April 19, 2025

l’ve nicknamed my two older sisters, “Brown Eyes” and “Blue Eyes,” and you only get one guess why. Did you know that the majority of Americans also have brown and blue eyes, 45% and 27%, respectively? My eyes, on the other hand, are hazel like another 18% of Americans, but only 9% in the US have green eyes like Bruce Willis, Scarlett Johansson or Batgirl. Worldwide the number is even lower; only 2% have green eyes with Kate Middleton being perhaps the most famous example.

—According to biblical anthropologists, most men and women in Bible days had brown eyes although some in the region of Upper Galilee sported blue eyes. However, I can actually name two people in the Bible who had green eyes—Miriam and Aaron. Admittedly, their driver’s license read “BRN,” not “GRN,” but Numbers 12 makes it quite clear that brother and sister had been attacked by the green-eyed monster of jealousy. Here’s how the passage puts it, “And they said, ‘Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’”

—After all, the Bible does call Miriam a prophetess, one who speaks for God, and there was that time, following the exodus, when she led “all the women” of Israel in a song of praise to the Lord (Ex. 15:20). That showed able leadership on her part and a broad base of support. Without her Moses would have never won the women’s vote.

—Aaron too had a strong resume. In fact, the Bible refers to Aaron as Moses’ prophet (Ex. 7:1) because everyone knows that Moses couldn’t talk his way out of a paper bag (4:10). Besides, Aaron too stood toe-to-toe with Moses against pharaoh in Egypt (5:1) and at his side on Mount Sinai in the presence of God (19:24). Don’t forget that it was Aaron’s rod that turned into a serpent (7:10) and Aaron who stretched out his rod over the Nile, turning it into blood (7:19). Aaron called up the frogs (8:6) and lice (8:17) that plagued the Egyptians—not Moses! The Lord spoke regularly to both Moses AND Aaron (4:27; 6:13; 7:8; 9:8), and when the people complained, Aaron too got his share of it (16:2). God gave Aaron the position of high priest in the tabernacle, representing the people before God (28:35), and, you know, he’s even three years older than Moses (7:7).

—All that should count for something, right? Of course it does! It tallies the many ways that God shows us grace to us despite our many weaknesses. Miriam didn’t deserve a special place of honor for leading an impromptu worship service with the ladies. Instead, that should be her humble response to all that God had done for her. Aaron didn’t deserve to wear high priestly garments. Again, it’s a sign of God’s grace! That the Lord chooses to use any one of us should humble us as it evidently did Moses, for immediately following Aaron and Miriam’s green-eyed rant that they too should hold power, we read these words, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth” (12:3).

—Moses too didn’t deserve his position for having learned humility. No, again, it is all God’s grace, but note these words from Proverbs 29:23, “A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.”

–Daniel McCabe

—Trivia

—Of the following nations, which one does NOT have a formal peace treaty and normalized relations with Israel?

On Location: The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu

—Many think that it’s here on the eastern slope of Mount Zion where Jesus stood trial in Caiaphas’ house and where Peter denied the Lord three times. Gallicantu means “crowing of the cock,” and the modern church adorning this panoramic location has been notably preceded by both a twelfth-century Crusader chapel and a fifth-century Byzantine shrine. In his surviving travel diary the Pilgrim of Bordeaux mentioned this site as far back as 333 A.D. Rock-cut structures, cisterns, cellars, and stables, dating to the time of Jesus, have convinced many of the site’s authenticity, and an outdoor staircase on the northern side of the church leads down into the Kidron Valley in the general direction of the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed on the night before his trial. Rival sites exist on both the western slope just outside Zion Gate and in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, and although I’m admittedly uncertain which site has the best claim, the architecture, artwork and archaeological evidence of the Church of St. Peter of Gallicantu makes it well worth a visit.

—Daniel McCabe

Life in the Land: Date and Cocoa Balls

—Recently we had friends over to our home for dinner and a game night. I surprised them with these treats purchased last year from Israel.

—Does the combination of dates and cocoa sound good to you? Here are the abbreviated responses of my family and friends who tried them that night. “They taste healthy, a little like coffee, a lot like a chocolate fig bar. They’re pretty good though a little rich, a little dry. I really liked them. They were just the right size.”

—Swing by our house anytime. You never know what I might pull out as a surprise!

