explained his point to his readers, he used the example of someone who lacks his or her daily needs. He asked what use it is to send a needy person like this away with only a blessing but no real, tangible help.

The New Testament repeatedly defines our right relationship with God, not through our beliefs about Him, nor through our prayer and devotional life; rather, for the New Testament, our right relationship with God is defined by how we care for those in need. When James provided an example of the incompatibility of faith without works, he pointed to caring for one in need. 

We often think we proclaim our faith by our words or by our practicing of spiritual disciplines, such as prayer and devotional time. According to the New Testament, according to James, those disciplines mean little if I do not demonstrate my care of others through my works. 

We tend to focus upon a healthy faith, but if we take James seriously, we should focus upon healthy works. How we act says far more about what we believe than our words do. 

Faith without works is dead. 

Perhaps the world around us remains dead because we need to do a much better job at animating our faith with our works, specifically works that help those in need. That is a faith no one can argue with.

PRAYER

Father, today may my actions demonstrate my faith and trust in You. May others see by how I care for them the depth of my love for You. Amen.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

If you stood outside the East Tennessee History Center on one of Knoxville’s busy streets, you couldn’t miss the handsome new blue marker with gold lettering extolling the heroism of a native son. Last Friday, August 20, this was the site of a memorial celebration attended by the Reverend Chris Edmonds, his family, and Tennessee dignitaries—including U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Representative Tim Burchett—to honor Edmonds’ father, Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds. Roddie Edmonds was a Christian, a humble, hardworking family man who enjoyed singing gospel music. He died in 1985 and could have never imagined that his words and actions in World War II would inspire millions of Christians and Jews alike.

What drew the crowd together on what would have been Roddie Edmonds’ 102nd birthday? Under a tent on that scorching hot summer day, Chip Rayman, immediate past president of the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, described Master Sgt. Edmonds as “Knoxville’s Schindler” and spoke of this remarkable man’s extraordinary lifesaving efforts during the Second World War.

Welcoming everyone, Chris Edmonds, who pastored Piney Grove Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, is now the full-time CEO of Roddie’s Code, a foundation he established to move his dad’s legacy forward. Chris describes it as “God’s call to inspire heroes everywhere through my father’s fearless faith and righteousness.” Roddie’s Code means to choose righteousness, oppose hatred, dignify life, and esteem others. 

It was Roddie’s Christian faith, his personal code, that resulted in saving 200 Jewish GIs under his command in Stalag IXA Nazi POW camp and later devising a plan that rescued all 1,292 of his men from a death march. Roddie and his soldiers in the U.S. Army’s 422nd Regiment, 106th Infantry Division, were captured in 1944 by Nazis in the freezing snows of the Battle of the Bulge. One night in the POW camp it became known to Sgt. Edmonds that the following morning, Nazis planned to separate the Jewish soldiers for execution or deportment to deadly labor camps. Sgt. Edmonds instructed his men to follow his lead and stand together.

On the frigid morning of January 27, 1945, all soldiers were ordered to “fall out.” A Nazi major then commanded all Jews to step forward. Not a man moved. He shouted his order again. Finally, he walked over to Sgt. Edmonds, the highest-ranking American soldier present, and demanded obedience. Roddie responded by reciting the Geneva Convention: “All I am required to provide is my name, rank, and serial number, and that is all you’ll get. You’ll have to shoot all of us, and after the war, you will be tried for war crimes.” The Nazi officer put a gun to Edmond’s head, bellowing, “They cannot all be Jews!” 

“We are all Jews here,” Edmonds calmly replied.

“I know that my father was willing to die to save Jewish men under his command,” Chris comments, “because he believed a Jewish man, Jesus Christ, had died to save him.” Chris continues, “Once the major pulled the gun and pressed it to my dad’s head, any one of those 1,292 men could have stopped him and told him who the Jews were.” Roddie’s regiment was nicknamed the “Golden Lions.” That day, all the non-Jews lived up to that name. 

After 100 days, the GIs were liberated and arrived back in the USA on April 28th, 1945. Roddie had jotted in his diary, “I’m just a little guy but war isn’t right. Lives upon lives are lost. People forget God more and more. It seems as if someone should get wise… and let God be our commander.”

Chris’s dad never talked about his heroism, and his war diary was tucked away in a dresser drawer for many years. So Chris never suspected his father’s bravery. 

Roddie passed away in 1985, and it was not until 2012 that Chris gained a new perspective on his father’s wartime history. Chris had read his dad’s diary, but he was an active father, grandfather, a busy pastor, and on top of that, he ran a charity that helped teenagers. It took something else to pique his interest in those long-ago events.

