The Restoration of Israel (Part Two)

Perspectives from the Poetic and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament (Part Two)

Khen Lim

Fulfilling Israel’s Restoration

Much has been said and written about the prophetic fulfilment of Israel’s Restoration including those that we are still waiting to unfold. Making the predictions is fine but in regathering Israel back as a single ethnic Elect in a single land, we must consider that they cannot always be viewed from only one time frame. This is very much so when we extrapolate the prophecies and apply them to the modern-day interpretation of Israel as we know it.

Contrary to what liberal theologies tell us, modern Israel is prophetically significant and plays a central role in fulfilling Bible prophecies as we shall soon see. And it is here that distinctions must be made of what verses foretell what fulfilments – those that have occurred from those that will require the future to reveal. In that sense, we view the fulfilments from the aspect of not one but two End-Time regathering periods where one will occur before Tribulation arrives and the other after it is over. We will look more into this later.

For now, let us look at some hard and compelling evidences as to the parts of Israel’s restoration that have taken place and are now in unexpurgated view. Because there are many, we will select only ten:

1.  Prevailing over its enemies

Image source: eczp.blogspot.com

Isaiah 41:12-14 foretold that God would uphold Israel in times of war with its enemies on the condition that the people have faith in Him:

“You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them. Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’ ‘Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah said this around the time when Assyrians had already overrun the northern kingdom of Israel while the south was about to capitulate to the Babylonians. In hindsight of course, we know that they did not prevail against their enemies and idolatry was the reason why. 

Amos 9:14-15 said something similar also:

“‘Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wines, and make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,’ says the Lord your God.”

Amos’ prophecy was made around 750BC when Israel had fallen prey to its captors and its people were forced to evict. 

Since 1948, modern Israel’s founding has been laid siege to by its neighbouring enemies, all of whom were and still are larger, more populous and filled with hatred for the Jews. But in all the armed conflicts involving these Arab nations, Israel prevailed. This prophecy has not been fully fulfilled for we believe that a bigger picture is yet to emerge. There will come a time when all of Israel’s enemies must submit to or be destroyed asunder.

The declaration of independence in 1948 was only haltingly celebrated because neighbouring Arabs were bent on destroying the Jewish state. On May 15, almost a month after Israel’s independence, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam, crowed that, “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre, which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.” (Rydelnik 2007) ⁷  

Azzam was not the only one beating his chest. There were countless others including Egyptian president Nasser who believed that Israel would once again be slaughtered in a much-anticipated genocide. Despite its size, God’s people not only stoutly defended but over the next number of military campaigns against Arab aggression, victories were accompanied by invaluable territorial gains of which Jerusalem was a much-prized spoil of war and yet another fulfilling of prophecy. And in all of that, God laid His hands to prevent His people from being further uprooted as they were in the ancient times.

Considering that these are ancient prophecies, the accuracy of how these modern-day events had unfolded is uncanny. Israel did overcome its enemies and God’s people were finally able to regain control of their own lives.

2.  Rebuilding from its ruins

Image source: waynestiles.com

Amos prophesied that God would restore Israel even if it was, by then, conquered by the Assyrians up north and the Babylonians down south. Written almost 200 years following David’s rule,⁸ Amos added that being in ruins would not stop God from bringing continuous planting to the nation amounting to great harvests (Amos 9:11):

“In that day, I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.”

And in verse 13:

“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘When the ploughman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved.’”

This prophecy has been fulfilled in the late 1900s and since those years, Jews have not only been restoring many of Israel’s ancient cities but they have also been transforming barren wastelands into highly productive farming belts, using their resources and creativity in irrigation and farming techniques. Today Israel counts itself as one of the world’s foremost authorities in food technologies. If we take the meaning of ancient ruins to include Jewish culture, language and history, then there is much more that Israel has achieved.

3.  Ezekiel’s prophecy of prosperity

Image source: Israel-2go.co.il

Around the time of 593-571BC, the prophet Ezekiel wrote that Israel would experience prosperity beyond what its imagination (Ezek 36:11):

“I will multiply on you man and beast and they will increase and be fruitful and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the Lord.”

It would have to be inconceivable for Israel to contemplate prosperity in light of what they had gone through at that time. Ezekiel’s generation was filled with misery but also clinging to a hope of better times to come. Yet the Bible does recall the times of David and Solomon when Israel was prosperous but Ezekiel was alluding to a very different Israel with that prophecy. Jerusalem was certainly rebuilt but the Romans went on to destroy it and since then, the Jews had scattered once more.

