The Miracles of Hanukkah

The Miracles of Hanukkah

In 175 BCE, a new ruler, Antiochus IV, ascended to the throne of Syria. As did many rulers, he added the title Epiphanes (“God Manifest”) to his name; but many people referred to him instead as Antiochus Epimames (“The Madman”).

Antiochus IV. took over Jerusalem and erected an altar to the pagan god Zeus in the Temple. He sent his Greco-Assyrian armies to Jerusalem to force the Jewish people to make a sacrifice to Zeus. The sacrifice was an unkosher animal – a pig -, desecrating the altar of the Holy Temple. Sadly, many Jews were compromising. Antiochus then ordered his soldiers to go from town to town to force all the Jews to sacrifice pigs. – But it all stopped when the Greco-Assyrian soldiers came to a Jewish town called Modi’in. While they were trying to force the Jews there to make a sacrifice to Zeus, a priest by the name of Mathattias said: “NO”. That inspired the rest of the Jewish onlookers so much that they turned on the Greco-Assyrian army and began to drive them out of Modi’in. Eventually more and more Jewish people joined the movement and advanced to conquer Jerusalem, where they recovered the Temple. Against all odds, these freedom fighters beat the entire army of Antiochus IV, – it was a great miracle – God delivered the many into the hands of a few. In 164 BCE they re-dedicated the Temple back to God, and that is where the name Hanukkah comes from. The Hebrew word Hanukkah ( חֲנֻכָּה ) means dedication. Derived from the root חָנַךְ (chanak), meaning “to dedicate” or “to initiate. The term “hanukkah” primarily refers to the concept of dedication or consecration. It is used in the context of dedicating a building, an altar, or other sacred objects to God and setting them apart for a holy purpose.

The Jews rebuilt the altar and lit the menorah with the remaining kosher oil they found, which was only enough to last for one day. Another great miracle happened, the Menorah stayed lit for another 7 days, a total of eight days, until they had a new batch of oil to keep the flame burning. The eternal light was symbolic of God’s presence among his people.

So, Hanukkah celebrates the dual miracle of fighting and lighting. It is therefore called the Feast of Dedication and the Festival of Lights. It commemorates the eternal God delivering his people. He is bigger than the circumstances that surround His people if they have faith to believe in Him. He delivered them from the Egyptians, from the Greeks, from the Nazis, so never lose hope! Faith and Hope is what the lights of the Hanukkah candles represent. The fact that we can take God at his word and believe for miracles.

A Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, is a nine-branched candle holder that is lit during the eight-days of Hanukkah. Eight of the nine branches hold lights (candles or oil lamps) that symbolize the eight nights of the holiday; on each night, one more light is lit than the previous night, until on the final night all eight branches are ignited. The ninth branch holds a candle, called the shamash (“helper” or “servant”), which is used to light the other eight candles. The candles remind us that God can win against all odds and therefore represent his deliverance and salvation. 

Interestingly Hanukkah is not mentioned anyplace in the Tanach, but only in the New Testament. The apostle John wrote:” Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade.” (John 10:22) As a Jew he was celebrating the Feast of Dedication with the Jewish people. Dedication is the English word of the Hebrew word Hanukkah. Note that Jesus did not celebrate Christmas but the Jewish holiday Hanukkah.

 

 

Syria – from Aram to al-Sham

After the worldwide flood mentioned in Genesis, Noah’s son Shem became the father of Aram, whose descendants became the people known as Arameans (Genesis 19:22). They settled in Mesopotamia, within the Tigris–Euphrates river system – also known as the Fertile Crescent. Later, God called Abraham from that area (Ur in Mesopotamia). In Canaan, Abraham sent his servant to find Isaac a wife, and he sent the servant to his brother’s family, who lived in Aram Naharaim, near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Also, in Genesis we read that Rebekah and her brother Laban both lived in Aram, and Jacob is later recorded as fleeing to Paddam Aram. (Some translations of the Bible use the word Syria, and others use the word Aram, but both names refer to the same nation.) 

