Archaeologists Find Rare 'Pure to God' Temple Seal - CBN

 

Archaeologists Find Rare 'Pure to God' Temple Seal

 

Sunday, January 01, 2012

 

by Julie Stahl

CBN News Mideast Correspondent

CBN News is a national/international, nonprofit news organization that provides programming by cable, satellite, and the Internet, 24-hours a day.

 

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Archaeologists digging near the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City unearthed a rare find used in the daily work of the ancient Jewish Temple.

 

The small clay seal is inscribed with two words in Aramaic meaning "pure to God." "This is the first time we got [found] something that belongs to God, belongs to something that came from the temple," Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Eli Shukron said.

Archaeologists say the seal is the first archaeological evidence of the administrative workings of the Second Temple. That temple was built around 500 BC after Solomon's Temple had been destroyed. Experts believe temple officials used the seal as a stamp to indicate that an object, such as oil or an animal for sacrifice, was approved for ritual use in the temple.

Archaeologists found this latest treasure, dated between the first century BC and 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, while excavating near the foundations of the Western Wall. "It's very, very exciting to find something that priests use in the temple before 2,000 years -- something that belong[ed] to the temple, and this is the first time we found a thing like that -- ever," Shukron said.

Layers of soil covered the giant foundation stones of the outer wall of the Temple Mount. During the time of the Second Temple, the main street of Jerusalem would have been above it…including the years when Jesus walked the city.

Shukron said all the dirt and debris from the area is meticulously sifted for artifacts.

"And the dirt that covered this stone from here we took it to the sifting and then we sifted and found the seal from this area, from this area that we stand," he explained.

Archaeologists are not allowed to excavate on the Temple Mount itself because of political and religious sensitivities. It currently houses the Muslim mosques and shrines. Not long ago, archaeologists found coins in a ritual bath under the nearby Western Wall, which indicated that King Herod the Great, builder of Jerusalem, didn't finish the Western Wall himself before he died.  --Published Dec. 29, 2011.

Who Was the Fourth Man? - Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

                         Dr. Bill at his Jerusalem desk

Who was the Fourth Man?

In our daily devotions recently my wife and I were reading Judges, chapter thirteen -- the story of Samson’s conception.  Samson’s parents were confronted by the Angel of the LORD who told them that Samson would be a special child – a Nazarite in English or Naziyr in Hebrew – ie, a consecrated person. 

What particularly struck me about this part of the story were verses 17 and 18 -- Samson’s father asks the Angel “What is your name?”  The Angel’s reply was enigmatic, to say the least.  In most English translations the Angel answers, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

I went back to the original Hebrew to see if I could make any more sense out of that answer, and discovered something rather amazing.  In Hebrew, the word “wonderful” is pil’iy.  It means “beyond understanding” or “incomprehensible”.  It is the same word used in Isaiah 9:6 describing the Messiah.  “For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Is it possible that this Angel of the LORD was actually a theophany – a visual manifestation of Yeshua before the Incarnation?

I think we will all agree that Yeshua has always been alive and co-existent with the Father.  Numerous scriptures in the Tanak and the B’rit Chadeshah clearly make that point.  These include Micah 5:2; Hebrews 1:1-2; John 10:30; John 1:1-4; John 8:58; and Luke 10:17 to name a few.  Since He has always been in existence, are there times when He manifested Himself as a man in the Tanak?  I believe there is compelling evidence that He may have done so on at least three other occasions.  Let’s look at them.

 Melchizedek.  “And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God most high.  And he [Melchizedek] blessed him [Abram] and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of Heaven and Earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand’.  And he [Abram] gave him [Melchizedek] a tenth of all he had.” (Genesis 14:18-20)

            I want to point out three things about this story.  First – the name Melchizedek comes from two root Hebrew words – Melek (King) and Tzedek (Righteousness).  Melchizedek literally means “King of Righteousness”.  He is also called “King of Salem” – Hebrew: Melek Shalam – which means King of Peace; a title highly reminiscent of the Messiah -- Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace).

