The Impossible Land
How did the land of Israel become so fertile after being desolate for more than 1700 years?
It is not humanly possible for a land that has been a waste land, lacking rainfall, as well almost any vegetation or wildlife, for more than 1700 years, to start receiving regular rainfall, regrow its vegetation, and have the wildlife that lived there before just start returning to that land. Yet this is exactly what the land of Israel did. That is why I call it the Impossible Land.
The land of Israel was known as a pleasant land in ancient times, and was one of the most fertile places on Earth. It supported lush forests, large crops, great herds of livestock, and an abundance of wildlife. The Sea of Galilee supported many fishing villages along its shores. The Land of Israel was so fertile that it supported two and a half million Jews, one million Samaritans, and about one and a half million foreigners, mostly Greeks and Romans, for a total of about five million people. This is particularly amazing when you consider that it was not farmed every seventh year, and modern farming techniques had not yet been invented.
This all began to change when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Romans not only destroyed Jerusalem, but also everything that grew within a 10 miles of Jerusalem. They then mixed salt in the soil all around Jerusalem so that nothing would grow there. Josephus tells of a man who had came from a far country to see Jerusalem the next year, but could hardly believe that a city had ever been there.
Then the Romans destroyed the Roman providence of Judaea in 135 AD. They destroyed over fifty walled cities in the land of Israel, and destroyed the land around them in a similar manner to what they had done to the land around Jerusalem previously, but on a smaller scale. They also destroyed 965 unwalled villages, and did similar things to the rural areas around them. Most of the land of Israel became a barren wasteland, with deserts where there had once been fields, and fields where there had once been forests.
The land of Israel became successively more uninhabitable until the Byzantine Empire took control in 390 AD. The Byzantine Empire tried to improve the land of Israel, because there was a lucrative business in Holy Land pilgrimages. The land of Israel also connected their lands in west central Asia to their lands in north Africa. The Byzantine Empire eventually had as many as 400,000 Jews living in the land of Israel to provide some resistance to invasion by the Sassanid Empire (Persians) to the east. They also had another 100,000 religious professionals and soldiers needed for the thriving tourism industry of pilgrims coming to Jerusalem to see the Holy sites by 635 AD. So five hundred years after the Romans destroyed the land of Israel, it was only able to support about 10 percent of the population that it had previously been able to support.
Whatever improvements that were made during the control of the Byzantine Empire, those improvements were soon lost after the Arab Caliphates took control of the land of Israel in 636 AD. The land of Israel became successively more uninhabitable year after year under their control. Every city and village along the coast of the Sea of Galilee was abandoned at this time, except for Tiberias, because it no longer produced enough fish for people to make living from its waters.
Then the Crusaders took control of the land of Israel in 1099 AD by conducting a scorched earth policy. After that, the Ayyubid Sultanate filled the land of Israel with destruction, when they invaded in 1187 AD to take control. Next, the Mamluk Sultanate filled the land of Israel with the devastation of war for over thirty years, after they invaded to take control in 1260 AD. After the Ottoman Empire took control in 1517 AD, their internal tax policies and other practices degraded the land of Israel even further.
Jerusalem was only able to continue to be occupied by various religious groups maintaining their sites, because these religious groups continuously sent in food, and virtually everything else, from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The land of Israel became close to being a 99% food importer, with olives and prickly pears being the only food items grown natively.
This was not a short-term issue like the Dust Bowl in the 1930's but a permanent condition that lasted for well over a thousand years. This only began to change, when Christian Zionist missionaries along the Sea of Galilee and the streams of the Galilee, began efforts at creating self-sustaining farms using irrigation, shortly after their arrival in 1840 AD. These farms were small, isolated, and dependent upon irrigation, but they were the first real improvement since the Arab Caliphates invaded in 636 AD.
