Metatrone - Afrikaans

April 1, 2025

Metatrone: Die Engel van die Here.

“Maar Jakob het alleen agtergebly, en 'n Man het met hom geworstel tot dagbreek. En toe Hy sien dat Hy hom nie kon oorwin nie, slaan Hy hom op sy heupbeen, sodat die heupbeen van Jakob uit lit geraak het in die worsteling met Hom.

Toe sê Hy: Laat My gaan, want die dag het gebreek. Maar hy antwoord: Ek sal U nie laat gaan nie tensy dat U my seën. En Hy vra hom: Hoe is jou naam? En hy antwoord: Jakob. Toe sê Hy: Jy sal nie meer Jakob genoem word nie, maar Israel; want jy het geworstel met God en met die mense en het oorwin. Daarop vra Jakob en sê: Maak tog u Naam bekend! En Hy antwoord: Waarom vra jy tog na my Naam? En Hy het hom daar geseën. Toe noem Jakob die plek Pniël; want, het hy gesê, ek het God gesien van aangesig tot aangesig, en tog is my lewe gered. En die son het vir hom opgegaan net toe hy Pnuel verby was; en hy was mank aan sy heup.” (Gen. 32:24?31).

Die femur, dybeen is die sterkste been in die menslike liggaam van ‘n volwasse man, dit sal nie breek onder die gewig van ‘n klein motor nie. God deel met Jakob se menslike krag deur om sy femur uit lit uit te plaas en dit het ‘n dubbele betekenis ? dit verduidelik die “Donker nag van die siel” ondervinding, dinge wat met Jakob gebeur en met elke gelowige by ‘n sekere stadium in hulle lewe gebeur. Dit is ook ‘n beeld van die Groot Verdrukking, die tyd van benoudheid van Jakob. Dit was Jakob se benoudheid toe hy ook deur hierdie donker periode tot die einde van die nag gegaan het.

Die Kerk sal uit die Verdrukking weggeneem word terwyl die ongeredde Jode deur dit sal gaan. Jakob sien God van Aangesig tot aangesig by Pniël, wat “kom uit” in Hebreeus beteken”. In ons toere deur die Heilige Land neem ons mense na hierdie spesifieke spruit waar dit plaasgevind het? die Spruit van Jabok? Pniël waar Jakob met die Engel van God geworstel het.

Daar is baie engele van die Here, maar daar is net Een wat “Die Engel” van die Here genoem word? “HaMelach Adonai”? met ‘n bepalende lidwoord. Die rabbi’s het hierdie Man as die Engel geïdentifiseer alhoewel Hy as ‘n mens verskyn het. Op baie plekke word dit gesê dat engele in ‘n menslike gedaante verskyn het soos by Jesus se graf, en die gevalle engele (Nephilim) in Genesis en ook in die Boek Judas? wat in menslike gedaantes verskyn het en wat gemeenskap met vroue gehad het, dit is ook opgeteken in die Apokriewe boek van Henog.

Die Engel van die Here is ‘n vleeslike gedaante van iemand wat Jakob sê die Gestalte van God het. Op geen manier kanselleer dit egter die unieke vleeswording van Jesus in die skoot van die diensmaagd wat die profesie van Jesaja 7:14 vervul het nie. God het ‘n Menslike Gestalte aangeneem en ‘n mens net soos ons geword, sonder sonde, maar in ‘n gedaante van sondige vlees. Daar was iets baie spesiaal en uniek oor die vleeswording en die daaropvolgende geboorte van Jesus. Maar hierdie vleeswording was nie die eerste keer dat God ‘n mens geword het nie alhoewel dit die eerste keer was wat Hy in ‘n embrioniese ontvangenis gekom het. Daar is ook ander vleeswordings van God in die Ou Testament.

Toe Adam en Eva gehoor het hoe God in die tuin gewandel het, is ek oortuig daarvan dat volgens spreuke 8 en Johannes 1 dit Jesus was. Toe Abraham die drie manne gesien het, het hy nie die Drie Eenheid gesien nie, maar meer aanvaarbaar was dit Jesus en die twee engele wat ook by Sy graf gesien was. Ook dit maak nie die unieke vleeswording in Maria se skoot tot niet nie. Dit is toe God ‘n mens soos ons geword het maar dit was nie toe God vir die eerste keer ‘n mens geword het nie.

Wanneer daar vir Jode en Arabiere getuig word is daar twee probleme: Die Drie Eenheid en die vleeswording; Een God in drie, drie in een? en die idee dat God mens geword het. Wanneer aan Moslems getuig word dan is dit nooit ‘n goeie idee om te begin deur om aan hulle te vertel dat Jesus die Seun van God is nie. Vir hulle beteken dit dat God ‘n verhouding gehad het met ‘n bose vrou en vir hulle is dit lasterlik. Dit word gesien as ‘n heidense konsep, soos Herkules wat ‘n nakomeling is van ‘n verhouding tussen Zeus en ‘n mense vrou.

Die Seunskap moet op ‘n ander manier verklaar word as daar aan ‘n Moslem getuig word. Wanneer met Jode gepraat word is die verdediging van die Drie Eenheid en die Godheid van Christus ‘n bietjie anders. Somtyds doen die rabbi’s ons werk vir ons en hulle eie woorde kan aangehaal word om die idee van God wat mens geword het te oorkom.

Toe Rabbi Menachem Schneerson gelewe het? het die rabbi’s altyd gesê: “Wat, het Hy uit die dood opgestaan? is jy siek?” Rabbi Menachem Schneerson ‘n rabbi van die Lubavitch tak wat die hoof was van die Hasidiese beweging.

Een dag het ek in Tel Aviw by die Ben Gurion lughawe met die Hasidim by hulle vertoon lokaal gepraat, hulle was besig om aansoek vorms uit te deel vir mense wat ‘n Hasid wil word. Oral in Israel is daar foto’s van die afgestorwe Joodse Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, ook geken as die Melech Meshiach – Koning Messias – wat hulle hom genoem het.

Die Hasidim glo dat hulle rabbi, wat die Tsadek of die rebbe genoem word, die re?inkarneerde geestelike seun van die stigter van die Hasidiese beweging is? Rabbi Yosef Yitschok Schneerson, en dit word oorgedra van vader na seun.

Menachem Schneerson word gesê, het net die gees van die “Besch.” Dit is alles Gnostisisme en re? inkarnasie. Hasidiese Jode is vasgevang in die okkulte. Hy was nie ‘n direkte afstammeling van Debeshk self nie maar iemand wat getroud was met ‘n afstammeling van Debeshk en hy het ook nie ‘n seun of ‘n dogter gehad nie, geen erfgenaam nie. Ek sê toe vir hom in Hebreeus: “Jy het ‘n probleem, niemand kan die rabbi wees in sy plek nie.” Hulle antwoord: “hu Yakum M’hametim –Hy gaan uit die dood opstaan.” “So julle sê vir my dat julle glo dat ‘n Joodse Messias uit die dood gaan opstaan?” Dit is al wat ek wou weet!

Hierdie idee dat God in ‘n menslike gestalte kan verskyn word ook met betrekking tot Melchisedek wat ‘n tiende ontvang het en wat geen vader of moeder gehad het nie verbind. Hierdie is sekerlik ‘n tipe van Christus meer ‘n Christophani, ‘n Ou Testamentiese se manifestasie van God in ‘n sekere menslike gestalte. In die mistieke Judaïsme se Kabbala is sy primêre doel geken as die Zohar en dit kan aangehaal word om te demonstreer dat God ‘n menslike gedaante kan aanneem. Maar wat maak ons met die

ortodokse Jode? Hoe oortuig jy hulle met die idee dat God mens geword het en dat dit nie ‘n Christelike konsep is nie maar Joodse konsep? Jy kan sê dat die opstanding van die Messias wat moes kom en sterf en uit die dood opstaan? nie ‘n Christelike uitvindsel is nie omdat hulle dit self glo.

Begin by die Boek Maleagi, wie se naam kan gelykwaardig verklaar word as? “my boodskapper” of “my engel”? Die Griekse woord anglios kom van die Hebreeuse idee van engel. Alle engele in Hebreeus beteken boodskappers. Maar die Messias moes ‘n unieke Boodskapper wees. Maleagi sê: 3:1 “Kyk, Ek stuur my boodskapper wat die weg voor My uit sal baan; dan sal skielik na sy tempel kom die Here na wie julle soek, naamlik die Engel van die verbond, na wie julle 'n begeerte het. Kyk, Hy kom, sê die HERE van die leërskare.” Hierdie “Engel van die verbond”? is die Here wat in die tempel is en wat daarin aanbid word.

