Happy Birthday — Israel
May 14, 1948 is the official day that Israel was reborn. But on the Hebrew Calendar, with months that stay true to the phases of the moon, the date was yesterday, Iyar 5, the fifth day of the second Hebrew month in the 
year. Originally the month was called Zif (“zeev”) meaning bright or splendorous, and splendorous it is even now, marking the State’s astounding resurrection as well as the resurrection of life in the spring for the northern hemisphere.
“When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us: whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south” (Psalm 126:1-4).
Rejoice with us. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, a peace greater than logical understanding and more real and lasting than the somewhat overused word itself; and whenever it is that you come across this post, leave a comment on what Israel means to you.
Israel was the birthplace of Christianity.
Israel seems far away. We are familiar with Israel in the Bible, but not very familiar with its political factions and spiritual issues today.
May they find lasting peace in the Prince of Peace and have a happy 61st re-birth day.
“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:10).
Israel is so important and special! What an honor to be singled out by God like that! May God bless them!
That is a precious verse, Robert. To take it a step further, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham” said the I AM (John 8:39-59), and “he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly… but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart” (Romans 2:28). This is what Jehovah has been telling the children of Israel from the start (Deuteronomy 10:14-17, Jeremiah 4:3-4 and 31:32-34, Ezekiel 11:19, 36:25-26, Isaiah 49:6, Acts 10:43 etc.) Romans 3 (or shall I say the whole book!) puts this all together beautifully. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Romans 10:1).