Ezekiel 37
In vision Ezekiel, who prophesied in captivity in Babylonia, was set down in the midst of a valley full of bones, and his comment on them was that they were “very dry.”
The Lord God bid Ezekiel prophesy upon these bones, and declare that He would cause sinews to come upon them, and skin to cover them, and that breath should be put into them, and that they should live.
As Ezekiel prophesied there was a noise, and a shaking; the bones came together, bone to bone, the sinews and flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then the prophet is bidden to call to the wind: “Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
The answer is given. The breath came upon them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceeding great army.
We are left in no doubt as to the meaning of the vision, and it becomes exceedingly interesting in the light of recent events.
The bones are said to be the whole house of Israel, that is to say those who are alive, but their condition Godward one of moral death. They say: “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.” Psalm 141:77Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. (Psalm 141:7), says: “Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth.”
The prophet is bid again to prophesy: “Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves [that is, from among the nations among whom they are scattered, and in whose midst they find a national grave], and bring you into the land of Israel... And shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live [that is, toward God], and I shall place you in your own land.”
The above prophecy is deeply interesting, because much is going on under our very eyes, which is leading up to its fulfillment. A few years ago a very distinct stirring of Jewish national hopes was publicly seen in the formation of the Zionist movement with the object of arranging the return of the Jews to their own land. The association was, and is, political and infidel.
At first the movement was scoffed at by most Jews. Little by little it gained ground, and its annual conventions in such places as London, New York, Berne, Berlin, witnessed a rising tide of enthusiasm.
The unexpected happened. Hitherto the Jew had been forbidden by the Turk to own real estate in Palestine. The Turkish revolution took place. The Young Turk party got into power. The then Sultan was in want of money. The Jew was allowed to acquire property in Palestine.
Then began a steady flow of Jewish immigrants to their own land. Seaports were enlarged in capacity. Steamers brought their living freights to Jewish shores. Population rose. In 1827 there were five hundred in and around Jerusalem. By 1882 the population had risen to 24,000 people, one-sixth, or 4,000 of them being Jews. This steady increase continued, and has been greatly accentuated since the British Mandate came into being. Jerusalem in 1935 had a population of 105,000, Jaffa, 65,000, Haifa, 85,000. Tel Aviv, begun in 1907 with some sixty families, has grown by leaps and bounds. Today it has at least 150,000 inhabitants.
Places that have a sudden influx of inhabitants, or a steady stream of increase, can generally explain the phenomenon. The discovery of a gold-field will bring about the former, the opening out of manufactories will account for the latter. In the case of Palestine there is no such explanation. It is GOD HIMSELF bringing bone to bone, sinew to sinew, and putting thereon a covering of flesh and skin.
Of course the Great War (WW I) arrested this movement, and for the moment set things back, but only that the way may be opened out more than ever under the hand of God for the fulfillment of His divine purpose.
In what direction then has the tide of immigration turned? Mainly in the direction of agricultural colonies in Palestine.
This, too, is in fulfillment of a remarkable prophecy. “Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange [foreign, JND] slips: in the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish; but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow” (Isa. 17:10-1110Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: 11In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. (Isaiah 17:10‑11)).
This prophecy was made over two thousand six hundred years ago. God had told the people plainly that pious conduct on their part would bring prosperity and safety. Israel, unlike Egypt, which was watered by the foot, that is, dependent on the river Nile and irrigation, was watered by the rain of heaven. If God gave bountifully the early and latter rain, prosperity was secured. If He withheld the rain, barrenness and sterility would be the consequence. Deuteronomy 11:10-1710For 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. 13And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. (Deuteronomy 11:10‑17) brings this clearly before us.
But Israel went after other gods, and, above all, refused their Messiah, the result being that they were scattered among the nations, and the Gentiles possessed their land. The withholding of the bountiful supply of rain in a country whose soil is peculiarly dependent on rain, would easily reduce the country to barrenness.
We extract the following from the organ of the British Palestine Committee (issue Oct. 17th, 1917): “Geologically speaking, Palestine is almost entirely built up of limestone of the Upper Cretaceous age.... If from the mineral point of view the limestone formation is a poor one, it is, on the other hand, full of promise from the agricultural point of view... No rock can, under the influence of Palestinian sun and heat, compare with the limestone in rapidity of disintegration, thus making swiftly available abundant new elements for the formation of a rich soil of perpetual fertility. No soil, more than the spongy calcareous soil, can be as quickly permeated by the heavy downpours of rain usual in Palestine and similar countries, and no other soil than the calcareous one has such a high capillarity, making available the inexhaustible stores of underground water for the deep-rooting plants of the arid and semi-arid regions. Thus a continual luxuriant growth is maintained under a glowing sun, an intense light, and a warm air, with not a drop of rain for six or seven months consecutively” (pp. 93- 94).
