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“Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” (Luke 19:37-38 NKJV).

Jesus came to Jerusalem riding a wave of popularity and redemptive expectations. As He ascended toward Jerusalem, Luke tells us that those traveling with Him were anticipating that the kingdom of God would appear immediately. We hear in the voices of the disciples on the road to Emmaus the redemptive hopes many had pinned on Jesus: “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (24:21 NKJV). 

Their hopes were not misguided. After the resurrection, the disciples asked Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6), but Jesus did not rebuke them for failing to understand God’s redemptive plans and purposes. Rather, He affirmed their hopes but said that now is not the time. When He came to Jerusalem, the time of redemption for the nation of Israel had not yet come. Instead, God had other immediate plans for Jesus—a path of suffering, the path of the cross.

Jesus came to Jerusalem riding on a donkey, surrounded by the rejoicing of His loyal disciples. Their song of praise, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest,” echoes the angelic proclamation at Jesus’ birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14 NKJV). The jubilation of Jesus’ disciples during His entry into the city and the announcement of the angels both herald God’s redemption through Jesus. At His birth, it referred to the hopes carried by the newborn baby; as He rode into Jerusalem, it pertained to hopes deferred. Jesus had things to accomplish.

We do not always understand what God is doing and where He is taking us. Yet do we have the confidence to trust that He will get us there? We want to know the future, understand the signs of the times, but Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7 NKJV). Can we trust God even when the times of His plans and redemption are not fully known to us? 

The New Testament affirms and declares God’s faithfulness to His promised redemption; it has dawned and has come near. But can we remain faithful knowing that the loving Father who promised redemption, who led Jesus to the cross knowing that the empty tomb stood on the other side, stands with us, and He will accomplish what He promised? 

May we echo the jubilation of Jesus’ disciples as they entered Jerusalem, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

PRAYER

Father, our lives are in Your hands. We trust in You. Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven. Amen.

Story parables are a unique style of Jewish teaching found only in the Gospels on the lips of Jesus and within rabbinic literature. As a literary genre, story parables emerged within Judaism after the period of the Old Testament.

The story parable offers a story with a meaning. They seek to explain to common people a moral message, God’s attitude towards humanity, and the relationship between God and humanity. Their moral messages convey how people should live in obedience to God within the world.

The story evokes a comparison between the characters and action of the story and the moral message of the teacher. These comparisons, however, are not intended to be allegorical. Allegory assumes each detail, character, or aspect of a story represents something else. Parables do not work in this manner.

Rather, the story provides a message, but the audience should not seek to identify each detail. The world of the parable is the real world. It is neither mythological nor fantastic. Animals do not speak in parables. Rather, the parable conveys a real-world sense, fishermen fishing, farmers farming, sellers selling, etc. These everyday scenarios help to explain theological ideas to common people.

Parables often have an open ending. In other words, they do not bring the story to a satisfactory resolution. This underscores the rhetorical aim of the parable in which the listener found him or herself within the parable. Part of the ending depended upon how the listener responded in his or her life. At times the one telling the parable used amoral or even immoral characters to heighten the tension of the parable.

Luke preserves some of Jesus’ parables in which the main character is immoral. The immorality of the character emphasized the moral message of the parable. Yet, parables do not usually refer to characters as righteous and unrighteous, rather as wise and foolish. Thus, even though the purpose of parables was to convey a moral message, the parables themselves had an inherent immoral quality.

Parables only appear on the lips of Jesus and the Sages of Israel, who most closely represent the Pharisees. All parables within rabbinic literature appear in Hebrew. Parables are not told in Aramaic. While the Gospels were written in Koine Greek, Jesus did not use Greek to teach people. The universal use of Hebrew for parables within Judaism suggests Jesus also told his parables in Hebrew.

Parables only appear within Judaism in the land of Israel. We do not find parables told outside the land of Israel. Thus, parables were told in Hebrew, by the Sages, in the land of Israel. So too, the setting for the teaching of parables within the Gospels and rabbinic literature is outside of the synagogue. Parables do not come from the House of Study, but rather serve the common people seeking to understand God and what He wanted from them.

