Yom Ha’Atzmaut—Israel Independence Day—Placing our Trust in the Rock

Yom Ha’Atzmaut, translated as “Day of Independence,” is also known as Israel’s Independence Day. It was founded on the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. It celebrates the declaration and establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 (5 Iyar, 5708).

When Is Yom Ha’Atzmaut Celebrated? (Why Isn’t it Celebrated on May 14th?)

Israel was born on the fifth day of Iyar in 1948. Yom Ha’Atzmaut is celebrated each year on or around that day. When there is a conflict with the Sabbath day, the celebration may be moved one or two days before or after the 5th of Iyar (which changes from year to year). The corresponding Gregorian calendar date for Israel Independence Day usually falls between late April and early May. 

How Is Yom Ha’Atzmaut Celebrated in Israel?

Similar to Independence Day in the United States, Yom Ha’Atzmaut is a national holiday in Israel. Families celebrate with picnics and barbecues! Flags fly high, and the citizens of Israel and those who love her rejoice in her liberty and restoration. 

How Does Israel’s Rebirth Fulfill Biblical Prophecy?

Throughout Israel’s history, the Jewish people faced exile and dispersion, but the prophets declared there would come a day when the Jewish people would be regathered and planted in the land, never to be uprooted again. 

• “I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God.”  –Amos 9:14-15 (emphasis added)

After 2,000 years in exile, on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, announced the rebirth of the state of Israel. 

Isaiah spoke of this very moment, a prophetic fulfillment of God’s promises that Israel would be reborn in a day. 

• “‘Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?’ says the Lord. ‘Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?’ says your God. “‘Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; that you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.’”—Isaiah 66:8-11 (emphasis added)

The prophets foretold that God would regather the Jewish people from all nations, from the four corners of the earth, and bring them back to their own land. 

• “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land…“—Ezekiel 37:21 (emphasis added)
• “He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” –Isaiah 11:12 (emphasis added)

For 2,000 years, while the Jewish people were in exile, Israel lay barren and deserted. Yet when the people returned, life returned to the land, just as the prophets foretold. 

• “So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.” –Ezekiel 36:35-36 (emphasis added)

As Believers, we understand that the modern state of Israel is not merely a political entity but the miraculous fulfillment of Bible prophecy. God Himself regathered His people and rebuilt the ruined places for His Name’s sake. Israel’s existence proclaims the power of His eternal covenant and faithfulness to the Jewish people and all grafted into God’s family (Romans 11).

David Ben-Gurion’s Speech on Yom Ha’Atzmaut

David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, began his first speech to the newly formed Nation of Israel with this moving recollection of her history…

“The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance, and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. 

“After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. 

“Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades, they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma’pilim (Hebrew) – immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country’s inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.” (emphasis added)

Recognizing Theodor Herzl and the First Zionist Congress of 1897, who declared the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in their own country, and citing the Holocaust along with the many difficulties and dangers the surviving Jews faced to resettle in the land of Israel from all over the world, David Ben- Gurion continues…

“This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State. 

“Accordingly we, members of the people’s council, representatives of the Jewish community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist movement, are here assembled on the day of the termination of the British mandate over Eretz-Israel and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.” (emphasis added)

Establishing the official date of the declaration and the appeals for the Jewish people throughout the nations, Ben-Gurion ends his stirring speech with these words…

“Placing our trust in the ‘ROCK OF ISRAEL,’ we affix our signatures to this proclamation at this session of the Provisional Council of State, on the soil of The Homeland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the 5th day of Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).” (emphasis added)

What a powerful declaration and testimony to the goodness of God and His redemption–placing our trust in the Rock of Israel (2 Samuel 23:2-3). The God who keeps His covenant and is faithful to His Word. 

The Takeaway for Believers | Israel’s Independence Day

Not only can we honor and celebrate Israel’s independence, but we can also rejoice in the hope that we have a God who keeps His Word! In an unstable world, we hold fast to the Rock of Israel, the Rock of Ages, our King Yeshua. He is restoring Israel; He is restoring His Bride; He is restoring you!