The Garden of the Nations

A mole in a garden patch is an eating machine. With a super-sensitive nose for the most succulent and tender, the ripe and the ready, they forage through a maze of tunnels that channel the "scents of the soil." Thus it knows exactly when its target tasties are ready. The young plants aren't worth the effort, and the mature, old-age, over-ripe plants are tough.
The mole in my garlic planting is like an underground scythe, moving and mowing according to a mysterious inner rhythm. And the Lord said to me, "Do not harm or kill the mole. Just watch."
Earlier, the Lord had said to me, "I bring down nations with a mole."
Surely not this mole in this small garlic patch. So then, what is the mole that You are talking about? And what do these garlic plants represent---since they are presently disappearing one by one into the earth---and the survey flagging I have used to mark each plant? What does it all mean Lord? Could the mole be representing money? It certainly has invaded all of modern life. But money, itself, doesn't consume or eat up someone's productive labor.
"The mole is the interest on borrowed money. All debt is intended to grow, and as it grows, the interest costs grow, like on the national debt of the United States, and the debt plus interest can eat up every house, farm, business, city, nation... That is the "mole" that brings down nations, and it has the "scent of the nations" that are ripe and ready."
"The flags are nations and they will reveal the sequence of early and later victims. They will also reveal the survivors. I will speak to you later with more detail. For now...
"The mole is in "The Garden of the Nations."
"

The Mole

Early in the morning as I looked out over the garlic beds, home to a single mole, Yahweh spoke to me:
"Baruch, what do you see?"
"Lord, I see devastation. Tall vigorous garlic plants are down. Their colored tags lie there in the mud like flags marking the graves of the fallen. All that is left, a memory, of what had stood in the row. They have vanished, swallowed by the earth. Several others are toppling over on their sides. There are heaves and craters among the plants. The orderly rows are broken and confused... The remaining plants seem to be shaking and quivering...is it the ground shaking or the morning breeze?"
"Baruch, I bring down nations with a mole."
"Lord, I have labored long and hard over this garden, your garden and your garlic."
"Yes, so it is. And this is my hand, that you might see."

Moles, Voles, and Other Creatures of the Burrow

The first Fall rains in Israel bring a flush of new green growth as seeds germinate that waited through the hot dry dormancy of summer. It is a veritable explosion of lush greenery. Many small creatures that have been holed up in their burrows then come forth to sample and browse the abundant salad bar. One such hungry sleeper came out of a stone retaining wall at the rear of my garlic patch, secretly nibbled and gnawed on a tender garlic shoot, pronounced its organic goodness quite delicious, and promptly burrowed into the middle of the nearest garlic bed, a return to the "Garden of Eden."
Only after 3 plants had suddenly vanished did I know something was amiss, leaving a void in the row like the plants had never ever been there. Then a fourth garlic bulb and shoot disappeared leaving a small, but telltale hole. This was pushing the limit of hospitality and blessing and welcome: after all, they, the burrowers, do quite an admirable loosening and tilling job on the heavy soil. And the laborer does deserve his wages...
But a fifth very large plant, slowly being pulled down and seemingly swallowed by the earth, necessitated calling the curtain down on the "fifth act." Enough. That was it. Caught red-handed, the marauder was clearly developing a major appetite for organic garlic. The "trail" was easy to discern: from the burrow opening at the base of the stone wall, to a new entrance at the side of the nearby garlic bed, and thence down the row, underground, a few heaves of the soil here and there marking the tunnel, and of course the MIAs.
But how to send this grazer on to browse other pastures? Perhaps a strong flushing of this "garlic mine" would accomplish the goal? And though I do appreciate the culinary commendation of my unknown guest---no doubt an accomplished expert of healthy, tasty greens---it was time to settle the check and move on.
I am watching...
This latest story of the garlic, as I ponder it, seems to reveal some other important hidden matters. Over the last year or so, a number of people I thought were healthy, thriving "plants" in the garden of my life, just down and out disappeared. The earth just seemed to open up and "swallow" them, almost overnight, with nary a trace, just a void, like did they really exist?
Perhaps they had a hidden "burrower"---a complaint, a suppressed desire, a consuming lust, a grudge, or hidden agenda. Maybe a nettlesome thorn, an inner infection, something unbalanced and out of joint, hidden, but nevertheless actively gnawing away at their "life", whatever, it was pulling them down into a hole, a void. Then like overnight, poof, they were gone.
I wonder if a good flushing of those underground tunnels by a strong stream of live water might have saved... For sure the burrowers, hidden denizens of the underground---mole, vole, or mouse---can wreak wreck and ruin.

