JEHOVAH knows best what lessons man needs to learn. He uses the most effective means to teach those needed lessons. It has been suggested that God could throw about man such protection that he would do no wrong. Some even insist that if God loved man he would prevent him from going wrong. Were God to do so, man would be merely an automaton and would have no opportunity to experience the bad effects of going wrong and the good effects of doing that which is right. Man's vision is limited. God's wisdom is without limitation. Therefore God, through his prophet, expressed the matter in this forceful way: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." — Isa. 55: 9.
God permitted the Israelites to have a long and hard experience, that they might learn the proper lessons. By the lessons taught them, all mankind can profit.
Captives in the land of the enemy, the Israelites sought solace by the river's banks. There, removed from the strife of tongues and the clanging of chains and instruments of war, they sat down in sorrow to meditate upon their great calamity. The environment was very different from the home they had left. In this strange
land of Babylon they found themselves without a leader, without a sacrifice, without a feast, yea, bereft of the favor of their God. Their great and long "warfare" was just begun. How long it would last they could not then know. They called to mind the blessed things they had enjoyed at the hands of Jehovah. Before them everything was dark and desolate. Great sorrow fell upon them, and they began to weep.
Among those who were there as captives, doubtless there were many trained and skilled musicians. Their tongues had been accustomed to moving freely in song, and their skilful right hands had swept their harps. The Israelites could sing and play on the harp as could no other people; for they were the people of God. They had something to stir the mind and the heart to praise. Jehovah God had fitted them for songs of joy. No one can make real music so well as he who has the spirit of the Lord.
David had been a skilful player upon the harp. He was a man after God's own heart. And David's descendants were amongst the captives. The Levites also were there. The Babylonian soldiers knew that music by this orchestra of Jews, accompanied by the sweet singers of Israel, would be to the natives a rare treat. Doubtless the captors were with the captives by the riverside, watching their movements. When they saw the Jews weeping, they came to them and said: 'Let us have, not wailing, but song.' No, not songs of sorrow, but
some of those ravishing strains of sacred joy which only the Jews could render, and which doubtless these Babylonian soldiers had often heard when encamped about Jerusalem.
It was impossible for the Jews to comply with the request of their captors. Their sorrow was too deep. Respectfully but mournfully they hung their harps on the willow trees beside the water's edge. They listened to the moaning of the troubled stream, which corresponded to the sorrow in their own hearts. Tears of bitterness ran hot upon their cheeks. In poetic phrase the psalmist had prophesied the sad story thus:
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion." — Ps. 137:1-4.
But was the spirit of Israel entirely broken? Did the nation abandon all hope? The prophecy of the psalmist showed that it would not, but that still there was burning in its breast the faint flame of hope and a determination to be loyal to the native land. The poet continues: "If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (Ps. 137: 5, 6) To the Israelites their homeland was the dearest spot on earth. They deter-
mined to be faithful to it for ever. Then the psalmist records a prayer to God thus: "Remember, 0 Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof." (Ps. 137:7) What had Edom done? Edom was a part of the Devil's organization. Through the false religion of Edom the Devil had seduced the Israelites from the path of righteousness. Then they called upon God to recompense Babylon even as Babylon rewarded these unfortunate people:
"0 daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." — Ps. 137: 8, 9.
Jeremiah the prophet, in his Lamentations in behalf of exiled Israel, wrote:
"Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her, despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully; she had no comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself. The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation. The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty
men in the midst of me; he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
"For these things I weep: mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me; my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed. Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity." — Lam. 1:8-10, 15-18.
GENTILE TIMES
God had established his people on earth through the line of Judah. The Jews were his people, and Jehovah was the God of Israel. All other nations were heathen and were called Gentiles, Satan the enemy being their god. With the fall of Zedekiah, and the carrying away of the Jews captive to Babylon, God's typical kingdom on earth ceased. There began the 'Gentile times' and Gentile rule. The first universal world power was established with Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, as its visible head, but with Satan as its real head. There
Satan the enemy became the god of the entire world. The Lord Jehovah withdrew his favor from the Jews because of their disobedience, and did not interfere with Satan's rule. Seventy years after the beginning of the Gentile times a remnant of Israel returned to Palestine; but never again were they restored to their former authority, glory and power. The Jews were then and ever thereafter the subjects of Gentile world powers: first, under the Babylonians; then, under Medo-Persia; then, under the Greeks; and then came the Romans.
Jehovah disclosed these world powers in a vision to his prophet Daniel, and the prophet describes them in symbolic phrase as wild beasts. A beast symbolizes a selfish world power, made up of the three governing elements, political, commercial and ecclesiastical. Indeed the symbol well describes these world powers; because each one in turn has been vicious and beastly, under the supervision of Satan, their superlord. — Dan. 7: 2-8.
