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“If you carefully obey my commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul, I will provide rain for your land in the proper time, the autumn and spring rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and oil. I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied” (Deuteronomy 11:13-15 HCSB).

Timing is everything. Farmers especially know this. Rains that come too early or too late do not provide the nourishment needed for crops to grow and produce their fruit. In some cases, rains arriving too early or late can actually destroy the crops and harvest. The agricultural cycle is very delicate, especially in the ancient world where they had to make do without the advantages of modern agricultural technology.

As the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, God promised them that if they would obey, love and serve Him, He would send the rains in their season. This was particularly important because the land God was giving them depended upon the rains from heaven for its agricultural needs. The rains had to come at the right time, or the crops would fail, animals would die, and the people would starve to death.

God called upon the people to trust Him that He would send rain in its season. They plowed their fields and planted them, trusting that God would provide the necessary rains. Can you imagine the anxiety of the farmer who just sowed his field with seed waiting for the rains to come? 

But there was a condition: “If you carefully obey my commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul.” Failure to do so would have negative consequences, as we go on to read: “Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, worship, and bow down to other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will close the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17 HCSB).

One of the draws the children of Israel experienced in worshipping other gods pertained to the agricultural cycle. Many of these foreign gods, like Ba’al and Asherah, were rain and fertility gods and goddesses. Worshipping them offered insurance in the event God did not come through. It was a way for the Israelites to ensure that the rains would come so they could survive.

We also find ourselves frustrated with God’s timing, wondering if He will truly come through. We even seek, at times, to help Him along. His promise remains: If we obey Him and love and serve Him, He will provide the things we need for our daily survival. We don’t need to seek any other source of provision.

PRAYER

Father, thank You for Your love and care for us. You are the sole source of our provision, and we trust You to send rain in its season. Amen.

The New Testament connects the coming of Jesus to Israel’s hopes of redemption (Luke 1:50-55, 68-75; 2:25, 38; 21:20-28; 24:21; and Acts 1:6-8). Jesus’ followers expected the end of the age would bring God’s promised redemption of Israel (Acts 1:6). They called their fellow Jews to repent as part of God’s final redemption, the resurrection of the dead, and the return of Jesus.

Jesus’ followers faced the challenge of their claim of His Messiahship. While they pointed to His resurrection as proof of God’s vindication and exaltation of Him, Rome still ruled the land of Israel and nothing had changed for the people of Israel. Ancient Judaism believed at the end of the age non-Jews would forsake their idols and turn to worship the God of Israel but remain non-Jews. The inclusion of the Gentiles into Jesus’ movement connected to this expectation as evidence that the end of the age had come.

Paul explained God’s grace to the Gentiles in Romans. Israel’s disobedience created an opportunity for the inclusion of the Gentiles into Israel, being grafted onto the olive tree of Israel. He expected non-Jews to remain non-Jews, in other words not to circumcise, but he instructed them to live Jewishly in their morality and belief in the God of Israel. They had received God’s Spirit as sons and daughters, proof God accepted them; therefore, they should walk according to the Spirit producing the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul believed the proof to Israel that Jesus was God’s Messiah was the turning of the non-Jews from their idols and worshipping the God of Israel but remaining Gentiles. By the Gentiles walking by the Spirit, living Jewishly, they testified to the end of the age and God’s fulfillment of His redemptive promises to Israel in Jesus. When Israel sees the Gentiles doing this, they will repent, which will bring the resurrection of the dead (Romans 11:15), and thus, all Israel will be safe (Romans 11:26).

To describe his position, Paul used the image of an olive tree. The non-Jews he represented by a single wild olive branch grafted on to the olive tree, which represented Israel. He reminded his Gentiles readers that “it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you” (Romans 11:18). Paul understood the horticulture of olives well. He never implied the single wild olive branch supplanted the tree, nor did he imagine a blossoming branch grafted onto a withering root.

The New Testament never indicates the followers of Jesus changed their initial proclamation: the coming of Jesus heralds the redemption of Israel. Christianity has historically struggled with this reality, trying to understand God’s relation to the Church and Israel. But those problems are ours, not the early followers of Jesus, including Paul.

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

You may not immediately recognize the names of Leah, Maia, and Rina Dee who lived in Efrat, Israel. Years ago, I stayed in this beautiful town seven miles south of Jerusalem, where more than 13,000 residents—many of whom immigrated from the United States—practice their Jewish faith, hold Old Testament ideals and professional positions, and love their ancestral homeland.

