Zion Releases Drilling Company Video

Zion Oil & Gas released a company video last week in which Bill Ottaviani (Zion’s President and Chief Operating Officer) and Richard Rinberg (Zion’s Chief Executive Officer) explain why Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. has decided to establish Zion Drilling, Inc. and purchase Aladdin Middle East Ltd’s 2,000 horsepower drilling rig, as soon as practicable. Filming took place in both Israel and Turkey, and gives us a chance to learn the strategic thinking behind some of Zion’s business decisions.

The film was shot and produced by British filmmaker Tom Boulting. Boulting’s company, Charter Films, Ltd. is also working on the full length documentary, “49:1 The Zion Story”. News on the making of the film can be found at www.zionthemovie.com.

Zion Oil Introduces ‘49:1 The Zion Story’ at NRB

News of the upcoming feature film ‘49:1 The Zion Story’ created quite a buzz National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville Feb 27 – March 2. Zion Oil & Gas founder John Brown, author of Breaking the Treasure Code: the Hunt for Israel’s Oil, Steve Spillman, and British filmmaker Tom Boulting were all present during the convention and met publicly and privately with leaders in Christian ministry, broadcasting and entertainment.

John Brown and Steve Spillman shared the story of Israel’s oil during the convention on two radio programs, Charle’s Crismier’s ‘Viewpoint’ broadcast and “The Meeting House” radio show with Bob Crittenden. “Viewpoint aired live on March 1; the archived broadcast can be heard at http://irnusaradio.com/our-programs/viewpoint. “The Meeting House program should air on the week of March 8; broadcast details can be found at http://www.meetinghouseonline.info/.

Thanks to the generosity of Zion Oil & Gas, Convention attendees received complimentary copies of Jim Spillman’s book The Great Treasure Hunt,  Zion’s 2010 ‘Joseph Project’ DVD including the film trailer for ‘49:1 The Zion Story’, along with free Zion Oil/49:1 t-shirts and Zion Oil & Gas media packages. True Potential Publishing, Inc. sponsored an autograph session with Steve Spillman personalizing complimentary copies of Breaking the Treasure Code: the Hunt for Israel’s Oil for conference attendees.  On the last day of the convention, two lucky attendees were drawn for a grand prize of a ten day tour for two in Israel with Jonathan Bernis, sponsored by Zion Oil & Gas and Jewish Voice Ministries, and a second prize of Ten Commandment tablets carved of stone cut from the same quarry in Jerusalem that built King Herod’s palace, sponsored by Holy Jerusalem Stones in Israel.

The Zion Movie

According to London based Charter Films, Ltd. CEO Tom Boulting, immediate plans are in process to produce a documentary on Zion Oil’s faith and Bible based search for oil in the land of Israel. Boulting’s extended plans, however, call for a feature length film telling the story of Zion founder John Brown’s faith journey in his quest to discover oil in Israel.

For more on ‘49:1 The Zion Story visit www.zionthemovie.com.

Naphtali and Bubblin’ Crude?

A friend of mine, Tom Boulting at Charter Films, Ltd. (they’re the folks producing the Zion Oil movie) sent me a note this week about a passage of scripture – Deuteronomy 33:23. “And of Naphtali he said, ‘O Naphtali, sated with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake and the south.’”

This was Tom’s question: “I know that the next verse refers to Asher and dipping his foot in oil and I may be stating the obvious, but isn’t naphthalene a hydrocarbon and where is ‘the lake’ and ‘the south’? This may be irrelevant, but I just came across it and wondered if you had noticed the Naphtali/naphthalene connection.”

Tom is a wonderful guy and a great filmmaker, but he’s not a scientist or a theologian. My first impression was that he saw the name of the ancient Israeli tribe ‘Naphtali’ and made a connection (that wasn’t there) with the modern term ‘naphthalene’ – a hydrocarbon solid. It’s just a coincidence that Naphtali and Naphthalene sound the same; the two words are separated by centuries, languages and cultures. But Tom is a friend and I wanted to explain the difference between the words. I didn’t want him making connections where there weren’t any. To prove my point I researched the words, their meanings and their root … boy, was I surprised! That ‘Naphtali’ and ‘Naphthalene’ sound the same may be a coincidence, but the more I looked into it, the more the ‘coincidences’ stacked up. At this point I’m not sure what to think of the Naphtali/Naphthalene connection but it’s a pretty interesting point to ponder.

Pulling apart the words

In Hebrew “Naphtali” means “my struggle” or “I wrestle”. It was the name Jacob’s wife, Rachel gave to her second son through her maid-servant Bilhah. Rachel was “wrestling” with big sister Leah in a baby making contest. Between the two sisters and their maid-servants, they produced twelve offspring for husband Jacob, all of whom would eventually become (with a little rearranging by G_d and Joseph’s two boys) the twelve (or thirteen) tribes of Israel.