            Secondly, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews suggests very strongly that this person named Melchizedek has been present before the beginning of Creation.  “…without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually (Hebrews 7:3).  Moreover, Hebrews also ties this interesting point into the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 110:4, where it says of the Messiah “Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

            Thirdly, we are told that Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe, and in return received his blessing.  (Genesis 14:19-20)  To Whom to we give the tithe?  To God, of course!  From Whom do we receive a blessing?  Again, only from God!  Is it possible that this Melchizedek – King of Righteousness and King of Peace – was actually a theophany of Yeshua?

            Commander of the LORD’s Host.  “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?"  So He said, "No, but as Commander of the host of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"   Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.”  (Joshua 5:13-15)  There are several points in this narrative that are worthy of notice.

            First, the “man” calls Himself the Commander (some translations say “Captain”) of the Host of the LORD.  In Hebrew the words are “Sar Tzevah Yahweh” – literally “the Prince of the Army of Yahweh”.  The title “Prince” (or Sar in Hebrew) is the same title which Isaiah used for the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6 as we saw above.

            Secondly, we are told that Joshua fell on his face and worshiped Him.  Whoever this person was, He could not have been an angel, because angels do not allow humans to worship them.  You will recall that in the Apocalypse the Apostle John at one point fell on his face to worship an angel.  The angel immediately forbade him from doing so saying, “Don’t do that.  I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers the prophets.  Worship God alone.”  (Rev. 22:8-9)

            Thirdly, the “man” not only allowed Joshua’s worship, but added that Joshua was in the Divine Presence.  He said to Joshua, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.”  These are essentially the same words God Himself spoke to Moses from the burning bush.  Is it possible that the “man” standing before Joshua was none other than Yeshua, the fullness of the Godhead in visible form, the Sar Shalom, the Prince of the Army of the LORD?

            The Fourth Man.  Most of us are familiar with the story in Daniel of three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who, because they refused to bow to the golden idol, were cast into a flaming furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.  The key passage of the story is found in Daniel 3:24-25 -- Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king."  "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." (KJV)

            First, let me make this point.  Several English translations render the last three words of this passage as “son of the gods”; for example, the NIV, ESV, NASB, RSV, and others.  Whatever one may think of the old KJV, in this instance the translators got it right.   Let me explain. This story in Daniel is written in Aramaic – an ancient Semitic language and a predecessor of Arabic and Hebrew. 

In Aramaic the last phrase is:  בַר־אֱלָהִֽין  (bar-elehon).

“Bar”, of course, means “son” – such as in the familiar term “bar mitzvah” (son of the covenant).  “Elehon” is a form of the word “elah” which means “God”.  It is a singular noun, not a plural one.  (The plural form of God is “elohiym” such as is found in Genesis 1:1).  Technically, therefore, the correct translation would be “son of God” or “son of the god”.  The Aramaic words “elah” or “elehon” appear 95 times in Scripture, and in 79 of those instances, the word clearly refers to the God of Israel.  In fact, in Daniel 3:28 when Nebuchadnezzar is extolling the God of Israel, it is the word “elehon” that he uses.

One final comment –  In Daniel 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar, referring to the ordeal in the fiery furnace, says that “God…sent His angel and delivered His servants…”.  The Aramaic word used here for “angel” is “mal’ak” – and means “one sent”, “a messenger”, or “an ambassador”.   Moreover, I find it extremely interesting that the Aramaic word “mal’ak” corresponds with Strong’s Hebrew word H4397 “mal’ach”, because one of the meanings of “mal’ach” is “a theophanic messenger ” – ie, a theophany!!

Who was the Fourth Man in the fiery furnace?  Was He the same Man who appeared to Abraham as Melchizedek?  Was He the same Man who told Joshua that He was the Captain of the Hosts of the LORD?  And finally, could He have been the same Man who appeared to the parents of Sampson and told them that His Name was “Wonderful”?

