When you consider that “Israel” is a word invented by God, that God was the first to ever utter “Israel”, we should be careful in what context and how we utter this word or name, because, in essence, within “Isra-El” itself lies the Name of God, and, willy-nilly, in relation to this Name there is always a warning to be careful not to err, a warning, willy-nilly, placed alongside punishment, “for God will not leave unpunished” the one who is careless in this regard.
Furthermore, when you consider the context in which Jacob received this name, as if plucked from the book of victors or the book of life, that situation should make you even more thoughtful about being careful what you do in front of “Israel” and how you choose to utter it.
The context of this word invented by God portrays Jacob on his way home, on the way to the Land of his dreams. Having been away from home for a long time, leaving behind a father and a mother, as well as a twin brother with whom he grew up, Jacob on his return journey meets a Traveler like him, a Traveler whom he believed to be an enemy. Thus they came to wrestle, with clubs or swords, until, at dawn, the Traveler showed signs that He wanted to leave. But Jacob did not let Him go, because the Traveler seemed to be the One who had accompanied him at every step and blessed him throughout his wandering journey.
Stirring in the clasp of hands held by the Traveler, Jacob received a new name, the name of an overcoming, for he wrestled with life, with people, and with God, and he overcame, thus he came to be named by God with the name of Israel.
In the situation where Jacob received the name Israel, a prophecy is hidden. In the man Jacob is hidden both the path of the people called Israel and the final victory, the crowning with the fullness of the meaning of the name “Isra-El”, because like Jacob, Israel wandered far from its Father and its mother, far from its Land of birth, but more than all else combined, it wandered far from the dawn of the Day in which God will place the name of Israel on its forehead as a kiss.
Israel, as a people, has been awaiting the Day when God will declare its victory for thousands of years. However, the very name it bears guarantees that at the dawn of the awaited Day, God will crown it with a crown that will never fade, being everlasting.
Daniel saw that Day, and described it thus: “But in the days of these kings the God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed.”
When you think about these things, you are even more put to thought, asking yourself: “If this is the case, where does all the antisemitism in the World today come from, and how dare it exist?!”
An initial answer would be found in the words: “An enemy has sown this seed in the World.” And you ask yourself: “When?” And the answer comes: “Since the beginning, when Adam and Eve gave up the peace of not knowing evil, when following the breaking of the commandment not to take into their mouths what had been placed under warning of punishment, they chose to walk the path of enmity, the path of pain, the path of thorns and thistles. Then entered the World, through the enmity between those named by God and those named by men, the seed of antisemitism, and hatred, and sin, and murder, and falsehood.”
From the beginning, people positioned themselves in two camps, one with obedience to command, the other without; one with the system of sacrifices and “unceasing”, the other with human inventions of worship, counterfeits, and disobedience; one with commands coming from God, the other with commands invented by humans, or none at all; one with God at the center, the other with man placed above.
Returning to today and all the fuss surrounding Israel, you are inevitably confronted with a perfectly legitimate question: “Given how big the World is, why all this fuss over a country so lacking in volume?!” I mean, isn’t the “Christian” world enough for its own concerns, isn’t the Arab and Muslim world enough for their own concerns? What’s with all this agitation around Israel?
The very unrest around Israel should make one think. Almost everyone became agitated. Ancient Babylon became agitated, Medo-Persia became agitated, ancient Greece became agitated, Rome became agitated... and it is still agitated, it is true in a transvestite form (something old in a new form, something religious in a form of kingdom, something with pretensions of a king in a form of worship).
I see this contemporary fuss around Israel as the agitation of rabid flies mistaking gold for trash. Well, they are somewhat justified in their agitation, as Israel has much gold in God’s promises, some milk (butter), some honey, but certainly no trash.
Today’s flies should at least cast an eye on history, at least dip their finger between its lines a little. They would learn as a warning that the combination of gold and honey is dangerous, even more so now at the dawn of the Day when justice for Israel rises like a burning Sun... woe, woe, woe to the flies caught between gold and the burning Sun!
So you really don’t know? You really haven’t heard? Didn’t anyone tell you? Don’t you know that the Day of the Lord comes as justice for the “Overcomer”, the one called into existence for victory on the Day of the Lord.
Of... all eschatological prophecies depict Israel as the Mountain of God rising above all other empires, the place where justice will be dispensed, that justice awaited for ages, justice in relation to Babylon, justice in relation to Medo-Persia, justice in relation to ancient Greece, justice in relation to Rome and Titus, justice in relation to the Rome of Constantine, justice in relation to the Crusades, justice in relation to the Inquisition, justice in relation to the UN, and justice in relation to all antisemitism.
Yes, God chose a people from whom He made a test for all nations or all gatherings of people. It is obvious that this was the case. All the fuss surrounding Israel is proof. The very fact that against all odds in relation to all the commotion in the World from all times against Israel, Israel has reached the dawn of the Day that brings it reward. What an obstacle course, and what obstacles, the greatest empires, the most comprehensive antisemitic ideologies, and yet, against all odds placed against it, Israel stands on the verge of the moment when God will declare it victorious, as its name implies, for its name was a prophecy, a prophecy toward whose fulfillment it has run for ages.
Yes, Israel received its name in ancient times from the mouth of God, but the name was given more as an investment value in which the One who bet on Israel was God.
History shows us that Israel was not fully «Israel»; history shows us rather an Israel tried by fire and water, an Israel chased by everyone, an Israel struck from everywhere, an Israel always on the verge of finally falling under the dust left by history in its speed, an Israel rather like a seed hidden in the earth, something placed deep down, something with no chance of success or fruit... but not without hope, not without help.
The truth, the miracle, reality, the direction towards which time moves... everything... the Universe itself... from one moment to the next we will be faced with the moment when Israel will be clothed in the name it bears, just as a bride dresses in the dress she received from birth, although she never had the opportunity, the chance, the joy, the honor to wear it until the moment of the wedding.
Yes, Israel, when it received its name, first received a prophecy, although it was born gold, its brilliance for which it was called to existence was not seen. Why? Because the gold of a nation is its king, because the brilliance of a wedding dress lies in the happiness of the one wearing it before the one who asked for her with a ring... because the value of the name of Israel lies in the God who chose it to be like a son, bride or wife to Him.
Israel’s running has always been not after gold or glitter, Israel’s running has been after the Face of the One who chose it.
Israel, at the moment of its birth, tasted only a drop of the goodness of the One who held it in His arms; in its childhood, Israel merely played a little with the Father, and for ages, even millennia, it wandered far from the mother (the Land) that held it close... yet, moment by moment, Israel was rich in the promise that one Day it would be eternal with the Father, with the mother without end.
Perhaps that had to be the way of Israel, a path full of difficulties, a path with the whole world against it at every step; perhaps that’s how it learned to be victorious; perhaps this path was the only one through which the investment made in it would return with great and good fruits, with endless fruit.
The prophecy says that on that very special Day, what was before a small seed hidden in the earth will become a tree larger than the World from which it bore fruit, because no prophecy spoken by the One without falsehood remains unfulfilled, for He speaks and it is done in less than an instant. Everything is not in relation to “Really?!”, everything is in relation to “Now!” as the command of the One who by His command made everything perfect and full of shine.
In conclusion, the coming Day comes as a reward for Israel, comes as a crown, comes as an everlasting Kingdom!
by «Letters of Salem» & Springs of Salem
by Elia7even