When Israel declared itself an independent state on
May 14, 1948, another miracle occurred. The armies of seven Arab nations marched on the
newborn State, boasting that they would push the Jews into the sea. Outnumbered 100 to 1,
Israel not only repelled the invaders but acquired more of Palestine than was granted in
the UN partition plan. Yigael Yadin, Israel’s commander of operations in that war,
had a terse explanation of Israel’s victory. "It was a miracle!"
Three Examples of Miracles
A Syrian column of 200 armored vehicles, including 45 tanks
attacked Degania, the oldest kibbutz in Israel. What a psychological blow this defeat
would be! Without artillery, Jewish forces were helpless to block the Syrian advance.
Until then the only heavy weapons available in all Israel were four howitzers of the type
used by the French army in the Franco- Prussian War of 1870. Two of these ancient
fieldpieces were promptly dismantled and rushed to Degania. The local commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Moshe Dayan, had them reassembled at the very moment the first Syrian
tanks rumbled through the kibbutz perimeter, and they scored a hit on the advance tank.
Had the Syrians known that these two obsolete weapons represented half the arsenal of
field-guns in all Israel, they would have pressed the attack. Instead, the armored
vehicles swung around in their tracks and clattered back up the mountain road.
In December 1948, the Egyptians were harassing Israeli settlements
in the Negev. Yadin used the Bible for strategy. It mentioned an ancient road forgotten
for centuries, which ran almost directly to Mushrafa, the Egyptians’ central
garrison. Heavy boulders were pushed aside with bulldozers and soldiers in armored
vehicles, jeeps and supply trucks sped under cover of darkness along the ancient road and
surprised the Egyptians. Taking this garrison destroyed the Egyptian defense system and
ended the war 14 days later.
The Syrian Army had regrouped east of the Galilee. A Jewish column
of 24 homeland armored trucks and cars, on the way to relieve a besieged Kibbutz, took the
wrong road and crossed the border into Lebanon. Before they discovered their mistake, they
ran head on into a column of supplies for the Syrian Army in Galilee — dozens of
trucks of ammunition, a string of light artillery and 20 new armored cars. The Israelis
fired point blank at the first truck — a tanker loaded with gasoline. It exploded and
set on fire the following truckload of hand grenades. Rapid repeating explosions were
heard for miles around. Terrified, the Syrians abandoned their cargo and the Israelis
scarcely had enough men to drive the captured supply train back into Galilee. Finally they
reached the beleaguered Kibbutz, only to learn that the Arab besiegers heard rumors that
the Jewish army had invaded Lebanon and fled Israel.
The Bible Helped Build Israel
David Ben Gurion, Israel’s dynamic first Prime Minister, was
an ardent student of the Bible as an accurate history of Israel and its land. He
dispatched engineers, horticulturists, botanists, etc., with the Bible in one hand and
research tools in the other. Miracles happened!
Following Bible clues, copper and iron mines were established. One
mining engineer, Abraham Dor, observed that at the richest veins of copper — "we
come upon the slag and furnaces of ancient Israel. We often get the feeling that someone
has just left." Deuteronomy 8:7-9 was often framed on the walls of mining offices:
"For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land whose stones are iron
and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper."
Reclaiming the Wasteland
Barren land transformed to the fertility of ancient Israel
is a miracle predicted in Scripture (Amos 9:14-15; Ezek. 36:34-35). It was long assumed
that most of Palestine was wasteland, irreclaimable for agriculture. But archaeologists
discovered the presence of more than 70 ancient settlement sites in one 65-mile stretch of
the Jordan Valley alone, each with its own well for water. Lot, then, was not exaggerating
when he "lifted up his eyes, and he saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well
watered everywhere, . . . even as the garden of the Lord" (Gen. 13:10). New
agricultural settlements, from Dan to Beersheba, have risen beside ancient sites
re-identified by Biblical archaeologists. Concrete pumping stations were set over ancient
springs or wells. A well from Abraham’s day now supplies water for residents on the
outskirts of Beersheba. One of the basic necessities in that arid country is
reforestation. Ever since Jews began returning, they have been planting forests, naming
them in honor of such leaders and friends of Israel as Chaim Weizmann, Lord Balfour,
George V and scores of others. The Bible has helped them decide what kind of trees to
plant and where to plant them. Debating whether a certain barren hillside would be a
suitable location for Israel’s immense "Forest of Martyrs," Israelis found
the answer in Joshua, which proved that a forest had existed there. "Knowing that
trees grow more easily where trees have flourished before," explained Professor
Zohary of Hebrew University, "we rely on the Good Book."
