At first glance, Texan John Brown might be any graying insurance broker or mid-level executive crunching numbers in any concrete-and-glass office park in any suburb of the world. But, surrounded by maps depicting ancient Judean tribes and thumbing through a well-worn leather Bible, Mr. Brown's business is what he considers a mission from God himself: to strike oil in the Holy Land.

Never mind that Israel is a notoriously dry rock in a Middle Eastern sea of petroleum. Never mind that the skeptics are unrelenting. So far, Mr. Brown and his associates - a mixture of Christians, born-again and otherwise, petroleum engineers, oil executives, and even a few Jewish believers - have raised and invested $12 million in the quest for "black gold" in the past six years. Brown, who has contributed his life savings to the project ($1.5 million, he reckons) is a David wielding a very small stone compared with Middle East oil Goliaths with billions in financial strength.

Zion Oil drilled its first well in the dry sod of Kibbutz Maanit here in April 2005, only to hit technical difficulties and come up dry. The company is searching for funding to resume drilling.

"I was certainly disappointed," he says, but, "I'm optimistic. I'm a faith-based person. I believe in what I'm doing. I know there's oil in Israel. And we're gonna get the oil." That means this kindly born-again Christian is attempting "water into wine" financial maneuvers to keep the vision alive (not the least of which is shuttling here from Texas on frequent flyer miles to save a buck.)

Reminiscent of "Da Vinci Code" intrigue, Brown's astonishingly unshakable faith in the riches buried here is based on Bible clues and his own sense of God's calling. His vision is unquestioned by Zion colleagues and indulged by Israeli authorities who've licensed him to drill. His theory derives from Old Testament references to earthly abundance, which he interprets to mean oil - the black, sticky kind, not olive oil, the only kind this nation currently has in abundance. Running his finger down the tissue-fine pages of his Bible (as indispensible to Brown as a BlackBerry to a conventional businessman), he stops at Genesis 49: 25, 26 and reads aloud about "the Almighty who shall bless thee with the blessings of Heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under...."

"In other words," he interprets, "oil." And he reads: "They shall be on the head of Joseph." Flipping forward to Deuteronomy 33:24, Brown continues: "And of Asher he said, Be Asher blessed above his sons; let him be acceptable to his Brethren and let him dip his foot in oil."

He looks up, triumphantly: "You see?"

Even if these "blessings of the deep" do mean oil, where's the "X marks the spot"? Easy, says Brown, pointing to a map of the ancient "Twelve Tribes" of Israel. First, he points to the territory of the two tribes of Joseph: the Manasseh and Ephraim. Together, the outlined areas resemble a head in profile. Next, he points out the territory of the Asher tribe, a long, leg-shaped area stretching down the coast of northern Israel. Where the "foot" of the Asher territory touches the "head" of the Joseph territory is where he believes there's oil. But could it really be that simple, that literal?

That's just what makes Dallas-based Brown, who has nearly exhausted his personal wealth on the strength of a vision, as compelling to watch as any of America's historic and colorful wildcatters. The cartography of intuition - spiritual or otherwise - is not always scientifically satisfying, but it is interesting.

Indeed, Zion's own professional staff didn't catch Brown's fire immediately. Glen Perry, a trained petroleum engineer and executive vice president of the company, admits that "initially I told John that having talked to every geologist in Israel, this was probably the worst place to look for oil. But he [Brown] insisted it was the right place."

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