In Judaïsme is daar ‘n konsep wat “duval” genoem word, die Aramese ekwivalente was “mamre” en die Griekse ekwivalente is “Logos”. In Johannes se Evangelie in Grieks is dit “enarchae”: In die begin? kai ho logos: was die Woord. Die begin was die Woord, die Woord was? Theon;? dit was God. Dit is Mamre, Duval? beide die Grieke en die Jode het hierdie idee van die Woord van God verstaan en dat God se vleeswording identies was. Die Hebreërs het die duval en mamre verstaan? die vleeswording van die Woord wat God se Skeppings Verteenwoordiger en ook God se Reddings Verteenwoordiger was. Die Grieke kon met hiermee saamstem maar in vers 14 van Johannes waar die Skrif sê: “En die Woord het vlees geword (Sarx in Grieks, Besor in Hebreeus) het hulle ‘n groot probleem gehad omdat hulle gedink het dat God onaantasbaar is.

Die Middel van die Troon.

Die Woord van die Here word ook nie net ‘melech habrit,’ (Die Engel van die Verbond) genoem nie maar ook die Metatrone, uit die Grieks? Meta – middel? van die troon. Daar is twee Griekse konsepte vir die troon: Die troon van oordeel en die troon van beloning. Ongeredde mense verskyn voor die troon van oordeel of die oordeeltroon.

God se mense verskyn voor die bema wat dieselfde woord is wat gebruik word vir die Griekse skeidsregters wanneer hulle op die troon gaan staan om belonings uit te deel aan die wat in die Olimpiese spele suksesvol deel geneem het.

Rabbi Simeon Ben Yochai het geleer dat volgens die Zohar, Volume 3, bladsy 227 van die Amsterdamse uitgawe, dat die middelste pilaar in die Godheid die Metatrone is wat vrede daarbo gebring het volgens die heerlike staat daar. Hulle identifiseer hierdie Engel met wie Jakob geworstel het en wat in Maleagi verskyn het met God Self.

Hulle sê dit is deur Hom dat God vrede op aarde sal bring soos wat Hy dit in die Hemel gebring het en hulle sê ook dat God die gebede sal antwoord wat in die Naam van die Metatrone gemaak word. Die Kabbala leer dat God meervoudig is, een God in drie persone, of soos ons in Hebreeus sê: “shma Israel Adonai Elohenu Adonai eched, baruch haShem kvodo u malchuto la’olam v’ed amen.” Wanneer die Jode aan Yeshua vra: Wat is die grootste gebod, dan sê Hy: “Hoor o Israel die Here onse God is ‘n enige God, julle moet die Here julle God liefhê met julle hele hart en met jou hele siel en met al julle krag.” Shema

Israel Adonai Elohenu. Nou sien ons Adonai, in Hebreeus is dit Yahweh, hulle neem aan dat Naam van God onuitspreekbaar is? die Here onse God, nie Elohym nie, daar is nie ‘n Hebreeuse woord vir God nie? net vir gode. Daar is ‘n afgekorte vorm El, maar daar is nie ‘n Hebreeuse woord vir God in enkelvoud nie. Ons het El? Eliyon of El?Shaddai, maar daar is nie ‘n Hebreeuse woord vir God nie? net vir gode. “Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu Adonai echad.” ‘n Ketterse rabbi, ‘n Aristoteliaan in die Middeleeue, ongeveer in die jaar 100, by die naam van Rambam, Moshe ben Maimonides, het die betekenis van die Hebreeuse woord Echad en Yahid verander. Yahid is die Hebreeuse digitale numeriese “een” in Bybelse Hebreeus. In moderne Hebreeus is die woord vir “een”? Echad. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimonides die Rambam het dit verander omdat hy dinge wou weg wys van die Godheid van Jesus af.

As ek die Shema wil translitereer inplaas van vertaal dan sal ek sê: Hoor o Israel, die Here ons God is een in ‘n eenheid.

Die woord Echad is dieselfde woord wat vir Adam en Eva gebruik word, die vrou en man sal een vlees word? Echad, om aan te kleef is “Devic”. Dit is dieselfde woord echad, ‘n meervoudige eenheid. In die Psalms? hoe goed is dit wanneer die broeders saam woon? “hine Ma Tov U’Manaim Shevet Achim Gam Yachad,” is dieselfde idee. Dit is nie die nommer een nie, dit is ‘n meervoudige eenheid soos om een vlees te word, ‘n eenvormigheid soos in “achut.” Die Shema laat nie net toe nie maar ondersteun ook die meervoudigheid van die Godheid ?en Judaïsme self leer dat God ‘n Enige God is met ‘n meervoudig natuur. So die Rabbiniese argument dat die Christelike geloof in Jesus die Messias? God is, en dat dit ‘n Heidense oorsprong het, kan weerlê word. Die Joodse Skrifte word nie verdraai nie, ook is dit nie vreemd aan die Joodse denke soos wat die rabbi’s wil hê mense, Jood en Heiden moet glo nie.

Hulle mag miskien nog die Messiasskap van Jesus verwerp maar hulle kan nie Jesus se Godheid verwerp en dit baseer op ‘n idee dat dit vreemd is aan die Joodse denke, om dit te doen sou beteken dat hulle? hulle eie Joodse wysgere (Sages) moet verwerp.

Sommige rabbi’s is beïnvloed deur skrywers soos Rabbi Samuel Levene wat geskryf het: “Neem jy Jesus, ek sal God neem.” Maar geleerde rabbi’s en Joodse professors in universiteite wat die Nuwe Testament uit ‘n Joodse perspektief bestudeer het? het dit nie afgeskryf as “Goyisha” nie, ‘n heidense verdraaiing van ‘n Joodse denke of Joodse geskrifte. Mense soos Professor Pinkus Lepede en gewese Professor Bavid Fluesler in Israel, of Jacob Neusner van die Verenigde State, en ‘n Joodse geleerde? Gesev Remnesh van die Dooie See rolle Kommissie by Oxford, het almal die Joodsheid daarvan erken. Jacob Moisna het geargumenteer dat dit kern Joodse literatuur is wat ‘n belangrike skakel is in intertestamentiese literatuur soos die Makkabeërs met die apokriewe en die vroeë Midrasjim. Sommige rabbi’s sê ook dit is kern Joodse literatuur en hulle het nie ‘n probleem daarmee nie. Ortodokse Rabbi Pinkus Lepede, Professor in Hebreeus by die Hebreeuse universiteit erken dat die Opstanding van Jesus uit ‘n Joodse perspektief nie uit ‘n akademiese oogpunt ontken kan word nie.

Maar wanneer dit kom by ‘n persoonlike geloof dan het ook die Joodse geleerdes ‘n groot probleem. Hulle systap dit deur om te beweer dat Jesus ‘n Messias vir die Heidene was en nie vir die Jode nie, maar as hulle Christelikheid as nie?Joods verwerp dan moet hulle Judaïsme ook as nie? Joods verwerp.

God word in ‘n meervoudvorm aanbid volgens die Zohar. Die Kabbala praat oor die boom van die lewe; gebede word in die Naam van die Metatrone verhoor; en dit is die Metatrone wat vrede sal bring. In Exodus 24:1 staan: “Daarna het Hy vir Moses gesê: Klim na die HERE toe op,?” Rabbi Verchai leer die volgende: “God sê vir Moses, kom op na die Here, Dit is die Metatrone. Hy is op sy naam Metatrone geroep omdat in hierdie Naam word twee unieke dinge voorgestel wat Sy karakter uitbeeld. Hy is beide God en Boodskapper. Daar word ook ‘n derde idee in die naam Metatrone geimpliseer naamlik ‘n wagter of bewaarder. Want in Chaldeërs (Wat Aramees is) word ‘n wagter ook “Matherot”? genoem, en omdat hy die wagter of bewaarder van die wêreld is word hy ook geken as die bewaarder van Israel.”

Die uniekheid van die hierdie naam word in Psalm 121:4 genoem waar ons leer dat Hy God is oor die hele wêreld omdat alle dinge aan Sy mag onderworpe is. Hierdie Metatrone, die Engel van die Here, wat mens geword het volgens Judaïsme, wat vrede op die aarde gebring het soos wat Hy vrede in die hemel gebring het, in wie se Naam ons bid, aan Hom behoort alle mag en gesag in die hemele en op aarde. Hy wat die Bewaarder is van Israel sluimer of slaap nie. Die Rabbi’s sê dit is die Metatrone: “Hine Lo Yanum Veh Lo Yshon Shomer Israel” – “Die bewaarder van Israel sluimer of slaap nie.”

So sien ons in Exodus 21:4 dat die God wat verhoog is ook die God is wat met Moses gepraat het en gesê het: “Sê vir hom dat hy moet opkom na Jehovah, Adonai, Yahweh wat die Metatrone is.” Die Metatrone is dus die Boodskapper van Yahweh. Die Engel van die Here is Yahweh wat somtyds verbind word aan die Naam van God wat ook verwys na die Shekinah, die Heerlikheid van die Here. God is in die Shekinah? die Heilige Gees? Ruach HaKodesh. Op ‘n manier is die Metatrone God en die Shekinah dieselfde. Hulle is almal Jehovah maar ook verskillende Persone. Die Shekinah, die Metatrone is Yahweh, hulle is Een? Echad, nie yachid nie? maar Echad, maar ook Drie. Is dit Christelik? Dit is Judaïsme!

