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“Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. … I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope” (Psalm 130:1, 5 NKJV).

No one likes to wait. We live in a world that works to remove our waiting. Technology has created a world where nearly everything is available instantly.

We especially do not like to wait when we find ourselves in difficult situations. We want a response, so we can remove ourselves from our current distress and hardship.

The psalmist found himself in the depths. He responded to the reality of his circumstances by crying out to God, pleading with God to hear his cry.

If you read the rest of the psalm, it concludes not with God’s answer but with the psalmist’s waiting and hoping, with his articulation that God will redeem His people.

Do we have the faith and patience to wait for God’s word? “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.”

We often treat God like we do our instant world. We expect Him to respond to us quickly, and if He doesn’t, we find ourselves frustrated and annoyed, especially when we find ourselves in distressing situations and circumstances.

The reality is that we sometimes treat God as one who stands ready to do our bidding, get us out of troublesome circumstances, and do what we call upon Him to do.

The psalmist didn’t look at his relationship with God in that manner. Rather, he recognized that he stood in need of God. God was the superior one in the relationship; therefore, he would patiently wait for Him.

This psalm is an incredible proclamation of faith. Finding himself in the depths, the psalmist cries out to God and willingly waits for His word, which he knows will eventually come.

Do we have the patience to wait for God? God works even in the waiting. Our trust in Him is refined in our crying out to Him and in our waiting.

In this way, biblical faith is diametrically opposed to the world we live in today. But God hasn’t changed. Let’s seek to patiently and confidently wait for His word. He will answer our cries.

PRAYER

Father, we wait for You. Regardless of situation or circumstance, our hope is in You. Amen.

By Mark Gerson

It is a cliché to say “there is no such thing as a bad question.” But, unlike most clichés, this one is not true. There are some bad questions. One is: “Is he religious?”

There are several reasons why this is a bad question. One is that it is imprecise. When people ask this question, they generally want to know how often someone goes to church or synagogue, or how many of the faith’s rituals and commands one keeps. But this is only a small part of anyone’s religiosity. It does not speak to honesty in business, generosity toward the poor and the stranger, education of children, or any of the many similarly important biblical commandments.

The Bible condemns a lot of behaviors, from adultery to idolatry. But it never condemns atheism, presumably because it was either rare or non-existent in the ancient world. However, there were very different ways of defining and expressing religiosity in the Bible. And Exodus 10, which we Jews read in synagogue last week, calls our attention to one such distinction—and, by extension, the existence of many different ways to be religious.

By Exodus 10, God had directed seven plagues against the Egyptians—seven different and devastating manifestations of God punishing the Egyptians and educating the Jews, the Egyptians, and anyone else who was watching. It was clear to any impartial observer that the Jewish deity was not just one god (even a particularly talented one) among many. It was evident, by this point, that the Jewish God was the one and only God. But Pharaoh was not impartial. He was in love with his ideas.

Love is, of course, wonderful—but, before that, it is powerful. Love properly directed (toward a person, a community, a nation, a faith) can make one’s life happy, healthy, fulfilling, and meaningful. But love directed toward one’s ideas, as the Bible shows, can be very dangerous.

Moses was deeply aware of the Pharaoh’s love of his own ideas. The consequences of this awareness come through perfectly in the following chapter. Moses went to the Pharaoh to warn him of the impending final plague—the slaying of the firstborn. Moses told the Pharaoh that the plague will come at “around midnight.” Why “around midnight”? If we were to meet a friend for dinner, we wouldn’t say, “I’ll see you at around 7.” We would say, “I’ll see you at 7.” But of course we mean around 7. If we arrived at 6:58 or 7:01, we would be worried for the sanity of our friend if he replied, “What happened? You said 7!”

Moses knew the fundamental weakness of the Pharaoh—that the Pharaoh’s love of his own ideas would cause him to deny all reality in order to have his convictions affirmed. If the plague had arrived at 12:01, the Pharaoh would have said something like, “Sure, you got the slaying of the firstborn right, but you said that it would happen at midnight. It didn’t—and so your ‘god’ is just one out of many, imperfect and certainly without the kind of global control that you say he has!” By saying “around midnight,” Moses was denying his adversary that opportunity.

But after the seventh plague, the Pharaoh finally told Moses he could go and worship the Israelite God. The Pharaoh’s willingness to let the Jews worship their God was not a religious concession, realization, or revelation, or a step in any religious education. The Pharaoh always acknowledged that the Jews, like every people, had a god.

But the Pharaoh was about to learn that the religious difference he had with Moses was not limited to a dispute between monotheism and paganism. It incorporated the very nature of religious commitment—regardless of to whom it is ultimately offered.

The Pharaoh, in Exodus 10:8, asks Moses who he intends to bring with him to worship. Moses has an easy and comprehensive answer in the following verse: “With our youngsters and with our elders shall we go; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flock and with our cattle shall we go.”

