The Death of Absalom

April 3, 2025
Civil War

2 Samuel 18:1:

“David numbered the men who were with him, and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 

And David sent the people out, one-third under the command of Joab, one-third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, ‘I myself will also go out with you.’ But the people said to him, ‘No, you should not go out, for if we indeed flee, they will not care about us – even if half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us, therefore now it is better that you be ready to help us from the city.’”

This was a terrible situation: Hebrew was not fighting Philistine, Hebrew was not fighting Canaanite, Hebrew was not fighting Amalekite – Hebrew was fighting Hebrew. There was the war between Israel and Judah, and the war in the last chapter of the book of Judges, which was a civil war, that broke out when a man’s concubine was gang-raped and her body hacked up and sent throughout the nation. (Judges 19) That was the worst of all the wars in Judges. Here we see it happening again.

In the same manner, the worst battles that we as Christians will have to fight will not be against unbelievers; rather, they will be part of civil war. The worst battles are against your own kind where believer, as it were, raises his sword against believer. Now, I am of course not referring to a physical sword like the Puritans used, but rather to the spiritual sword, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Fighting Canaanites, Philistines, no problem; fighting Moslems, Freemasons, Roman Catholics, no problem. But what happens when brother fights brother – or, in this case, when father fights son.

Rebellion in the Camp

Jesus said plainly that he came to bring division, to turn parents against their children. (Luke 12:41-53) This certainly happens when someone from an unbelieving family becomes a believer. It happens to an extreme point among Jewish families, Moslem families, and sometimes Catholic and Gypsy families. However, it also happens in this case with people who theoretically already did believe, but went into rebellion. We live in an age and in a time when there is a major rebellion in the camp of the Lord and families are divided. For example, look at the division brought by the Toronto phenomenon.

The rightful leadership which God appointed was usurped by Absalom and an awful lot of people – in fact, in some places most of the people – followed Absalom. I will not go into it at great depth now, but Absalom is one of the people in Scripture who typify the Antichrist. In the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem is the alleged place of Absalom’s Pillar (though the archaeologists are by no means convinced that it is the actual Pillar of Absalom), and to this day you can see Orthodox Jews throwing stones at it. (2 Samuel 18:18) 

A Counterfeit Christ

A division has occurred in the camp. Verse 9:

“Now Absalom happened to meet the servants of David, for Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak.”

If you can follow the typology, the fact that he is riding on a mule indicates that he is counterfeiting Christ.

“And his head caught fast in the oak, so that he was left hanging between heaven and earth,”

He was hanging on a tree; do you see here how he counterfeits Jesus?

“While the mule that was under him kept going. And when a certain man saw him, he told Joab, and said, ‘Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.’ Then Joab said to the man who told him this, ‘Behold, you saw him; why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt!’ And the man said to Joab, ‘Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Protect for me the man Absalom.” Otherwise, if I had dealt treacherously against his life – and there is nothing hidden from the king’”

David here is a type of the true Christ – “nothing hidden from the King”.

“’Then you yourself would have stood aloof.’ Then Joab said, ‘I will not waste time here with you.’ So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.”

“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal 3:13) – Absalom’s death was one thing; but the manner in which he died would have carried a particular connotation for the Jews because of that quote from the Torah. Haman was hanged from a tree, and in the same way the Messiah was cursed for our sin and hung on a tree. So, Absalom is pierced through while he is hanging on a tree. Again, whom does this look like? He is a counterfeit of Jesus.

The Worst Crisis

Let me tell you about the most difficult thing that you will ever face as a Christian if you have not faced it already. It is the most difficult thing that I have ever faced as a Christian. There is no trial, no crisis, nothing in your Christian life that will be more difficult than this: the death of an unsaved loved one. Nothing is more difficult to face up to than the death of an unsaved loved one.

I get anguished letters from women with unsaved husbands. I have never known a Christian woman with an unsaved husband who was happily married – even if he’s a good guy, I have never met a single Christian woman who is not miserable over it and whom it does not torment every day. Any Christian who gets married to an unsaved person is simply out of his or her mind; it is begging for trouble.