The Arameans fought against Israel frequently. One of the earliest conflicts with Aram was during the time of the Judges, when the king of Aram Naharaim was used by God to subject the Israelites for eight years because of their idolatry (Judges 3:7-8). When the Israelites repented, God raised up Othniel, to free them from the Arameans. During the times of the Kings, the Arameans often fought against Israel, especially during David’s reign. Ben-Hadad, one of the more powerful rulers of Aram, fought against the northern kingdom of Israel, but he failed in his attack because the Lord promised to give the vast Aramean army into King Ahab’s hands (1Kings 20:12-13). Later, it was at the hand of the Arameans that the wicked Ahab met his ruin, as the prophet Micaiah had prophesied (1 Kings 22:28, 37-38).

Throughout ancient times, Syria was occupied and ruled by several empires, including the Egyptians, Hittites, Sumerians, Mitanni, Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Amorites, Persians, Greeks and Romans.   Damascus was the largest city in Syria, the oldest continually inhabited capital city in the world. “The head of Aram is Damascus” (Isaiah 7:8)   In the Christian New Testament, we read that Saul’s conversion experience happened in Syria, controlled by the Romans at that time. He met Jesus on the road to Damascus, where he was traveling to persecute Christians. – It was also in a Syrian city, Antioch, where believers in Christ were first called Christians.   After the Roman Empire fell, Syria became part of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. – In 637 A.D., Muslim armies defeated the Byzantine Empire and took control of Syria. The Islamic religion spread quickly throughout the region, and its different factions rose to power. Damascus eventually became the capital of the Islamic world, but was replaced by Baghdad in Iraq around 750 A.D. This change led to economic decline in Syria, and for the next several centuries, the region became unstable and was ruled by various groups. In 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered Syria and remained in power until 1918.  
During World War I, French and British diplomats secretly agreed to divide the Ottoman Empire into zones, as part of the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. Under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, most Arab lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire were divided into British or French spheres of influence with the conclusion of World War I. British and Arab troops captured Damascus and Aleppo in 1918, and the French took control of modern-day Syria and Lebanon in 1920. These arrangements put an end to roughly 400 years of Ottoman rule in the region.   Western empires used the Middle East as a surgery ward over the last two centuries, dividing lands and then sewing territories together – creating countries out of thin air. Many of the nations created in this way have become ticking time-bombs in our day. Sitting down at a table in France, they divided up the territories soon to be conquered into parcels of land and regions of political control. Yet both Britain and France were entirely ignorant of the ethnic, tribal and religious dynamics of these new colonies. They had no interest in preserving the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire – but these newly carved-up colonialist creations would need more than diplomatic crazy glue to hold them together. The creation of these new countries (like Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq, the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) at the hands of Britain and France has shaped much of the Middle Eastern and world history. Today the whole world is dealing with the fallout of these hasty decisions.   In the 19th century Muslims started to call the area of Syria Bilad al-Sham. The modern English word used today for Bilad al-Sham is ‘the Levant’, coming from the French ‘levant’ (‘rising’), referring to the rising of the sun in the east. It includes the countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel, as well as the modern Turkish regions of Hatay, Gaziantep, and Diyarbakir.    The Islamist group which has just conquered Syria calls itself ‘Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’; ‘Organization for the Liberation of al-Sham/the Levant’.
 
The use of the Arabic term ‘al-Sham’ here indicates that the group’s goals include turning all of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Judea and Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Judea and Samaria into a jihadi Islamist Caliphate. This much is clear to every Arabic speaker who knows his own language and regional history. – (Remember when Obama said ISIL instead of ISIS? As a Muslim he knew to include the Levant.)   Throughout biblical history, Syria has been viewed as the cruelest enemy of the Jewish people. In our day, Syria is considered the most violent of Israel’s enemies. Recent developments in Syria have not changed that.  
 


 
 

         

 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
       

Pogroms Again?

At least ten people were injured and three others missing in Amsterdam Friday, after rampaging mobs of Muslim migrants hunted down and beat Jews on the street after a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders had an accurate assessment: “A pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam,” Wilders said. “We have become the Gaza of Europe.” The attackers were Muslim migrants whom the Dutch government, like governments all over Europe, have welcomed in large numbers in recent years.

The word “pogrom” in Russian means “devastation or riot.” The term was first used in the Russian Empire from 1881–1884, to refer to anti-Jewish violence by street mobs. Pogroms continued to occur in the early 20th century and during and immediately after World War II in Eastern Europe, Germany and beyond.

