Betar

“Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast” (Joshua 1:3-4).

The borders of the Promised Land are defined in the above Scripture. That, in brief, is the crux of the conflict in the Middle East between the Jews and the Arabs. Joshua was commanded to go over the Jordan River into the Promised Land, “unto the land which I do give to them” (v. 2).

This unconditional promise is based on the declaration God made to Abram (who later became Abraham): “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18).

What we do know is that Moses, the servant of the Lord, did not enter the Promised Land, but was permitted to see it before his death.

While in the south, the River Egypt is defined by scholars to be the Wadi al-Arish, there seems to be a problem with the northern border: the great River Euphrates. It is of interest that the Euphrates made up the fourth river bordering the Garden of Eden. This river is mentioned 19 times in the Old Testament and two times in the New, namely in the book of Revelation.

In 2 Samuel 8:3, we read: “David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.” It seems that Israel had lost its northern border, because David “went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.”

We know that the Mediterranean makes up Israel’s western border, and the River Jordan the eastern one. Yet, in the extended promise, land east of the Jordan is granted to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh.

Here again, Israel is unique; not to be compared with any other nation on the face of the earth.

The very name Israel was given to the Jewish people by God. That’s according to Genesis 32:28: “And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”

In regard to the relatively young modern Israel, the Arab neighbors have experienced Israel’s determination to defend their borders. Yet, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan still occupy portions of Israeli territory.

From these Biblical perspectives, “land for peace” is not in the realm of possibility.

Betar

The word betar has various meanings, such as “place of the blade” or “house of a dove.” In summary, it represented the aspiration to create a Jewish State on both sides of the Jordan River. Of interest is that Betar is not a religion, but rather a Zionist youth movement still existing in 35 chapters worldwide.

Below are some excerpts from the Jerusalem Post:

World Betar leaders are calling for a mass Jewish immigration to Israel, citing rising antisemitism and growing security concerns in Jewish communities around the world, according to a press release.

The call was made during a gathering of representatives from 35 Betar chapters worldwide at the Jabotinsky Institute in Tel Aviv, where members of the movement commemorated the legacy of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the Revisionist Zionist leader who founded Betar in 1923.

Under Israel’s Law of Return, Jews from around the world are eligible to immigrate to Israel and receive a range of benefits, including Israeli citizenship, access to healthcare, and subsidized higher education. First-time immigrants are also entitled to a one-way ticket to Israel, typically provided by the Jewish Agency through El Al.

-www.jpost.com, 11 April 2025

The article was headlined, “World Betar leaders call on diaspora Jews to immigrate to Israel amid rising antisemitism.”

On 7 October 2023, Hamas terrorists broke through the security fence and murdered Jews, with the declared intention to erase the State of Israel. Yet the opposite has taken place: More and more Jews are returning to the land of their fathers, the Promised Land.

While the return, even the founding of the State of Israel, on the surface was not religiously motivated, in the spiritual world, it is the preparation toward the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34:27: “And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.”

Midnight Call - 07/2025