Welcome back, friends!  We’re taking a journey along a path filled with signs of the times that seem to line up with Biblical prophecies.  With one eye on Scripture and the other on today’s news, we can see that the two are lining up in extraordinary ways!  Yesterday I focused on the natural gas fields discovered in 2009.  While I admit that is “old news” for those attuned to events in Israel, it lays the groundwork for where we’re headed in the next few days, so consider it foundation!

For its size, Israel is a large exporter of goods.  In fact, according to the US government, Israel exports more goods to the US than the US exports to Israel!  Like most of its Mediterranean neighbors, Israel exports olive oil all over the world.  However, it appears a day is coming when olive oil will not be the only oil being exported from Israel!

While true that Israel will soon be exporting natural gas from its Tamar and Leviathan fields, the profits from natural gas may pale in comparison to crude oil resources that may soon be confirmed beneath Israeli soil or off her Mediterranean coast.  In July 2013, the drilling company at the Leviathan gas field probed deeper in search of crude oil.  By September 2014, high quality oil was discovered by another company off the coast of Ashdod, and estimates are that about 200 million barrels of oil there are recoverable.  If so, the economic impact will far surpass that of natural gas.

Furthermore, yet another oil company, confident that their geologists have identified probable oil reserves, is betting millions of dollars that oil will be discovered on the Golan Heights.

So, what’s the big deal about oil and gas finds?  Lots!

First, consider the geographic location of most of the finds…the Mediterranean Sea.  As long as Israel and her partners are spending billions developing the means to get the oil and gas out of the ground, most envious neighbors are quiet.  However, once full-bore production is underway and profits begin rolling in, I suspect the story will change a bit.  For example, will there be disputes over whose oil and gas it really is?  How strong are territorial rights out in the sea, particularly if fracking (the ability to drill horizontally, as well as vertically) is seen to encroach upon another nation’s territory?  Lebanon has already warned companies not to encroach upon its territory.

Ashdod is only a few miles north of Gaza.  Will the Palestinians attempt to convince the world that the Yam-3 oil field is part of Palestinian territory?  What about the silent feud over control of the Palestinians…will Hamas (primarily in Gaza) and Fatah (the ruling party in the West Bank) “be at each other’s throats to claim that Israel is ‘stealing’ the reserves from them?”

But that’s not all.  The Golan Heights are already a very controversial piece of real estate.  Controlled by Israel, it is a buffer zone between Syria and Israel, and has been disputed throughout Israel’s brief history.  Who will be the next to lay claim to the Golan Heights, should oil be discovered there?

Things seem to always be shaking in the Middle East, particularly when it comes to Israel! Here is what I find interesting:  once the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and Jews were scattered throughout Europe and the rest of the world, the land of Israel became a desolate wasteland.  No one wanted to live there, it had no resources, and malaria and other illnesses were prevalent.  Modern-day Tel Aviv was nothing but sand dunes, and the now-fertile Hula Valley was nothing but a gigantic swamp.  There were no trees and the land was barren.  However, God promised to prepare the land and bring His people back into it for good (Ezekiel 36-37).  Then, in Matthew 24:32-35, we find Jesus’s parable of the fig tree, representing Israel’s re-birth.  Indeed, Israel has put forth its leaves, and oil and gas are only one of the evidences that the barren, desolate place is alive with resources.  This is Bible prophecy happening right before our very eyes!

While I do believe that oil and gas in Israel may well play a part in end time events (particularly in growing animosity toward Israel), I do not hold strong belief that the passage in Deuteronomy 33 refers to findings of crude oil in Israel.  As I studied that passage, what I found was that the Hebrew word for “oil” (שמן ) is used well over 150 times in the Old Testament, and refers pretty exclusively to olive oil, perfume, or ointment.  I have yet to find a use of the word that, clearly or unclearly, refers to anything remotely close to crude oil.  In addition, an abundance of olive groves and presses to produce olive oil have dotted the territory of Asher throughout history.  Thus, the Deuteronomy 33 reference to oil seems to clearly imply olive oil.

So, while Israel continues to produce and export some of the finest extra virgin olive oil in the world, she may soon be exporting crude oil and gas as well.  That is…if Israel’s enemies have nothing to say about it!  But, I think they do, so stay tuned for more discussion on signs of the times!

Have a blessed week!