Several of our readers have suggested that because of the recent developments in the Middle East and the continuing unrest in that area, we reprint the following article by our late brother Paul Wilson which originally was published in our issues of May and June 1958. Since the land of Israel has been the center of so much interest in recent months, we believe it timely to again bring this to our readers' attention.
Part 1
May 14 is a memorable date in contemporary history, for on that day in 1948 the new State of Israel was born. Simultaneously with the withdrawal of the last British troops which had occupied Palestine under a League of Nations mandate, the Palestinian Jewish leaders announced to the world that they had established a sovereign state; they were henceforth to be reckoned among the world-family of nations. This was no ordinary, everyday event; it was of epochal significance and almost an incredible event, for since the remote year of A.D. 70 the Jews had no national polity or even center of religion. They had been dispersed to all points of the compass.
The prophet Hosea had announced that the Jews were to be "wanderers among the nations" and abide "many days" without a king or a prince, and without the appointed means of the worship of God; for they were to have no sacrifice, or official priest wearing the "ephod." God had further announced that they were to be unwelcome people in many lands of their dispersion, for they were to "be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure." (See Hos. 3:44For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: (Hosea 3:4) and 8.8.) This has been their condition for almost two millennia. They have been ostracized and proscribed in one nation after another. They were driven out of Rome, Spain, England, and other nations in turn. They met the inquisition, the pogroms, and the gas chambers, and were deprived of a means of livelihood time and again. They were confined in ghettos, and forbidden to own land; yet they lived and continued as a distinct people.
We should not fail to see the hand of God in all this. In Old Testament times they turned from the living and true God to worship the idols of the heathen, and God turned them over to Nebuchadnezzar for chastisement. After 70 years of exile in Babylon, a remnant was permitted to return under the Persian monarch's favor (as had been prophetically foretold in Isa. 44:2626That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: (Isaiah 44:26) through 45:4). But they were not masters of their own possessions or bodies; they were beholden to Gentile sovereigns for all things. Nehemiah described their plight in these words: "Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers,... we are servants in it: and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us:... also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress." Neh. 9:36, 3736Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: 37And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. (Nehemiah 9:36‑37). Nevertheless, through much hardship and trouble, they continued. Finally, at the appointed time, their Messiah appeared according to the conditions laid down in their prophetic scriptures. When He came, Herod, an Idumean (a descendant of Esau was king in the land, and there was no room for David's greater Son. In due time they rejected their Messiah precisely as had been foretold by the prophets. Led on by their priests and chief men they clamored for His death, and disclaimed Him as their king, saying, "We have no king but Caesar." John 19:1515But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. (John 19:15). When Pilate, the Roman governor, sought to free Him whom he recognized as an innocent man, they cried out, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Math 27:25.
For their idolatry, they had been subjected to Babylonian captivity; for their rejection of Christ and choice of Caesar and Barabbas, they were destroyed by Titus and dispersed for almost twenty centuries. The Lord Jesus wept over their coming destruction by the Romans (Luke 19:4141And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, (Luke 19:41)). When He gave them the parable of the vineyard and the husbandmen, He told them of His own rejection by them and asked them what the owner of the vineyard would do to those husbandmen; and they replied, "He will miserably destroy those wicked men" (Matt. 21:4141They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. (Matthew 21:41)). He further said that God would send His armies (the Romans under Titus) and destroy them and burn up their city (Matt. 22:77But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. (Matthew 22:7)). He also said that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)).
This we see that it was by no accident that Titus destroyed Jerusalem and dispersed the Jews. It was a divine judgment that befell them, for the "Scripture cannot be broken." The prophet Isaiah arraigned Israel for their idolatry in chapters 9-0 to 48, inclusive, and in the last verse of chapter 48 said, "There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked"—the wicked being those who forsook Jehovah for idols. Then in the next chapters their Messiah is mentioned, also their rejection of Him; and this section ends with, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Isa. 57:2121There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:21). The wicked of this latter verse are those who rejected their Messiah, the Son of God.
