Israel's Odyssey

Theirs will be the shotgun wedding of those with nowhere left to go to those with no one left to turn to. "These, where had they been?" Isaiah asks. Two thousand years separate those awaiting the first coming of the Messiah and those his return, while accelerating forces hasten their reconciliation. Israel's Odyssey traces the historical and prophetic identity of biblical Israel from earth's earliest ages into the modern political landscape and beyond. Written from the perspective that believing Jews and Christians share a common Scriptural heritage, and surveying the Law and Prophets, it reveals the origin and preservation of a people through whom the world has been blessed but who are now existentially threatened. Increasingly isolated and discordant with the culture around them, believers from orthodox, literalist and fundamentalist traditions will unite in order to affect their mutual survival. Diverging from contemporary evangelical interpretation, the author concludes that faithful Christians with Jews will welcome the Messiah together in an apocalyptic future whose outlines can now be discerned. Six in-depth chapters explore the book's theme, frequently analyzing Hebrew-language biblical text axiomatic to understanding the arc of history as it impinges on those whom Scripture calls the chosen people. The first two chapters cover the Pentateuch, conquest of Canaan and passages in the New Testament relating to the Messiah's lineage and sacrifice, especially as intersecting the lives of the patriarchs. Chapters 3 and 4 cover the prophetic history of Judah and Israel that is for us already accomplished, but laying a foundation to discuss topical issues in the book's final two chapters. Chapter 5 reviews ecclesiastical and secular history from the post-canon period to recent past. Occasionally provocative, it expresses opinions lying outside the range of politically-correct denominational norms. Chapter 6 looks ahead to the end of days, synchronizing applicable Old and New Testament passages in a coherent narrative.