An article from MSNBC News today states: "Thousands of skywatchers on Easter Island cheered as a total solar eclipse darkened South Pacific skies for four precious minutes on Sunday.
Easter Island, famed for the monumental "moai" statues built thousands of years ago by the Polynesian Rapa Nui culture, served as ground zero for the event, which was streamed across the world via the Internet. The eclipse could be seen in person only along a narrow slice of the Southern Hemisphere. The spectacle began at sunrise, 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) northeast of New Zealand. The moon's shadow swept across the South Pacific, darkening skies over the Cook Islands, Easter Island and parts of southern Chile and Argentina."
Easter Island, famed for the monumental "moai" statues built thousands of years ago by the Polynesian Rapa Nui culture, served as ground zero for the event, which was streamed across the world via the Internet. The eclipse could be seen in person only along a narrow slice of the Southern Hemisphere. The spectacle began at sunrise, 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) northeast of New Zealand. The moon's shadow swept across the South Pacific, darkening skies over the Cook Islands, Easter Island and parts of southern Chile and Argentina."
What this article does not tell us is that in Hebraic understanding, solar eclipses represent judgment of the nations. Lunar eclipses have always been interpreted by the sages and rabbis as warnings to Israel, but solar eclipses have long been understood to be a warning to the Gentile nations. Therefore, you might imagine what was quickened in my spirit as I read this article about today's eclipse overshadowing Easter Island! The word "Easter" is actually a version of the name "Ishtar" or "Ashtoreth," the Babylonian goddess of sex and fertility. The statues shown in this picture, overshadowed by the solar eclipse, are ancient monuments built to the gods and goddesses of Babylonian origin. Also very thought-provoking is the fact that the original Polynesian name for Easter Island was "Te pito o te henua," which means "the end of the world of the living"!!
The other thing this article does not tell us is that this is the third consecutive solar eclipse to fall exactly on the 1st day of the Hebrew month of Av. Total solar eclipses occurred also on the first of Av in 2008 and in 2009. Does that seem like a coincidence to you? If you know anything about the month of Av in Jewish history, of course you know this is no coincidence, but the Mighty Hand of Yahweh, who is sounding a "three-alarm warning" to the nations who have rejected him and chosen to worship other gods! The above article does tell us that this particular solar eclipse was centered over an island littered with idols and statues to pagan gods, a veritable "Ground Zero of the end of the world of the living!"
Jeremiah 2:11-13:
Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet, they are not gods at all).
But my people have exchanged my Glory for worthless idols.
Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares YHVH.
My people have committed two sins;
They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The heavens are indeed displaying God's warning signs against the nations who have, throughout history, caused untold suffering and attempted to completely annihilate the Jewish people from the face of the earth. The tribes were kept from entering the Promised Land on the 9th of Av, when the ten spies brought back a negative report. The people wept. Subsequently, on the 9th of Av in 586 BC, Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, who worshiped their Babylonian gods, and the Jewish people were taken into a 70-year captivity. The destruction of the second Temple also occurred on the 9th of Av in 70 AD, which began the 1,931 year exile of the scattered Jews. If this were not bad enough, the following events also occurred on the 9th of Av (or in the period between 17 Tammuz and 9 Av: Roman destruction of the Temple Mount, the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 AD, the pagan temple of Jupiter (or Marduk, the Babylonian god) dedicated on the Temple Mount, the dedicating of the Al Aksa Mosque and Dome of the Rock by the Muslims, the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1290, the Spanish Inquisitions, which expelled all the Jews from Spain in1492, and the Krystalnacht of the Holocaust and deportation of Jews into the Nazi death camps on 9th of Av, 1942. I even witnessed with my own eyes the expulsion of the Jews from their homes in Gaza on the 9th of Av in 2005!
Let us fast and pray alongside our Jewish brothers and sisters during this critical time. Pray for PM Benjamin Netanyahu, that he would receive the wisdom and counsel of the Holy One of Israel. Pray that he would stop turning to earthly rulers for peace and safety, rather than to God. Pray for mercy for the United States as our President continues to try to pressure Israel into dividing up God's Land and the City where He has put His Name.
Finally, as we contemplate the meaning of a total solar eclipse over the pagan Easter Islands, let each of us examine our own hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to show us any darkness lurking there that needs to be brought into the light and cleansed. Expose the "gods" to whom we give more time and worship than we give to You, O Lord! Give us ears to hear your warning sounds, and eyes to see the Truth proclaimed in the heavens. Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Your unfailing love, according to Your great compassion. When we reach the "end of the world of the living," may we continue to live and give you praise in Your Eternal Kingdom, through the grace of Yeshua our Redeemer!
Amen.