Their preservation as a distinct people was not the result of fortuitous circumstances. They, like Cain, had a mark on them that was to keep them from being exterminated. Cain had killed his brother, and they rejected Him who came down in grace as their Brother. (He, the blessed Son of God, came of David's seed according to the flesh [Rom. 1:33Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; (Romans 1:3)].) Cain was to be preserved and bear his punishment, and so were the Jews who cast out their King. A summation of their law was, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:37-4037Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37‑40)); yet they did not love the Lord Jesus as God, nor their neighbor (which place He had in grace taken). To one enlightened by the Word of God, Jewish preservation is clearly understood and is not, as some call it, "the enigma of Jewish survival."
However, the condition in which they have existed for almost 2000 years is not going to last forever. God has decreed certain limitations on the days of their exile and suffering. The language of faith in the Old Testament, when anticipating their fall, was a cry to God, "How long?" and God's word regarding their dispersion contains an "until." When Isaiah was told to prophecy about Israel's being blinded, the prophet said, "Lord, how long?" God answered, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.... But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return." Isa. 6:11, 1311Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, (Isaiah 6:11)
13But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (Isaiah 6:13). And the Lord Jesus said, "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)). The terminus of their exile and suffering is definitely decreed.
There are many people in Christendom who say that God will not reinstate Israel as His special possession in the land which He gave to their fathers. This is either ignorance or self-will, or both. To reject the thought of Israel's reinvestiture is to reject Scripture. Romans 11 alone should decide the issue; first the Apostle reasons that God has not cast away His people by proving that at that very time there was a remnant saved according to His purposes in grace (v. 5). There never was a time in this age when there were not Jews saved and brought into the Church of God on earth. At the beginning, all the believers were Jews. But then the Apostle continues to show in the figure of the olive tree how the people of promise had been cut off from the tree symbolizing privilege on earth, but were to be grafted in again. His promises to Abraham were unconditional, although the Jews had subsequently put themselves under the law as a condition on which their blessings were to hang. They lost everything for the time on that basis, for their unfaithfulness, but God will yet fulfill to the letter His irrevocable promises to Abraham.
The Apostle by the Spirit of God says, "Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." Rom. 11:1111I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. (Romans 11:11). They stumbled over their Messiah when He came in lowly grace, but this does not mean that they have been permanently rejected. In the present time, however, their rejection of the Lord Jesus has opened the way to bring the Gentiles into this marvelous grace of God. But the Apostle goes on to speak of the day coming of Israel's "fullness." They are to be blessed and be a blessing. The day of their fullness will bring blessing to the earth. After conclusive divine reasoning on the point of Israel's restoration to His special favor, the Apostle adds, "that blindness in part [not total, for some have always believed and received the Lord Jesus] is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." The present is the time of the fullness of the Gentiles-their being offered the mercy and salvation of God-but they have not continued "in His goodness." Christendom, with all its increased emphasis on religion as a bulwark against communism, is generally rejecting the gospel. They are soon going to lose their present preferred position, and Israel be brought back into it.
For many centuries Palestine was almost totally uninhabited by the descendants of Jacob-the people of the promise and of the Book. In the year 1882, only 25,000 lived there. Toward the end of that century, Zionism became active in promoting the return of the Jews to the land. By 1914, about 100,000 Jews resided there; but their numbers soon began to diminish as they emigrated to other lands. Then, during the first world war, a notable Jew, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first president of the new state of Israel, developed acetone, needed to make TNT, for the British. This definitely helped the allies to win the war, and he was offered great honors; but he chose rather to petition for a national home for his people. This in turn brought the Balfour declaration, stating that the British government looked with favor upon Palestine as a land for the Jews. Jewish population then mounted from only 55,000 in 1919 to 600,000 in 1942. And when the auspicious day of May 14, 1948 came, there were only about 650,000 Jews in Palestine; but many seeking entry had been interned on the Island of Cyprus. During these ten years of Israel's sovereignty, well over 1,000.000 Jews from 60 nations have taken up residence in the land of their fathers. So on their independence day this year (1958), there are almost 2,000,000 Jews back in the land. It is a reunion of the land, the people, and the language.