My father died, as far as I know, unsaved. To the extent of my knowledge, my father is in Hell; no hope, no way out. Ultimately, only God knows what transpires in that fleeting moment between life and death; yet in the entire Bible – the entire New Testament – there is only one deathbed conversion, so to speak: the good thief that was crucified with Jesus. What could be worse than having unsaved or backslidden children? Nothing.

The worst situation that you or I or any Christian will ever face will be when we have unbelieving loved ones who die. They die in rebellion.

Loved Ones: Saved and Unsaved

My mother is unsaved. She has had two heart attacks and one stroke. She has cataracts and is battling cancer in both extremities and she was recently diagnosed with arthritis though she is only 62 years old. I am quite concerned because I love my mother and I desperately want her to be saved; but the fact is she is not saved. She has been witnessed to many times and it only ends in arguments. Anything that my sister or I could say to her has been said to her. She sees the change in my life – she knows that when I got saved I stopped sleeping around and taking cocaine, but she is still not saved. I think about this every day and all that I can do is pray for her. Do you have an unsaved mother, father, husband, wife, or child? What is it that you think about every day and what is your worst fear? We must be honest.

You may go to churches where they sing the hymns and bring in the guest speakers who hype people up, claiming victory and all that – that’s rubbish. This is reality. All the hype and froth is not going to see you through this kind of a crisis when you are confronted with it.

It is a wonderful thing when you have a physical relative who is also a believer in Jesus – thank God for my wife, for my son, for my daughter, for my sister. I thank God for these people who are physically related to me, who will also be with me forever in eternity. It’s wonderful, but then there are the others: the ones whom I love no less, and whom Jesus loves no less. My wife’s parents are Holocaust survivors and ex-Refuseniks. My children witness to their grandparents; they went through so much with so-called Christians telling the Gestapo where they were hiding and having a grandfather machine-gunned in the street – terrible, terrible things. What could be worse? Only one thing: if they did not get saved at the end of it all. There is nothing worse than that.

Let’s face the facts for what they are: we all have unsaved loved ones. People we love and care about deeply – may God in His mercy save every one of them, but the fact is that the likelihood is that some of them will not be saved.  God is willing; I only wish that they were. Moreover, it is nothing but God’s grace that makes me any different.

The Two Messengers

Let us continue in verse 15:

“And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor gathered around and struck Absalom, and killed him.”

It is interesting that the basic contingent of Roman legionnaires was ten men. I think it probable that it was one of these basic contingents of ten who escorted Jesus to the Cross and there crucified Him.

“Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the people.”

The entire north of Israel went out against David with Absalom.

“And they took Absalom and cast him into a deep pit in the forest; and erected over him a very great heap of stones, and all Israel fled, each to his tent.”

Their hero came to nothing; a horrible story.

“Now Absalom had in his lifetime taken and set up for himself a pillar, which is in the Kings’ Valley, for he said, ‘I have no son to preserve my name.’ So he named the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day. Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, ‘Please let me run and bring the king news, that the Lord has freed him from the hand of his enemies!’ But Joab said, ‘You are not the man to carry news this day, but you shall carry news another day. However, you shall carry no news today, because the king’s son is dead.’ Then Joab said to the Cushite,”

– a “Cushite” in Hebrew is a person of black skin, basically an Ethiopian –

“’Go, tell the king what you have seen.’ So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran.”

The first non-Jew, it is worth noting, was a Cushite – an Ethiopian. The first person to embrace the Christian faith was a black man.

“Now Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said once more to Joab, ‘But whatever happens, please, let me also run after the Cushite!’ And Joab said, ‘Why would you run, my son, since you will have no reward for going?’ ‘But whatever happens,’ he said, ‘I will run!’ So he said to him, ‘Run.’ Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and passed up the Cushite.”

Boy, he must have had one good pair of trainers to outrun a soul brother! They win all the medals at the Olympics.

“Now David was sitting between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate of the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running by himself. And the watchman called and told the king, and the king said, ‘If he is by himself, there is good news in his mouth!’ And he came nearer and nearer.”

