Raising Jerusalem

Behold, I have engraved Israel on the palms of My hands.

-Isaiah 49

When I was in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem the other month, there were people dancing right there in the streets, singing some joyful songs of Zion. Such a memorable time!

One of the songs they were singing – a song I vaguely recognized, but could only mouth broken Hebrew to – was this beautiful piece:

Playing on the guitar tonight and sitting in front of my computer, I figured out the chords for that, and uploaded them to MessianicChords:

Chords and lyrics, Hebrew and English: Ben Snoof – Im Lo A’aleh et Yerushalayim

Beautiful little piece, taken from Psalm 137, where the Psalmist wrote,

"If I forget Jerusalem,
Let my right hand lose her skill
Let me tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
If don't raise Jerusalem (im lo a'aleh et Yerushalayim)
Above my highest joy (al rosh simchati)."

Now that’s something, fine Kineti readers.

Jerusalem above all other joys.

A high standard for us as Messiah’s disciples.

It’s not just the psalmist, either. It got me thinking about God’s words in Isaiah 49:

Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me!”
And, “God has forgotten me!”
But I say, can a woman forget her nursing child?
Or fail to have compassion upon it?
Yes, even she may forget
But I will not forget you, Israel!
Behold, I have engraved Israel on the palms of My hands
Her walls are always before

I liken this to a work that God did in the last century. The Jewish people had suffered nearly 2000 years of exile and humiliation. “The Lord has forsaken Jerusalem!”

But then, in the 1800s, God stirred men’s hearts towards a love for the deserted land of Israel. In the late 1800s, God turned men’s hearts towards a love for the nearly-abandoned language of Hebrew. By the turn of the century, some early pioneers were making the trek back to Israel.

I sometimes wonder, had kol Yisrael made the trek, perhaps the Holocaust could have been avoided. But even the Holocaust was used by God to soften the hearts of the nations towards the idea of Israel rebirth.

And surely enough, 3 years after the Holocaust, in 1948, Israel was reborn. “Israel is always before Me.”

And the Jewish people returned en masse to our historic homeland.

God didn’t forget Israel. Israel is engraved on the palms of the hands of God, and will not be forgotten.