Die Verlosser.

Wanneer Hy sê: “Kom op,” dan is dit asof Hy sê? “kom op na die plek van heerlikheid” waar die Engel is, die Verlosser.

Onthou, niemand kan na die Grote God toe kom nie omdat dit in Ex. 33:20 geskrywe staan: ?“??Want geen mens kan My sien en bly lewe nie.” Ons as Jode glo dat Moses in alle goddelike kennis deur niemand anders as die Metatrone opgevoed is nie. (Haraba Dalet? uit die Mentuah uitgawe.) En die Metatrone is nie net God nie maar ook die Verlosser? en Jakob sien hierdie Metatrone en bly lewe, dit is die enigste manier hoe ons God kan sien en bly lewe en om daaroor te kan praat. Dink aan die Nuwe Testament. Johannes die Apostel was ‘n fisiese bloedverwant van Jesus en hy het Jesus geken en Hom gevolg, hy was ‘n dissipel van Jesus, hy het Hom persoonlik geken maar toe hy Jesus in Sy Goddelike heerlikheid op Patmos gesien het was hy vreesbevange. Jy kan nie dit aanskou nie. Toe sê God: “Kom op hierheen, en Ek sal jou toon wat ná hierdie dinge moet gebeur.” Johannes moes verander word, weggeraap word en opgeneem word om dit te aanskou. Hy kon dit nie in sy mensheid sien en bly lewe nie. Hy kon Jesus sien, God wat mens geword het maar hy kon nie Jesus as God aanskou nie sonder om ‘n sekere bonatuurlike verandering te ondergaan om dit moontlik te maak nie.

In die Metatrone is die goyel, die Verlosser. ‘n “Goel” in Hebreeus beteken letterlik? “een wat terugkoop.” In die Zohar lees ons: “Rabbi Simeon Ben Zoccai het my na die geheime binnekamers van mistieke Judaïsme geneem, dit is die reddende huwelik van God, en aan my getoon dat die Metatrone van ewigheid af bestaan. Dit is nie net ‘n gewone mistieke kamer nie, maar ‘n verborgenheid van die reddende kennis van God, die verborgenheid van God se redding, en hy het aan my getoon dat die Metatrone die Verlosser is, en nog meer, Hy bestaan van ewigheid af.” So, volgens die Zohar Breshiet (Bladsy 126) Midrash K’olam, bestaan die Metatrone van ewigheid af.

In Miga 5:2 lees ons: “En jy, Betlehem Éfrata, klein om te wees onder die geslagte van Juda, uit jou sal daar vir My uitgaan een wat 'n Heerser in Israel sal wees; en sy uitgange is uit die voortyd, uit die dae van die ewigheid.”

Letop sy uitgang is van ewigheid af. Die Messias sal gebore word in Betlehem wat ewig bestaan. Wel, sommige mense sal argumenteer en sê: “Is dit ‘n Christelike interpretasie, of ‘n Christelike verdraaiing van ons Hebreeuse Skrifte?” Nee, dit is Rabbi Simeon Ben Zoccai wat die Zohar geskryf het en nie Christene nie.

Ingeligte Jode moet Judaïsme verwerp as hulle Christelikheid verwerp. Om Jesus te verwerp moet jy die Tora ook verwerp. Die probleem vir ongeredde Jode is nie dat hulle Jesus verwerp nie, dit is die gevolg van hulle probleem, hulle probleem is hulle verwerp Moses en die Tora. Jesus sê: “As julle Moses geglo het dan sal julle My ook geglo het.”

Die probleem is ‘n verwerping van Judaïsme, die ware Judaïsme en die Tora, hulle glo aan ‘n ander Judaïsme wat deur die Rabbi’s uitgevind is na die vernietiging van die tweede tempel wat begin by die Raad van Yagim deur Rabbi Yocanin Ben Voccai, dit is wat hulle glo, hulle glo nie aan die Tora nie.

In Genesis 24:2 lees ons: “Toe sê Abraham aan sy dienaar, die oudste van sy huis…” Wie is die dienaar wat hier na verwys word? Rabbi Nehori sê dit kan nie anders verstaan word as dat die uitdrukking deur die woord “avdo” uit die Hebreeus “dienskneg” beteken nie. Sy dienskneg, die dienskneg van God, die naaste aan sy diens—Metatrone. Hy is aangestel om die liggame wat in die grafte is te verheerlik. Dit is die betekenis van die woorde, Abraham sê vir sy dienskneg, aan die dienskneg van God. Hierdie dienskneg is die Metatrone, die oudste van God se Huis, Hy was die eersgeborene van God se Skepping wat die regeerder is van alles wat God het omdat God alles in Sy mag gegee het en Hom ook aangestel oor al Sy “savaot”? dit is oor Sy leërmag. Dit is wat Judaïsme leer oor die Metatrone. Hy is aangestel om die liggame wat in die grafte is te verheerlik. Wat sê Job? 19:26: “En nadat hulle so my vel afgeskeur het, sal ek nogtans uit my vlees God aanskou;?” Judaïsme leer dat die enigste manier waardeur Job God met sy eie oë sou kon sien en nie ‘n ander een na die vlees wat in die graf kan vergaan nie, was dat hy die Metatrone sal sien.

So, ons het hierdie unieke Boodskapper van God wat die middelste pilaar is van die Godheid, wat van ewigheid af bestaan, in wie se Naam gebede geantwoord word, wat vrede op aarde kan bring soos in die hemele. Hy is die Verlosser. Hy is in die Shekinah en die Shekinah is in Hom. Hy is God se

Verteenwoordiger van redding. Hy word geïdentifiseer met Devar (Ook geken as Mamre). En nou sal Hy op ‘n sekere wyse die liggame van die wat dood is in die grafte verheerlik.

Dit is wat Judaïsme leer na die tyd van die Makkabeërs gedurende die tweede tempel tydperk toe daar ‘n diepere kennis van die Woord van God deur die outydse wysgere ontstaan het, en die Nuwe Testament stem hiermee saam. Daar was ‘n groeiende verwagting van dinge wat alreeds in die Skrifte was soos die opstanding, ewige oordeel en die redding van die Heidene. Jesus het gekom en hierdie konsepte verder ontwikkel, met ander woorde die ontdekking van hierdie diepere dinge in die Skrifte het die pad oopgemaak vir die Messias om te kom. Idees soos dat alle nasies aan ‘n Joodse God sal glo was algemeen bekend en ook die konsep van die koms van ‘n Messias soos gesien in die Ou Testament, maar nooit op die wyse wat die Nuwe Testament praat van die Christus nie. Dit was iets wat daar is maar wat nie verstaan was in die tyd van Christus nie. Die Christendom leer dat hierdie verwagting oorgegaan het op die Apostels.

Jesus sê dat die sleutels van die Joodse leiers weggeneem sal word en aan ander gegee sal word? die Apostels? Ha Schlechim. Wat die Zohar doen, doen die Kabbala en mistieke Judaïsme? hulle probeer om die verlore kennis van die outydse rabbi’s te neem en dit terug te gee deur die mistieke en die okkulte. Die rabbi’s erken dat hulle die sleutels verloor het. Onthou? Jesus het gesê dat die sleutels van hulle weggeneem sal word en vir ander gegee sal word.

In Judaïsme erken die rabbi’s dat hulle die diepere kennis van die Bybel, en hoe om dit te interpreteer? verloor het. Ten spyte van die Midrasjim erken hulle dat hulle dit verloor het. Ons weet dat Jesus dit vir Sy Apostels gegee het wat ook Jode was. Wat die Kabbala probeer doen is om die verlore geheime te herstel. Die Kabbala bevat egter baie verkeerde dinge? astrologie, numerologie? en dit is meer Hellenisties as Hebreërs.

Maar ten spyte van alles wat die rabbi’s probeer doen het om die verlore kennis weer te herstel toe die tempel vernietig is, het hulle tog tot die slotsom gekom dat alle dinge afhanklik is van die Metatrone. Die ewige bestaan van God, wat ook die Verlosser is, die Een wat vrede bring, die Een op wie se skouers alle heerskappy is, en die Een in wie se Naam God gebede beantwoord. Hulle leer altyd, maar kom nooit tot kennis van die Waarheid nie.

Koning van die konings.