Last Friday, Leah, Maia, and Rina set out on a family trip from Efrat to Tiberius for a joyous Passover visit. On the way, two Islamic Palestinian terrorists pulled up beside their car and fired on them. The car plowed off the road. In their frenzied hatred, the killers then fired 22 more shots from their Kalashnikov assault rifle, murdering sisters Maia (20) and Rina (15). The murderers mortally wounded their mother, Leah (48). She died Monday in an Israeli hospital. 

Traveling in another car further ahead, Rabbi Leo Dee and their three other children were unaware of this tragedy. He received a phone call from his sister, who had heard of an accident on that route and was checking to make sure they were all safe. Appalled, Rabbi Dee retraced his route—and discovered his family’s catastrophe. On Sunday, Rabbi Dee and his remaining children buried Maia and Rina together in a double funeral. The funerals took place with Rabbi Dee’s emotional, eloquent remarks. 

Rabbi Dee’s three family members were complete strangers to the murderers. They died for one reason: They were Jewish, viewed as mere objects in the face of coldblooded hatred. Passover ended in Israel on April 12. However, the suffering of the four remaining family members, and the town of Efrat residents who grieve with them, is stamped into the Dees’ hearts for all their days as they walk through their valley of the shadow of these senseless deaths. 

Two of my Israeli friends who live in Efrat attended the funerals. Rabbi Shmuel Bowman is the CEO of Operation Lifeshield, which delivers portable bomb shelters to at-risk communities under rocket attack. Jonathan Feldstein is the creator of the Genesis 123 foundation, which designs meaningful partnerships between Jews and Christians. Both leaders have built outstanding friendships with the Christian community worldwide. I am honored to know them. 

Shmuel observed on the day of the Dee family murders, “The disgusting thing about this tragedy is the response by the Palestinian leadership and also many ordinary Palestinians. As noon prayers ended today [Friday] on al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, hundreds of people chanted in support of the deadly terror attack… How could a human being act joyfully about such an act?”

Two days later, returning home from the double funerals, Shmuel described it as a “difficult, long day,” with thousands at the funeral crying yet reciting psalms about healing and strength “focused on the power of prayer as a force for life.” He emailed me Monday after learning about Leah’s death, revealing, “Now the sacred work of helping my friend Leo and his family, as they navigate the challenging road ahead.”

Jonathan Feldstein had already set up a link at Genesis 123 when Israel came under rocket fire from three different enemies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Calling the murders “horrific,” Jonathan goes on to say, “Despite the threat of terror and war being real here, there’s an indescribable sense that our children are actually safer here than in most parts of the world.” 

Feldstein cites a study that Israel is the fifth-safest place in the world for tourists, far safer than the U.S. He asks, “How is this paradox possible?” and observes, “We live our lives with purpose. We are here as part of God’s promise to restore us to the Land He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants. That’s us.” He goes on to regale Passover’s festival of freedom, commenting: “Sometimes, there’s a horrible price to pay. It’s not always easy. But even at times of great domestic strife, we come together as we have now.” 

A memorable line from Leon Uris’s Exodus summarizes what Israelis bravely deal with daily: “Why must we fight for the right to live, over and over, each time the sun rises?”

On to the mainstream media, illustrations are plentiful, but a few examples show propaganda-imitating strategies from Hitler’s marketing machine against Jews. Unfortunately, it mostly overrides facts about Israel’s longing for peace 75 years later, demonstrating another malignant escalation of the world’s longest hatred.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) is a reliable non-profit Israeli research institute that provides in-depth information about Palestinian society. Here is an example of where innocent Israeli deaths are perpetuated by the Palestinian Authority’s “martyrdom” strategy despite the PA’s abuse of its own innocent children:

“The PA encourages children to see Martyrdom—death fighting Israelis—as something glorious that will bring them honor and popularity. They are told that … people will honor their Martyrdom and their pictures will be everywhere.” Children are brainwashed at summer camps, on children’s TV, and in their schools. 

In an example from CNN on April 7, 2023, Becky Anderson, CNN host of Connect the World, stated, “Earlier this week Israeli police stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam’s holiest sites. They did that twice. They arrested hundreds of Palestinians.” For a few seconds she mentioned Maia and Rina Dee. “Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, two Israeli women were shot and killed and a third critically wounded at what Israeli police are calling a Palestinian terror attack on an Israeli car that was driving in the occupied West Bank.” 

