“If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. Moreover Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30: 1-6)

The Negev Overlooking the Arava
The Negev Overlooking the Arava

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Today’s Feature

Blessings, Curses, and the Rebirth of Israel

Deuteronomy chapters 28, 29, and 30 are very interesting.  The Children of Israel had been in the wilderness for almost forty years, and Moses was about to die.  You can sense as you read these chapters that Moses was preparing them for life in the Promised Land without him, and he was taking the opportunity to remind them about what Yahweh told them at the foot of Mount Sinai.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 talks about the blessings Yahweh will bestow on the Children of Israel if they obey His Word and the curses they will experience if they fail to obey.  In chapter 29, Moses tells them about the details of the agreement under which they will live in the Promised Land.  Then in Deuteronomy chapter 30, Moses prophesied about events that actually happened in the 20th century.  This is what he told them:

“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where Yahweh your God has banished you, and you will return to Yahweh your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then Yahweh your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.”

“If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.  Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.  Moreover Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30: 1-6)

We are living during the days when this prophecy is being fulfilled.  Halleluyah!  Halleluyah is a Hebrew word.  It means “praise Yahweh.”

Become a Fan of the Facebook Group His Name is Yahweh

Among other things, I use the Facebook group His Name is Yahweh to notify people that a new SnyderTalk has been posted.  If you are not already a fan of the Facebook group His Name is Yahweh, you should consider signing up.  Click here to visit the site.

Fact is Stranger than Fiction

If you’re not familiar with The Temple Institute, now is the time for you to learn because you’ll hear much more about it in the days ahead: click here.  You’ll be amazed when you explore the website and learn about what The Temple Institute has done already, but that pales by comparison with what it will do.  The Temple Institute’s gallery is something you need to see as well: click here.

An Historical Perspective

David became a very successful king in Israel.  He was Yahweh’s chosen one, and God blessed him mightily.  The greatest blessing He bestowed on David was the promise that the Messiah would be one of his descendants.  In fact, one of the Messiah’s Names is Messiah Son of David.  However, David behaved sinfully when Israel became prosperous and secure.

One day Satan inspired David (1 Chronicles 21: 1) to think about all the wealth and power he had accumulated, and he asked Joab, his military leader, to conduct a census of the people in his kingdom.  Specifically, David wanted to know how many troops he had, as if it really mattered. (This interpretation is from Radak and others.  Radak is an acronym for Rabbi David Kimchi who lived from 1040 to 1105.  His commentaries on the Tanach and the Babylonian Talmud are studied today.)

Yahweh put David on the throne, and everything he possessed was due to Yahweh’s blessings.  It was sinful for David to think about those blessings as if they were the fruit of his own labor and to believe they could protect him in times of adversity.  Joab knew that David was asking for trouble and advised against it, but David insisted on the census anyway so Joab performed the count.

Yahweh instructed His prophet, Gad, to tell David that he was about to be punished and that he could choose what the punishment would be.  He gave David three options: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before his enemies, or three days of the sword of Yahweh. (1 Chronicles 21: 9-12)

The fact that Yahweh allowed David to choose the penalty indicates how much He loved him.  David picked the third option and said, “I am in distress; please let me fall into the hand of Yahweh, for His mercies are very great.  But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”(1 Chronicles 21: 13)

And so it was.  For three days, Yahweh inflicted punishment on Israel for David’s sin.  In total, 70,000 men in Israel died because of what David had done.  At the end of the three days, Yahweh came to Jerusalem to destroy the city, and He changed His mind when He reached “the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” (1 Chronicles 21: 15)  This is the site where Solomon later built the Temple of Yahweh.  Today, this site is known as Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount, and it is the center of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.

David lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yahweh “standing between earth and heaven, with His drawn sword in His hand stretched out over Jerusalem.  Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.” (1 Chronicles 21: 16)  David said, “Is it not I who commanded to count the people?  Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done?” (1 Chronicles 21: 17)

Yahweh instructed Gad to tell David to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.  David built the altar exactly where Yahweh said to build it, and when he offered sacrifices the punishment ceased.  But David did something else at that time that I need to explain because it is important today.  Before David built the altar, he actually bought Mount Moriah from Ornan the Jebusite.  He paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold for the land, or about 240 ounces of gold, (Ryrie, Charles.  Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition, Moody Press, Chicago, 1995, p. 656.) and then he made a sacrifice for his sins.  In other words, David did not simply take the land, or using today’s jargon he did not “occupy the land.”  He purchased it for a sum certain from Ornan the Jebusite, and he had, and has, legal title to the land.

It is also important to point out that Ornan was a Jebusite, not an Israelite, so today when you hear that the Children of Israel took the land of Israel from the Canaanites, remember this.  Yahweh promised the land of Israel to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob.  That fact alone is sufficient to determine ownership because He created everything.  But where Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, is concerned He went one step farther.  He had David buy it for Him as if to say, “This land is Mine.  I bought it.”  It is very interesting how seemingly insignificant details become important thousands of years after the fact.

For your information:

Fact: Solomon’s Temple, i.e. the First Temple, was completed in 960 B.C.

Fact: Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Fact: The Temple was rebuilt following the Babylonian captivity and remodeled by Herod the Great.  This Temple was widely recognized at the time as one of the great wonders of the world because it was so magnificent.

Fact: The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.  The Kotel is a remnant of that Temple compound, and debris from the Roman destruction is easily found on the south side of the Temple Mount today.

Fact: Mohammed was born between 570 A.D. and 571 A.D.  That’s 500 years after the Second Temple’s destruction.

There is abundant historical evidence of the existence of both Temples.  Unfortunately, radical Arab Muslims deny that they ever existed.  Even more, they have done everything in their power to destroy any vestige of their existence, and they have defiled the Temple Mount by constructing buildings on the Temple Mount that do not belong there.  This is a problem that Yahweh will have to solve because it’s not likely to reach the front burner as the Middle East peace process gets underway.

One more thing.  At the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, this is what Yahweh told Solomon: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My Name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” (1 Kings 9: 3)

Solomon's Temple

Solomon’s Temple

Herod's Temple

Herod’s Temple

Temple Mount for blog 2

The Temple Mount Today

Today’s Events Shaping Our World

U.S. and Western Hemisphere

Barack Obama--The Post-America World

The book Obama’s carrying, and presumably reading, is The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria.  This is what Amazon says about the book:

“This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.” So begins Fareed Zakaria’s important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the “rise of the rest”—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination.

I wonder what other books our president is reading.

Israel and Middle East

“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent.  You who remind Yahweh, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Isaiah 62: 6-7

Mt. Moriah from the Mt. of OlivesThe Old City of Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives

Mohammad Khatami

Mohammad Khatami

China, Russia, India, and Asia-Pacific

Europe and Africa

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HNIY bookcover in JPEG

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