Israel & Mammon

Yahweh said to me: Baruch what do you see?
I see a paper tower, like an inverted pyramid, ascending to heaven, tottering and bulging, dripping glue, held up by one old man. A tower of paper so heavy its fall will crush the world. And Jacob is so small...
Thus says Yahweh, God of Israel---
Unless I build the house, they labor in vain. And for vanity they do labor mightily!
What have you built O mighty man? A house of paper, making millions of souls your slaves to money and debt... And you would claim I built this house? Watch my breath consume it. Watch the wind carry the ash to the far corners of the earth!
You mock my instructions... I mock your creations!
Smoke, mirrors, sleight of hand, magic, and illusion can disguise iniquity for a season from the eye already blinded by greed, and from the eye blinded by fear, and from the heart bound in a lust for power. Watch me dry up your wells of "credit" until you are utterly bankrupt. Who will loan to you even a crust of bread in the Day that I have appointed?
Your covenant with Mammon cannot save you. A prince who cannot deliver. Go on and covenant with all the world's bankers---see if that league will save you! What pride you have, a full-blown confidence in the covenants you make: covenants of politics, covenants of money, covenants with false messiahs, covenants of stubbornness and hardness of heart.
So you have anointed a new President! You elected George Bush, and what did his Presidency amount to? Religious jubilation became a cup of bitter tears! And how will you manage to drink the next cup? What will your political jubilation taste like with the cup I have appointed? The leadership of "success" is no leadership from Me. The leadership of "alliances" is no leadership from Me!
Consider what my dealings with Israel have been---consider long and hard, then repent. I use kingdoms for My purposes. Your mighty men...I oversee and I employ for my purposes... Think not? Watch!
You who call yourself a Christian: do you walk as your Jesus walked?
You who call yourself a Jew: do you walk in the ways of Torah, my teaching and instructions?
You all walk in the ways of your father the devil himself: Satan is the god of your principality of money, and his ways are your ways. Your covenant with money can yield only death and destruction.
So come let us see if your riches will profit in the Day I have appointed---a day of burning, a day of thirst, a day of fainting, a day of dark stumbling! Show me your derivatives; show me your best financial stuff! When I plow, it is well not to be standing in the middle of the field!
Your fatness is no fatness from me: I appoint it for the day of slaughter. Your pride is no glory from me: I appoint it for the day of sucking-up dust.
Heap it all up with the cleverest bankers---I will have it all in the end. Who among you has the cattle on a thousand hills?
Leave off this iniquity of gathering interest on money, interest on houses, interest on lands, interest on all things...
Where is the man of my Wisdom and my Vision? Where is my son of Israel? Arise beloved Joseph from your sleep---show these puny pharaohs my Spirit, my Wisdom, my Ways... Show forth my economy and my provision.
And return to me, the God of Israel. And see if I will open my storehouses... In returning to me, in resting in me, and in silence, you will be saved. A remnant.

Browsers, Grazers & Growers: Which are You?

Browsers are livestock, such as goats, that like to nibble here, nibble there, eat pretty much anything. They aren't picky or discerning and self-willed fence-jumping suits them to a "T".
Grazers, on the other hand, such as sheep and cattle, while not particularly discriminating, if they are put on good grass with adequate clean water are content and prosper. Some, for the sake of the owners, can be used to lure the flock or herd into cars headed for the slaughter houses---the Judas sheep. But that is a problem of the Owners. Most sheep, though, are competent grazers, and gladly go about the life of being a "sheep". In every flock, though, there are some who are particularly productive.
The Growers are what I would call these individuals. They are especially adept at turning their grazing grass into an abundance of meat, or fleece, or milk, or lambs. Different breeds have different characteristic strengths (or gifts).
Within the people called "Israel", all three---Browsers, Grazers, and Growers---live, often side by side.
Hope you aren't simply a browser goat...!
So then it comes down simply to this question---are you simply grazing the grass of "Israel" or are you growing Israel? Whatever your special gifts are, it seems to me, we are all called to grow Israel!