Basically, CNN said twice that Leah, Maia, and Rina Dee were at fault for driving on a main highway in the occupied West Bank. In fact, the area is Samaria and Judea, Israel’s biblical heartland—and one sister was a teenager. 

Even worse—with no mention of Jewish murders—here is what Amnesty International added amid layers of lies: that a second consecutive night-time attack on Palestinian worshippers at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque “illustrates the sheer brutality of Israel’s apartheid. …These orchestrated attacks demonstrate just how far Israeli authorities will go to maintain their cruel system of apartheid. … Once again, Israeli security forces have shown the world what apartheid looks like … turned one of the holiest sites in Islam into a crime scene.” But the exact opposite is true. Cause and effect are rarely well covered by mainstream world media.

Frequently, prior to Jewish holidays, Iran’s nearby proxies circulate lies that Jews are going to “invade and take over” the al-Aqsa mosque. This dangerous ritual is against the rules and protocol of the Muslim authorities themselves. The lies are the beginning of the conflict’s cause yet are almost completely ignored by the media.

Last Friday, after Ramadan prayers ended, dozens of Palestinians remained in the mosque for an overnight. Muslim worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque reported the facts, saying that the violent outbreak had been instigated by “Muslim extremists” who barricaded themselves in the mosque, imprisoned the worshippers there, and kept other Muslims from entering the mosque to pray. The perpetrators had backpacks filled with weapons, stones, and fireworks to use against the Israeli police who maintain security atop the Temple Mount. 

After repeatedly trying to negotiate, the Israeli police were then forced to restore order. When they began clearing the mosque, the instigators then used their mobile phones to show that “the Jewish occupation is desecrating the third-holiest mosque in the world.” Thus, they accomplished their intended purpose. Never mind that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are still praying on the Temple Mount during Ramadan, which ends April 20. 

Some media reported earlier about the Palestinian mosque takeovers. However, when Israeli police cleared out the worshippers from the mosque, mainstream media instantly latched onto that event—excusing perpetrators and terrorists, and instead blaming Israel with outsized lies. 

Cause is now ignored, effect is amplified, and leftist broadcasters covered the murders of Israeli civilians like Leah, Maia, and Rina Dee as if they were not human beings. While Palestinians gave out candy in their streets to celebrate the Jewish sisters’ deaths, Rabbi Leo Dee declared through his tears at the double funeral, “The formula for faith is always to focus on what you do have and not what you do not have. I still have three wonderful children and a wonderful wife.” Today, he cannot claim that last blessing—he is now a widower. 

We urge you to join our CBN Israel team this week to pray repeatedly with Psalm 59:1-3: “Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood. See how they lie in wait for me! Fierce men conspire against me for no offense or sin of mine, LORD” (NIV).

Prayer Points:

• Pray for the Dee family using Isaiah 42:3—“A bent reed He will not break off
  And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.”
• Pray for the rapidly evolving security challenges Israel is facing where their enemies sense weakness and disunity within the population. 
• Pray for Israeli military for readiness and willingness to lay aside unusual political disputes to defend their nation. 
• Pray for Christians worldwide to become active purveyors of facts about Israel to counteract propaganda.

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

By Marc Turnage

The traditional location of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which sits within the heart of the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The origin of the church goes back to the Emperor Constantine. His mother the Empress Helena on a visit to the Holy Land (326 A.D.) was shown this location by local Christians and identified as the place where Jesus’ crucifixion and burial took place. Upon that site, her son built the first church, which was called the Church of the Resurrection. 

Archaeological excavations within the church have uncovered the history of the site. In the 8^th-7^th centuries B.C., the location of the Holy Sepulchre was a large limestone quarry to the northwest of the walled city of Jerusalem. According to the excavator, the site continued to be used as a quarry until the first century B.C. when it was filled in with soil and stone flakes from the quarry. The site at this time became a garden or orchard that contained fig, carob, and olive trees. At the same time, it developed into a cemetery. Within the complex of the Holy Sepulchre, tombs dating to the first century have been discovered.