“One evening my wife Regina and I watched a TV news program where we learned that nearly 300 World War II veterans died every day,” he said. “I was shocked.” His father’s diary quickly came to mind. That night he googled his dad’s name on his computer: “Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds.” A tiny fact—a name in a New York Times article from the 1970s—caught his eye. It was a name he’d noticed in his dad’s diary as one of “Roddie’s boys.” Chris prayed right there at his computer. “Lord, your timing is always perfect. Please lead me.” 

His curiosity led to extensive detective work that resulted in a trip to New York City in 2013. There, Lester Tanner, one of “Roddie’s boys,” warmly welcomed Chris and Regina to the Harvard Club. Lester was Chris’s first source in learning about his dad’s heroism. “When we started talking, I was shocked to learn that not only did my dad save Lester Tanner’s life, but he saved other men, as well!”

Quickly, the whole story came out. As Lester related the gripping narrative of Roddie’s courage, Chris saw another side of his father whom he already admired and respected so much.

Lester recalled, “Roddie could no more have turned over any of his men to the Nazis than he could stop breathing. He just couldn’t do it. A righteous man.” Lester opened more relationships with more stories from his men—among them Paul Stern, Sydney “Skip” Friedman, Sonny Fox, and Henry “Hank” Freedman. Lester said that he and Paul Stern had been standing right next to Roddie when the Nazi put a gun to his head.

After meeting some of his father’s soldiers and their families, Chris has become close to all of them. Although Paul, Skip, Sonny, and Hank have passed away, Lester is still alive at 98, and Chris communicates with him almost weekly. 

Since Chris first read his dad’s diary and heard the stories from “Roddie’s boys,” his father’s firm, calm words in the face of death have gone around the world—from San Diego to Singapore and beyond. Chris’s first talk took place at Temple Emanuel-El in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on April 27, 2014. It was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Chris was the guest speaker provided by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The telling of Roddie’s story generated awe, gratitude and tears—mine included—throughout the synagogue. 

One of the greatest experiences in my nine-year tenure at AIPAC as their Southeast Regional Christian Outreach Director was meeting Chris, then asking him to speak at the synagogue, where he was welcomed by its outstanding rabbi, Avi Perets. His dad’s story is still impacting millions of people through his 2019 book, No Surrender, and the documentary created by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, Following the Footsteps of My Father, which points to the depth of the bonds between the Christian and Jewish communities. 

Chris guesses he may have spoken about his father “hundreds of times now.” After Myrtle Beach, AIPAC scheduled him all over the United States, culminating in 2016 when they featured him at their annual Policy Conference in the Washington, D.C., Verizon Center. Eighteen thousand attendees sat spellbound, then responded with a standing ovation. Christians United for Israel followed, as did the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Israel’s Yad Vashem, the halls of the European Union, and the U.S. Congress. In addition to these larger venues, Chris has spoken in countless synagogues, churches, and school assemblies, as well as to homeschool, business, and professional associations.

In 2016, with a deeply deserved designation, Yad Vashem chose Sgt. Edmonds as the first American serviceman to receive the “Righteous Among the Nations” honor. It is Israel’s highest tribute for Gentiles, recognizing those who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews.

In between ongoing speaking engagements, Chris remains dedicated to his father’s receiving a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor. The effort is being led by Sen. Blackburn and Rep. Burchett. 

However, Chris is quick to observe that his father’s most important legacy is “Roddie’s boys” and others he saved. Taking into consideration the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Roddie’s boys—as well as generations to come—Chris comments, “More than 13,000 people are alive and well today because of Dad’s actions.” 

Animated by one goal, Chris remarks, “I want the Jewish community to know that my dad’s actions in World War II mean something today as they face more hatred again all over the world. And I want to inspire others, people like my dad, like me, ordinary people, Christians who care about our Jewish friends. You don’t have to be perfect to do something extraordinary.”

Chris motivates us today since anti-Semitism is sweeping dangerously through the world again. “Though Dad lived in dark times, he was a light in the darkness. We can be too. I’m convinced an ordinary life lived well is extraordinary—even heroic.”

We are living in dark times again. May our watchword as Christians be the same as Roddie’s: “We are all Jews here.”

Join CBN Israel this week to thank God for heroes and ask Him to enable us to follow Roddie’s example:

• Pray that Christians will oppose anti-Semitism even in small ways, whether against bad jokes, ugly names, or lies about Israel and Jews. 
• Pray for Chris Edmonds that everywhere he speaks, all who read his books and view the documentary will realize that ordinary people like Master Sergeant Edmonds can do extraordinary things when motivated by their faith.
• Pray for Jewish communities worldwide for their safety and the reality that millions of Christians are standing with them. 

