Andy took us on a flying visit to Galilee, Tel Aviv and the Negev. What do each evoke in you? What does it say that all three occur in one little country? How might that reflect your life?

Part 2 – The temple Mount.

1. Some people claimed that Herod’s Temple was the most beautiful in the Roman Empire. What is the most beautiful building you have ever seen?

2. The temple mount is the holiest place in Judaism and the third-most holy place in Islam. Do you have a “holy place”?

3. Do you have any suggestions for how tensions surrounding the Temple Mount could be reduced?

4. Do you see any principles in the following passage?

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’ Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, ‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another.” (Luke 21:5-6)

Part 3 – Underground in Jerusalem.

1. Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. But Hezekiah blocked the the Gihon spring and channelled the water down to the west side of the City of David. 2 Chronicles 1, 30.

What do you think about this achievement? Is there a spiritual principle here?

2. Some Jews like to pray as close as possible to the site of the Holy of Holies as possible, believing that "The Presemce " has never left that place. Do you think place is important in our spiritual lives?

3. Do you think there is evidence in in Chronicles 7:1-3, 14-16 to suggest that God’s presence is still at the Temple Mount? Do you believe that God’s presence can be more in one place than another?

Part 4 – The people of the place

1. Were you surprised at how difficult it is to tell Jews from Arabs? Do you think we have any other stereotypes that may not be accurate? What are the dangers of stereotypes?

2. How did you enjoy the Jewish bar mitzvahs? What value do you see in this sort of tradition? What insights do they give you into Israel?

3. What are your reactions to …

Israeli woman soldier stabbed?

Walls separating Jews and Arabs?

Checkpoint 300 at Bethlehem?

4. How could Ephesians 2:14-16 help in this situation?

Checkpoint 300 at Bethlehem

Part 5 – The Meaning of Masada

1. Mount Masada is very similar in shape to Mount Majuba in South Africa. It took 9000 Roman soldiers two years to defeat 960 Jews at Masada. At Majuba, the British lost 180 out of 450 soldiers, and some historians have argued that the defeat marked the beginning of the decline of the British Empire. Do you see any lessons here?

2. In the Boer war, the British herded Boer women and children into concentration camps where 48 000 died from the shocking conditions. Do you think this was morally defensible?

3. On 7 October 2023, Hamas staged a terrorist attack on a music festival in Israel, killing 1200 people. In the three years following the attack, Israel killed 78 000 Palestinians, 60% of them women and children - sixty-five times the number killed in the original attack. Is this defensible? What else could Israel have done?

4. What are the positives and negatives of a slogan like “Masada shall not fall again”?

5. How does all this fit in with the teachings of Jesus?

HARRY'S PERSPECTIVE.

Harry Le Roux is a good friend. He is a considerable bible scholar, and was a senior lecturer at The Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa. He kindly sent the following e-mail giving his perspective on current events in Israel. It's well worth reading.

The film ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ set in Russia in 1905 helps us understand something of the horrors of pogroms which took place in Eastern Europe. In 1896 Theodor Herzl wrote a book entitled ‘A Jewish State.’ He called for a ‘publicly secured and legally assured a homeland for the Jews in Palestine.’ In 1918 Palestine was taken over from the Ottoman Empire by Britain. After the holocaust in the Second World War, Israel came into being as a sovereign state which was ratified by the United Nations in 1948. Israel was attacked immediately by its Arab neighbours. Since then it has fought several wars in a struggle for its very existence…and is presently, in 2026, at war against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran… which calls Israel an illegitimate Zionist regime and demands its eradication.

Israel has no intention of keeping the Oslo Accord signed in 1993 by Israel’s Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat of the PLO at the White House, which proposed a two state solution. In 2002 Israel began constructing a huge wall stretching hundreds of kilometres dividing Israel from the West Bank and even consolidating pockets of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In October 2023 Hamas killed 1200 Israelis and abducted 251 (only about 168 were returned alive). In retaliation, more than 74000 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu swore retaliation and quoted Deut. 25.17 to urge Israelis to ‘blot out’ Palestinians whom he referred to as the descendants of Amalek. His defence minister Yoav Gallant stated ‘we are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.’ This has also included cutting off electricity, food, water and fuel to Gaza causing untold suffering.

So how does the Christian respond, and what is to be made of the present crisis and the on-going hope of the coming of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus? Within the church, and heavily influenced by certain American preachers, ‘Christian Zionism’ has emerged which supports Israel and its occupation and settlements in the West Bank with few reservations. It views Israel as having a divine mandate to possess the land of Palestine, and that OT prophecies concerning the Jewish people are being fulfilled in the contemporary state of Israel. This is in spite of the fact that 42-45% of Jewish Israelis self-identify themselves as secular or non-religious.

But this Christian Zionism is categorically rejected by mainstream Christians who deny their interpretation of scripture. John Stott describes it as ‘biblically anathema!’ And the Middle East Council of Churches rejects Christian Zionism ‘as representing a heretical interpretation of Holy Scripture.’ Is modern Israel not repeating the frequent departure from God’s Law as seen so often in the message of the OT prophets? Just one example is Micah 6.8 …’and what does the Lord require of you? to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’

So much more needs to be unpacked in this emotionally charged debate, but time and space do not allow that.

Helpful books are: Stephen Sizer, Christian Zionism. Road-map to Armageddon? Ben White, Israeli Apartheid, a Beginner’s Guide. N T Wright, On Israel and Palestine. In YouTube

Part 6 – Memorial of Names

1. What emotions did this video arouse in you? Whch part struck you the most?

2. What forces do you think were at work that led to the Holocaust? Do you think any of these forces are threatening the world at this time?

3. Look at the "works of the flesh" listed in Galatians 5:19-21, perhaps in a few translations. Which of these do you think particularly contibuted to the holocaust? Do you think any of these are evident in Christian circles?

4. What can we do in our little part of the world to help prevent a holocaust from happening again?

Qus Pt 5-6

Harry