This Article: (13 Pages)
13) December
4 December On this Day– Link to commentary, Links to events below
4 December 2010: Fires in Mt Carmel, Israel
5 December On this Day– Link to commentary, Links to events below
5 December 2010: Fires continue Mt Carmel, Israel
11 December On this Day– Link to commentary, Links to events below
11 December 1917: Allenby enters Jerusalem
16 December On this day- Commentary here
28 December On this day- Commentary here, Links to events below
28 December 1908: Messina Earthquake
28 December 1989: Earthquakes in diverse Places
4 December 2010: Fires in Mt Carmel Israel
This event was unprecedented as in a time normally of winter rain, after the nation praying for rain, there was instead the worst fires Israel had experienced with over 40 emergency services rescuers killed, and at least two kibbutz damaged, and many made homeless. One might expect that there was purpose in the lack of rain and the fire, though humans must be responsible for their actions, as certainly the 40 killed were not more wicked than others. This at a time when Israel's leadership was still thinking of an exchange 'deal' with the USA for a second freeze to stop building on the mountains of Israel, and while peace talks were still by some considered 'in progress'.
Job 5 Eliphaz the Temanite's words speak to the situation,
Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: (Job 5:6-10)
Though many in Israel had prayed and fasted for rain, trouble came, and there was no water sent to the fields. Why? “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty”: (Job 5:17)
Though Arabs sought to do evil, evil might not come of it, as “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.” (Job 5:13-14).
Micah 1 Eliphaz was speaking of the sparks of fire and trial, but Micah goes further,
For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. (Mic 1:3-4)
The reason for the fire is idolatry, “the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?” (Micah 1:5)
all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot. (Mic 1:7)
Israel hired planes of all nations, even its enemies, to fight the fire. Like Job the Rabbi sought good by prayer and fasting,
For the inhabitant of Maroth (Bitter) waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. (Mic 1:12)
Hebrews 11 speaks of great faith “the evidence of things not seen”.. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” (Heb 11:1-4) which indicates that death is no barrier to the good that a person might achieve. The issue of the land is raised,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. (Heb 11:13-14)
A fire reminds all on earth that nothing will remain, it is not this land, even though it is promised all are pilgrims in it, waiting to inherit the city prepared of God, in the same land they walked in – but “better”. The example of the faithful,
Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. (Heb 11:34)
5 December 2010: Fires continue in Mt Carmel Israel
Job 6|7 Job speaks of a time of trouble,
“Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.” (Job 6:2-4)
There was a general call to pray for rain, and the end of the fire, “Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!” (Job 6:8) Isarel's leaders spoke of their being no shame in seeking help, but it was written, “Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?” (Job 6:13). It was known also that the task was made worse by Arabs lighting fires,
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; (Job 6:15)
There seems some wisdom in the thought that no other nation would be tried such as this,
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? (Job 7:17-18)
Micah 2: speaks against an evil which might be as present in Israel as elsewhere,
Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. (Mic 2:1-2)
O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. (Mic 2:7-9)
It may be that the evil of fire is sent as a test, as some Jews seek peace where there is none, but in so doing they cast women from their pleasant houses. Despite this there is a declaration which seems to suit the moment where it is not sure that Israel will be gathered,
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;.. they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. (Mic 2:12)
Hebrews 12:We are reminded that Israel was firs the firstborn son of God and ponder, that likewise, “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (Heb 12:7). And the most pertinent point, in understanding why the fire was sent to Israel might be,
Lest there be any profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,(Heb 12:16-18)
How should the God of Israel listen to Israel's prayer for rain when they might give their birthright inheritance away of building on the mountains for 'one morsel of meat' a few American planes. As
Hebrews 12 on this day the New Testament reminds us “For our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12:29). To remember that we might not be greater as when faced with the fire of the presence of God “so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake” (Heb 12:21).
As indicates as work of Providence, this fire is complex and it will work on many levels all at once. It will seem to make Israel seem weak and despised by Arab enemies, who seek courage to attack. It will reduce the fuel load and make it less dangerous when they do attack (as some Arabs with enmity in their heart helped set further fires, they reduce 'their sides' own effectiveness). It will prepare a nation, that was unprepared. It will humble Israel's leaders, who thought to stop people building on the mountains of Israel, and who ironically sent some displaced by the fire to Samaria. And lastly it remind all of their mortality, and that the land promised to Abraham was to be possessed when Abraham walked alive never to die again- on the mountains of Israel.
Events in nature, as they often do, might portend the political 'fire' of war on the mountains of Isarel, of an intensity which won't be without people fleeing or without loss.to top
11 December 1917: British and allies fomally enter Jerusalem
On the 9th the Commonwealth Troops captured Jerusalem.
Job 11“But oh that God would speak..that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom.. Canst thou by searching find out God?”(5-7) “Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:”(16) There is connection to this thought of seeking wisdom, and the fogetting of misery, as those who were starving in Jerusalem were able to do, in Micah, where it speaks of "in that day"
Micah 7“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.”(8) “In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. ... According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.” (11-16) “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.“(20) For they knew the Balfour declaration.
James 3/4 “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city..Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life?.. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. “(13-15)
Allenby and those he led did not go into the city on the morrow but at noon on the 11 December, and they went in the spirit of humility
Job 13 “Shall not his [God's] excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?“(11).
Nahum 3 “And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?“(7) The Ninevite/Assyrian becomes like as the Ottoman who might well be described as locusts, and are so described in Revelation, “Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? (17-19)“ There was no healing after the time of the defeat of Jerusalem, as already at that time there was considerable confusion in the Ottoman Turkish forces, and they were soon to be further demoralised, devastated and scattered.
I Peter 1 “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.“ (12). “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever“(25). Which reminded the servants that the events of that day if of interest to themselves, were also of interest to the Angels.to top
28 December 1908: Messina Earthquake
An earthquake and tsunami in Sicily affecting Reggio Calabria in Italy made world headlines
JOB 38“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;“ (1-6)
Zechariah 13,14“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley... like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah:...And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:“ (4-6)
Revelation 15,16 “And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:“ (5).“ Seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. .. the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God... And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.“(17-20).
Many people did not return some emigrating. But this date marked the beginning of an era of upheaval and death such as the world had not seen before in that from October 6, 1908 the Bosnian crisis had begun, which would lead to WW1. WW1 was truly an earthquake effecting dramatic changes.to top
28 December 1989: Earthquakes in diverse Places
On a day where the charts had all three readings with references to era changing quakes, and events on that day in 1908 (see above) marking an year of era change. To have another unexpected quake on this day is interesting. 1989 began with earthquakes in Quebec, and another in Quebec's Ungava Peninsula lifted lakes, creating a new lake and 8.5 km of surface faulting on the 25th December 1989. Three days later on the 28th there was the Newcastle, Australia, earthquake. Neither are seismically active places, none could doubt these were quakes to note,
Quakes in diverse places where it is said “it is done“ begs the question what was it that was done? And already there was an answer as at that on the 9th Novmeber the Berlin wall had fallen and we could see already that Germany might re-unite.to top
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