Most historians cite 1881 incidents beginning in Elizavetgrad (in present-day Ukraine) as the beginning of the Russian pogrom phenomenon. The Elizavetgrad violence spread rapidly throughout seven provinces in southern Russia and Ukraine, where peasant attackers looted Jewish stores and homes, destroyed property, and raped women. Many individuals were beaten and/or murdered in these pogroms. In 1881 pogroms also occurred in Kiev and Odessa among a hundred other locations.

In Hitler’s Germany, Nazi officials and soldiers supported and encouraged pogroms. From November 9 to 10, 1938, in an incident known as “Kristallnacht”, Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses, and murdered close to 100 Jews. In the aftermath of Kristallnacht (“Crystal Night” or the “Night of Broken Glass”), some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps.

After World War II, pogroms continued in Europe. A pogrom occurred in 1946 in Kielce, Poland, against Jewish Holocaust survivors who returned to the town, leaving 42 dead. These pogroms further motivated the already devastated Jewish population to seek refuge outside of Europe.

Today we refer to the state-sponsored persecution and mass murder of millions of European Jews by the German Nazi regime as “Holocaust,” from the Greek words “holos” (whole) and “kaustos” (burned), which historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked a wave of protests when he argued that the Holocaust was the brainchild of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who, Netanyahu claimed, suggested killing the Jews (rather than merely expelling them) to Hitler during a 1941 visit to Berlin.

Islam’s deep anti-Jewish bigotry dates to its earliest days, and indeed, to Muhammad himself. One imam claimed that “animosity of the believers towards the Jew is based on religious grounds.” An underestimated, unappreciated, and oft-denied cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict is Islamic religious antisemitism. “Kill them wherever you come upon them and drive them out of the places from which they have driven you out. For persecution is far worse than killing. And do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque unless they attack you there. If they do so, then fight them—that is the reward of the disbelievers.” (Surah 191 in the Koran)

The silence and denial surrounding this phenomenon is as striking as Islamic religious antisemitism itself. Despite the repeated exposure of its principles by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the origins, structure and impact of Islamic antisemitism do not receive the attention they deserve. The western world has been duped to believe that Islam is a peaceful religion.

However, the fact is that Islamic terrorism continues to threaten Jews in Europe and other Western countries, even today.

The Fallen Sukkah of David

Sukkot (also called Feast of Tabernacles) is considered the most important of the seven feasts of Israel. It is a week-long celebration to commemorate a time when God dwelt with the Jewish people in the desert. It also looks forward to a time when God will dwell with us again in the Messianic kingdom.

We come together with family and friends, to eat, drink, and pray, in the Sukkah (a flimsy, roughly built, hut-like dwelling commanded by God in Leviticus 23).

We also invite guests, neighbors and even strangers to come and share a meal in the sukkah and celebrate God’s provision and blessing with us.

“You shall keep the festival of Sukkot for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and wine press. Rejoice at your festival – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you.

For seven days you are to keep the festival for Adonai your God in the place Adonai Lord your God will choose, because Adonai your God will bless you in all your crops and all your work, so that you will be full of joy.” (Deuteronomy 16:13-16).

The blessing after the meal during the holiday of Sukkot says, “May God establish for us the fallen sukkah of David.” (sukkat David ha-nofalet)

Through the prophet Amos, God promised to raise up the fallen sukkah of David and rebuild it.

“When that day comes, I will raise up the fallen sukkah of David. I will close its gaps, raise up its ruins and rebuild it as it used to be, so that Israel can possess what is left of Edom and of all the nations bearing my name,” says Adonai who is doing this. (Amos 9:11-12)

When a home falls, it is almost impossible to rebuild. And even when it is rebuilt, it often looks and feels completely different than before. But when a sukkah falls, it can easily go back up, for the sukkah’s flimsiness allows it to be “rebuilt”.

The symbolism of the “fallen sukkah of David” is drawn from Amos (9:11), where the prophet describes the eventual restoration of David’s sukkah alongside the ingathering of Jewish exiles and great prosperity in the land of Israel. God is promising to restore the royal line of David.