This prophetic fulfilment was especially evident by the late 1900s but in truth, it began right when millions of Jews began to make their way home from different corners of the world almost 100 years earlier. Together they rebuilt their nation from scratch. Today Israel is a modern and independent self-sustainable nation capable of fending for itself. Just like it was in the days of David and Solomon, Israel has returned to its prosperous ways, enjoying the highest per capita income in the region despite its neighbours possessing superior fossil fuel resources and larger land areas.

4.  Zechariah’s and Isaiah’s prophecies of Jews returning

Image source: nowtheendbegins.com

Zechariah 8:7-8 says:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.”

This was written around 520-518BC but it didn’t take until the recent century to witness the fulfilment of this prophecy. Back then the Jews had successfully rebuilt Jerusalem following their captivity in Babylon but we know the Romans destroyed it and went on to kill more than one million Jews and forced them back into exile again. Hence the Jews did return but it wasn’t a permanent one.

Isaiah had foretold something similar (Isa 43:5-6):

“Do not be fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth…”

Although written earlier (than Zechariah’s), Isaiah’s prophecy has richer details, mentioning not two but all four directions of regathering. The past century alone bore witness to millions of returning Jews making Aliyah from the diaspora in the east, west, north and the south.

From the north, Jews have returned from the former Soviet Union (now Russia) but only after years of diplomatic pressure forced the Soviets to relent to their release.⁹ By the mid-1990s, an estimated one million Soviet Jews resettled in Israel (Remennick 2012)¹⁰

From the south, Ethiopia has been the source of returning Jews but that, too, had been a complex arrangement that was only possible in 1985 after years of refusal by their communist government since the 1970s. By May 1991, Israel successfully airlifted 14,500 Ethiopian Jews home using 34 planes in a 36-hour mission called Operation Solomon (Lyons 2007)¹¹

From the east, the exodus had begun during the early 1900s from areas around the Middle-East prior to even the first-known Aliyah. From the west, Jews have been homeward bound from Europe and the United States in the millions since the early 1900s as a result of the two World Wars alone.

Just as Isaiah’s prophecy foretold, the importance of shoring up the diaspora Jews and bringing them home was and remain important for the restoration of Israel to reach its completion. These exoduses mentioned above are clear evidences. As prophesied by Zechariah, the return of Jerusalem to Jewish hands following their successful Six Day War in 1967 is epochal to the increase of Jewish immigration.

In Isaiah’s prophecy were the words, ‘from the ends of the earth,’ which rang true considering the far-flung locations around the world from which the Jews had returned. Unlike 2,000 years ago, Jews came from disparate places such as China and Taiwan in the east, California on the west coast of America, the Scandinavian bloc to the northerly and as south as South Africa.

5.  Revival of Israel according to Ezekiel

Image source: reviveisrael.org

Ezekiel’s most famous verses come from 37:10-14 concerning the Valley of Dry Bones:

“So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,’ declares the Lord.’”

Just as it foretold 2,600 years ago, the Jews had a home to return to. Once left for dead and in ruins, the nation of Israel had returned to life, affirming that God had “put My Spirit in you and you will live.” With the grimness of the Holocaust hovering over the national consciousness not even three years earlier, sovereignty was finally reinstated in 1948 and the process of reinstating Israel continues till today in accordance to God’s plan.

6.  Restoration of Israel as a single united nation

Image source: jpost.com

From the same chapter, Ezekiel continues his prophecy (Ezek 37:21-22):

“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms.”

The key to this prophecy is God saying, “I will make them one nation in the land” in which we can safely refer to Israel becoming, in God’s will, a single united nation. To put this prophecy into perspective, bear in mind that Ezekiel wrote this 2,600 years ago at the time when his people were the subject of humiliation and captivity, having divided themselves into two quarrelsome kingdoms that could never reconcile. In his time, foreign invasions destroyed Israelite sovereignty, reducing the people to shameful statelessness. Therefore in that very sense, the prophecy itself would have stunned Ezekiel.

For us living in the here and now, the unification of God’s people under one nation became a reality in 1948. That was when, as a united people, one nation was reborn and the name was Israel. With the union of God’s people under a single sovereign standard, restoration has taken a further step in the right direction.

7.  Israel’s disproportionately mighty army

Image source: businessinsider.com

In Leviticus 26:7-8, Moses wrote the following:

“But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.”