One of the challenges for modern visitors to the church is its location within the modern Old City of Jerusalem and its walls. Jesus was crucified outside of the city walls. The modern Old City walls, built in the 16^th century, however, have nothing to do with the walls of Jesus’ Jerusalem. Jews did not bury within the walls of city, but rather outside. The presence of first century tombs within the Holy Sepulchre complex indicates that this location stood outside the walls of Jerusalem in Jesus’ day. 

Jewish tombs in the first century consisted of two types: kokhim and arcosolia. The most common being the kokhim. A kokh (singular) was a long, narrow recess cut into a rock tomb in which a body, coffin, or ossuary (bone box) could be laid. The typical kokhim tomb was hewn into the hillside and consisted of a square chamber. The entrance to an ordinary kokhim tomb was a small square opening that required a person entering to stoop. The height of the chamber was usually less than that of a person, so they often cut a square pit into the floor of the chamber. This pit created a bench on three sides of the chamber where the bodies of the deceased could be prepared. 

After the chamber and the pit were cut, the kokhim were cut level with the top of the benches and perpendicular to the wall of the tomb in a counter clockwise direction, from right to left, in every wall except the entrance wall. One to three kokhim were usually cut per wall. The kokh had roughly vaulted ceilings and were the length of the deceased or a coffin. After the deceased was placed into the kokh, a blocking stone sealed the square entrance of the tomb. Small stones and plaster helped to further seal the blocking stone. The tomb was sealed in a manner that it blended into the surrounding hillside. 

In addition to the kokhim tomb, arcosolia tombs began to appear sporadically during the first century. The arcosolia is a bench-like aperture with an arched ceiling hewn into the length of the wall. This style of burial was more expensive since only three burial places existed within a tomb chamber instead of six or nine, as typically found within kokhim tombs. Approximately 130 arcosolia tombs have been discovered in Jerusalem and over half of them also contain kokhim. Ossuaries (bone boxes) could be placed on the arcosolia benches.

The tomb identified within the Holy Sepulchre as the tomb of Jesus was originally an arcosolium (singular) with an antechamber; however, the centuries of pilgrims and the various destructions of the church have deformed and obliterated the tomb. What visitors see today is a later structure; nevertheless, the tomb originally contained a first century arcosolium tomb. 

The Roman Emperor Hadrian built on top of the quarry-garden-cemetery a raised platform with another platform on it where he built a temple to Venus/Aphrodite in the second century. This pagan temple was removed when Constantine built his church. 

Constantine built a rotunda around Jesus’ tomb. The rock of Golgotha was exposed to the open air in a garden, and on the other side of the garden, Constantine built a basilica church. 

The question arises whether or not the Holy Sepulchre contains the location of Jesus’ tomb. What we can say is this: 1) The site was a cemetery in the first century with first century tombs. 2) From the second century until the arrival of the Empress Helena, the actual tomb had been covered for 300 years. The fact that the local Christian memory remembered this location, where a first century cemetery existed, even though it was covered by the Hadrianic temple strongly suggests the authenticity of the site. 3) When Helena was shown this site, it sat like now within the walled, urban city of Jerusalem, which would have seemed strange to ancient pilgrims as it does to modern. 

Yet, the memory of the local Christian community remembered that this location once lay outside of the walls of Jerusalem. Ten to fifteen years after Jesus’ death and burial a wall was built in Jerusalem that enclosed this area into the city. 

Pilgrims to Jerusalem often wonder if the Holy Sepulchre marks the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The archaeology and tradition of the site support its claims. 

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

“Why are you seeking the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise from the dead” (Luke 24:5-7 NASB).

The Romans crucified thousands of Jews in the first century; Jesus was one of them. His death on a cross was not unique. It proved to be a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:23). The difference: the resurrection.

The resurrection became the cornerstone of the New Testament message that Jesus was God’s Messiah. He “was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3-4 NKJV).

When Paul was addressing the pagan Athenians, he sought common ground to proclaim his message—an altar to an unknown god, quoting their poets, not quoting the Jewish Scripture—yet the one thing he could not equivocate on was the resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus served as God’s promise to those who are faithful that they too will participate in the resurrection at the end of the Age (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15). It also provided a powerful reversal. The crucifixion and death of Jesus left the hopes of many shattered (Luke 24:21). While Jesus died fully trusting His good and loving Father, His followers did not share the faith of their master. But God specializes in turning the dark into light, making the impossible possible, and bringing life from death.

In the resurrection of Jesus, God triumphed over the grave. He brought life from death; He turned darkness into light. He gave hope. This is why in the midst of our deepest despair, we do not lose faith.

