The next day the celebration and the parade took place amid great rejoicing. David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister, gave a stirring address; and for hours the parade of young people, soldiers, tanks, machine guns and other imple ments of war passed through the streets amid cheering throngs that lined the sidewalks. During our stay in the church house with Mr. and Mrs. Irish we had happy fellowship with them and with other missionaries and Christian believers. Among those who were living in the home when we were there were two missionary ladies, Mrs. Gibson and Miss Hurnard, who had been led of the Lord to remain in Jerusalem, along with some other evangelical workers, throughout the Arab-Jewish war. They could have left, but they stayed to witness and to minister to those about them. One evening we asked Mrs. Gibson to tell us something of her experiences when Jerusalem was besieged and bom barded. It was rather an ordeal to our friend even to recall those dreadful days and even more dreadful nights. But she consented to tell us some of her experi ences and said: “ During the first siege of Jerusalem the Arab troops held the1 Old City, and at length they almost surrounded new Jerusalem, outside the walls, where about 100,000 Jews lived. “ The Arabs had unlimited supplies of tanks and mortars and machine guns, while the Jewish troops had a very limited supply of arms. We even heard that one night the supplies of the Jews were so low that the soldiers guarding the city could be given only two bullets each, to last them through the night. Had the Arabs known this they could easily have captured the Jewish part of the city with its nearly 100,000 inhabit ants. (Continued on Page 26)
door bell rang. I went to the door and saw two officers of the Israeli army. They asked if I could give them two Hebrew Bibles. I replied that I did not have entire Bibles to give out free of cost. I said I had a few Bibles and could sell them one if they would like to pur chase it. “ I told them however that I had a supply of Hebrew New Testaments and that I would give them each a copy free of cost if they would agree to read them. They said they would gladly do so, and were presented with the New Testaments, and one of them purchased a Bible. “ Then one of the officers said: ‘I won der if you could give New Testaments to some of the soldiers in our company. If we bring the men here will you give them Testaments?’ I replied that I would gladly do so. “ About half an hour later there was another ring of the door bell. I was as tonished when I opened the door and saw a group of soldiers that reached from our door to the gate. I gave out about twenty-two New Testaments, and the men were delighted to receive them. They also purchased three entire Bibles.” The second anniversary of Jewish in dependence was celebrated the second day after we arrived in Jerusalem. The evening before the celebration we went down town to see what was happening. The parade was to pass down Herzl Street. The street was crowded with eager expectant throngs. At one or two places we had difficulty in getting through the crowd. At Zion Square, in the heart of the business district, we saw a group of young people, who had formed a circle and were dancing the “ Hora,” the folk dance of the Jews in Israel, to celebrate the joyous event.
outskirts of Jerusalem, she was quoting John 3:16 to him. The young man gave us his card and urged us to visit him in his home, and gave us his business address in Haifa. Please pray that he and his loved ones may be born again. At last the interesting journey ended, and the train came to a standstill in the station in Jerusalem. The crowd began to leave the car, but the young man said he would gladly go ahead to the station platform, and receive our bags as I would hand them to him from the car window. However a moment or two later I saw on the platform our tall, genial friend, Mr. Irish. He and his gracious wife had consented to be our hosts, and they had come to the station to meet us. For years Mr. Irish has been kindly co operating in our work in receiving our shipments of Testaments in Hebrew and other languages, and dispensing them to missionaries and Christian workers, to give out to Jewish people in Israel. As I was handing down the bags to Mr. Irish, the young man with whom we had such a delightful time on the train, came along, and we bade him a cordial good-bye. Soon we were in the Irishes’ car and once more were having the joy of being in Jerusalem after an interval of thir teen years. Our hearts were filled with praise and thanksgiving to God that He had given us the privilege of coming to Israel again to help in spreading His own Word; \and to see His wondrous working in the Land. Erelong we were enjoying the lovely room that Mr. and Mrs. Irish had pro vided for us. The very first night of our stay in the C. & M.A. church home, Mr. Irish told us a striking story of the hunger for the Word of God that is in the hearts of many of the young Jews in Israel. Mr. Irish said, “ One day the
Jews rebuilding Arab houses near Jerusalem
Een Gev, Home from' Fishing
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