“Naphthalene” is a two part ‘scientific’ word – “naphtha” (a broad term referring to any number of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures) and “lene” (a suffix defining the object as a derivative of the root preceding). In street terms, “naphthalene” means literally “derived from naphtha”.

Stay with me – we’re about to discover something interesting!

The word “Naphtha” (a broad term for liquid hydrocarbon products) comes from a Latin term for what we know today as petroleum (which is also Latin – petro = rock, oleum = oil).  The Latin “naphtha” comes from the Greek “naphtha”, again, meaning petroleum. Want to guess where the Greek “naphtha” comes from? The Greeks got their word for petroleum from the Arabs (“naft”) and Hebrews (“neft”)!

But you’re not going to find “neft” in the Bible. The ancient Hebrews knew about petroleum oil but they called it “chemar” – the closest English translation we have today is “bubblin’ crude”, Jed Clampett style. I kid you not, that’s what the ancient Hebrews called oil from natural seeps in the Promised Land – ‘bubblin’ crude’. Jed would have been proud.

As far as I know the word “neft” didn’t come into Hebrew usage until after the Babylonian captivity. Liquid hydrocarbon seeps were also a natural phenomenon in Babylon (modern day Iraq) and the Jews brought the Babylonian term back with them. Israeli’s still use the term today.

So, does the ancient tribe of ‘Naphtali’ have any connection at all with the modern term for a petroleum product? Or is the similarity in sound just a coincidence?

Here’s where the ‘coincidences’ start to stack up.

1. The name ‘Naphtali’ is still around; but it’s now spelled ‘Neftali’.

2. The tribe of Naphtali was given land in the far north, above the Sea of Galilee (the lake of Deut 33:23) and west of the Golan Heights. On Naphtali’s western border lies Asher (“he shall dip his foot in oil”) and on its southern border lies Zebulun (“he shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hid in the sand”) – both neighboring tribes with a prophesied promise relevant to our search for oil.

3. Today Naphtali’s land is home to the Hula Valley, the suspected site of significant gas reserves and currently under exploration license with Adira energy.

4. Naphtali’s territory sits next to Asher’s and its blessing (Deut 33:23) is recorded next to Asher’s (Deut. 33:24). Naphtali’s blessing states that he will be ‘sated’ (filled up) with ‘favor’ and ‘full of blessing’.

Add those ‘coincidences’ up and we may have another piece to the Great Treasure Hunt puzzle! As I said earlier, I’m not sure what to think of the Naphtali/Naphthalene connection at this moment, but it’s a pretty interesting ‘coincidence’. I’ll keep you posted as exploration unfolds in the land of Naphtali.

P.S. In her 1997 novel The Jewish War, Tova Reich’s character Heshie Finkel, a young mathematical genius, is charged with the task of deciphering the mystical significance of ‘neft’ in order to bring oil to Israel. After extended study and the counsel of an aged rabbi he has an epiphany that ‘neft’ will come to Israel with the coming of the Messiah. Reich, a secular satirist, was poking fun; she didn’t mean for the connection between ‘neft’ and the Messiah to be mystical or prophetic. But some truths have a way popping up even when you’re not looking for them. If she turns out to be right I’ll drop her a note.

Special Report: Zion – The Movie

Special Report: Zion – The Movie

I traveled to Israel last week to work with Charter Films Limited, a UK film company. We (they) were doing preliminary shooting for a film about Zion Oil’s search for oil in Israel. Tom Boulting, Charter’s CEO met Richard Rinberg, Zion’s CEO on a flight to London a few months back and Richard shared the Zion Oil story with Tom. Tom was fascinated. As a filmmaker, Tom saw great possibilities for a documentary on Zion Oil; but after spending a few days with Richard and Zion Founder John Brown at Zion’s drilling sites in Israel he realized that a sixty minute documentary could only tell half the story. Tom started thinking ‘movie’.

As the ‘oil in Israel’ story teller up to this point, I was invited to spend last week with Tom and his cameraman, Jim, ‘on site’ while they filmed preliminary footage for both the documentary and a possible feature length film. I was able to share the ‘back-story’ with Tom and Jim, both on and off camera. They even christened me into the ‘film crew’ on location by letting me hold the boom mike during interviews and taught me some movie making lingo. It was a great experience personally, but more exciting was the realization that the world will soon witness the Zion Oil story through documentary on the small screen (TV) and (one day) on the big screen as a feature length movie.

There’s a lot of work to be done now by Charter Films, editing footage and preparing a short ‘promo’ piece to share with potential film partners. Speaking of ‘promo’ pieces, Charter Films is planning to join us at the 2010 National Religious Broadcasters’ Convention next February in Nashville to debut a sneak peek of “Zion – The Movie”.

Next week we’ll have http://zionthemovie.com online. By the time you’re about done with that left-over turkey, you’ll be able to visit the new website for great pictures, meet the director and stay up to date on the making of “Zion – The Movie”. Of course we’ll always give you the latest news here at http://oilinisrael.net.