I report.  You decide.  J

Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

            Asheville, North Carolina

The Forsaken Promise (trailer)

Ahava Love Letter - "The Initiator"

“The Initiator”      “…which way He did initiate for us — new and living…” (Heb. 10:20 Young’s Literal Translation)

Dear family of friends,

When I consider the ways and means of the Lord, one aspect I have come to appreciate is to know Him as The Initiator – the One who sets things in progress. Or better yet, the One who sets us in progress.

Have you ever felt, like I do at times, that things in your spiritual life have come to a standstill, or you have come to a crossroads? Usually when I come to this point, my natural instinct is to try and make something happen. And then out of frustration I try to keep “driving down the road”, for after all, you “can’t steer a parked car.”

When I get fearful of things not seemingly moving, or I am not  “working for the Lord” as I should be, or things are a bit too quiet for me, I tend to get anxious, and wonder if the Lord still knows I am here. I start feeling guilty of “just sitting still while nothing is progressing.” When the time has come where one season, or even era has ended, and the current transition is a slow train coming, it is at this point where I must still try to not make things happen, in my own flesh, but must continue to wait on the Lord. He is The Initiator. He is the One whom I need to let open the next door, and direct me to the next place or location I am to inhabit.

When Abraham got anxious for the promised son, and proceeded to help the Lord out, Ishmael resulted. When Moses used his own physical strength to “save” the Hebrews, he ended up in the desert for 40 years. When Saul got anxious for Samuel to arrive and perform the sacrifice, he didn’t wait, and ended up losing his kingship (1 Samuel 15). Others in Scripture took it upon themselves to try and make things happen, and they missed the Lord. Not fun.

Those who chose to wait upon the Lord, and let Him lead, experienced different results. David held his hand when he could have killed Saul in the cave, and the Lord’s plan to raise him up as king came to fruitation. When Joseph was held in Pharoah’s prison, and served even in that almost forgotten place, the time finally did come for the Lord’s timing and release. Joseph became second in command over all the country. Even Paul had three years in Arabia and Damascus (Gal. 1:17,18) before he went to consult with the apostles in Jerusalem. Soon thereafter his own apostolic mission went forth.

As for me, I have initiated too many projects, even those which seemed good at the time, and yet later found myself wondering where I missed it. At this critical point in my life, I am waiting for Him to initiate the next move. Once I hear, and then obey, it will be good.

May this year be the same for you.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a tax-deductible monthly charitable gift of $5-$25 each month to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, NC 28134      

Ahava Love Letter #39   Date: Jan. 1, in the year of our Lord 2012    



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Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah

Love For His People, Inc.    12120 Woodside Falls Rd. 

Pineville, NC 28134     704-806-6934 

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to our family of friends!

We are grateful to be able to send this year end letter to you, sharing with our family and friends the good year  the Lord has blessed us with. As the year of 2011 draws to an end, our first full year of growing the ministry of Love For His People,  we treasure what the Lord has accomplished. It is because of your friendship, support and encouragement along the way.  As I thought about what the Lord’s provision and direction has brought, my heart is most appreciative. We give thanks, while continuing in the path He has been leading us on. Without the Holy Spirit’s presence, and yours in our midst, I know the trek would have been less fruitful. Let me share some of the moments and events that Laurie and I participated in, and the work of the ministry that we were able to participate in, to bring encouragement and strengthening to others.

Beginning in January, Laurie and I began hosting the newly formed Friday night meetings called Beit Tikvah, as part of Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC. These continue to be a time to bless Israel, learn of our Jewish roots, and share in the Shabbat candle lighting. Leading Messianic style song worship, most often with the help of Little Big Eagle, Mary and Little Deer, and others, was a joy. Senior Pastor Peter Wyns shared regularly on our Jewish roots and our need in standing solidly with Israel. We are most grateful for our heritage given to us as believers, through the Lord’s chosen people.

In February we attended the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) annual convention in Nashville. Our greatest joy was being invited to the Israel Ministry of Tourism breakfast. Later that night we further showed support for Israel by attending the annual ministry meeting of Proclamation to the Nations, headed by Laurie Cardoza Moore, of Nashville. Our desire continues to grow stronger to stand with those who stand with the nation of Israel, and the Jewish people worldwide. That is one of the major thrusts of the ministry entrusted to us.