But what should be the Christian's view of this achievement of the seemingly impossible? Are we to rejoice over Israel's being gathered together in Palestine as though this is
the work of God of which He spoke by His prophets? We judge not. While God moves behind the scenes and permits or holds in check the plans and schemes of men, the present revival of the Jewish nation and the great strides of the past decade in their Palestinian-held territory bear no resemblance to God's promises to gather them back to their land. God has said: "Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west:... even every one that is called by My name." Isa. 43:5, 75Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; (Isaiah 43:5)
7Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:7). "With great mercies will I gather thee... With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD, thy Redeemer." Isa. 54:7, 87For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:7‑8). "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God." Zech. 10:66And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them. (Zechariah 10:6). And the Lord Himself said, "And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds." Matt. 24:3131And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31). Very many scriptures might be adduced to prove that it is God Himself who shall do the gathering, and they shall be called by His name. It will not be a return to the land merely, but to God.
What we have been witnessing is preponderantly the work of men of zeal, not that which is to characterize what their Messiah will display on Israel's behalf. They refer to the idea of a coming Messiah, but only as an indefinite thing. One of their leaders, when asked about the coming of the Messiah, said, "We do not know what the coming of the Messiah will be, whether a person or a national revival, but we know that it will not be the Christian Messiah." They speak much more of their accomplishments. Mr. Abba Eban (Israel's ambassador to the United Nations and the United States) is regarded as the "Voice of Israel," in which the great leader says: "The restoration is described by Jewish historians both as a Divine will and as a human duty. The Divine promise decreed that this people should be restored; it was, therefore, its own duty not only to dream but also labor for that redemption." "A dream which had no ostensible prospect of realization was carried to fulfillment against all calculation of material chance."
In one chapter of his book the famous ambassador takes issue with the modern historian, Arnold Toynbee. Toynbee insists that if and when God would restore Israel to their land, He would do it without their help. But Abba Eban says in rebuttal: "It is true that the Hebrew doctrine of history describes the Restoration as a Divine purpose. But it also describes it as a purpose which human effort should strive to accelerate. Indeed, Judiasm rejects Dr. Toynbee's persistent division between the Divine Will and human action. He constantly sees these two concepts in terms of antithesis. In Judaism, except for the mystical heresies, it is deemed that if something is willed by God, then it is the duty of man in his material life to strive for its fulfillment." "Toynbee portrays the movement for the restoration of Jewish nationhood as a usurpation of human beings of a destiny which can only be righteously envisaged as the work of the Creator." The basis of Dr. Toynbee's argument is not within the scope of our examination, for he is striking out against the displacement of 750,000 Arabs when Israel took over the land, although by so doing Israel may have sown the seeds of her own destruction. We cite Mr. Eban, however, as an authoritative voice of Israel to show that they consider the present achievement to be a monument to the power of man's will and determination. Truly they have done great things, but the restoration spoken of by God is what He will do. Was their original deliverance from Egypt the result of their prowess, or divine intervention? The coming restoration of Israel will be entirely God's doing. (Our comments on Dr. Toynbee's history should not be construed as any approval of his humanistic approach to Christianity.)
At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to execute judgment on His enemies, and reign, He will set up His perfect government on earth; and He will give a redeemed and quickened remnant of Israel a new heart; they will be born again- they will be a changed people with His law written in their hearts. The last three chapters of Zechariah, Jer. 31:31-3431Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31‑34), Eze. 36:25-3825Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. 31Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. 33Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 34And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. 35And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. 36Then the heathen that are left round about you 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. 37Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. 38As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 36:25‑38), and other prophecies make this very clear. Is there one particle of evidence that in their present return to the land they have really returned to their God? True, they have rabbis who exert a strong political influence over the use of Hebrew as a language, and over dietary laws, etc.; but in the main there is nothing for God in the whole affair. They have gone back to a national land, not as to a holy land. It is a return of the people to the land and the language in unbelief. They are trusting in man for the accomplishment of God's purposes.