The land was still in this condition when Mark Twain had went from Haifa to Jerusalem in 1867 AD. He despaired over the condition of the land in between these two cities, commenting that for three or four days that he did not see so much as a goat. He said that the only things that lived there, in his words, "was the friends of useless soil - cactus and olive trees". He also commented that in some places the soil was rich enough to grow crops, but it had not gotten enough rain in hundreds of years.
Thanks to the Ottoman Turks, the entire land of modern Israel only had 30,000 trees, less than the farm that I grew up on, when the Ashkenazi Jews began arriving in 1870 AD. The Ottoman Empire had taxed trees so heavily, without regard to the value of what the tree produced, that people had cut down almost every tree in the land of Israel, except for olive trees, whose olives and oil made them valuable enough to keep.
For that reason, there are still three thousand year old olive trees in Israel today. Core samples from some of these trees tell the story of the rain.
Most years until 135 AD, Israel got both the early rain that ended at the beginning of the agricultural season in mid March, about a month before the barley harvest, and the latter rain that began at the end of the agricultural season in late October, about a month after the grape harvest. Without this rain, that lasts all winter, and the dew that lasts all summer, it is virtually impossible to grow crops in Israel without irrigation. After 135 AD, Israel never got both the early and latter rains until the Ashkenazi Jews began to return in 1870 AD. Even after the early and latter rains returned, it only rained in the areas where the Jews had made farming settlements.
So when the Ashkenazi Jews began to stream into the land of Israel in 1870 AD, the land was a barren waste land lacking in rainfall, trees, and crops. They were inspired by the limited success of the Christian Zionist missionaries at self-sustaining farms. So, Mikveh Israel was established that same year to teach them how to transform desert into farmland. Hibat Zion groups were formed shortly after that to put what was learned into practice in small farming communities. These groups then combined to form Hovevei Zion in 1881 AD. Hovevei Zion then began working to help new immigrants establish farming communities that same year. After their arrival, the Bilu as they were called, soon began the process of turning the deserts into forests and grasslands, by planting and maintaining trees.
As more and more Ashkenazi Jews poured in from Europe, and even North America, they began creating innovative ways to both raise crops and to reclaim the land, since the land of Israel was now getting the early and latter rain most years.
Today, Israel is one of only three industrialized nations that are net food exporters. (The US and Canada are the other two.) This tiny country is the size of New Jersey, and only one fifth of its land is naturally arable. Yet, it grows 95% of its own food, importing only what it lacks the land to grow in sufficient quantities itself. In fact, Israel has became so proficient at growing some food sources, that the government of Israel has to restrict farmers on how much they can grow. Otherwise, the price at the market would become so low that it would force some farmers out of business.
The food that it exports, primarily fruits, vegetables, and fish, far exceed the meager amounts of sugar, cocoa, coffee, and the like that it imports. Not only that, in many European countries, half of the fruits and vegetables in the stores are imported from Israel, particularly in the winter.
Every crop raised on Earth is grown in Israel. The only other country that can do that is the United States, due to the diversity that it gained from Hawaii and its protectorates in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Tiny Israel has also became a force in the international wine market as well, due to extensive variety and number of grapes that grow in the land of Israel. Israel is the only land its size where every variety of grapes can be grown.
Israel not only is a food exporter, but also an exporter of flowers, especially roses. Israel is the one of the top ten exporter of flowers on Earth. Israel is the greatest exporter of roses on Earth. The land that was barren is now literally blooming.
Israel also has forests so thick that it has to occasionally fight forest fires, like the massive ones on Mount Carmel in 1989 AD and 2010 AD.
It is not just plant life that has come back in abundance. The land where Mark Twain did not see so much as a goat as he slowly crossed over, is now full of goats and other livestock.
Not only, that, but many of the wildlife species found in ancient times have returned as well, like wolves. Israel is the only place where the Negev antelope still lives, being extinct in the surrounding countries. Israel is the only country in the Middle East to still have a population of wild leopards. A greater numbers of birds, and a greater variety of bird species, visit the land of Israel over the course of a year, than any other country on Earth.
The Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) is only 8 miles (13 km) at its widest point, 13 miles (21 km) at it longest point, and has a surface area of only 64 square miles (166 square km). There are many fresh water lakes much larger in many parts of the world, but none of them do what this lake does. It produces fish so abundantly that people make a living fishing its waters, just like it did when the Romans controlled the land of Israel.
Israel even exports shrimp and crabs that it raises in the desert. Also crocodiles are raised in the salt marshes that border the southern edge of the Dead Sea. (I would not call these things food, even though people eat them, because the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) calls them filth. It is food for thought.)
The impossible has happened.
How could have all of this happened?
This is the work of the Greatest Zionist.
The Father of Truth has been causing the rain to begin to return to the land of Israel (1 Kings 8:35-36). He has been causing the former and latter rain to return to the land of Israel, so it can once again grow crops to feed people and grass to feed animals (Joel 2:21-24).
The Father of Truth has been causing the land of Israel to blossom, so that the fruit grown there can be found in markets all over the Earth (Isaiah 27:6). He has been turning the land of Israel into a garden from a desert (Isaiah 51:3). He has been causing the Jews to till the land of Israel, that was still desolate in 1867 AD, to now produce fruits and vegetables like the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 36:34-35).
The Father of Truth has been causing grapes to become common again in the land of Israel (Jeremiah 31:5). He has been giving success to the efforts of the Ashkenazi Jews to cover the mountains of Israel with vineyards (Ezekiel 36:8-9).
The Father of Truth has been causing the desert in the land of Israel to bloom as a rose and be full of green pastures, under the care of the returning Ashkenazi Jews (Isaiah 35:1-7).
The Father of Truth has brought back the trees to the land of Israel, so the Jews would understand that He had removed the trees from the land of Israel in judgment (Ezekiel 17:22-24). He has caused the land of Israel to be a land of thick trees, like it was before the Jews were cast out it (Ezekiel 20:28). He has brought back forests, so full of trees that they can produce firewood for people to heat their homes (Ezekiel 39:10).
The Father of Truth has been causing the land of Israel to be repopulated with both people and animals after being desolate of both for more than 1700 years (Jeremiah 31:27-28). . He as been returning the livestock to the land of Israel (Jeremiah 33:12-13). He has been causing the land of Israel to be filled again with farms and animals of every sort (Ezekiel 36:11).
The Father of Truth has been causing the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea along the coast of Israel to be abundant with fish since the Jews have returned to the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 33:18-19). The Father of Truth had preserved the fish of the Sea of Galilee, the birds, and other wildlife, from going extinct, so the land of Israel could be filled with them again (Nehemiah 9:6).
The Father of Truth does not just want to make the impossible to happen in the land of Israel, but He wants to make it happen in your life. He wants you to come into the House of Truth where you were meant to live.
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by the returning rain, your spirit will be renewed by the faith in the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) (2 Corinthians 4:13-16). The Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) will renew your spirit, when you come into the House of Truth (Titus 3:4-6). .
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by the returning vegetation, your mind will be renewed by surrendering control of your life to the Man of Truth (Romans 12:1-2). The teachings of the Man of Truth will renew your mind, when you come into the House of Truth (Ephesians 4:20-24). .
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by returning livestock, you soul will be renewed by believing the Word of Truth (1 Peter 1:21-23). The Word of Truth will renew your soul, when you come into the House of Truth (3 John 1:2-4). .
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by returning wildlife, your body will be renewed by the Spirit of Truth resurrecting it from the dead (Romans 8:9-11). You have the promise that the Spirit of Truth will renew your body, when you come into the House of Truth (Philippians 3:20-21). .
Your life will begin to be refreshed as soon as you come into the House of Truth (Acts 3:18-19). The Father of Truth will bring the rain of the Spirit of Truth into your life, when you let the Man of Truth reign in your life, because you believe that his Father raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The Father of Truth is waiting you to come into the House of Truth, so He make the impossible happen in your life (2 Peter 3:9). .
Come into the House of Truth!
