Day 312 Swords of Iron – “Rockets of Terror”

Chaim starts by explaining that rockets have long been part of the strategy the Enemy uses to try and destroy Israel. It began way back in 1970, during the War of Attrition along the Suez Canal.

This continued with various Palestinian factions firing Katyusha rockets into Israel from Lebanon in the 1980s, and through the 1990s. Shortly after Israel evacuated the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip in 2005 Palestinian factions there started firing rockets into Israel. In 2006 there was the Second Lebanon War which saw Hezbollah fire thousands of rockets into Israel. In 2008 there was another war with the Hamas in Gaza, called Operation Cast Lead. This was followed by Operation Protective Edge in 2012 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2014.

Many of the weapons fired at Israel are cheap and crude, but some are very sophisticated and powerful. All of them are dangerous.

Chaim says that Israel has been dealing with this phenomenon for a very long time.

He quotes some details from the battle between David and Goliath that are recorded in I Samuel 17:7; Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

These weapons were made out of Bronze, but in the next few decades, Israel’s enemies would develop weapons made out of Iron, which was much stronger and more dangerous.

This is found in Judges 4:3; And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

Time went on and the weapons that Israel’s enemies had got more and more sophisticated and deadly, while Israel struggled to keep up.

But Chaim says that this process won’t go on forever, and there will come a time when Israel will triumph over her enemies and have a lasting peace. In this context he quotes Jeremiah 30:3; For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ”

Chaim quotes other prophetic passages including Ezekiel 37, Amos 9 and Zechariah 8 to remind his viewers of these promises. He concludes by saying that these are the promises that are sustaining him during this difficult time.

He also mentions the Druze people who he says number over 200,000 in Lebanon and they might be a key to preventing a war between Israel and Hezbollah. So Chaim asks us to all be in prayer for these people and the hope that we can all live together peacefully in this Promised Land.