Israel: A Vision of Oil in the Holy Land

June 13 issue - Most biblical references to oil allude to the kind you squeeze from an olive. John Brown, an evangelical Christian from Texas, believes the Jewish Bible also talks about petroleum—and points to its precise location in Israel. With a team of oilmen he assembled mainly in Texas and a map drawn from Scriptures, the 65-year-old businessman began drilling in northern Israel last month. He describes the venture as grounded in theology but supported by science. "I believe God deposited the vision of oil for Israel in my heart," Brown tells NEWSWEEK. For decades, speculators have failed to turn up significant deposits in Israel, despite the fact that some of the world's largest oil producers are in the Mideast (though not in neighboring Jordan). But veteran geologists working on the venture, including former Exxon project manager Stacy Allen Cude, say their data seem to conform with Brown's vision.

Raised Roman Catholic, Brown was a tool-company executive in Michigan and an alcoholic when he became a born-again Christian in 1981. A trip to Israel two years later convinced him that he had a mission: to help Israel counter Arab domination in oil markets by developing its own supply. Brown formed Zion Oil in 2000 and bought rights from the Israeli government to explore a 100,000-acre plot in northern Israel. After raising $7 million, mostly from other evangelicals eager to support the Jewish state, he chose a spot near Kibbutz Maanit to begin the 4,500-yard drill based on his reading of the Old Testament.

Brown began with Gen. 49:22-26, where he believes a verse about God's giving Joseph "blessings of heaven above [and] blessings of the deep that couches beneath" refers to the presence of oil in an area of ancient Canaan named after the tribes of Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. (The verse also includes reference to a well or spring—evidence, in Brown's mind, of underground treasure. A similar blessing "for the precious things of heaven ... and for the deep that couches beneath" appears in Deut. 33:13-17.) Brown traced the geographic location of the two tribes on a Biblical map he superimposed on a map of modern Israel. A wide area around Maanit corresponded to his interpretation of the texts.

It also linked with research by Stephen Pierce, a geologist who had studied the area. Now Brown's consulting geologist, Pierce says there's a Triassic reef deep below the surface of Maanit, a strong sign of oil. The site where they're drilling has been excavated before, but John's team is going much deeper than a previous crew.

Some Israelis politely scoff at the project. Zvi Alexander, a veteran of the Israeli oil business, says Brown's chances of hitting pay dirt are slim. He says nearly 500 holes have been drilled in Israel in the past 50 years by geologists looking, unsuccessfully, for oil. "I don't know of any other area in the world this small that has been poked so many times," he says. Brown says God won't let him fail. If no oil is found at Maanit by the time he reaches bottom later this month, Brown has plans to drill at least three more holes. That will require more money, which he says evangelical Christians will gladly provide. "Finding oil will give Israel a huge strategic advantage" over its Arab enemies, he says. "It will change the political and economic structure of the region overnight." His hope, anyway, springs eternal.

—Dan Ephron
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.