Today Israel is a country without leadership. One commentator on the Israeli Ynet News wrote: "It is time to call elections because we are going nowhere. There is no leadership. We are in the pits politically, militarily and socially." There is extensive corruption in the ruling elite--there are suspicions against the finance minister, the president Moshe Katsav has suspended himself because of rape allegations. The Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is a lame duck who only about 4 percent of the public feel should continue his job. He too is pursued by corruption scandals. The preliminary findings of the Winograd commission, established to examine the failure of the Lebanon war last summer, were released this week. Much of the blame was placed upon Ehud Olmert for hasty decision making. After only a year in office it seems his days are numbered.

The question is who would replace Ehud Olmert. There doesn't seem to be a strong leader. There have been strong leaders in the past such as Moshe Dayan. However, these were blinded in part--Moshe Dayan literally--they didn't have spiritual eyesight, they couldn't see where the nation should be going. Further, there isn't a prospective leader who wouldn't give away Judea to the Arabs. There isn't a leader who would stand up to the world and say we are staying in the West Bank. The famous Israeli statesman Abba Eban called Israel's pre-1967 borders  the "Auschwitz lines" because they were indefensible and if Israel were to be overrun by the Arabs the results would be very similar to that of the Holocaust. The West Bank towns look right down from the mountain heights on Israel's populated and vulnerable coast line, on cities such as Tel Aviv and the international airport. Israel's border at Netanya would be only, listen, 9 miles wide. From the West Bank border to Ben Gurion International Airport is only 2 miles! This may all sound very strategic, but what does this have to do with the Bible? In fact the area of the West Bank or Judea and Samaria is also crucial when it comes to Bible prophecy.

In Joel 3 the prophet spoke of the time when God would "bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem". This is our time. This is what God has done. The vast majority of Judah and Jerusalem are in the West Bank, sometimes referred to as the Biblical heartland of Israel. It is practically inconceivable that Israel would leave this territory and the Jewish residents expelled. Yet this is what Ehud Olmert intended to do when he became prime minister a year ago. You may remember that it was Ehud Olmert who destroyed the homes in the West Bank town of Amona where many young religious protesters were ruthlessly beaten with police clubs. What is needed for Israel is righteous leadership--a righteous ruler, but where will he come from?

In the last words of King David in 2 Samuel 23:3-5 he said: "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things , and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." So, the idea of the need of righteous rulership has been around for a long time. But David is not just speaking of a righteous king in general terms, he is speaking of a specific king--the Messiah. He will be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth. This is a reference to the Messiah, consider Malachi 4:2,3 "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked..." Notice also that David speaks of the covenant God made with him of the son to sit on his throne for ever (2 Samuel 7), he says this covenant is all his salvation, yet he says that God "made it not to grow." The verb here translated to grow is "Yatz-me-ach". In Jeremiah 23:5-6 we read: "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch (a Tzem-ach), and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

A righteous branch, a righteous king will grow up from the line of David who will save Judah. This king is currently sitting at the right hand of God as we read in Psalm 110: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies... The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." After the manner of Melchizedek. Melech-Tzedek, king of righteousness. The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to them that turn from transgression in Jacob, he will cause Israel to blossom and bud and fill the face of the earth with fruit.

 This is the only real solution to Israel's leadership crisis and one wonders how long things can go on as they are. May it be that the redeemer will soon come to Zion! This has been David Billington and I would like to invite you back again next week, God willing, for more Bible in the News at www.bibleinthenews.com!