Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached the Western Wall last Thursday and slipped a folded piece of paper into its ancient cracks. The note contained just one verse: “Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion.” Hours later, Israeli jets roared across Iranian airspace, obliterating nuclear facilities and crushing military commanders in what the IDF called Operation Rising Lion—named after Netanyahu’s chosen verse.
Why did Netanyahu select this specific prophecy as Israel prepared to strike? And why does the Bible compare Israel to a lion when the animal kingdom offers countless examples of power and ferocity? Bears are stronger, wolves hunt in coordinated packs, and eagles soar above all enemies. What makes the lion the perfect symbol for the Jewish people, and why does this matter as Israel crushes an Iranian regime bent on nuclear annihilation?
The prophet Balaam, hired by Israel’s enemies to curse the Jewish people, found himself compelled by God to bless them instead. His first prophecy comparing Israel to a lion appears in Numbers 23:24:
This verse describes Israel at war—not defensive, not apologetic, but utterly committed to victory.
Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, the Netziv, explains that the lion’s power comes not merely from physical strength but from an innate sense of dignity and honor. This quality—what he calls “elevation of spirit”—drives Israel to persist until achieving complete victory. Unlike other predators that fight purely for survival or food, the lion enters battle with something more: an unshakeable sense of royal dignity.
Israel doesn’t fight merely to defend its borders or protect its citizens—though these matter enormously. Israel fights because it represents God’s honor in the world. When Iran builds nuclear weapons to “wipe Israel off the map,” they attack the divine name itself. Israel’s response comes not from fear but from this lion-like dignity, this refusal to allow God’s reputation to be dishonored by genocidal enemies.
This distinction matters because Iran’s war against Israel transcends geopolitics or territorial disputes. As Psalm 83:5 declares:
The Sages recognized that this hatred targets not just the Jewish people but the God of Israel Himself. Since God is called the God of Israel, wiping out Israel means erasing His name from the world.
Iran’s nuclear program is the latest attempt to fulfill this ancient promise of annihilation. When Israeli pilots destroy Iranian nuclear facilities in Operation Rising Lion, they fight for God Himself. This is why Israel shows such tenacity, such refusal to accept partial victories or temporary ceasefires. Israel is God’s representative on earth, and like the lion, cannot rest “until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”
But Balaam’s prophecy contains a second passage that reveals the ultimate purpose of Israel’s current struggle. Numbers 24:9 shifts the imagery:
Here, the lion is not hunting but resting—yet still commanding absolute respect.
Rabbi Meir Wisser drew a sharp distinction between these two phases of Israel’s lion-like nature. The first verse shows Israel in active battle mode, “rising up” to hunt and destroy enemies. The second verse shows Israel at rest, but with such demonstrated power and dignity that no nation dares disturb its peace. True lion-like strength creates such respect that it ultimately reduces the need for warfare.
This progression from Numbers 23:24 to Numbers 24:9 is a reflection of Israel’s current strategy. The goal of Operation Rising Lion is to crush Iran’s nuclear capabilities and achieve such decisive victory that the enemies of Israel will be terrified to provoke Israel again. By devastating Iran’s nuclear program and wiping out most of Iran’s military leadership, Israel is demonstrating the kind of overwhelming force that makes future aggression unthinkable.
The lion comparison also reveals why Israel’s enemies consistently underestimate Jewish resolve. Other nations see a small country surrounded by hostile neighbors and assume vulnerability. They mistake Israel’s desire for peace as weakness, its democratic debates as division, its restraint as timidity. But the Bible warns against this miscalculation. The lion may appear to be sleeping, but “who shall stir him up?” Even at rest, the lion’s power remains absolute.
Iran made this fatal error. Despite decades of threats, proxy wars, and nuclear development, the regime convinced itself that Israel lacked the will for decisive action. They mistook political debates in Jerusalem for strategic paralysis and President Trump’s diplomatic negotiations for weakness. Operation Rising Lion shattered these illusions in a single night.
Numbers 24:9 concludes with a stark ultimatum that applies directly to today’s global response to Israel’s actions: “Blessed is he that blesses you, and cursed is he that curses you.” Nations face a binary choice. They can stand with Israel and receive blessing, or oppose the lion of Israel and face the consequences.
Leaders like President Trump and Ambassador Huckabee have chosen to stand with Israel – and they will be blessed. But those like Tucker Carlson, the pathetic apologist for genocidal regimes, and Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, vicious Israel-haters who celebrate every attack on Jews, have chosen to be cursed. Their future shame and downfall is guaranteed.
The lion is rising. Israel is crushing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, decimating its proxy forces, and exposing its threats as empty bluster. The day will come, sooner than later, when Israel will move from the hunting phase described in Numbers 23:24 to the resting phase promised in Numbers 24:9—not through weakness or compromise, but through the hand of God and the overwhelming demonstration of His strength.
The lion of Israel has awakened. What a privilege to witness this prophecy fulfilled before our eyes!
