Well-earned praise for Pastor McCabe by Frank Becker
April 5, 2025
Every week, Pastor Daniel McCabe, of Shalom Y’all Ministries, copies us with his wonderful weekly email. It’s packed with wonderful truths and insights from God’s Word, and we generally focus on just one aspect.
But this week, we’re pointing out the wealth of information available, material which, candidly, I rarely see anywhere else. Consider the first three articles below:
- From Daniel’s Scripture Study Series–Stories from Numbers and Deuteronomy, entitled “Seven Busy Weeks, Numbers 9, part 3”. In just his first paragraph, we learn more about the dismal conditioins under which the wandering Israelites lived that first year in the wildneress than from most Bible studies.
- Next,, Daniel’s weekly Trivia question, which is always fun, but can be a real challenge.
- Then one of his “On Location” articles: The Small Wall.” This is fascinating information that could only come from someone familiar with Jerusalem, and in this case, it’s information that would be beneficial to anyone planning a visit.
- And fourth, another “Life in the Land. It’s about three basketball coaches here in the USA, whose teams are among the “Final Four,” and they all have strong Jewish Connections.
- And that’s not all. There’s another article, plus a story from the Arhives.
No wonder folks love to have Daniel McCabe for their guide when they travel to the Holy Land, and why he’s shepherding another new and growing church.
Seven Busy Weeks, Numbers 9, part 3
—The Israelites had been living in a tent now for one whole year since leaving Egypt, and desert life in the Sinai hadn’t been easy. It rained only eight to ten times during the previous year and for no more than a total of three inches, not nearly enough to fill their water jugs. While in Egypt they had lived more or less at sea level in the gentle humidity of the Nile Delta, and so they weren’t accustomed to their new mile-high base camp at the foot of Mount Sinai with its rugged peaks that rose another 2300 feet above their heads and with dazzling views of the surrounding hills for those like Moses and Joshua whom God had instructed to make the climb. Summer temps regularly swelled into the mid-nineties, and winter months dipped below freezing. Hot, cold, dry, dusty and monotonous. But finally something to cheer.
—On the one-year anniversary of their exodus from Egypt the long-awaited tabernacle had been completed and raised by the Levites under Moses’ direction, probably in late March or early April of 1445 B.C. (Exodus 40:17). It had been a massive project. But no one could have imagined what would happen next. “The glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (v. 34), and the cloud that the Lord had sent before them to lead their way through the desert now “covered the tabernacle” (Num. 9:15), signifying in unmistakable fashion that God dearly loved his people and desired to live among them.
—Two weeks later on a moonless night the Israelites celebrated their second Passover. “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover” (9:2), the Lord had instructed Moses, and so they did, though it would be their last such celebration before entering the Promised Land thirty-nine years later. Even so that second Passover served to remind the people of God’s power to deliver them both from physical slavery in Egypt as well as his plan to cover their sin with the blood of an unblemished Lamb.
—Sixteen days later the LORD spoke with Moses inside the freshly consecrated tabernacle, instructing him to count those “twenty years old and above—all who [were] able to go to war” (1:3), no doubt creating a hopeful stir among the 603,500 men of fighting age and the remaining men, women and children that they would soon break camp and head for their future home. The people completed the census and finished their packing in under three weeks, for “on the twentieth day of the second month in the second year … the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle” (10:11).
—A busy seven weeks, fifty days to be precise, had passed since they’d completed the tabernacle and watched in reverence and wonder as the glory of the Lord descended into their midst, but now they were moving out. Little did they know, however, what lay ahead, and the same is true for us.
—There is much to do. You might even say that you’re busier than ever, raising your family and chasing your dreams, but let us not forget the glory of the Lord. It certainly didn’t take long for the Israelites to forget. Fears and frustrations quickly diverted their eyes from God’s abiding presence at the tabernacle. But let’s be different. Let us take to heart Peter’s encouragement to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [for] to Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).
–Daniel McCabe
Trivia—Egyptian hieroglyphics was first deciphered by studying WHAT?
—A. Book of the Dead
—B. Elephantine Papyri
—C. Library of Alexandria
—D. Rosetta Stone
On Location: The Small Wall
—Perhaps you’ve heard of the Western Wall, sometimes called the Wailing Wall, part of the ancient retaining wall built to support the Jewish temple complex in Jerusalem so long ago, but still partially visible today. Many Jews choose to worship and pray along this wall because it’s very close to the ancient location of both Solomon’s Temple and Herod’s Temple and to the Holy of Holies in particular where God’s presence once dwelt in a visible way. The temples have long since been destroyed, and today a Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, stands where both temples once stood. Although no temple has stood on this site since 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Herod’s magnificent buildings, even so many Jews wouldn’t dare climb the modern ramp to enter the Temple Mount compound for fear that they might accidentally tread on sacred ground. Instead they prefer to worship at the base of the Western Wall that’s been turned into an open-air synagogue and that’s now visited each year by ten million people from around the world.
—But what if I told you that there’s another section of the western retaining wall that’s even closer to the historic site of the temples and that hardly anyone ever visits? It’s called the Small Wall, and it’s located about 200 yards north of the famous Western Wall just outside the Iron Gate of the Temple Mount. The courtyard from which you can view the Small Wall is only about ten yards long and four yards wide, but its size quickly gives you a better taste of the cramped conditions once prevalent at the Western Wall before bulldozers leveled the area in the late 1960s to make room for large numbers of worshippers who flocked to it following Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War.
—Once used as a latrine and often filled with garbage during the time of the Ottoman Empire the courtyard facing the Small Wall has now been cleared and cleaned, and it provides a more peaceful alternative for prayer than at the Western Wall if you’ll take just a few extra minutes to wind through the heart of the Muslim Quarter in order to find it.