Now it was the withdrawal more or less of the latter rain that has preserved the land for the Jew. On the other hand, the Jew has been preserved for the land. Spite of over eighteen centuries of dispersion among the nations, spite of untold persecutions and oppression, the Jew is more numerous today than in the palmy days of King Solomon. The Jew is the standing witness to the miraculous.
Such a phenomenon is completely outside the range of explanation save by bringing in the miraculous. Empires have come and gone; Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, Roman Empires have risen and disappeared; but the Jew, more ancient than they all, still exists as a distinct nation, and that under circumstances that make his existence the marvel of the world.
When Frederick the Great of Prussia, the infidel friend of the great French skeptic, Voltaire, asked General von Ziethen, a Christian officer at his court, to defend his Christianity in one word, the courtly white-haired general bowed, and replied, “Israel, sire”—an irrefutable answer.
And whilst God has been miraculously preserving the people for the land, He has been miraculously preserving the land for the people. By the withholding of rain the land flowing with milk and honey has been reduced to comparative barrenness. This is prophesied in Isaiah 32:9-159Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. 10Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. 11Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. 12They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: 14Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; 15Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. (Isaiah 32:9‑15): “Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear My voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto My speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of My people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.”
And this is just what has marked Palestine for years. The vintage failed, land went out of cultivation, thorns overspread the whole land, roads were practically nonexistent. The lazy Turk could not, or would not, cope with the difficulties the lack of rain produced. In this way God has preserved the land for the people.
But of late years climatic conditions have altered for the better. In 1869-70 the rainfall of Palestine was 12.5 inches; in 1877-8 it was 42.95 inches. These were both exceptional years but the tendency is remarkable. The average rainfall now is 26.06294 inches. Both Berlin's and London's are lower than this.
We give an extract from The Friends' Witness (1912): “Dr. Grunhut, of Jerusalem, says that for centuries the land was partially barren for lack of the autumnal rains; but for several decades now these 'latter' rains have fallen (Joel 2:21-2321Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. 22Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. 23Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. (Joel 2:21‑23)); and between 1860 and 1892 have increased the rainfall, Mr. Chaplin, of Jerusalem, tells us by sixty per cent.”
Thus gradual return of the latter rain has encouraged the founding of agricultural colonies, of whom some seventy-three were established up to 1922. This number had increased in 1935 to one hundred and eighty-seven colonies with an area of 1,500,000 dunams. Up to the time the war began about 14,000,000 vine slips and fruit trees had been imported from foreign countries; since then very many more.
In 1890 an acre of irrigable land in the Colony of Petach-Tikvah cost about £3 12s.; just before the Great War broke out such land was worth £36 per acre.
This colony is the largest of all the settlements. It is situated eight miles north-east of Jaffa, and covers 8,000 acres, and supported a population of 3,000, when the Great War for the moment gave it a setback. There are great irrigating works, and numerous schools, including one for elementary agriculture.
Vines, oranges, lemons, almonds, cereals are grown, and dairy farming is given attention to. The value of the colony increased from £1200 in 1880 to over £600,000 in 1914.
In 1882 the colony of Rishon-le-Zion (Arabic, Ayfin Kara) was founded by Russian Jews. It covered 3,180 acres, and supported a population of 1,200 before the war broke out. It is the principal center of the wine industry in Palestine. Baron Edmund de Rothschild built large wine-cellars, capable of storing 1,650,000 gallons.
Colonies of 1,270, 1,600, 1,360, 455, 3,570, 3,250, 500, 200, 625, 1,200, 435, 250, 700 acres, and many more besides have sprung up of late years, chiefly as the work of Russian Jews. In a land about the size of Wales and with such a diversified surface, this bespeaks an astounding change.
Scripture is being fulfilled under our very eyes. In an article on the Jews in Palestine, the Egyptian Gazette presents the following picture: “Where nothing but briars and brambles previously existed, we now see beautiful vineyards and fields of growing corn. The country generally is noted for its bad roads, but in the neighborhood of the Jewish colonies excellent roads have been made, and the greatest order prevails.”
