This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Voices from Zion, Robbie and the Rabbi. Together, we'll explore the scriptures in their original Hebrew, wrestle with hard questions, and celebrate the beauty of what unites us and the respect that deepens when we acknowledge what doesn't.
So, welcome to the dialogue. Welcome to the wrestle. Welcome to Voices from Zion, Robbie and the Rabbi. Well, we're excited, excited to be back into our Prophecy is more current than the newspapers and This time we're going to be moving into Jerusalem, a pretty good place to move into. Absolutely.
That's where we're all headed eventually. And so I'm excited to see where we're going today, Rabba.
Okay.
So as we discussed, Pastor Robbie, I'd like to. begin by placing ourselves not in Jerusalem today. But in Jerusalem the last couple of centuries and Begin With One of the most famous tourists who came around these parts. Mark Twain. Mark Twain.
eighteen sixty seven. Just over 160 years ago? Right? And In his travelogue for his visit to the Holy Land, Innocents Abroad. He tells us.
Intra alia. The further we went toward Jerusalem, the hotter the sun got, and the more rocky and bare, repulsive, and dreary the landscape became. There cannot have been more fragments of stone strewn broadcast over this part of the world. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the elephant and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.
No landscape exists that is more tiresome to the eye than that which bounds the approaches to Jerusalem. The only difference between the roads and the surrounding country, perhaps, is that there are rather more rocks. In the road. Than in the surrounding country. And he describes How they're Going over Mountain He'll Mountain Hill.
More unsightly landscape, no holy city. And finally, They see Jerusalem. Any comments? Perched on the eternal hills, white and domed and solid, massed together, hooped with high gray high gray walls, the venerable city gleamed in the sun.
So small Why, it was no larger than an American village of four thousand inhabitants. Jerusalem numbers only fourteen thousand people.
Now just note that By one hundred fifty years later. In Jerusalem's population had surpassed 900,000 people. That is a population increased. of over a sixty four hundred percent. Not bad for 150 years.
Well, of course, anything is possible when it's under divine ages. And he continues in his description. A fast walker could go outside the walls of Jerusalem and walk entirely around the city in an hour. I do not know how else to make one understand how small it is. The streets are roughly and badly paved with stone and are tolerably crooked.
It is hardly necessary to state that such streets are too narrow for carriages. These vehicles cannot navigate the holy city. And he continues. rags, wretchedness, poverty, and dirt Abound. Lepris, cripples, the blind, and the idiotic assail you on every hand.
Jerusalem. is mournful and dreary and lifeless. I would not desire to live here. And at the end, it is Does it? He adds the following thoughts.
Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of colour, they are unpicturesque in shape, the valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with a feeble vegetation that has an expression about it of being sorrowful and despondent. it is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies.
renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history. has lost all its ancient grandeur and has become a pauper village. Palestine is desolate. and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise?
Can the curse of the Deity beautify a land? Palestine is no more of this workday world. It is sacred to poetry and tradition. It is dreamland. Again, this is 1867.
But Don't just take Mark Twain's word for it. To share.
Some additional testimonials. From other travelers. Alphonse de la Martine. in Recollections of the East. This in 1845.
The scribes We sat the whole day. opposite the principal gates of Jerusalem, we made a tour around the walls, passing by the other portals of the city, Not an individual was going in or out. The same desolation. The same silence prevailed at the gates of a city containing a population of He writes 30,000 souls, unlikely. but complete desolation.
The general aspect of the country around Jerusalem may be described in a few words. Mountains Without shade. valleys without water, a soil without verdure. Rocks without sublimity or magnificence. Not a single breath of wind murmuring over the battlements or among the dry branches of the olive tree, not a bird singing or a grasshopper chirping on the ground, entirely bare of vegetation, a profound and perpetual silence in the town, on the roads, and all over the country.
Jerusalem Is indeed itself the tomb of a great people, but a tomb without Cypress's inscriptions or mountains. Whose sepulchre of stone is broken and whose ashes seem to cover the surrounding soil. with sorrow Silence. and sterility. And continuing in this theme.
Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, Lord Lindsay. in letters on Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land. In eighteen forty seven, All Judea, except the hills of Hebron and the vales immediately about Jerusalem, is desolate and barren. The road from Jerusalem northward is at first extremely ugly, hilly, and stony. Rev.
Henry Burgess Whitker. Churton. In thought on the land of the morning. Morning. What health are you?
A record of two visits to Palestine in 1851.
Soon after leaving the Mount of Olives, the country becomes an entire desolation for 18 miles of mountain until we reach the plain of the Jordan. It is foretold. He refers to Ezekiel chapter six, verse fourteen. and is remarkably fulfilled that Judea should be more desolate than the desert itself. that plain is now in great measure bare as a desert.
And Reverend Arthur Penron Stanley. In Sinai and Palestine, 1862. This is the most convenient place for noting a peculiarity of the present aspect of Palestine. which is so closely connected both with its outward imagery and with its general situation that it cannot be omitted. Above all other countries in the world it is a land of ruins.
There is no country in which they are so numerous none in which they bear so large a proportion to the village villages and towns still in existence. In Judea, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that whilst for miles and miles, there is no appearance of present life or habitation. There is yet hardly a hilltop of the many within sight. which is not covered by the vestiges of some fortress or city. of former ages.
Now, we can't help but note here. There's the very obvious question that undoubtedly some people are asking. Desolation? Depopulation. What happened to That nation The claims that it was here from time immemorial.
And of course, there's only one answer to that question. They didn't exist. They didn't exist. The entire population of the land of Israel. Is estimated to have diminished by the nineteenth century to around fifty thousand souls.
Because there was no way of eating out a living here. The land was in a state of abject. Desolation. The Arab population only came to the land of Israel after the Jews. began recultivating the land.
The land began to blossom once more. And of course inevitably they were Employment opportunities.
So The Fedayeen, the unlanded laborers who lived in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt. Started flocking back to land because They could get a good job. In the employment of the Jews. who had made the land bloom once again. They weren't here.
I I feel compelled. to note the irony that Have you ever heard? a supposed nation that cannot pronounce its own name? Palestine begins with a P sound. Arabs aren't able to pronounce a P sound.
It comes out as a B.
So Of late, the last couple of decades, they have fabricated a new name, Fallestine. Which never existed. I don't mean never existed in antiquity, never even existed in the modern period. But it was a little bit embarrassing to always mispronounce Palestine because Hey, you're Palestinian, but you can't say your own name? And I feel compelled to add here.
I realize this is a bit digressive, but I think it's so exquisitely germane for circumstances. That um I think the Bible actually speaks. Explicitly. about these people. And It is indeed A sobering context.
It is in Moses' song. As We read it in Deuteronomy chapter thirty two. And I read these words first and foremost with great embarrassment because of the implications with respect to Our own Dereliction. But Quote them, we must. Because To be honest.
This is so manifestly describing precisely the circumstances. that we find here. In verse 1 Twenty-one. They provoked me. With a nun god.
Referring, of course. to Israel having engaged in pagan practices. They infuriated me with their vanities. And I will provoke them. with a non-people.
with an ungrateful nation. I will infuriate them.
So, of course. Please. When God Makes a promise, he keeps it. And so we are provoked with a non-nation. And perhaps precisely the theme of.
Ingratitude. They only flourished in the Holy Land. Because they were given an opportunity. By the Jewish pioneers. who recultivated deserts and malarial swamps.
And Only as a result. Do we find ourselves in the s set of circumstances? That we exist. In today. But let's move on to a much more upbeat consideration.
And that is, of course, recognizing that These words That Mark Twain and the others. Inscribed are likewise fulfillments of prophecy.
Well, the fulfillment of one prophecy heralds the fulfillment of another. And I'm going to Consider now Additional words One of the travelers who came through these parts. In the mid-19th century, Reverend Arthur George Hollingsworth. remarks upon the present condition and future prospects of the Jews in Palestine.