It is not humanly possible for a land that has been a waste land, lacking rainfall, as well almost any vegetation or wildlife, for more than 1700 years, to start receiving regular rainfall, regrow its vegetation, and have the wildlife that lived there before just start returning to that land. Yet this is exactly what the land of Israel did. That is why I call it the Impossible Land.
The land of Israel was known as a pleasant land in ancient times, and was one of the most fertile places on Earth. It supported lush forests, large crops, great herds of livestock, and an abundance of wildlife. The Sea of Galilee supported many fishing villages along its shores. The Land of Israel was so fertile that it supported two and a half million Jews, one million Samaritans, and about one and a half million foreigners, mostly Greeks and Romans, for a total of about five million people. This is particularly amazing when you consider that it was not farmed every seventh year, and modern farming techniques had not yet been invented.
This all began to change when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Romans not only destroyed Jerusalem, but also everything that grew within a 10 miles of Jerusalem. They then mixed salt in the soil all around Jerusalem so that nothing would grow there. Josephus tells of a man who had came from a far country to see Jerusalem the next year, but could hardly believe that a city had ever been there.
Then the Romans destroyed the Roman providence of Judaea in 135 AD. They destroyed over fifty walled cities in the land of Israel, and destroyed the land around them in a similar manner to what they had done to the land around Jerusalem previously, but on a smaller scale. They also destroyed 965 unwalled villages, and did similar things to the rural areas around them. Most of the land of Israel became a barren wasteland, with deserts where there had once been fields, and fields where there had once been forests.
The land of Israel became successively more uninhabitable until the Byzantine Empire took control in 390 AD. The Byzantine Empire tried to improve the land of Israel, because there was a lucrative business in Holy Land pilgrimages. The land of Israel also connected their lands in west central Asia to their lands in north Africa. The Byzantine Empire eventually had as many as 400,000 Jews living in the land of Israel to provide some resistance to invasion by the Sassanid Empire (Persians) to the east. They also had another 100,000 religious professionals and soldiers needed for the thriving tourism industry of pilgrims coming to Jerusalem to see the Holy sites by 635 AD. So five hundred years after the Romans destroyed the land of Israel, it was only able to support about 10 percent of the population that it had previously been able to support.
Whatever improvements that were made during the control of the Byzantine Empire, those improvements were soon lost after the Arab Caliphates took control of the land of Israel in 636 AD. The land of Israel became successively more uninhabitable year after year under their control. Every city and village along the coast of the Sea of Galilee was abandoned at this time, except for Tiberias, because it no longer produced enough fish for people to make living from its waters.
Then the Crusaders took control of the land of Israel in 1099 AD by conducting a scorched earth policy. After that, the Ayyubid Sultanate filled the land of Israel with destruction, when they invaded in 1187 AD to take control. Next, the Mamluk Sultanate filled the land of Israel with the devastation of war for over thirty years, after they invaded to take control in 1260 AD. After the Ottoman Empire took control in 1517 AD, their internal tax policies and other practices degraded the land of Israel even further.
Jerusalem was only able to continue to be occupied by various religious groups maintaining their sites, because these religious groups continuously sent in food, and virtually everything else, from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The land of Israel became close to being a 99% food importer, with olives and prickly pears being the only food items grown natively.
This was not a short-term issue like the Dust Bowl in the 1930's but a permanent condition that lasted for well over a thousand years. This only began to change, when Christian Zionist missionaries along the Sea of Galilee and the streams of the Galilee, began efforts at creating self-sustaining farms using irrigation, shortly after their arrival in 1840 AD. These farms were small, isolated, and dependent upon irrigation, but they were the first real improvement since the Arab Caliphates invaded in 636 AD.
The land was still in this condition when Mark Twain had went from Haifa to Jerusalem in 1867 AD. He despaired over the condition of the land in between these two cities, commenting that for three or four days that he did not see so much as a goat. He said that the only things that lived there, in his words, "was the friends of useless soil - cactus and olive trees". He also commented that in some places the soil was rich enough to grow crops, but it had not gotten enough rain in hundreds of years.
