A Foolish Shepherd in Israel!
May 11, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Since Jerusalem became a cup of trembling to all the Arabs around her, I have been waiting a long time for a foolish Prime Minister shepherd to arise in Israel in the last days, prior to Israel being attacked by ten Islamic nations. A May 9th editorial from Haaretz indicates a crop of foolish shepherds to now be available as candidates for Prime Minister.
I have never been overly confident in my interpretation of Zechariah 11:15-17, so you will find nothing about it on our web site. In my early ministry, I believed it was fulfilled by Simon Bar Kokhba in 132-135 AD, but I could see the fulfillment might still be future, so I decided to not comment on it until events in Israel would give me some clue as to which way to go. I still am not certain which way to go, but because of the arrival of so many foolish shepherds in
Israel, as well as in our own country, I am leaning toward the opinion that the fulfillment of these verses is still future.
If you will study the life and times of Bar Kokhba, and the physical mutation of a part of their hand he required those who served him to perform, you will see why I am torn between two different interpretations of these verse.
Bible commentaries do differ on the interpretation of Zechariah 11:15-17 – Some indicate that the “foolish shepherd” found there is the end time antichrist, saying he must be a Jew, while others say it was Simon Bar Kokhba, who was defeated by the Roman Hadrian in the 132-135 AD Jewish Rebellion. The correlation of time with the context makes me think it is still future, so I will just wait and see if a foolish shepherd eventually shows up out of the present crop. As I recall, Bar Kokhba was the Jewish Prince of
Israel for about three years.
Zechariah 11:15-17 – And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. [16] For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
[17] Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth
the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. [1] The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth
forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. [2] Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
Begin Haaretz Editorial
Contempt for the Public
May 9, 2007
By Haaretz Editorial
Following months of anticipation for the Winograd Committee’s interim report on the government’s performance during the Second Lebanon War, the public is now awaiting the final report.
Since the end of the war, the public has come to the conclusion that its government cannot be trusted to manage future crises successfully. Nonetheless, there is no majority in the Knesset to translate this sense of disquiet into deeds.
To date, the prime minister has not yet bothered to respond personally before lawmakers to the findings of the Winograd report.
Instead, he sent Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Interior Minister Roni Bar-On to pledge “rectification,” the exact nature of which remains a mystery.
This exercise in marketing is designed to give the impression that the government of failure is a thing of the past, to be replaced with a government of repair. To make for a more authentic impression, the powers that be appointed former chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak to head a new sub-committee to handle implementation of the reforms.
This is indicative of the determination of the Prime Minister’s Office to “sell” change at any cost – a stance that is somewhat contemptuous of the public, comprised of the very home front that was neglected in the previous war, and will probably be neglected in the next.
The current Knesset is full of lawmakers who have no political goals, or any other goals for that matter. They are an arbitrarily assembled group that serves only to fill candidate lists of parties devoid of institutions.
They are uncommitted to any well-defined constituency.
They are only bucking for a second career, and have no future in politics. They might have just as easily presided in any other political faction, but they chose Sharon’s Kadima and the convergence plan only to find themselves with Olmert and a war in Lebanon.
These MKs are aware that they will only be serving a single term, and this awareness ensures political stability.
But it will also cost votes come election time. An 86 percent voter turnout, as France has seen in recent weeks, will not visit us any time soon. In fact, voter turnout is steadily declining from one election to the next.
The common belief that all politicians are alike, and likewise corrupt, is gaining traction.
This relates not only to criminal corruption, but also to that phenomenal survivability that our politicians boast, owing to cronyism.
Monday’s no-confidence votes demonstrated yet again how alienated parliament is from the sentiments of its constituencies. Only 28 MKs voted in favor of ousting the government over the Winograd report, as though the prime minister had been handed nothing more than a parking ticket.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who canceled her planned visit to Israel, realized something that has not been understood by ministers in a government desperately searching for a defense minister to rescue it, a government in which the foreign minister is demanding the resignation of the prime minister, and in which the finance minister has been suspended from duty on suspicion of stealing
from the public purse.
Even if the Winograd report were to state that some of the military operations were pointless, aimed only at creating the impression of victory where victory was nowhere to be found, Ehud Olmert would not resign.
Never before has Israel’s future so heavily depended on the veteran Labor Party, its institutions and its members.
It is no coincidence that Labor Chair Amir Peretz was forced to draw conclusions about the war while Olmert held his position. The internal struggle within Labor reflects the clash between national responsibility and the hedonism of power.
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