The term in Hebrew for “good news” is “bissorah”; its Greek equivalent is “evangelion”. What does it mean? It means “gospel”. “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings bissorah – the gospel of peace.” (Is 52:7)

“Then the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, ‘Behold, another man running by himself!’ And the king said, ‘This man also is bringing bissorah – good news.’ And the watchman said, ‘I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok.’ And the king said, ‘This is a good man, and he comes with good news.’ And Ahimaaz called and said to the king, ‘All is well!’ and he prostrated himself before the king, with his face to the ground, and he said, ‘Blessed is the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hands against my lord the King!’ And the king said, ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’ And Ahimaaz answered, ‘When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was.’ Then the king said, ‘Turn aside and stand here,’ so he turned aside and stood still.”

Ahimaaz knew very well what had happened, but he only wanted to give the good news. He did not want to bring the bad news, only the good. However: if you do not know the bad news, you won’t know how good the good news is. We have a tape on the Law; on it we explain that unless you know you are condemned, you cannot understand what good news the Gospel really is. What makes the good news so good? The bad news.

Grace: Cheap or Priceless?

“You know, there’s a cure for your ailment!”

“Oh, I didn’t know I was sick.”

“Well, here’s the x-ray of your chest; there’s the bad news that makes the good news so good.”

We live in an age when what is being preached most of the time is cheap grace. The Bible says, “Buy without price,” because it is free to us. However, that does not mean it is free altogether: it cost God everything when He gave His only Son. There is no price, but it will cost us our lives in this world, and it cost God His Son’s life.

“Just put your hand up and accept Jesus . . .” “God loves you . . .” “The Lord is here tonight to bless you . . .” “The four spiritual laws . . .” “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life . . .” Did Peter ever preach this way? It’s no wonder Bill Bright has signed up with the Roman Church, taking Campus Crusade down the tubes. “God loves you and wants to bless you; put your hand up and accept Jesus into your heart”. Is that not what we have normally heard over the past twenty, thirty years? Look at the book of Acts – did Peter preach that way? No – it was “Save yourself from this accursed generation!” Read Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, D.L. Moody, George Whitefield – the people whom God used to bring revival to Britain. Did they preach that way? No! Today, however, it’s all about positive thinking and pop psychology. We want a positive image, so we have everything from smoke machines to strobe lights to rock bands in order to look just like the world. This is cheap grace.

Love and Justice

Look at the Charismatic “renewal” – what was it? “Oh, the love of Jesus, the love of God, the love of Christ”. Unless you understand the justice of Jesus you cannot understand just how much love it actually took for Him to go to that Cross for us. God became a man to take the rap for what I did - ?!!? Wow. But today we have churches that want a positive thrust that reject justice and God’s wrath as being too negative.

Any number of people will run with the good news – “God loves you!” “There’s victory, there’s blessing, there’s salvation!” – no problem. But my son, my mother, my father are dead without Christ? I don’t want to tell people that. This is what you get very often in Jewish evangelism. Often a Jewish person will say something like this: “My grandfather was a holy Jewish man, a rabbi – and when you Christians arrested him and put him into an oven in the name of Jesus Christ, do you know what he was saying in Auschwitz as he died in the name of Christianity? “Sh’ma Yisra’el Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad” – those were his last words and you want to tell me that because he would not accept this Christ in whose name he was murdered he is now in Hell?” It sounds difficult, does it not?

Yes, we must tell them that about their Jewish grandfather, but we must also say it about our Polish, Italian, or Irish grandfathers, or anyone who died rejecting Jesus Christ. A good response to this protest from a Jew is this: “There is only one God – the God of the Jews; there is only one salvation – the Messiah of the Jews. Gentiles must accept your God and your Messiah; if you reject your own God and your own Messiah, you must face the consequences just as they must.”

The First Messenger: No Reward

But we only want to give people the good news; no one wants to bear ill news. But what happens to those who only want to give the good news? What does it say? Verse 22:

“’You will have no reward’”.

