The Wandering Jew Is Going Home
The Promise
 God
had warned His people about their pride and idolatry.
He had told them they would suffer terribly for their
rebellion against Him and their rejection of everything
holy. He warned they would be removed from their land
and scattered. But, as is often the case with human
nature they ignored the warnings and judgment eventually
came.
In 605 BC the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and took
thousands captive. Twice more it happened. In 597 BC
and finally in 586 BC everyone was taken away except
a few of the poor, elderly and decrepit. Seventy years
later a number returned to their land, but many stayed
in Babylon. In AD 70, forty years after Jesus’
death and resurrection, Jerusalem was destroyed by the
Romans and the Jews were scattered again, this time
for almost 1900 years. Then in 1948 Israel became a
state again according to the promise of God. True, the
Jewish people have been returning to Israel since the
early Zionist movement in the latter part of the 19th
century, but they returned in greater numbers after
World War Two and are returning even today.
Many Christians would like to think God is finished
with the Jews and that the church has taken the place
of Israel in God’s plan, thus becoming the recipient
of all the promises God made to the Jewish Patriarchs.
Nothing could be farther from the facts. God said through
His prophets that He would bring them back to their
ancient homeland and that once they are back they would
never be displaced again (Isaiah 43:5,6; Jeremiah 23:7,8,
etc.). He also said they would one day serve Him in
their land and that David would be raised up as their
king (Jeremiah 34:23,24).
This much we know. But, we might ask how is He doing
it? Did God use only the events of World War Two? Does
the Moslem world have a part to play? And if the Moslem
world does play a part in the return, does that excuse
them for their hatred and mass murder of Jews?
World War Two
 Theodore
Herzl and other Zionists in the late 1800s knew Europe
was fast becoming a place hostile to the Jews, but most
Jews did not see things that way. When the Balfour Declaration
came into being a huge tract of land in ancient Israel
was set aside for the Jewish people. Though the Arabs
took two-thirds of it with British blessing (today that
expropriated land is called Jordan) yet a number of
Jews began to trickle in.
But, the re-establishment of their ancient land was
just part of the plan. The people had to want to go
back there. At the close of WW1 the Jewish people were
still somewhat comfortable among the nations of Europe.
After World War Two, however, most had seen enough and
wanted to immigrate to Israel. The death camps, ovens
and pogroms of Europe made many Jews decide that the
only place they would ever be free to defend themselves
would be their own state of Israel. That happened in
May of 1948. Though the hardships were severe in the
new land, and though the Moslems were fighting them
at every turn, yet the Jews staked a claim in their
God-given land and once again made it their home. Indeed,
WW2 was a major catalyst for the Jewish return, but
there is another element often ignored in the story
— the Moslem factor.
Islamic Hatred
Jews lived in Arab countries long before Mohammed and
Islam arrived on the scene. They were law-abiding and
productive citizens often working in the upper echelons
of government, finance, education and the sciences.
They were comfortable and well established in the lands
of their birth and had no reason to leave in order to
carve out a new life in a barren country like Israel.
In 1948 all that changed.
With the establishment of the Israeli State the Moslems
went berserk in their hated of the Jews. The idea that
a Jewish state would be re-established in the Middle
East was the greatest of insults to Islam and the war
began. On the day Israel was declared a state that handful
of Jews with hardly anything to fight with was invaded
by five Moslem armies, and their stated intent was to
drive the Jews into the sea.
God, of course, did not allow the new state to be stillborn.
But, He did allow the hatred of Moslems in the 21 Arab
states surrounding and near Israel to prompt the Jews
to leave. In 1948 there were about 850,000 Jews living
in Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa;
these were the lands of their birth. They had been there
for hundreds of years, even thousands. These were the
oldest Jewish settlements in the world, but things were
changing fast and Jewish presence was no longer acceptable
in Moslem countries.
With the U.N. resolution on the partition of the Middle
East giving the Jews their homeland, Moslem riots broke
out around the Arab world. Jewish homes, businesses
and synagogues were looted and destroyed. Many hundreds
of Jews were murdered out-of-hand and many more were
jailed. Jews could not travel, were forbidden to immigrate
to Israel and lost their citizenship. From that point
on they owned nothing. All assets were frozen and confiscated
by the Arab governments. In essence where once thriving
Jewish communities existed in those Moslem countries
there is little if anything left today. They were finally
forced out, but could not go to Israel directly from
their Arab countries of birth. Not only did they have
to leave all their money, valuables and businesses behind,
but in many instances they were allowed to leave with
only a small suitcase. Which is exactly what Hitler’s
Gestapo did to the Jews of Europe.
For example consider Yemen. Between the two world wars
17,000 Jews left Yemen and tried to make it to Israel.
The government of Yemen resurrected anti-Jewish laws:
they forbade Jews to walk on pavement or to ride horses;
Jewish evidence could not be accepted against a Moslem
in a court of law; Jewish orphans were forced to become
Moslems and anyone who tried to help these children
escape was killed. In the Yemen port city of Aden hundreds
of Jews were murdered in 1947 with the Grand Synagogue
burned and Jewish property looted or destroyed. It happened
again in 1958, 1965 and 1967. The Jews left for Israel
by any means possible. Today there are no Jews left
in Aden.
