“There is something you should know, Jonathan,” the prime minister began, jarring Bennett back into the moment. “I know Avi Zadok shared with you several of the theories being bandied about in the press about who killed Eli and why. But there may be another explanation for why Eli died. Come, take a walk with me.”
The concrete beneath their feet was wet from a late-afternoon shower, and as they walked they stepped carefully around the puddles.
“Last November,” the prime minister began, “not long after the earthquake and the firestorm, I quietly asked Mordechai to come to my office. We talked about ‘The Ezekiel Option,’ about why he’d written it and about what he thought was coming next. As you can imagine, he did his best to convert — er, persuade—me to become a follower of Jesus. He warned me time was running short, that the Scriptures said ‘now is the day of salvation,’ and I asked him what he believed was next on the prophetic calendar.”
“What did he say?” asked Bennett.
“He talked a lot about the Rapture — which, if I understand correctly, is when all of the followers of Jesus around the world disappear in the blink of an eye and are caught up in heaven to be with God forever.”
Bennett nodded.
“Well, he gave me quite an earful on that.”
“And you didn’t buy it?” asked Bennett.
“Please, Jonathan. I’m the prime minister of Israel, for crying out loud. Eli’s prescience was uncanny. I will grant you that. But just because he was right about Russia and Iran doesn’t prove ipso facto that Jesus is the Messiah. Believe me, I’ve read Ezekiel 38 and 39. They don’t say anything about Jesus. They’re not in the New Testament. They’re Jewish prophecies, written by a Hebrew prophet. While Eli loved to point out how many millions have become followers of Christ in the last few months, I would always remind him that we’ve also seen an unprecedented resurgence in Jews all over the world attending synagogue, buying Hebrew Bibles, wearing tefillin, enrolling their children in Hebrew school, and so on. The fact is, Jews are turning back to Judaism in record numbers, Jonathan. And why is that? Because they have seen the God of Israel — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — show Himself in an amazing way.”
“All true,” Bennett conceded. “But I’m not sure I understand your point.”
“My point,” said Doron, “is that Christians and Jews have very different interpretations of what has just happened, and very different understandings of what is going to happen next. But Eli did say there’s at least one thing that all of the Jewish and Christian prophets and teachers — ancient and modern — agree upon, and that is this: the next major prophetic event that will occur is the building of the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. He pointed out that Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48 are all about the rebuilding of the Temple, right after the War of Gog and Magog. And he warned me how explosive the issue of the Temple would be. Specifically, he urged me to be on guard against a new evil that will rise and begin targeting anyone who tries to bring the Temple to completion.”
“He used that phrase, a new evil?” Bennett asked.
“Yes, why?” asked Doron.
“Because he used that same phrase with Erin and me, just before he died.”
“What do you mean?”
“He said, ‘But be on guard, my children, for a new evil is rising, more deadly than anything that has ever come before.’”
“Yes, yes, that’s what he said to me,” said Doron.
“And then,” Bennett added, “he told us to ‘stop them before… ’”
“Before what?”
“I don’t know. He passed away before he could explain.”
“This may all be my fault,” Doron said suddenly, almost in a whisper.
“Why?” asked Bennett. “What do you mean?”
“When Eli told me his theories about the Temple and about this ‘new evil’ rising, I asked him to do one last mission for me. And now, I fear, it may have cost him his life.”
Bennett’s stomach tightened. “What kind of mission?”
Doron stopped and looked into Bennett’s eyes, then turned away and leaned against the damp, cold metal railing along the edge of the roof. For a few moments he said nothing, just stared out over the twinkling lights of the Old City, and it struck Bennett that the prime minister was measuring his response carefully.
“I asked Eli to do what he did best,” Doron began. “To think around corners, look over the horizon. I asked him to help me identify the forces behind this ‘new evil’ and how they might try to hit us when construction began.”
“Construction?” asked Bennett. “Of what?”
Doron stared at him. “The Temple, of course.”
Bennett was stunned. “You’re actually going to let the Orthodox build the Third Temple?”
“Of course not,” said Doron. “The government will take the lead.”
“You’re joking,” said Bennett.
But Doron shook his head. “I’ve already pulled together a team of religious scholars, historians, archeologists, architects, artists, engineers — everyone we’ll need. It’s all been hush-hush. They’ve all signed strict nondisclosure forms. I should have final blueprints on my desk by the end of next week. The funds are already set aside. They’ve been part of the military budget for years. And barring anything unforeseen, we’ll start construction when the winter rains stop, probably around March first.”
In more than three years of peace talks between the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the Arab world, Bennett had never heard anything like this. To the contrary, the Israeli government had always taken extraordinary measures to protect the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa Mosque from attack. They had long feared that any change in the status quo — especially an attack by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremist group — could unleash the wrath of a billion Muslims against the tiny State of Israel and instantly obliterate any hope of peace. And rightly so. Ariel Sharon had provoked three years of Palestinian riots and terrorist attacks just by taking a stroll across the Temple Mount in September of 2000. One could only imagine what a ground-breaking ceremony for a Jewish Temple would unleash.
17
Bennett couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You’re not going to let the Muslims rebuild their holy sites?” he asked.
“What Muslims?” asked Doron. “Eli said it himself; Islam is finished.”
“Actually, Mr. Prime Minister, that’s not what he said. He said Ezekiel’s War would be the ‘end of radical Islam as we know it.’ He was talking about the end of the jihadists. But there are still hundreds of millions of Muslims out there. They may be in a state of shock and disarray, but they still believe the Temple Mount is theirs, and this could be just the thing that unifies them and mobilizes them against you. Is that really what you want?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Doron. “I thought you and Eli were on the same page on all this. He was very clear. After the War of Gog and Magog would come the building of the Temple, and then the coming of the Messiah. Which means the sooner we get it done, the sooner we’ll know who’s right — you Christians or we Jews.”
“Look,” said Bennett, “Eli was the theologian, not me. I’m just telling you as a friend and a political ally that if you start building unilaterally, you’re going to face international condemnation. You’re not going to get a peace treaty with the Palestinians. You’re not going to get a peace deal with Iraq or Syria or anyone else in the Arab world. Everything we’ve all worked for all these years will go up in flames.”