Editorial - Comment

by Joseph Hunting

One of the last great truths Moses gave to the children of Israel was: "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Mankind and civilization are undergoing an explosion of knowledge never before experienced. Computers costing millions of dollars a decade ago are now being marketed for small business and even for home use. Science and medicine are probing new frontiers and the fantastic predictions of George Orwell's brave new world of 1984 take on a new meaning with the development of 'genetic engineering'.

We can turn back history to an almost forgotten prophecy made by that strange Gentile seer Balaam. Balak the king of Moab was fearful at the sight of the tribes of Israel encamped on his borders, so he hired and bribed Balaam to utter a curse upon the Israelites. Political leaders, Prime Ministers and Presidents would be wise if they hearkened to Balaam's reply to Balak: "How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom God hath not defied ... lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." (Numbers 23:8-9)

Balaam's prophecy is one of the great truths that has overshadowed Israel's destiny for the past nineteen centuries. Scattered and dispersed among the nations, banished from country to country with persecution and discrimination, the people of Israel have yet survived as an entity and it is a miracle.

Jews that have lived in Russia for countless generations would normally have been assimilated into Russian communities. Instead they survived down the centuries as Russian Jews. The same may be said for German Jews, English Jews or Spanish Jews etc etc, fulfilling Balaam's prophecy: "The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations."

Then in 1948 Israel became a sovereign state and a member of the United Nations. But this acceptance among the 'family' of nations was short-lived. Under the threat of oil blackmail a list of member nations withdrew their ambassadors from Israel and severed diplomatic ties during the dark days of the energy crisis.

This was followed by the infamous procession of ambassadors and their staffs from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv as the Arabs tightened their screws. Israel was branded 'racist' in the General Assembly of the U.N. and many Arab and Communist bloc countries called for Israel's expulsion from the U.N. How true Balaam's prophecy has proved to be!

In recent months the fighting in Lebanon together with biased anti-Israel reporting by the media further alienated public opinion against Israel. Add to this the anti-Israel political lobby in American politics and we see an ever-widening gulf that may well one day result in Israel standing alone.

Indeed, this is the picture that the prophets, apart from Balaam, have foretold. Zechariah speaks of a time when the Lord "will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle." In that day Israel will have no allies to turn to. Balaam's prophecy will have come to pass and Israel "will dwell alone".

God is faithful to His covenants and promises to Israel and in that awful day the nation will call upon the Name of the Lord and He will hear them for "They shall look unto Me whom they have pierced."

In that day His pierced palm shall become a clenched fist as He rends the heavens to save His people. "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle." And in that day "the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one." (Zechariah 14)

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