Now I'll note. And I think it's particularly germane to consider this. that the author Head Earlier on in describing the circumstances in The land of Israel noted how the population is still. continuing apace. That is He expresses it.
relating precisely To These very circumstances The Arab and Christian populations diminish every year. Poverty, distress, insecurity, robbery, and disease continue to weaken the inhabitants of this fine country. Ruins fall upon ruins.
solitudes increase in the deserted valleys. The land mourns for its inhabitants, and yet no one can venture to settle there with any rational prospect of existence or comfort. It is a civil and agricultural desolation. And yet simultaneously, the same author continues. Among the scattered and feeble population of this once happy country is found, however, an increasing number of poor Jews.
Some of their most learned men reside in the holy cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias. Their synagogues are still in existence. And He goes on to describe their state. The Jewish population is poor beyond any adequate word. It is degraded in its social and political condition to a state of misery so great that it possesses no rights.
no advancement is made by the Jew of Palestine. And he notes by way of contrast. Land occupied by a Jew. is exposed to robbery and waste. A most peevish jealousy exists against the landed prosperity or commercial wealth or trading advancement of the Jew.
Hindrances exist to the settlement of a British Christian in that country, but a thousand petty obstructions are created to prevent the establishment of a Jew on waste land. or to the purchase and rental of land by a Jew? What security exists that a Jewish emigrant settling in Palestine could receive a fair remuneration for his capital and labor? None whatever. He might toil, but his harvests would be reaped by others, the Arab robber can rush in and carry off his flocks and his herds.
If he peels for redress to the nearest Pasha, the taint of his Jewish blood fills the air and darkens the brows of his oppressors. If he turns to his neighbour Christian, he encounters prejudice and spite. He if he claims a Turkish guard, he is insolently repulsed and scorned. And yet They're still coming back. In Sir George Goller, British Governor of Australia.
Writes, replenish the deserted towns and fields of Palestine with the energetic people whose warmest affections are rooted in the soil. And we already noted They Earlier comments of Alexander Wilford, Crawford, Lindsay, Lord Lindsay. He writes in 1847: Many, I believe, entertain the idea that an actual curse rests on the soil of Palestine. and may be startled therefore at the testimony that I have borne to its actual richness. No other curse I conceive rests upon it than that induced by the removal of the ancient inhabitants.
And the will of the Almighty. that the modern occupants should never be so numerous as to invalidate the prophecy that the land should enjoy her Sabbaths.
so long as the rightful heirs remain in the land of their enemies. And he continues to note in this regard. Except immediately round the villages, the hills, once terraced and crowned with olive trees and vines, are universally bare or overgrown with wild shrubs and flowers proofs far more than sufficient that the land still enjoys your Sabbaths. and only waits for the return of her banished children. Likewise, James Finn, Palestine's British Consul.
In 1857, writes: The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants. and therefore in greatest need. of a body of population. Such a people may be found. In the Jews.
For their affections are centred here. Likewise, we already noted, Sir Arthur Penryn. Stanley. in eighteen sixty two, writes The Jewish race, so wonderfully preserved, may yet have another stage of national existence open to them that they may once more obtain possession of their native land and invest it with an interest greater than it could have been under any other circumstances. And um Continuing in this theme, just One Other citation of a British visitor and then one final which is really the two to fours here.
Sir John William Dawson. In 1889, no nation has been able to establish itself as a nation in Palestine up to this day. No national union and no national spirit have prevailed there. The motley, impoverished tribes which have occupied it, have held it as mere tenants at will, temporary landowners. evidently waiting for those entitled to the permanent possession of the soil.
And the last. The resources of the country, referring to Palestine, are still virgin soil and will be dedoted by the Jewish immigrants. were the most amazing things until recent Thai numers. Was that the Palestinian used to leave his country wandering over the high seas in every direction? His native soil could not retain a hold on him.
At the same time, we have seen the Jews from foreign countries Streaming to Palestine from Russia, Germany, Austria, Spain, and America. The cause of causes. Could not escape those who had a gift of deeper insight. They knew. that the country for was for its original sons.
for all their differences. A sacred and beloved homeland. The return of these exiles to their homeland. will prove materially and spiritually an experimental school for their brethren, who are with them in the fields, factories, trades, and all things connected to the land. Hussein Ibn Ali.
Sheriff. of Mecca. writing in Mecca. in 1918. The truth was there.
for everyone to see it. And of course, since God has endowed us all, With free will, moral choice. Also to deny it. Yeah, and Yeah, so radically different from What you'll see today, but there's still evidence in places of what the desolation looks like. But by the same token you see Some I know what you're talking about.
