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June 1926
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hand of God in this as we read in Eze kiel 36:6, 7: “ Prophesy therefore con cerning the Land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I have lifted up mine Hand (God's Mandate), Surely the na tions that are abdut you, they shall bear their shame. But ye, O moun tains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. And I will multiply men upon you all the house of Israel, even all of It: and the cities shall be inhab ited and the wastes shall be builded. For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land.” Since the deliverance of Jerusalem under Lord Allenby on December 9th, 1917, the variety of Jews that have flocked into Palestine is astonishing. A certain number have been merely visitors, but the great majority have come to settle and are known by a term used frequently in the Prophets, “ Yeshev,” the "dwellers in the land.” The forming of the ten Kingdoms referred to in Daniel and Revelation, too, which seems linked up in some way with the League of Nations, is hinted at in Zechariah 8:23, no doubt looking beyond the coming tribulation and conversion of Israel. “ Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, in those days it shall come to .pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the na tions, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying,- ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you,’ ” reminding us of the people of Immanuel’s land as in right relation with their Messiah. In Psalm 72 we have also the mil lennial prospect of Solomonic peace, and the linking of the Kings of Tar- shish and the.isles “ who bring pres ents” with the Kings of Sheba and Seba “ who offer gifts.” There seems to be an indication here of the British agreements and Covenants which are being made with the Hedjaz and Iraq and the districts around Arabia. IV. The Military Sign The fourth sign we may -term the Military. At a time when nearly all nations are uniting to preserve peace, and with great rejoicing a Security - Pact has been signed in Europe, and while we with multitudes of our fel low believers Join in the earnest prayer, “ Give peace in our time, O Lord,” we must not forget the» warning words of the Son of God Himself to Jerusalem when He beheld the city and wept over it, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in
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Seven Significant Signs In Connection With the Restoration of the Jews to Palestine REV. S. B. ROHOLD, F.R.G.S. Superintendent of Mt. Carmel Bible School, Haifa, Palestine In “The Biblical Recorder” (Australia)
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The fact that 800,000 dunams of land have been purchased and are be ing cultivated by the returning rem nant of Jews themselves, although often with the assistance of the Arabs, as the prophecy indicates (Isa. 61:5), is well worth noting. Again in Jere miah 31:5, we read: “ Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the' mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant and shall eat them as common things.” Anyone who has visited the district of the Jewish Colony of Zammaria or Zichron Jacob (Remembrance of Jacob) cannot but be struck with the wonderful vineyards so beautifully spread out on the Samaritan hillsides. II. The Archeological Sign We have then, secondly, the Arch eological sign (Psalm 102:13, 14, 16): “ Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea the set time, is come.” “ For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof. When Je hovah shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.” • The interest that has been taken .since the foundation of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the stones and ruins and relics of the Holy Land has been ever increasing. The discoveries that have illuminated the pages of the Holy Writ of both Old and New Testa ments are most extensive and varied. Hardly a book of the Jewish Scrip tures has not had some clear corrobora tion, and Professor MacAlister’s re cent excavations in Mount Zion have attested the record of the Jebusites and King David and Solomon and Hez- ckiah and Ezra and Nehemiah without a shadow of doubt, and have aroused a world-wide interest. Jews themselves on their own account have taken part in the work recently, with valuable re sults. III. The Political Sign Thirdly, we mention the Political sign. The Mandate granted to Great Britain by the Leagiie of Nations fol lowing the Balfour Declaration has been approved by every form of Brit ish Government, Liberal, Labor and Conservative, which gives the Jews as a nation a standing in their own land, that they have lacked for two and a half millenniums. We recognize the
«And when these thlnirs begin to come to pass, then look up and lift np yonr heads, for your Redemption draweth nigh."— I,like 31:28. |HE Hebrew people are stead ily and surely ceasing to be the scattered nation; they are regathering to the Land of their F a t h e r s , Abraham, Isaac and J a c o b (in 4 - years and 5 months there was 100 per cent in crease), and the land itself no longer utterly destroyed and deserted (with its more than 100 colonies and set tlements in Judea, Samaria and Gali lee) is being reinhabited and rehab ilitated largely by their sacrificial ef forts and energy. We are greatly impressed with the fact that 75,000 up to the 1st of May, 1925, have returned since, the British Occupation (a third more than came back under Ezra and Nehemiah) and still further that 35,000 to 40,000 of these are young men and women, many with University training, known as Halutzim or Zionist pioneers, the word itself being from the Hebrew ex pression used in Numbers 31:3 and Deuteronomy 3:18 and in Joshua 4: 13, where we read: “ About 40,000 prepared for war, passed over before JEHOVAH Into battle to the plains of Jericho.” In order to emphasize the import-» ance of the present situation we might mention seven signs of this incipient restoration of God’s chosen people to Palestine. I. Tin* Agricultural Sign We read, “ And they shall build the cld wastes, they shall raise up the for mer desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the alien shall be your plough men and' your vine dressers” (Isa. 61:4, 5). “ Thou shalt no more be termed for saken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beu lah, for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry (build up) thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isa. 62:4, 5).
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