In other words, everyone.

The Pharaoh seems to process that for a moment before saying, “Let the men go. Serve God, for that is what you seek.”

Moses does not even dignify that with a response. Why? Perhaps because there is no point in having a discussion about a subject when the two parties have a fundamental disagreement over first principles. If one person says that addition represents increase and another insists it represents decrease, they should not get together to solve a math problem.

Here, the disagreement is over the nature of religious commitment. The Pharaoh is ready to allow the men to go. Religion, he believes, is the province of a male elite—one that worships, sacrifices, or whatever else on behalf of others. Consequently, Moses wouldn’t need women or children and certainly not animals and possessions.

Moses has a fundamentally different point of view. Religion is for everyone, together. Judaism, he is showing, only makes any sense when practiced as a community—with women, children, men, animals, possessions—everyone and everything all at once and all the time. This, like everything in the Torah, is not just a lesson for the Pharaoh or anyone else in the Bible. It is a lesson for each of us. Religion, properly understood, is not something one does just on Saturdays or Sundays. One’s relationship with God is not one that happens by appointment in a formal setting. One’s relationship with God, and the religious structure that enables and facilitates it, is for all times, all places, and all people.   

But there is one complication, which leads to a crucial religious insight. Does this mean that everyone is equal in the Mosaic religious conception? Not exactly. Moses says, “with our youngsters and with our elders.” In other words, the young come first. Not athletes or kings, not Rabbis or elders, not even parents or grandparents, but the young. This would mean that the most important function of Mosaic society would be education geared to the young. And it would be an idea that would include, thousands of years ahead of its time, universal literacy, mandatory schooling, and the cultivation of questioning (since curiosity, as Moses identified, is the universal characteristic of the young). It would be so thoroughly inculcated into the Jewish psyche that it would sustain us through our darkest moments. 

As I write about in my forthcoming book, The Telling, Rabbi YY Jacobson recounts a story of Rabbi Yisrael Spira, the Bluzhever Rebbe, whose family was murdered by the Nazis. While enslaved at Bergen-Belsen, Rabbi Spira had, by a fortuitous turn of events, come into possession of a small amount of matzah. A discussion ensued among the prisoners regarding who should be able to eat it. Speaking from the perspective of Jewish law, Rabbi Spira said that the matzah should be split among the adults so that they could fulfill their biblical obligation. Then a voice emerged. It was of an emaciated woman, whose family had also been slaughtered by the Nazis.

Bi’naarenu ubi’zkenenu!—“With our young and with our old.”

The rabbi was immediately convinced by her application of Exodus 10:9, and gave the matzah to the children. Upon liberation, he married the woman—Bronia Melchior. They became two of the great Jewish leaders of postwar New York City.

Rabbi and Rebbitzen Melchior showed us what it means to be religious. It is not an activity to be conducted during specific times and in special places. It teaches us how to experience the world, it defines what we are, and it guides us in any and every circumstance.

Mark Gerson, a devoted Jew, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who (along with his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson) is perhaps the world’s largest individual supporter of Christian medical missions. He is the co-founder of African Mission Healthcare (AMH) and the author of a forthcoming book on the Haggadah: The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life.  

Website: therabbishusband.com
Twitter: @markgerson
Podcast: The Rabbi’s Husband

By Julie Stahl

“When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten” (Leviticus 19:23 NIV).

Tu B’Shvat is also known as Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot, the New Year of the Trees. 

Israel actually has four “new year’s days” each year: the biblical New Year in the spring just before Passover on the first of the Hebrew month of Nisan. It determines the pilgrimage festivals and other biblical holidays. In biblical times, it also determined the reign of the kings.

The second “new year” is on the first of Elul and is the beginning of the year for tithing livestock; the third “new year” is in the early autumn, on the first of Tishrei at Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets). That is used for counting years—sabbatical and jubilee years—and for planting.

Then there’s Tu B’Shvat, the fourth New Year. Celebrated in late January or early February, it’s the beginning of the year for counting the age of trees. That is important because the Bible says not to eat the fruit of a tree for the first three years.

Today in Israel, Tu B’Shvat is celebrated as a kind of Arbor Day or ecological holiday. One of the main traditions on this day is to plant trees. 

In 1901, the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel decided to establish Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) in order to purchase land in what was then called Ottoman Turkish Palestine. But there was more.

“We must establish a national forestry society for the planting of trees in the land,” said Johann Kremenetzky, the first chairman of the KKL-JNF. Within their first decade they had planted their first forest.

From the very beginning to the end, trees hold a special metaphorical significance in the Bible. In Genesis 2:9, we are introduced to the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then, in Revelation 22, we see the Tree of Life again as well as many times in between.

