Ray Bentley with Genevieve Gillespie. The Holy Land Key. Waterbrook, 2014.

The Holy Land Key tries to bring balance to certain end times prophecies. Bible believers—both Christian and Jewish—see the re-establishment of the State of Israel after nearly nineteen centuries as a sign of Bible prophecy being fulfilled. (See for example Isaiah 11:11-12 or Luke 21:24.) Because of the association of the PLO to the U.S.S.R., Hamas with Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah with the Ayatollahs of Iran, Bible believers in the have often seen the plight of the Palestinians with indifference.

Some who are more sympathetic take issue with a pro-Israel position as a hindrance to evangelism of Muslims and Palestinians. Bentley does not do that. He introduces us to personal friends of his on both sides. He introduces us to both Israeli Jews and Palestinians whom he respects. He may be overly sanguine, but he is optimistic that in spite of the politics on many sides, it is possible for Jews and Arabs to appreciate one another.

The basic thesis of the author, an American who has traveled in Israel extensively, says that “Prophecy is a Biblical teaching to be lived out.” (3) There is a tendency to look at Bible prophecy with a detached attitude. A popular teaching, in fact, claims that Bible believers are going to be detached from the earth before the difficult end times begin. Bentley suggests that people should be re-attached, take part in life, and recognize what God is doing in the world.

In part, he uses an analogy, not specifically prophecy, of the two brothers in Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The prodigal spent a long time living in a “far country,” living with pigs. So the Jews spent centuries living all over the world among Gentiles, but they returned to their homeland as the prodigal returned to his.

But the older brother in the parable is angry. In effect, he says, “What about me?” In other words, he is not unlike the Palestinians. The Arabs claim descent from Ishmael; the Jews from Isaac. Ishmael was Isaac’s older brother. Yes, he was the son of the servant girl, so Isaac received the covenant of promise from Abraham. But Ishmael also received some great promises from God (see Genesis 17:20). And even Moses called his mother Abraham’s wife (Genesis 16:3).

Apeirogon, reviewed last month, showed the possibility of a Jew and Palestinian having mutual respect. While that is a secular approach rooted in tragedy, The Holy Land Key sees a similar possibility based on prophecy.

This book ranges widely, for example, that both Christopher Columbus and Isaac Newton in their writings believed that the Jews would return to Palestine before the end times. Others have interpreted Bible prophecy the same way. Bentley says Israel is “a witness of promises He [God] intends to keep” (27). And again, “God is keeping his eternal covenant with the Jewish people, and He is doing it in full view of the whole world” (41).

The book, though, also asserts that “God has not forgotten the Gentiles who descended from Abraham” (60). We meet both a Jewish mayor of a West Bank settlement and an Arab teacher from Bethlehem.

This book was published in 2014, not too long before the “blood moon” coincidence—four Jewish feasts in two years would be marked by a lunar eclipse. Bentley points out that that sign was coming, but he makes no particular prediction from it.

Probably the weakest or most controversial part of the book is a chapter devoted to the Zodiac. He follows Bullinger’s The Witness of the Stars and hypothesizes that the constellations were designed by God to be prophetic, but mankind twisted them into fortune-telling. That is possible, but one is hard pressed to find much evidence at this point in history.

After that astronomical diversion, Bentley then speaks of the seven feasts of Israel, noting as many others have that the first four feasts prophesied Messiah’s First Advent and the last three His Second Coming. Bentley does a nice job delineating the prophetic significance of the first four holidays (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Shavuot/Pentecost). He is also humble enough to admit that the last three are a promise of restoration, but he is not going to try to predict the specifics. “‘Prophecy is best understood after it has come to pass'” (114).

Less stridently than Jill Shannon, Bentley notes that Gentile believers who do not celebrate the feasts are not offensive, but they are missing out:

The feasts are not a law for Christians. We are not obligated to observe. But oh what we are missing! (170)

The author also notes the prophetic parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus. I once had heard someone talk about this—it is not new—but I had never seen it in writing. Bentley does a fascinating job with this as well as other Bible stories such as that of Ruth and Naomi. He also notes a number of details concerning the Jewish day of mourning, Tisha B’av.

He tries to emphasize that the people of the Holy Land are…people. That is true of the Jew and Gentile there. “Israel is not a history lesson or the key a prophetic clock. It is people!” (204)

This book also has a pretty helpful set of notes with references to a number of books and articles for further reading. Except for the astronomical sidetrack, it is a positive, uplifting, and inclusive book on the prophetic significance of Israel.

N.B. I had read this short book about two years ago and recently re-read it. I reviewed it both times, but the reviews emphasized different things. For the first review see https://langblog.englishplus.com/?p=3725.