If it was 900,000 in 2017, well, here we are almost 10 years later, it's probably a million, right? It's close to a million, right?
So On that note. Again, we launch a Into Prophecies More current than today's newspaper is concerning Jerusalem. And Undoubtedly, the most apt place to begin. And truth is Mark Twain. quotes these words in his description of the Holy Land.
The devastating prophecy that we read. In Leviticus chapter 26. Of course, Again I read these words with profound embarrassment. Because this is what happens. when Israel forsakes the covenant.
From verse thirty-one. I will make your cities a waste. and he will bring your sanctuaries into desolation. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies that dwell therein. Shall be astonished at it.
Perhaps more rigorously, would you translate that? shall themselves be in a state of desolation. And you Will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. Certainly. terrifying words.
And yet simultaneously we have An ancient tradition That in the context of this prophecy of utmost rebuke, there is a certain element of consolation here. And that consolation we so glaringly see Manifest. In the words that we just read. The consolation? I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies that dwell therein shall be astonished, shall be in desolation themselves.
The land will not bring forth its bounty to anyone. Other than It's legitimate heiress. It's true children. And so for two millennia. Full land of Israel.
went from desolation to even worse desolation. Until In the 18th and in particular in the 19th century, It really hit rock bottom. And I I feel compelled So Recall here. Pastor Robi, I know we've discussed this previously, but it's just so. demands recalling this.
the words of The profit Amos. Perhaps Among the most terrifying words. uttered by any prophet. What we read in Amos chapter five verse two The Virgin of Israel is fallen. She shall no more rise.
And Inevitably. Even in light of Such terrifying words. We consider Manifestly, the countervalent message that we read at the end of Amos. That is In chapter nine In verse 11, On that day, describing The day of redemption. I will raise up The sukkah The booth.
Of David that has fallen and repair its breaches, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. And by consequence, in the final three verses of Amos. Behold, days are coming. Says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him that sows seed, and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt, and I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel. and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and 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 plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God.
So what happened to Never to rise again. Of course, the simple answer is She will never rise again on her own. What God says regarding the fallen sukah. of David. is not that it will rise but that i will raise it up And simultaneously, besides that.
obvious answer, which undoubtedly is the truth. There's an additional dimension that I feel compelled to share as an ancient tradition. That Was associated with that terrifying verse in Amos chapter five, verse two. By slightly changing the punctuation, The verse reads Fallen And never to fall anymore. Rise up.
O Virgin of Israel. Fall in never the full anymore. The reason I'm mentioning this here is. As Some later commentators expressed it. She needs to keep unfolding.
Until she gets to the point of Falling and fallen not to fool any more because She's at rock bottom. And there's no further down to keep on going. And it is at that moment. Arise, O Virgin of Israel.
So indeed. They'll land hit rock bottom. Depopulation Dismal desolation. Devastation. Um Then God's promises.
God's promises from the start. Start surging. Upward. Beyond What could have been our wildest to manage things.
So again, focusing upon Jerusalem. I'm going to First and foremost. Note that Zachariah. Chapter 2. A prophecy That at first brush is completely baffling.
Completely baffling because There are actually two conflicting messages in it. Two conflicting messages Ununciated by Two Divine emissaries. Two angels. Reading from verse five. Your verse number may differ depending upon where chapter two begins after chapter one ends.
But the text is the same text, just the number may be different. I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then I said, Where are you going? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem. to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof.
And behold, the angel that was an angel that spoke with me went forth. Another angel went out to meet him and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man that is the first angel. Saying Don't measure. Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I, says the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about.
And I will be the glory in the midst of her. Jerusalem Bursting through its walls. I I often wonder How people understood this prophecy. For So roughly Twenty five hundred years. between when it was uttered by Zachariah.
And the mid nineteenth century. Until that point, Jerusalem existed. Only in one of two states. Either at a wall or Or it didn't have a wall because it was in ruins. There was no third possibility.
