"He Is The All."

In one of our classes we are studying Intertestamental Literature (or Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period), and are currently making our way through some of the Apocryphal books. I have basically never read these before, but am really enjoying them. We recently studied the Wisdom of Ben Sirach/Ecclesiasticus, which is often compared with a book like Proverbs where “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7). When I was reading through its fifty-one chapters the other day, the following chapter really caught my attention…especially the last section.
I am also including a few pictures of this beautiful and diverse country I’ve taken over the past month as well.
Enjoy!


Ben Sirach 43


[1] The pride of the heavenly heights is the clear firmament, the appearance of heaven in a spectacle of glory.
[2] The sun, when it appears, making proclamation as it goes forth, is a marvelous instrument, the work of the Most High.
[3] At noon it parches the land; and who can withstand its burning heat?
[4] A man tending a furnace works in burning heat, but the sun burns the mountains three times as much; it breathes out fiery vapors, and with bright beams it blinds the eyes.
[5] Great is the Lord who made it; and at his command it hastens on its course.



[6] He made the moon also, to serve in its season to mark the times and to be an everlasting sign.
[7] From the moon comes the sign for feast days, a light that wanes when it has reached the full.
[8] The month is named for the moon, increasing marvelously in its phases, an instrument of the hosts on high shining forth in the firmament of heaven.
[9] The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven, a gleaming array in the heights of the Lord.
[10] At the command of the Holy One they stand as ordered, they never relax in their watches.
[11] Look upon the rainbow, and praise him who made it, exceedingly beautiful in its brightness.
[12] It encircles the heaven with its glorious arc; the hands of the Most High have stretched it out.


[13] By his command he sends the driving snow and speeds the lightnings of his judgment.
[14] Therefore the storehouses are opened, and the clouds fly forth like birds.
[15] In his majesty he amasses the clouds, and the hailstones are broken in pieces.
[16] At his appearing the mountains are shaken; at his will the south wind blows.
[17] The voice of his thunder rebukes the earth; so do the tempest from the north and the whirlwind. He scatters the snow like birds flying down, and its descent is like locusts alighting.



[18] The eye marvels at the beauty of its whiteness, and the mind is amazed at its falling.
[19] He pours the hoarfrost upon the earth like salt, and when it freezes, it becomes pointed thorns.
[20] The cold north wind blows, and ice freezes over the water; it rests upon every pool of water, and the water puts it on like a breastplate.
[21] He consumes the mountains and burns up the wilderness, and withers the tender grass like fire.
[22] A mist quickly heals all things; when the dew appears, it refreshes from the heat.



[23] By his counsel he stilled the great deep and planted islands in it.
[24] Those who sail the sea tell of its dangers, and we marvel at what we hear.
[25] for in it are strange and marvelous works, all kinds of living things, and huge creatures of the sea.
[26] Because of him his messenger finds the way, and by his word all things hold together.

[27] Though we speak much we cannot reach the end, and the sum of our words is:

"He is the all."

[28] Where shall we find strength to praise him?

For he is greater than all his works.

[29] Terrible is the Lord and very great, and marvelous is his power.

[30] When you praise the Lord, exalt him as much as you can; for he will surpass even that. When you exalt him, put forth all your strength, and do not grow weary,

for you cannot praise him enough.

[31] Who has seen him and can describe him? Or who can extol him as he is?
[32] Many things greater than these lie hidden, for we have seen but few of his works.
[33] For the Lord has made all things, and to the godly he has granted wisdom.

Ismael - Part I

Occasionally Stacie and I have mentioned something about our good friend Ismael, an Arab taxi driver who lives with his family on the Mount of Olives. In fact he’s probably our best friend among the locals here. The following contains three stories involving some of our recent experiences and interactions with him…and his family. Wish you could all meet him somehow, someday.


We hadn’t seen Ismael in a while, at least six weeks. A couple times we called asking for a ride and he was unable to drive us, so he sent a friend. But the timeframe in which we hadn’t seen him seemed to be increasing and we started to wonder, “Did we do something wrong? Or somehow offend him that we don’t see him anymore?” This is quite unusual. Then in early January we were touring around the country with friends, and while standing in Herod’s Palace-Fortress of Masada in the Judean Wilderness, my phone rang.

