SAUDI ARABIA - Israeli Delegates Hold Prayer Service
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi participated in a morning prayer service in Saudi Arabia, complete with a Torah scroll dedicated to the ruler of the kingdom as it strides toward normalization with the Jewish state.
They also read from a small Torah scroll, provided by a “local Jew,” according to Karhi’s spokesman.
The scroll was wrapped in a felt cover, with stitching in English, Hebrew and Arabic reading “The Jewish Congregation, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
“Just as the windows in the house of Daniel were opened facing Jerusalem, so too in Riyadh we were able to pray with windows open facing Jerusalem,” said Karhi in a statement, referring to the biblical character exiled to Babylon.
Karhi also received an invitation to visit the Sukkah of Mohammed Saud, a prominent Israel supporter in Riyadh, Karhi’s office said.
Saudi Arabia has no official local Jewish community, though the kingdom is thought to host a number of Jewish businesspeople.
Earlier, an Israeli delegation of nine staffers flew to Saudi Arabia as observers for the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting. The delegation was led by the head of Israel’s Antiquities Authority and included diplomats, according to an Israeli official.
-www.timesofisrael.com, 3 October 2023
Arno's Commentary
From a geopolitical perspective, it is an achievement. A collaboration between super-rich Saudi Arabia and super-successful, high-tech Israel cannot do other than bear fruit. We must add, however, that it is only temporary.
Daniel is mentioned. Who was Daniel? For one thing, we read in chapter 1, verse 8: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Daniel, as prisoner in Babylon, vowed not to allow anything to come between him and his God. When his enemies, filled with wrath and jealousy, checked Daniel carefully, they came to the conclusion: “We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God” (Daniel 6:5b). Religiously, Daniel remained unconditionally faithful to the God of Israel.
The enemies convinced the king of Babylon to establish a decree, “that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions” (Daniel 6:7b). How did Daniel react? “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (v. 10).
When Daniel speaks of the last Gentile global empire, he writes: “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns” (Daniel 7:7).
Often, the question is asked, what and who are the “ten horns”? Obviously, ten power structures—an imitation of God’s Ten Commandments. We remember also the ten plagues upon Egypt. And Abraham prayed for ten righteous people in Sodom.
The late Dr. Ed Vallowe in his book Biblical Mathematics (now out of print) states: “A ten kingdom confederation is the last phase of human sovereignty upon this earth. This will take place during the tribulation period. (Daniel 2 and 7; and Revelation 13 and 17).”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
