The Great Divide – Chapter 1
This is fictional story describes the kind of struggle Jewish people who come to Christ may experience.
As the two fished on the tranquil waters of the Sea of Galilee, it mattered little that they hadn’t made a catch in two hours. All that mattered to Eliezer and Benjamin were the glorious words of Isaiah the prophet as they flowed from the mouths of grandfather and grandson.
“For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem,” the elderly Eliezer would recite. “For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.”
At the first pause, the effervescent youth, Benjamin, broke the silence by continuing: “And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers.”
On they went. Eliezer’s impassioned orations seemed to stir the sea beneath them as the high-pitched utterances of Benjamin’s 10-year-old voice tried to emulate his grandfather’s power. Eliezer continued, well aware he was at the very center of not only his beloved grandson’s attention, but also his heart and very life.
“Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”
They traded off a few more verses until Eliezer had reached the end of their ritual.
“Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.”
As the tears streamed down the hardened soldier’s granite face, Benjamin wept with him. He didn’t know why he wept, only that something very powerful had happened to cause his grandfather to be so moved. For Eliezer, however, Isaiah 30:19-26 held such passion, such promise, such joy, that words alone could not explain his feelings to the youth.
“Ah, Benjie, how can I make you understand? How can I make you … feel?”
“Feel what, Grandfather?”
“That …” he paused, struggling to find the right words, “that Messiah is coming … to redeem … to bring back …”
He reached across, almost burying his grandson’s inquisitive face in his huge hand as he gently patted is cheek. “Oh, Benjie, our God has not forgotten His people; no, He will never forsake us.”
—
How crucial it was that Eliezer not feel forsaken. Even as a youth in Nazi-oppressed Germany, Eliezer had known only death, loneliness, and the cold, heart-crushing agony of being abandoned, even if not by choice, by anyone who ever spoke a loving word to him; by anyone who ever kissed his forehead to calm his fears; by anyone who ever wrapped a reassuring arm across his shoulders. Where once love and companionship filled his life, emptiness took up residence. Thus, Eliezer clung to the precious promise of the prophet Isaiah.
However, life was not always the nightmare it had become. There was a time when his German homeland was a desirable place to live, even for a Jew. As a youth, Eliezer spent countless hours studying the Scriptures with his father, and Orthodox rabbi, in Munich. The impressionable youth marveled at the tales of creation, floods, and heroic feats, and learned never to be quick to comment on them until first examining what Jewish scholars of past centuries had to say.
Suddenly, Eliezer’s education came to a screeching halt. As the 1920s gave way to the ’30s, an up-and-coming politician, a former struggling artist, began to capture the fancy of morale-bankrupt Germans. It was not long after that Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich inaugurated its barbaric reign, seeking to wipe out, among other things, the Jewish race. Abruptly, Eliezer’s life became a struggle for survival in the midst of unaccounted for disappearances and deaths.
Eliezer continued his studies until one day he came upon that wonderful passage in Isaiah Chapter 30. Something about the words, about the promises, seemed to stand out as the sweetest of all hopes and dreams in the widening madness of the Nazi regime. In the midst of the destruction around him, the teen set out to memorize verses 19-26. He spent most of that day in a back alley doing so. When he returned home, his family was gone. Forever.
Ever since, Eliezer knew that one wrong word, one flawed step, one misguided thought could be his last. And yet, he managed to outlast the Second World War, slipping through the death-grip of the murderous Nazi regime. When the war ended, he was still alive, comforted all those horrid years by Isaiah 30:19-26.
It did not take much to persuade Eliezer to leave Europe for Palestine. The door for immigration to the Holy Land was open, and Eliezer walked through. On the boat to Israel, Eliezer met Rivkah, also the lone survivor of a Jewish family. Deciding that each deserved better than they had received, they married almost immediately upon settling in the land. It was not long before Israel’s War of Independence began, and Eliezer found himself fighting for his life once more. Eliezer became a soldier of honorable standing and performed admirably in the wars of 1948, ’56, ’67, and ’73. Between wars, Eliezer and Rivkah, managed to put together a life. First came an apartment, then a house, then a small savings account. Then, finally, a child.
When Shlomo, their only child, was born, the picture seemed complete. However, Shlomo grew up wild and uncontrollable, marrying an Arab girl against Eliezer’s and Rivkah’s wishes. The marriage was a disaster, though it did produce a son. Shlomo’s wife returned to her family, leaving husband and child behind. Because Shlomo had little time to raise a child, the boy spent most of his days with his grandparents. When the proud, glory-seeking Shlomo, firmly believing in his own immortality, foolishly set out on a one-man tank attack against a group of Egyptian soldiers in the ’73 campaign, he was killed by a barrage of shells and bullets. Shlomo’s son, Benjamin, now became a son to Eliezer and Rivkah. When Rivkah succumbed to cancer a few years later, Eliezer found himself alone, trying to raise a 12-year-old.
David Ettinger was born and raised in a Jewish family in New York. After moving to New Mexico as an adult, he suffered through many trials. The nudge of the Holy Spirit caused him to examine his heart and in 1986 he surrendered his life to Jesus and has walked with Him ever since. David holds a BA, and MA, in English from New Mexico State University. He began his journalism career writing for The Roundup, the university paper. After graduation he became the sportswriter for the El Paso Times. He has held many other positions as both writer and editor with major publications. David is active in providing his skills with Zion’s Hope, Inc., in Winter Garden, Florida. His publications include Lifeway publications, Single Parent magazine (Focus on the Family), Zion’s Fire magazine, and Real Life magazine. In addition, he served as managing editor for Zion’s Fire and Real Life. David’s book, Overcomers: 30 Stories of Triumph from the Bible, is available online. David is proud of his son and grandson. Please read his testimony here, on his website.
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