Jesus’ use of parables anchors him within the Jewish world of Israel’s Sages, to the Hebrew language, and in the land of Israel. Studying rabbinic parables can assist us in reading and understanding the parables of Jesus.

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

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

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Despite three months of deepening political disunity within Israel—along with increased threats of war and terrorism from their enemies—Israeli Jews will still find a way to celebrate their 75th Passover festival (Chag Ha-Pesach) in their modern ancestral homeland. Israel is the epicenter of faith for both Jews and Christians. Two thousand years ago, God sent His beloved Son into our world as The Living Torah—The Living Word. No events will erase God’s sovereign plans.

Passover and Christian Holy Weeks are fast approaching. Christian Holy Week begins Palm Sunday, April 2, and culminates on Easter Sunday, April 9. Passover begins on April 5, lasting until April 13. The deep connections between Judaism and Christianity have suffered serious neglect. It is vitally important for our faith kinship to grow stronger—especially in the face of rising anti-Semitism and Christian persecution worldwide.

Discovering that we are grafted into the roots of Judaism through Jesus adds a rich dimension to our Christian faith. The deep connection and parallel between Passover’s freedom celebration and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is one we dare not miss. Jesus liberates believers—not from a Pharaoh’s cruelty to Israelite slaves with the resulting exodus to freedom—but freedom from sin’s dark enslavement.

Jesus completed the prophetic announcements in the Old Testament that had been written by Jewish scribes under God’s inspiration. In His three-year ministry, Jesus and His Jewish disciples started a new movement that was always intended to be the full blossoming of Judaism—not the replacement of it. Born into a Jewish family and culture, Jesus lived fully engaged in Jewish customs and religious observances. And His faith was ancient Judaism.

Because Passover was one of the three pilgrimage festivals within Judaism, thousands of Jews would have made their way to Jerusalem for freedom celebration. In fact, the ancient historian Josephus estimates a million or more pilgrims were already flowing into the capital before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. His fame had drawn adoring crowds, all hoping for a king to liberate them from their brutal Roman oppressors.

The day we call Palm Sunday is the ancient Day of Lambs. When Bethlehem shepherds herded huge flocks of Passover lambs into Jerusalem, the Perfect Lamb rode a donkey amid thousands of lambs parading into the holy city as Temple sacrifices. It is an exquisite picture of Divine context. In the first Passover in Egypt, God instructed Israelites to choose a perfect lamb to kill not only for food, but to apply its blood to their doorposts. God promised that when the Angel of Death swept over Egypt and saw the blood, death would pass over the Israelites’ firstborn. The blood of lambs saved lives!

In Jesus’ day, the Sadducees appointed expert Levitical shepherds to nurture lambs in Bethlehem’s fields owned by the religious leaders. Bethlehem, the Perfect Lamb of God’s birthplace! The Sadducees conducted a lamb “beauty contest” at the Lamb’s Gate, choosing only the perfect ones. 1 Peter 1:18-19 proclaims, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things… but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

For Jews, from generation to generation, the Passover Seder celebration recounts the theme of freedom from slavery. The modern Jewish Passover meal is called a Seder, meaning “order,” and lasts for hours with prayers, the feast, and recounting the Exodus freedom stories. In recounting those stories, Jewish families use the Passover Haggadah, a script developed over hundreds of years. This cherished collection of prayers, psalms and benedictions, which is used as a teaching tool, is recited on the eve of Passover.

A Passover Seder centerpiece displays six items. One of them holds a secret meaning for Christians. Matzo, a flat cracker bread, has tiny holes and brownish stripes. For us, Matzo is a visual representation of nails piercing Jesus’ body on the cross and the stripes inflicted on our Lord by Romans. For Jews, it represents their unleavened bread when Israelites hastily fled Egypt after the tenth plague.

Jesus would have celebrated Passover annually even going back to His childhood: “His [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:41-42).

Jesus’ last Passover is what we later called the Last Supper. In Luke 22:15, Jesus expresses His heartfelt emotion in the Upper Room with His disciples, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” The dramatic events swiftly moved forward. Afterward, Jesus and His remaining eleven disciples left the Upper Room. In darkness, the group walked about a mile to the Mount of Olives, an important manufacturing location that made olive oil. Jesus and His disciples frequently visited Gethsemane. The English word “Gethsemane” combines two Hebrew words, Gat and Shmanim, defined as “the place where olive oil is pressed.” 