According to Rabbi Welsh, Tu B’Shvat also has a “special significance” because man is compared in the Bible to the “tree of the field.”

In Psalm 1:3, we are told that the man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on the word of God shall be like “a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” 

And again, in Psalm 92:12, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.”

Again, and again in Scripture, God uses trees to speak to us.

In honor of the trees, on Tu B’Shvat, fruits of the seven species are eaten from Deuteronomy 8:8—olives, dates, pomegranates, figs and grapes as well as other dried fruits. 

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East. 

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

If we held a moment of silence for every victim of the Holocaust, we would be silent for eleven-and-a-half years.

You have probably seen or heard this devastating truism before. Six million European Jews were murdered. Countless others were tortured. Yet we must remember—so that such an atrocity never happens again.

This week, as we honor the 76th anniversary of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we recall its origins and its vital importance. Yesterday, President Joe Biden affirmed, “The facts are not up for question, and each of us must remain vigilant and speak out against the resurgent tide of anti-Semitism, and other forms of bigotry and intolerance, here at home and around the world.”

The European Coalition for Israel (ECI) marked the day with an online memorial service that encouraged faith communities around the world to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition on anti-Semitism: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The language, which was developed and agreed-upon in 2016, goes on:

“Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for ‘why things go wrong.’ It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.”

The U.S. and other IGRA member states adopted this language in 2016. It has since been endorsed by more than 40 nations, plus the European Union and the U.N. Secretary-General. Some of these nations have spoken out firmly in favor of the language, such as Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. He recently said: “It must be clear that anti-Semitism is a sin and contradicts everything Christianity stands for.”

ECI chairman Tor G. Gull stated: “Whereas Jew hatred was once a European plague it has now increasingly become a global problem. As Europeans we have a historic responsibility to be at the forefront of this global battle.”

This year, ECI is encouraging local churches worldwide to mention Holocaust remembrance in their January 31 services.

Over the decades, many institutions and individuals have aided in preserving our memory of the Holocaust. Preeminent among them is Yad Vashem, the International Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Yad Vashem is the world’s foremost source for Holocaust education, documentation, and research. Since its creation in 1953, a million people a year visit and learn in this extraordinary museum and educational facility. Yad Vashem is helping to ensure that six million Jews who perished will be honored and that “Never Again” will remain as our watchword.

From 2007 to 2016, I was privileged to work on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Part of my position as Christian Outreach Director in the southeastern U.S. included recruitment of Christian leaders to visit Israel, hosted by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF). I staffed numerous trips for a weeklong series of geopolitical briefings enfolded in a spiritual pilgrimage. We always included a visit to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

Led by a skilled Israeli guide, we began our walks into the architecturally stark, sobering epicenter of Holocaust education. Our groups walked the somber gray concrete hallways, some with lofty ceilings that soared overhead. Other sections were filled with the grim memorabilia of Nazi symbols and propaganda.

We watched short films that featured Holocaust survivors telling their haunting stories. We viewed photographs of entire families that later perished, not knowing that the joyous family picnics or Passover meals they were celebrating would be their last. Each group would fall silent in shock as they saw the collections and artifacts—too many to name—and wondered how such evil could have happened.

Our several hours ended when we stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the forest below us. I would draw the stunned group together for a much-needed pause and time of prayer led by one of the pastors. Holding hands in a circle, I noted, “We bring you here to help you to encounter the past, and to inspire you as Christians to advocate for the Jewish community whose ancient ancestors gave us our Scriptures and our Savior. We cannot follow in the footsteps of the masses who turned their heads away from evil.”

Then, we walked along the tree-lined “Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations” honoring Righteous Gentiles—non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. I liked to stop at the tree planted in honor of the beloved Corrie ten Boom. Millions of Christians have been inspired by her story in the film, The Hiding Place. Corrie saved 330 Jews in her homeland, the Netherlands, by hiding them in her home. I would pause to comment, “The Lord strengthened the brave Christians honored here. In today’s world, we too can act on behalf of God’s chosen people to turn back anti-Semitism with truth.” As of 2020, Yad Vashem recognizes 27,712 as Righteous Among the Nations.

Over the years, many of our participants took my words to heart in ways big and small, taking up the mantle of the brave Righteous Gentiles. Recognizing this week’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, here are a few inspirations to spark your interest to oppose the new wave of anti-Semitism. These are just a few of the many examples from Christian leaders who returned to the United States from the AIPAC/AIEF trips and chose diverse ways to express their commitment to the Jewish people.

Many pastors, after traveling with us for their first time to Israel, returned to lead their own tours in the Holy Land, which always include a visit to Yad Vashem. After her first trip, Penny Young Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWA), asked—and her board approved—about adding Israel support as their seventh core mission. The CWA is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization. Reverend Mark Jenkins, media pastor and producer for The Victory Hour, dedicated his skills to filming national Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies annually in Israel. Since his first trip to Israel, each year he releases the film A Nation Remembers—with its gripping stories of heroism and survival—as a powerful reminder.

