Narrator: Israel, the promise land ………. a land flowing with milk and honey…….
And yet, in spite of her blessings, the single natural resource that seems to be missing in the Holy Land is petroleum. Because of its apparent lack of oil in a region that holds the world’s greatest petroleum resources, Israel’s inside joke remains that Moses should have taken a right instead of a left on his way to the Promised Land.
Does this natural resource, so abundant in the lands of her neighbors, elude Israel alone? Is Israel the only nation in the Middle East bereft of oil? Or is it in the vast wisdom and plan of God to keep this underground blessing for Israel hidden until now?
At least one company believes that God not only has provided this natural resource for the land and people of Israel, but that it’s promise and discovery are actually predicted in the pages of Holy Scripture.
The story of Zion Oil began more than two decades ago with founder John Brown’s first visit to the land of Israel. Inspired by key passages in scripture and his love for the nation of Israel, John Brown began a journey that would intertwine faith and science, and lead to the founding of Zion Oil & Gas. An energy exploration company licensed to explore two vast tracts of land in northern Israel, where scripture promises “blessings of the deep” that lie at the “foot of Asher” and on the “head of Joseph.”
Zion Oil & Gas was formed in April of 2000 and is now a public company traded on the American Stock exchange under the ticker symbol ZN. With offices in Texas and Israel, Zion is truly an international company. It is from Zion’s corporate offices in Dallas that John Brown shares his vision for the Joseph project.
ET 01:39
John Brown:
ET 3:27
John Brown:
ET 05:09
NARRATOR: The scriptures from Genesis and Deuteronomy, on which Zion’s search for oil is based refer to blessings that will rest “on the crown of the head Joseph” and will come from “the deep that lies beneath” as well as blessing that Asher will “dip his foot in oil.”
Many people believe that the reference to oil – in Hebrew “Shemen” – in the blessing of Asher can only mean olive oil. Asher’s land was, indeed, rich in olive groves. However, the Bible also uses the word Shemen in the context of oil from rock – “petroleum” is the Latin word for “rock oil.” Deuteronomy, chapter 32 refers to “suck[ing]…oil from the flinty rock” and Job, chapter 29 talks of “…the rock pour[ing] me out rivers of oil.”
Interestingly, both the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians used the words “Samnu” and “Saman” in referring to petroleum from the oil seeps that abounded in their countries and were well known in biblical times as today.
The license area held by Zion Oil & Gas when overlain with a map of the twelve tribes of Israel corresponds to the lands known as the “Head of Joseph” and the “Foot of Asher.” Zion’s drilling venture, known as the Joseph Project, is so named because the Joseph and Asher-Menashe license areas lay in the heart of the lands belonging to the ancient tribes Asher and Manasseh, the son of Joseph.
Glen Perry, Zion’s president and chief operating officer, has a long history as a petroleum professional, managing projects around the globe for some of the world’s leading oil companies. Glen began advising John Brown in his search in 1999 and has been a part of Zion Oil & Gas since its founding in 2000.
ET 06:44
Glen:
ET 08:44
Category: News & Politics
Duration : 0:7:17