Jezebel, Judas, Sapphira, Yordim, and other "J" Persons---

What to do?
At whatever level one experiences the reality of "Israel"---personal, fraternal, or communal---sooner or later the painful experience of loss or betrayal is encountered. Relationships are torn asunder, death seems to rule the day as well as the night. Life seems to have departed, and God is nowhere close at hand... Elijah's triumph on Mt. Carmel is followed by full-blown retreat at the threats of Jezebel. In the present day, the joyous arrival of new "olim" (immigrants) making "aliyah" gets balanced with the reality of the "yordim", those who depart after having had some taste of life in Israel. The word yordim, literally in Hebrew those gone down or departed, has the same root as Yarden (the Jordan River), or yarad which is the basis for "yored geshem"---the rain is coming down. The Yarden descends or rushes down from Mt. Hermon on its way to the Dead Sea. When the experience of departing betrayal and abandonment presses upon us, what are we to do? When the tears are falling, what are we to do? When the loss or death of someone seems overwhelming, what are we to do? Rachel weeping over her children in exile---is she comforted? Is there any comfort to the one betrayed by Judas? Did Elijah find comfort in the wilderness? Is the mourner comforted?
Before the "comforter" can come, the cup must be drunk, that is completely drained. The physical rawness, the sharp bitters that bring tears to the eyes, the raw anguish of soul, and the raw spiritual blackness---all must be drunk, to the full, sooner or later. This is the classic pattern of grieving or mourning, and all the phases will be passed through before the "comforter" is finally known. And avoidance only postpones. Neither the darkness of the Garden night, nor the cup go away.
Grieving, as a son or daughter of Israel, has its appointed times. And I believe the God of Israel has a unique and special provision for his grieving children. There is a Hebrew Wisdom if we will receive her. During the First Gulf War, while I was in Jordan, my father died back in the States, and three weeks to late I learned of his death. The seven-day memorial candle and sitting "sheva" (the seven day period of mourning) help us move through the experience, drinking the cup fully, and then coming to the day when the paralysis of grief is broken and we can rise up to life once more. It is my conviction that the God of Israel has been sitting "sheva" for seven Biblical days, drinking fully the cup of His children's betrayal, death, and exile. But the day of grieving is not ordained to last forever, for God, for Rachel, for you, for me. Death is followed by New Life, Darkness by a New Day. The closets can be cleaned out, the departed ones' clothes can finally be let go... And as the Word says will be the case, the tears are wiped away.
What to do? Not recriminations. Not angry fulminations in the face of God. Not despairing pity parties. Not speculative imaginations of what ifs...
What to do? Mourn and "sit." Remember---memories do have a function, blessed and releaseful... And "sit" and wait for the day when we can then take hold of the Promises of God made to the children of Israel. "Weeping endureth for a night, but joy comes with the dawning of a new Day."

The Candlestands are Lighted

Shabbat Shalom from Zavitan Street---

After an arduous process of removing many years of tarnish, polishing, and finding candles to fit, Lampstands for the Two Houses of Israel were lit last night. Using seven-day memorial candles, seemed especially fitting to remember the long burial in the death of the wilderness exile. Never forgotten, always remembered by the God of Israel, it is the appointed time of Return, Restoration, Light, Life, and Redeeming Work.

Yored Geshem

After the long months of heat and dryness, "the early rains" have arrived on a parched and hardened land. To those accustomed to plentiful year-round rains, it is perhaps hard to understand the joy of the earth, much less the joy of one farmer. In Hebrew, "yored"=coming down, and "geshem"=rain. So when the sky is dark and overcast on Zavitan Street it is good news: the rains are about to come down. And the hard ground that was broken up during the heat of the summer...then enriched with lots of organic matter---is now capable of receiving and holding the precious waters from above. But hard ground, like hard hearts, can neither absorb the rain nor benefit from it---the rains can only run off. The LORD wants His rains to sink in, not run-off useless, but for the "sinking-in" to occur, He must first break up the hard, fallow ground of our hard hearts. Praise God, the early rains are not the end of the story---there is still time for our hardness to be broken before the "final" (or latter) rains come.

Short-Circuits of Faith

A modern car is a marvel of engineering and extraordinary complexity, such that the average car-owner is unable to work on their own car, except for the most rudimentary maintenance. The average car has literally miles of electrical cable and wiring, and a break or shorting of the smallest wire can drain the battery. The result is certain: the car will not start! It can go nowhere. Totally disabled and unable to move! Recent experience with such a confounding "short"---which ate up three batteries over 18 months---suggested to me the advisability of a "check-up" of our wiring of faith. God, as our Master Mechanic, is able to run diagnostic tests of our wiring to see if there be any frayed, failing, or weak wires in our faith. Faults such a complaining, or self-will, or outright stubborn rebellion will surely short-circuit our faith and stall our progress. If we are willing...God will reveal the condition of our internal circuits. We don't want to be unable "to start" in the middle of the night, particularly if it is the most important of journeys!

Zavitan Street

A Threshing Floor in Israel...