It was Ismael!

I didn’t answer it because reception is quite bad up there and didn’t want to interrupt what we were doing at the time. When we got home that night, I called him back.

Although his native language is Arablic, he’s also fluent in Hebrew and his English is greatly improving. He loves it that we have been studying modern Hebrew, and so we try to have many of our conversations in Hebrew. Neither person speaking their native language in order to communicate with each other. Although most of our following conversation took place in (broken) Hebrew, mixed with some broken English, I’ll translate the gist of it into English for the benefit of my readers. ☺

“Shalom Ismael, how are you?”

“Everything’s good, how are you?”

“Good, thank you. You called me?”

“Yes, I called to see how you are. I haven’t seen you and Stacie in long time. Are you angry with me?”

“No no no no no, we are not angry, we have much grace.”

So a couple times we called for a ride, he couldn’t come, and he was simply calling to say hi. To say hi, make sure we weren’t upset with him (peace between us) and to tell us he missed seeing us and wants to see us again soon. Our conversation ended in English.

“Thank you for calling Ismael, its good to hear your voice again. We’ll see you soon.”

“Say hi to Stacie for me.”

“I will, Lahitraote (goodbye).”

“Lahitraote.”

Ismael - Part II

So we reconnected with Ismael a little bit. A couple days after the previous conversation, we called him the night before we needed a ride, but in the morning we had to cancel it because of a change in our plans. But I felt really bad about it, so I asked him if he wanted to stop over for some tea or coffee. He kindly declined that day.
A few days after this, Stacie and I were going to the airport to pick up the Swan family. We could have taken a 10 person taxi for cheaper, but we wanted to spend some quality time with Ismael in a 45 minute ride to the airport.
I called him and scheduled the ride from our house to the airport. He said,

“Ok, but I want something from you.”

“Sure, what do you want?”

“I want to come by and drink some coffee.” (Taking me up on my previous offer).

“A cup of coffee will be ready for you.”

He arrived to our house about fifteen minutes early, came to the door and drank some Starbucks – “American Coffee.”

Some of you might be thinking, that’s a little bold isn’t it, asking for something like that. Well let me assure you, it’s not. Besides, he was a bit confused and thought Stacie and I were going to the airport because WE were moving back to the States already and wanted to spend a few extra minutes with us.

Soon, on this warm, sunny afternoon, we were on our way to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The first half of the ride was conversations in English, talking some of the modern political situation involving Israelis and Palestinians, President Bush’s visit, etc. Ismael knows we are Christians, and he spent a considerable amount of time teaching us some things about Islam. At one point, he reached into his glovebox and pulled out a copy of the Quran, and read a couple sections to us, first in Arabic, then translating it into English.

He said the term Islam means “Peace.”

Stacie says back to him, “If Islam means peace, then why all the violence surrounding Islam?”

“They aren’t really Muslims.”

It was fascinating conversation for sure. The second half of our ride was a little less intense as he spent time teaching us some new Hebrew vocabulary and we were teaching him some things in English.

Upon arriving at the airport, you need to drive through a security checkpoint. Often these “checkpoints” don’t even involve a complete stop…for Americans. But because we were riding with an Arab, this was no drive through for us this time.
One of the security guards and Ismael begin a conversation in Hebrew and soon they ask him to pull his car over to the side of the road for a while. Then he comes over to me and asks me to step out of the car so he can ask me a few questions. I’m not intimidated at all by these two guys, or their big guns. I know what’s going on here. I’ve done nothing wrong and I’ve got nothing to hide.

“What is your relationship with Ismael?”

“He’s our taxi driver bringing us to the airport.” Then a slight pause, I had a choice to make, but I knew in my heart I needed to say it. “And he’s our friend.”

I knew he wouldn’t like that we were friends, but I didn’t care. Ismael hasn’t done anything wrong and doesn’t deserve to be treated like this either. I told this security guard why I was here, where I was studying and where I was living. Our neighborhood is half Arab, half Jewish, but the Jews use the name “Givat Hananiah” so not to be associated with Arab. I knew that would be another red flag, but again didn’t care.