The popular geographical location is rich with symbolism. Isaiah 53:5 describes a compelling truth, “He was crushed for our iniquities.” Like the wooden beams holding up the olive crushing stones, our Savior Jesus bore the wooden beams of the crucifixion cross—crushed under the weight of our sins. The larger presses included stones (suspended with ropes from wooden beams) weighing up to a ton. The presses transformed the olives to use for cooking, anointing oil, and Temple lights.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus pleaded in Mark 14:36, “Abba [Aramaic for Father], everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” We are familiar with Jesus’ anguished prayers laced with tears of blood before His arrest. Hematidrosis is the medical name for Jesus’ tears, an extremely rare occurrence where blood is mixed with sweat. Jesus’ crushing in “the place where olive oil is pressed” produced the precious oil and blood of our redemption.

Eventually, Roman soldiers and civilians showed up. Judas Iscariot led the way, placing the kiss of death on Jesus’ face. Throughout the traumatic night, recall what Jesus declared to the Pharisees in John 10:17-18, “No man takes my life from me; I am laying it down of my own will. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Yes, many accomplices acted out their role in Jesus’ execution outside Jerusalem’s walls—the corrupt chief priests and Sadducees, Judas, Pilate, and Roman soldiers. Nevertheless, no one could stop God’s redemption plan. Jesus chose to lay down His life for the freedom and salvation of all people everywhere.

During Jesus’ crucifixion, Temple priests were slaughtering the Bethlehem lambs by the thousands. They threw lamb’s blood all over the temple court. Expertly wielding their knives, the priests chanted the Hallel (Psalms 113-118). It is possible that Jesus heard snippets of the chants where He hung outside Jerusalem’s walls. Psalm 116:3 recounts, “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.”

Jesus’ sacrificial death seemed to be the end of every hope held by scores of Jewish believers who loved Him. In an act only the mighty hands of God could achieve, He tore the purple, scarlet, and blue veil in the Temple in two as the perfect Passover Lamb breathed His last breath. Matthew 27:51 verifies it. “At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split.” The curtain—60 feet high, 30 feet wide and four inches thick—sheltered the Holy of Holies, God’s Court, containing the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. It is easy to imagine the priests’ fright and screams when they saw the torn curtain. It was incomprehensible, since only the Jewish High Priest entered the Holy of Holies—and only once a year.

When we invite our Lord Jesus into our lives, His shed blood covers the doorposts of our lives. When our Holy God the Father looks at us, He sees the One Perfect Lamb’s blood. No longer were thousands of sacrificial lambs needed! It is His tallit, His prayer shawl—covering us, saving us from death, and giving us the gift of eternal life.

The Divine connections between Passover and Easter are a cause for endless thankfulness to God. His Promised Land Israel and His Chosen people served as vessels for His vast gift of salvation imparted to us through the Jews.

Join our CBN Israel team this week rejoicing in Jesus Christ’s finished work:

• Pray with gratefulness to God for the gift of His finished work of salvation.
• Pray for Israel facing multiple threats inside and outside their nation.
• Pray for Israel’s leaders to enact wise agreements for Israel’s judiciary.
• Pray that Israel’s enemies will not attack at this vulnerable time in Israel’s history.
• Pray for God’s people to glimpse and accept His gifts of love.

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

Thanks to the dedicated support of friends like you, CBN Israel is linking arms with the Jewish Agency to help ease the plight and meet the needs of disadvantaged elderly men and women, primarily Holocaust survivors, living in Israel. This aid includes constructing affordable housing, renovating existing housing, and taking innovative measures to enhance residents’ welfare and quality of life.

The Jewish Agency states: “There are over 1,000,000 Israelis over the age of 65, 200,000 of whom live at or below the poverty line and cannot afford to purchase or even rent sustainable lodgings. A large majority of these are Holocaust survivors and new olim (immigrants) from the former Soviet Union. Recent Ministry of Absorption and Ministry of Housing figures indicate that there are in excess of 27,000 poor senior citizens waiting for a suitable housing solution. While real estate prices in the world have dropped, the cost of housing in Israel has risen sharply, making it impossible for senior citizens to purchase property or even afford rent. Without support, these older adult men and women would face devastation and ruin.”