No matter how dark the night, how devastating the diagnosis, how impossible the situation, God will triumph. He will transform death into life and darkness into light; and so, we have hope. Why? Because Jesus walked out of the tomb. 

The Apostle Peter firmly declares the hope we have because of the resurrection: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away” (1 Peter 1:3-4 NASB).

Even when we come to the end our lives and face our own death, we have nothing to fear. We have extraordinary hope, for ourselves and our loved ones. Why? Because Jesus walked out of the tomb. 

PRAYER

Father, You are our hope. Even in our darkest moments, You bring us light and life, and therefore we trust You. Thank you for the hope we have in the resurrection. Amen.

The Gospel of Luke makes clear that the chief priests and their scribes sought to kill Jesus because He challenged those selling in the Temple, the economy the chief priests controlled (Luke 19:47). They could not openly attack Him because of His overwhelming popularity with the people (Luke 19:48). Throughout Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem, His teachings and actions criticized and challenged the corruption of the chief priests, the Sadducean aristocracy of Jerusalem (Luke 19:45-46; 20:1-40). His popularity with the masses protected Him against the chief priests (Luke 19:47-48; 20:19; 22:2).

The book of Acts portrays this same group as the opponents of the disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 4:1-7), who, like their master, enjoyed the favor of the Jewish masses. The Gospels relate how the chief priests, and the officers of the Temple used the cloak of darkness to arrest Jesus so they could conceal their actions from the Jewish people (Luke 22:52). Jesus pointed this out to them, “When I was with you day after day in the Temple, you did not lay hands on Me” (Luke 22:53). The crowds of Jerusalem never turned their backs on Jesus. Luke relates how the crowds mourned Jesus, upon seeing the Romans brutalize Him (23:27, 48).

The chief priests of Jerusalem controlled a monopoly. They set the prices for the sacrifices. Pilgrims were forced to pay these inflated prices since they could not bring their sacrifices from a distance. Jewish sources relate how on occasion sacrifices cost so much people could not participate in the Temple festivals, and Pharisaic leaders rebuked the chief priests for their greed (b. Baba Batra 3b-4a; m. Kerithoth 1:7).

Archaeological excavations in Jerusalem have uncovered high priestly homes which attest to the opulent and lavish lifestyle in which these priests lived. Jewish sources, like Josephus, portray the priests and their slaves as protecting their wealth and power with brutal action (see Mark 14:43). Jesus condemned the corruption of the chief priests publicly (Luke 19:46, 20:9-19).

He linked their corruption to the coming destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. His was not the only voice criticizing the Jerusalem high priests in the first century. Many Jews were hopeful that He was the promised redeemer (see Luke 24:21). His popularity among the masses gave gravity to His condemnation of the chief priests. He had to be killed lest Caiaphas and the other chief priests lose their position and wealth (John 11:49-50).

It is a cruel tragedy of Christian history how the blame for the death of Jesus has been laid at the feet of the Jewish people, many of whom “hung upon His words” (Luke 19:48). The greed of a small group of the high priestly Jerusalem Sadducean aristocracy led to Jesus’ arrest and handing over to Pilate. They used the darkness of night to cover their clandestine activities from the site of the Jewish people (see Luke 22:52-53; Acts 5:27-28). They used their power and relationship with the Roman governor to ensure His death (see Luke 22:66; 23:10, 13, and 21; and John 19:6).

Their desire to protect their power and wealth motivated them to orchestrate Jesus’ death at the hands of the Romans. They are not alone in human history in perpetrating heinous actions motivated by a lust for money and power.

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

Wildflowers are draping Israel’s hills in a show of breathtaking spring beauty. But they do so amid unprecedented political, religious, and security anxieties in the streets. Jerusalem teems with crisscrossing religious observances from the three monotheistic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—while Tel Aviv has been the epicenter of three months of massive protests. Hopefully, conflicts and disunity will transition into celebrations during Passover, which began April 5 and conclude on April 12.

At the Western Wall (Kotel), hope is tucked into every crevice of its stones with written prayers from throngs of Jewish and Christian residents and pilgrims. Sixty feet above them, over 100,000 Muslims crowd onto the Temple Mount for Ramadan prayers. The Ramadan holy month began March 22 and lasts until April 21. The Jewish seven-day Passover annually proclaims the Israelites’ freedom from Egyptian slavery. Christians just celebrated Palm Sunday to begin our Holy Week, where we too rejoice in freedom—freedom from sin’s slavery through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus, The Perfect Lamb of God. 