Rabbi Akiva, ‘n baie ou en belangrike rabbi na Rambam wat die mees belangrike rabbi in die in die geskiedenis van Judaïsme is, vertel vir ons oor die tittel van die Metatrone waar sy natuur geopenbaar word in Mennachi, Bladsy 37, kolom 2. Hy sê: “Die Metatrone is die engel van die prins van God se Aangesig; die Engel, die Prins van die Wet, die Engel van die Prins van die Lewe, die Engel van die Prins van Heerlikheid, die Engel van die Prins van die tempel, die Engel van die Prins van konings, die Engel van die Prins van Heersers, die Engel van die Prins van die Hoog Verhewe magtige prinse in die hemele en op aarde.” Dit gaan verder en sê dat die Metatrone ‘n Heerser oor al die heersers is, oor alle magtige konings, daarom noem die Kabbala, die chasidic Kabbala, en die Zohar hom die Metatrone, “Mer Yasis”.

Dit beteken Hy regeer met mag en oorheersing omdat Hy die begin is van die wee van God soos in Spreuke 8:22?36:

“Die HERE het my berei as eersteling van sy weg, voor sy werke, van ouds af. Van ewigheid af is ek geformeer, van die begin af, van die voortyd van die aarde af. Toe daar nog geen wêreldvloede was nie, is ek gebore; toe fonteine, swaar van water, nog nie daar was nie; voordat die berge ingesink het, voor die heuwels is ek gebore; toe Hy die aarde en die velde en al die stoffies van die wêreld nog nie gemaak het nie. Toe Hy die hemele berei het, was ek daar; toe Hy 'n kring afgetrek het op die oppervlakte van die wêreldvloed; toe Hy die wolke daarbo bevestig het, toe die bronne van die wêreldvloed sterk geword het; toe Hy vir die see sy grens gestel het, dat die waters sy bevel nie sou oortree nie; toe Hy die fondamente van die aarde vasgelê het?? toe was ek 'n kunstenaar naas Hom, en ek was dag vir dag vol verlustiging en het gespeel voor sy aangesig altyd, en het gespeel op sy wêreldrond, en my verlustiginge was met die mensekinders. Luister dan nou na my, seuns; want gelukkig is hulle wat my weë bewaar.

Luister na tug en word wys, en verwerp dit nie. Gelukkig is die mens wat na my luister, om dag vir dag te waak aan my deure, by die syposte van my poorte die wag te hou. Want hy wat my vind, het die lewe gevind en verkry 'n welbehae van die HERE. Maar hy wat my mis, benadeel sy eie lewe; almal wat my haat, het die dood lief.”

Die rabbi’s leer dat dit die Metatrone is. Wat sê dit? Wat sê die Nuwe Testament? Die begin was die Woord en die Woord was God. Alle dinge het deur Hom ontstaan en sonder Hom is niks gemaak nie, in Hom was die lewe en die lewe is die Lig van die mense. Hy wat My vind, vind die Metatrone. Die rabbi’s sê jy moet die Metatrone vind om die lewe te verkry. En as jy teen die Metatrone gesondig het en Hom ander lelike name noem soos Yeshua in plaas van Sy regte Naam Yeshua, sal jy die dood vind. Maar Exodus 20: 19 sê: “En hulle het vir Moshe Rabbeinu gesê: Spreek u met ons, dat ons kan luister; maar laat God nie met ons spreek nie, anders sterwe ons.”

Met die lees van hierdie gedeelte en met die wete dat my volk? die kinders van Israel? nooit God nader sonder die middelaars werk van ‘n priester of ‘n hoë priester nie, het ek na Rabbi Simeon Ben Voccai gegaan om uit te vind of enige sterweling en sondige mens dit kan waag om tot God te gaan sonder ‘n middelaar. Ek het die volgende antwoord gekry: Dit is ‘n uittreksel uit die Kabbala, die Zohar volume 2? oor Eksodus bladsy 51 van die Amsterdamse uitgawe.

“Om die weg van die boom van die lewe te hou is daar maar een middelaar tussen God en die mens en dit is die Metatrone.” Maar tog is die hoë priester ‘n middelaar maar op ‘n manier is hy nie ‘n baie goeie middelaar nie.

Wat sê die Boek Hebreërs? Ons het ‘n meer volmaakte Hoë Priester uit ‘n ander orde. Dit was Melgisedek, die Metatrone? die Enigste Middelaar tussen God en die mens, die Middelste Pilaar van die Godheid wat van ewigheid af bestaan, deur wie God die Wêreld geskape het en deur Wie dit onderhou word, en dat God net gebede in Sy Naam sal beantwoord. Alle heerskappy behoort aan Hom en die

verborgenheid van saligheid is in Hom. Hy is die Verlosser en die Enigste Middelaar tussen God en die mens. Die Jode vra waar kry ons as Christene dit? In die Zohar!

Sentraal tot die Kabbala is die boom van die lewe. ‘n Joodse Christen, ‘n Messiaanse Jood of ‘n Joodse gelowige in Jesus Christus wat die Evangelie van Johannes aan die einde van die eerste eeu gelees het sou baie duidelik gesien het dat dit ‘n Midrasj is oor die skepping in Genesis of “Berashith”. Joh. 1,2 en 3 is ‘n Midrasj oor Genesis 1, 2&3.

Hy sou gesien dat God in Genesis in die ou Skepping gewandel het en nou in Johannes wandel God in die nuwe Skepping. God se Gees het oor die waters beweeg en die ou skepping in Genesis voortgebring, in Johannes beweeg God se Gees oor die waters en bring die nuwe skepping voort, een van water en Gees.

Daar is ‘n klein liggie en ‘n groot lig in die ou skepping in Genesis en in die Evangelie is Johannes die Doper die klein liggie en Jesus die Messias die groot Lig. Hy sou gesê het? God het die lig van die duisternis geskei in die ou Skepping en in die nuwe skepping het God ook die lig van die duisternis geskei. Gebore uit water en gees, God het mens geword. Die bruilof in Kana is dieselfde, op die derde dag Jesus verander die water in wyn en op die derde dag van die Skepping in Genesis het God ook ‘n wonderwerk met water gedoen.

In Hoofstuk 47 van die Esegiël word die boom van die lewe in ‘n Millennium konteks beskryf soos wat dit in die Boek Openbaring voorkom. Dit is in die Tuin van Eden soos in die begin van Genesis. Die rabbi’s sê vir ons dat die boom van die lewe voorgestel word deur ‘n vye boom. Toe Jesus vir Nataniël gesê het dat Hy hom onder vye boom gesien het, het Hy na baie meer verwys as net ‘n letterlike vye boom. In Midrasj, Joodse metafoor het Jesus vir hom gesê:

“ Ek het jou in die Tuin gesien, van die begin van die skepping af, van die grondlegging van die wêreld af.” Midrasj bring net uit die teks wat nie gesien kan word sonder ‘n begrip van die Hebreeuse perspektief nie. Die Bybel leer duidelik dat diegene wat uit verkies is nuut gebore is voor die fondasie van die wêreld. Die Midrasj verduidelik die leer wat alreeds direk in die Skrifte geleer is. Die rabbi’s van die Kabbala praat ook van die boom van die lewe, hulle sê die volgende: “Wie is die weg tot die boom van die lewe? Dit is die groot Metatrone, Hy is die weg na die groot boom van die lewe.”

In Ex. 14:19 lees ons : “En die Engel van God wat voor die leër van Israel uit getrek het, het daar weggegaan en agter hulle aan getrek.?” Metatrone is ‘n ander naam vir die Engel van die Here. Die Joodse kabbaliste sê dus dat om van die boom van die lewe te eet moet jy in die wee van die Metatrone wandel? Dieselfde openbaring word deur Jesus gespreek wat gesê het: “Hy wat na My toe kom aan hom sal ek die reg gee om te eet van die boom van die lewe.”

Rabbi Simeon sê: “Kom kyk, die Heilige, geseënd is hy wat vir hom ‘n heilige tempel bo in die hemel berei het, ‘n heilige stad, ‘n stad in die hemele, ‘n hemelse Jerusalem, die heilige stad waar elke smeekskrif aan die koning deur die Metatrone gestuur moet word. Jy kan nie na die heilige stad gaan nie, die hemelse Jerusalem? as die Metatrone jou nie daarheen neem nie. Elke boodskap van ‘n smeekskrif moet eers na die Metatrone toe gaan en daarvandaan na die koning. Metatrone is die Middelaar van almal wat van die hemel af kom na die aarde en van die aarde na die hemel.”

Die rabbi’s sê dus as iets nie deur die Metatrone gaan nie dan mors jy jou asem, dit sal nie gebeur nie, en omdat Hy die Middelaar is van almal, staan dit geskrywe in Ex. 14:19: “En die Engel van God wat voor die leër van Israel uit getrek het, het daar weggegaan en agter hulle aan getrek.”

Hierdie Engel van God is dieselfde van Wie geskrywe word in Ex. 13:21: “En die HERE het voor hulle uitgetrek, bedags in 'n wolkkolom om hulle op die pad te lei, en snags in 'n vuurkolom om hulle voor te lig, sodat hulle dag en nag kon trek.” Wat word hier gesê? In die Shekinah, God Self is in die Shekinah wat voor hulle uitgaan. Maar hoe was God in die Shekinah? Die Metatrone! God, die Metatrone, Shekinah?? Is daar Een God in Drie? Die idee van ‘n Drie Eenheid is nie net ‘n Christelike beginsel van die Nuwe Testament nie. Dit word gesien in die Ou Testament en ook in die mistieke Joodse skrifte in die Kabbala, ‘n feit wat die rabbi’s vandag nie meer rekening hou nie.

