Christian singer Pat Boone won an award for his impact on culture in Jerusalem recently for writing the title song to the 1960 epic film, Exodus.
There is such a strong connection with the song that some call it Israel’s second national anthem.
“It came out of the Bible, and I knew two things: One, that everything in the Bible from beginning to end was written by Jews, about Jews and for Jews—not all Christians even realize that and not all Jews—what we call the Old and the New Testaments, are all about Jews and about God working with His chosen people, and we Gentiles can get in on it if we accept the God of Israel,” Boone told CBN News.
The Friends of Zion award includes the song, written in the shape of a harp translated into Hebrew. Boone originally wrote the words on Christmas Eve on the back of a Christmas card. That card is now displayed in Yad VaShem, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance museum in Jerusalem.
“I think this song Exodus—and the privilege I had writing the words for Ernest Gold’s great melody—is part of the most significant time in my life and maybe significant moments—maybe one of the main reasons I was born,” he said.
Boone told CBN News that this honor is one of the highlights of his life.
“I can’t imagine any other thing in my life, other than my marriage and my own salvation, that mean as much as this,” he said.
The Friends of Zion Museum honors Christian Zionists who gave their lives to save the Jewish people during the Holocaust and supported the establishment of the modern nation-state of Israel.
Chairman of the Board Yossi Peled is a retired general and former government leader. Born in Belgium in 1941, a Christian family hid him to keep him safe during the Nazi genocide.
“From the age of 6 months until I became 8 years old, I was raised by a Christian family and I went to church every Sunday and crossed myself and crossed the bread before eating and prayed to Jesus before going to bed,” he recalled.
Peled said he’s proud to be part of the Friends of Zion vision.
“It’s an outstanding vision about the history of this nation … not only the story because nothing is new basically in the story, but it’s new in the way it represented it,” he said.
