In the News
Our prayers are with the families of those hostages who have lost their lives. We consider the most recent return of Kfir and Ariel Bibas aged 4 years and 9 months, with their mother Shiri as well as Oded Lipshitz, aged 84 who was known to be a lifelong peace and Palestinian rights advocate for years before his retirement. The funeral will of course give the family some closure concerning this tragedy.
At first, the body which was returned was not Shiri’s, which added so much more trauma for the family and for the nation. We also saw in the news how Hamas paraded the coffins like trophies in Gaza before a cheering crowd and loud music. To do such a thing is pure evil. The way the coffins were returned brought many around the world to denounce this action, from the U.N. to the Red Cross and including many world leaders. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar spoke of it as an “horrific and repulsive spectacle of twisted and monstrous minds.” Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, condemned Hamas, saying that this terrorist group would be ‘wiped out’ if it were next to US border.
Jewish people put a lot of emphasis on the burial of the body. Based on Deuteronomy 21:23 which speaks of a deceased person, it says you shall surely bury him the same day. Jewish law, also called Halakha, requires burial of the deceased the same day of death. If one leaves a body unburied overnight, it’s thought to be a sign of great disrespect and humiliation to the deceased. They also believe that by returning the physical body to the earth as soon as possible the soul is more easily able to return to the Source from which it is drawn.
We also watched via the news, how the coffins were carried through the streets of Tel Aviv, and how crowds lined up in silence. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “The hearts of an entire nation lie in tatters”, that is to say, shred in rags. This is in reference to that sign of mourning in the Scriptures, which is to tear one’s garment. Traditionally, close family members of the deceased tear a piece of garment that they are wearing, often the tie or a scarf, to publicly symbolize their grief. That tearing is called kriah from the word torn in Hebrew. When Jacob believed his son Joseph was dead, he tore his garments (Genesis 37:34). Likewise, in 2Samuel 1:11 we are told that King David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and rent them upon hearing of the death of Saul and Jonathan.
Then, as if to add further affliction, on the same day these bodies were being returned, three bombs were planted on buses in Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Each bomb contained 5kg or 11 pounds of explosives. They were military grade and sizeable in terms of the mortal damage it could have caused. Three of those bombs exploded on three of the buses. These bombs were intended to go off on Friday morning during the pre-Sabbath rush hour, but their timers were improperly set, and we praise the Lord for that!
Then, other bombs were discovered in Holon, another suburb of Tel Aviv. One of these bombs was left on a bus which was filled with passengers, however when a woman saw the suspicious package, she told the driver who then got everyone out of the bus minutes before it detonated: another miracle. Praise God! Once again, we thank the Lord that no one was hurt. The group that did this is from within the land of Israel, from the West Bank.
Good news however was that they also released six more living hostages. We see how much turmoil Israel has been going through in this last year, and especially in these last few months. They are completely surrounded by so many enemies, from within and from without.
Besides the wars and rumors of wars, the Bible tells us that along with what we are seeing on earth, there is, in the heavenlies, a fierce spiritual battle. What is happening on earth, reflects this battle of principalities and powers. And as we are coming closer to the Second Coming, the Scriptures also indicate that the forces of evil are themselves realizing that their end is very close and so they are fighting harder. We read in Revelation 12, a chapter which gives us a short history of Israel, past, present and future, in verse 12b that at the very end, Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.
This has not yet happened. This is for the coming seven-year Tribulation time, which almost all prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament describe, something which will happen after the believers will be taken away at the Rapture. But today we can feel it coming – we can feel this deep hatred growing, one that the prophets have been warning us about.
In the News