Dit is geskrywe in Psalm 121:4 dat die Almagtige Homself in niemand anders as die Metatrone geopenbaar het nie. God gaan Homself aan Israel en die mensdom openbaar deur Een? Die Metatrone. Maar die Metatrone is ook die ongeskape ewig bestaande memre in Aramees, wat ook geken word as die Melech Habrit wat ook die Metatrone is.

Hy is die Almagtige, El Shaddai wat Homself geopenbaar in die Metatrone, nie twee Metatron(e) nie, maar God? El Shaddai? wat homself geopenbaar het in die Metatrone wat ook die ongeskape ewig bestaande Woord wat was en is van die begin af. In die begin was die Woord, die Woord was met God en die Woord was God. Die Kleed van die Almagtige is die Metatrone. Dit word gesien in 2 Korinte en ook in 1 Tim. 3:16. Ek dink die Kabbaliste het sekerlik die Nuwe Testament gelees omdat die Nuwe Testament ouer is as die Kabbala, ten minste in sy geskrewe vorm.

Geheime Vereniging.

Die Kabbala leer dat die Metatrone die Seun van God is. “ Ek kan nie baie geheimenisse bekend maak in verband met die Metatrone waarin my onderwyser my opgelei het nie.” Jy sien, die Kabbala is gebaseer op geheimhouding, byna dieselfde as in die geval van die “Christelike” eweknie, die Vrymesselaars. Daar is geheime inisiasie rites om hierdie dinge te verstaan en dit neem jare voordat die Yeshiva seuns opgelei is in hierdie geheimenisse, miskien net ‘n week voordat hulle afsterwe in sekere gevalle omdat hulle aan niemand wil vertel dat die Almagtige Homself geopenbaar het in die Metatrone nie.

In die kommentaar van Rabbi Moses Moishe Butalri oor die boek van Sefra Yitzirah is hierdie woorde: “Die Kabbaliste noem die tweede Sephira Metatrone? die besitter? wat ‘n minderwaardige naam is van die Seun van God.

Toe Josua gesê het: “Is U vir ons of vir ons vyande, het hy gesê: nee? as ‘n prins van die Leërskare van God het ek gekom.”

Die Metatrone het aan Josua verskyn: Jos. 5:13?14: “En terwyl Josua by Jérigo was, slaan hy sy oë op en kyk, en daar staan 'n man teenoor hom met 'n ontblote swaard in sy hand; en Josua het na hom gegaan

en hom gevra: Behoort U by ons of by ons vyande? En Hy sê: Nee, maar Ek is die leërowerste van die HERE; (shevaot) Ek het nou gekom. Toe val Josua met sy aangesig op die grond en buig hom neer??”

Nou, wanneer die Hebreërs in aanbidding kom (histachavot) dan het hulle neergebuig. Die Roomse Katolieke praktyk om voor standbeelde neer te buig is afgodery, presies wat ons nie mag doen nie. Vers 14?15: “Wat wil my Here aan sy dienskneg sê? Toe sê die leërowerste van die HERE vir Josua: Trek jou skoene van jou voete af, want die plek waar jy op staan, is heilig. En Josua het so gedoen.” Die was die Metatrone voor wie Josua gebuig het.

Rabbi Moses sê verder: “Die middelste pilaar in die Godheid het Homself geopenbaar as die Seun van God, en deur om tot sover in die verborgenheid van die natuur van God in te dring en te aanskou wat die geloof van my vaders was in die tyd toe lamp in heerlikheid in die heiligdom gebrand het en ek na die tweede Psalm gekyk wat duidelik van niemand anders as die Metatrone? die Seun van God praat nie.”

Kyk na die 7de en die 12de verse van Psalm 2? Vers 7: “Ek wil vertel van die besluit: Die HERE het aan My gesê: U is my Seun, vandag het Ek self U gegenereer.”— Vers 12 “Kus die Seun, dat Hy nie toornig word en julle op die weg vergaan nie; want gou kan sy toorn ontvlam. Welgeluksalig is almal wat by Hom skuil!”

Maar tog sê baie Jode dat God nie ‘n Seun het nie en tog sê die Psalms dat God ‘n Seun het, en meer nog die rabbi’s sê self dat die Metatrone die Seun van God is. Ons lees in die Boek Spreuke 30:4: “Wie het na die hemel opgeklim en neergedaal? Wie het die wind (Rauch in Hebreeus, Gees) in sy vuiste versamel? Wie het die waters in 'n kleed saamgebind? Wie het al die eindes van die aarde vasgestel? Hoe is sy Naam? En hoe is die Naam van sy Seun??as jy dit weet?” Metatrone!

Ps 2:7: “Ek wil vertel van die besluit: Die HERE het aan My gesê: U is my Seun, vandag het Ek self U gegenereer.

Ps 2:12: “Kus die Seun, dat Hy nie toornig word en julle op die weg vergaan nie; want gou kan sy toorn ontvlam. Welgeluksalig is almal wat by Hom skuil!” Skuil by Wie? By die Metatrone!

Ek het die agtergrond waarin die woord “Hayom” wat deur geestelike skrywer gebruik word nagevors en gevind dat dit somtyds die ewigheid beskryf soos in Jesaja 43: 3 “Ook van vandag af is Ek dit,?” (Yea, before the day was I am he;)

Dit is van ewigheid af soos wat Yonatan Ben Uziel dit vertaal: “Ek is ook uit die ewigheid”, dus word die woord hayom in Psalm 2 gebruik as ‘n dag van ewigheid. Die Griekse woord hier is “hemera aniones”? dag van ewigheid? sodat hy wat hier is wat deur God My Seun genoem word, van ewigheid af is, dit is die Metatrone.

Jakob het met die Metatrone geworstel, God in ‘n Menslike Gestalte.

Josua het voor Hom op sy aangesig geval voor hulle die Beloofde Land ingegaan het? die Metatrone. Die Metatrone is die Middelste Pilaar van die Godheid.

Die Metatrone is Jehovah.

Die Metatrone is in die Shekinah; die Shekinah is in die Metatrone. Jehovah is God, Metatrone, Shekinah, Drie in Een en Een in Drie.

Die Metatrone is die Verlosser.

Die Metatrone is die enigste weg na God.

Die Metatrone is die Enigste Een in wie se Naam Hy ons gebede sal beantwoord. Die Metatrone is die Enigste in wie se hande God die toekoms van Israel sal plaas. Die Metatrone is die Enigste Verteenwoordiger van God se Redding.

Die Metatrone is die Enigste Een wat die reg het om die weg na die Boom van die Lewe aan te wys. Die Metatrone is die Enigste Een by wie jy skuiling en redding kan vind.

Wie is die Metatrone? Yeshua HaMashiach? Jesus die Messias. Die Nuwe Testament? Ja! Is dit wat ek dink? Dit is wat ek weet! As jy my nie wil glo nie, glo jou eie rabbi’s.

My liewe Joodse vriende, as jy hierdie lees, die Metatrone is die Messias; Die Metatrone is God wat Mens geword het.

Die Metatrone is die Enigste Een wat vir jou redding kan gee. Die Metatrone is die Enigste Een wat jou na die Nuwe Jerusalem daarbo kan bring waarvan jou rabbi’s jou geleer het. Die Metatrone is die Enigste Een, die enigste Weg, die Enigste toekoms wat jy het. Omhels die Seun, geseënd is hy wat skuiling soek in die Metatrone? Yeshua HaMaschiach, Jesus, die Joodse Messias. †††