The same story can be told about Egypt. In 1947 there
were up to 100,000 Jews in that country while today
there are less than 200. 1
After the Arab defeat in 1956 the Egyptians announced
an official government order that Jews were to be regarded
as enemies. Where was this announcement read? In Moslem
mosques, of course! Those same slogans and pronouncements
are again being heard in mosques around the world, even
in America.
Other Moslems countries are equally guilty; Syria,
Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, etc. In each case
Jewish citizens of these countries were stripped of
their rights, their assets were confiscated and they
were forced to leave with little more than the clothes
on their backs. It is in this indigent condition that
most are going back to their ancient homeland. And Israel
is taking them all.
God is without question not the author of these persecutions,
divestments and atrocities. Yet, He is using Moslem
hatred as a means to bring the world’s Jews back
to the land He gave them 4000 years ago. That, however,
does not mean Moslems will not face the fierce wrath
of God for their hatred. They are building up a head
of steam in God’s anger that will be nothing less
than insufferable when it is unleashed. As God used
the Babylonians in His chastisement of Israel then punished
them for their hatred of His people, so is He using
the Moslems and their hatred to bring His people back
to their land. But, they are not under duress; they
choose to hate the Jews and then boast of it before
the whole world. Make no mistake about it — God
will judge them for it.
Some argue that a 4000 year old promise is no longer
viable, State of Israel or no State of Israel. First,
it matters not if any man is in the Knesset, the Congress,
the White House or the pulpit, who is he to speak on
behalf of God or usurp His decree? And second, God said
His promise to Israel regarding these matters is as
good as His name (Ezekiel 36:22-32). Need more be said?
There is one more point regarding these matters that
must be briefly addressed. The so-called Palestinians
are demanding what they call “the right of return”
as a condition of peace with Israel. That means they
want all 726,000 Arabs that left Israel in 1948 to be
able to go back and reclaim their land. With their descendents
that would mean an influx of over 3 million Moslems
who are bent on the destruction of the Israeli state.
If they can’t beat the Jews in war they will outnumber
them and take their land by becoming the majority. Naturally,
the world is siding with the Moslems on this issue.
A couple of things must be noted. The Arabs were not
driven from Israel by the Jews in 1948. In fact, they
were encouraged by the Jews to stay and become citizens
of the new state thus enjoying all the benefits and
a very high standard of living. The truth is that Arab
leaders ordered their people to leave Israel to make
room for the invading Arab armies 2
and promised a short war after which they could return
and plunder the Jews. Up to 60% of the refugees never
saw an Israeli soldier during the war. But, Israel won
the war and the Arab plan blew up in their face. So,
instead of absorbing the so-called Palestinian refugees
(as Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees into Israel
where they became productive citizens) the Arab states
put them into stinking refugee camps and continue to
use them as pawns in their media war against Israel
even today. Arab oil money could easily and quickly
handle the problem, but such Islamic hatred for Israel
will not allow it to be.
And what about the 850,000 Jews who were driven out
of their homelands penniless and almost naked? What
about the nearly $100 billion in personal and community
assets the Arabs stole from the Jews when they were
forced out?3
Has the UN or the EU or the USA mentioned this to the
oil-rich Arabs? No. And no one outside Israel says much
about the fact that the majority of genuine refugees
are not Arabs, but Jews. Further, no one will say much
about how Israel did not plunder the Arabs, but that
the Arabs did indeed plunder the Jews. This is hypocrisy
of the highest degree — and it stinks in the nostrils
of God.
God has used several methods to bring the Jews back
to their ancient homeland, but presently it seems the
hatred of the Moslem nations is a primary tool. Unfortunately,
the UN, the EU, the USA and even the Israeli Prime Minister
are all bent on giving God’s land (the land He
gave to the Jews) to the Arabs in a land-for-peace bid.
It won’t work. But, the land-for-peace deal is
not the most important thing to be watching right now.
The important thing is that Jews from all over the world
are going back to Israel, and that is the sign Jesus
said would point to His return He talked about in Matthew
24:32ff. We are living in an exciting day that is quickly
bringing us to a culminating and very exciting moment.
DLM
End Notes
- Ada Aharoni. “The Displacement
of Jews from Arab Countries”. cited 25 February
05. http://www.hsje.org/displacement_of_jews_from_arab-c.htm
- Mitchell Bard. “The Palestinian
Refugees”. cited 25 February 05. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/refugees.html
Note: The Secretary of the Arab League Office in London,
Edward Atiyah, wrote in his book, The Arabs: “This
wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the
Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic
Arabic press and the irresponsible utterances of some
of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter
of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies
of the Arab states and the Palestinian Arabs enabled
to reenter and retake possession of their country”
Also, Haled al Azm, the Syrian Prime Minister in 1948/49
admitted the Arab role in persuading the refugees
to leave: Since 1948 we have been demanding the return
of the refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are
the ones who encouraged them to leave. Only a few
months separated our call to them to leave and our
appeal to the United Nations to resolve on their return.
- Anna Jaffe. Kansas City Jewish Chronicle.
cited 25 February 05. “Forgotten Refugees: Jews
Expelled from Arab Countries Seek Recognition, Compensation”.
http://saveisraelcampaign.com/atad/Articles.asp?article_id=1109&
|