In other words, why bother? The wise man delivers souls. (Prov 11:30) Those who turn many to righteousness, Scripture tells us, will flicker in eternity with glory. (Dan 12:3) This does not include cheap grace, however. If you are preaching cheap grace, you are preaching no grace. They will have no reward no matter how many altar calls or celebration praise meetings they have. Those who preach such a message will have no reward. Thank God by His grace He saved me. Why, I have no idea, and I do not expect I will ever know, at least on this side of eternity. I had friends who were less crazy than I was who are dead without Christ. Why me instead of them? I don’t know. I do know that it has nothing to do with me; whatever the answer is, it will not be found in me. But the good news is that I am saved. The bad news is that so many people whom I love and care about are not.

The Second Messenger

Along comes the black man – he’s a lot more honest, straightforward, and down-to-earth. He does not play games or mince words or try to finagle his way out of giving the bad news along with the good. Verse 31:

“Behold, the Cushite arrived, and the Cushite said, ‘Let my lord the king receive good news, for the Lord has freed you this day from the hand of all those who rose up against you.’ And the king said to the Cushite, ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’ And the Cushite answered, ‘Let the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be as that young man.’ And the king was deeply moved, and he went up to the chamber over the gate and he wept. And thus he said as he walked: ‘Oh, my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!’”

In the Hebrew text David’s words are much more emotive: “Oi, Avshalom, beni beni Avshalom, beni!” “’Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’”

King David/King Jesus

“I wish it was me hanging on that tree, who was pierced through, instead of you, my son.” We must understand once more the typology here: King David could only wish that he could have hung on the cross and been pierced through in place of someone he loved; but praise God, Jesus the Son of David could actually do that. What King David could not do, King Jesus did. When King Jesus hung on that tree and was pierced through, He was pierced through for me and He was pierced through for you, if you are saved. If you are not saved, you need to get saved.

This illustrates the difference between the two covenants of Law and Grace. The Law could point us to our need for salvation, but it could not step in and save us; only the Messiah could save us. What the Law could not do, the Messiah did. What the first Davidic king could not do – die in the place of those he loved – the second Davidic king, Jesus, actually did.

In Deep Mourning

“Then it was told to Joab, ‘Behold, the king is weeping, and he mourns for Absalom.’”

David mourned as so many of us have mourned: My son died in sin, he is dead in rebellion, unsaved. “Yeah, but he broke your heart,: the reply comes. “He went astray; you brought him up in the truth, and he knew God’s ways from the earliest days of his youth and he rebelled against God as well as against you, and he became a reprobate!” Yes, but he is still my son. “But he tried to kill you!” He is still my little boy; that’s my little boy in that tree. David did not love him any less.

This is no day of victory; it is one of mourning. Oh, I will give you the good news, but I will also give you the bad news.

“So the people went by stealth into the city that day, as people who are humiliated steal away when they flee in battle.”

In other words, they had won, but they behaved as if they had lost. Oh, thank God I have been saved and thank God for the victory in Jesus that He gives us! That’s the good news. I praise God and thank Him for my salvation every day, but I also mourn the death of those whom I love who did not gain the victory, who did not gain salvation.

“And the king covered his face, and he cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Absalom, my son! My son, my son Absalom!

Oi, Avshalom, beni! Beni, beni, Avshalom, beni!

Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, ‘Today you have covered with disgrace the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your concubines, by loving those who hate you and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you, for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today you would be well pleased.’”

There is a truth in that: at least when saved people die they do not go to Hell. I would always rather see saved people die than unsaved people die. That is the sentiment: it is right, yet wrong, wrong, yet right. It’s ambiguous, is it not? There is a tension.

But Joab continues:

“’Now, therefore, arise; go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, surely not a man will pass the night with you, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.’ So the king arose and sat down in the gate, and when they told all the people, saying, ‘Behold, the king is sitting in the gate,’ all the people came before the king.”

Once again, it is a wonderful thing when your loved ones and mine are saved. However, the fact is that there are people I have never known who will read this, some of you whose faces I have never seen who, if you are born again and you love Jesus, I am closer to in the eternal sense than I am to my own mother. Although I am closer to her in the physical and emotional sense, I am closer to you in the ultimate sense. The good news, and the bad news.