Over the years, some group members have signed up for Yad Vashem’s Christian Leadership Seminar. The 10-day intensive course is designed to teach Christians about the anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust. In turn, they educate their churches, families, and friends. The seminar takes place as part of Christian Friends of Yad Vashem (CFYV), founded in October 2006. Yad Vashem partnered with International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) to educate Christians about the universal lessons of the Holocaust. They mobilize Christians from many countries to actively promote Holocaust awareness and to fight modern-day anti-Semitism.

Some Christian leaders, including Reverend Jim Bevis, founder of CSR Ministries, raised funds for a portable bomb shelter in southern Israel. It’s a true lifesaver—a way to protect (via Operation Lifeshield) to protect Jewish civilians from terrorists who are dedicated to staging/creating another Holocaust.

Other participants returned home and organized intercessory prayer in their small group or chose to pass along good news and facts about Israel in their emails and social media. Aglow International’s Israel Education Director, Sandy Wezowicz, organized and taught large educational training sessions for Aglow members on how to advocate for Israel in Congress. Another leader, Robin Rowan—founder of Church 4 Israel and Truth to Policy—has remained active via AIPAC to educate and engage members of Congress to support legislation that benefits the United States and Israel. CBN Israel pioneered and has remained at the forefront of Israel advocacy. Through documentary films, trustworthy news from their Middle East Bureau, and many other initiatives, CBN Israel gives practical aid to Holocaust survivors living in the Jewish homeland.

When educating others about the Holocaust, we owe a debt of gratitude to former President Eisenhower. When Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley toured the Ohrdruf concentration camp in Gotha, Germany, a week after liberation, Eisenhower brought photographers into Ohrdruf. It was the first camp liberated by U.S. forces in 1945. In a 2018 talk at the Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida, David Eisenhower, the general’s grandson, explained that his grandfather believed that if people didn’t see the results of the Holocaust, too many of them would have trouble grasping how terrible it had been.

Regrettably, General Eisenhower was right. Despite the compelling photos he ordered taken that day at Ohrdruf, there are many who deny that the Holocaust took place—even prominent figures. One such example is Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, who wrote his doctoral dissertation about the Holocaust at a university in the Soviet Union in 1982. An article in Tablet magazine notes a clever distortion Abbas makes in his paper. He claimed, not that the Holocaust didn’t happen, but that “the Zionists joined forces with the Nazis to inflict that atrocity on European Jewry.” Claiming the Jews were part of murdering Jews is despicable. It is denial of the most basic facts about this dark period in history.

The United Nations doesn’t deny that the Holocaust occurred, yet on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2021 two points should be noted: The United Nations General Assembly itself set the day, January 27, in 2005. The U.N. website officially says that the organization “pays tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to counter anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance that may lead to group-targeted violence. The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945.”

That sounds noble and high-minded and accurate. But UNWatch.org, which keeps track of the United Nations, tells another story—one that highlights the hypocrisy of the above United Nations statement: “Key UN bodies that pronounce themselves on human rights and international law … fail to uphold founding UN principles of equality and universality. The numbers alone reveal the UN’s irrational obsession with one nation. Even those who deem Israel deserving of criticism cannot dispute that this amounts to an extreme case of selective prosecution.”

Facts that prove the U.N.’s constant effort to delegitimize and attack the world’s only Jewish state appear at UN WATCH in their Human Rights Condemnatory Resolutions Against Israel Since 2006. Here’s a small sample from their website: 90 votes against Israel, 10 against Iran, 0 against Cuba, 0 against China, and 2 against Venezuela.

Although the United Nations is not a religious body, Matthew 23:27 is nevertheless applicable: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Staying alert and involved, the worldwide evangelical Christian community can make a significant difference in turning back the tide of anti-Semitism washing over the world in 2021. With anti-Semitism rearing its evil, monstrous head against the Jewish state and Jewish communities worldwide our prayers and actions are essential.

Please join CBN Israel in prayer this week as we remember the Holocaust:

• Pray that God would comfort the nearly 400,000 Holocaust survivors who are still alive today, including nearly 200,000 survivors who live in Israel.
• Pray for Christian and Jewish organizations supplying love and care for Holocaust survivors, that they receive the donations needed for their important outreach.
• Pray against the toxic spread of anti-Semitism in our world today.
• Pray for the worldwide Christian community to become educated and active against all forms of anti-Semitism.
• Pray against “replacement theology” in our churches, which claims that God has rejected the Jews and that the church has replaced them as His chosen people.
• Pray for Israel’s vigilance as they continue to face threats of war and terror along their dangerous borders.

