HIGHLIGHTS OF DAWN

December 1998

Zionism in Prophecy

“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them.” —Jeremiah 16:14-16

AS THE YEAR 1998 comes to a close, we are reminded that the nation of Israel observed its 50th anniversary in May. There is no doubt that the creation of Israel’s state was a great miracle and is so described in an earlier writing in the “Jerusalem Report” from which we quote:

“One hundred years ago, there were approximately 11 million Jews in the world, three-quarters of them in Eastern Europe. For the most part poverty-stricken, many left for Western countries. Few went to Palestine. Expression of Jewish creative and intellectual genius was found almost exclusively in the religious study halls, but most yeshivot distanced themselves from Zionism. Yiddish was the dominant language of European Jews, Tel Aviv didn’t exist and Palestine was a barren backwater of the Ottoman Empire.

“Today, with 4.5 million Jews, Israel boasts the world’s second-largest Jewish population, after the U.S. Already half of the world’s 3 million Jewish children and youth live there. The country’s standard of living is on a par with that of any Western state, and it is a high-tech and agricultural superpower. Ancient Hebrew has been transformed into a modern vernacular. Students in many of Israel’s yeshivot are fiercely and unabashedly patriotic. Tel Aviv is a thriving metropolis that “never sleeps.” Many of Israel’s deserts are green.”

GOD’S MIRACLES

Few of those who were involved in this miracle realized that they were witnessing a miracle directed by God’s power, the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The first such miracle performed by God for Israel was in delivering them out of slavery in Egypt. He also led them to the land which he had promised to Abraham. (Num. 32:11) There were many glorious years that followed, but time and again Israel fell into idolatry and had to be punished. Their captivity in Babylon lasted 70 years. When the opportunity arose to return to their land, all did not go. Those that did return became reestablished in this land but they were under Gentile domination. When Rome was the universal empire in a succession of three preceding kingdoms (Dan. 2:38-44), the Jewish nation caused so much trouble in trying to throw off the Roman yoke that the Roman General Titus was sent to Judea to suppress them. His campaign was so devastating that they were scattered all over the world.

Any other nation in being dispersed among Gentile kingdoms would have lost its identity. However, the people of Israel had to fight constantly against assimilation which was described by the new chairman of the World Zionist Organization as an enemy, saying, “an enemy with no face, no leadership, no ideology, no organization, and no resources, is claiming a large number of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.” Therefore, the return of such a large number of people who had not lost their identity is a miracle that could only be accomplished by the power of God.

ISRAEL TODAY

Today, as a nation, Israel is trying to establish peace with the Palestinians of the PLO. Outside pressures are being brought to bear on Israel to return lands acquired when they were victors in various wars initiated by Arab nations. There is a strong sentiment in Israel not to do this. Peace talks that were started five years ago in Oslo, Norway, known as the Oslo Accords, have stalled. The agreement arising from the Oslo Accords for Palestinian autonomy was signed by both parties September 13, 1993 in Washington. After Netanyahu became prime minister, West Bank talks have not been held since March, 1997.

Meanwhile, the PLO is having its own internal problems. A prominent and capable female minister of Arafat’s cabinet, Haman Ashrawl, who has been active in the peace process since the Madrid talks in 1991, resigned because Yasir Arafat failed to tackle much needed reforms. These reforms were to deal with allegations of government corruption by ministers in the cabinet. These ministers were not removed. Instead they were reassigned. Many ministers who were not touched by the legislative probe of corruption were transferred to lesser posts and some resigned. The peace process in Israel is going nowhere.

ANNIVERSARY OF ZIONISM

The year before, 1997, Israel observed the 100th anniversary of Zionism. Normally when Zionism is mentioned we tend to think of Theodore Herzl who invited nations with large Jewish populations to send representatives to the first Zionist Congress held in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. There the World Zionist Organization was founded. This, however, was not the beginning of the Zionist movement and the work that the ‘fishers’ were to do. Bible Student chronology interprets the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah 40:2, “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins,” as applying before the work done by Herzl in setting up an official worldwide Zionist organization. The Hebrew word, Kephel, rendered “double” in this text refers to folding in two (like a sheet of paper), to make a duplicate. The first half was when Israel had more blessings than punishments, and the latter half is when she suffered for her sins and had more punishments than blessings. The first period was from Jacob’s death in 1812 BC to AD 33, when they were rejected by Jesus. The second period dates from our Lord’s death in AD 33 to 1878 (1845 years later). The year 1878 marked the time when the Berlin Congress of Nations was held to revise the treaty of San Stefano. Among the many revisions, there was a provision made for minority groups respecting their rights. Both Armenians living in Turkey and Jews in Palestine under the Ottoman Empire benefited.

In celebrating 100 years of Zionism, the Jerusalem Report journal had a section on those who set the stage for Israel’s rebirth. Brief biographies and accomplishments were presented of several Jews. These were:

In 1872 Hess published, “Rome and Jerusalem, the Last National Problem,” in which he recognized that Jews are not only a religion but a nation. He argued that this entitled them to self-determination. He proposed the establishment of a Jewish socialist commonwealth in Palestine. He also called for the creation of two Arab national states in Syria and Egypt, alongside the Jewish national home. His ideas inspired the socialist wing of the Zionist movement.

As a medical doctor and Russian Jew, who was in favor of assimilation, he became an ardent Zionist because of the Russian pogroms in 1881. He wrote a pamphlet entitled, “Auto-emancipation—A Warning of a Russian Jew to His Brethren” in 1882. He toured the capitals of Europe, urging prominent Jewish leaders to provide practical assistance in the resettlement of the Jews. After meeting with Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Pinsker obtained financial assistance for the establishment of six Jewish colonies in Palestine. (Editor’s Note: This was the beginning of a remarkable fulfillment of Jeremiah 32:15 and 44. Jeremiah was told by God to buy his uncle’s son’s land, pay the money, and file the deed away when invasion to take the land by the Babylonians was imminent. These prophecies refer to our day and say, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. … Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord.”)

