Why Israel Matters?

Source:

James C. Denison, Ph.D.
President, the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture
www.denisonforum.org

Israel has blessed the world.

Consider some of the Jewish individuals whose contributions have changed history:

• Albert Einstein, physicist

• Jonas Salk, created first polio vaccineJames C. Denison, Ph.D. is president of Denison Forum on Truth and Culture. For more information see 

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• Albert Sabin, developed oral vaccine for polio

• Galileo, discovered the speed of light

• Gabriel Lipmann, discovered color photography

• Baruch Blumberg, discovered origin and spread of infectious diseases

• Briton Epstein, discovered first cancer virus

• Maria Meyer, discovered structure of atomic nuclei

• Julius Mayer, discovered laws of thermodynamics

• Sigmund Freud, father of psychotherapy

• Joseph Pulitzer, creator of "Pulitzer Prize" for achievements in journalism, 

literature, music and art.

Writing for Harper's magazine in 1899, Twain observed:

If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jews ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.  The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

Justification

Who do you think you are?
I am the beloved child of God. Christ crucified made me one.

Why should you be healthy? You don't deserve to be so!
Christ crucified justified me being healthy.

Why should you be wealthy? You are born to be poor!
Christ crucified justified me being wealthy.

Why should you be at rest? You should be sweating your brow to earn your keeps!
Christ crucified justified me being at rest.

Why should you be peaceful? You should be full of worries and anxieties!
Christ crucified justified me being peaceful.  He is my shalom peace.

abal [56]

Meaning

a.  To bewail.

b. A primary root.

1.  Abal is used in the simple, active verbal form primarily in poetry, and usually in a figurative sense.  When it is used of mourning for the dead in a literal sense, the word is found in prose sections and in the reflexive form, indicating action back to the subject.

Basic sentence structure: Subject verb object. Example, He loves himself.

Reflexive form: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

2.  To mourn, lament for the dead in a literal sense over the dead; Genesis 37:34, "And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.".

3.  When used in the figurative sense, abal expresses "mourning" by:

• Gates. Isaiah 3:26, "And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.".
• Land. Isaiah 24:4, "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish."
• Pastures. Amos 1:2, "And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither."

4. In addition to mourning for the dead, "mourning" may be over:

• Jerusalem. Isaiah 66:10, "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:"
• Sin. Ezra 10:6, "Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away." 
• God's judgment. Exodus 33:4, "And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments."

5. One may pretend to be a mourner simply by putting on mourning clothes. 2 Samuel 14:2, "And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:"

Syn: 5594 is more dramatic stressing wailing and tearing out the hair.

abah [14]

Meaning

Abah means to breathe after.

Figuratively, to be acquiescent, consent.

A primary root.

1.  This verb, which occurs 54 times, is sometimes associated with the noun 'ebyon', "needy person".

2.  This verb means "to consent to" in Deuteronomy 13:8, "Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:"

3. It basically represents the inclination which leads towards action, rather than the volition which immediately precedes it.

abad (Aramaic) [7]

Meaning

Basically abad represents the disappearance of someone or something.

1.  In its strongest sense the word means "to die or to cease to exist". The LORD warned Israel that disobedience and godlessness would be punished by their removal from the Promised Land and death in a foreign land.

Leviticus 26:38 - "And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up."

This sense may be further heightened by the use of the intensive stem (note) so that the verb comes to mean "utterly destroy."  The stem also changes the force of the verb from intransitive to transitive.

Numbers 33:52 - "Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and [utterly] destroy all their pictures, and [utterly] destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:"  (Utterly destroy as to "bring to non-existence").

The force of this command was further heightened when He said: "Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods.. and destroy the names of them out of that place" [Deuteronomy 12:2-3].

This intensified sense is used of the destruction of peoples (armies) too; as for Pharaoh's army, "the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day" [Deuteronomy 11:4].

2.  A somewhat different emphasis of abad is "to go to ruin" or "to be ruined".  After the second plague Pharaoh's counsellors told him to grant Israel's request to leave because the nation was in ruins: "...knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed [ruined]?" [Exodus 10:7 - 1st mention].

In a similar sense Moab is said "to be ruined" or laid waste: "Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.  We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba." [Numbers 21:29-30].

3.  Closely related to the immediately preceding emphasis is that of "to succumb."  This use of abad focuses on the process rather than the conclusion.  The sons of Israel spoke to Moses about the disastrous effects of everyone drawing near to God. They needed some mediators (priests) who could focus on keeping ritualistically prepared so they would not die when they approached God.  They used the verb, therefore, in the sense of the nation gradually perishing, or "succumbing" to death: "And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?" [Numbers 17:12-13].

God responds by establishing the priesthood so "that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel" [Numbers 18:5].

4.  Abad can also speak of being carried off to death or destruction by some means.  The leaders of the rebellion against the Aaronic priesthood (Korah, Dathan and Abiram) and their families were swallowed up by the ground: ".... and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation" [Numbers 16:33].


This same nuance appears when God says the people will "perish" from off the land if they do not keep the covenant: "...Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed" [Deuteronomy 4:26].

As a nation they will be destroyed as far as the land is concerned.

5.  The verb may mean to disappear but not be destroyed, in other words "to be lost".  God instructs Israel concerning lost possessions: "In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost things of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself" [Deuteronomy 22:3].