These two verses are preceded by verse 3, which begins with the following:

“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out…”

Although the Bible has sufficiently documented the Israelite army’s supernatural power during the Old Testament times, it is still remarkable for God to say that five would harry a hundred and a hundred will do the same to ten thousand before all their enemies would eventually succumb. Even so, verse 3 is a stark reminder of an important proviso: that the people remain obedient to God. In other words, there will be no guarantee of victory otherwise.

We can see the same prophecy unfolding in recent modern times in equally remarkable ways also. Here are three examples:

The first example takes place in 1948 when not one but five of Israel’s neighbours cut short its independence celebrations with declarations to destroy them. Here was a very young and terribly ill-equipped Israel standing faintly against the combined firepower of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, with assistance also coming from other nations including Saudi Arabia and even Morocco.

Israel had only a million Jews while the total population of the five Arab countries combined was no less than twenty-fold but because the Jews had two advantages in hand – unparalleled motivation and God, they beat all of them off, winning convincingly and in the process increased its territorial area by at least 50 percent.

In the second example, Israel actually reclaimed Jerusalem for the first time in as many as 2,000 years by pre-empting the Arabs in the Six-Day War of 1967. Because Israel attacked and destroyed their enemy air force bases, they dominated the skies, cutting short any of the Arab threats. By doing so, the war lasted only six days and the Israelis rested on the seventh. In that very short space of time, the Jews seized even more territory again.

1973 offers us a third example. On October 6, Egypt and Syria sprung a sudden and rapid attack on Israel, taking them by complete surprise. Smelling victory as imminent, other Arab countries joined in, eager to vent their bellicose claims of victory. In some miraculous way, the Jewish state regrouped and managed to drive all of them back into their own lands.

With the Egyptian forces, Israel pushed them so deeply back into the Sinai that they were within easy striking distance of Cairo. They did the same to the Syrians, advancing worryingly close to Damascus and subjecting them to the same fate. With lighting precision, Israel again claimed more occupied land.

8.  The deserts will become like the Garden of Eden

Image sources: destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com (top left), davidknightwrites.blogspot.com (top right), artbycamilla.wordpress.com (bottom left), wonderslist.com (bottom right)

Written around 701-681BC, Isaiah prophesied that God’s restoration of Israel would make the land look as paradise-like as the Garden of Eden (Isa 51:3):

“Indeed the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and sound of a melody.”

We have evidence that at least part of this prophecy is fulfilled but in fullest, we will need to wait it out a little more. From the first Aliyah in 1882, the Jews had returned to a land that was harsh and hostile. There were abundant wastelands and malaria-infested swamps. Much of the desert lands around also made them very difficult to plant and grow. Despite the odds, the Jews toiled the ground and turned them into useful and productive farmland. Water supplies sourced from the Sea of Galilee irrigated large swathes of deserts, allowing even the harshest of lands to finally bloom and flourish.

Today Israel’s world-class desert-crafting expertise also extends to passive low-energy architecture (PLEA) where houses can be designed to adapt to the hot and arid desert conditions and yet not require any air-conditioning even during the day when heat is at its most intense. Nothing like that was possible until the Jews came along with such an idea (Meir 2001)

Although far from the finished article, a part fulfilment of the prophecy is a step in the right direction towards restoring Israel. Just in the past century alone, more than 250 million trees (JNF Tree Planting Centre 2011) had been successfully grown around the country. From a near-complete wasteland in the late 1800s to a landscape resplendent in lush greenery, Israel has become a success story and the envy of many countries around the world.

9.  Israel will bear fruit for the world

Image sources: jewishstudies.eteacherbiblical.com (top left), nocamels.com (top right), siberiantimes.com (bottom left), tlwkidsbooks.com (bottom right)

Isaiah 27:6 says,

“In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.”

It’s a short yet succinct verse that reflects God’s evergreen hands and His penchant for fruitfulness. Isaiah uses this verse to say that Israel would one day flourish and bear great fruit for the world. To understand this in its proper setting and make good sense of it, read it from a literal and symbolic perspective.

In literal terms, Israel resettled in a land that had turned hostile and harsh but prophecy was fulfilled quickly, turning it into a leading exporter of agricultural produce. Even in Malaysia, there exists an Israeli strain of strawberries that is grown successfully in the Cameron Highlands. Israel’s oranges are also particularly well known throughout the world.

In spiritual terms, Israel has produced remarkable fruit by being the crucible for the birth of Christianity and the subsequent outgrowth to the Gentile nations throughout the world. Paul of Tarsus, formerly a Pharisaic Jew took on the role to preach to and convert Gentiles and in turn, inspired the world to embrace Christ. With over two billion Christians worldwide today, all stand ripe for the eventual regathering that will usher in the restoration of Israel.