And yet Zachariah. In the Spirit of the Lord, in his prophetic eye, Sees something else. A Jerusalem That has broken through its walls, not because it is in ruins, but because. It is so populous. It can no longer be contained.
That was never Jerusalem. Not even its heyday. It was always walled. And that became Jerusalem. in the 1860s.
Now, I always note in this regard when Mark Twain describes Jerusalem as. A city so small that you could go outside and Encircle it in an hour. Of course, he was referring to the World City. And truth be told, by the time Mark Twain came through these parts. The first neighborhoods outside of the world city had begun to be built.
But we can certainly excuse Mark Twain for not even noticing them. It wasn't just that they were tiny. It wasn't just that they were. teetering on the brink. I always like to note in this regard: you know, when one considers that these neighborhoods were built outside the walls, because Jerusalem had gotten to the point.
By the eighteen sixties, of being so overpopulated. that it was downright dangerous because of considerations of public hygiene.
So That's a thought experiment. How much do you think? The residents of Jerusalem were prepared to pay in order to move outside the World City. And it's a nice thought experiment, but it's really a trick question. Because of course The answer is pay.
They had to be paid. No one wanted to leave the World City. Why not? To answer the question In one word. Highwaymen.
Bandits The city the city was Walden But Roundabout The land was in such a state of complete desolation It was mortal danger to be caught outside the walls. When the sun went down. Every evening the gates of the city were locked shut. and anyone who found themselves outside was not likely to survive the night.
So initially The condition Of those who agreed to move outside of the walls was, okay, we'll stay outside the walls during the daylight, but the moment the sun starts going down, we're scurrying back inside the walls. They were terrified. That was the state of the Lenn. It gives us something of an idea of just how extraordinary that transformative moment was. When the first neighborhoods were built outside the walls.
And If we had The option of Showing the maps right now, then I would put this on the screen. What we'll just note is. When you look at a map of Jerusalem today, The World City. A tiny little Enclave. in a vast metropolis.
Yeah, absolutely. Prophetic words. Yeah, I hate to um Mention the time here, but I know it's running a bit short. Ah, right. If you could um You know, kind of give us a good because I know everybody's fascinated.
You know, because it it It is so different than what you see today, but so miraculous. That when you say the prophecy is more current than the newspapers. As you look around, they really, really are. And they really, really are telling us that we live in an amazing time. Wait a minute.
So maybe just as One Sendorf. to expand upon next time. I'll just Note the words that I'm sure everyone knows. The beginning of Psalm one hundred forty seven. Hallelujah.
For it is good to sing praises unto our God, it is pleasant, and praises comely. The Lord does build up Jerusalem. He gathers together the dispersed of Israel.
Now, pause. Note these Two events. that are conjoined in one verse. The Lord does build up Jerusalem. He gathers together the dispersed of Israel.
And in our tradition, A tradition that goes back. Over to Millennia. The juxtaposition of these two events is noted well. If someone says to you, One of these. will happen without the other?
Don't believe him. It won't be. If someone tells you Jerusalem is built up and the exiles are not engathered, Force. Will the exiles being gathered without Jerusalem being built? Also thought.
These are co-requisites. God's promise. is to bring them both about. And Perhaps that is the best way to segue into Verse three It's not just that the Lord builds Jerusalem and gathers the dispersed of Israel. who heals the broken in heart.
and binds up their wounds. Mm-hmm. And I humbly submit. Is there anything That can heal the brokenhearted. and bind up the wounds.
Other than Just seeing before our eyes the extent to which God is so faithful in his promises. The Lord is building up Jerusalem. and he is gathering together the dispersed of Israel. What a blessing. to be able to witness these miracles with their own eyes today.
Yes. Shalom, amen.
So like water flooding. What a way to finish. Thank you so much, Rabbi. Thank you so much, Pastor Robbie. It's always a blessing to be able to share with you.
Oh, me too. Drive west. We are so honored that you would join us today on Voices from Zion, Robbie, and the Rabbi. For more information about Rabbi Haim, Go to his website, zionbible studies.org. That's zionbible studies.org.
Or visit me, Robbie Dilmore, at the Christian Carguy website. That's ChristianCarGuy.com. Once again, Shalom from Jerusalem, the Holy City, God's City.