Three times this year Laurie and I led worship for the quarterly assemblies of Highway to Zion, here in Charlotte, NC, headed by our good friend Cathy Hargett (also a director on our LFHP ministry board). Additionally we greatly enjoyed our times with our dear friends of Beit Yeshua in Lincolnton, NC. Curtis Loftin (another director on our board ), whom we have grown to very much appreciate over the past five years, his wife Carolyn, along with the Williams, the Miles and the Anthonys, regularly included us in their feast celebrations. I shared a brief word on how to practically support Israel, at their annual “Honoring Israel Night” in May.

Later that month we joined in the March of Remembrance, annually commemorating Holocaust victims, at the China Grove, NC gathering. Headed worldwide by Messianic song artist Ted Pearce, the local public display of support was put together by our friend Rabbi Yossi Wentz and the Messianic congregation of Beit Shofarot.

I personally enjoyed writing the 30 issues of the Ahava Love Newsletter this year, shared through e-mail, on our blog site http://loveforhispeople.blogspot.com/,  and my personal Facebook note pages. It also is a regular posting on our Cross TV web page  (http://www.cross.tv/love_for_his_people_ministries).  Included in each edition was my Ahava Love Letter and an article by another board member, Dr. Bill Duerfeldt, from Asheville, NC (when he and his wife Cindi are not volunteering in Jerusalem!)

With a major portion of the generous donations of over $17,000 received this calendar year, we were able to give monthly support to a Messianic Jewish family of five in Jerusalem.  Also serving in Jerusalem, Jim and Linda, volunteers on the staff of Christian Friends of Israel, received monthly support through us for their work in The Land. Pastor John Ebenezer of Hyderabad, India, beginning his new orphanage called Lighthouse Center India, was blessed through the gracious contributions of our regular donors. Orphans in Liberia and Jewish kindergartens in southern Jerusalem were also impacted this past year, as together we extended His loving embrace.

Thank you for your ongoing support. We simply cannot extend His love for His people without you in 2012. We love you!

Shalom and ahava,

Steve & Laurie Martin

israel today | Israel Radio Plays Messianic Music! - israel today (Aviel Schneider )

Paul Wilbur

It was Friday evening, and my wife came to me with an urgent message: “Listen! 88FM is playing the Messianic worship song Kadosh!” Indeed, just 30 minutes before the beginning of the Sabbath, Israeli broadcaster Yehudit Ben Yaakov was playing this Hebrew song on her weekly radio program Kan, Sham U’Be’Chol Makom (“Here, There and Everywhere”).

American Messianic Jewish worship leader Paul Wilbur belted out the words: “Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Ado- nai Elohim tsva’ot, asher hayah, ve’hoveh ve’yavo”—“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts, who was and who is and who is to come” (Revelation 4:8). “What a holy song, and what an in- spiring way to welcome the Sabbath!” declared Ben Yaakov. “What a great song by Paul Wilbur.”

She was so excited that she played the song Kadosh again, this time by a singer called Suzanne. How amazing that on a typical Sabbath eve, Messianic worship music was wafting over the airwaves of state-run Israel Radio, which owns 88FM.

The same weekend, the weekly newspaper Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) ran a full-page ad featuring the guest house at Yad HaShmona, a Messianic community near Jerusalem. Yad HaShmona was promoting its facilities for weddings and other festivities in the ideal surroundings of biblical gardens and the pastoral Judean hills.

Although this moshav (rural community) is well known throughout the Land as being run by believers in Yeshua (Jesus), it has the freedom to advertise in an Israeli newspaper.

Not only that, but in the same paper, just two pages before, there was a double-page spread from an opponent of the Messianic Jews—the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Shas was advertising a mega-conference at the Ramat Gan soccer stadium near Tel Aviv, featuring the party’s spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. It is a kind of Jewish “revival” similar to those in Christian circles, but with Hebrew worship songs and rabbis preaching to the crowds. Israeli media outlets, whether TV, radio or newspapers, provide an open platform for both Messianic and Orthodox Jews.