Through CBN Israel, caring donors recently made it possible to begin construction of an apartment for a Holocaust survivor who desperately needs a home. The new unit will provide a safe and comfortable living space for a precious senior citizen.

And your support today can let other Holocaust survivors know they are not forgotten—as well as immigrants, victims of terrorism, and many others in need. Thank you!

Please join us in blessing this special nation and its people!

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By Marc Turnage

Masada, a palace-fortress built by Herod the Great (Matthew 2), sits on the south-western shore of the Dead Sea, fifteen and a half miles south of Ein Gedi. The fortress sits atop an isolated rock plateau that overlooks the Dead Sea Valley below. This naturally fortified rock was first built on by the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus (ruled from 103-76 B.C.). Herod the Great made it into a palace fortress that could provide protection if he needed to flee Jerusalem, as well as protecting the balsam industry at Ein Gedi, which provided the cash crop for Herod’s kingdom. 

Herod built two palace complexes on top of Masada, one on the western side (the oldest), and one on the north, which boasted three levels cascading down the northern slope of the rock scarp. Both had functioning Roman style baths, living quarters, storerooms, and decorations fitting for a king. Herod also had a pool on top of Masada, as well as gardens. 

Masada receives on average only an inch to an inch and a half of rainfall annually. The need for water of Herod’s luxuries on Masada required an ingenious water catchment system using gutters, the natural slope of the plateau; he also captured the rainwater that fell to the west of Masada diverting it into channels, which flowed into cisterns along the slopes of Masada. The cisterns on Masada held millions of cubic liters of water ensuring that the residents of Masada could survive along the arid shores of the Dead Sea, as well as enjoying the luxuries of the pool and bathhouses. 

Masada’s popularity derives from the story told by Josephus about the defenders of Masada during the First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-73). According to Josephus, a group of Jewish rebels, Sicarii, led by Elezar ben Yair held up in Masada through most of the revolt. A couple of years prior to the fall of Masada, which took place on Passover of A.D. 73, this group of rebels slaughtered the Jewish community at Ein Gedi. 

Josephus tells a tale how the Tenth Roman Legion laid siege to Masada, built a ramp up its western slope (the remains of which visitors can still see), yet when they stormed the mountain, they found that the defenders had killed their families and then themselves instead of facing slavery at the hands of the Romans. Josephus provides our only account of this story, and while it offers a daring and captivating tale, it most likely did not happen in exactly that manner. Nevertheless, visitors to Masada see evidence of the lives of the Jewish rebels. 

Not needing the luxury of Herod’s royal palace-fortress, the rebels converted portions of the palaces into more serviceable and functional purposes. The room that served as the stables for the donkeys used to bring water from the cisterns below, the rebels converted into a synagogue. Archaeologists found ancient scrolls fragments from the remains of the Jewish rebels. Some fragments preserved portions of biblical books, like Ezekiel; other fragments contained portions of other ancient Jewish literature, like Ben Sira. 

Masada offers a fascinating window into the changing political landscape of the land of Israel in the first century. In this way, it enables us to understand themes and trends that we find within 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 they said to Moses, ‘Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?’ … Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. … And the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land’” Exodus 14:11, 13-16 NASB).

God and Moses had an interesting relationship. They went back and forth at each other as they led the children of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. At times, Moses called God to account, and God changed His mind. The Bible indicates that God even encouraged such a back-and-forth. One of the only times, however, where God gave Moses a strong rebuke was at the shore of the Red Sea. 

The children of Israel find themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea, and Moses tells them to stand by and watch God deliver them. In other words, we are in an impossible situation, so take a seat and see what God does. Moses’ response sounds pretty spiritual. When the people of God are at the end of their rope, He will show up to deliver them. Just have faith. Stand by and see His deliverance!

God, however, responded to Moses’ passivity with a harsh rebuke: “Why are you crying to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward!” They had to act. Their deliverance depended upon it. The Hebrew of this passage indicates that they had to step into the midst of the sea before God divided the waters: “And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea.” 

