Even if only a coincidence, it is nevertheless deeply symbolic that the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, arrived and visited the Western Wall where he placed a prayer from President Trump as in the cracks of the retaining wall of the Biblical Temple, and that he did so on the sixth day of Passover.
The Book of Exodus recounts the Jewish people’s departure from Egypt on the 15th day of the Biblical month of Nisan. On the sixth day, the 20th of Nissan, in what would be a cliffhanger in a modern TV drama, the Jewish people became trapped between Pharaoh’s approaching army and the Red Sea. Albeit having lived through the Ten Plagues and witnessing God’s hand of redemption, as they saw Pharaoh’s army approaching, the Jewish people became terrified and cried out to God. They also complained, regretting leaving Egypt and fearing death in the wilderness (Exodus 14:10-12).
Moses implored them not to fear, assuring them that God would fight for them. He proclaimed, “You will see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13-14). God declared that the Egyptians would pursue but be defeated (Exodus 14:15-18). Spoiler alert: He was correct. While the actual crossing occurred on the seventh day from the Exodus (21st of Nisan), the sixth day marked the height of the peril facing a newly freed nation of two million people.
During his initial remarks in the shadow of the site of the ancient Temples, Ambassador Huckabee recited Psalm 121 including, “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,” and noted per President Trump’s request, bringing the President’s prayer to the Wall was his first official act as Ambassador, “on behalf of the President of the United States President Donald Trump, and to present a prayer that he, handwritten gave to me last Thursday at the White House, with the instruction that my first act as the ambassador would be to take his prayer, praying for the peace of Jerusalem and to bring it to the wall, to pray that there would be peace in the land.
Wearing a yellow ribbon lapel pin identified with the urgency to have all the hostages released from Hamas captivity, Huckabee added, “I also come with a prayer that all of the hostages will come home now, and that is the prayer of the President as well.”
Huckabee’s comments, and their timing, may only be coincidental, but are very significant. The ancient people of Israel faced drowning, death, or, at best, a return to slavery. Today, Israel faces danger on multiple fronts, each of which threatens to annihilate Israel and the Jewish people. The main threat, the Islamic Republic of Iran, aspires to nuclear weapons and arming its multitude of ballistic missiles to incinerate Israel. There is no doubt, based on the ayatollah’s extremist eschatology, if they were to get the bomb, they would use it. That must be prevented at all costs.
But the Islamic regime also is the main funder, enabler, and arms supplier of several terrorist proxies that also threaten Israel’s destruction. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and others may be significantly weakened, but their jihadi ideology is alive and well. Whether in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq or elsewhere, they threaten their own people by existing for the singular goal to destroy Israel. Let it be clear, none of what they self-identify as the “axis of resistance” is because of the lack of a Palestinian state, but rather because of the existence of the Jewish state.
In the same way God showed his protection of Israel then, there’s no reason to think that He won’t do so today. He allows everyone to participate in this redemption, not just stand by on the sidelines. Some have and are failing miserably. Ultimately, they will go the way of Pharaoh’s army and eliminate the dominant world power. Defeating this can only be done through a divine miracle, which can also include God changing the hearts of the evil jihadis.
Nobody understands this better than Ambassador Huckabee, and he is better placed in it. Grounded in his Christian faith, he knows that Israel is not just another country to which the U.S. represents its interests, but the nation state of the Jewish people, with roots going back thousands of years. I’m not sure if previous U.S. ambassadors to Israel understood their role and opportunity as clearly. Still, I’m confident that Ambassador Huckabee knows that he’s now the U.S. representative to God’s Chosen People, in the Land He deeded them, and in which Jewish sovereignty was miraculously reborn in 1948.
While Ambassador Huckabee represents U.S. interests, as God promises in Genesis 12:3 that He will bless those who bless Israel, he knows and certainly aspires that the United States will continue to find itself on the right side of God’s blessing. That is an American interest.
As a Christian, Ambassador Huckabee also represents another significant aspect of the Exodus. As mentioned in Exodus 12:38: “A mixed multitude (erev rav) also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.” This refers to a diverse group of non-Jews joining the Jewish people during the Exodus. These included non-Israelite slaves, possible converts, the product of Egyptians intermarrying with Jewish slaves, or average Egyptians who seized the opportunity to escape during the chaos of the Exodus, possibly inspired by the miracles of the plagues, or God’s divine power.
Rabbinic sources suggest some of the erev rav joined because of their own faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, having witnessed the plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea, because slaves or oppressed groups sought liberation from Egyptian bondage alongside the Jews. Some may have joined for practical reasons, such as escaping Egypt’s collapsing society, or seeking prosperity in the Land of Israel. Others may have been drawn to the Jewish people’s divine mission.
As a Christian who knows his Bible, Ambassador Huckabee surely knows the significance of his presence in Israel among the Jewish people.
During the Exodus, God’s presence was represented in “the pillar of cloud,” guiding the Jewish people, moving behind them, between them and the Egyptian army, preventing the Egyptians from advancing during the night (Exodus 14:19-20). Pillar of Cloud is also the name of Israel’s 2012 military operation against the Iranian terror proxy Hamas.
This week, rumors of a potential joint US-Israeli operation against the Iranian nuclear facilities were revealed. Hopefully, as ambassador, Mike Huckabee can help navigate the need to eliminate the Iranian threat, to protect Israel and the US from that, and remove a modern existential threat to the Jewish people similar to that of the 20th of Nisan, the sixth day from the beginning of the Exodus. Understanding the urgency for swift action against the Islamic Republic and its proxies, hours before visiting the Wall, millions of Israelis and likely Huckabee himself, scurried to their bomb shelters following yet another ballistic missile being fired at Israel.
Of course, we have God’s Iron Dome, but He also empowers average people to be His ambassadors. May Ambassador Huckabee serve that role with success and honor.