Moriel / 08/07

How AI is transforming defensive capabilities against drones

October 12, 2026
Written by - Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Examples abound in history of how the responses to innovations in technology that disrupted and transformed the nature of warfare have taken a delayed time to be adapted. Chain mail and armour had to be altered and bolstered to repel arrows from the English Longbow in Medieval Europe, but this didn't occur in time to the dismay of the French at Agincourt. It took the Spanish decades to redesign their cumbersome Galleons that lay prey to the swifter English ships. Napoleonic era field tactics were still being employed during the American Civil War, with mass charges mowed down by the Gatling barrel machine gun. Trench warfare was only later embraced during WWI. With the cheap manufacture of drones and the advances in AI a new chapter has opened in how war is waged in our own time. The conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have demonstrated how asymmetric warfare has become as much an economic calculation as a game of cat and mouse. Drones (and relatively cheaply manufactured ballistic missiles by Iran) are being shot down at great expense. AI which has been extensively deployed for target identification in Gaza is also proving to be a vital tool in hunting incoming drones. But as in the delayed development of military countermeasures historically, drones are ahead of AI in the battlefield. This is reflected in the enormity of Russian military casualties that have fallen victim to Ukrainian drones. AI is able to cut through the 'background noise' of distracting projectiles, birds and other debris to home in efforts to eliminate the actual drone target. The magic formula is speed and precision. Humans can detect and assess a threat, but AI can process radar, cameras and other sensors almost instantly, and with increasing accuracy predict where a drone intends to strike. When swamped with a wave drone attack, AI acts to identify and track the multiple threats. AI can also help decide how to respond. Depending on the system, the response could involve electronic warfare, an interceptor drone, a missile or a gun-based system. Ukraine has installed automated machine gun turrets instructed by AI to protect Kiev. In some cases, humans still make the final decision to engage, while AI handles the calculations and tracking required to make that decision quickly. More broadly, drone warfare is becoming a contest between autonomous systems. The challenge is no longer simply building a better missile or a better drone. It is building a system that can see the threat first, understand it quickly and respond before the drone reaches its target. In that sense, AI is becoming a critical part of air defence. The advantage may increasingly belong to whoever can make the fastest and most accurate decisions—not necessarily whoever manufactures the most expensive weapons. AI's pace of progress is exponential. It is beyond comprehension what capacity could be realized in even the next 2-3 years. The combination of drones, robotics and AI may render the traditional military hardware of tanks, frigates and fighter jets almost functionally obsolete. The development of AI's course of military application will be largely directed by the conflicts where it is deployed. In the pre-AI world of 1987, the black Friday market crash during the Reagan Administration saw a dangerous drop in the Dow, where computer analysis issued sell orders against a background of Reagan's massive budget deficits. Amidst Reagan's budget deficits this created an environment where social security was looted to fund defence spending. A supposed conservative President ran a fiscal policy with simultaneous increases in the Pentagon budget, coupled with tax cuts. The computer generated sell off was beyond the functional control of brokers and market makers, while the Soviets attempted to engineer market irregularities affecting the American economy which had further global ramifications due to massive American trade deficits with Japan under Reagan. The current Securities exchange environment is at best no less complex now. Given the spectre of what transpired in 1987 with computerised over control of stock exchange trading, and a shadow hanging over the bond market we are left to ponder could another such scenario be triggered in the age of AI? And even more illuminous prospect over shadows us now with the question can AI gain a decision-making operational capacity over command-and-control decisions. Certainly, for tactical weapons systems or even a doomsday scenario with Russia, China, India or Pakistan placing nuclear launch control in the hands of AI that could result in an exchange that either the US, Britain, France or Israel would be forced to react to. Without scaremongering it is necessary for strategic planners to prevent the nuclear powers that be from arriving at the precipice of such an abyss.

Interconnected Conflicts: The Risk of a New Thirty Years' War. By Rubin Rothler - LLB, MLB

September 21, 2026
The interlinked nature of third-party involvement in the ongoing conflicts in Iran and Ukraine has increasingly come to the fore in recent weeks. It emerged that China has not only been providing Iran with radar systems, navigation tools, and electronic warfare technology, but also high-resolution satellite imagery and geospatial data to direct its rockets. The same great-power relationships that are shaping the Middle East are affecting the conduct and constraints of the war in Ukraine. It is apparent that a reciprocation in kind is dictating Russia's conduct towards the US in Iran. Intelligence and targeting support mirror similar U.S. assistance to Ukraine. But this picture becomes murkier when considering the backroom accommodations Trump is willing to give Putin. Recently, Trump pressured Zelensky to stop targeting Russian diesel infrastructure, saying the attacks were causing a shortage of the fuel that is "hurting the world." The U.S. national average price for diesel, which is used by trucks, trains, ships, and farm equipment, rose above six dollars a gallon for the first time last Thursday. Such interventions demonstrate how developments on the battlefield in Ukraine can no longer be considered independently of wider economic and geopolitical calculations. China has been using tankers that are already at sea, when that runs out the American blockade will create shortage problems for the Chinese economy, as China no longer gets Venezuelan oil and is reliant on Iran and international spot market prices. The war with Iran is now spreading to Yemen, with the Houthis attempting to replicate the Iranian chokehold model perfected in the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic importance of controlling or threatening critical maritime chokepoints is central to the wider contest. What happens in the Gulf can therefore have consequences for shipping, energy markets, and military calculations far beyond the immediate theatre. So far, the US has declined Saudi requests to slow the Houthi advance. Neither Turkey nor Egypt seems inclined to come to Saudi Arabia's aid. This is despite the signing of a very recent mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan. More developments can happen in these conflicts on an average day than can be afforded mention, but they should be increasingly understood as interconnected parts of a wider geopolitical confrontation. Assistance in one theatre triggers reciprocal action in another. Consequently, these cease to be discrete, containable conflicts and are extending into prolonged multinational conflicts. There is a distinct possibility that these may become frozen conflicts over time. A more terrifying eventuality is something more akin to the Thirty Years' War, which was fought in the first half of the 17th century in Europe. It is important to remember that this calamity, which ravaged Europe, began as a localized rebellion that gradually drew in more and more powers. The initial religious nature of the fighting gave way to political struggles. The mechanism by which a localized conflict becomes a multinational struggle offers a historical warning worth considering. The danger today is that a collection of individually distinct conflicts could become sufficiently interconnected that containing any one of them becomes increasingly difficult. Iran, Ukraine, Russia, China, the United States, and the conflict involving the Houthis are already linked by military assistance, intelligence, energy, trade, and strategic competition. The question, therefore, is no longer simply how any one of these conflicts ends. It is whether they can remain separate conflicts at all.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Prayer Request

By David Passmore • September 12, 2026
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for our sister in Jesus - Wendy Blomkamp, widow of Brother Fred Blomkamp (now with The Lord), the founder of Moriel South Africa Branch (not to be confused with Moriel's Ebyown Aids Children's Mission in South Africa founded by David Royle). Wendy, (an equestrian rider of all things) is originally from West Yorkshire, England but has lived most of her life in South Africa and is currently in retirement in the USA. Unfortunately, Wendy is diagnosed with inoperable pre terminal cancer with cardio pullmonary complications. The Lord will either intervene supernaturally or call her home. We request prayer for Wendy and her beloved family and wisdom for her physicians. In Christ, All at Moriel

What would happen to Israel if the House is controlled by Democrats, and if the Republicans lose control of the Senate?

By David Passmore • September 7, 2026
The US midterm elections are around the corner and the results could have profound effects on US foreign policy concerning Israel. Much has been said about this vote being a referendum on Trump's unpopular war with Iran. But it can equally be said to be about Trump's other foreign policy engagements that are viewed rather more favourably like the overthrow of Maduro in Venezuela and his replacement with a pro-American regime. With Israel the picture is less clear. It used to be a given that Israel enjoyed bipartisan support on the Hill. You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of politicians opposed to supporting Israel - the occasional fringe Democrat representing a singular Michigan constituency with a high Arab origin demographic, or a rare odd ball Republican preaching strict isolationism. This dynamic has shifted quickly in the last decade. The Democrats have all but abandoned any inclination of a pro-Israel position. Even establishment figures like Chuck Schumer have been pressured to side with the Party's radical left wing. With 60-80% of Democrats now anti-Israel, Israel can no longer rely on Jewish Democrats to oppose anti-Zionism or antisemitism. The most outspoken Democratic member of the Senate advocating a pro-Israel position, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is being pressured to resign and leave the party even by Pennsylvania's Jewish Governor Shapiro and Soros sponsored Philadelphia Prosecutor Krasner. This is happening concurrently with mass endorsement from 170 leading Hollywood Jewish actors writing a letter of support for Mark Ruffallo - despite his antisemitic comments naming Jewish investors supporting a Hollywood studio mega merger as being associated with apartheid genocide. However most shocking, were the comments by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel who stood before an audience of Jewish Democrats last weekend telling them they may need to sacrifice the safety, and even the future, of their own people in exchange for saving the rest of humanity. Such rhetoric is contrary to basic human instincts of survival and self-preservation. If any other nation were suggested this course of action, I wonder what their response would be? On the Republican side the foreboding sense of an altering course towards Israel no longer seems so distant. The anti-Israel faction in the Republican party led by Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes are now being supported by Vice President Vance. Jewish kingpins in the Trump Administration such as Witkoff and Kushner have been tied to business dealings in N.Y. with the Muslim Brotherhood controlled Qatari government through its business holdings. Should Republicans lose control of the Senate while Democrats take the House, Israel could find itself having to drastically re-access its relationship with Washington. We wouldn't see an immediate break in ties. American military, intelligence, technological and strategic cooperation with Israel is too integrated into the core of US institutions and corporations that would take a protracted period to dismantle. However, the power of Congress is in no way feeble. Congress controls funding, foreign-assistance legislation, sanctions, arms-related legislation and, perhaps most importantly, the political milieu in which an administration operates. A Democratic House combined with a Senate no longer controlled by Republicans could place enormous pressure on Trump to alter his attitude towards Israel. Practically this could entail demanding further accountability from Israel over military operations in Gaza, and the West Bank Settlers causing civilian casualties and property damage. Military aid could face more conditions or restrictions, but an immediate cutoff is unlikely. Israel has historically depended upon the presumption that regardless of who was President, there would be a robust enough bipartisan coalition in Congress to prevent a major deterioration in the relationship. Now the opposite appears true. Israel is taking the gamble of solely relying on a friendly President like Trump getting elected to maintain cordial relations. With the erosion of even much of Jewish American support for Israel and the hijacking of the Democratic party by a pro Islamist socialist left seen in Mamdani and others, Israel is forced to confront the inescapable reality that the last strong bastion of support for it is the Republican Party's evangelical base. But even younger voters in this key demographic are beginning to question support for Israel. The hostility displayed by the Haredim in Jerusalem and elsewhere against Christians including evangelicals, is to say the least counter-productive to the national interest. To attack the one friend Israel has left with a proven track record of loyalty and is vital to pro-Zionism internationally, is particularly detrimental to the national interest. It is Iran with its Mahdiist interpretations of jihad and sharia as a religious ideology that drives its hatred of Israel and the USA, and The West, to the detriment of the interests of the majority of the Iranian populace who want non hostile co-existence.  Such religious fanaticism and ideologically fuelled hatred ought not be given place in Israeli Judaism. It too, will generate adverse consequences for the majority of Israelis, including religious moderates, who desire an ongoing friendship with Evangelical Christians whose theology is not one of anti Semitism, but of proven Philo-Semitism and pro Zionism.