A rabbi, he believed that the land of Palestine should be prepared to receive the Messiah, and urged many Jews to start the process. He based his conclusions on readings of the Torah. He approached philanthropists to back agricultural projects in Palestine, ultimately convincing the French Jewish Alliance Israelite Universelle to lease 60 acres of land outside of Jaffa. There he initiated the establishment of the first agricultural school in Israel and inspired the founding of several settlement societies.

Judah was another rabbi who believed that 1840 would usher in Messianic redemption. He called upon fellow Jews to give assistance to residents of the land of Israel, and urged Diaspora Jews to move there, as he had done in 1874.

The dispersed Jews had adopted many languages such as Yiddish, Arabic, Ladino, German, and Russian, and others throughout the world. Ben-Yehuda felt that nationalism was impossible without a national language, and set out to transform ancient Hebrew from a language of prayer into a modern vernacular and to make it a national language. He came to Palestine with his family in 1881 promoting the use of Hebrew in daily life. He labored long to complete a comprehensive dictionary of the Hebrew language.

Asher Ginsberg is better known by his pen name, Ahad Ha’am. He was interested in the proper approach to promote Zionism and preached that national revival would be undermined if it severed itself from the past and from traditional values, and that this revival had to be preceded by the spiritual and cultural regeneration of the Jewish people. He moved to Israel 5 years before he died.

Abraham Kook was a well-respected rabbi. He was unabashedly Zionistic and outspoken about the right of the Jewish people to Palestine. All rabbis in Israel, even though orthodox, were not Zionists, but Rabbi Kook was. In 1921 he became the chief rabbi of Israel. He believed that the return of Jews to the land of Israel was the beginning of Redemption.

IMPORTANT EVENTS

These examples show how ‘fishers’ were used by the Lord before the Zionist movement was started in 1897. The important events spanning this 100 years of Zionism were listed by the Jerusalem Report publication as follows:

1897  First Zionist Congress: World Zionist Organization founded.
1898  Jewish Colonial Trust (Anglo-Israel Bank) founded to finance settlements.
1901  Jewish National Fund established.
1903  Kishnev pogroms. Uganda plan turned down.
1904  Herzl dies. Hebrew language council formed. Second Allyah (Russia and Poland).
1909  Tel Aviv founded. Also first Kibbutz.
1914  World War I begins.
1915  Trumpeldor establishes Zion Mule Corps.
1917  Balfour declaration.
1918  War ends. British mandate for Palestine begins.
1919  Start of third Allyah (Russian).
1920  Death of Trumpeldor.
1924  Start of fourth Allyah (Polish).
1925  Hebrew University established in Jerusalem.
1929  Jewish Agency established. Arab riots. British limit immigration.
1933  Hitler becomes German chancellor. Fifth Allyah (German).
1936  Start of instant settlement movement.
1937  Peel Commission recommends partition of Palestine. Jews accept and Arabs reject the proposal.
1939  Outbreak of World War II. British limit immigration more.
1941  Jewish commando unit formed.
1945  War ends with one-third of world Jewry destroyed.
1946  Irgun bombs British HQ in King David Hotel. Zionist leaders rounded up.
1947  UN votes to partition Palestine.
1948  British mandate ends on May 15. Jerusalem is divided. Five Arab states attack.
1949  Armistice reached in January. Ben Gurion declares Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Knesset established. Yemenite Jews arrive.
1950  Law of Return passed by Knesset.
1951  Iraqi Jews arrive.
1956 Sinai campaign.
1964  PLO formed.
1966  Nobel prize in literature to S. Y. Agnon.
1967  Six-day war. Jerusalem reunited.
1969  Golda Meir becomes prime minister. War of Attrition through 1971.
1973  Yom Kippur war. 1700 Israelis die.
1975  UN General Assembly debates value of Zionism and calls it racism.
1977  Menachem Begin becomes premier and meets with Anwar-as Sadat in Jerusalem.
1978  Begin and Sadat share Nobel peace prize.
1979  Israel-Egypt peace treaty signed.
1982  Israel completes pullout from Sinai, invades Lebanon.
1985  End of Ethiopian rescue.
1989  Wave of immigration from Soviet Union begins.
1991  Gulf War. More Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Madrid Peace Conference.
1992  Rabin becomes prime minister second time.
1993  Signing of Israel-Palestinian Declaration of Principles.
1994  Israel-Jordan peace treaty signed.
1995  Assassination of Rabin.
1996  Benjamin Netanyahu elected prime minister. Arabs initiate suicide bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

PROPHECIES FULFILLED

There are many prophecies in God’s Word that foretold Israel’s development as a nation again, notably Ezekiel, chapter 37. The gradual development of various stages in this restoration are illustrated by bones coming together, followed by sinews and flesh, skin, and finally breath. As Ezekiel says, “these bones are the whole house of Israel.”—Ezek. 37:11

In the prior chapter God says, “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.” (Ezek. 36:24) Also mentioned in this prophecy is the complete renovation of the desolate land that will be a witness to all other nations and they “shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.” (vs. 36) In Jeremiah, chapter 16, preceding the words of our text, God says, “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”—Jer. 16:14,15

There is no doubt that the nation of Israel is here to stay. In this restoration that has been progressing in our time the words of the prophet Amos describe what is happening very well when he said, “I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of 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, said the Lord thy God.”—Amos 9:14,15

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