The on-edge atmosphere in Israel—with overlapping religious observances of Christians, Jews, and Muslims—is taking place after 13 weeks of massive protests about the Knesset’s attempts to overhaul Israel’s judiciary. Prime Minister Netanyahu is hoping to restore the “lost balance” between the branches of government. Although he has finally paused the extremely controversial legislation until April 30, strife remains evident. Israelis are sharply divided on the issue and outraged at a variety of their leaders.

The judiciary reform potential and the competing interests of the secular, religious, political, and military are nuanced and complex, especially to those of us who do not live in Israel. At Ben Gurion Airport before the Prime Minister delayed the legislation, a few dozen protestors held up signs reading, “Welcome to the dictatorship.” Nevertheless, the fact that protests are going on is still a sign of Israel’s vibrant democracy, although the current disunity is alarming.

Most disturbing are the divisions developing due to some elite reservists’ units in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) refusing to show up for duty. Briefly put, due to Israel’s small size and daily threats, the State of Israel requires every Israeli citizen over age 18—Jewish, Druze, and Circassian—to serve. After their active duty, many Israelis continue in the reserves until their 40s, providing a security backbone in a crisis. Prime Minister Netanyahu gave an ominous warning describing the current refusals as a threat to Israel’s existential foundation: “The country cannot exist without the IDF. There will not be a nation, it’s very simple.” 

Netanyahu’s background serving in his younger years in an elite IDF combat unit, an expert on Iran’s nuclear pursuit, and with 15 total years as the prime minister, suggests he knows what he is talking about. Israel’s security concerns are escalating. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stationed in Syria means the Israeli Air Force must make more frequent incursions over Syria to bomb weapons depots and weapons convoys still arriving in that country on the ground and in the air. Internal terrorism from Palestinians is sanctioned by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and a new Palestinian terror group called the Lion’s Den operates around Nablus, Jericho, and Jenin. The absolute necessity for the IDF to be on high alert and  ready to defend the nation and its people cannot be understated. Hamas, the Gaza terror government, has already maintained its foothold in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

Israel’s enemies—both internal and external—pose a serious threat to the continual survival of the Jewish nation and her people. Its enemies rejoice as they watch Israel’s intensified internal strife and conflict. That reality, joined by an upsurge of anti-Semitism worldwide, means Israel faces an alarming convergence of problems.

And there is more. Israel prides itself in its treatment of Christians—as being the safest place for them to thrive. However, church leaders in Jerusalem’s Old City are troubled by growing incidents in their houses of worship and elsewhere. In February, an American Jewish tourist vandalized a statue of Jesus in Jerusalem’s Church of the Flagellation. An Armenian priest was spit upon. “Death to Christians” was sprayed on the wall of a monastery and two Jewish teens damaged 28 tombstones at the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery. Ahead of Holy Week, Anglican, Armenian, Catholic, Orthodox, and other worshippers appealed to the government to ensure the safety for all Christian observances with the huge crowds of pilgrims streaming into Israel.

Clearly, Israel is undergoing a time of immense pressure and crushing. Now, in Holy Week 2023, it is a reminder that Jesus Himself underwent a crushing for us in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago. After finishing His last Passover supper, Jesus and His eleven disciples walked to Gethsemane in the darkness. “Gethsemane” combines two Hebrew words, Gat and Shmanim, defined as “the place where olive oil is pressed”—the “Garden of the Olive Press.”

In Jesus’ day, Gethsemane was a well-known location where presses made of stone crushed the olives. The larger presses included stones suspended with ropes from wooden crossbeams—some weighing up to a ton. The pulp underwent crushing until the precious commodity emptied into clay jars used for cooking, anointing oil, and Temple lamps.

Isaiah 53:5 foretold, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.” Like the wooden crossbeams of the olive presses, our Savior Jesus hung on the wooden beams of the cross crushed under the incalculable weight of our sins. Jesus bore a burden that only He in the history of the world confronted. He gave and sacrificed His life for all people for all time, producing the precious oil and blood of our redemption. 