Biblical Hatred

The Gospel uses the Greek word “miso”, and I suppose that Jesus might have used the Hebrew-Aramaic word “sina”: If you don’t hate your parents, and even your own life in this world, you are not worthy of the Lord. (Luke 14:26) The word in Greek here is what our word “misogyny” is derived from; it is a strong word meaning “hate”. This does not simply mean that you are using the term “hate” as relative to your love for God because your love for God is so great as to make your love for all else seem like hate. That is some of the explanation, yet not all of it. The word is indeed “hate”. The key here is “life in this world”. I love my mother; but because I love her, I hate her life in this world. My wife’s parents are nice Jewish people whom I love; but I hate their lives in this world. I even hate my own natural life in this world. You cannot love people who have cancer if you do not hate cancer. In the same way, you cannot love people who are on their way to Hell because of sin if you do not hate the sin.

There is nothing but the grace of God that gives us a position any different or any better. There is only one verse in the Bible that I disagree with, and that is where Paul claims to be the chief of sinners; he’s muscling in on my racket there.

Good News and Bad News

Let us continue: the good news and the bad news. Romans 1:16: 

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes – to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

Is that not good news? The gospel is the power of salvation to everyone – Jews and non-Jews alike. Since my family is a mixture, I get it both ways. That is the good news; now let’s look at the bad news: Romans 2:9 

“There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

Since the Gospel is available to the Jew first because of covenant, the consequences of rejecting it are upon them first also. Deuteronomy 18 states that God would raise up a prophet like Moses and put His words in His mouth, and whoever did not listen, God would require it of him. In John 5 Jesus said that if the Jews had believed Moses, they would believe Him also. As I have said many times: the issue is not that Jews reject Jesus; that is not their problem. It is the result and the consequence of their problem. Their problem is that they reject Moses and the Torah.

Yet the fact remains that there is bad news as well as good. God loves Israel, Jesus loves Israel – that is true. But they are under the curse of the Law – Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28. Why the Holocaust? Why the Inquisition? Why the Pogroms? Because of the Curse of the Law – either Yeshua takes the curse and becomes the curse on the tree or they are still under it.

My wife will tell you that it was a tragedy when the pogromists pulled the trigger and killed her grandfather in Romania, but she will tell you that it was an even bigger tragedy that he did not know Yeshua as his Messiah when they did it. The good news? Yes, salvation is for the Jew first, and God loves Israel. The bad news? The consequences for rejecting Him are also on the Jew first, says Rabbi Shaul of Tarsus under inspiration of God in His Word.

Christian Anti-Semitism in Its Worst Form

It is something like this: There is salvation in no other name under heaven save Jesus. (Acts 4:12) I have stood and stood and stood against anti-Semitism perpetrated in the name of Christianity. I did a video in Northern Ireland against British Israelism. I knew what that was and how ludicrous it was, but I had no idea how anti-Semitic in character it is. When Elim began teaching that Jesus Christ had no Jewish blood I hit the roof and have been banned from Elim ever since. I am someone who has stood time and time again at the expense of my own ministry and livelihood against anti-Semitism in the church. But the worst form of anti-Semitism is to tell a Jew the good news without the bad.

Jewish rejection of Jesus precedes Christian anti-Semitism. In the book of Acts, the Jewish establishment was persecuting Messianic Jews before any Christian ever persecuted a Jew. Jews were persecuting Jewish believers before there was any Christian anti-Semitism. In the 2nd Century, during the time of Justin Martyr, the rabbis were even going so far as to incite the Roman authorities against Gentile believers in Jesus.

I received a tape from Israel along with a number of phone calls and letters which were unbelievable. I and all those who heard it with me were shocked – this tape says that Jews who died in the Holocaust do not go to Hell even though they rejected Jesus. Rather, because God loves them and they were persecuted, they went to Heaven without Jesus. The Bible says, however, that there is salvation in no other name. 9Acts 4:12) I don’t like to think of Jews being in Hell – I don’t like to think of anybody being in Hell. But the fact remains.