Don't bit ethe hand that feeds you - Irish hypocrisy towards Israel

By David Passmore • August 21, 2026
Don't bite the hand that feeds you - Irish hypocrisy towards Israel Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Amongst European nations, Ireland in recent years has gained the reputation as being the leading anti-Zionist country. The Irish Republic has never been favourably inclined to Israel. It only established an Embassy in Tel Aviv in 1996. In poll after poll the vast majority of the Irish public have indicated hostility towards Zionism and strong support for Palestinian Statehood. The curious aberration to this is that in British Ruled Northern Ireland support is demarcated along sectarian lines. Catholic Republican areas predictably tend to ardently support the Palestinian cause, while Protestant Unionist communities are overwhelmingly pro-Israel. Perhaps some credence can be given to sentiments of traditional Catholic antisemitism hardwired into the Irish psyche as contributing towards this disposition. It was certainly odd that the Irish government promptly sent a delegation to the Nazi German Ambassador in Dublin to convey condolences after news of Hitler's suicide broke at the end of WW2. But more concretely if you were to ask the average Irish protester on a pro-Palestine march the basis of their empathy for the Palestinian cause, they would point to the ostensible parallels between the Irish experience of fighting for independence from British colonial oppression to the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Further remonstrations on a diplomatic level concern the actions of the IDF interreacting with Irish Peace Keepers in Southern Lebanon that have caused the deaths of several Irish Peace Keepers over the decades in friendly fire incidents. Ireland has contributed the most peace keepers to this mission per capita and the government has condemned Israel for these deaths that they view as avoidable. This animosity towards Israel is unbalanced. There are reasons to consider that Ireland and Israel have a shared experience of national liberation. Both countries fought the British in the pursuit of independence. Both countries made great efforts to resurrect their ancient languages for modern wide scale use. Both the Irish and Jews form major diaspora communities in New York. Despite all this Ireland ranks as Israel's second largest export market after the US. The preponderance of Israeli exports to Ireland comprises electronic integrated circuits, micro-assemblies, and tech manufacturing components. American multinational colossal tech corporations like Intel are substantially engrossed in this trade through the chain of supply. Ireland and Israel are hubs for design and manufacture of high-tech hardware components for US corporations. So, due to the nature of the most prosperous and competitive sectors of their respective economies, Israel and Ireland are inextricably bound in bilateral trade ties. Resolutions from the Irish government to impose sanctions on West Bank originating produce is merely perfunctory rhetoric. Such actions amount to a drop in the bucket in terms of impact to overall trade. The stark reliance of Ireland on advanced Israeli aviation equipment recently caused a spectacle when Ireland's new government jet struggled to land in heavy fog due to it being ordered without an advanced Israeli made navigation system. This was directly due to a short-sighted government decision not to buy Israeli military technology. There is a marked disparity between the official position of the Irish government designed for domestic public consumption and the economic policies that it actually pursues towards Israel. The government is acutely aware that the US is massively invested in the Irish economy and they don't want to do anything to jeopardise this. Washington demands that their enterprises in Dublin are intertwined with operations in Israel. The Irish government dare not even prevent US military supply flights refuelling at Shannon Airport on their way to Tel Aviv. The Irish government knows that times change and now the gripping social issue is the anti-immigrant/anti-Islam popular street protests. Soon the anti-Israel protests could become a mere side show only really promoted by Sinn Fein given the pressing ramifications of mass migration. So, in the meantime certain politicians will rile against the occupation, purported genocide and pass paltry sanctions against insignificant produce from the West Bank. All the while making hand over fist in money with the Israelis where it really matters in tech.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

The tide has Changed

By David Passmore • July 31, 2026
The Tide Has Changed Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The America that Netanyahu touched down on is a changed America. The death of Lindsey Graham represents a changing of the guard. Graham was a staunch Israeli ally who will most probably become an increasingly rare breed in Washington. Sixty percent of Americans now hold a unfavourable view of Israel which politicians are finding difficult to ignore. It was once unthinkable to believe that New York City with such a strong Jewish electoral base and influence on all sectors of economic and cultural life would have a mayor that is so hostile to Israel to such an extent that he is calling for the arrest of its Prime Minister. From all accounts Netanyahu was cordially welcomed at the White House. The official press release stated that the talks were constructive. What is more telling is what was left unsaid particularly concerning the proposed sale of F35's to Israel's new regional adversary -Turkey. Trump is keen to find a swift resolution to the Iran War, while Netanyahu is opposed to a premature departure. When the US and Israel initiated their attacks on Iran over five months ago, Trump and Netanyahu appeared united in the War's goals and purpose. But as the protracted conflict has staggered to topple the Iranian regime fractures have emerged. Much has been said about the imminent political realities both leaders face. The Republicans could take a big hit in the November midterm elections should the war continue and global energy markets be negatively impacted. Netanyahu is anxious to demonstrate a big win to the Israeli public with the upcoming October election. In Israel, the Iran War is not viewed in isolation, but rather as an extension of the response to the colossal disaster of the October 7th massacre. Netanyahu must rehabilitate his reputation as a competent steward of national security having had the greatest loss of civilian life in an attack happening under his watch. Aside from the Iran issue, Trump is being pressured by Erdogan to insist upon Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory pre-emptively seized by Israel following the toppling of Assad. Trump has also indicated disapproval of the extent of continuing Israeli measures against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, questioning the proportionality employed. Netanyahu is not in an envious position. Throughout his tenure and political career, he lauded his ability to engage successfully with the American public by zealously advocating Israel's position. Yet under his government Israel's reputation has plummeted in the US. Trump may be the last US President to extend such overwhelming bilateral support to Israel. The days of politicians like Lindsey Graham are fast ending. While John Fetteman and Marco Rubio appear to be remaining more solid, even some of the most warmly inclined leading Republican and Democrat voices like Donald Trump and Rahm Emanuel have nuanced their support for Israel. The tide has shifted and will at best level off if not continuing to shift further.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

