Apples of Gold Jan/Feb 2025
Not long ago, many people were killed in a hotel in Taba, Egypt. [Editor’s Note: Zvi was referring to an October 7, 2004, terrorist attack, in which a truck plowed into the lobby of the Taba Hilton and exploded, killing 34, including 12 Israelis, and wounding 159 others. Ten floors of the hotel collapsed.] But who was condemned? Israel, of course, as Egypt’s prime minister said on TV.
This hatred is not surprising. Where there is no faith in the Lord, there is no love.
From time to time, I enjoy long discussions with my Arab neighbors. They often speak to me hatefully. But we who believe in the Lord cannot respond with hate and expect them to believe in the Lord. Instead, “a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient” (2 Tim. 2:24). Though they try to make me nervous, I remember Jesus’ command: “Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Mt. 5:44).
Recently, four of my neighbors spoke to me angrily; but I responded gently, with friendliness. They were surprised and thought I was mentally ill.
They asked me questions about myself because they knew I was not aggressive and full of hate, as they were. They wanted to know why I did not shout, as they did.
“Hate and faith cannot be together,” I answered. “And there must not be hate in those who believe in the Lord. We must love, and with love we find peace. It is written, ‘Pursue peace with all people’” (Heb. 12:14).
“In which god do you believe?” one man asked me.
“There are no gods but the one mighty God,” I answered. “I believe in Him.”
“Where is this written?” he asked.
I recited verses from Deuteronomy 6: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (v. 4), and “fear the LORD your God and serve Him” (v. 13). Because of their hatred of Jewish people, these men had no patience.
“You must be speaking of your Jewish God,” one said.
One of their sheikhs came, and one man said to him, “Do you hear this man? He says there is only one God, the Jewish God.”
“Is this what you said?” the sheikh asked me.
“Yes,” I said, “there is only one God. He is full of love and mercy and wants everyone to come to Him. To Him, it does not matter what nationality you are. It is written, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’” (Jn. 3:16).
“Stop!” the sheikh shouted. “You speak about the Christian God.”
I showed him my Bible and said, “This Book was written by the Holy Spirit of God. This is the full Word of God. I am not telling you children’s stories.”
As the ultra-Orthodox Jews do, he asked me where the Bible speaks of the Christian God.
“Have you heard about Jesus Christ?” I asked him.
“Yes, even more than you,” he answered, “because I was born in Bethlehem. Now where in the Bible is the Christian God?”
I opened my Bible and read Micah 5:2: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
He read the verse and asked me, “How did you find this?”
“Because I have believed what is written in the Bible,” I said. “If you would like, I will show you where Jesus is found throughout the Bible.”
The sheikh and the other men were interested, so I showed them Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
The sheikh was surprised to read this verse. He told me when he was a child, his neighbors were Christians who took him to church many times. He soon became more friendly toward me, which surprised the other men.
We spent a nice time talking together. I pray these men will place their faith in Jesus.
From The Friends of Israel archives