This tape goes on to say that the Bible does not mean now what it meant when it was originally written. So although Paul says that their blood will be required of your hands if you do not preach the Gospel to the Jews, because of anti-Semitism that is no longer true. It was true only for the 1st Century. Because of the anti-Semitism that has occurred since then, this tape claims, we no longer have the right to preach the Gospel to the Jews.

Witness vs. Vision

This tape then goes on to say that although many Jews are being saved, they are not being saved through the witness of Christians – we should not be preaching or witnessing to them. I am expected to believe that Jews for Jesus and Helen Shapiro and CWI and OM are all wrong. This tape claims that the vast numbers of Jews that have been saved were saved because Jesus appeared to them personally or because they had a vision. I have been an evangelist to the Jews for over twenty years. By the grace of God, I have led dozens of Jews to Christ in many countries. I have heard or read the testimonies of hundreds of Jewish believers. I know exactly one – a guy in New York whose name is Jay Edelstein – who was saved because of a personal appearance of Jesus.

So the odd one did have a vision, but this vision was in collaboration or in connection with people bearing witness of the truth to him. Most Jews were saved in the way that Helen Shapiro or Stan Telchin were saved. Moriel sells four books of testimonies of Jewish believers in Jesus. According to what is on this tape, most of those people had to have been saved because they had a vision of Jesus. But not one of those testimonies actually claimed a personal apparition of Jesus to the people involved.

Feminist theologians and women pastors are among those who want to say that the Bible does not mean now what it meant then, along with homosexuals who are trying to justify the gay clergy. Liberals and heretics are the ones claiming that the Bible no longer means what it did when it was written. The idea that we should not witness to Jews, but rather just pray to the Lord to save them by granting them a vision, is a lie.

The good news and the bad news. The bad news is that anybody who does not accept Jesus is damned to eternal judgment; the good news is, many people – including many Jews – are hearing the good news with the bad news, repenting, and accepting Jesus as their Messiah. I will tell you all the news – the good and the bad.

The king’s son is dead; my wife’s grandfather was shot dead by the Nazis; her family perished in the Holocaust. Yet I can show you Holocaust survivors who accept Jesus and who have been saved – why? Not because true Christians were afraid or ashamed to witness to them because of what false Christians did in the name of Christ, but because true Christians loved them enough to tell them that those persecutors were not Christians.

The Danger of Seeking Solitude

Let us continue: “’Something worse will befall you,’” the king is told. “If you stay up here and mourn continually by yourself, something worse will befall you.” There is one thing that is worse than the death of an unsaved loved one – only one thing. What is it? It is getting into a closet to suffer by yourself. What does the Lord say in this situation? Let’s look at Matthew 12: 46-48 

“While He was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and His brothers were standing outside seeking to speak to Him. And someone said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.’ But He answered the one who was telling Him this, and said, ‘Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?’ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, ‘Behold My mother, behold My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.’”

I hope that my mother comes to the Lord. I hope my brother gets saved and I hope that my wife’s parents accept Jesus. I hope your parents and unsaved husband and loved ones get saved. But if they don’t, you and I will find ourselves in the situation in which David was. Jesus spoke directly of many falling away and betraying one another, did He not? (Math 24:10) He said that in the Last Days that would happen within families. I can promise you this: It will hurt now, and that pain is something that you and I must live with. But there will be a time when it will not hurt anymore; as impossible as it is for us to fathom’ the Lord can take that pain and loss away. God can do anything.

Revelation 21:4:

“He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away.”

If you have recently lost a loved one who was unsaved, you have my condolences; a time will come when it will no longer hurt.

Conclusion

In the meantime, there is good news and there is bad news. We know the bad news, but this is the good news. There is something I must face as I think of my sick mother. There is something you have to face as you think of your unsaved aging parents, or your unsaved husband, or your unsaved wife: what is the way to cope with this? What did Jesus say? All I can say is what He said: You are my mother, you are my sister, my brother; he or she who does the will of my Father. (Math 12:48-50) You are not alone in what you are going through.

Let us take a few minutes to pray for the salvation of our unsaved loved ones – there is nothing more important. 

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