The Legacy of Jacob - Moriel Ministries

Elon and Hadass Moreh
Moriel Israel
It’s Chilly Here . . .
It’s winter here on the Mediterranean
coast.UK readers will think we are somewhat
“nesh” for feeling cold when its 15 Celsius
at nights, especially when it’s about 24 degrees
during the day, but we laugh in summer
when we see the UK Weather Service
calling 27 Celsius a “heat wave”. During
the winter season here it’s too cold to have
the mums and todds group on the terrace,
and many of the children are now attending
kindergarten After a certain age here kindergarten
is compulsory because it is important
for children to be speaking Hebrew, and that
is subsidised. However, before that age fees
can be expensive and can consume all the income
of one wage earner in a family group.
Some of our young couples need at the moment
to have both husband and wife working,
but cannot afford kindergarten to look after
the children, so Hadass and I have agreed to
take some children of families in the congregation
in the afternoon to care for them
so the mums can work. This is quite a commitment,
but these young couples need help
while they stabilise their financial situations
and get established. Our first customer is a
nice little chap but only speaks Portuguese
at present. He is a good mimic though, and
is rapidly picking up phrases in English like,
“Oh Dear!” and “Gorgeous”. I can’t leave
Hadass with all the care, all the time, so I
have to sit with him sometimes. Consequently
I can now recongise the Portuguese phrase
for “Can I have a nappy change” (and notify
Hadass that she is needed!) and the word for
“mummy” (which he repeatedly cried out
after falling over backwards and banging
his head on the floor), and I am also developing
a growing familiarity with “Thomas
the Tank Engine” and “Bob the Builder.”
I came across the national road accident
statistics a few weeks ago. Way down the
league Nahariya had only 500 with no fatalities.
Unfortunately Hadass and I were involved
in 0.5% of them. Careless motorists,
either dreamboating, on mobile phones or
driving too close, have rear ended us twice
in 5 months when we stopped at pedestrian
crossings, causing 16,000 Shekels worth of
damage. Thankfully it comes off their insurance,
not ours, but it does degrade the value
of the car and even with a good repair does
weaken it. It also makes you paranoid each
time you pull up at a red light or crossing.
Another two rear-enders and the insurance
company will probably write the car off,
not something ideal, as the vehicle is only 4
½ years old and new cars are hideously expensive
here. Your prayers for protection on
the roads would be appreciated as our van is
somewhat indispensable.
We are still carrying on serving in the believing
community here. Praise the Lord, the
number of people needing food assistance
from the congregation has dwindled, so that
has lessened our load in that area. However,
now I am running a small Bible study group
on a Wednesday and have agreed to teach
someone else on another day as well. Please
pray for these things.
A Few Puzzling Phrases
There are some phrases in Scripture that
at first glance seem puzzling. Sometimes
it’s good to follow the rabbit trails of Scripture
and search out things that interest us. I
thought I would just share with you one rabbit
trail I went down recently, and hope that
it interests you, too.
“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh; And declared
to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead:”
“Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
The first question that comes into our mind
here might be: “Hasn’t Jesus always been the
Son of God from eternity” And hasn’t He
always been the Messiah from eternity too
Why did He need to be made Messiah and
declared Son of God” Yes, of course that is
absolutely true. Jesus always has been God.
One reason that we can have problems with
a text is because sometimes we approach it
thinking what it ought to say, without letting
Scripture speak for itself. Not every Scripture
about sonship or Messiahship is dealing
with the same aspect of it and we also need
to properly define the terms “Son” and “Messiah”
before we rush to interpreting the text.
I would say Peter is almost certainly referring
here to Psalm 2. “The kings of the earth
stand up and the rulers take council together
against the LORD and against His Anointed
(Messiah).” As for Paul, in Acts 13 is an example
of one of Paul’s sermons, albeit in somewhat
compressed form, and we actually see
Psalm 2 again in connection to this very concept
of resurrection, ascension and Sonship:
“And when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from
the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
But God raised him from the dead: And
he was seen many days of them which
came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are his witnesses unto the
people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which
was made unto the fathers, God hath
fulfilled the same unto us their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again;
as it is also written in the second psalm,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. And as concerning that he
raised him up from the dead, now no
more to return to corruption, he said on
this wise, I will give you the sure mercies
of David.”
At first glance this passage seems a strange
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 29