THE MIRACLE OF ISRAEL

Today while coming home on the bus I was really struck by what an amazing miracle the Land of Israel really is…Of course you all know about the Exodus and all the mighty works the L-rd did in bringing the descendents of Jacob out of Egypt. They had been there for 400 years, members of one (large) family-there had to be at least 2 million of them leaving Egypt at the time (based on the number of men who were counted, and adding in minimal amounts of wives and children). Pretty incredible, right? But the rebuilding of Israel is I think even more amazing. The children of Jacob this time were expelled from their land, dispersed to the four corners of the earth (literally), and after 2000 years they’re coming back!!! There have been known settlements of Jewish people in most parts of the world-throughout Europe, South America, all of the Middle East. But also China and other parts of Asia. However in recent years the descendents of Jacob have also been discovered in North East India, and parts of Africa. But remember, this time it wasn’t just for 400 years in one location (like Egypt)-they were scattered EVERYWHERE, expelled from one country after another after another—and yet managed to maintain a sense of cultural identity, and after all this time, THEY’VE COME HOME!!! To the Land G-d promised them as an ETERNAL POSSESSION!! Also, the Land was desolate, and now it’s AMAZING!! He really has caused it to bloom in the desert!!! And the cities have been rebuilt!

Imagine for a moment that somehow the U.S. was conquered, taken over by some other people group, many of us murdered, the rest forced to flee, expelled from our land, dispersed first to Canada and Mexico, then we might migrate farther, to Central and South America, and eventually to Europe and parts beyond. Now as an American, we all have ancestors who came from someplace else, right? England, France, Germany, Italy, etc. And maybe you have some family traditions that have been passed down for a few generations? How strongly do you really identify with those countries? Do you speak the language? And maybe your family has only been in the U.S. for 3-6 generations, right? How much of the cultural identity will your descendents have in another 100 years? What would happen to us as Americans if we were gone from our land 100 years? 200 years? 500 years? I believe that initially there would be groups of us who would want to rally together, try to take back our land, etc. But after 500 years? I imagine we would be just a memory…

But the Jewish People have come back after almost 2000 years!!! And the thought of that just really touched me…G-d is true to His Word-He preserved the People, and even though many thought He had forgotten about them (both Jewish and Christian), He has called them back home-from “all the nations of the earth”, back to the Land He promised them, back to the Home He gave them-What an amazing miracle, and what an Amazing G-d we serve!