Motzei Shabbat – Saturday night is a time many residents and tourists choose to visit the Old City of Jerusalem and pray at the Western Wall.
Saturday night, August 13 2022, as Jewish families were boarding a public bus just outside the Old City gate near the Western Wall, a local Arab terrorist opened fire and injured eight people.
JEWISH FAMILIES ATTACKED AFTER PRAYERS
At least 5 were tourists from the United States. One of them was a pregnant woman sitting in a car in the Zion Gate parking lot. She and her husband were seriously injured… she eventually lost her baby after an emergency C-section.
The site of the attack is a place many of you have visited.
Zion Gate leads out of the Old City walls from the Jewish Quarter to Mount Zion.
Mount Zion is a traditional location of King David’s Tomb as well as some Christian sites.
Some of the people boarding the bus had been at the Western Wall, then also prayed at King David’s Tomb and then boarded the fated bus on the road outside Zion Gate.
The 26 year old terrorist then fled across the street and down into the Silwan neighborhood adjacent to the Old City, and the site of the original City of David.
The whole area is heavily covered with closed-circuit cameras and the police had enough information to identify the perpetrator. The next morning the terrorist turned himself into the police realizing he had no chance of avoiding arrest.
WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF EVIL?
While we are praying for the recovery of the wounded, it’s almost impossible not to ask ourselves, “If God loves His children, and they come to Him in prayer on a Saturday night, how could He let this happen to them?”
A full discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this article, but I wanted to share a couple of points to ponder.
NATIONAL VS INDIVIDUAL PROVIDENCE
There are two kinds of Providence operating at the same time. Providence is how God interacts and communicates with us through natural events.
Individual Providence is when something happens to us to send us a message. Perhaps I bite my tongue when I’m about to say something I shouldn’t, or I get a flat tire on my way to somewhere I shouldn’t really be going to.
National Providence are large events meant to communicate a message to the Nation that the Nation needs to learn or change direction. By necessity, innocent members of the Nation must be swept up in the event. Otherwise, if it were only Jewish murderers and drug dealers who were victims of a terror attack, then the message would be individual… don’t be a murderer or a drug dealer.
When the only victim to die is an unborn baby, it’s clear she was innocent of any wrongdoing that needed to be corrected. It must be a message to the Nation. (how individual justice is provided to the innocent victim is another lengthy topic)
I don’t know what that message is for the Nation, but it may have something to do with our Nation’s relationship to the Old City of Jerusalem, King David, the Temple Mount and Prayer.
May we, and in particular our leaders, learn the message soon and take corrective action, so we no longer need terror attacks to wake us up and move our Nation along a Path to fulfilling God’s Will.
With blessings for a full recovery for the wounded and Peace for all Israel and the Nations.
Shmuel Veffer
Galilee Green
Thank you for this concise definition of the Providential Hand of God and the difference between individual and national Providential intervention. I’m very aware of His Hand in my life, the lives of my family and friends, but I do have less discernment in God’s hand nationally. Especially giving in 21st century America. I just celebrated my 80th decade breathing earth’s air and I can’t even begin to express the shock and unbelievability the state my country is in. If nothing else, it is proof that evil exists and that the theory of gradualism is alive and progressing to it’s horrific end. Even so, our God is Sovereign over all. He has shown Himself to be the Protector of Israel and all people who call on His Name in faith and believing.
A very interesting & informative article today! Thourouly enjoyed!
I believe Almighty God planned my life and it’s path from Eternity Past. I believe that is true for every single human being who has lived or will live. HIS Plan is Perfect—even when I don’t understand it or necessarily like it. Like you, I believe GOD gives strong warnings to nations and to His people. I have wondered if in an event such as this GOD saved that precious longed for little one from something worse that only HE sees? My heart hurts for his parents and I pray for their peace. And always for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Thank you for your description of the difference between individual and national providence. I have also heard in the past that, “God sometimes paints with a broad brush.” In the end, it is for the living to search for the meaning both individually and nationally. Again, thank you for your insights.