A Los Angeles Times correspondent reported: "Far from being ultra-religious, the majority of Jews to whom this writer talked in Israel are bitterly resentful of personal restrictions imposed on them in deference to the religious element and regard the orthodox as obstacles in the path, of progress.
"It annoys them, for instance, that the rabbis wage unremitting war against the importation of non-kosher meat.... They object to restrictions on travel on their weekly holiday. They want civil marriage and divorce laws.
"It is true enough that ardently zealous young Zionists are little interested in the rich Biblical associations of their country, or for that matter in any of its ancient glories. They think less of Solomon's temple than of the new row of cement houses rising on a Galilean hillside. Their orientation is wholly toward the future, and the state's furious progress promises to submerge much of the antique charm of what the world regards as the Holy Land.
"Zionism is not, as so many non-Jews believe, a religious movement, though religion has been useful in reinforcing its claims and enlisting international support."
Even Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, saw it as a nationalistic movement, and expressed the aims of Zionism in these words: "The creation of a home secured by public right for those Jews who cannot or will not be assimilated by the country of their adoption." Where in this is their repentance and turning to God in contrition which will be a prerequisite to their being established by God in the land which He gave unto their fathers? It is true that they resisted being assimilated in the nations where they sojourned, and kept a consciousness of their being descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but this is all understood by God's putting a mark on them until they must meet the One whom they rejected. Joseph's brethren were a type of them, both in selling him and in having to meet him in humiliation and confession at a later date.
Speaking naturally, as men, Israel has good reason to boast of its achievements of the first decade. The nation was no sooner born than it was attacked by the surrounding Arab states; and though outnumbered 40 to 1, it not only repulsed the Arabs, but drove them back beyond the early lines of demarcation. Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan joined in the attack for the purpose of eliminating the new state before it could take root. In those days considerable pressure was put on both sides to agree to an armistice, and after various attempts such agreements were completed; but to this day no settled peace has ever been made. During the entire decade, ]Israel has faced hostile foes, blockades, boycotts, sporadic attacks, and pressures, but with the backing of world Jewry their progress has been steady. It is a modern marvel that a young nation could make such a defense and yet assimilate well over 1,000,00 Jews, and still make progress in the process.
The Israelis have shown great scientific and technological skill, so that in many things they are already self-sufficient and, in some produce and manufactured products, they are now exporters.
We all know that Palestine receives very little rainfall, and that water is a vital necessity for Israel's continued existence and expansion. Through great fortitude and human endeavor they have brought water from the more favored parts of the land to those less favored. They have taken water from the Yarkon River through massive pipelines down to the Negev, and that area long known as a desert is producing bumper crops. They have drilled wells and have sought to turn barren land into a fertile country. To a large degree, they are succeeding. And so writers, both secular and religious, are proclaiming that this is the accomplishment of God's promises, as:
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly.... Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams 'in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water" (Isa. 35:1-71The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. 3Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. (Isaiah 35:1‑7)). "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth.... I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." Isa. 43:1919Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19).
The crucial point is not whether Israel has done great things, but whether they are the works of their hands or the things God has promised to do. Would it be anything new for irrigation to take water to a desert area? Of course not! But God has said He will do a new thing. Does He need the work of men's hands to accomplish His design? When He promised Israel the land of Canaan long ago, He described it as very different from the land of Egypt with which they were acquainted-"For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot [that is, by irrigation].... But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the LORD thy God careth for... from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." Deut. 11:10-1210For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. (Deuteronomy 11:10‑12). Did God need man's foot to water the land in that day? No. It is quite evident that the Negev Desert supported numerous people and flocks and herds in the days of Abraham. By the prophet Isaiah, God foretold what would happen to them and to their land for their sin. He said He would break down the wall that He had put around them for their protection. He said, moreover, "I will lay it [His vineyard] waste; it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briars and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." Isa. 5:66And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. (Isaiah 5:6).
God commended the land to them in the beginning as one which had sufficient rainfall, then told them that He would withhold rain from it for their disobedience, and then promised to send an abundance of rain in a future day. He needs neither man's efforts nor inventions to supplement what He deigns to do.