King's Business - 1951-11

have suffered great persecution from the Arabs of Yemen. The ruler of Yemen let them leave the country but with few of their possessions. Then many of them were robbed by the- Arabs as they trudged, old and young together over the desert sands. So most of them arrived in the British- controlled Protectorate of Aden with little or nothing ex­ cept the clothes they wore. But a number of them preserved their precious scrolls of the Torah. “ The faith of the Yemenite Jews is strong. They are returning to Israel, not because they are greatly interested in Zionism, but because they believe that the coming of the Messiah is near, and they want to be in the land when the Messiah comes.” In conclusion, the photographer told us this remarkable story. “ I saw a very touching sight at the time of my return from Aden. A Yemenite Jew, who appeared to be about 75 years of age, came to the plane carrying on his shoulder his father who was 106 years of age! The father wanted to die in Israel, and his son, who himself was an old man, had carried him 160 miles across the desert from Yemen to Aden. The father was very feeble and very frail —almost skin and bones. “ The son and his 106-year-old father were on the same plane on which I returned from Aden to Lydda. The plane was supposed to carry only 100 people, but the Yemenite Jews were so thin and emaciated that there were 160 of them in that one plane. “When we reached Lydda, the son carrying his father came down the gangplank of the plane. They went about 25 yards. Then the son whispered to his father, who was scarcely more than half-conscious: ‘Father, we are now in Israel!’ ^Then tenderly he let down his father from his shoulder to the ground. The father kissed the earth, and then quietly and gently died.” The father’s desire to die in the land of Israel was fulfilled! It is interesting to note that David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister of Israel, quoted Isaiah 43:5,6 in closing his ad­ dress, in Jerusalem, at the celebration of the second an­ niversary of Israel’s independence. The acting editor of the Jerusalem Post told me that the Prime Minister is greatly interested in the fact that the prophecies of the old Testa­ ment are being fulfilled in the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland. Here are the verses that Mr. Ben-Gurion quoted: “ Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” The editor remarked, “ I was reading those two verses and noticed that in the original text the word is translated ^south’ in our English version is really ‘Teman’ which in Hebrew means ‘Yemen!’ ” The statement of the editor was so remarkable that I could scarcely believe my ears. How­ ever, I verified it through a professor in the Hebrew Uni­ versity in Jerusalem, and found it to be entirely true. As the land of Yemen is in the southeastern part of Arabia, it was perfectly natural for the translators of Isaiah 43:6 to call it “ the south.” But it is most remarkable that the prophet actually specified the exact land of “ Teman” or “ Yemen.” Today, precisely as predicted 2500 years ago by the prophet Isaiah, God has fulfilled His Word: “ I will say to Yemen, Keep not back.” The ruler of Yemen let the Jews go! And more than 40,000 of them walked through the desert sands, for days, and even for weeks, to reach Aden, and from there thev were flown “ on eagles’ wings” to Lydda in the land of Israel! After such exact fulfillment of prophecy, after 25 cen­ turies, can anyone doubt the supernatural inspiration and divine authority of the Word of God! Another remarkable story that we heard during our stay in Jerusalem was regarding the Preservation of the Jews in Bulgaria during the second World War, and of their mass migration to the land of Israel. The narrative was given us bv a Bulgarian Jew who was our nearest neighbor in Israel. He and his wife have found the Lord as their Saviour and he is working earnestly for the conversion of

Tel Aviv—Allenby Road

his fellow-countrymen. He told us of the miraculous preserva­ tion of the Jews of Bulgaria during the second World War. It reminded us of the preservation of the Jews in the days of Queen Esther. Our friend said: “ During the second World War the Jews of Bulgaria did not suffer death at the hands of the Nazis as they did in most of the other European countries. Not a single Jew was killed or de­ ported though the Nazis occupied the country for several years. It was a miracle of the Lord’s goodness in answer to prayer. “ Several times the Nazis were about to deport the Jews of Bulgaria to concentration camps in Poland, but the deportation orders were not carried out. At last by the express order of Hitler thousands of Jews in Bulgaria were rounded up to be sent to the camps in Poland. This would mean certain death for many of them. “ The wife of the mayor of a certain town in Bulgaria was an earnest Christian. She belonged to an assembly of some thirty Gentile Christian believers. When this godly group heard of the order to deport the Jews, they gave themselves to prayer. They spent an entire day in fasting and prayer, crying to God for the preservation of the Jews from deportation and death. “ Following this day of prayer, the wife of the mayor besought her husband to go to the king. He, with the mayors of several other towns and some members of the Parliament, went to see the king in Sofia, the capital city, to plead for the Jews. The king granted their request, ,and signed a document, canceling the deportation order! “With joy the mayor returned home and told the good news, and with great rejoicing the Jews returned to their homes. “ A second time the Jews of Bulgaria were saved from death. Again a date was set for their deportation. But three days before the fatal date the Russians took Bulgaria from the Nazis, and the deportation of the Jews was never carried out. All this time the Bulgarian Hebrew Christians, and the Gentile believers had been praying earnestly, and once more the Lord marvelously heard and answered! “ The Jews of northern Greece and other countries around Bulgaria did not escape deportation, and many thousands of them were sent to the concentration camps of Poland, and comparatively few of them escaped death.” Still another miracle in the history of the Bulgarian Jews has been their freedom to come to Israel, since the Soviets have been in control of Bulgaria. It has been difficult for the Jews to get out of most of the countries of Europe that are dominated by the Soviets, but in Bulgaria the way was open and during the last few years ninety-five per cent of all the Jews of Bulgaria have come to Israel. When we asked our Bulgarian friend to tell us how he became a Christian, he said: “I was born in Bulgaria and as a boy went to a secondary school conducted by American T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S

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