We often identify faith as believing. Within the Bible, faith is action. They had to step into the sea, the barrier that stood in front of them before God miraculously acted. They had to act—before they saw His provision. That is true faith. 

Faith is not willing ourselves to believe. Rather, faith is acting when we don’t see. And usually, God calls upon us to act as part of our deliverance. He doesn’t swoop in to save the day. He calls us to step forward, even into the absurd. Then He acts. Then He delivers. 

Are you sitting around waiting for God to deliver you? Do you sound like Moses telling yourself to stand and see God’s deliverance? Perhaps God asks you, “Why are you crying to me? Move forward!” Moving forward into what seems impossible is the greatest act of faith.

PRAYER

Father, may we partner with You in our deliverance. May we daily step into the impossible moving forward to see You work miracles in our world and lives. Amen.

Judaism today divides along two lines primarily: the geographic origin of the Jewish community, and the Jewish community’s encounter with modernity and the modern world. Western Christians often struggle to understand the characteristics of modern Judaism because Christian communities in the West divide along theological and doctrinal lines.

This is not the case with Jewish communities. The differences between the Jewish communities do not come from doctrinal differences, but rather, from differences caused by their geographic locals and distances from other Jewish communities, and then, with the rise of the modern world, how Jewish communities responded and reacted to modernity.

The primary geographic divisions of the Jewish community are Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Synagogue communities divide into either of these two groups. The Ashkenazi come from Europe, primarily eastern Europe, and Russia. Sephardic Jews historically came from Spain, but today, Sephardic Jews refer to Jewish communities which came from Spain as well as those communities which came from North Africa and Middle Eastern countries, like Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. These Jewish communities are also referred to as Mizrahi. Ethiopian Jews are identified as Sephardic, but their synagogue liturgy has variations.

The Spanish Inquisition caused many Jews to flee from Spain. Some went to the historical land of Israel; others migrated to Thessaloniki. The principal differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues pertains to liturgical worship, which developed due to the geographic locations of the Jewish communities.

When we speak about various Jewish communities’ response to modernity, we refer to divisions of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed. Inside the Orthodox community one finds modern as well as Ultra-Orthodox communities. For centuries, Jewish communities adhered to orthodox Judaism, which continued developing the traditions of rabbinic Judaism. Learning of rabbinic works took place within yeshivas. The differences within the communities came from their geographic locations and the rabbis they formed around, but commonalities in liturgy and the library of rabbinic works, studied in a similar manner ensured a consistency of worldview.

The Enlightenment of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries impacted the Jewish communities, particularly the Ashkenazi communities of Europe. The application of reason and critical thinking to religion led to the advent of modern biblical studies and the application of modern, critical methods of studying the Bible. Jewish communities in Europe and North America were influenced by these trends. So too, Jewish communities sought to settle a dual identity, on the one hand they were Jews, but on the other, the nationalism which swept Europe in the nineteenth century impacted Jewish communities as well.

Thus, to exist within the modern world, one had to navigate being Jewish and being German or French or American. The combination of these forces led to the growth of the Conservative and Reformed streams of Judaism, which sought to reimagine Judaism for a modern world. Instead of adhering to the traditions of the past, which often isolated Jews from the communities around them, Jews sought a form of Judaism which could incorporate them into the modern world and nations in which they lived.

The Ultra-Orthodox community went the other way. They viewed modernism as a threat, and therefore, to keep the modern world out, they froze traditions and dress from the past to insulate them from the incursion of modernism.

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

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

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Last week, my attention was seized by an exclusive Reuters headline that quickly spread to media worldwide. Two-and-a-half tons of uranium stored in ten barrels had gone missing in Libya. I had just finished reading the New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenberg’s newest book, The Libyan Diversion. Tyndale, his publisher, had sent me the Advanced Reader Copy so I could write a book review. The new book, exploding with electrifying twists and turns, comes out on May 16, 2023. Nevertheless, Rosenberg’s newest thriller landed on Tyndale’s desk before the Reuters headline news on March 15. Joel had once again unearthed troubling possibilities not widely known on the world stage. 