—Daniel McCabe
A Christ-Centered Passover Seder
—Would you be interested in us coming to your church, school, retreat or camp to lead your group in a seder? Lasting about sixty to ninety minutes, but adaptable to any setting, this presentation and optional meal highlights the significance of Jesus in the Passover. There is no cost. Let us know if you’re interested!
Life in the Land: Three coaches of the “Final Four” have A Strong Jewish Connection
—Did you know that of the four teams participating this weekend in the NCAA Men’s Basketball “Final Four” tournament, three have Jewish head coaches, Bruce Pearl of Auburn, Jon Scheyer of Duke, and Todd Golden of Florida, and the fourth team, the University of Houston, starts a guard named Emanuel Sharp who is a citizen of both the United States and Israel.
—Bruce Pearl is married to a Christian who, according to the Alabama Baptist, prays that he will place his faith in Jesus.
—Jon Scheyer was once named “Mr. Basketball” in Illinois and nicknamed the “Jewish Jordan” while leading his high school team to a state championship, the only championship team known to have a starting lineup of all Jews.
—Todd Golden played professionally for a short time in Israel, and he has both worked for and been coached by Bruce Pearl.
—Emmanuel Sharp was born in Israel, raised there until the age of nine and played for the 16U Israeli National Team. Emanuel’s dad, Derrick Sharp, played professionally in Israel for fifteen years.
—Daniel McCabe
Scripture Study: The Sermon on the Mount, part 3
—Again, let’s look at this familiar passage, so called because Jesus taught a crowd of His disciples somewhere on a “mountain,” which was really a level place on a hill near Capernaum. You’ll find the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6. The location is most likely an area close to the Church of the Beatitudes. The last time I was there, the farmer who owns the land had planted a lot of banana plants in his fields, so we could not walk in the area where Jesus probably delivered this great sermon.
—In any event Jesus told the crowd in Matthew 6:9 to “Pray like this.” He did not require the exact words to be repeated, although that is fine, but instead I think that He gave a model of how our prayers should look.
—If you look at the content of the Lord’s prayer, He begins with praising God, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” I follow that example when I pray in public, starting out by glorifying some attribute of God. Then Jesus asked for the kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done on earth just like it is in heaven. All believers should desire that. God’s will is followed perfectly in heaven, and ideally it should be followed on earth as well. The believer’s earthly hope is longing for life in the kingdom at the time of Messiah’s return.
—Jesus then makes a few requests. First, “Give us this day our daily bread.” I think the importance is that we ask God for what we need to get us through each day. We don’t necessarily ask for what we need for the next forty years, but simply for one day. In so doing, we’ll obviously need to go to God the next day as well, and the next, and that’s a good thing because it keeps our focus on our need for God each and every day. In fact, whatever happens in our life to drive us to need God is a good thing, even if it comes through hardship, which fixes our attention on Him as it should be.
—Jesus finishes this model prayer with a request for God to forgive sins as we, ideally, forgive others, and for God to lead us from temptation and deliver us from evil. Some versions read, “the evil one,” using a substantival use of the adjective, and some manuscripts add the phrase, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen” although this latter phrase was probably not in the original text.
—So there we have the Lord’s prayer. Again, Jesus did not prescribe a meaningless repetition of the prayer, but laid it out as a model of the sort of things about which we should be in prayer. Praying those exact words is good, however, if you mean what you are saying in your prayer.
—Adam Keim
From the Archives: History & Geography, Banias
July 28, 2022
—With its freshwater springs, its picturesque waterfall, and its stunning views of the verdant hills all around it that perhaps still hide a few spent shells in their rich, dark soil, sobering reminders of the battle for this scenic landscape during the Six Day War of 1967, it is probably no surprise to you that many armies have fought here, including the Seleucids, Romans, Crusaders and Arabs. One of the three sources for the headwaters of the Jordan River, Banias, now a nature reserve at the foot of snow-capped Mount Hermon, is arguably one of the most beautiful places to visit in Israel. Banias is a corruption of Paneas, meaning a place sacred to Pan, the god of nature, forests and flocks, for long ago the Greeks built a temple here after discovering a cave at the base of a rocky, red cliff from which bubbled up a refreshing spring. Because of seismic activity, the water still flows today, but now from a crack beneath the cave. In 20 B.C., then under Roman control, Caesar Augustus gifted Banias to King Herod who built a white marble temple near the spring in honor of his benefactor. Herod’s son, Philip, built the capital of his territory here in 2 B.C. and called it Caesarea, which is why you probably know it best by its other name, Caesarea Philippi.
—“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’…. Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Matthew 16:13, 16). Asked and answered near the shrines and temples of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus’ question stands out, for there are indeed both past and present rivals to the name of Jesus, prompting me now to ask, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” One among many good prophets like Elijah or Jeremiah? One of many gods like Pan? Or God alone? Jesus is Lord!
—Daniel McCabe
Answer to the Trivia: D. Rosetta Stone
Who We Are
—Shalom Y’all Ministries is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all gifts to our ministry are tax-deductible. SYM was formed in 2021 to teach the Bible and lead tours to Israel. Our teaching and presentations feature the acronym S-H-A-L-O-M, which means “peace” in Hebrew.
——S – Scripture Study
——H – History and Geography
——A – Archaeology
——L – Life in the Land
——O – On-the-Ground Tours
——M – Media and Resources
Our Mission
—To teach and encourage those who love the Bible, the land of the Bible and the people of the land and to lead educational tours to Israel that forever change the way you read your Bible and worship the Lord
Our Prayer
—“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
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Shalom Y’all Ministries
104 County Road 1633
Cullman, Alabama 35058, US