No mind can contemplate the ancient history of the children of Israel without feeling a strong desire to trace their history and to know something of their present state and prospects. The Jews were scattered, as the ancient prophets declared they would be, among all nations, from one end of the earth to another.
Mark Twain wrote the following,
“There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent (valley of Jezreel) — not for 30 miles in either direction --- One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings.
For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee . . . Nazareth is forlorn . . . Jericho lies a smoldering ruin . . . Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation . . . untenanted by any living creature . . . .
A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds . . a silent, mournful expanse . . . a desolation . . . . We never saw a human being on the whole route . . . . Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country . . . . Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes . . . desolate and unlovely.”
When Titus, destroyed Jerusalem and plowed up its foundations, the lands in Judea were ordered sold, and only a few souls remained amid its desolations. Multitudes moved to Egypt, the Islands of the Adriatic; Persia (Iran) and Babylon (Iraq); others took refuge in Italy and the western areas of the Roman empire. And no matter what nation or state they had ventured into, they continued to exhibit the same deep, earnest love of their ancient homeland.
All that remains today of other great civilizations are a small number of ancient documents, fallen crumbling stones and broken images. Their greatness and their glory swallowed up and covered by time. Where kings once feasted, common people now eat. But the Jews have preserved their ancient identity and live in the present, a people and nation of the past.
Before the remains of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Jews may be seen mourning and praying over the loss of their temple, their glory, and the ruins of ancient Zion. The world recognizes the father of the Jews in Abraham. Theirs is more a family history than a nation’s history. In whatever light we may view them, we cannot fail to be deeply moved by the feeling of intense interest on their behalf.
Their journeying across national borders, battling their oppressors, suffering considerable losses, and few victories, they remained a family, never forgetting their heritage. The first part of their struggle ended, and Amos’s prophecy began to bear fruit on the 14th of May, 1948.
Amos 9:14-15, the LORD said, “I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them ... And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”
The LORD has brought the Jews through two thousand years of suffering and disgrace. “A reproach and a by-ward” among the nations, yet “a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed.” Here we have a beautiful fulfillment of prophecy, giving us incontestable evidence of the truth of the Bible.
Isaiah 11:10-16, It shall come to pass, said the Lord, “I shall set (my) hand again the second time to recover the remnant of my people, which shall be left ... and shall gather together the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
Mark Twain wrote the following,
“There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent (valley of Jezreel) — not for 30 miles in either direction --- One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings.
For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee . . . Nazareth is forlorn . . . Jericho lies a smoldering ruin . . . Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation . . . untenanted by any living creature . . . .
A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds . . a silent, mournful expanse . . . a desolation . . . . We never saw a human being on the whole route . . . . Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country . . . . Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes . . . desolate and unlovely.”
When Titus, destroyed Jerusalem and plowed up its foundations, the lands in Judea were ordered sold, and only a few souls remained amid its desolations. Multitudes moved to Egypt, the Islands of the Adriatic; Persia (Iran) and Babylon (Iraq); others took refuge in Italy and the western areas of the Roman empire. And no matter what nation or state they had ventured into, they continued to exhibit the same deep, earnest love of their ancient homeland.
All that remains today of other great civilizations are a small number of ancient documents, fallen crumbling stones and broken images. Their greatness and their glory swallowed up and covered by time. Where kings once feasted, common people now eat. But the Jews have preserved their ancient identity and live in the present, a people and nation of the past.
Before the remains of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Jews may be seen mourning and praying over the loss of their temple, their glory, and the ruins of ancient Zion. The world recognizes the father of the Jews in Abraham. Theirs is more a family history than a nation’s history. In whatever light we may view them, we cannot fail to be deeply moved by the feeling of intense interest on their behalf.
Their journeying across national borders, battling their oppressors, suffering considerable losses, and few victories, they remained a family, never forgetting their heritage. The first part of their struggle ended, and Amos’s prophecy began to bear fruit on the 14th of May, 1948.
Amos 9:14-15, the LORD said, “I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them ... And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”
The LORD has brought the Jews through two thousand years of suffering and disgrace. “A reproach and a by-ward” among the nations, yet “a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed.” Here we have a beautiful fulfillment of prophecy, giving us incontestable evidence of the truth of the Bible.
Isaiah 11:10-16, It shall come to pass, said the Lord, “I shall set (my) hand again the second time to recover the remnant of my people, which shall be left ... and shall gather together the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
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