The recent elections in Israel have left the country without clear leadership, which is a troubling difficulty at a time of crisis and war. The words of the song you just heard, are from Israeli musician Yosef Karduner. The song is a prayer to send true leadership. The words you heard mean: "Send us a true leader. Send us a merciful leader. Send us a faithful shepherd who is able to lead us with mercy, like Moses our teacher/master.”
The result of the election is that the government is even more divided between different factions and parties than previously. Some will do everything to bring down Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister. The ultra Orthodox or Haredi parities, are religious parties, who represent a segment of the population who typically don’t serve in the army, but spend their time in religious study. They are at the center of a national controversy, which has been a defining point in the election. There are those who believe they should be forced to be drafted into the army, particularly after the country has been at war for over 3 years. This has been a huge strain on reserve soldiers, who have to leave families, jobs and businesses to serve. Then there are the Israeli Arab parties, another segment of the population who don’t serve in the army, who gained more seats than they ever have before, potentially through corrupt foreign money. This has produced another controversy in the country on how to handle this. Should another election be called? A different religious grouping are the religious Zionist parties, who support building communities in Judea and Samaria, which many foreign powers and the mainstream media, call the West Bank. Some don’t want them in the government, because they view them as extreme and don’t share their ideology which is largely rejected by the outside world.
No political party is even close to being able to form a government on their own, so they need to build a coalition of parties. The center left block that has been bent on removing Netanyahu from power, has been given the first chance to present a government. In order to build a government they will have to swallow their pride and enter a coalition with Netanyahu in a “national unity government” — which is very unlikely. Or they will have to enter into an agreement with the Ultra Orthodox parities, whom they have railed against for the last several years. Their only other option is a minority government supported by the Arab parties from the outside. The problem here is that some of those elected in the center left Zionist block, have lost close family members on October 7th and the Arab parties refuse to call Hamas a terror organization! Of course this group of center left parties don’t agree among themselves. If nothing can be done, Netanyahu may be given the chance to form a government, or it will be back to a new election.
What a mess and mixup. A democracy with lots of options, parties and factions. The best option is to pray for true leadership, merciful leadership, a faithful shepherd to lead the nation in mercy.
Ezekiel 37 contains the famous prophecy of the valley of dry bones. We are told in verses 11 through 14 the interpretation of the vision. The bones represent “the whole house of Israel.” The graves represent the foreign countries in which the bones are scattered. Colossians 2:19 talks about the ecclesial body. Christ is the head of the body and the whole body is knit together with joints and bands. The bands or sinews that hold the ecclesia together are the beliefs of the gospel, the truth which believers hold in common. In Ezekiel, as a result of the first prophesying, the bones are knit together with sinews. We can ask what it is that hold a nation together. Eliezer Ben Yehudah the central figure in the reviving of the Hebrew language famously said, “There are two things without which the Jews will not be a nation: their land and their language.” A land and language are sinews that hold a nation together. There is a missing component here however. When Israel came out of Egypt and arrived at Sinai, they were made into a nation by means of the national covenant mediated by Moses. This is the missing sinew, which is why the nation is still so disjointed today. However, this missing national component is largely the spirit, or wind, the Hebrew word “ruach” used many times in this section in Ezekiel. This is spiritual life or breath, that comes into the nation in the second prophesying.
The next section in Ezekiel 37 is the prophecy of the two sticks. One stick represents Judah and one represents Israel. The miracle in this sign, is that the two sticks become one in the hand of the prophet. Israel becomes united under one ruler. Verse 24 and 25 tell us that this ruler is David My servant, who is to be king forever — their prince forever. This is representative of the Messiah. One nation. One king. How does this happen? By means of the new covenant. Verse 26 says, “I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them.” This covenant makes the nation one and also cleanses them. The result: “…so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.”
Whatever comes out of the elections, the current results forcibly demonstrate the desperate need for the nation to have true leadership. For the uniting new covenant, the spirit to be breathed into the national body. For the nation to be united in the hand of the true shepherd. One king. One nation. United under God.
"Send us a true leader. Send us a merciful leader. Send us a faithful shepherd who is able to lead us with mercy, like Moses our teacher.”
This has been David Billington with you for Bible in the News. Join us again next week God willing at www.bibleinthenews.com. Thanks for listening!
