Focus on Israel

Laurie Cardoza-Moore: Hello, and thank you for tuning into Focus on Israel. I'm Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating Christians about their biblical responsibility to the Jewish people. Many Christians do not realize that the word explicitly tells us to stand with our Jewish brethren and defend the land that God calls his.

Over the last four weeks, we've covered the issues concerning antisemitism. First, we discussed the history of antisemitism, the roots in history of what has been called the longest hate. On our last two programs, we focused on the new antisemitism that has emerged today that comes against both the Jewish people and Israel. We also looked at the growth of Christian antisemitism in the church today.

Today, we begin our teachings on the evidence for the Jewish state. Over the next few weeks, we'll look at the biblical, the archaeological, the historical, and finally, the political evidence for Israel to exist and hold all the land God calls his. More often than not, we see that the evidence found as we examine the biblical, archaeological, historical aspects of Israel crossover and reinforce each other.

As discoveries are made by archaeologists, both biblical and historical texts are proven, and a new light is shed on the ancient information. More and more discoveries are made each year that prove the Bible to be not only a holy text, but a true historical book of amazing and miraculous events. The Bible is essentially a religious history book. It is the book about God and his relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. It is a book written to Israel, for Israel, and about Israel.

That cannot be proven or disproven logically. It's a spiritual matter. Presently, there isn't proof for everything written in the Bible, but absence of proof is not proof of absence. It only takes one find to change that picture. For example, until 1993, there was no proof of the existence of King David or even Israel as a nation prior to Solomon.

Then, in 1993, archaeologists found proof of King David's existence outside the Bible. At an ancient mound called Tel Dan in the north of Israel, words carved into a chunk of basalt was translated as House of David and King of Israel, proving that he was more than just a legend. The Smithsonian Department of Anthropology is reported to have said this about the Bible.

Much of the Bible, in particular the historical books of the Old Testament, are as accurate historical documents as any that we have from antiquity and are, in fact, more accurate than many of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, or Greek histories. These biblical records can be and are used, as are other ancient documents, in archaeological work. For the most part, historical events described took place, and the people cited really existed.

There is plenty of historical and archaeological proof that the Bible is historically accurate about the people and places in Israel. Our program today focuses on the biblical evidence, and we'll hear from two leading rabbis I spoke with in Jerusalem: Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum and Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander.

Rabbi Greenbaum is founder and president of Azamra. He established Azamra to help reconnect those in the Jewish community who are not connected to Judaism. Upon my first meeting with Rabbi Greenbaum, I knew he understood the role Israel must play in helping Christians reconnect to the root of their faith. Rabbi Greenbaum has a significant number of Christians he communicates with to help them understand their connection to their Hebrew roots.

Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander is the deputy vice-chair of the Nascent Sanhedrin. I had the privilege of meeting Rabbi Hollander on a recent trip to Israel. As a result of our initial meeting, Rabbi Hollander submitted a request to the 71 members of the Nascent Sanhedrin to acknowledge the holy work of PJTN. Because of his tireless efforts, the members agreed to draft an acknowledgment and blessing of PJTN and its supporters.

This document is the first time in history that this Jewish organization has recognized and blessed the work of a Christian organization. The Nascent Sanhedrin reconstituted itself as a religious body in 2007 after 1,500 years. PJTN is honored to have received this most honorable blessing from these religious leaders in Jerusalem.

In response to the Sanhedrin's blessing, PJTN presented a proclamation to Rabbi Hollander, encouraging our Jewish brethren with prayers and support to remind them that they do not stand alone during these difficult days. The proclamation was submitted to the Sanhedrin during a press conference in Jerusalem on September 1st, 2011.

Both of these spiritual leaders live and teach in Jerusalem, the holy city itself. Both men were adamant that the Bible gives the greatest evidence for the Jewish state that existed thousands of years ago and in 1948 was reborn in a day.

Guest (Male): What is the biblical basis for Israel's right to these lands?

Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum: The biblical basis is available for everybody to see. There are millions of copies of the Bible everywhere and everybody can open their Bible, and particularly if you read through the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, which predates the scriptures of any other contemporary faith, you will find in the narrative of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the biblical statement that God promised this land to these fathers for their seed forever and ever.

You can see chapter and verse as you follow through the narrative. You then see in the book of Exodus how God calls upon the descendants of Jacob, the children of Israel, through God's chosen emissary Moses and says, "I will take you out of the land of Egypt to the land that I promised to your fathers, the land flowing with milk and honey."

When we pursue the story of the Exodus and the journey through the wilderness to the land, we find just before the children of Israel enter the land at the end of the book of Numbers a detailed topography of the borders of the land as promised to the fathers. In Genesis, it states that from the River Nile to the River Euphrates is promised to Abraham and his descendants.

At the end of the book of Numbers, we see a detailed topography of what the boundaries of this land are. So it's available for everybody to read in their Bible. If they will follow the book of Joshua, they will see how the Canaanite kings that preceded the children of Israel refused to bow to the belief in the one God and resisted the children of Israel, and therefore were permitted to be driven out, which they were.

In Joshua chapters 12 through 19 is again an even more detailed topography of the inheritance of each and every tribe according to names that are preserved until today in Arab village names and in Hebrew names. Then we see at the end of the book of Ezekiel talking about the end of days, the exact description of the 12 tribes of Israel in each in their strip of land down the eastern Mediterranean seaboard with Jerusalem and the area of the priests and the Levites in the middle. It's all available in everybody's Bibles. There are no secrets whatever.

Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander: Everybody knows that in Genesis 15 there was a scene where God spoke with Abraham and made the covenant with Abraham. In that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, "Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." So now, this is one, this is the first quote. A lot of things have to be studied in these phrases, but I didn't study them.

A man studied them. In 1950, he published this book covering all the research that has been done from the very beginning, from the Greeks, going up to 1956, I think is when he began writing. He came to the conclusion that all places in the Bible that the borders were mentioned, they all agree with these borders.

In other words, while in other descriptions of borders, there are 30 places in the Hebrew Bible where the borders are mentioned, or places on the borders are mentioned, over 30 places. He went through each one and the research on each one and came to the very clear conclusion they all fit in with this promise to Abraham. I think that is the basis. This and another 29 or 30 odd quotes are a very sound—I can read you off all the places that I collected, that I show you here. I found 31 places. 31 places in the Hebrew Bible that quote places on the borders.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore: So here we have two rabbis, based on a Hebrew interpretation of the scriptures, citing several key scriptures that affirm that God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants that he would give them the land of Canaan. I truly believe that one cannot talk about the biblical evidence for Israel without looking at Jerusalem. In the Bible, it's mentioned 667 times.

Jerusalem has been a Jewish holy city since the days of King David, 3,000 years ago. At that time, the Arabs were still pagans who were worshiping idols in the desert. The Hebrew religion began with Abraham over 4,000 years ago, and almost 2,000 years ago Christianity began with the ministry of Christ. Islam, the newest of the three monotheistic religions, began approximately 1,400 years ago.

In the year 638 AD, the Muslims captured Jerusalem from the Byzantines and built a mosque on the site of the Jewish Holy Temple, what has been referred to as the abomination of desolation. Some Muslims believe Jerusalem is an Islamic holy site, but is it? Our next video piece looks at this ongoing misconception.

As you can see, Jerusalem is not truly a holy city or holy place to Islam. It is merely a conquered area from the past that they believe they own. This Islamic doctrine is known as the Law of Sacred Space. But if we look at our Bibles, we know how holy Jerusalem is to both Judaism and Christianity. In just one of the 667 places in the Old Testament, the Lord said to Isaiah: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

So now, let's look at Genesis 12:1-3, the first time God makes the promise to Abraham where he says, "Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" Here God is clearly making this statement to Abram before he is even called Abraham, of what he intends to do.

In Genesis 13:14-18, God reaffirms that covenant. "And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and width, for I give it to you.' Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar to the Lord there."

There's another promise of the covenant in Genesis 15:1-7. Abraham offers Eliezer as heir. He says: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abram said, 'Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' Then Abram said, 'Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!' And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.' Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, 'I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.'"

So ladies and gentlemen, it's clear that God has confirmed and reaffirmed that the land belongs to Israel. So we can go to the New Testament to Acts chapter 7, verses 1 through 5. This is the account of Stephen's address, where he is also authenticating the covenant with Abraham when he said: "Then the high priest said, 'Are these things so?' And he said, 'Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, "Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you." Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.'"

So Stephen affirmed the covenant with the land too. In Hebrews 11:8, the author of the book of Hebrews affirmed the covenant with the land. Here again, in the New Testament, Stephen is authenticating what God promised in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8. He also authenticates what God had promised Abraham about this covenant and the land as well.

The land is significant, and I wish we had more time today, but it's time to wrap up our show. At Focus on Israel, we appreciate hearing from you. So please send your comments and questions to comments@pjtn.org. I've received such encouraging notes and emails as well as great questions from all over, from viewers in both the United States as well as many other parts of the world. In the mailbag today, I received an email from Susan in Strasbourg, France.

And in her letter, she says: "My heart is for the Torah of Yahweh and for the chosen people. I want to stand for the chosen people." This is just one of the comments we're hearing. Strasbourg, France is tuning in. What a great testimony. What a great blessing. The time to stand is now. Be a leader in your community and in your church. One person can make a difference. Get involved in support pro-Israel organizations such as PJTN.

Call your senators, congressmen, the White House, let your elected leaders hear from you. I also want to encourage you to please visit our website to learn more, sign up to receive action alerts and order our films to share with your family and friends. And I'm looking forward to hearing from you. So please send us an email, let us know what you think of our show and our message. This one woman from Strasbourg, France was tuning into Focus on Israel and she responded, and now she wants to make an impact in her community.

She is even gone to her pastor. Further on in her letter, she writes about reaching out to her pastors and now she is spending Shabbat in synagogues with her Jewish brethren. She is just one person, and I'm just one person, and so are you. I want to thank you for watching our program today. Be sure to join us next week as we'll be focusing on the archaeological evidence for the state of Israel.

It's very important, ladies and gentlemen, your tuning in and watching today. But there are so many more Christians who haven't heard this message. This is not a message you're going to hear preached from the pulpit, and we heard a lot today from rabbis and pastors about the biblical evidence that proves that the Jewish people have a right to the land. We have to share this message with more Christians. So I do want to encourage you to contact your family and your friends and sit down with your children and watch this program. Please consider purchasing a DVD of this program. We'll see you next time on Focus on Israel. God bless you, and may the Lord continue to bless you for standing in the gap for Israel. Thank you.