Yad Vashem provides enormous digital resources online and free of charge. A wonderful way to educate ourselves further and honor those who died would be to visit yadvashem.org.

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.

By Marc Turnage

Located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about seven miles south of Jericho and twenty miles north of Ein Gedi, sits the ruins of Qumran. Eleven caves around Qumran yielded, arguably, the most important archaeological discovery of the twentieth century: the Dead Sea Scrolls. The current name, Qumran, comes from the Arabic word qamar (“moon”), so it was not its ancient name, which remains unknown. Some have suggested that it may be Secacah (Joshua 15:61-62).

In 1947, in a cave just north of the ruins of Qumran, Bedouin shepherds discovered seven leather scrolls hidden inside. This set off the frantic search by scholars and Bedouin alike to discover more caves and scrolls. Around Qumran, eleven caves were discovered between 1952-1956 that contained scrolls. The discovery of scrolls in the caves around Qumran led archaeologists to excavate the ruins of Qumran in 1951 and from 1953-1956.

The library of scrolls discovered in the eleven caves yielded approximately 30,000 fragments of scrolls, comprising about 1,000 manuscripts written on leather, papyrus, and one on copper, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The library proves incredibly important for our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, as well as ancient Judaism, the Judaism of the first century.

Every book of the Old Testament, except for Esther, was discovered among the Qumran library. The most copied books were Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah, which are also the three Old Testament books most frequently quoted in the New Testament. The library also contained non-biblical works written by Jews from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D., with a unique collection of writings belonging to the Jewish sect that lived at Qumran, a group most scholars identify as the Essenes, which are mentioned by several ancient writers.

Most scholars identify the ruins of Qumran as belonging to a group of Essenes. The site consists of rooms, which have been identified as a scriptorium, where the community members copied the scrolls, a dining room, which is the longest room at the site and had a pantry filled with bowls, plates, and cups. The site also contains pottery kilns, water reservoirs, as well as several large communal Jewish ritual immersion baths.

The site, which sits in a dry, desert climate, used a series of dams and water channels to bring water from the nearby wadi, which flooded during the winter rains. The dams and channels ensured that water flowed into the settlement and filled the water installations.

The discovery of the scrolls significantly advanced our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, as well as the world of ancient Judaism, which is the world of the New Testament. 

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

“Then Peter came up and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22 RSV).

Peter came to Jesus asking how often he should forgive his brother, offering up to seven times. Jesus responded by multiplying Peter’s seven seventy-fold. Not once. Not twice. But seventy times seven. 

Forgiveness is hard. It’s not easy. 

To underscore his message to Peter, Jesus told a parable in which a servant owed a king an impossible debt, which, when the servant besought him for mercy, the king forgave.

Yet, after being forgiven such an incredible debt, the servant found a fellow servant who owed him a rather small debt. Instead of responding mercifully to his fellow servant’s pleas for mercy, the first servant had him thrown into prison. 

The king, when he became aware of the first servant’s actions, had him thrown in prison for not being merciful to his fellow servant. He had not shown mercy toward one like himself. In fact, the king (God) judged him because of his failure to show mercy. 

We like God forgiving us. Yet, according to Jesus, if our forgiveness from God does not lead us to forgive others, then we stand to face God’s unmerciful justice. 

Elsewhere Jesus said, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:2 NIV). If we judge without mercy, we will be judged without mercy.

If we show no mercy, we will receive no mercy: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7 NKJV).

If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV).

We cannot seek pardon from the Lord for ourselves and not be willing to extend it to others, including our enemies. That’s hard.

But think of the statement that it makes in our world. When we forgive others, we actually unleash God’s power in the world. We partner with God in bringing His redemption into people’s lives when we forgive them, even forgiving them seventy times seven. 

PRAYER

Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors. Amen.

By Mark Gerson

In Exodus 5-6, God prepares to free the Jewish people from many years of torturous and murderous slavery. Yet when God’s prophet, Moses, tells the Jews about their impending change of circumstance, their response is not jubilation, exhilaration, gratitude, or hope. In fact, they had to be commanded to prepare for freedom.

Why did the Jewish slaves respond this way? The text, combined with what we know from lived experience, enables us to figure it out. In Exodus 5:7-8, the Pharaoh intentionally made it much more difficult for the Jews to do their work—while forcing them to maintain the same quota. This intensification of an already extraordinarily brutal slavery had its effect. When Moses tells the Jews, in Exodus 6:9, that they are about to be freed, “they did not heed Moses.” Why? “Because of shortness of breath and hard work.”

The phrase “shortness of breath” is understood on two levels, both of them true. First is the physical. The Jewish slaves were forced to work so hard that they suffered from physical shortness of breath. The Hebrew term for “breath”—ruach—also means “spirit.” The Pharaoh had crushed the spirit of the enslaved Jews. 

