High Hopes
Israel - Middle East
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Wendy Wippel
One of the Bible’s lesser known prophecies is in Hosea: “the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, and without a sacrifice”. (Hosea 3:4) That prophecy has been true for nearly 1950 years, but no more. Israel’s Sanhedrin has named a high priest.
The Sanhedrin functioned essentially as our courts do. The Talmud, (a collection of rabbinical writings compiled for the most part during the Babylonian captivity which makes us sort of an addendum to Biblical laws) actually defined two types of Sanhedrin—lesser sanhedrins (Local courts) in individual cities, and the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.
Basically the Supreme Court. But it only dealt with Spiritual issues.
The Mishna, (a specific section of the Talmud that consists of a written version of the Rabbinic Judaism’s oral Torah) provides an explanation of why the Sanhedrin should consist of at least 23 members (The Great Sanhedrin should have 70).
The explanation is fairly convoluted so I will give you the Cliff Notes.
In order to fulfill all of the rabbinic laws regarding how to convict somebody of a crime, it turns out you have to have at least 23 people.
The Great Sannhedrin grew out of the suggestion of Jethro, who suggested to Moses that he choose a group of older learned men to help him judge God’s people. This group came to be known as the Sanhedrin and provided for judging the nation of Israel according to Biblical law.
That is, until 358 AD, when the Roman authorities removed its power.
Re-established in 2004, the current Sanhedrin, is called the "Nascent Sanhedrin”.
“Nascent”, essentially meaning, “we’re just getting this thing back together and are kind of making things up as we go along”.
It currently consists of 7 public members as well other members who are not publicly known. The group has used, as their guide to re-establishing the Sanhedrin, guidelines left by the revered, Rabbi Maimonides upon his death in 1204 in Spain.
Their attempts at reconstruction of the Sanhedrin remain controversial, but they have not let that stop them from beginning to play the part.
This new Sanhedrin formed a committee to identify the exact location of the temple mount.
They’ve initiated efforts to begin acquiring the necessary materials to rebuild the Temple.
They are building working relationships with academic and rabbinic experts.
They’re working on standardizing required prayers and Jewish education materials.
They’re actively promoting settlement of the West Bank and are otherwise involved in military decisions.
Basically, they are slowly but surely establishing a right, as the highest religious authority in the land, to influence both civil and religious institutions in a way that promotes adherence to Jewish law.
Heck, they’ve even got a website.
As I’m writing this a verse popped into my head: “The people who know their God will be strong and take action.”
Sounds like these men are serious about their faith. You don’t get the impression that there are too many like them in modern Israel. They are also starting to ascend the temple mount, pushing their luck a little more in stages. They’re starting to send a message to all concerned that the Temple Mount belongs to the Jews.
And now they’ve really set the bar high. Literally.
They’ve named a high priest. A Rabbi named, Baruch Kahane.
One more step toward being completely prepared to resume all the requirements necessary to worship God according to the dictates in the Torah. Apparently, they have also constructed a portable alter that they hope to carry to the Temple Mount to make the sacrifices there.
And one more step toward the fulfillment of Jewish resumption of Sacrifices predicted by Daniel. (Daniel 9:27)
Rabbi Khane has some doubt. After all, the political situation in Israel, where the Jews at this time are not allowed to ascend the Temple Mount, prohibit making the sacrifices completely according to the law.
But things could change. Especially since the law forbidding Jews from the Temple Mount is a Jewish law made to appease the Muslim population. And only Jewish authorities could reverse it.
Rabbi Khane said, "there’s no need for a high priest right now, but in any case, it is clear that we need to be prepared, to prepare the priests, to have everything ready.”
He did say one more thing.
That since they’ve readied nearly all the materials and have identified and are training the personnel, if the political situation changed, they could be ready to offer Kosher sacrifices in as little as a week.
I couldn’t remember where the verse, “The people who know their God will be strong and take action.” came from, so I looked it up.
It’s Daniel 11. Squarely in a long description of the beginning of the Tribulation.
But that’s a coincidence, right?
Umm… do you hear trumpets?
Subject: High Hopes 
Wed Sep 28, 2016 7:38 am