Following Jesus from the Garden of the Olive Press into the traumatic, violent night, recall what He said to the religious leaders: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). Despite the fact that Jesus was Jewish in His humanity, that His disciples were Jewish, and that the early church was composed mostly of Jews, Jews are blamed for “killing Jesus.” This accusation has led to centuries of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, which in effect ignores God’s redemptive plan of salvation. Remember, Jesus said, “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” No one could stop God’s redemptive plan!

Knowing more about Gethsemane and Jesus’ identification with the olive presses is another dimension about Jesus being crushed for us! During our Holy Week, let us agree that we must increase our prayers on Israel’s behalf, not because it is perfect, for no nation or persons are perfect. Yet, we do it because we believe in a perfect Jewish Savior who loves Israel and each of us unconditionally.

Our CBN Israel team encourages you, your families, and friends to have a glorious Resurrection Day remembering the eternal hope we have in our Lord Jesus! May you rejoice remembering that God’s Perfect Lamb perfected John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

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

• Pray fervently for the peace of Jerusalem as instructed in Psalm 122. 
• Pray for wise decisions from Prime Minister Netanyahu and all Israeli leaders.
• Pray for restored unity in the Israeli military and among all Israelis.
• Pray with thanks for Israel’s endless contributions to our world.
• Pray that Israel’s enemies will not take advantage of the current chaos.

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.

For over a decade, CBN Israel has hosted a special Passover dinner for single-parent families, widows, and families in crisis. These events are offered in various locations all over the country.

Through these Passover gatherings, friends like you are making it possible to provide families with a quality dinner as well as a meaningful time of fellowship. At the culmination of the evening, each family is blessed with a holiday package and food vouchers.

Thanks to caring donors, the individuals and families who attend are reminded that they are not forgotten—and they are not alone. These holiday events also enable CBN Israel to maintain contact with each household in order to continually assess the needs and offer basic assistance. 

“CBN Israel has been giving me help and support for over a decade—since my two children were babies,” said one single mom. “It makes me so happy that you care about us—both during holidays like Passover and all throughout the year. I cannot thank you enough!”

Another woman shared, “I am a new immigrant in Israel without any family or relatives. I am so grateful that you invite us to come celebrate Passover and other holidays with CBN Israel. You not only welcome us with dinner and hospitality; you also give me food vouchers so that I can afford to buy food and other essentials for my kids. Thank you!”

And your gift can be a blessing to many others in need across the Holy Land—with food, shelter, financial assistance, job training, and more. Thank you so much!

As the cries for help increase, your support is crucial. You can offer a lifeline to Holocaust survivors, immigrants, single mothers, and terror victims.

GIVE TODAY

By Julie Stahl

“The LORD’s Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the next day, the fifteenth day of the month, you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the LORD continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly. For seven days you must present special gifts to the LORD. On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly” (Leviticus 23:5-8).

It was the night before freedom. All of the Israelites were huddled in their homes. They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Moses had conveyed God’s instructions to kill a lamb for each household and then put the blood on the door posts of their homes. The Israelites were also commanded to roast the lamb and eat it—not leaving their homes until morning. That night, they waited in anticipation to see what would happen.

God struck the firstborn of every Egyptian home all the way up to Pharoh’s household that first Passover night, as the angel of death “passed over” the homes of the Israelites. The cry must have been agonizing, but the next day after 10 plagues and 400 years of slavery, the Israelites were finally free to leave Egypt under the leadership of Moses!

That’s the Biblical story of the Exodus, which is commemorated each year during Passover. In Exodus 13:8, God commanded the Jewish people to recount the story to their children year after year and to eat unleavened bread or what the Bible calls the bread of affliction for seven days.

That’s what we call matzah (“unleavened bread”) today. Even though it’s made with flour (and no leavening agents), it must be mixed, rolled and shaped, and baked within 18 minutes to inhibit the rising.

For thousands of years, the Jewish people have told the story from the book of Exodus on the eve of Passover, “the fourteenth day of the first month” (Leviticus 23:5) in a special meal with symbolic food called a Seder, which means “order” in Hebrew. There are many traditions from all over the world, but the basic story is the same—God’s miraculous deliverance of the Jewish people against all odds.

Rabbi Levi Welton said that Passover, like all Jewish holidays, has a spiritual theme with applications for each person at any time.

“On Passover, the theme is freeing oneself from ‘personal slavery’ or self-limiting beliefs and transmitting a Jewish identity to the next generation. As the Talmud states in Tractate Pesachim 116b, ‘In each and every generation, a person is obligated to regard himself as though he actually left Egypt,’” says Welton.