"The first tree Abraham put in the soil of Beersheba was a
tamarisk," said Israel’s outstanding authority on reforestation, Dr. Joseph
Weitz. "Following his lead, we put out two million in the same area. Abraham was
right. The tamarisk is one of the few trees we have found that thrives in the south where
yearly rainfall is less than six inches."
The writer personally knew the Boyko Family who pioneered in
developing Biblical principles of agriculture that helped the Aravah and the Negev blossom
as a rose. The Bible made Israel the agricultural giant it is today exporting its products
worldwide. It took another miracle to make this possible. In Bible times there were two
copious rainy seasons in Palestine — the "early and the latter rain." But
for the past many centuries the "early rain" has been minimal while the
"latter rain" and dew have disappeared completely. Since 1878, the "latter
rain" is falling again. The precipitation of both has spiraled over the decades (Joel
2:23, 24).
The Miracle of Immigration
Jews from the four points of the compass heard the call to come
home (Isa. 43:5, 6). Israel’s Declaration of Independence stated that Israel
"will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their
dispersion."
Even as war still raged and the little State faced possible
destruction or bankruptcy, the newcomers poured in. During the first three years of
statehood, the average reached 18,000 a month and in some months the figure exceeded
30,000. Between May 15, 1948, and June 30, 1953, the Jewish population of the country
doubled. By the end of 1956, Israel’s population had nearly tripled, reaching
1,667,000. Imagine the economic shock of absorption!
Jews kept pouring into Israel over the decades. In 1984-1985 and
again in 1991 harrowing airlifts brought Ethiopian Jews from utter despair to a Land of
hope. Finally the long-expected prophetic fulfillment of Jews from Russia began in 1991.
By 1998 over 800,000 have returned from the former Soviet Republics (CIS) and they are
still coming. Over a million are expected. Israel’s population increased from 650,000
in 1948 to over 6,000,000 Jews in 1998. The miracle of absorption continues.
The Miracle of the ‘67 War
The Arabs boasted that they would destroy Israel. However, in six
days Israel overran the combined forces of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and took the Golan
Heights, East Jerusalem, the West Bank (Samaria and Judea), and the Sinai—one of the
greatest military feats in history. To many Orthodox Jews worldwide, especially in the
United States, it was a wake-up call from God. Thousands poured into Israel and settled in
Samaria and Judea to stake Israel’s eternal claim to the so-called West Bank—the
heartland of Israel. They are certain the Messianic Age is near at hand. As Biblical
Zionists, they oppose any give-away of land in the peace process.
A Hi-Tech Leader
Ezekiel 38 predicts that Israel will become an economic envy of
the nations. The immigration of Russian Jews is literally paying off. This year has
witnessed an explosion in both hi-tech developments and the number of contracts Israeli
hi-tech companies have signed with manufacturers worldwide. Prime Minister Netanyahu said,
"The failure of Soviet communism to capitalize on the outstanding R & D skills of
the Russian Jews was a stroke of good fortune for Israel. We now have the highest per
capita of scientists in the world. This has put Israel on the cutting edge of
technology." The New York Stock Exchange lists more hi-tech companies from Israel
than any other nation.
Room for Expansion
A six-year study by over 250 scientists and experts predicts that
by the year 2020 the population of Israel will exceed 8,100,000, making Israel by far the
most densely populated developed country in the world. Israel will be more than 2.5 times
more densely populated than Japan and the Netherlands, and there will be a serious
shortage of land for residential construction.
Actually Scriptures (Isaiah 11 & Zechariah 10) indicate
another large immigration of Jews from the CIS and a massive exodus from the U. S. even
before 2020. But there will be no land shortage. A final Arab-Israeli war will precede
this massive immigration. Israel’s borders will be expanded to include all of the
Golan Heights, much or all of the sparsely inhabited nation of Jordan and Southern Lebanon
(Isa. 11:14; Zeph. 2:8-9; Micah 7:11,14; Obad. 18-20). All of this territory was promised
Israel in the Balfour
Declaration back in 1917. God will finally give to Israel even more than the nations
promised.
The God of Israel is a God of miracles—and He has only begun
His miracles in achieving Israel’s ultimate destiny...
Send for our free booklet, "The Israeli-Arab Peace Process
and Bible Prophecy" to learn more about the ultimate destiny God has in store for
Israel, as well as for all the nations of earth.