10.       Trees will grow once more in Israel

Image source: timesofisrael.com

Isaiah 41:18-20 says,

“I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water. I will put the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert. Together with the box tree and the cypress, that they may see and recognise, and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled by the mid-1900s. As early as 1937, Jews such as the members of the Kibbutz Ein HaShofet were planting junipers¹² in the Ephraim Hills (Trees for the Holy Land 2011). Wayne Blank in his online article called ‘Trees of the Holy Land’ records the following trees that are now found in Israel: cedar,¹³ cyprus,¹⁴ box tree,¹⁵ pine¹⁶ and olive.¹⁷

In the article entitled ‘The Top 10 Most Amazing Trees in Israel,’ Abigail Klein Leichman also observed acacia trees in the Negev (Leichman 2013). Ori Fragman-Sapir reveals that myrtle trees can be found along Amud River, at Mount Meron in the Galilee, the Golan Heights, Mount Hermon and on the Carmel (Fragman-Sapir n.d.).

The history of modern Israel began with stories of hard labour to rework the land. Over time, the Jews had pieced together a massive irrigation system to channel water supplies to much needed areas particularly to the deserts where the Jews were determined to transform into growth areas. From desolate and unyielding lands – with little to no rain – for much of the 2,000 years in which there was much neglect and disrepair, the Jews gave it a remarkable makeover, coalescing into an impressive national effort to replant trees instead of denuding the land through ignorance and negligence.

As mentioned previously, the Jewish National Fund has seen to more than 250 million trees (JNF Tree Planting Centre 2011) planted in the last century, spanning the Golan and Galilee in the north to the Negev in the south (JNF Tree Planting Centre 2011).

To recap, the arguments for a latter-day restoration of Israel as amplified by the Dispensational Premillennialism interpretation are fairly clear. In a nutshell, we can see the following:

-         Jeremiah 29:14 > God promises to restore His people to Israel not just from the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities but from all nations and all places regardless of where they have long since scattered to.

-         Isaiah 11:11 > There will most assuredly be a second restoration because the first had already occurred following the return from Babylonian captivity. It is this second restoration that we have primed our attention at.

-         Zechariah 8:1-8 > The return prophecies have been made to those who had been restored. The Bible already tells us that people had returned home from the Babylonian captivity. Therefore the return prophecies that really matter must refer to latter-day events such as those that have been taking place in recent times and they continue to unfold today and in the future.

-         Jeremiah 30:24 > The use of the term “in the latter days” in this verse is a confirmation that we are referring to the time prior to the “second coming.”

-         Isaiah 35:1, 61:4 > Restoration of Israel isn’t just physical, it is also economic. It is also political and religious/spiritual. It also has to do with the Promised Land including all the ancient ruins.

-         Amos 9:14-15 > The promises of victories over God’s (and Israel’s) enemies will be fulfilled as prophesied but it is more than that. God also said that His people will never have to leave their land ever again, suggesting that anyone who tries to forcibly evict them will be soundly defeated.

Image source: haaretz.com (scripture verse added by author)

As from the present events crystallising, we can summarise five key indicative points:

-         The 1948 founding of a rebirthed Israel is certainly evidence of fulfilled prophecies and has clearly signalled the return of Jews from far-flung locations throughout all four corners of the world, from the north, south, east and west (Isa 43:5-6, Zech 8:7-8).

-         By reclaiming the land in the present perspective, the Jews would recognise that following 2,000 years of neglect, the transformation to an agriculturally rich food haven would also be fulfilling prophecies (Isa 51:3, 27:6) in the restoration of Israel. And the Jews would do this by way of irrigation and the re-utilisation of physical resources provided by God.

-         God would deliver Israel’s enemies very handsomely; (Lev 26:7-8) something we have seen in the swift miraculous victories of recent years. The Jews were triumphant against all odds in four sequential wars, notably the 1948 War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai Campaign, the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

-         After 2,000 years, God has now returned Jerusalem to Israel (Zech 8:7-8) as part of their victorious Six Day War campaign in 1967. With the old city back in Jewish hands, the prophecies are unfolding towards the full restoration of Israel.

-         There appears to be plans afoot now by some to rebuild the temple (Isa 56:7). Rabbi Naphtali Weisz, publisher of Breaking Israel News said late last year that there is a growing “Temple Movement” that seeks to erect the Third (and very possibly last) Temple on Temple Mount (Weisz 2014).