A little incident may interest the reader. A friend of ours in the little seaside town of Minehead, in Somerset, was seeking to convince a man of the truth of the Bible. He said to him, “If you will come round to Mr. So-and-so's shop window [mentioning a wine merchant's name] I will give you a proof of Scripture.”
In front of the shop window our friend drew the man's attention to Isaiah 17:1010Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: (Isaiah 17:10) and 11, and then to the labels on a row of wine bottles, which bore an inscription to the effect that the wine contained therein was made from grapes grown in Palestine, and that the vines were raised from slips imported from Spain.
We may ask ourselves the question, what effect has the Great War had upon the fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision? It undoubtedly for the moment set back immigration, agricultural prosperity, etc., etc.; indeed, it not only checked the flowing tide, but changed it into a receding one. But this was only for the moment.
It can be realized at a glance that once Palestine was delivered from the yoke of the Turk, the setback has given place to a wonderful forward move, the like of which the Holy Land has never witnessed, not even in its best days.
Never will the writer forget the solemn and thrilling feelings that filled his soul when, one dark rainy night in December, 1917, he heard the newspaper boy crying, “Capture of Jerusalem.” He turned to his companion, and said, “Then the coming of the Lord for His Church is VERY near.”
But the remarkable thing about it is that before the capture of Jerusalem Mr. A. J. Balfour, afterward Earl Balfour, should write a letter to Lord Rothschild, in which he stated the decision of the British Government to reestablish the Jewish nation in Palestine. This seemed like counting the chickens before they were hatched. But there was a very remarkable reason for this.
Dr. Ch. Weismann, a Jew, had been able to render very remarkable services to the Government and the Allied cause, and so great was the gratitude of the Government that they hastened to make this announcement, in acknowledgment of their indebtedness to him.
And how have the Jews received this declaration? We quote from the organ of the British Palestine Committee (issue Nov. 24th, 1917): “Jews have aptly compared the Declaration with that Proclamation of Cyrus, King or Persia, which put an end to the first Exile.”
“No living Jew has known such a sentiment of exaltation from any political happening as the Declaration has spread throughout the hosts of Jewry. We should have to go back to the days of Ezra for the like. It is a rebirth. Every Jewish institution —synagogues, friendly societies, trade unions—is hastening to express its heartfelt gratitude, and to reaffirm its devotion to the British Government for this memorable act of national liberation.”
And the feelings of exaltation stirred in the breasts of Jews within the British Empire, where they are treated with kindness and as equals, are mild compared with what must be felt by the downtrodden and persecuted Jews in Poland, Russia, and Romania.
Further, there are the feelings of half a million Jewish young men, who fought in the ranks of the Allies, to be reckoned with. There was an association formed in the United States with a view to settling Jewish ex-soldiers in Palestine when the war ceased.
The Great War has given a powerful impetus to the Zionist movement. Now that the aims of that Society are seen to be practical, many Jews—especially those with wealth—have joined the movement. Vast sums of money are flowing through its agency in relief and exploitation channels. The United States, Russia, Britain, France, and Italy all witness to this.
Quoting from the organ of the British Palestine Committee (issue Oct. 17th, 1917), we read: “At Moscow a company has been formed with a capital of 5,000,000 rubles to produce building materials and erect buildings in Palestine. By 19th April, 3,100,000 rubles had been subscribed, and it is understood that the full capital has now been got together. At Moscow a Colonizing Company with shares of 5000 rubles is making great progress.”
And this in spite of the upheaval and unrest, that was caused by the revolution, is truly remarkable.
There has been a fight of late years as to whether German or Hebrew should be the language of the schools in Palestine. Such is the fiercely intense patriotic feeling of the Jew that pure Hebrew is once again becoming the common language of the Jew in the Holy Land.
It is interesting to trace the genesis and relation to each other of the British Mesopotamia and Palestine expeditions, as well as the part they will play in the fulfillment of prophecy.
Neither expedition would have been taken if Turkey had not entered the war on the side of Germany. First, our interests in the oil-fields in the Persian region were threatened, hence the Mesopotamia Expedition. Second the action of the Turk in marching through Palestine to attack Egypt by way of the Desert and the Suez Canal, forced Britain to clear the Turk out of Palestine, and so secure herself a buffer state between the route to India and German influence, and secure herself from whatever eventualities might arise in the future from that directon.
Quoting again from the organ of the British Palestine Committee (issue Nov. 24th, 1917) we read: “Over and over again in Jewish history we see the truth illustrated, that the whole of the country from Egypt to the Tigris is, in a military sense, one.”
