Iran has threatened Israel with a nuclear genocide for decades, so it was appropriate that when Israel launched a preemptive strike to eliminate this existential threat, it should be given a Biblical name: Operation Rising Lion. The official tasked with assigning this name was probably familiar with the prophecy in Numbers. Still, he certainly did not know of the Kabbalistic references to the aptly named IDF operation in the skies over Iran and how it implied this would be the War of Gog and Magog; the last war before the final redemption.

At 3:00 AM on Thursday, all of Israel woke up to sirens. The Color Red alarm was preemptive, sounding moments before the Israeli Air Force struck its military targets. Over 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets participated in the opening strikes, dropping more than 330 munitions on approximately 100 targets across Iran. The operation was guided by precise intelligence from Israel’s Intelligence Directorate, which had identified an imminent nuclear threat from the Islamic Republic.

The operation was named after a verse in Numbers that tells of the pagan prophet, Balaam, the son of Beor, whom King Balak of Moab hired to curse Israel. God did not allow Balaam to curse Israel and, instead, Balaam blessed Israel.

Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. Numbers 23:24

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known by the Hebrew acronym Ramchal, was a prominent 18th-century Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher. The Ramchal wrote in his commentary on that verse:

“It is already known that Israel must go through many wars before it can rest from their work. And the last war will be the war of Gog and Magog, when Israel will rise up like a lion to take revenge on the nations that oppressed them in their exile.”

The Ramchal stated that rotting and descent are always necessary for growth. It is like a fruit that falls to the ground and rots before it puts out roots to create a tree.

“And there will also be some of them who will increase their desire to go up and fight with Israel. And to them it is said: ‘And the Lord will go out and fight with those nations,’ (Zechariah 14:3). And this is: “Behold, the people as a lion will rise up, and the lion will exalt himself,” such is the nature of the lion, when he sees a person lying on the ground as if dead, then he will remove himself from him.”