Looking to the future, the final theme of Sukkot will be fulfilled when the “everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Yerushalayim will go up year to worship the King, Adonai-Tzvaot, and to keep the festival of Sukkot.” (Zechariah 14:16)

The Blessing and The Curse

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed a choice for the nations of the Middle East and the world, between the “blessing” of expanded regional normalization or the “curse” of Iran, its proxies and Oct. 7. He said that the world must choose between a “blessing” and a “curse” while he showed two maps, showing a group of countries as “The Curse” and another as “The Blessing”.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as Israel defends itself against Iran in the seven-front war, the line separating the blessing and the curse could not be more clear,” Netanyahu told delegates.  The pair of maps — one showing a potential normalization corridor through the Gulf and the Middle East and the other showing the proliferation of Iran’s proxies. “On the one hand, a bright blessing, a future of hope,” he said. “On the other hand, a dark future of despair… Israel has made its choice. We seek to move forward to a bright age of prosperity and peace. Iran and its proxies have also made their choice. They want to move back to a dark age of terror and war.”

He said that the countries of the world must choose which side they will stand on.

Netanyahu argued that Israel’s wars against international terrorist groups are a fight against a common global enemy. He condemned those at the U.N. and elsewhere who he said have tried to cast Israel as evil and Iran and its proxies as good.

In the Bible, God explains His law in which obedience leads to blessing and disobedience leads to curses, which – in essence – are a reversal of God’s blessings. Deuteronomy11 introduces this law and details how it works. In Chapter 28 we find a detailed list of the different curses and blessings.

The book of Judges provides an example of how this law works. During that time the Hebrews lived among the Canaanites. They took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served the Canaanite gods, ignoring Adonai’s commandment not to serve other gods. The book of Judges details that sin cycle which was followed by their cursing. After their repentance God delivered them through a judge. However, once the judge died, Israel would go back into a sinful lifestyle, resulting again in cursing. While the people of Israel were in obedience, God blessed them mightily, but He utilized various means to curse Israel whenever the sin cycle repeated.

The nation of Israel had a choice to make between life and death, blessing and cursing. Obedience would lead to the blessing of a prosperous life in the Promised Land, and disobedience would lead to the curses mentioned earlier, which led to oppression, death by various means, and ultimately exile away from the Promised Land. As modeled in the book of Judges, these curses would show the shortcomings of the people, resulting in a push for repentance and a restoration of their relationship with God.

One of the first promises in the Bible was given to Abram, whom God appointed to be a blessing to the whole earth. Not only did God tell this patriarch that he would receive a good land and have many children, but He also promised Abram, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Gen.12:1-3).

The nation of Israel serves as an object lesson to other nations and individuals. Which side will you choose? The side of the only true God of Israel or the side of other gods? Light or darkness?

The most important life-choice anyone will ever make is their response to this fundamental question: “Choose today, whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15)

Is History Repeating Itself?

Some of you may remember the incident I wrote about in the fall of 2023, when an angry mob of Muslims stormed an airplane that had landed from Tel Aviv in Dagestan, because they thought there were Israeli Jews on it. – At that time an Istanbul bookstore posted a sign, “Jews not allowed”, in both English and Turkish. – In France Jewish businesses were marked with the Star of David. – In London, police pulled down posters of kidnapped Israeli children. –  German police also destroyed posters of kidnapped Jews. – I asked the question if it was safe to be a Jew in Europe today?

American colleges and universities started to hold pro-Palestinian demonstrations. In Indiana a Muslim woman purposely crashed her car into what she thought was a Jewish school. – Today, we see American universities taken over by Muslim demonstrators.  Jew hating terrorists at Harvard University flew a terrorist flag at the Ivy League school in a spot usually reserved for the American flag as campus demonstrations continue to spiral out of control. College campuses across the United States have erupted with pro-Palestinian protests, and school administrators are trying — and largely failing — to defuse the situation. Is it safe to be a Jew in America today?

Anti-Semitism is once again rapidly spreading throughout the world at an alarming rate and is at an all-time high since the Holocaust. Antisemitic incidents have reached new levels.

Sixty percent of all Europeans regard tiny Israel as the greatest threat to world peace; a third of those surveyed in Europe and America regularly attribute to the Jewish People “excessive power and influence.”

Jews are under attack not only in Israel. The weeks since the barbaric Oct.7 -Hamas- invasion of Israel have witnessed physical assaults on Jews the world over. – Is it time for Jews to leave these countries? – Is history repeating itself?

The main carriers of this demonic hatred are fanatic Muslims who see Israel and the Jews as a dangerous cancer that must be wiped off the earth. The Islamist group and its Western enablers are pursuing or justifying a genocidal war against Jews, not merely a territorial dispute with Israel. And since Western governments too often seem unable to protect the Jewish minorities in their midst, Israel must defend itself as the only safe home for the Jewish people.

