Ben Gvir & Netanyahu
Temple Mount Prayer with Ben Gvir
Nearly 3000 Jews ascended the Temple Mount to pray on Tisha B’Av!
I love national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir's resolve:
The policy of the Minister of National Security is to allow freedom of worship for Jews everywhere, including the Temple Mount
This was of course instantly condemned by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, sadly by the U.S., and reliably by the E.U. and U.N. Unfortunately it was also condemned by Netanyahu.
I am thankful for Netanyahu and his refusal to pull defeat from the jaws of victory over Hamas, even when the defense minister makes statements to the contrary:
Gallant is bound by ‘absolute victory,’ too.
I emphasized that I am resolved to achieve the war aims and keep on fighting until Hamas is dismantled and the hostages returned.
But maybe there are some weaknesses shared with the Benjamite first King of Israel.
Netanyahu and Saul
Back in January, Benjamin Netanyahu was asked to name his favorite biblical character: "King Saul. He was tragic."
The origin of Benjamin Netanyahu's father's surname (Mileikowsky, before moving to Israel) may be uncertain, but first names have sometimes been used as a reminder of family origins. Benjamin Netanyahu's older brother was Jonathan, another Benjamite name. Whether or not the Netanyahu family is from the Tribe of Benjamin, since at least 2015 (quote below) rabbis have made Benjamite comparisons to Bibi:
In the scroll of Esther, Mordechai is referred to as ‘a man from Benjamin.’ It is interesting to note that thousands of years ago, Mordechai stood up against a Persian leader (Haman) who wanted to annihilate the entire Jewish people. Today, Bibi is taking a strong stand against Iran, modern day Persia, as he attempts to defend Israel and the entire Jewish people from atomic annihilation.
Fast forward to the present, Benjamin Netanyahu now opposes not only Persia but also Hama[s], the agent of Persia! (Haman... Herod... Hitler... Hamas?)
And what about Amalek? On October 28th, as Israel began their campaign against Hamas, Netanyahu quoted from Deuteronomy 25:17:
'Remember what Amalek did to you'. We remember and we fight.
King Saul completed the destruction of most of Amalek, but failed in sparing their king, Agag:
And he took Agag the king of Amalek alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and oxen
(1 Sam. 15:8-9)
Who was a descendant of Agag? None other than Haman! (Hamas?)
Interestingly, another rabbi considers Netanyahu a modern Jonathan (son of Saul) who fights Amalek before Messiah appears:
Just as Jonathan fought the Amalekites before David, in the end-of-days it will be the function of Moshiach ben Yosef, or the reincarnation of Jonathan, to battle Amalek before Moshiach ben David
The article by Rabbi Elie Mischel (linked earlier) compares modern mistakes to kings Saul's mistakes:
...a leader of Israel who rejects the word of God in favor of his own ideas is destined to suffer the fate of Saul.
...the Bible is clear. Israel must resettle the Gaza Strip, for it is part of God’s promised land as delineated in the Book of Joshua: “…Gaza with her towns and her villages, to the river of Egypt” (Joshua 15:47). In 2005, the Israeli government ignored God’s command, arrogantly uprooting all of the Jewish settlements in Gaza. The result – 18 years of non-stop terrorism and rocket attacks, followed by the horrific slaughter of October 7 – was disastrous. Will Israel make the same mistake again today?
Saul became Paul!
Isn't it interesting that the Apostle Paul was a Benjamite? And who was he before receiving a new heart, a heart of flesh, following the Messiah's appearing in sky? He was a devout orthodox Jew who saw Jesus' appearance while on the way into a conflict zone in Damascus, Syria?!?! Then another 3 (maybe 3.5?) days of darkness passed before the scales fully fell from his eyes! Isn't that interesting!
“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished. “As I made my journey and came close to Damascus, about noon suddenly a great light shone around me from the sky. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.’
(Acts 22:3-6)
Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them afraid. The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says Yahweh of Armies. “It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean. It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim. Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel. In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
(Isaiah 17:1-7)
After Saul, David!
So many events are lining up in the Middle East and the world is just as Jesus said it would be at the time of the end.
Netanyahu could easily be the last prime minister of Israel before Jesus comes back, and also David!
In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.
(Amos 9:11-12)
I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd. I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.
(Ez. 34:23-24)
1 But in the latter days,
it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains,
and it will be exalted above the hills;
and peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will go and say,
“Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
and to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the law will go out of Zion,
and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem;
3 and he will judge between many peoples,
and will decide concerning strong nations afar off.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
neither will they learn war any more.
4 But every man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree.
No one will make them afraid,
for the mouth of Yahweh of Armies has spoken. 5 Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods,
but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.
(Micah 4:1-5)
In case you were wondering, it's true, the end is near! Are you ready? Are you trusting in the Lamb of God sacrificed on the cross to save you from your sins, or relying on your own good works? We have all sinned and broken God's law. Don't delay in admitting your sin and giving your life to Jesus!
Salvation ABCs
Or, has He already appeared, and you've been left behind?
For Those Left Behind