—Daniel McCabe

History & Geography: Shechem, part 2

—Just a few generations after Joshua, when Israel was in a vicious cycle of betraying God, getting conquered, and being delivered over and over again, one of Gideon’s own sons, Abimelech, rose to power by murdering seventy of his brothers. The leaders of Shechem, his mother’s hometown, made Abimelech king of their city. At this point in history, Israel was not yet to have a king, not until God appointed Saul for that role. According to Judges 9:6, the people crowned Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar at Shechem. This must surely be a reference to the very stone that Joshua erected years before to serve as a witness of Israel’s faithfulness to God.

—I encourage you to read the story of Abimelech in Judges 9. Notice what Jotham (Abimelech’s only surviving brother) does when he stands on Mount Gerizim to challenge Abimelech and curse him. Consider the political intrigue in which Abimelech gets entangled as he betrays the people of Shechem and even kills 1,000 people by burning down the Tower of Shechem, the fortress temple of their city, Baal-berith, the remains of which you can still visit today.

—The tragic events that unfolded at Shechem are sad in their own right, but even more so when you think about them all happening in the presence of Joshua’s stone, witnessing this great period of sin and faithlessness to Yahweh, the God of the Bible. I have been to Shechem a few times, and I always yearn to go back. To look up at Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, to visit Jacob’s well nearby where Jesus encountered the woman at the well in John 4, and even to see what is quite probably the very stone of witness that Joshua himself set up at the city of Shechem. A massive, plastered stone pillar has been discovered and restored to its original location just outside the fortress temple of Baal-berith. This surviving pillar is almost five feet tall; it is broken, but stands at most of its original height. I have pictures of me, my wife, and other friends sitting before it and standing around it.

—Just think of the intervening millennia of time that this stone has witnessed. Everything from wars, exiles, the rejection of the Messiah and centuries of pain, misery and sorrow. All of it because people, not only Israel, but everyone, have not done as promised in the days of Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” But praise be to God that He offers forgiveness to everyone in that whoever believes in Him, Jesus the Messiah, should not perish but have a spring of water within him, welling up to eternal life, worshiping the father in spirit and truth.Just a few generations after Joshua, when Israel was in a vicious cycle of betraying God, getting conquered, and being delivered over and over again, one of Gideon’s own sons, Abimelech, rose to power by murdering seventy of his brothers. The leaders of Shechem, his mother’s hometown, made Abimelech king of their city. At this point in history, Israel was not yet to have a king, not until God appointed Saul for that role. According to Judges 9:6, the people crowned Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar at Shechem. This must surely be a reference to the very stone that Joshua erected years before to serve as a witness of Israel’s faithfulness to God.

—I encourage you to read the story of Abimelech in Judges 9. Notice what Jotham (Abimelech’s only surviving brother) does when he stands on Mount Gerizim to challenge Abimelech and curse him. Consider the political intrigue in which Abimelech gets entangled as he betrays the people of Shechem and even kills 1,000 people by burning down the Tower of Shechem, the fortress temple of their city, Baal-berith, the remains of which you can still visit today.

—The tragic events that unfolded at Shechem are sad in their own right, but even more so when you think about them all happening in the presence of Joshua’s stone, witnessing this great period of sin and faithlessness to Yahweh, the God of the Bible. I have been to Shechem a few times, and I always yearn to go back. To look up at Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, to visit Jacob’s well nearby where Jesus encountered the woman at the well in John 4, and even to see what is quite probably the very stone of witness that Joshua himself set up at the city of Shechem. A massive, plastered stone pillar has been discovered and restored to its original location just outside the fortress temple of Baal-berith. This surviving pillar is almost five feet tall; it is broken, but stands at most of its original height. I have pictures of me, my wife, and other friends sitting before it and standing around it.

—Just think of the intervening millennia of time that this stone has witnessed. Everything from wars, exiles, the rejection of the Messiah and centuries of pain, misery and sorrow. All of it because people, not only Israel, but everyone, have not done as promised in the days of Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” But praise be to God that He offers forgiveness to everyone in that whoever believes in Him, Jesus the Messiah, should not perish but have a spring of water within him, welling up to eternal life, worshiping the father in spirit and truth.

—Adam Keim

Answer to the Trivia

C. Lebanon