Quite a few sources are linking references to the Bible to the recent exposure of the computer 'worm' or 'virus' Stuxnet in June and its particular effect recently on systems in Iran, where on the 1st of October 2010 it is reported the damage is so great the Iranian president is vowing revenge on the US and Israel (Debkafile) . Several sources note that analysts have found a file path name with “myrtus” and “guava” both references to the myrtle tree (Glick, Aruntz Sheva.)
Whether the computer programmers intended it or not, the work of the 'worm' has been associated with the Myrtle. Analysts, including German Ralph Langner who is making a name for dissecting the program, thinks the project was called “myrtus” and that it has Biblical connections, as
“Esther was also known as Hadassah, a name which means “myrtle” in Hebrew. Guavas are in the myrtle family of fruit.” (Aruntz Sheva.)
According to Wikipedia Guava is in the Myrtle family and has the Latin genus name Psidium meaning 'Pomegranate' which in Hebrew is 'Rimmon' meaning to 'lift up' or exalt. Others have pointed out that myrtle was one of the plants of Succot and it was that time of year that the program became most destructive in Iran (Debkafile) .
Myrtus, the myrtle tree, is a powerful label that argues for some Providence beyond the thought of mere humans. The Hebrew for Myrtle is 'Hadas' and is mentioned exactly 7 times in the Bible.
Hadassah: Myrtle
One of the seven is in the name 'Hadassah'. Hadassah, was a hidden person of Providence.
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king's house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women. Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it. (Esther 2:7-10)
Hadassah was hidden, to be revealed to deliver her people just before the time of Purim (in 2010 Purim was February 28, the program had a build component February 3. 2010. Purim 2011 is March 20).
Succot Myrtle
The first reference to Myrtle in the Bible is in Nehemiah, who led Jews to return to build the wall of Jerusalem from Shushan (Susa) in Persia in the time of Artaxerxes. Once in the land,
they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. (Nehemiah 8:14-15)
It then seems no accident then that this 'malware' acted during the feast of Succot in 2010. The olive is a tree associated with Israel. the 'pine' in Hebrew requires that it be a tree of 'oil'. The Myrtle is also a tree of oil, and is used like Eucalyptus oil as a medicant.
The leaves exemanate an aromatic and refreshing smell somewhat reminiscent to myrrh or eucalypt; the taste is very intensive, quite disagreeable and strongly bitter. http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Myrt_com.html
It is both useful and bitter to the taste. In just such a way as the dwelling in booths and the trials of the wilderness prepared the people for inheriting the land.
Thou worm Jacob
But there is more than this Succot connection. The depth indicates a scope that it is unlikely a human could have seen before the event. The second reference to myrtle is in Isaiah. In Isaiah it speaks of a worm, just like the computer 'malware' called a 'worm' (Stuxnet:wikipedia) it calls Jacob a 'worm',
For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob,
and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shall rejoice in the LORD, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. (Isaiah 41:13-20).
At this time of Succot it is the hills of Judea and Samaria (the mountains of Israel) which are under dispute. It is the wilderness of Judea where the Jews dwell in 'booths' that is in dispute internationally, yet Yahweh has declared that he will feed the children of Israel there,
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel.. (Ezekiel 34:11-13)
And there they will be planted, and shoot forth.
Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills..Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen: ...ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. (Ezekiel 36:6-8)
The events now, including the opposition of Iran, are to show to all the nations that Yahweh has placed Jews on the mountains of Israel, and there they will, as JNF has always done, plant trees. The Holy One of Israel made the worm (Jacob meaning supplanter, which is what Stuxnet does), gave success to the worm and will do as he has said, that all the nations of the world may know and consider that it could only be the hand of Yahweh
- because it is a miracle.
The next reference is way higher than human thought. It has been declared by Ezekiel that the people of Jacob (Israel) would be 'fed' on the mountains of Israel, Isaiah adds,
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:9-13).
Israel when they were disobedient and rebellious were called 'briers and thorns', (Ezekiel 2:5-6) It is impossible a programmer could have imagined in calling a program 'myrtus' they would refer to Divine work on the mountains of Israel to make the people of Israel turn from a rebellious 'brier' into the beauty of a 'Myrtle tree'!
Myrtle trees, the red horse and the rebuke of nations
The last three references are even more amazing. They occur in one prophecy in the first chapter of Zechariah. Again note the Iranian connection, as Darius though a Mede ruled Persia.
Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? (Zechariah 1:7-12).
The eleventh month Sebat is the month in which is the New Year for trees. This vision was on the 20th. Tu Bishvat the new Year day on which tree planting occurs is kept on the 15th. Even today in Israel the day is a day of national tree planting. Zechariah's vision of the myrtle is about an Angel-man standing under the shade of a myrtle tree. The man under the myrtle tree rides a red horse. The red horse is a sign of war. Whether the earth is at rest or not, the horses that have gone forth are red (the white or those horses of peace are under the myrtle trees). The question shows that Zechariah knew the red horse had to do with the indignation on Jerusalem which had occurred for 70 years. Zechariah wanted to know when there would be mercy on Jerusalem. It is of great interest that we may note that 70 years have passed since the infamous White Paper of 1939 and that we are approaching 70 years from the contention for Jerusalem from 1947/8.
But more than that the Myrtle points not only to Persia but to Jerusalem,
the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. (Zechariah 1:13-17)
At this time, at this very moment over the feast of Succot in 2010 the issue of the heathen “at ease in the isles or coasts” (America) is whether Jews can build in Jerusalem and Zion. If Iran is causing affliction to Israel, they have “helped forward the affliction”. This prophecy associated with the Myrtle tree also speaks of a string line (for making walls) and building and a return of mercy.
No human could look that far. In addition in Zechariah's very next vision there are carpenters sent to cut off four horns. Here we point out that the Quartet on the Middle East are four horns.
Image at the top ''Myrtus communis'' taken on 20 June 2004, on the slopes of Mount Carmel, Israel. By en:User:Iorsh Wikipedia
The king of Babylon was made as a beast for 7 years (times), and was a witness to all generations, that the living may know that the Most High rules in the nations.
If it is remarkable that a stone slated to be thrown by Iran's leader at Israel, was prefigured long ago in the Scripture, be amazed at the reply given to the words hurled at Israel
The events in the Middle East are now coming with such frequency that it seems we are indeed seeing the sands run in what little time there is left. A stone was slated to be thrown by Iran's leader at Israel, but it was prefigured long ago in the Scripture.