In honoring the Lord Jesus, Chris often refers to Isaiah 26:12: “Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.”

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 now an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel 25 times. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited by Artist Pat Mercer Hutchens and sits 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 her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

Aya was living out her dream. A 53-year-old married Ukrainian immigrant with two children, she had settled in northern Israel—and had a thriving clothing boutique.

Then, the pandemic struck… and the economy took a hit. People were not spending money as they had. Aya’s business was deemed non-essential during the lockdown, and she had to close her shop. With no money coming in, her debts rose. To make ends meet, she had to sell a whole year’s inventory at a loss. And to save on rent, she was forced reduce the size of her shop to a third of what it had been. Feeling desperate, she watched her business dream slowly die. 

Thankfully, friends like you were there for her through CBN Israel. One day, the head of our business development program visited her congregation, and offered her assistance. Aya saw that moment as “the hand of God” at work. We provided her with an action plan, and a financial grant to buy more inventory—as well as to cover her rent and debts and restart her business. 

Aya now has an income, and her boutique is recovering and growing again. She exclaims, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart… Through this astonishing generosity, I am experiencing the love of God afresh and anew!” And we are mentoring more like Aya with training and grants, and helping small businesses survive when so many have gone bankrupt. 

The needs in the Holy Land are so great. Your gift to CBN Israel can also offer aid to other vulnerable Israelis, including single mothers, refugees, Holocaust survivors, and more. Your support is crucial in reaching out with groceries, housing, financial assistance, and more to those in crisis. 

Please join us in blessing Israel and her people in need!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Sepphoris was the capital of the Galilee during the first part of the 1^st century A.D., when Jesus was a boy. Located four miles north of Nazareth, Sepphoris sat in the Beth Netofa Valley, which provided a main east-west roadway in the Lower Galilee from the northwestern part of the Sea of Galilee to Akko-Ptolemias on the Mediterranean coast. Sepphoris consists of an upper and lower city. Within Jewish history, Sepphoris served as the location where Judah the Prince compiled the rabbinic oral teachings into the Mishnah, the earliest body of rabbinic teaching. It was written in Hebrew.

Excavations at Sepphoris uncovered evidence of settlement even as early as the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I. It seems, however, that a continuous settlement existed at the site from the Persian Period (5^th century B.C.) through the Crusader Period. Excavations reveal that during the Roman Period, the western part of the upper city contained Jewish residents, as indicated by the presence of Jewish ritual immersion baths and two oil lamps decorated with menorahs. The upper city also contained a theater set into the northern scarp of the hill, overlooking the Beth Netofa Valley. It could hold about 4500 spectators. Some assign the date of the theater to the 1^st century A.D., but most archaeologists date it to the early to mid-2^nd century A.D. 

One of the center pieces of the site of Sepphoris is a Roman villa built in the 3^rd century A.D. The villa contains a beautiful mosaic floor in its dining room, a triclinium. The center of the mosaic contains scenes depicting the life of the Greek god Dionysius (the god of wine and revelry), including a drinking contest between Dionysius and the hero Heracles. Surrounding the Dionysius scenes are scenes of hunting with wild animals and naked hunters including various flora. In this band of scenes, on the southern end of the mosaic, appears a depiction of a beautiful woman, with either a hunter or Cupid, next to her head. If it is Cupid, then the woman likely is intended to be the goddess Aphrodite. 

Excavations in the lower city have revealed a city planning typical to the Hellenistic-Roman world, a cardo (a north-south street) and a decumanus (an east-west street). Some archaeologists date this urban planning to the 1^st century A.D.; others date it to the 2^nd century A.D. The cardo and decumanus are flanked by colonnaded sidewalks for pedestrians, with mosaic pavements. Within the lower city, homes, public buildings, as well as a lower city market, have been uncovered. 

Excavators discovered a synagogue in Sepphoris that dates to the 5^th century A.D. Its floor is a mosaic that depicts the sun god Helios with his chariot of horses surrounded by a zodiac. Biblical scenes were also depicted although this part of the mosaic was damaged, but it seems to have depicted the story of the binding of Isaac (like the synagogue in Beth Alpha). It remained in use until the 7^th century A.D. 

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

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess” (Deuteronomy 30:15-16 NKJV).

God’s covenant always comes with a condition: “If.” If you will do this, then this will be the result. If you do not do this, then that will be the result. Within the Bible, our relationship with God depends upon our living up to the “if” statements. 