It is easy to assume that Joel is a modern-day prophet, yet he in no way claims to belong in that genre. True, this is not the first time that his readers might deem him as prophetic about a serious issue that rightly holds Israel’s attention. After all, Joel wrote his first novel, The Last Jihad, nine months before 9/11. That story included terrorists hijacking a plane and flying it into an American city. With the Middle East’s Islamic regime on a steady march to obtain nuclear weapons—of uppermost importance in Israel’s security strategies—Joel sizes up another dimension of reality and writes a “what if” scenario. And another bestseller is born. 

Making Aliyah to Israel in 2014 with his wife Lynn and their four sons, the Israeli-American author chose to feature the North African nation of Libya in his upcoming book. Rosenberg’s thriller is not only an entertaining adrenaline rush but also a wakeup call. The unstable Muslim country has no diplomatic relationship with Israel. In fact, Libya is among 36 nations that do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty. Libya aligns with the Palestinians instead. Despite having a population of just 7.5 million people, Libya’s considerable land mass makes it the fourth-largest country in Africa and the 16th-largest country in the world. Libya is constantly enmeshed in power grabs between tribes, militias, political parties, and regions. Governed by lawlessness, violence, unpredictability, and chaos, Libya is a place where human rights are scarce. Amnesty International calls a powerful militant faction within the desert nation a “catalogue of horrors.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was set to inspect Libya’s uranium storage location last year. However, security concerns forced that process to be cancelled. The inspection finally took place recently and the IAEA announced the missing barrels. Although the IAEA—the United Nations’ watchdog for nuclear compliance and threats—then announced that the 10 missing barrels of uranium had been located, the Libyan sources are questionable. Briefly, the uranium (U-235 isotopes) can undergo enrichment to produce energy by fission for use in nuclear weapons. The uranium is housed at a remote location and contains enough U-235 to build a nuclear bomb if enriched via centrifuges to over 90 percent.

According to Dr. Edwin Lyman from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the incident raised questions about IAEA’s capability to maintain a continuity of knowledge over nuclear materials in countries containing active conflict zones. My conclusion: Whether the missing barrels are found or not, the uranium storage areas are not being adequately monitored. Anything can go wrong when lawless groups run a country.  

Islamic forces like Al Qaeda are at war internally. Several efforts to form a stable government have failed, with Libya also courted by outside countries with competing interests. Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Russia back the Libyan National Army (LNA), while Turkey, Italy, and Qatar side with the Government of National Unity (GNU). It is no wonder that a crowd of nations is lined up against the country, since Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the ninth largest worldwide. Simply put, Libya is oil rich and security poor. Relying on any information relayed by the factions in Libya is suspect. 

The current U.S. State Department travel warnings to Americans sound the alarm: “Do not travel to Libya due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict. Crime levels in Libya remain high, including the threat of kidnapping for ransom. Westerners and U.S. citizens have been targets of these crimes.” 

When you read The Libyan Diversion, you will quickly note that Rosenberg’s famous good guy protagonist, CIA’s Marcus Ryker, did not heed any U.S. State Department warnings. Ryker has appeared in four previous thrillers: The Kremlin Conspiracy, The Persian Gamble, The Jerusalem Assassin, and The Beirut Protocol. In The Libyan Diversion, Ryker is again under presidential orders and plans a complex, secretive incursion into Libya that goes shockingly sideways. The author enters new territory in the pages of The Libyan Diversion, where Christians are on the ground in nearby Yemen’s desert carrying out a humanitarian outreach. It turned Ryker’s best-laid logistics into a personal and professional nightmare. 

Winston Churchill once coined a famous saying about Russia. It is also a good description of Joel’s book about the unexpected. With a racing pulse you will discover more than terror strategies in Joel’s own version of “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” The story seats you in the cockpit with an F-35 American pilot flying in a North African dust storm, sitting in the Oval office with decision makers, sitting in on Ryker’s decision to outhustle U.S. intelligence, and entering the evil mind of Abu Nakba, commander of the Kairos terrorist organization. Joel’s turn of a phrase usually pops up in all his books. This time, he called the terrorist’s threats “a terrorist Ted Talk.” 