Remember Kristallnacht? It was merely the beginning. Kristallnacht marked a turning point toward more violent and repressive treatment of Jews by the Nazis. By the end of 1938, Jews were prohibited from schools and most public places in Germany—and conditions only worsened from there. Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. A few Bible believing Christians who helped the Jews were also persecuted. The rest of the Christian church was silent. Just read the story of Corrie Ten Boom. Would you hide a Jew today?

There is a spiritual war going on around the world. At its core, it is Satan who is fermenting “the world’s deepest hatred”–both against the Land and People of Israel. The battle line is drawn very clearly. Either you stand with Israel and the Lord, or you support terror and evil. The guardian of Israel is watching whose side you choose. Those who try to stay “neutral” are helping the enemy.

Yes, there is a war in Israel. However, it is the only country where Jews are accepted as citizens because it is their ancestral homeland. It is also the land the Almighty promised to defend and protect.

Not only did God promise to restore the Land of Israel in the Last Days, He also declared he would re-gather the “outcasts of Israel” from all the nations where he scattered them (see Isaiah 11:11). This Aliyah, or return of the Jews to their biblical homeland, is yet another important sign that the Messiah’s return is approaching.

God is faithful to all His promises, and to His covenant people Israel. As we watch with sadness the events shaking the world, we know that our sovereign God is still in control. He continues to work out His plans and purposes, drawing all things to Himself.

Who are the Houthis in Yemen?

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

A long time ago, right after the Great Flood, Noah’s sons moved to different parts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean Basin, raising families and founding nations: “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the Flood . . . The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.”  (Genesis 10:1, 6-7).

The descendants of Ham (the Hamitic peoples) relocated to an area just south of the Hejaz, today’s west coast of Saudi Arabia. They settled in what is today modern Yemen, bordering Oman.

Sheba (southwestern Arabia/Yemen) and Dedan (northern Arabia) are mentioned in many places in the Torah. These descendants of Ham were known for their dual livelihoods:

  1. Operating camel caravans along the desert trading routes, carrying gold, spices, oil and embroidered work to Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt. – The Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon because she wanted to develop closer trade ties.
  • Attacking other merchant caravans and peaceful settlements, robbing their goods, and enslaving their inhabitants.

There is a long history of the inhabitants of Sheba (modern Yemen) attacking trading routes. In Bible days it was camel caravans; today it is world shipping lanes. It seems that Yemenite piracy is a reality in our day as well. They are today’s pirates of Jihad.

While I am writing this, the United States and Britain are launching strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen. Will that be the end of the terrorists? – Not according to the Bible.

The prophet Ezekiel names some of the enemies who will attack Israel in the future battle of Gog/Magog against Israel. Their motive will be to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to capture great spoils. God addresses Gog and Magog, as well as two of these terror-creating robbers  (Sheba and Dedan) participating in that apocalyptic axis of evil.

Yemen is a hotbed of extreme jihadi terrorism, the proxy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and now an attacker of the State of Israel.

In 2003, influenced by the Lebanese Shi’ite terror group Hezbollah (who is in turn under Iranian tutelage and control), the Houthis adopted their official slogan: “Allah is the greater! Death to America! Death to Israel! A Curse Upon the Jews! Victory to Islam!” (‘Allāhu ʾakbar, al-mawt li-ʾAmrīkā, al-mawt li-ʾIsrāʾīl, al-laʿnah ʿalā ʾl-Yahūd, an-naṣr lil-ʾIslām’).

Saudi Arabia is involved in a behind-the-scenes life-and-death struggle with Shi’ite Iran, who wants to destroy the Royal House of Saud, crush the Sunni majority of Islam (80% of the total), and establish Iranian control over Mecca and Medina. Iran has been using the Houthis as a proxy, attacking Saudi oil fields, military bases, and ports, and recently firing missiles and armed suicide drones against Israel.

Iran and Yemen have a Last Days role to play in attacking Israel, as the prophet Ezekiel clearly states:

“Now the word of ADONAI came to me, saying, “Son of man, turn your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘ . . . I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them completely equipped, a great horde breastplates and shields, all wielding swords. Persia [Iran], Cush, and Put with them, all of them with breastplates and helmet – many peoples are with you . . .  Sheba and Dedan [Yemen] and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoils? Have you assembled your hordes to loot, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and wealth, to capture great spoils? (Ezekiel 38:1-13) 

 As the saying goes: “Once a pirate, always a pirate.”