In the same vein, a close friend of mine who is a Jewish believer in Yeshua said that a while back, ultra-Orthodox Jews hung defamatory posters around his neighborhood, showing his picture and stating: “DANGER MISSIONARIES!” Yet his Orthodox rabbi was not disturbed in the least; on the contrary, he even asked him to take on a more important role in the synagogue.

“It’s amazing how these things can boomerang!” he said. “I was sure I’d be thrown out of the synagogue because of those posters.”

While Messianic Jews face an uphill climb toward acceptance in Israel, not everything is negative. It is true that Jews who believe in Yeshua, as well as Christians, are often targeted by the ultra-Orthodox anti-missionary organization Yad LeAchim, which fears that Jewish souls will be lost to Christi- anity. This is largely a response to the bloody history of Church persecution of the Jewish people over the centuries; Jews were massacred in the name of Jesus, but now they are supposed to be redeemed by the same name. This is difficult for the Jewish people to accept.

Nevertheless, Messianic Jews are making inroads in the Jewish state and enjoy more tolerance and freedom than ever before.

israel today Israel Radio Plays Messianic Music! - israel today

Ahava Love Letter - "Courageous & Honorable"

“Courageous & Honorable” “Hold firmly to your faith. Have courage and be strong.” (1 Cor. 16:13)

Dear family of friends,

There is a movie that recently came out called Courageous. I heard it is good. I am sure we will see it once it is on DVD. (Spending $20 for the big screen is a chunk, and hard to get out of my wallet. Plus Laurie always likes popcorn (she buys that), so there would go the monthly entertainment budget in one night. I was always taught not to spend your money all at once, in one place.)

But this letter isn’t about the movie. It is about ones that I know who I consider courageous, and honorable. It is about those I want to imitate, and emulate. These are ones that I know now, who are out there doing something to bless those they are sent to, and bring further fulfillment in others. Let me share two of those.

Morris Ruddick is an author, businessman, entrepreneur, teacher, and more (http://strategic-initiatives.org/index.htm). I first met him through one of his first books entitled “God’s Economy – Israel & The Nations”. That was about 2005. Then I really met him in person this past February, 2011, at a local conference when he was a speaker. Morris, about 68 or so, travels to Vietnam, India, Israel and other locations, sharing the dynamics of the Lord’s economic principles, based on the Word of God. I can only imagine doing that when I am 11 years older. He encourages me in my quest to hear and obey.

John Ebenezer of Hyderabad, India reminds me of the Energizer bunny. He keeps going and going and going. Amazing. When he gave me his birth date this year, I realized he was 70. I was further amazed. And especially after being with him for a week in his homeland in 2010. Since we began supporting his ministry, in 2004, to the “lowest  of the lowest class” among the Hindus and Moslems, and then being with him on the ground for a week in 2010, makes one stop and see what can be done, with little in hand. Meeting the Christian pastors and their congregations he continually teaches, encourages, and presses onward into the goodness of the Lord shows that the “proof is in the pudding.” (For a short video clip: John Ebenezer - India )

When one longs to be “on the field” and do the stuff out there, the Lord brings encouragement as we see what they continue to do. Our part may be to pray, write words of hope, and give support as provision is made available. We are doing that through Love For His People.

I hope you have those who are encouraging you, by the way they press forward, through all obstacles. We are called to make a difference and bring the Lord’s abounding goodness. I can attest to ones who do, with courage and honor.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a monthly charitable gift of $5-$25 each month to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2011 Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, NC 28134      

E-mail: ahavaloveletters@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin  and  Love For His People       

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogger: http://loveforhispeople.blogspot.com/         YouTube: loveforhispeopleinc

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.  Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Ahava Love Letter #38   Date: Nov. 18, in the year of our Lord 2011    

Steve Martin with John Ebenzer in India 2010

   

 Morris Ruddick

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Full story:  israel today Why the Arab Spring is becoming an Islamic Winter - israel today

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"Dream Dreams" - Ahava Love Letter

Ahava Love Letter

“Dream Dreams”  “…your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts. 2:17 NKJV

Dear family of friends,

Dreams. I believe in dreams that are given to us by the Lord. As the word says in these last days, “young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” (Ok, so at 57 and counting I may be “mid-old” by the world’s standards. So I qualify.)