Prior to Passover, Jewish people around the world remove all leaven from their homes. Varying traditions define leaven differently, but in general, it means that all bread, crackers, cake, cookies, noodles, and anything made with a leavening agent or flour are removed from the house. Many Jewish people even search every nook and cranny to make sure that not even a crumb remains.

At the Seder, certain foods are placed on a Seder plate to symbolize parts of the story. A shank bone represents the sacrifice of the Passover lamb; an egg represents the cycle of life; maror (usually horseradish) symbolizes the bitterness of slavery; haroset (a sweet paste made of apples or dates) symbolizes the straw/mortar used to make the bricks in Egypt; and karpas (parsley or a vegetable) symbolize springtime and is dipped in salt water to symbolize the tears of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt; and matzah (“unleavened bread”) is also included on the table in a pouch or napkin.

Christians find deep meaning in celebrating the Passover Seder. Jesus’ Last Supper was actually a Passover meal, and the bread that He blessed and broke saying, “take this and eat it, for this is my body” was unleavened bread (Matthew 26:26).

Because of Jesus’ words during the Last Supper, many Christians to this day take communion with matzah bread. Some even say that its designs, with stripes and piercings, are symbolic of the suffering God’s Messiah, Jesus, endured when He was beaten and crucified. The fact that matzah is unleavened also represents His sinlessness.

Christians believe that Jesus was our Passover Lamb, sacrificed for the sins of the world. Many say that the cup Jesus raised was actually the third of four cups of wine that were drunk during Passover meals. The third cup is known as the Cup of Redemption, which fits perfectly with Jesus’ words: “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many” (Matthew 26:27-28). 

Passover and Resurrection Sunday (Easter) often occur the same time in March or April. Passover is celebrated for eight days, though only the first and last days are full holidays. In Israel, the Seder meal takes place on the first eve only and elsewhere in the world, Jewish people celebrate two consecutive Seder nights.

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 Marc Turnage

Mark and Matthew identify Gethsemane as the place Jesus went with His disciples after eating the Passover within the city of Jerusalem, prior to His arrest (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32). These two Gospels provide the only mention of this place within ancient sources; thus, pinpointing its location proves difficult. 

The Gospel of Luke describes Jesus going to the Mount of Olives (22:39), which sits to the east, across the Kidron Valley (see John 18:1), from the city of Jerusalem. Passover pilgrims would consume their Passover meal, which was the lamb offered in the Temple, within the walled city of Jerusalem, but they stayed outside of the city on the surrounding hillsides. 

The name Gethsemane comes from the Hebrew, gat and shemen. A gat typically refers to a “wine press,” but it can refer, as a more generic term, to any pressing installation. Shemen refers to olive oil, which the olive groves on the mountain gave it the name, Mount of Olives. Thus, Gethsemane most likely refers to an olive oil pressing installation. 

Pilgrims to Jerusalem today can visit four different sites, which Christian traditions (Roman Catholic, Russian, Armenian, and Greek Orthodox) have identified as Gethsemane. All reside on the Mount of Olives. The traditions of these sites only date back at the earliest to the fourth century A.D. The most popular is the Roman Catholic site, maintained by the Franciscans. 

This site contains a church built by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and a grove of olive trees. Some of these trees are several hundred years old, but they do not, as some claim, date back to the time of Jesus. The first century Jewish historian Josephus relates how the Roman army that laid siege to Jerusalem cut down all the trees in the vicinity to build their siege engines (War 6:1). 

While we do not know the precise location of Gethsemane, its location on the Mount of Olives offers an important geographic window into Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. The Mount of Olives sits on the eastern watershed of the Jerusalem hill country. Beyond the mountain’s ridge, the land drastically falls away toward the Jordan River Valley and the area of Jericho and the Dead Sea. This wilderness served bandits and refugees for centuries as it provided natural concealment to those hiding from authorities. 

When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, He physically stood at the door of escape. He could have walked less than an hour and disappeared from Caiaphas and Pilate. This heightens the tension of His prayer, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). In that moment, He turned His back on the door of escape to face God’s will that lay in front of Him, the cross. 

This is something that can only be truly appreciated when one stands in this geography and realizes the choices that lay in front of Jesus: how easily He could have saved Himself, yet He submitted to His Father’s will.

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.

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