He tells the Israelites that He placed before them the way of life and death. He then calls upon them to do several things: listen, love, walk, and observe.

In fact, listening to God is defined as loving Him, walking in His ways, and observing His commandments. 

The evidence that we have listened to God is determined by how we obey Him and walk in keeping with His commands. This also is the biblical definition of loving God: observing His commandments. 

The promise God gave to Israel is if they would do this, then they would live and multiply and God would bless them. We hear people today talking about God wanting to bless us, and He does. He’s a good father. But, in the Bible, God’s blessing is always the then of an “if-then” statement. 

Too often, we want blessing without obedience; we seek relationship without repentance. We want life and fulfillment without necessarily having to commit ourselves to walking in His ways.

The Bible often connects God’s commandments and obedience to them with the way of life. 

We have a daily obligation to listen to God’s commandments, to love Him by walking in His way and observing His statutes. If we do this, then He has promised His blessing; He has promised life and goodness. So, today, choose life. 

PRAYER

Father, today we choose to listen to Your voice, to walk in Your ways, to observe all that You command, and to love You. Amen. 

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

The Abraham Accords, signed on the White House lawn on September 15, 2020, heralded an unexpected miracle. After President Trump announced the upcoming agreements on August 13, 2020, the three monotheistic faiths represented at the table—Christian, Jewish, and Muslim—not only honored Father Abraham, but set a new Middle East direction led by the United States, Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain. 

Like all agreements between nations, the road has been strewn with detours, barriers, and yes, sometimes-impassable damage. Nevertheless, persistence, commitment, and recognition of the big picture can remove them. As participating nations navigate various challenges in the Abraham Accords, numerous positive results are outlining a new Middle East roadmap. The specter of Iran—the world’s biggest exporter of terror—hovers over both Israel and the Arab Gulf states and has served, in part, as an unpredicted motivator for alliances. 

On December 3, 2020, a CNN international correspondent commented, “Never has the process of normalization been so fast, and pursued with such mutual enthusiasm, as between Israel and the UAE. And it goes beyond that. The UAE appears to have dropped, in practical terms, any objections to Israel’s occupation of Arab lands.” (Note to CNN: Israel is not occupying any Arab land.) 

Here’s an inspiring personal example of cooperation that has taken place. Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein spent three months in Dubai, UAE, earlier this year. The judge, who has been blind since birth, traveled there on a special mission to “be part of the Abraham Accords.” His focus was on others with disabilities. His visit resulted in new understandings among Arab leaders about disabilities, which some of their children also suffer. In addition, due to Judge Bernstein stopping over in Israel for meetings on his way home, Access Israel (www.aisrael.org)—which is dedicated to “accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities and the elderly”—will go to the UAE and help them start innovative programs for their own people. This effort could have widespread and much-desired results. 

The economic and tourism benefits to the Abraham Accord signatories, which now also include Sudan and Morocco, should be vast in the Middle East. In March 2021, the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, stated that, “Four million new jobs and more than $1 trillion in new economic activity over a decade” could be possible. They base this on 11 nations eventually becoming a part of the Accords. Between Israel and UAE, RAND projects that trade will grow to $6.5 billion. That includes oil, precious metals, defense, medicine, water, agriculture, cyber, and financial technology.

Tourism, despite on-and-off COVID-19 travel disruptions, resulted in numerous back-and-forth visits between Israel and UAE. Indeed, tens of thousands of Israeli tourists and many business delegations have traveled to UAE. The economic development portfolio of Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahum includes tourism. Just a few days after the Accords were signed, she set up the UAE-Israel Business Council. Hassan-Nahum observed, “If we managed to create so many relationships during a global pandemic, I think it bodes well for a future of mutual prosperity.” She added, “We created something new here. We are creating the model for a new type of peace.”

Last week Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister, traveled to Morocco where he signed an agreement in Rabat, Morocco’s capital, to reopen the Israeli Liaison Office. He indicated that this was just a first step: “Within two months the two countries will open embassies, rather than liaison offices.” During Lapid’s visit, he and Moroccan officials revealed that Israel and Morocco were already working together on cyber cooperation related to defense. Lapid observed, “Morocco is no chump in the cyber field.” 

Bahrain’s Undersecretary for International Relations, Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, visited Israel last week for a series of meetings with Israeli leaders. He and Dore Gold, President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, signed an important public statement of unity on Sunday to oppose Iran. Kalifa, who said he would make an important announcement soon, went on to say, “Hopefully on the fifteenth of September, there will be some sort of demonstration that there is commitment [from the Biden administration].”