“I live in Abu Tor.”

“You live in Abu Tor?” In disbelief. “Why do you live in Abu Tor?”

“It’s a nice neighborhood.”

Friends with an Arab taxi driver, live in an Arab neighborhood, this guy didn’t seem to like my answers. So they proceeded to do a very thorough check - including checking all three of our phones, walking through a metal detector and went through every square inch of Ismael’s car – under the car, under the hood, in the trunk, and even the “magic wand” treatment inside. How embarrassing and humiliating for Ismael. And that is exactly what they were trying to do. They hate it that Americans would befriend the Arabs. What they were trying to do is give us a miserable experience at the airport so next time we need to go the airport, maybe we’ll call a Jewish taxi driver. Trying to run the Arabs out of business. If we weren’t friends with Ismael and just needed a ride to the airport, I can see why people wouldn’t call him again for a ride next time.

So the security guards felt good about flexing their muscles for us. And about 20 minutes later we were on our way. I am about to go crazy, I’ve got smoke coming out of my ears at this injustice, how dare they treat this good friend of mine like this!” It’s racism disguised as safety or security. Or maybe we could use the term “politics.” Call it what you want. I call it wrong.

The three of us get back in the car. Nobody says anything. Nothing but silence for a few minutes. Then Ismael, with utter peacec, kindness and a smile in his eyes,

“Do you have any questions?”

We talked for a couple minutes. Told him we’re sorry about all of that. He felt bad for US because he wanted us to be at the airport on time…not with a 20-minute delay.

Stacie and I vividly remember watching his response to all of that. The whole time he was very relaxed. Didn’t put up a fuss or protest any of it. Never a moment of frustration or anger. That’s just the way his life is.

After saying goodbye, we got out of the car. I’m still raging inside. Stacie starts crying.

The security guards at the airport greeted us by saying “Peace.”

Ismael claims that Islam means “Peace.”

I believe Jesus to be the “Prince of Peace.”

The people here need some peace.

Ismael - Part III

The Swan family was visiting us for a couple weeks in January and we toured around much of the country. One day we drove our rental van up the Mount of Olives to a great lookout point over the Old City, many tourists come to this spot, it’s a beautiful view of the “Holy City.”

At this spot there are also a number of Arab boys and men who are trying to sell things like postcards, a camel ride, or whatever. Can’t blame them, they’re just trying to make some money too. Shortly after getting out of the van, one of these men began trying to sell something to us and in the midst of trying to negotiate a price, to keep it short, he wasn’t exactly complying and some of his comments became quite rude, so we said “forget it.” And chose not to buy anything from him. Then he made a few more unnecessary comments concluding with

“You don’t want to buy anything from us (Arabs) so just go buy stuff from Jews.”

I tried to talk with him and reason with him a little bit, but he wasn’t listening to me, he was upset with us but I didn’t really want to leave it like that. I wanted to try and reconcile. But how do I do that?

So I called Ismael, briefly explained the situation to him and asked him if he would try to talk with this gentleman and try to help us smooth it over a little. So I handed the phone to the “salesman” and he and Ismael talked for a minute, but it was all in Arabic so I have no idea what was said, he handed the phone back to me, said “Ok” and walked away.

Then Ismael tells me, “It’s ok.”

“Thank you Ismael.”

“You are welcome.”

The Swan family and I continued on in our viewing from the Mt. of Olives. Three minutes later, my phone rings. It’s Ismael. My first thought was, he’s probably calling me again just to make sure everything was ok, but…

“Hello Ismael.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on the Mt. of Olives,” I said.

“I know, I am here, behind the bus, where are you?”

I turned around and walked towards a tour bus to see Ismael in his taxi parked behind it…with his four beautiful kids piled in the back seat. I couldn’t believe it! He came just to make sure that everything was ok, he wanted to have a short face-to-face conversation with the man we were having a bit of a confrontation with…and he wanted to see us and meet the Swan family. Next thing I know, his four kids are climbing out of the backseat, Ismael with a huge smile on his face is shaking hands with the Swan family and invited us all over to his house for some tea.

It's always nice to have a good friend who will get your back on the Mount of Olives.