The little Town of Bethlehem

Bethlehem is nestled in the hill country right outside of Jerusalem. A mild climate and plentiful rainfall contribute to consistently bountiful harvests in the town’s fields, orchards, and vineyards. The fertile land is probably the reason why this area was first called Bethlehem or Beit Lehem, which means, “house of bread.”

During Jacob’s long journey back to his homeland, his beloved wife Rachel dies while giving birth to their second son, Benjamin. Instead of burying Rachel there, Jacob chose to lay his wife to rest right outside Bethlehem. (Genesis 48:7) The prophet Jeremiah wrote: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted.” Rachel’s tomb still stands near the entrance to Bethlehem and is considered a holy site to the Jewish people.

After the death of her husband and sons, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, the home of her ancestors. Naomi’s Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, insisted on accompanying her saying, “Where you go, I will go, and where you stay I will stay.” (Ruth 1:16) When the two arrive in Bethlehem, Naomi sends Ruth to work in the field of a wealthy relative named Boaz. He becomes their kinsman redeemer, marries Ruth, and they have a son named Obed, who was the grandfather of King David.

The Torah tells us that the prophet Samuel went to Bethlehem in search of a new king. At God’s direction Samuel found and anointed a young shepherd boy named David. (1 Samuel 16:4-13). The city of Bethlehem would eventually bear the title of the new king.

The prophets foretold that another king would rule and reign forever from David’s line. “He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” (Isaiah 9:7) “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)

Because the fields surrounding Bethlehem were a short distance from the Temple, they were designated as holy pastures for raising sacrificial lambs. At Migdal Eder, the Tower of the Flock, generations of shepherds tended their lambs. According to (Exodus 29:38-46), two lambs had to be sacrificed every day. Before David was king, he raised sheep in the same Bethlehem pastures.

Each year, on December 25, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus who was born in Bethlehem. But why were Mary and Joseph found so far from their hometown of Nazareth at a time so close to Mary’s delivery? The explanation begins with Caesar Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, who ruled from 27 BC-14 AD. Historians have branded Caesar Augustus as the greatest Roman Emperor of all time. His most notable act was his census plan. This census would prove successful in Augustus’s overall plan to collect taxes and transform Rome from a brick-and-mortar city to a marble empire.

The biblical account of nativity according to Luke 2, tells us that Jesus was born during the time the Israelites were called to participate in Caesar Augustus’ census. King Herod most likely would have used the opportunity of the Festival of Sukkot to perform the census. Joseph and Mary had to travel from the town of Nazareth to Bethlehem so that they could fulfill their duty. Why would the couple have to travel more than 80 miles to be counted? In deference to Jewish customs, Roman law required people who lived in Judea and the surrounding area to return to their ancestral homeland for census registration. Since Joseph belonged to the house and line of David, Bethlehem was his designated census hub. 

Bethlehem is typically flooded with pilgrims and other celebrants in late December. However, this year it will be a sad, silent night in Bethlehem. The city of Jesus’ birth has canceled its annual Christmas celebrations because of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Battle between Good and Evil

A battle between good and evil, regarding the character of God, His law and sovereignty over the universe, has been with humanity from the start.

The opening lines of Genesis describe a world of total chaos, a watery abyss that covers everything, and black darkness.” The world was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.“

 (Genesis 1:2)

The world was without day and night. There was no need to mark time because the world had no purpose, no meaning.  It was a world of death, devoid of light. – Whatever God creates is perfect. He does not create chaos. Something must have happened to devastate the world.

The Bible tells us that before the earth was created, the Lord created angelic beings. A conflict must have originated a long time ago in heaven, when one of these heavenly beings tried to exalt himself above the Most High and became God’s adversary, leading into rebellion a portion of the angels. (Read Isaiah 14).

That spirit-being later introduced the spirit of rebellion into humanity – in form of a snake -who led Adam and Eve into sin.

It distorted the image of God and brought disorder into the newly created world.

The Bible explains in Genesis 6:11: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” (וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ, לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים; וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ, חָמָס.) The Hebrew text mentions the word Hamas, meaning violence. The great flood brought back these same images, as all life perished and the world returned to its primordial state. It was a world without law, without meaning, without purpose, without norms, without order. 

