When Israel Will Rise Up as a Lion!
July 22, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Israel has risen up against Hizbollah for the last ten days
and today has a very large contingency of troops massed on its northern border with Lebanon. One way or the other they intend to clear out a buffer zone between themselves and Hizbollah. For details on this please consult our previous blogs for the last couple of days. But this is not the time when Israel will rise up as a lion.
The article from the Temple Institute, included in this Blog, describes the three week period of mourning which began last week in Israel on the 17th of Tammaz, and reaches its climax on the 9th of Av, the day of the destruction of both Solomon and David’s Temples.
How Ironic that Israel is now engaged in a time of mourning also for the dead and injured in the terrible rocket attacks on northern Israel. But what is happening now is like a mosquito bite compared to the great mourning that will occur when Israel is eventually driven into the Negev by the forces of Islam to remain there for some three and one-half years. Islam is simply not militarily or politically prepared at this time to bring off such a feat, but the time is coming that it will, as I have indicated for some 32 years. I do believe that the forces of Islam will be ready to do it at some point in time between 2008 and 2012, so that is my guesstimate, but it is merely a guess on my part, no more and no less.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
But the good news is that at the end of the 1260 days the Lord will save Israel from the Negev, lead her north, west, and east to claim the land grant promised to Israel, and Israel will rule over all nations for 1000 years.
Genesis 15:18 – In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
As I read the article from The Temple Institute, I continually thought about the prophecy of Zechariah 12:6 to 14. When Israel rises up like a Lion in the Negev Wilderness, she will sweep north with a roar toward Jerusalem, sweeping aside her enemies to the east and the west. She will retake the city of Jerusalem, her leaders like flaming torches before her.
With the angel of the Lord going before them
it will make the weakest among them possess the courage and strength of David.
Zechariah 12:6-8 – In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. [7] The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. [8] In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel
of the Lord before them.
Begin Temple Institute Article
Numbers 24:9 – He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
Tammuz 14, 5766 (July 11, 2006)
The Coming Wednesday evening, the 17th day of the month of Tammuz, begins the three week period of mourning during which the nation of Israel increasingly occupies its thoughts with the Holy Temple. The 17th of Tammuz marks a dawn-to-dark fast day. The three week period ends with its climax on the 9th day of Av, the date of the destruction of both Holy Temples, observed as a 25 hour fast. These three weeks are also marked by the observance of various customs of mourning, which progressively intensify in stages from the beginning of the month of Av.
While Jewish law specifically designates this time period as one of mourning, the appellation may be misleading. When a family suffers a loss, the Jewish mourning customs help the mourners to come to grips with their loss, to work their way through it, both physically, spiritually, and emotionally, and ultimately to enable the mourners to return to the fullness of their lives. They are unable to make that return until they “get over” their loss.
These three weeks take on the various aspects of mourning, however, with quite the opposite intention. We are never supposed to “get over” this loss! Mourning the loss of the Holy Temple each year is intended to jar us into realizing that our lives as Jews, as human beings on this earth, cannot and will not return to the fullness that G-d has intended for us, so long as the Holy Temple is not standing on its destined spot on Mount Moriah, and the Divine Service has not been reinstated.
The purpose of the three weeks is not to provide a convenient means with which we can compartmentalize our suffering the loss of the Holy Temple. As Jews and as righteous Gentiles we must use these days for taking personal stock, and for recommitting ourselves toward realizing the vision of Isaiah: “… and My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 57:6)
Our sages teach us that three things are acquired with great travail: the knowledge of Torah,
the Land of Israel, and the World to Come. Referring to this concept, Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, the mayor of the Samarian town of Itamar describes how his community has coped with many tragedies over the past six years, including most recently, the murder by terrorists of Eliyahu Asheri, may G-d avenge his blood, and the death of elementary school student Shimon Zwicker, of blessed memory.
Nestled in the hills overlooking the Biblical city of Shechem, (Nablus), within eyesight of the tomb
of the righteous Joseph, and the tombs of Itamar, the son of the high priest Aaron, Pinchas, the grandson of
Aaron, and the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin who entered the land with Yehoshua, this vibrant and resilient community draws its strength from the knowledge of the role they play in the prophetic promise of redemption. (To learn more about the Torah community of Itamar, please click here.)
This past week’s Torah reading, Balak, (Numbers 22:2 – 25:9), teaches us that there have always been those among the nations who are bent upon preventing Israel from fulfilling its role in G-d’s promise of redemption for all mankind. Bilaam, the greatest heathen prophet to ever walk the earth, assisted by the evil Balak, king of Moav, pulls out all the stops, as it were, in an attempt to curse the Israelite nation. Yet G-d turns the curses into blessings, as the words of the prophet are stymied by the deeds – the performance of the Torah commandments – of the children of Israel.
Tune into this week’s Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss the three week period of mourning for the Holy Temple, the Torah reading of Balak, and hear from Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, the mayor of Itamar.
It is our fervent prayer that this year the three weeks of introspection will kindle within the people of Israel a new spirit, and that we shall, at long last, rise up like a lion, give chase to our enemies, and establish, for once and for always, the House of G-d in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
www.templeinstitute.org
End Temple Institute Article
They shall, at long last, rise up like a lion, give chase to their enemies, and establish, for once and for always, the House of G-d in the holy city of Jerusalem. But the great joy of victory given them by their God will be followed by a time of mourning for their 2000 year rejection of the Son of David, the Son of G-d, when they look upon him as the one they pierced as a nation.
Zechariah 12:8-14 – In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. [9] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. [10] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. [11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. [12] And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; [13] The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; [14] All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
The husbands and wives have worshipped apart for a long time in the Israeli culture.
There were three offices in the structure of worship in the temple era – King, Prophet, and Priest.
The house of David presents the office of
the line of the rulers, the house of Shimei the office of the priests, and the house of Nathan the office of the prophets.
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