Things are a bit more complicated in Sudan. Although one of Sudan’s civilian leaders, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, signed the Abraham Accords, his nation is facing the embedded complexities and national trauma of the three-decade rule of Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir. The former military officer and politician is accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The Sudanese finally overthrew him in a 2019 coup d’état and turned him over to the International Criminal Court. Sudan is still recoiling from the horrors al-Bashir left behind. 

After Hamdock signed the Accords last September, the United States removed Sudan from its State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) list. However, Sudan was first required to pay $335 million to the U.S. for American victims of terror acts launched by Sudan. This payment opened the door for massive financial debt relief. Due to Sudan operating with a transitional government (the Sovereignty Council), elections are not set until 2022. This understandably hinders full implementation of the Abraham Accords. 

Nevertheless, some positive steps are happening in that country. Sudan’s religious freedoms are increasing, and their cruel laws against women are decreasing. A delegation of top American agriculture CEOs has visited the devastated nation to help with food initiatives. Modern Sudan is mentioned frequently in the Bible as the kingdom of Cush (Kush). An ancient nation with a Christian history, today it is the third-largest country in Africa, with 44.91 million people in desperate need of dedicated prayers. 

To promote ongoing regional gains, Jared Kushner and former White House envoy Avi Berkowitz announced in May 2021 the formation of the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace. Included in this effort are the UAE and Bahraini ambassadors to Washington, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and Israeli-American businessman and Democratic donor Haim Saban. They will work to increase trade, tourism, and people-to-people contacts between Israel, Bahrain, UAE, Morocco, and Sudan. Their recent joint statement is a source of hope: “In less than a year, this warm peace is melting decades of misunderstanding and hostility across the region. This is a peace among peoples as much as it is among nations. This will be the institute’s focus—to nurture and deepen these human connections.”

As for those person-to-person connections, Emiratis and Israelis are meeting via Zoom and burning up the popular social media service, WhatsApp. Every sector of social media is packed with great ideas and fast-forming friendships. Dubai is hosting a big conference where The Jerusalem Post and the Khaleej Times are holding a conference. The event is fully booked, and there’s a waiting list for other hopeful attendees. 

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, made quite a prediction when he was in office. He commented that it would take the Arab world 100 years to accept the world’s first modern Jewish state. Our prayers can focus on a formidable continuation of the Abraham Accords. Ben-Gurion would likely be astonished and proud.

In the first book of the Bible, Genesis 10:6-7, Noah’s grandson Cush is listed: “The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteka.” Let’s be sure to pray for the well-being of the people in an ancient land, today called Sudan. 

Please join CBN Israel this week in praying for all of the Abraham Accords signatories and that more countries would join in this unprecented peace agreement:

• Pray for God’s mercy and help to be shown to the Sudanese people who suffered under a genocidal leader for three decades. 
• Pray for honest leaders in Sudan’s 2022 elections who will guide their nation into freedom and success. 
• Pray with thankfulness for visionary leaders like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu who led the way for the Abraham Accords to take place.
• Pray for spiritual blessings on the nations that are signatories to the Abraham Accords. 

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 now an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel 25 times. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited by Artist Pat Mercer Hutchens and sits 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 her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

At age 46, Ava was suddenly starting over. She had moved to Israel from Eritrea, got married, and had six children. But her hopes for a good life were dashed when her husband became violent. Israel’s social services had to intervene—placing the children in foster homes and boarding schools. Finally, Ava divorced her husband and tried to reclaim her life and family.  

Working diligently with the welfare department, her children were returned back to her care. Hired as a professional cleaner, she also did side jobs, cleaning private homes to make ends meet. But when COVID-19 hit, the work from private homes stopped, with no other job options. 

Her low income from cleaning for businesses barely covered basic rent and electricity—and left no money for food, clothing, or other expenses. Plus, their apartment building was slated for demolition, so she desperately needed to find a new place to live. Where could she turn? 

Thankfully, Ava’s employer told her about CBN Israel’s program that assists single mothers in crisis. Friends like you helped her family relocate to a new apartment, and purchase needed furniture, such as beds and sofas. We also brought them food, clothing, and other essentials. Additionally, we bring them groceries each week. And we provided the children with a computer, to help with their education and studies. 

Ava is thrilled, saying, “I truly appreciate all the love you have shown my family!” And your gift can help others like Ava, who struggle to survive in Israel. The needs are so great. Your support can reach out to refugees, Holocaust survivors, and others with food, housing, and financial aid. 

Please join us in blessing others in need throughout the Holy Land!

GIVE TODAY