Israel has struck oil. An estimated 1.5 billion barrels of oil has been discovered near Rosh Ha'Ayin. The actual amount that is able to be recovered will not be known until there are additional drillings.Golda Meir, a former Israeii prime minister, is reputed to have said "When I get to heaven, I'm going to see that Moses and ask him why, when he left Egypt, he turned left instead of right and led us to the only place in the Middle East where there's no oil." People might not be able to say things like that for much longer.
Joel Rosenberg reported on his blog that according to a report by the US Department of the Interior Israel has reserves of 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, as well as a further 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, lying just offshore under the Mediterranean.
People have been prospecting for oil in Israel for some years, some of them claiming that Bible verses like Deut 33:24 ("Asher is most blessed of sons; Let him be favoured by his brothers, And let him dip his foot in oil") are an indication that oil is to be found there. Others say such verses are too vague to be taken as a reliable indication that oil exists.
Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 are a remarkably detailed prophecy of a war, which has come to be known as the Gog and Magog War, in which Russia, together with a number of other countries, will invade Israel and will fall on the mountains of Israel. This prophecy has yet to be fulfilled.
Ezekiel says Russia's purpose in invading will be "to take plunder and to take booty" (38:12). People have speculated about what sort of plunder might tempt Russia to invade. Some have suggested that oil will be the attraction.