“Remembering always that the Palestine and Bagdad fronts are one, what light do... events throw on the fascinating problem of the Turkish plans?” Now let us see what light Scripture throws upon all this. We are all familiar with the expression, The Promised Land, but we are not all so familiar with its meaning.
Palestine is only a small part of the Promised Land, perhaps a tenth. Palestine is a country about the size of Wales, that is, about one hundred and fifty miles long by fifty miles broad.
But what is meant by “The Promised Land”? Let Scripture answer: “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the rives of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (Gen. 15:18-2118In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Genesis 15:18‑21)).
“Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun [Mediterranean] shall be your coast” (Josh. 1:3-43Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (Joshua 1:3‑4)).
From these Scriptures it will be seen how vast is the extent of the Promised Land. It will form a wonderful country, greater in area than any European country save Russia.
Those who are ignorant as to the extent of this country often ask how is little Palestine to sustain the Jewish nation, especially during the Millennium, when for a thousand years the birth-rate will undoubtedly be great, and the death-rate practically nil.
It will now be seen how Britain has been the unconscious, but privileged, instrument of God in clearing the Promised Land for the Jew. The Palestine and Mesopotamia Expeditions have done this.
We were being shown the other day the photo of a young soldier, who had fallen in battle in Palestine, and who was buried on the Mount of Olives. How vividly it brought before our mind the extraordinary chain of events that is bringing about the fulfillment of prophecy.
It appeared as if the falling out of Russia from active participation in the war had arrested the development of affairs in that direction.
The following extract from the organ of the British Palestine Committee (issue Dec. 1st, 1917) will show that the falling out of Russia helped rather than hindered. We read: “Among the 'secret treaties' published by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd is one relating to Asiatic Turkey ... .It professes to be a record, in a memorandum dated 21st Feb., 1917, of an agreement made in the spring of 1916 between Russia, France, and England ... .England was to have a special interest in the ports of Haifa and Jaffa; and Russia, France, and England were to have a joint protectorate over Palestine. 'A special interest' must mean in practice 'possession,' so that this alleged document provided for (1) a partition of Palestine, (2) a triple condominium over Palestine. In other words, for those two radically vicious principles, which we have repeatedly denounced and exposed, a Jewish Palestine, from which the only two ports of the country, Haifa and Jaffa, were sundered, could have no future. The life of a Jewish Palestine over which three rival powers ruled and intrigued would be, as Hobbes has it, nasty, miserable, brutish, and short.”
By the falling out of Russia from the War this treaty, if it existed, lapsed; the British Declaration once and for all puts things on a basis that is on lines with the fulfillment of Scripture.
It will thus be seen how Ezekiel's vision is being fulfilled under our very eyes. The dry bones of Israel are stirring. The graves, that is the countries in which they are scattered, and notably Russia, which is indeed a living grave for millions of Jews, are opening. Sinew and flesh is coming upon the nation. The Jew is going back to his land in unbelief, full of ambitious projects for the realization of a future, which shall eclipse their past in glory, but as yet no breath of the Lord has come nationally upon them.
The bright hopes of the Jews cannot be realized apart from Christ. The bright beginning will soon be overclouded. Isaiah's prophecy will yet come true, “The harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow” (Isa. 17:1111In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. (Isaiah 17:11)).
Or, as another translation puts it vividly: “The harvest will flee in the day of taking possession, and the sorrow will be incurable” (JND).
Palestine is rapidly becoming the strategic center of the world. It will be the scene of much fighting in fulfillment of prophecy. Once the Jew is in Palestine, and the Roman Empire, the League of Nations, in existence, the world will soon see the First Beast of Revelation 13 at the head of the latter, and the Second Beast of the same chapter, the false prophet, the Antichrist, as King in Jerusalem. Then when the seven-years' treaty is made with the Jew by the Roman Empire things will apparently look bright and rosy for Palestine, but in the middle of the seven years the treaty will be treated as a thing of naught, and then the awful tribulation will burst forth, as foretold by Scripture, ending up with scenes of war terrible to contemplate, including the battle of Armageddon and the siege of Jerusalem. The personal interference by the Lord will accomplish the deliverance of the Jewish remnant, and lead up to the establishment of Christ's Millennial Kingdom.
Then shall be seen the effect of the breath of the Lord, and a nation shall be born in a day. The breath of the Lord will complete the process of national blessing.
The ways of the Lord are truly wondrous.