It was in 69 A.D. that the Romans began the assault upon the Jews in Palestine; and on the fifteenth day of Nisan, 73 A.D., the last stronghold of Palestine fell. Thousands of the Jews had been butchered; and those remaining alive were driven and scattered amongst the nations of the earth. In an unfriendly and cruel world they have been persecuted and have suffered untold indignities for centuries past. The major portion of the Jews emigrated to Germany,
Roumania, Poland and Russia, particularly the - latter country. In these lands their persecutions, over a long period of centuries, are too horrible to describe in human phrase. Be it noted that history discloses that the chief persecutors of the Jews have been those who claim to be Christians. By the wicked course that these so-called Christians have taken they have caused Christianity to appear as a stench in the nostrils of many honest people. This also is due to the seductive influence of the enemy, the Devil.
In the countries above named the Jews were deprived of the right to hold title to real estate, the right to hold office and the right of suffrage; and in many places they were deprived of the right to deal in merchandise, some countries even going so far as to prohibit them from engaging in peddling. They had their property confiscated and their homes destroyed; and, driven from place to place, they were hunted by their angry enemies as though they were wild beasts. The persecutions in Russia, in Roumania, and in other parts of continental Europe reached a climax within the last half-century.
To the Jew this era has been a long dark night and a terrible warfare. Amidst all these persecutions, however, many of the Jews have held together. Amidst their trials and tribulations they have developed some of the greatest lawyers, ablest statesmen, keenest financiers,
greatest poets and philosophers. But those who have prospered have generally had the least faith in God. It will be found that amongst the poor and the oppressed are those who have the greatest faith and confidence in the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets.
WHY THEY SUFFERED
Nothing could be gained by here recounting the numerous sorrows and persecutions of the Jews. No people are better acquainted with these things than the Jews themselves. The important question here arises: Why has God permitted these persecutions? God's prophet Jeremiah answers that question. Prophesying at Jerusalem of and concerning the people that inhabited the city and the land, he said:
"For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, "Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have
worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law: and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me; therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night, where I will not shew you favour." — Jer. 16:9-13.
Thus the Lord shows that the great trouble came upon them because of their unfaithfulness to Jehovah God, and because they yielded to the seductive influences of Satan the Devil and turned to the worship of evil gods.
Another important question arises: Will the reproach of the Jew ever be taken away, and will God's favor ever fully return to that people? It was because of the lack of faith that God cast off the Jews and permitted them to suffer. But there are some who have faith. There have been at all times during this long "warfare" some who have had faith in God. For many years the Jews who have been permitted to do so have regularly assembled at the wailing wall in Jerusalem, and have there uttered their prayers and cries unto God that he might have mercy upon the Jews and again bring them into his favor. Their sufferings have caused them to pray with great earnestness. Long have they waited for their prayers to be heard and answered. The Lord, speaking to Israel through his prophet, gives assurance
that some day their warfare will end and they will be brought back into their own land and enjoy endless blessings at Jehovah's hands. It is written by the prophet thus:
"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; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things." — Jer. 16:14-18.
But the prophet says that before the Jews could be brought back into their own land, fishers would go forth and fish for them, and hunters would hunt them as wild beasts are hunted. The fulfilment of that part of the prophecy is easily seen. The Christian denominations, in ignorance of God's purpose concern-
ing the Jew, have tried to proselyte the Jews , and cause them to become members of the Christian systems. In this they have failed, because it was not the purpose of God that the Jews should become affiliated with these institutions. The persistent effort to proselyte the Jew has served to drive the Jew away from the Bible. No Christian who really understands the Bible has any desire to proselyte.
Then came the "hunters", who have hunted the Jews in all the countries to which they were driven. They have persecuted them in every country to which they have fled. The major portion of the Jews found a domicile in Russia, which is the "north country" mentioned by the prophet. In that country the greater amount of hunting and persecution and pogroms has come upon the Jews. But this persecution has caused the Jews to have an increased desire for their homeland, the land of their fathers, where they might dwell in security and in peace. The fact that God, through his prophet, promised to return them to their homeland is proof conclusive that their warfare must end some time. There are certain time-prophecies, now understandable in the light of transpiring events, which show exactly the time when the Jews' "warfare" ends. But these are left for a subsequent consideration. First we shall consider the certainty of the promises that Israel shall be returned to Palestine.
THE PROMISES
That God made the promise to Abraham that he would give to him, and to his seed after him, the land of Palestine for an everlasting inheritance is of itself sufficient proof that at some time Israel would be regathered there and have possession of the land for ever. (Gen. 17:8) But through his prophets the Lord gave many other promises upon which the Jew can rest his faith and know for a certainty that the warfare of Israel must end in God's due time, and that Israel must be regathered unto their own land and remain there for ever. Some of these promises follow:
"Again the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart." — Jer. 24:4-7.
"Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will
cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus saith the Lord, Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 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." — Jer. 32:37-44.
"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God,
I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." — Ezek. 11:16,17.
"And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessings. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God." — Ezek. 34:24-30.
"But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, 0 house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 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. 36:21-24.
These promises, which give assurance that Israel will be regathered to Palestine and never again be plucked up, could not refer to the re-gathering of the Jews from Babylon, because after they had returned from Babylon they were again plucked up and have since then suffered their long night of warfare. The promise, time and again repeated, that the Lord would regather them and bless them in the land and keep them there and bless them for ever, is conclusive proof that the promise must be fulfilled after their dispersion by the Romans in 73 A.D. These prophecies must apply when Israel's long warfare ends. Behold, that time is now at hand!