How does a crushed spirit present itself? A person with a crushed spirit is one who no longer identifies himself as someone who is suffering through or from something but rather as one who believes that he is that thing. Their spirits crushed, the Jews did not think of themselves as a proud people—children of God—who were suffering through a horrible period that would give way to something better. Instead, they thought of themselves as slaves. In that condition, not even Moses or God could get through to them. 

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of the Boca Raton Synagogue makes the analogy to a congregant who was struggling mightily with his weight. Rabbi Goldberg suggested to the congregant that, as a weight loss measure, they go for a walk together every day. The congregant demurred, saying that he was an obese person. His obesity had become an immutable characteristic, and there was nothing that he could do about it. His spirit was crushed. 

In Exodus 7, the biblical author provides the antidote to the crushed spirit. God is providing Moses and Aaron with perhaps the most important direction ever given—how to be God’s partners in telling Pharaoh the Jews are about to be freed. This divine instruction is interrupted, however, by the biblical author, with a bit of biographical information about Moses and Aaron: “Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.” 

Any reader would be rightly stunned by this interpolation and led to wonder: Who cares how old Moses and Aaron were? One can safely presume God’s instruction would not have been different if Moses and Aaron were, say, 44 and 41. So why are we being told about their ages, particularly at one of the most dramatic and consequential moments in the Torah? 

It helps now to remember what the genre of the Torah is. It is a guidebook, designed to enable us to live better lives today. This seemingly irrelevant interruption must exist to instruct us about something—and something important enough to warrant its inclusion at this moment in the text. Let’s try to figure out what it must be—realizing, as always with the Bible, that the same text can teach multiple truths. 

First, 40 is the biblical number of transition. This probably derives from the fact that the time from conception to delivery is 40 weeks. We see 40 used as the number of transition throughout the Torah—with Noah and the flood, with Moses on Mount Sinai, with the Jewish people in the desert. Moses had transitioned from Egypt to Midian. At 80, Moses is about to lead the most significant transition of them all—of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom. 

Second, we only really speak of ages when they are interesting and instructive. For instance, we hear a lot more about Tom Brady’s age now (he is 43) than we did 15 years ago. And it is easily evident why: it is expected that a top player in the NFL would be 28 but completely intriguing when he is middle-aged! 

So, why would it be interesting that Moses and his brother are so old? Because they, like Tom Brady, are assuming the task generally accorded to much younger people. We do not think of octogenarians as people who lead revolutions. They are generally at the stage when they can wisely counsel the younger people who are in the position of responsibility. 

But a hint that the biblical author and Moses do not agree with this assessment of old age is foreshadowed even earlier in the Exodus story. When God tells Moses that Moses is going to lead, Moses comes up with numerous objections—he is not credible to the Jews, he is not a man of words, et cetera. Though Moses thinks of just about everything to decline his mission, there is one striking omission. He does not tell God he is too old. 

Why not? Because though Moses might be old, he does not think of himself as old. In other words, Moses may happen to be old—but he is not old. And Moses in this case is a model any of us can follow. The most energetic, enthusiastic, hardworking person my wife and I know is Dr. Ruth Westheimer who, pre-COVID, came to our home for Shabbat every Friday night when she was not traveling for work. We’ll always remember Dr. Ruth last year, at age 91, asking a friend of ours what he did. Our friend said he just retired. She stared at him. “You may not retire! You may rewire—but not retire!” 

Dr. Ruth’s great spirit was shared by the Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, who died in 1994. People from all over the world would visit the Rebbe, seeking a blessing and/or advice. Whenever anyone said that someone retired, the Rebbe would effectively say that such an activity was forbidden! There is always more to do in God’s bountiful world, for everyone at all stages.

The Rebbe turned 80 in April of 1982. He celebrated his birthday by starting a speech at 9 p.m., concluding it at 3 a.m., and giving gifts to his audience until 6:15 a.m. The Rebbe, Dr. Ruth, and Moses all turned 80—but none ever saw themselves as “old” or “elderly.” They kept on making new, creative and enduring contributions to the world for years to come. 

Mark Gerson, a devoted Jew, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who (along with his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson) is perhaps the world’s largest individual supporter of Christian medical missions. He is the co-founder of African Mission Healthcare (AMH) and the author of a forthcoming book on the Haggadah: The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life.  

Website: therabbishusband.com
Twitter: @markgerson
Podcast: The Rabbi’s Husband

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Thousands of words have been written about President Donald Trump’s exceptional policies toward Israel and the greater Middle East. His administration’s actions are pretty well known. Yet Israel—a nation familiar with constant hostility, relentless terror, and attacks from the United Nations—received from the Trump Administration another commodity that cannot be bought. It’s the commodity of deserved justice, affirming the nation’s very existence, and recognizing its ancient ancestry. President Trump’s policies have lifted Israel’s national spirits during these last four years. Finally, the leader of the free world said, in essence, “You belong!”