Israel is called "lost sheep" whose "shepherds have caused them to go astray" [Jeremiah 50:6].

Jeremiah 50:6
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

NB: The term "lost sheep" applies to Israel only? What about Gentiles? Lost child?


6. Another nuance of the verb is "to go astray" in the sense of wandering.  At the dedication of the first fruits Israel is to recognize God's rights to the land, that He is the land-owner and that they are the temporary tenants, by confessing "a Syrian ready to perish was my father" [Deuteronomy 26:5].

NB: Refer to the parable of the tenant. Mark 12:1-12. 

7. Finally, abad can be applied to human qualities which are lessening or have lessened: "For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them" [Deuteronomy 32:28].

The word can also be used of the failure of human wisdom as in Psalm 146:4: as for men "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

Abad

Meaning

Basically abad represents the disappearance of someone or something.

1.  In its strongest sense the word means "to die or ease to exist".

Leviticus 26:38 - "And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up."

2.  It means to bring to non-existence.

Numbers 33:52 - "And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land ofThen ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: your enemies shall eat you up."

3.  It means to go to ruin or to be ruined.

Exodus 10:7 - "And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?"

Numbers 21:29-30 - "And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowWoe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.  We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.est thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?"

4.  It means to succumb, focuses on the process rather than the conclusion.

Numbers 17:12-13 - "And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.  Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?"

5.  It means to be carried off to death or destruction by some means.

Deuteronomy 4:26 - "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed."

6.  It means to disappear but not be destroyed, to be lost.

Deuteronomy 22:3 - "In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself."

Jeremiah 50:6 - "My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place."

7.  It means to go astray, in the sense of wandering.
Deuteronomy 26:5 - "And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:"

8.  It means human qualities which are lessening or have lessened.
Deuteronomy 32:28 - "For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them."

Psalm 146:4 - "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

Summary

This word refers to the death of the righteousness or the wicked; to the downfall and dissolution of nations, to the desolation of countries, to wandering away of herbage and crops, to the fading away of strength, hope, wisdom , knowledge and wealth.

Ab [1]

Meaning
Ab means "father; grandfather; forefather; ancestor."

1. Basically, ab refers to the familial relationship represented by the word "father." This is the word's significance in its first biblical appearance.

First mention

Genesis 2:24 - "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.."

2. In poetical passages, the word is sometimes paralleled to em, "mother."

Job 17:14 - "I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister"

The word is also used in conjunction with "mother" to represent one's parents.

Leviticus 19:3 - "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God."

But unlike the word em, ab is never used of animals.

3.  Ab also means "grandfather" and/or "greatgrandfather", as in Genesis 28:13 - "And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;"

Such progenitors on one's mother's side were called "thy mother's father".

Genesis 28:2 - " Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother."

4.  This noun may be used of any one of the entire line of men from whom a given individual is descended.

1 Kings 19:4 - "But he [Elijah] himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."

In such use, the word may refer to the first man, a "forefather." or:

4a.  A clan.  Jeremiah 35:6 - "ut they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:"

4b.  A tribe.  Joshua 19:47 - "And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father."

4c.  A group with a special calling. 1 Chronicles 24:19 - "These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the Lord, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him."

4d.  A dynasty. 1 Kings 15:3 - "And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father."

4e.  A nation. Joshua 24:3 - "And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac."

5.  Thus "father" does not necessarily mean the man who directly sired a given individual.

6.  This noun sometimes describes the adoptive relationship, especially when it is used of the "founder of a class or station," such as trade:

Genesis 4:20 - "And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle."

7.  Ab can be a title of respect, usually applied to an older person, as when David said to Saul: "Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it." [1 Samuel 24:11].

8.  The word is also applied to teachers.

2 Kings 2:12 - "And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces."

9.  The word is applied to the prophet Elisha.

2 Kings 6:21 - "And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?"

10.  It is applied to a priest.

Judges 17:10 - "And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in."

11.  This word is also a title of respect when used of "one's husband": 

Jeremiah 3:4 - "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?"

12.  The noun is used of an "advisor".
Genesis 45:8 - "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt."

13.  In each case, the one described as "father" occupied a position or status and received the honour due to a "father".

14.  In conjunction with bayit [1004 - "house"], the word may mean "family".
Exodus 12:3 - "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:"

15.  Sometimes the plural of the word used by itself can represent "family".
Exodus 6:25 - "And Eleazar Aaron's son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families."

16.  God is described as the "father" of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:6 - "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?"

16a.  He is the One Who begot and protected them, the One they should revere and obey.

16b.  God is the "father" of all people.
Malachi 2:10 - "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?"

16c.  He is especially the "protector" or "father" of the fatherless.
Psalm 68:5 - "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation."

17.  As the "father" of a king, God especially aligns Himself to that man and his kingdom.
2 Samuel 7:14 - "I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:"

17a.  Not every king was a son of God - only those whom He adopted.

17b.  In a sense, the perfect King was God's adopted Son.
Psalm 2:7 - "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee."

The extent, power and duration of His kingdom are guaranteed by the Father's Sovereignty.
Psalm 2:8-9 - "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

18.  On the other hand, one of the Messiah's enthronement names is "Eternal Father".
Isaiah 9:6 - "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."