There are a few books out on the subject of dreams, by different Christian authors, describing the meaning of those objects, people, events that we are given in dreams. I have read at least two or three, wanting to further understand these communications from the Giver of Dreams. As the Lord speaks, and as we search Him out for understanding, it does give us further insight into His plans and purposes for our lives. Maybe a word for another too.

Two dreams that I remember from this week involved a building in one and some travel in another. In the first dream I was with a local pastor, inspecting a large building, with the objective in mind to renovate it for meeting space. I remember it was very oblong, which at first didn’t seem to be the best suitable facility for a large gathering. But at the same time it was what we believed the Lord had provided. I recall the wallpaper was going to have to be taken down, and some further re-decorating would be necessary. That didn’t seem to pose a major problem to us.

A stream was flowing through one end of the building. A bit odd, but yet it gave a unique feel to the place. We were happy with that. (Do you know of a building that has a stream flowing through it?)

The other dream took place in England. I was with my oldest son. In this dream, he was about 10. I was traveling to another place, and had gotten on a “train without tracks” to get there. Upon arrival at our destination, the conductor wanted to charge me $100 (50 English pounds). Being I only had a total of $200 on me for the entire trip, I told him I couldn’t afford to pay that for just this portion of my journey. Then a friend of mine whom I knew from a ministry helped negotiate the price for a cheaper fare, and I was free to continue on. (I don’t remember what my son was doing back at the original depot. I am sure the Lord had something for him going on.)

What do these mean? I am not quite sure yet. Maybe there is an interpretation that someone will share. In the meantime, I hope you and I continue to have more dreams. I believe the Lord is increasing His communications to us, if we are willing to receive what He is saying.

Dream on!

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a monthly charitable gift of $5-$25 each month to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2011 Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, NC 28134      

E-mail: ahavaloveletters@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin  and  Love For His People       

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogger: http://loveforhispeople.blogspot.com/         YouTube: loveforhispeopleinc

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.  Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Ahava Love Letter #37   Date: Nov. 8, in the year of our Lord 2011    

What’s the big deal about a Palestinian State? - Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

What’s the big deal about a Palestinian State?

            A recent letter to the editor of the Portland Oregonian asked this question – “If Israel was created by a U.N. resolution, what’s the big deal about another U.N. resolution creating a Palestinian State?  This question reminds me of a famous quote by the 18/19th century philosopher  Georg Hegel -- “What history teaches us is that people…never learn anything from history...”

In point of fact, the Palestinians already have their own State and have had since 1922; but I’ll come back to that in a minute.  First, let’s take an abbreviated trip through history, and maybe – despite Hegel’s cynical remark -- we can learn something.

Prior to the Allied victory which ended World War I, all of the Levant (what is today Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel) as well as Egypt, Sudan, Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, and Armenia were part of the Ottoman Empire.  (It is important to understand that there were no independent “Palestinian Peoples” at this time, nor have their ever been.  All peoples living in the Levant -- whether Arabs, Jews, or Christians -- were “Palestinians” by definition.) 

During WW-I the Ottoman’s had aligned themselves with Germany in the pact called the “Ottoman-German Alliance”.  At the end of the war (1918) the Allies occupied Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire essentially collapsed.

Prior to the Allied victory, in 1917, Lord Balfour, Prime Minister of Great Britain wrote the now famous Balfour Declaration, which said – in part -- "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object…”

In an effort to fill the governmental vacuum caused by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Treaties of Sevres and Lausanne sought to chop up the remains of the Empire into several different zones of influence and control.  By 1923 this had resulted in Thrace going to Greece, the expansion of Armenia, the creation of Kurdistan, and the independence of Persia and Ottoman Turkey.  In addition, the French controlled Syria and Lebanon (the French Mandate) and the British controlled Iraq (the British Mandate for Mesopotamia) and Palestine (the British Mandate for Palestine).