The Saudi Nuclear Deal: An attempt to alter the Regional Balance of Power

By David Passmore • July 24, 2026
The Saudi Nuclear Deal: An attempt to alter the Regional Balance of Power Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The initiative to develop a civilian nuclear program in Saudi Arabia with US assistance isn't new. There were concrete plans discussed towards these ends during the first Trump Administration. The recent announcement to actualize this deal follows the geo-political regional tumult in the wake of the Iran War. Several dimensions of motivation underlie the US decision. An overarching US strategic agenda is to keep the Saudis firmly in the American sphere of influence. Washington knows all too well that the Chinese and Russians are eager to offer their nuclear technical assistance to the Saudis in order to draw them closer to their camp. On a personal note, the nuclear agreement is a significant achievement for Bin Salaman. The Saudis have long had designs to diversify their energy supplies. Having a civilian nuclear program also adds prestige to Saudi Arabia as an emerging market economy. For the US, a monopoly on contracting companies for the requisite construction offers lucrative economic opportunities. Although the Civilian Nuclear deal does not allow the enrichment of Uranium, the Saudis will be in a position to do so if Washington gives the green light. This will act as a counterbalanced threat hanging over the Iranians. After the recent flare up of renewed fighting with Iran due to their lack of adherence to the moratorium of understanding, something had to budge in Trump's estimation. A reconfiguration of the power balance in the Gulf by introducing the potential of Saudi Arabia to be able to acquire nuclear weapons shifts the dynamic and places further pressure on Iran to strictly abstain from nuclear proliferation. Despite Israeli concerns about the agreement, Trump sought to assuage their alarm by making it contingent upon Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with them. Given the inherently unstable nature of an autocratic Saudi regime Israel views a diplomatic relationship with the Saudis as being on precarious footing in the long term. Israel is already forced to contend with the implications of one nuclear armed Muslim state - Pakistan and it will further weaken its own deterrent capability if another similarly capable hostile neighbour were to emerge in the future. The roles of Turkey and Qatar in all this foray are a wild card. Officially Turkey is served under the NATO nuclear umbrella for defence that is subject to US control. However, its civilian nuclear program remains in its infancy. Now with the Saudi deal, Erdogan may be inclined to exert pressure on the US to help accelerate his own nuclear program. Just as Erdogan's efforts to acquire F35 fighter jets from the US greatly disturbed Israeli military planners, a heightened Turkish nuclear ability will intensify this fear. Qatar views itself as pursuing its own independent foreign policy that has managed to remain rather neutral during the current war, thereby escaping the ire of Iran's strikes on US regional assets. Overall, the Qatari government has grown closer to the Turkish vision for the region and so likely isn't particularly amiable to the Saudi agreement. Ultimately the Saudi deal is a gamble. Many will see it as throwing more fuel on the fire which will further imperil the tinder box region and heighten tensions. But Trump finds himself at a continuing impasse with a stubborn regime in Tehran that is leveraging their geographic hold on the straits of Hormuz to inflict damage on the global energy markets. Iranian strikes upon US Arab regional allies have underscored the de facto alliance between Israel and the Arabs against Iran and its Shia proxies. The US hopes to use the Saudi nuclear deal as a means of making this alliance official by having Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords as a pre-condition.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Circling the Wagons

By David Passmore • July 14, 2026
Circling the wagons Ruben Rothler LLB, LLM Israel is a society riddled with tension and division. It is sociologically, if not politically miraculous that a country drawing Jews from all over the world is able to exist at all. The army affords a degree of integration as a melting pot. But this is only a marginal source of national unity in the overall scheme of things. More so are the myriads of external threats that face this small country. In the former generation the Ashkenazi (Jews of European descent) - Sephardic (Jews of Oriental descent) divide was far more pronounced. The dominant Ashkenazi establishment held the reins of political and economic power which was resented by the Sephardim. However, due to a combination of inter-marriage and political accommodation much of the chasm that separated these distinct groups was forged. Menachem Begin (an Ashkenazi politician) in 1970 successfully ran on the Likud Party ticket with a campaign that brought Sephardic Jews under his conservative political umbrella. Later the immigration of Russian Jews following the end of Communism would add a whole new dimension to the Israeli demographic milieu. The younger generation of these immigrants tended to adapt well to Israeli society and contributed much to the economy. The wider division in Israeli society that crosses ethnic lines concerns that between religious and secular Jews. This can be further bifurcated to the clash between the secular and specifically ultra-orthodox Jews (Haredim) as distinguished from the national religious Jews (Dati Leumi). The Secular and the Religious generally part on what they envisage a Jewish State to entail. Religious Jews desire the State to strictly adhere to the stipulations of Jewish Law (Halacha), while at present Halakhic influence is largely limited to certain areas of Family Law concerning Jewish citizens. Wider considerations of promoting a socially conservative political agenda would also be forefront amongst the religious mindset broadly. Secular Jews view the imposition of such proposed measures as a serious infringement of their civil rights. With regard to the Haredim, the bone of contention looms larger, in that this group is fundamentally opposed to participating in society at large. This is acutely manifested in diminished contribution to the work force and a refusal to be conscripted into the army. The 2023 judicial reform protests posed a significant threat to social civil order. The nation appeared to be bitterly divided into two opposing camps. This split reflected broader divisions concerning visions of how the country should be governed. The judicial reforms would have weakened the Supreme Court's ability to render the Executive branch accountable. However, the Supreme Court was also accused of using its considerable powers to promote a socially liberal agenda. Left wing secular Israelis tended to oppose the proposed reforms while those on the right (which included the majority of Religious Jews) supported the reforms. Every weekend droves of protesters were brought onto the streets causing major disturbances to traffic. The polarising nature of this impasse threatened the future of Israeli democracy. It was the October 7th attack that brought a swift end to this public debate and civil strife. The nation instinctually united in response to this common existential threat. The judicial reforms were shelved for a future point when the urgent security threats subsided. However, as the war dragged on the enduring issue of Haredi refusal to conscript into the army became more pronounced. Mounting casualties combined with ever increasing manpower demands to field troops on the multiple theatres of action on which the IDF is engaged has depleted the ranks, and the army is now in much need of fresh conscripts. Haredi belligerent refusal to participate in the pressing national defence has escalated from being a political debate to a matter of very practical vital importance. Overall we can observe that the challenges to national unity in successive generations since the establishment of Israel has recurrently been ameliorated by the common necessity of defence towards outside threats. Most recently we can see this happening with regard to the global anti Semitism and anti-Zionism that has been raging since the October 7th atrocities. These hostile attitudes have paradoxically acted as a force which promotes nationalism and a sense of national cohesion in Israel that otherwise might not functionally exist.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

A Divided Nation

By David Passmore • July 8, 2026
A Divided Nation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The Haredi community has had a complicated, paradoxical relationship with the State since its founding. Rooted in a Talmudic precept that the Jews are forbidden to resettle the land of Israel en masse by force before the coming of the Messiah, the secular democratic State of Israel presents itself as blasphemous by its mere existence. Yet due to practical considerations such as the need to obtain funding for its religious academies the Haredi leadership reached a settlement with the State's founders that exempted Haredi men from being conscripted for military service. This was at a time when the Haredi population in Israel was relatively small. Over the past decades this demographic ballooned until the point that soon the majority of Jewish children in Israel will be born into Haredi families. Such a situation is clearly unsustainable. Recently the Knesset's (Parliament's) Haredi parties have pressured their coalition partners in government to codify Torah Study as part of the Country's Basic Laws. This was purposefully done to elevate the status of their institutions to be on parity with service in the IDF. Israel is yet to promulgate a written Constitution, so legislation classed as a Basic Law holds Constitutional status for all intents and purposes. These moves by the religious parties represent a back door power grab to enshrine in law very significant hurdles to prevent the enlistment of Haredi men. The burden of Israel's defence is comparatively massive for a country its size and it is vastly disproportionately shouldered by the secular population. Until now there have been political initiatives to conscript the Haredim. But given the huge manpower shortages emerging in the wake of near continual conflict on multiple fronts since the events of October 7th this matter has become urgent and not merely a theoretical discussion of what is fair and equitable. It is important to draw a distinction between the Haredim and national religious Jews (Dati Leumi). The Haredim adhere to a lifestyle entirely committed to observance of Jewish Law and Talmudic study. This is embraced to the exclusion of gainful employment and participation in wider society. They are either outrightly opposed to Zionism or consider themselves non-Zionist. Conversely, followers of the national religious movement in Israel although being observant of Jewish law and learning would alongside this pursue secular professions. Furthermore, they are ardently Zionist and disproportionately serve in IDF combat units. This is often done within the framework of a program called Hesder Yeshiva that combines religious learning with military service. Efforts to cater a similar model for accommodating Haredi participation in the IDF have so far failed to make substantial gains. Such measures designed to override Haredi objections to service based upon modesty concerns by strict segregation of the sexes in these specially formed units have failed to appease the Haredi leadership. For them, any form of military service is considered a dereliction of their duty to fully devote themselves to a Torah lifestyle. They argue that their Talmudic learning and prayers are in itself a form of national service and act to protect the Jewish people spiritually from enemy attack. It is as if two parallel societies exist within Israel. And the trajectory of separation between the two is only growing. The Haredim are cloistered away in their Yeshivas, immersed in lives devoted to adhering to the stipulations of Jewish law. While the particulars of actually running the State is left to the Secular. The Haredim desire all the benefits of subsidizing their lifestyle without contributing to society. What we really have going on here at source is two profoundly different and opposing ideological visions of what is important in life and what is the purpose of a Jewish State. At the State's founding these divergent perspectives were more manageable. Ben Gurion only had to contend with one religious party –the National Religious Party. Later in 1970 Begin aligned with the NRP to form a coalition government that also brought Sephardic Jews under the Likud umbrella which had the effect of bringing unity to the country by bridging the Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide. However, over time Israeli politics has seen a proliferation of religious parties, gaining further leverage as king brokers in forming governments due to the proportionate representation voting system which secular Israelis not uncommonly view as political blackmail. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Why Is It Always Israel? | Zechariah 12 Is Happening Before Our Eyes

By David Passmore • June 29, 2026