When God gave Israel the Promise Land it extended into the Sinai desert near Egypt in the south and to the Euphrates River in the north. It was roughly three times the size of Israel today and would have included parts of present-day Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. You might ask yourself “Why does Bill talk so much about Israel” It’s because there are SO MANY REFERENCES TO ISRAEL in the Bible. The land God gave them was a BEAUTIFUL land and very PROSPEROUS. It shows us that God ALWAYS KEEPS His promises to us.
Because the house of Israel REBELLED against Him, God said “I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would NOT BRING THEM into the land which I had given them, ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ the GLORY (tsebi: gloriously beautiful) OF ALL LANDS…” (Ezekiel 20:15)
“Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me (they were taken out of the land for 2000 years); they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, Then I said I WOULD POUR OUT MY FURY ON THEM and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless, I WITHDREW MY HAND and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be PROFANED (chalal: dishonored) IN THE SIGHT OF THE GENTILES, in whose sight I had brought them out.” (Ezekiel 20:21-22)
In June of 1867, Mark Twain embarked on a journey to Israel and discovered. “A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds, a silent mournful expanse, a desolation, we never saw a human being on the whole route, hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” “…THE FOREIGNER (Mark Twain) who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land…the whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there…” (Deuteronomy 29:22-23) God said, “…this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment…” (Jeremiah 25:11)
Israel now produces some 95 percent of its own food requirements. Much of this success, of course, is owed to Israel’s phenomenal, groundbreaking inventions in agricultural and food technology—starting with drip irrigation and water desalination. Israeli dairy cows are the most productive on the planet. Even more astounding: Since Israel attained independence in 1948, the total area under cultivation has skyrocketed by a factor of 2.6 to approximately 1.1 million acres. In just the past 50 years, agricultural settlements have grown from 400 to 750. Agricultural production has expanded by a factor of 16—300 percent greater than Israel’s population growth.
“…Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for JERUSALEM WILL DWELL IN SECURITY.” (Zechariah 14:10b) “…thus says the LORD, “I will return to Jerusalem with compassion…the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” Zechariah 1:15-17
-Bill Stockham