Opening Embassy US Jerusalém

Israel completes 70 years

14 de maio de 1948 - HaAtzmaut 

We need to teach what's right about Biblical Israel

Menorah at the Third Temple in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem

Thinking about the territory of Israel and not comparing it to biblical Israel is almost impossible. Then one imagines Moses crossing the Red Sea followed by a mob, in David striking the giant Goliath in the Valley of Elah, in Abraham receiving God's promises taking possession of the land, and in Jesus walking through Judea, Galilee and Samaria They are images we carry in our subconscious from the past to the present in the blink of an eye.

Not to mention the men, women and young people who yearn for the day of reaching the Promised Land. How many sighs! Feelings that we keep deep in our hearts. Some even cry when they think about it. And not least, desires are mixed when they are willing to pray and ask for God's blessing on the State of Israel.

Intriguing is how easy it is for some to denigrate Israel's image in their speeches or conversations. I can hardly find anyone handling the Bible with a complete understanding of Israel's cultural-historical context, who can expose themselves without compromising or deteriorating the view most listeners already have of this place so widely loved by some and so hated by others.

It happened at one meeting when, at the height of the preaching, someone said, "Moses didn't even want to know what was written in the Torah!" I immediately thought, either he doesn't know who Moses is, or he doesn't know what the Torah is! "I wanted to leave the place immediately.

But there are people who really study the biblical texts and are concerned with understanding what the Hebrew originals, the Jewish traditions and the socio-cultural context of each period say and convey to others. And that, thank you very much, because it's so much easier to see a completely different Israel!

Marion Vaz