Israel's Massive Discovery Of Oil In Golan Heights: Joel Rosenberg Reflects

Israel makes massive discovery of oil in the Golan Heights. Is this a prelude to the “War of Gog & Magog”? Here’s the answer, Part Two.

 It has been a dramatic month here in Israel, and we’re only eleven days in.

At the moment, we’re experiencing a rash of violence, including a series of stabbings by Arab terrorists, Arab rioting in various cities, and other attacks against Jewish people. Last night, terrorists in Gaza also fired a series of rockets at southern Israel. Fortunately, the Iron Dome system shot down one of the rockets and no one was injured by the others. 

The Prime Minister has deployed additional police and soldiers to increase security. He has also deployed additional Iron Dome batteries in the south. Please pray for a restoration of calm. We’re not worried. Life is going on nearly as usual here. But life is never dull here, and we need the Lord to move mightily to restrain the forces of evil.

That said, two much bigger stories have also captured people’s attention here in recent days.

1. THE EMERGING RUSSIAN-IRANIAN MILITARY ALLIANCE ENTERS COMBAT. The first story I’ve already noted on this blog, but it’s importance cannot be overstated. We are witnessing a stunning move by Russia and Iran as they send military forces into combat in Syria. For the first time, these two nations — historic enemies — are operating together in a military alliance, one that will have profound consequences for the security of the region, and one that poses a grave danger to the security of Israel.
2. ISRAEL MAKES MASSIVE DISCOVERY OF OIL. The second big story I have noted on Twitter but not yet on this blog. Israel this past week announced the discovery of a massive oil patch in the Golan Heights, along the border of Syria, that could make the Jewish state energy independent for decades to come. I have previously reported Israel’s discovery of massive amounts of natural gas off the Mediterranean coast. But while there has been speculation about the presence of oil in Israel, a major discovery has never been confirmed until now.

“Energy geologists estimate that billions of barrels of crude oil are available in shale in the occupied Golan Heights, but will Israel be able to get to it? If it can, the field could make the Jewish state self-sufficient in oil for years,” explains a news report from NASDAQ. “Afek Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of the U.S. company Genie Energy had been drilling in the southern Golan Heights for more than a year, and in September announced the discovery of the shale deposit. But the size of the field wasn’t confirmed until Oct. 7. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 News, the company’s chief geologist, Yuval Bartov, said, ‘We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick, and what is important is the thickness and the porosity….On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is 10 times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities. The important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that’s what we now know.'”

Given that we are definitely seeing such headlines, is it possible that we are also going to see the “War of Gog & Magog” happen soon? As I stated in Part One of this series, it is too early to draw such a conclusion. More would have to happen to convince me the prophecies are definitively coming to pass in our lifetime. But given the trend lines, we cannot rule out the possibility that Ezekiel 38 & 39 will come true soon. It’s certainly possible.

Therefore, let’s continue to look carefully at what the text really says. Here, then, is Part Two of our study: