Apples of Gold May/Jun 2023

We live very close to our Arab neighbors, so we see each other almost every day. A few months ago I had a long conversation with some of them.

“We are very powerful,” one of them told me, “and one day all of Jerusalem will belong to the Arabs.”

I spoke with five of them. They felt strong as a group speaking to me. But I showed them Deuteronomy 7:17–18, which tells us not to be afraid of the nations that were larger than ours. In our earlier conversations they never wanted to listen to me when I spoke about the Bible; but over time, they came to see that what was written has been fulfilled.

Still, one of them said to me, “You are nothing. Your people are a tiny group in a small section of land.”

“You say that you are united,” I responded. “But it is written in the Holy Bible, ‘I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; everyone will fight against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom’” (Isa. 19:2).

They challenged me quickly, as they were astonished that these words could be from the Bible. I opened my Bible and showed them where I found this verse to prove that I was not making up stories.

“Have you heard of the book of Psalms?” I asked them.

“Of course,” one said. “It is a good book.”

“You have told me you will take Jerusalem back. But the book of Psalms says something different about Jerusalem.”

I read from Psalms 122:2–3; 137:5–6; and Zechariah 8:4–8 to show them God will never forget Jerusalem and will regather His Chosen People in the city. His Word says these promises are eternal. These men were so sure they would outsmart me, but I read of Jerusalem from Jeremiah 33:9 to them: “Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth.”

“How many times have your people come against us?” I asked them. “You fought against Israel in 1948, ’56, ’67, and ’73. You came as mighty locusts against Israel, which Isaiah 41 calls ‘this poor worm.’ Yet you lost! Not because we were strong, but because the Lord fought for us, as it is written in Exodus 14:14. Even now you come against us, but God does not change. His Word is eternal, and He will not fail us.”

“You can only speak this way because you have read about these wars in books,” one told me.

“I did not learn this from books. I fought in those wars myself,” I said. “I have seen great miracles the Lord has done for His Chosen People, Israel.

“Our population of half a million people was attacked by eight Arab countries in 1948, which had more than 20 million people. They came confidently to destroy us. But ‘this poor worm’ was not alone. The Lord said to our people, ‘I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you’ [Isa 41:9–10].

“Now you come against us again, not just with eight Arab countries but with 56 Muslim countries with 1.5 billion people. We only have 5 million people! Yet we do not fear because the Lord tells us not to be afraid. You put your trust in your numbers, but we put our trust in the Almighty God.”

I continued. “This is the same as when Goliath the Philistine thought he would destroy little David. But David said, ‘I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel’ [1 Sam. 17:45]. The victory went not to the Philistines but to Israel. Now we are in the same situation, except now the many countries that need oil from Arab countries have to dance to their music and allow them to attack us.

“We put our trust not in the false promises of those countries but in the Lord alone. His Word is eternal. So no matter how little we are, we are big in the eyes of the Lord. He said in Isaiah 49:3, ‘You are My servant, O Israel.’”

So many enemies have come to destroy us; but we are still here, proclaiming God’s salvation. It is written in Isaiah 2:3, “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” Please pray these men would come to know the Lord and His holy Word.

From The Friends of Israel archives

Zvi Kalisher (1928–2014) was a Holocaust survivor who was known for his unswerving faithfulness to the Lord and his bold witness in Jerusalem. He was with The Friends of Israel for more than 55 years.