It is tragic when terrorists attack innocent civilians, whatever the "cause." It is doubly sad when it is done to coincide with the biblical Holy Days that foreshadow peace among all peoples.

Last month on Oct. 7, a pickup loaded with explosives detonated at a Hilton hotel in Taba, a popular Red Sea resort area. Thirty-two people died and more than a hundred were injured by the blast. It was the worst attack on Egyptian soil in more than six years, but it wasn't an attack on Egyptians. Thousands of Israeli tourists were enjoying the holiday season there, in spite of their government's warning of the high possibility of attack. One Israeli said, "Until [the blast] it was so great, peaceful and quiet, with beautiful sea and friendly people. It was a dream holiday. In a thunderclap it became a nightmare."

Beyond the human toll is the damage to Israeli-Egyptian relations. The two nations have had an uncertain peace since signing a treaty in March 1979. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat paid for that overture with his life when Islamic terrorists from within his own people assassinated him in 1981. Some say it is a "cold" peace that exists today between the two nations.

The 1979 treaty was preceded by several bitter wars, including the Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The latter was on another key biblical Holy Day and caught the Israelis by surprise. Every October Egyptian television replays the success of the 1973 battles, and it is a source of pride for its citizens to this day. The fact that these battles, and not the subsequent peace, are a source of national pride speaks to the reason for underlying tension between all Arab states and the small nation of Israel. Even when they find the way to peace, the threat of violence lurks close to the surface and threatens to once again throw the region into upheaval.

The Oct. 7 bombing came at the end of the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. Many prophecies show this festival foreshadows the future time when the Messiah reigns in Jerusalem and nations will go there to learn of the ways of God (Isaiah 2:2-4). As it happens, I was returning from observing this festival when I heard of the bombing.

You may not know that many thousands of people gather around the world each year to celebrate this Christian festival. It is observed as a foretaste of the world to come, a world when people will learn the way to live at peace.

A unique prophecy tells how Egypt, and other nations that resist the will of God, will be treated in that day. "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King..., on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16-18).

Egypt is singled out here because of its historic relationship with God and His people. Remember that Egypt held the descendants of Jacob as slaves for several generations. In the future, after God's Kingdom is on this earth, Egypt will become a blessing along with Israel. "In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border... Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it" (Isaiah 19:19, 21).

It will take the restoration of God's Kingdom to see the reality of these visions. Pray for that day, when God will bring a permanent peace between these two peoples that will show the way for the entire world to live in harmony. WNP