Joel named the terror organization aptly, since kairos means “the right, critical, or opportune moment.” In ancient Greek archery, kairos is the moment when the archer sees the perfect opening to shoot his arrow to hit his target. Stunned, you will discover Abu Nakba’s colossal plans for Kairos. Edging toward Nakba’s plan in the last quarter of the 450-page book, Joel writes as if powered by brain waves in high gear with tight narrative taking readers on new, even higher Rosenberg action descriptions. I was practically out of breath amid gunfire and astonishing twists—mournfully asking myself if I would ever see Marcus Ryker again.

Joel Rosenberg’s skill in weaving facts about patriotism, Israel’s modern history, and the Islamic regime’s danger is entertainment with a purpose. He matches these important inclusions with good taste, compassion, and integrity while magnifying the importance of close relationships. His talent far exceeds the other terror thrillers I read. For Christians, Jews, and readers at large, his books are a win-win.

On a personal note, I first met Joel in 2009. It has been my pleasure to observe God’s favor on him writing 17 novels and five nonfiction books—with five million copies in print. He and Lynn founded The Joshua Fund in 2006, a non-profit charity motivating Christians to “bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus.” Donations have amounted to more than $50 million in humanitarian aid for Holocaust survivors, Syrian and Israeli refugees, and to strengthen Middle Eastern churches. Joel is also the founder and editor-in-chief of two news and analysis websites, www.allisrael.com and www.allarab.com. Weekly, you may watch The Rosenberg Report on the Trinity Broadcast Network each Thursday evening. Be sure to order The Libyan Diversion via Amazon or Lifeway books and look forward to a great read in May 2023. 

I welcome you this week to join our CBN Israel team to pray, remembering 2 Corinthians 6:14: “For what partnership has righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Prayer Points:

• Pray for many thousands of Libyan children and adults who face violence daily. 
• Pray for the miraculous formation of a stable Libyan government.
• Pray that barrels of uranium will not arrive in Iran to be spun into nuclear-grade enrichment in centrifuges. 
• Pray that IAEA can plan a creative way to inspect Libya’s uranium storage. 
• Pray for Joel Rosenberg and his family as he leads enormously effective projects to educate and activate evangelicals. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please help us reach those in crisis today!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

The Mount of Olives is a north-south ridge that sits on the eastern watershed of the hills around Jerusalem. To its east, the land slopes drastically down towards the Jordan River Valley and the area around Jericho, towards the Dead Sea. 

The steep fall-off of the topography east of the Mount of Olives, together with the weather patterns coming from the west off the Mediterranean Sea, which causes the rain to fall along the heights of the hill country, means that the land to the east of the Mount of Olives sits in the rain shadow, with little vegetation. This wilderness provided refuge for those seeking concealment from the authorities. When David fled Jerusalem from Absalom (2 Samuel 15:13-23), he went over the Mount of Olives into this wilderness seeking refuge.

The Mount of Olives in antiquity never belonged inside the city of Jerusalem. It always sat as its eastern boundary separated from the city of Jerusalem by the Kidron Valley. The Mount of Olives also served as Jerusalem’s cemetery beginning in the Chalcolithic period (Stone Age). Tombs from the time of the Judean monarchy (Old Testament), as well as the first century (New Testament) have been discovered on the Mount of Olives. At the foot of the mountain sit three monumentally decorated tombs from the first centuries B.C. and A.D., one of which is the misnamed Tomb of Absalom. 

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on His “Triumphal Entry” (Luke 19:28-29), He approached the city from the Mount of Olives. Pilgrims to Jerusalem today can walk down the Mount of Olives on the “Palm Sunday” processional route, but this would not have been the path Jesus took, as it led through a first century cemetery, which would have rendered Him ritually impure prohibiting Him from entering the Temple. Most likely His route would have taken Him over one the saddles of the ridge on either its northern or southern part. 

The prophet Zechariah proclaimed that at the end of the age, when God’s kingdom is revealed in all the world, that He will stand on the Mount of Olives, which will split east to west, opening a chasm that will cause the mountain to move to the north and south (Zechariah 14:4). The Mount of Olives is not only connected to Jerusalem’s history in both the Old and New Testaments; it is also directly linked to its future. 

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