Revelation

Heat & Fire: Trial, tribulation, and adversity reveal inner character, substance, spirit and will
War: reveal Israel. Who is an Israelite and who is not; just as the Diaspora revealed who is Jewish by faithfulness to Torah, so likewise the Ingathering in time of war will reveal the faith of both Houses in the Messiah of Israel
Famine: reveals Manna, that is God's provision for a Gathered People
Earthquake: reveals a Confident People standing firm, while the world seeks caves of the mountains in which to hide
Disease & Pestilence: reveal the "clean"---in body, soul, and spirit

Hag Sameach

A blessed and joyful Succoth to all Israel from Zavitan Street.

The National Anthem of All Israel

Time to learn haTikva, a song of hope for all Israel, especially the sons and daughters of Manasseh/Ephraim who remain largely lost in exile to this day. So here is an updated, modified version of the original---Judah's song of hope since the nineteenth century. May the return of the rest of Israel not long be delayed!

Golan & Garlic: The Heat Reveals All Things

The Hot Winds of the Heights challenge and stress even the toughest plants. Each morning in the early cool, I tend the cloves of garlic planted in the rich volcanic soil about six weeks ago, several weeks into the start of summer in northern Israel. Planting had been delayed about two weeks, so rootlets were appearing, and it wasn't the optimal time of year.
But rarely do we get to control all the circumstances of life, in spite of our best efforts to have things "perfect!" Are you perhaps one of those people who insist on the "perfect" climate---one degree hotter or one degree too cool and you're off to the complaining stump? But even if the garlic was capable of complaining, nothing was to be gained in any case: it was either into the ground or wither, shrivel, and die.
Every blessing and skill of soil, water, fertilizer, protective shade, and constant vigilance for competing weeds---every morning and many evenings---and I watched for the first signs of life.
Results: Some cloves rotted in the moist rich soil...
Some cloves sent a vigorous shoot that got out of the ground an inch or
so, then withered in the searing heat...

Some cloves I uncovered an inch or so relieving the burden of the heavy
soil over-head... they greened up, but couldn't sprout new life...
One clove was planted upside down: couldn't right itself---dead!
One clove tossed on its side when covered valiantly sent a shoot upward
(not sidewards) to the sun, and still survives...
Several cloves have sprouted small tender growing points---still alive...
And then there are the twelve or so plants which are
already a foot to eighteen inches high! They thrive and really will do
even better in the full sun!
So perhaps the parable of the garlic goes like this---
The Heat Reveals All Things about the Garlic!
The Heat Reveals All Things about Us!
The Heat Reveals God and the Gardener!

Shalom from the Heights!

The Tree of Life

Blessed is the man who shall not walk in the counsel of the wrong, And shall not stand in the path of sinners, And shall not sit in the seat of scoffers, But his delight is in the Torah of YHWH, And he meditates in HIS Torah day and night.
For He shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that yields its fruit in its season, And whose leaf does not wither, And whatever he does prospers...

Psalm 1:1-3 the tree of life is the Torah of YHWH
Jeremiah 36:22 the pages of the Torah scroll are the leaves of the tree
Ezek. 47:1-12 the trees on the banks of the river bear fruit, and their leaves heal
Revelation 22:1-2 the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations
Jeremiah 30 -31 the Lord will restore and heal the nations when they turn back to Torah
Jeremiah 17:7-8 those who trust in YHWH shall be as the tree of life

The Spirit of the Master YHWH is upon Me, because YHWH has annointed ME to bring good news to the meek. He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH, and the day of vengeance of our Elohim, to comfort all who mourn, to appoint unto those who mourn in Tzion: to give them embelishment for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
And they shall be called trees of righteousness, a planting of YHWH, to be adorned. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, raise up the former wastes. And they shall restore the ruined cities, the wastes of many generations.
And strangers shall stand and feed on your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner be your ploughmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be called, 'Priests of YHWH', 'Servants of our Elohim' shall be said of you. You shall consume the strength of the gentiles, and boast in their esteem. Instead of your shame and reproach, they rejoice a second time in their portion. Therefore they take possession a second time in their land, everlasting joy is theirs.
"For I YHWH, love right-ruling; I hate robbery for burnt offering. And I shall give their reward in truth, and make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed YHWH has blessed."
I greatly rejoice in YHWH, my being exults in my Elohim. For He has put garments of deliverance on me, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the seed to shoot up, so the Master YHWH causes righteousness and praise to shoot up before all the nations!

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 61

After Twenty-two Years...

After Twenty-two Years... The Journal is back! Though the venue is different, that is we are on-line, the purpose of Manasseh has not changed. We hope to give you some insight into the life of Israel which will be unique and also galvanizing of your support in the form of "real facts on the ground." We have no interest in endless talk or grand gestures... So greetings and Shabbat Shalom from the Golan Heights of Israel. Check out our postings as we get up to speed!