It is from the chaotic place at the beginning of Genesis that God spoke the first words. ‘Let there be light!’  The entire first chapter of Genesis describes God’s methodical creation of a universe in which life is possible. The first chapter in the Torah is the story of creation, that teaches us that above all, God is about life.  

Any person who invokes the name of God and embodies a death cult of destruction, desecrates God and God’s plans for this world.  They diminish the imprint of life and blessing and return the world to the dark primordial abyss. 

Anyone who claims that Hamas represents legitimate resistance fails to understand that Hamas and groups like them do not want peace and understanding.  They are willing to destroy anything and everything- including their own people- to fulfill their death drive. People who support them are accomplices, plain and simple. Hamas has crossed the boundary between civilization and savagery. They have given us a window to see the dark, violent, and turbulent abyss that proceeded God’s proclamation of light and life. The manifestation is evil and demonic.

The people from Gaza, and all of us, suddenly saw the darkness of destruction from those who deny the sacredness of all life, and so embracing the terrifying darkness we all fear.

According to the opening verses of the Torah, God declares there to be light and divides the light from the darkness. That light mentioned here is not a physical, but a spiritual light- the light of righteousness reserved for the upright. Other sources of light- the sun, moon and stars- were only created on the fourth day. 

Just as God created a physical world, God initially created a spiritual world to reflect the light of righteousness. In the opening chapters of Genesis, death and suffering only emerge because of the actions of people rebelling against the Divine will.

We must choose life. We cannot allow chaos and death to reign unchecked. Like God, we must keep these demonic forces at bay.  We must fight, we must stand up for truth, we must stand up for life like God. In the terrible murder of thousands of fellow Jews, not only has the state of Israel been violated, but the Divine image of every human being.  Hamas did not merely kill Jews; they violated the very definition of what it means to be human.

The battle between good and evil is a battle between life and death, between order and chaos.   

Who Is Amalek?

In the Book of Genesis we read that, Eliphaz, a son of Esau and his concubine Timna had a child named Amalek. Amalek grew up in Esau’s household, learning Esau’s pathological hatred of Jacob’s descendants from childhood on. His offspring became the nation of Amalek, and they lived to the south of the Land of Israel, in what is now known as the Negev Desert.

After the Jewish people crossed the Red Sea, they encamped in Rephidim, a barren location in the Sinai Desert. The people thirsted for water, and G‑d provided a miraculous well of water to accompany them on their journeys. While the Jews were still at Rephidim, recuperating from their escape from Egypt, the Amalekites launched a vicious surprise attack on them—even though the Jews did not invade Amalekite territory and were not even headed in that direction.

They were the first nation to attack the Jewish people after the Exodus from Egypt. The Amalekites mocked the Israelites, their God, and the rite of circumcision, by mutilating every Jew that fell into their power. They were acting like savages, raping women, killing children and elderly, much like we saw ISIS and Hamas act in our day. They were described as a nation having no fear of the Lord.

You find the story is found in the Book of Samuel, where God sent prophet Samuel to King Saul and told him to wipe out the Amalekites.

But King Saul and his people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the cattle and the lambs, and all that was valuable, and would not utterly destroy them.

When Samuel found out about Saul’s disobedience, Saul lost his right to kingship.

To this day, history continues to struggle with the consequences of Saul’s mistake. It is said that the Amalekite nation survived and Agag lived long enough to father a child before he was killed by the Prophet Samuel.

One such example was Haman, the Persian minister, who tried to annihilate the Jews in the time of Queen Esther (355 BCE).  

Later, Hitler certainly espoused Amalekite ideology: “Yes, we are barbarians! We want to be barbarians. It is an honorable title to us … Providence has ordained that I should be the greatest liberator of humanity. I free man from … the degrading self-mortification of a false vision called conscience and morality … Conscience is a Jewish invention.” (Hitler Speaks, pp. 87, 220-222.)

God commanded the Jews to defeat the Amalekites, which they didn’t. God then warned the Jews that in the future Amalek would continuously reappear, in different generations, as an enemy of the Jews and they would continuously attack his chosen and need to be defeated. Not with truce or cease fire, because God commands total victory.

In the Hebrew Bible, the spirit of Amalek is therefore a demonic force that represents evil and destruction. The rabbis teach that there is a great difference between the spiritual nature of Amalek and that of other nations. They say the spirit of Amalek is Samael, the angel of evil, or Satan himself.