Thanks to the Ottoman Turks, the entire land of modern Israel only had 30,000 trees, less than the farm that I grew up on, when the Ashkenazi Jews began arriving in 1870 AD. The Ottoman Empire had taxed trees so heavily, without regard to the value of what the tree produced, that people had cut down almost every tree in the land of Israel, except for olive trees, whose olives and oil made them valuable enough to keep.
For that reason, there are still three thousand year old olive trees in Israel today. Core samples from some of these trees tell the story of the rain.
Most years until 135 AD, Israel got both the early rain that ended at the beginning of the agricultural season in mid March, about a month before the barley harvest, and the latter rain that began at the end of the agricultural season in late October, about a month after the grape harvest. Without this rain, that lasts all winter, and the dew that lasts all summer, it is virtually impossible to grow crops in Israel without irrigation. After 135 AD, Israel never got both the early and latter rains until the Ashkenazi Jews began to return in 1870 AD. Even after the early and latter rains returned, it only rained in the areas where the Jews had made farming settlements.
So when the Ashkenazi Jews began to stream into the land of Israel in 1870 AD, the land was a barren waste land lacking in rainfall, trees, and crops. They were inspired by the limited success of the Christian Zionist missionaries at self-sustaining farms. So, Mikveh Israel was established that same year to teach them how to transform desert into farmland. Hibat Zion groups were formed shortly after that to put what was learned into practice in small farming communities. These groups then combined to form Hovevei Zion in 1881 AD. Hovevei Zion then began working to help new immigrants establish farming communities that same year. After their arrival, the Bilu as they were called, soon began the process of turning the deserts into forests and grasslands, by planting and maintaining trees.
As more and more Ashkenazi Jews poured in from Europe, and even North America, they began creating innovative ways to both raise crops and to reclaim the land, since the land of Israel was now getting the early and latter rain most years.
Today, Israel is one of only three industrialized nations that are net food exporters. (The US and Canada are the other two.) This tiny country is the size of New Jersey, and only one fifth of its land is naturally arable. Yet, it grows 95% of its own food, importing only what it lacks the land to grow in sufficient quantities itself. In fact, Israel has became so proficient at growing some food sources, that the government of Israel has to restrict farmers on how much they can grow. Otherwise, the price at the market would become so low that it would force some farmers out of business.
The food that it exports, primarily fruits, vegetables, and fish, far exceed the meager amounts of sugar, cocoa, coffee, and the like that it imports. Not only that, in many European countries, half of the fruits and vegetables in the stores are imported from Israel, particularly in the winter.
Every crop raised on Earth is grown in Israel. The only other country that can do that is the United States, due to the diversity that it gained from Hawaii and its protectorates in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Tiny Israel has also became a force in the international wine market as well, due to extensive variety and number of grapes that grow in the land of Israel. Israel is the only land its size where every variety of grapes can be grown.
Israel not only is a food exporter, but also an exporter of flowers, especially roses. Israel is the one of the top ten exporter of flowers on Earth. Israel is the greatest exporter of roses on Earth. The land that was barren is now literally blooming.
Israel also has forests so thick that it has to occasionally fight forest fires, like the massive ones on Mount Carmel in 1989 AD and 2010 AD.
It is not just plant life that has come back in abundance. The land where Mark Twain did not see so much as a goat as he slowly crossed over, is now full of goats and other livestock.
Not only, that, but many of the wildlife species found in ancient times have returned as well, like wolves. Israel is the only place where the Negev antelope still lives, being extinct in the surrounding countries. Israel is the only country in the Middle East to still have a population of wild leopards. A greater numbers of birds, and a greater variety of bird species, visit the land of Israel over the course of a year, than any other country on Earth.
The Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) is only 8 miles (13 km) at its widest point, 13 miles (21 km) at it longest point, and has a surface area of only 64 square miles (166 square km). There are many fresh water lakes much larger in many parts of the world, but none of them do what this lake does. It produces fish so abundantly that people make a living fishing its waters, just like it did when the Romans controlled the land of Israel.
Israel even exports shrimp and crabs that it raises in the desert. Also crocodiles are raised in the salt marshes that border the southern edge of the Dead Sea. (I would not call these things food, even though people eat them, because the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) calls them filth. It is food for thought.)
The impossible has happened.
How could have all of this happened?
This is the work of the Greatest Zionist.
The Father of Truth has been causing the rain to begin to return to the land of Israel (1 Kings 8:35-36). He has been causing the former and latter rain to return to the land of Israel, so it can once again grow crops to feed people and grass to feed animals (Joel 2:21-24).
The Father of Truth has been causing the land of Israel to blossom, so that the fruit grown there can be found in markets all over the Earth (Isaiah 27:6). He has been turning the land of Israel into a garden from a desert (Isaiah 51:3). He has been causing the Jews to till the land of Israel, that was still desolate in 1867 AD, to now produce fruits and vegetables like the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 36:34-35).
The Father of Truth has been causing grapes to become common again in the land of Israel (Jeremiah 31:5). He has been giving success to the efforts of the Ashkenazi Jews to cover the mountains of Israel with vineyards (Ezekiel 36:8-9).
The Father of Truth has been causing the desert in the land of Israel to bloom as a rose and be full of green pastures, under the care of the returning Ashkenazi Jews (Isaiah 35:1-7).
The Father of Truth has brought back the trees to the land of Israel, so the Jews would understand that He had removed the trees from the land of Israel in judgment (Ezekiel 17:22-24). He has caused the land of Israel to be a land of thick trees, like it was before the Jews were cast out it (Ezekiel 20:28). He has brought back forests, so full of trees that they can produce firewood for people to heat their homes (Ezekiel 39:10).
The Father of Truth has been causing the land of Israel to be repopulated with both people and animals after being desolate of both for more than 1700 years (Jeremiah 31:27-28). . He as been returning the livestock to the land of Israel (Jeremiah 33:12-13). He has been causing the land of Israel to be filled again with farms and animals of every sort (Ezekiel 36:11).
The Father of Truth has been causing the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea along the coast of Israel to be abundant with fish since the Jews have returned to the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 33:18-19). The Father of Truth had preserved the fish of the Sea of Galilee, the birds, and other wildlife, from going extinct, so the land of Israel could be filled with them again (Nehemiah 9:6).
The Father of Truth does not just want to make the impossible to happen in the land of Israel, but He wants to make it happen in your life. He wants you to come into the House of Truth where you were meant to live.
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by the returning rain, your spirit will be renewed by the faith in the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) (2 Corinthians 4:13-16). The Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) will renew your spirit, when you come into the House of Truth (Titus 3:4-6). .
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by the returning vegetation, your mind will be renewed by surrendering control of your life to the Man of Truth (Romans 12:1-2). The teachings of the Man of Truth will renew your mind, when you come into the House of Truth (Ephesians 4:20-24). .
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by returning livestock, you soul will be renewed by believing the Word of Truth (1 Peter 1:21-23). The Word of Truth will renew your soul, when you come into the House of Truth (3 John 1:2-4). .
Like the land of Israel is being renewed by returning wildlife, your body will be renewed by the Spirit of Truth resurrecting it from the dead (Romans 8:9-11). You have the promise that the Spirit of Truth will renew your body, when you come into the House of Truth (Philippians 3:20-21). .
Your life will begin to be refreshed as soon as you come into the House of Truth (Acts 3:18-19). The Father of Truth will bring the rain of the Spirit of Truth into your life, when you let the Man of Truth reign in your life, because you believe that his Father raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The Father of Truth is waiting you to come into the House of Truth, so He make the impossible happen in your life (2 Peter 3:9). .
Come into the House of Truth!
Labels: Israel
posted by The House Of Truth @ May 30, 2017
<< Home