Israel

• Restored As A Nation
• Born In One Day
• Restored Then Birth Pains
• Language Restored

Restored As A Nation

The most amazing prophesy we have seen come to fruition in the past hundred years has been the restoration of Israel. For disobeying God, the Jews were to be punished for 430 years.

Ezekiel 4:3. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. 4. Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. 5. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

The first part of this punishment was to be in Babylonian captivity for 70 years which was predicited by the prophet Jeremiah -

Jeremiah 25:12. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and theland of Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

When they were to released after the 70 years, if they still would not repent of their sins, God would punish them 7 times more for their sins -

Leviticus 26:18. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

So we have 430 years total. If we subtract the 70 years in Babylonian captivity, then we are left with 360 years. Because of their disobediance we must multiply 360 times 7, which gives us 2,520 Biblical years. Why Biblical years? Back then, they went by a lunar calander of 360 days in a year. When exactly was their release from captivity anyway? Josephus states it was in the first year of the reign of Cyrus the Great -

11.1.1 In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city.

It of course is also mentioned in the Bible -

Ezra 1:1. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 2. Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3. Who [is there] among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. 5. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

But when was the first year of Cyrus the Great? The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia tells us that it was 536 B.C. -

2.Silent Years. The history of Judah between the destruction of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) and the return of the first group of exiles following the decree of Cyrus (536 B.C.) is largly blank.

In the years after 536 B.C. these people became adversaries of the group of Jews that returned from exile, and by political intrigue and limited warfare they sought to hinder the rebuilding activities.

God said he would scatter Israel all over the world as their punishment -

Amos 9:8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. 9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Now we can figure out when the nation of Israel would be restored.

390 + 40 = 430 Years of Punishment

606 B.C. – 536 B.C.(Babylonian Captivity)

430 – 70 = 360 Years of Punishment Remain

360 x 7(God’s Extra Punishment) = 2,520 Biblical Years

Lunar Calendar = 360 Days in a Year

2,520 x 360 = 907,200 Days

Modern Calendar = 365.25 Days in a Year

907,200 / 365.25 = 2483.78 Calendar Years

536 B.C. + 2483 + 1(year between 1 B.C and 1 A.D.) = 1948 Rebirth of Israel

God doesn't go back on his word -

Jeremiah 30:3. For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to returnto the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

Jeremiah 31:10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

Ezekiel 36:24. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

Ezekiel 37:5. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live:

Ezekiel 37:11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

Amos 9:14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and theyshall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord God.

Just as predicted Israel was reborn in 1948.

The modern state of Israel has its roots in the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), a concept central to Judaism for over 3,000 years, and the heartland of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to which modern Jews are usually attributed. After World War I, the League of Nations approved the British Mandate of Palestine with the intent of creating a "national home for the Jewish people." In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel declared independence.

Wikipedia, Israel

Born In One Day

God not only said he would restore Israel, he would do it in one day!

Isaiah 66:8. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

Britian set up the Palestine Mandate thought expire in 1948 -

The Palestine Mandate, sometimes referred to as the The Mandate for Palestine, the British Mandate for Palestine, or the British Mandate of Palestine, was a League of Nations Mandate that had been drafted by the principal Allied and associated powers, after the First World War, and that was formally approved by the League of Nations, in 1922. By the power granted under the mandate, Britain ruled Palestine in the years 1920-1948, and that period in the history of the area is also referred to as the British Mandate.

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, 14 May 1948 stated: “We appeal ... to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.”

Wikipedia, British Mandate for Palestine

To congradulate Israel on becoming a nation on May 14, Harry S. Truman sent them a message -

Truman recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, eleven minutes after it declared itself a nation.

Wikipedia, Harry S. Truman

Restored Then Birth Pains

God said he would restore the nation of Israel, but at a price -

Isaiah 66:7. Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.

As soon as Israel was to be reborn, the nation would face trouble.

On May 14, 1948, the day before the end of the British Mandate, the Jewish Agency proclaimed independence, naming the country Israel. The following day five Arab countries – Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq –invaded Israel, launching the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Morocco, Sudan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia also sent troops to assist the invaders. After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established. Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip. Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on May 11, 1949. During the conflict 711,000 Arabs, according to UN estimates, or about 80% of the previous Arab population, fled the country. The fate of the Palestinian refugees today is a major point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Wikipedia, Israel

On May 14, 1948 Israel declared its independence. The very next day, it was attacked by surrounding Arab nations.

Language Restored

Israel wasn't the only thing God would restore -

Zepheniah 3:9. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.

God also promised the Jews the restoration of their native tounge of Hebrew which died out centuries ago.

The revival of the Hebrew language was a process that took place in Europe and Israel at the end of the 19th century and in the 20th century, through which the Hebrew language changed from a liturgical, written language to a spoken language of official status in the State of Israel. Not purely a linguistic process, the revival of Hebrew was part of an ideology associated with Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

For 1,300 years, from the conquest of Palestine until the Bar Kokhba war, Jews spoke Hebrew. For the next sixteen centuries, until the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, Hebrew was employed as a written language and the language of prayer. Ever since the spoken usage of Mishnaic Hebrew language ended in the second century AD, Hebrew had not been spoken as a mother tongue. Be that as it may, during the Middle Ages, the language was used by Jews in a wide variety of disciplines. This usage kept alive a substantial portion of the traits characteristic of Hebrew.

Wikipedia, Revival of the Hebrew Language

Israel is God's prophetic time clock. When we see the rebirth of Israel, know that the end is coming soon.

References