Hebrew Word Study: ISRAEL: A BLESSING TO THE WORLD

The Lord told Abraham that he would be a great nation and a blessing to all mankind (Gen. 12:2). The main reason of course is that he would bring forth salvation through the Messiah. But in the secular way, Israel has also been a blessing to all the peoples of the earth, though few really know or understand this. Some incredible facts: The Jews created the cell phone working with Motorola in Israel. The AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel. The Pentium mocroprocessor was most likely made in Israel. Israel has the highest percentage of home computers per capita in the world. Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds, behind the U.S. Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security systems. Twenty-four percent of Israel's work force holds university degrees ranking third in the industrialized world. Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the work force. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation on earth. The Weizmann Institute of Science is one of the most important research centers on the globe. Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video cameras the size of a small pill. An Israel company was the first to develop and install a large scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant. Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined. Israel also gives more for charity, per capita, to the backward nations of the earth. (From the magazine "Maoz Israel," December 2010) Yet, Israel's enemies want to drive her into the sea! Besides bringing to us the Messiah, what would the world do without Israel? I saw much of her blessings myself from twenty-three trips to Israel, even being there and under fire during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Ma'oz in Hebew means "the strong mountain," the "Place of Refuge." God is Israel's Ma'oz as given in Jeremiah 16:19, and He is "The defense of the Psalmist's life" (Psa. 27:1). Jeremiah 16:19 is a Messianic kingdom passage and reads: "O Lord, my strength and my STRONGHOLD (Ma'oz), and my refuge in the day of distress (the Tribulation), to You the nations will come (at the end of the Tribulation) from the ends of the earth ..." The Rabbis say about this verse: "This Messianic vision is a distinguished feature of Biblical teaching. All the nations will acknowledge the One True God!" --Dr. Mal Couch (12/10)