In 1922, the British divided the Palestinian Mandate into two administrative areas.  East of the Jordan River this area of Palestine was called Trans-Jordan. Originally the plan called for the territory west of the Jordan to go to the Jews, and the Trans-Jordan would go to the Arabs.  Remember that Arabs, Jews, and Christians lived on both sides of the Jordan River at this time.  In that same year the League of Nations recognized Palestine Trans-Jordan as a state under the British Mandate, with Emir Abdullah as the titular ruler of the state.  (This was Abdullah’s reward from the British for working in league with Lawrence of Arabia in bringing about “the Great Arab Revolt” against Ottoman rule during WW-I.)   The country remained under British supervision until 1946, when the United Nations recognized the new Palestinian Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as an independent country, and Abdullah went from being Emir to becoming King.  Here then, was the birth of the Palestinian State; an independent nation which exists to this day!

However, during this same twenty six year period, on the west side of the Jordan River, the Mufti of Jerusalem was refashioned into the Grand Mufti of Palestine, and the office was held by one Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini.  In the 1920s and 1930s El-Hussenini actively opposed both the British rule in Palestine and the renewed Jewish Zionist immigration.  He instigated Jewish massacres in 1921 and again in 1929.  The Grand Mufti allied himself with the Germans during WW-2 and also opposed Emir Abdullah for his efforts to expand Trans-Jordan as the Palestinian state at the expense of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan River.  After the Second World War the struggles between Arabs and Jews continued, with the British – generally siding with the Arabs – caught in the middle of the escalating conflict.

By 1946 Great Britain had been dealing with nearly three decades of continual unrest and had decided to end the Mandate.  However, it was unclear what to do with the territory west of the Jordan River – now generally called “Palestine” – conveniently forgetting that Trans-Jordan / the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was also “Palestine”!  The British turned the “Question of Palestine” over to the United Nations and the eleven nation UNSCOP committee.  Despite the fact that the Palestinian Kingdom of Jordan already existed for the Arabs and that the Jews had originally been promised the territory west of the River, UNSCOP recommended two independent states – one Arab, one Jewish –  with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration.  On 29 November 1947 the U.N. General Assembly voted 33 to 13 (with 10 abstentions) in favor of the Partition Plan.  The Jewish Agency accepted the Partition.  The five Arab nations who were voting members at the time, unified under the League of Arab Nations, voted against the Partition, and refused to accept it.  Meanwhile, the British government announced that the Mandate would end at midnight on 14 May 1948.

On the afternoon of Friday, 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion announced the creation of the Jewish state, to be called Israel, effective at midnight following the end of the British Mandate.  The United States, the Soviet Union, and eleven other nations immediately recognized the new nation.  The Arab nations did not.  Within days the new nation of Israel was invaded by Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan.  Interestingly, the Jordanian troops were led by 38 British officers who resigned their commissions in the British army in order to fight for King Abdullah!

During those initial months of war in 1948 and 1949 – now known in Israel as the War of Independence – approximately 750,000 Arabs fled what is now Israel and entered surrounding Arab countries.  At the same time, about 600,000 Jews fled those same Arab countries and entered Israel.  The Jewish immigrants were immediately absorbed into Israeli society.  The Arab immigrants were placed in refugee camps and held as political pawns for decades.  The decaying remains of some of these despicable refugee camps – those which were under the control of Jordan between the 1949 Armistice and the 1967 Six Day War – can still be seen today in areas of Israel.  It was these camps which became the breeding grounds for terrorist organizations such as the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah.  But that’s another history lesson for another time.

So…what about the “Palestinians”?  Shouldn’t they have their own state?  In reality, they already do.  It’s called Jordan and it is more than three times the size of all the territory west of the Jordan River, both Israel proper and the “disputed territories” of the West Bank and Gaza combined.  And those are the facts!

Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

Asheville, NC