To be sure, other American presidents have a place in Israeli hearts. Two of them were Democratic Presidents: Harry Truman, who cast his vote for a modern Jewish state during the U.N. vote on May 14, 1948, and Bill Clinton, who helped broker the peace deal between Israel and Jordan in 1994.

But no American president has won the hearts of Israelis like Donald Trump. Israel is not alone in its respect for him. Several Arab Gulf States, along with Sudan and now Morocco, have signed the Abraham Accords and welcomed Trump’s outreach. The results for peace between signers and an array of practical benefits are nothing short of miraculous. Last Friday, Reuters reported that Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui, Morocco’s Ambassador to the United States, presented President Trump with a high honor. The award from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI—the Order of Muhammed—is bestowed only upon heads of state.

Trump’s goals for the U.S.-Israel relationship became clear early on. In 2015-2016, I worked part-time for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA (ICEJ USA) as Leadership Outreach Director for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI). We reached out to then-candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, asking them to sign a document titled “Five Guiding Principles for the President.” I received a prompt response from the Trump campaign, agreeing to all five principles. The Clinton campaign never responded.

Six hundred and fifty prominent Christian leaders from the black, white, and Hispanic communities signed the letter. It demonstrated massive support from millions of American Christians for the Jewish state, the land that nurtured our Christian faith and served as the earthly homeland for our Savior Jesus. 

Two of the five principles were highly significant. Trump implemented the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 that required the U.S. to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—yet had lain dormant for 25 years after Congress overwhelmingly passed it. In doing so, Trump kept a promise. On December 6, 2017, he announced his intention to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. I burst into joyful tears as I watched on television. Along with an estimated 300 million pro-Israel Christians worldwide, I celebrated a wrong made right. Millions of us then rejoiced on May 14, 2018, when officials cut the ribbon at the beautiful embassy in Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital, on modern Israel’s 70th anniversary.

American policy on Iran was the second principle. In 2016, ACLI asked the candidates to monitor Iran’s repeated sanctions violations, toughen current sanctions, and impose new ones as necessary. ACLI did not request either candidate to withdraw from the 2015 Iran deal—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, President Trump not only withdrew from the Iran deal in 2018 but also added more sanctions. His decision was fully supported by the Israeli government and Arab nations in the region—and emphatically within the pro-Israel Christian community.

On March 25, 2019, Trump made a proclamation that rattled terrorists in Syria, which included the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) still operating there. Trump proclaimed, “The United States recognizes that the Golan Heights are part of the State of Israel.” Prior to Israel retaking the Golan Heights in 1967, Syria had rained down terror attacks on Israeli civilians for years. Trump thus righted a wrong once again, as Syria was a continual security risk for Israel. Another announcement in November 2019 was groundbreaking: Trump declared that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank—biblical Judea and Samaria—was not illegal.

In August 2020, President Trump’s Israel and regional policies generated immense prominence, enacting policies only dreamed of. He successfully initiated The Abraham Accords. At this writing, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco are signatories, with reportedly more to come.

The Jewish state has honored President Trump in many ways. In 2019 Israel Katz, then Minister of Transportation, announced via tweet, “Here, in the Old City of Jerusalem, we will build the Western Wall and Temple Mount train station. It will be named after Donald Trump, who made history and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” Also in 2019, I enjoyed a memorable visit as part of the Government Press Office’s Christian Media Summit. The Israeli government had honored President Trump once again by naming a beautiful area in the Golan Heights “Trump Village,” a new community that is already welcoming residents. One hundred and twenty of us in Christian media worldwide circle-danced in front of a large, welcoming sign emblazoned “Trump Village” in both Hebrew and English.

A new era began yesterday, January 20, when Mr. Biden became the 46th president of the United States. In the lead-up, a mixture of questions and concerns were already emerging about his Middle East policies. As background, Biden has longstanding relationships with the American Jewish community and with Israeli leaders he has known for decades. He opposes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which espouses economic warfare against Israel. He currently does not support reducing or conditioning Israel’s security aid. His team says that he wants to continue the Abraham Accords. He likely won’t move the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv but will, as some have said, open a consulate again for the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

On a more personal level, Biden enters the presidency with an affection for Israel. This contrasts with Obama, who wanted to put some daylight between the U.S. and Israel. Biden first traveled to Israel in 1973 as a senator. He met with former Prime Minister Golda Meir and has known each prime minister ever since.

