India is in negotiations with two Israeli agricultural technology firms to bring farming technology to India, according to The Hindu news website. The aim is to increase vegetable and fruit yields on Indian farms. The fact that Israel’s agricultural expertise is so advanced that it’s being exported to other countries has caused some Jewish scholars to say it may well be a sign that the Messianic Age is imminent.
Famous Jewish Biblical commentator known as Rashi, (11th century), explained the connection between Israel’s agricultural successes and the Messianic Age in his comment on a passage in the Talmud. “When the Land of Israel yields fruit abundantly, then the end is near, and there is no clearer indication of the end than this.”
Why is Israel’s agricultural success in our time so significant? History shows the Land of Israel did not produce as abundantly as it does today; indeed when Mark Twain toured Israel in 1867, he described Israel as being almost void of vegetation, “… A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds…a silent mournful expanse…a desolation…we never saw a human being on the whole route…hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
That is the bleak landscape Jewish immigrants faced as they first started returning to the Land of Israel. Today, however, the Land is producing an amazing array of fruits and vegetables, despite the desert conditions.
Even during the current shmittah year, Leviticus 25:20-22 reassures the Jewish people that, by following God’s command to rest the Land every seventh year, the Land will still produce enough to feed the people.
End Times author Rabbi Pinchas Winston recently said to Breaking Israel News, “We learn from the plagues in Egypt that the signs of redemption can occur all around us and yet be hidden enough to allow those who wish to ignore them the opportunity to do so. One of the ways that this happens is that an event takes place on a level that is a mixture of both miracle and nature: those who emphasize the natural element overlook the miracle while those who are brave enough to admit to the miracle see the fulfilment of prophecy.
“Even scientists and experts in other fields marvel at the advancements in Israel in the areas of technology and agriculture, which allow for greater production of food with less effort, or in areas and ways previously not possible,” Rabbi Winston explained.
“However, while they look for technical reasons for such miraculous success those who appreciate the miracle know that this is, in fact, a modern-day fulfilment of ancient prophecies that identify such wonders as Divine signs that the Final Redemption is imminent.”
Christians United for Israel UK
This article was edited on 6th August 2015.
