The very name of the ancient city stirred another clash of emotions. Bennett knew the name Jerash from one of the guidebooks or tourist Web sites Erin had read to him. He remembered phrases like “nestled in a quiet valley among the mountains of Gilead” and “one of the largest and most well-preserved sites of Roman architecture in the world outside Italy.” Like Erin, he had hoped to someday visit Jerash and stroll down its “paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hilltop temples, handsome theaters, and spacious public squares and plazas.” But now, he knew, that would never happen — not in this lifetime, anyway — and that only fueled his growing depression.
“How far is that from Amman?” Bennett asked, getting more to the point.
“Maybe forty kilometers, give or take,” Kwamee said.
Bennett nodded and told the prime minister, “We’re about twenty-five, thirty minutes out, sir. Why do you ask?”
“I’m asking because I know you’re in direct contact with President Oaks,” Doron said, “and I need you to get him an urgent message.”
“Of course,” Bennett said. “Whatever you need.”
“I need you to tell the president that I’m accelerating construction of the Temple.”
“Whatever for?” Bennett asked.
“The Levite priests are trained and ready to go,” Doron said. “I want them to place the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies by Yom Kippur. And I’m hoping that the entire structure can be complete by Hanukkah at the very latest.”
Bennett tensed. Yom Kippur? That was only three weeks away.
“Mr. Prime Minister, are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Bennett asked, thinking through the implications, none of which struck him as good.
“The Jewish people have waited nearly two thousand years to rebuild the Temple; why should we wait any longer?” Doron said.
Bennett could think of a host of reasons. “For one, most of the world is going to see this as a highly provocative act at a moment when the peace of the world hangs in the balance.”
“You don’t think we have a historic right to rebuild the ancient ruins of our holy places?”
“Of course I do,” Bennett said. “I’m just saying that perhaps now would be a better time to announce a suspension — perhaps a temporary one — of the construction of the Temple until a regional peace treaty can be hammered out, or at least until the international climate can cool a bit.”
“No, I’m sorry, Jonathan. I can’t do that,” Doron replied bluntly.
“Of course you can,” Bennett insisted. “You’re a leader, Mr. Prime Minister. You’re a statesman. The world is about to go up in flames. You have the chance to pour cold water on the flames, not gasoline.”
“Jonathan, the reason I’m accelerating the completion of the Temple is precisely because the world is going up in flames. Don’t you see? There won’t be world peace until the Messiah comes. And the Messiah won’t come until there’s a Temple. Now is not the time to apply the brakes. Now is the time to hit the accelerator and get this thing done. The world needs the Messiah now more than ever. You should know that better than anyone. As to whether it’s His first visit or His Second Coming, well, we’ll ask Him when He gets here.”
“That’s it? That’s the message you want me to pass to the president?” Bennett asked, stunned by the prime minister’s chutzpah, given the events of the past twenty-four hours. “You don’t think the American people are paying a high enough price for standing with Israel as you defy international opinion and build the Temple before a comprehensive peace treaty is signed? Have you completely lost your mind?”
Remarkably, Doron stayed calmer than Bennett would have expected. “Jonathan, with all due respect, your analysis is backward.”
“How so?” Bennett asked.
“The United States wasn’t attacked because she stood valiantly by the Israeli people,” Doron replied. “She was attacked because she has abandoned us in our time of need.”
“What?” Bennett asked, incredulous.
“Where was the United States when the Russians and the Iranians formed an alliance to wipe us off the map?” Doron retorted, an edge of anger now in his voice. “Where were your president and the leaders in Congress when my people faced an imminent holocaust? Where? Nowhere to be found, were they? Your government abandoned us, Jonathan, and you know it. That vote in the United Nations condemning us to obliteration? Did the U.S. defend us? No. Did the U.S. veto that cursed resolution, as we asked them to, as we begged them to? No. No. No. You abstained. You abstained!”
“I had no part of that, Mr. Prime Minister,” Bennett reminded his friend. “You know that.”
“I’m not saying you personally abandoned us,” Doron agreed. “But your country did. America did. You know it’s true. That’s why you resigned — because you couldn’t work for a president, for a government, that would cut us loose. And what have you and Eli told me time after time, year after year? Haven’t you always quoted me Genesis chapter 12 verse 3? ‘He who blesses Israel, the Lord will bless, and those who curse Israel, the Lord will curse.’ Right? Well, it seems to me the Lord may very well have removed His blessing from America the moment America stopped blessing us.”
Bennett sat in stunned silence as he stared out at the Jordanian countryside passing him by and the first drops of rain beginning to hit his window. It was the first time, Bennett noted to himself, in the many years he had known David Doron, a largely unreligious man, that Doron had quoted Scripture to him. His words stung bitterly, but the fact was, Bennett wasn’t entirely sure Doron was wrong.
“I’m not saying I’m happy about what has happened, because I’m not, and you know that,” Doron said after a long, awkward pause. “But I am saying you have your national interests, and we have ours. And one of ours is finishing this Temple. The Bible says it’s going to be built. We Jews have been praying for it to be built for the past two millennia. And now we have the unprecedented opportunity to finish the job and clear the way for the coming of the Messiah, and I’m going to seize that opportunity. If the world wants to go to war with Israel to stop the Temple and wipe us off the map, then I say bring them on. We have the Ark. We have the God of the Ark. So let’s just say, we like our chances.”
44
The rain was falling harder now.
Dr. Kwamee turned on the windshield wipers. Bennett hoped like crazy the NSA was getting all of this. They had to be. Within the hour, Secretary Trainor would be reading the transcripts or listening to the recording. Soon the president would be. Doron had to know it as well. That was, after all, the whole point of the exercise, wasn’t it? To communicate directly with the president of the United States?
Bennett tried to process what the Israeli prime minister was saying, but it wasn’t easy. It cut too close to home. He felt guilty for entertaining the question, even for a moment. But was Doron right? Had God removed His favor on the United States because the U.S. had turned her back on Israel in her moment of need?
Bennett knew many Christians felt America had long been living on borrowed time. After all, they said, why should God keep blessing a nation that celebrated its sin? More than forty million abortions since 1973. Pornography sales topping $13 billion annually, more than annual NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball revenues combined. The most toxic cultural pollution imaginable pouring out of Hollywood and the music industry every day. Nearly seventeen thousand murders a year, more than double that of the 1950s. The list could go on and on.
Bennett had always tried to avoid the debate. He loved his country. He loved being an American. He loved America’s freedom and her generosity. Americans had done so much good. They had been such a blessing to people all over the globe for so long. But while all that was true, as much as he hated to admit iT — and he really did — he knew it wasn’t the whole truth. America had a dark side, and as the apostle Paul put it to the Galatians: “God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” So does a nation.