Nevertheless, Biden’s moves to restart the Iran deal are sounding loud regional alarms—and with good reason. Iran is the biggest terror-sponsoring country in the world. They are ramping up their uranium enrichment. Their Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) are lined up now along Iran’s coast on the Straits of Hormuz, a main shipping lane for the world’s oil. The 2015 Iran deal only emboldened Iran to maintain its pursuit of nuclear capability to “help” usher in the so-called Twelfth Imam, Shia Islam’s “messiah.” The apocalyptic Imams believe their messiah will rule the world and bring peace into chaos. 

Biden has already appointed key Iran deal negotiators from the Obama-Biden administration’s team. Israel’s Channel 2 reported last weekend that “Biden officials are already having ‘quiet talks’ with Iran on a return to the 2015 nuclear deal and have updated Israel on those conversations.” As a historical note: That deal was a strategic failure, naively giving Iran room to do as it pleased. Hopefully, the Biden team will learn from earlier mistakes and pay close attention to Israel and the Arab countries situated within Iran’s potential nuclear grip.

On November 10, 2020, award-winning Arab Muslim journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reported that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Arab Gulf States sent a message to Biden and the Democrats: “We do not want to go back to the bad old days when the U.S. administration aligned itself with Islamist terrorist groups.” They are referring to growing fears that a Biden administration may return to former President Barack Obama’s empowering and appeasing the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, who admired Hitler and his Nazi regime. Since then, the Brotherhood has created countless terrorist acts, chaos, and unrest. If Biden moves forward on any Iran deal, the Arab states have requested a seat at the table. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is already demanding that the United States lift sanctions on Iran “immediately.”

In his recent article for the Gatestone Institute, Iranian American and Harvard scholar Dr. Majid Rafizadeh called Iran’s latest moves toward Biden, “nuclear extortion.” He also reported that Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif declared that the United States “must compensate us for our losses.” The demanded amount is $130 billion in “damages” for the terror-sponsoring country.

Considering the Iranian threat in particular and its increasing demands on Biden, what is our role as pro-Israel Christians? Whether we voted for him or not, it is our responsibility to pray for him, his administration, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Many millions of Christians fervently prayed for President Trump’s re-election based in large part on his welcome policies toward Israel and the region.

Prayers for this new administration must persist in our appeals to heaven, as 1 Timothy 2:1-4 makes clear: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

It is also an ideal time for us to delve into the entire book of Daniel to refresh our understanding of the ways Daniel conducted himself while exiled in Babylon. “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him” (Daniel 2:20-22).

Prayer matched with practical action is essential. Now that more Christians are aware of the need for active political advocacy, relationships with members of Congress are more important than ever on both sides of the aisle. Both Democrats and Republicans together have passed excellent legislation that strengthened the U.S.-Israel relationship. Yet more challenges are ahead, and we must step up to the plate with Congress.

Remain attentive to CBN Israel news. Stay educated via Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). A historically Jewish bipartisan organization, AIPAC opened a wide and welcoming door 17 years ago to pro-Israel Christian, black, and Hispanic communities as activists. All this is to say, don’t give up! Pro-Israel Christians have a mandate for prayers with feet on them!

Americans face a changing political landscape. Let’s pray for spiritual valor so that the Lord will view us as His faithful representatives:

• Pray for President Trump in thankfulness for his achievements that have so deeply blessed Israel.
• Pray for wisdom for the Biden administration on every level, and for changed policies where needed.
• Pray for the pro-Israel Christian community worldwide, that we will exemplify Jesus’ love while standing for truth.
• Pray for healing after traumas in our nation’s capital.

And may we remember the words of the Apostle Peter: “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

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.

Israel has a national army that requires mandatory service of its citizens. And for Israeli teens, turning 18 means swapping school books for military uniforms, and putting other dreams and goals on hold. But for a young immigrant, the challenges of army life can be far more daunting.

Imagine traveling to a country without friends or family, where you don’t speak the language or know the culture, and you are about to join their military. Every year, Israel’s army receives many young people who emigrate alone, from a variety of countries—including the U.S.

Lone soldiers face unique challenges. If you don’t have a family to go home to during your time of leave and a place that is yours, it can leave you feeling even more isolated and alone during your military service.

But today, they have a strong ally. Daniel Carlson, the national field director of CBN Israel, was a lone soldier himself 30 years ago. He experienced the same struggles—and he had a vision to help these young recruits. It started with a large rented house, but soon the demand grew.

Thanks to friends like you, we rented an even bigger home. It has plenty of room for more beds—and a caring couple, who serve as volunteer house parents. They provide home-cooked meals, plus vital spiritual and emotional support for these brave soldiers who risk their lives.

Your gifts to CBN Israel can also bring aid and God’s love to single mothers, Holocaust survivors, and terrorism victims. And during Israel’s COVID-19 crisis, your support is crucial as the needs escalate.

You can deliver food, housing, medicine, and other essentials to those in need. Please join us in bringing God’s love to those in the Holy Land who need our help!

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