For such evidences pointing to modern Israel being integral to God’s plans to restore His people economically, politically, ethnically and spiritually, there is a sizeable part of the Christian community that actually cast doubts of God’s hand in all this.

Disdain for modern Israel can be so frustrating and extreme even among Protestant Christians. Some expect Israel to be pushed into the sea well before the Jewish state can ever be part of God’s redemptive plans. Anti-premillennialists often also dismiss modern Israel as no closer to God’s restorative vision than France or England or Germany or even America, on the belief that Jesus had already fulfilled all that needed to be and then formed the New Israel. This claim is a popular one for those who oppose the premillennialism interpretation of biblical prophecies.

In response, firstly, God is clearly not done yet with Israel. There is much to reveal in the time to come. So, it is premature to be this dismissive. Israel will not be pushed into the sea if we are to understand what the Old Testament prophecies tell us about God’s protectiveness over His people and the land.

Secondly unlike Israel, no country in Europe is mentioned – or mentioned so frequently – in the Bible. Unless Christians begin to labour over Scripture with a genuine need to understand God, it is difficult to expect a change of heart against Israel. By mocking modern Israel and be disdainful over its role in God’s grand redemptive plan, we fail to take heed of what Romans 11:1 tells us of what Paul says:

“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.”

Even Dr Mark L Bailey, current President of the Dallas Theological Seminary and an impressively decorated Senior Professor of Bible Exposition, refuses to believe that God has given modern Israel a role to play. He has this to say:

“Is that what is happening today? I can’t say for sure. It is the first time in 2,500 years, though, that you have this kind of constitution of people in the land, but I don’t know what it means. This may be the prelude to End-Time events, but I think we’re presumptuous if we try to give it meaning beyond that. It may be, that’s all we can say” (Bailey 2002).¹⁸

And with a destructive comment such as this, it is not surprising that he has been encouraging Christians not to provide political support to Israel.

Endnotes

6 The scattering and mingling may have gotten to the degree where the lost Israel might have contributed to being part of the original root of the nations of Europe. There are claims that many from the ten tribes had made their sojourn across the Caucasus Mountains, into the Steppes of Russia where they are said to be identifiable as Cimmerians and Khazars. None of this can be properly validated but in the captivity of Assyria, they didn’t just lose their sovereignty; their identity was as close to being obliterated as one can imagine.

7 Page 102.

8 Roughly about 750BC

9 The Soviets had broken off diplomatic relations with Israel as a result of their humiliating defeat during the Six Day War.

10 Page 2.

11 Page 19.

12 Referred to as ‘pine trees’ in other translations.

13 Also called ‘Cedar of Lebanon’ cf. Num 19:6

14 Wood from Cyprus (Cypress) trees were used to build the Ark cf. Gen 6:14

15 Referred to as ‘fir trees’ in some other translations cf. Isa 60:13

16 cf. Isa 44:14

17 cf. Ex 27:20

18 Page 4.

Bibliography

Bailey, Dr Mark L. “The Lord’s Land Policy in Israel.” Veritas 2, no. 3 (July 2002).

Fragman-Sapir, Ori. “Common Myrtle - A Bible Plant.” The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. Edited by Sue Surkes (translator). n.d. http://en.botanic.co.il/articles/Show/14 (accessed September 15, 2015).

“JNF Tree Planting Centre.” Jewish National Fund. 2011. http://www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center/ (accessed September 15, 2015).

Leichman, Abigail Klein. “The Top 10 Most Amazing Trees in Israel.” Israel 21c Uncovering Israel. March 13, 2013. http://www.israel21c.org/the-top-10-most-amazing-trees-in-israel/ (accessed September 15, 2015).

Lyons, Len. The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2007.

Meir, Isaac. Climate Responsive Architecture – A Design Handbook for Energy Efficient Building. Edited by Nick Baker, Simos Yannas, S.V. Szokolay Arvind Krishnan. Noida, India: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing, 2001.

Remennick, Larissa. Jews on Three Continents – Identity, Integration and Conflict. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2012.

Rydelnik, Michael A. Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict – What the Headlines Haven’t Told You. Edited by Jim Vincent. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 2007.

Weisz, Rabbi Naphtali. “We’re Ready to Build the Temple.” Breaking Israel News – Latest News Biblical Perspective. August 4, 2014. http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/19539/ready-rebuild-temple/#g4CoLVp6X9zgMJ15.97 (accessed September 16, 2015).

(Part 3 continued next week)