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Israel--the one
nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself - 2 Samuel
7:23
Isaiah
51:1 "Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance, who
seek the Lord! Consider the quarry from which you were mined, the rock from
which you were cut! Yes, think about your ancestors Abraham and Sarah, from
whom you came. You worry at being so small and few, but Abraham was only
one when I called him. But when I blessed him, he became a great nation."
TLB
God said about his Jews:
"I had planted
you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock". Jeremiah 2:21 (NIV)
The Living Bible says: "....when I planted you, I chose my seed so carefully
- the very best"
It's important to note
the specific mention of Abraham as well as Sarah in Isaiah 51:1 to differentiate
between Israel and the Arab nations of whom Abraham's son Ishmael was the
forefather. His mother being a Hamite, Ishmael was already only 50% Semite
which petered out to less than 1% in less than 10 generations since
Abraham. Contrary to this, Abraham took extreme care to preserve the
Semitic bloodline by finding Isaac a wife from his own family. Similarly
Jacob continued the trend by marrying his uncle Laban's daughters Leah and
Rachel. Jacob's Hamite concubines' children, didn't dilute the Semite gene
pool due to the strict command not to marry women from other nations - so
as not to get seduced into serving their gods as in Exodus 34:15 (below -also
Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30). In addition, no mothers Ishmael's
line are buried in Hebron (Machpela) or anywhere else in Israel like those
of the Semites.
Exodus 34:15
"Be careful not to make
a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves
to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat
their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives
for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they
will lead your sons to do the same. NIV (See also Exodus 23:31,
34:12; Deuteronomy 7:2, 23:6; Isaiah 30:1) |
Return to "Israel's
uniqueness |
Note
that since the land was promised to Israel as an eternal
possession, the conditions going with the promise (above) are also eternal.
Israel is therefore totally out of line by entering into peace negotiations
in our day.
Exodus 23:31 "...I will hand hand over to you the people who live in the
land and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant
with them or with their gods."
Exodus 34:12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the
land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you.
Deuteronomy 7:2 And when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you
and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no
treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
Leviticus. 25:23 The land must not be sold permanently (viz. to form
another state), because the land is Mine and you are but aliens and
My tenants |
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uniqueness |
The concept of stone
"mining"
1
Kings 5:17 At the king's command they removed from the
quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone
for the temple...1 Kings 6:7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed
at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was
heard at the temple site while it was being built. NIV |
Return to "Temple" |
Cedars
of Lebanon
Psalm 92:12 The righteous
will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
NIV
It interesting to note
that Lebanon, or a large part of it, was promised to Israel as we can see
from the following scriptures:
Deut 1:7 Break camp and
advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring
peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the
Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon,
as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land.
Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to
your fathers--to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and to their descendants after
them." NIV
Joshua 13:1 ...still very large areas of land to be taken over... 5 the area
of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below
Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 6 "As for all the inhabitants of the mountain
regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself
will drive them out before the Israelites. NIV
This "promise" explains
the prophesy in Zechariah 10:9-10 that the Jews will also be settled in Lebanon
when they are returned from the diaspora (in our time):
"Though I have
scattered them like seeds among the nations, still they will remember me
and return again to God; with all their children, they will come home again
to Israel." 10 "I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough
for them."
King
David did in fact conquer Lebanon. For this reason his son, Solomon, didn't
need to buy cedars from Lebanon for the Temple, he simply need to negotiate
with Hiram king of Tyre to help with the work:
"So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with
yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set." 1 Kings 5:1-6
NIV |
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Cedars |
We are destined to
decay
Psalm 49:8 the ransom
for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough-- 9 that he should live on
forever and not see decay. 14 ...their forms will decay
in the grave, far from their princely mansions. NIV
Gen 25:8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at
a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his
people. NIV |
Return to The Ossuary |
Jesus was destined for
resurrection
Psalm 16:10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let
your Holy One see decay.
Confirmed in Acts
2:26,
Therefore my heart
is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27 because
you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see
decay...But (Acts 13:37) the one whom God raised from the dead did not see
decay. NIV
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. NIV
Matt 27:59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean
linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of
the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and
went away. NIV
John 20:6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the
tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth
that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate
from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,
also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from
Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) NIV |
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Abraham |
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