“That would be the Arch of Titus,” he said. “Titus was the Roman general who destroyed Jerusalem and the nation of Israel in AD 70. He would later become emperor. After his death an arch would be built in his honor, the Arch of Titus.”
“Why was it in my vision?”
“Because on the Arch of Titus are engraved images depicting the destruction of the Jewish nation.”
“That’s what I saw . . . and then the images of restoration.”
“Images of Israel’s resurrection.”
“What about the boy?” I asked. “What did he represent?”
“What did he tell you about himself?”
“He said, ‘I was, was not, and was again.’”
“There’s a prophecy of the Bible that when the nation of Israel is reborn, they will have as their leader a man called David. Ultimately it’s a prophecy of the Messiah, who will come from the line of David. But it’s worthy of note that when Israel was reborn, its first leader happened to be a man named David. The nation’s first prime minister was David Ben-Gurion. That was the boy in your vision. That’s what he looked like as a child. It was Ben-Gurion who would proclaim Israel’s resurrection to the world.”
“But what does he have to do with the arch?”
“The arch commemorates Israel’s death. Your vision was ultimately about its resurrection, the reversal of that death. If a nation’s land is resurrected, and its cities, its language, its soldiers, and its farmers, should not then its leaders be resurrected as well?”
“Its leaders resurrected? What does that mean?”
“Before the Jewish nation was destroyed in AD 70, a provisional government was formed of its leaders to guide the nation in its war against Rome. This would be its last unified government before its destruction. Among the most prominent of these was a man who would be revered in the ages to come as a hero and martyr in that final and ill-fated war. Do you know who that leader was?”
“No.”
“Ben-Gurion.”
“Ben-Gurion?”
“Yes.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the Jubilean mystery of reversal and return. In the last days before its destruction the Jewish nation was led by a man named Ben-Gurion. Therefore, in the first days after its resurrection the Jewish nation was led by a man named Ben-Gurion.”
“How did that happen?”
“Israel’s first prime minister wasn’t born David Ben-Gurion. He was born David Grün. When he was a boy, a tall man with dark hair and a long, dark beard visited his home city of Plonsk, Poland. The man was Theodor Herzl. Ben-Gurion was enthralled by the visitor and made it his goal to one day stand on the shores of his ancient homeland. In 1906 he returned. In his first few years in the land he worked in agriculture. But in 1910 he reluctantly accepted a job working as a journalist at his friend’s Zionist journal. He decided to choose a pen name. In Hebrew the name Grün was very similar to the name Gurion. He also knew that in ancient times a man named Ben-Gurion was prominent in leading the Jewish revolt against Rome. So he would sign his articles with the pen name Ben-Gurion. It would end up becoming his official name. So a young man, unsettled on his career, just happens to pick as his pen name the same name as the nation’s ancient leader in the days of its end . . . and by a multitude of the twists and turns of personal, national, and world events, nearly forty years later he would become the nation’s first leader in the days of its resurrection.
“The ancient Ben-Gurion was appointed leader in Jerusalem. The modern Ben-Gurion became Ben-Gurion when he began dwelling in Jerusalem. The ancient Ben-Gurion’s full name was Joseph Ben-Gurion. The modern Ben-Gurion was born with a middle name, Joseph. So he was now David . . . Joseph Ben-Gurion.
“The ancient Ben-Gurion was appointed leader in a council that constituted the Judean provisional government. The modern Ben-Gurion was appointed leader in a council that constituted Israel’s provisional government. The ancient provisional government proclaimed the existence of a sovereign Jewish nation to Rome. The modern provisional government proclaimed the existence of a sovereign Jewish nation to the world.
“The ancient Ben-Gurion was in charge of his people’s military defense. The modern Ben-Gurion was not only Israel’s first prime minister but the one in charge of its military defense, Israel’s first minister of defense. The ancient Ben-Gurion helped lead his people in a war that would result in his nation’s destruction. The modern Ben-Gurion helped lead his people in a war that would result in his nation’s resurrection.”
“What happened to the ancient Ben-Gurion?”
“The ancient Ben-Gurion would be seen as a moderate and a unifying force. But in the course of the revolt, extremist militant factions rose up against him and those who governed with him. He would be killed in that uprising.”
“Was there any parallel to the modern Ben-Gurion?”
“The modern Ben-Gurion would also be seen as a moderate within the Israeli political spectrum and a unifying force. In the resurrection of Israel there would likewise arise extremist militant factions. And their existence would likewise be a challenge to Ben-Gurion’s authority and government. But it was now the time of reversal. So what happened next would be the reversal of what happened in ancient times. Ben-Gurion would forcibly disarm the militant factions and unify the nation’s military forces.
“As for ancient Israel, the rise of the extremist factions would lead to chaos, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the nation’s end. But the rise of the modern Ben-Gurion would lead to the reverse, unity, national rebirth, and ultimately the restoration of the nation’s government in Jerusalem.”
“So the ancient Ben-Gurion disappears,” I said, “and then the Jewish nation likewise disappears. But in the modern world Ben-Gurion reappears, and then the Jewish nation likewise reappears.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle. “That which disappeared with the ancient Ben-Gurion—the Israeli soldier, the Israeli government, the Jewish nation—would all reappear with the reappearance of Ben-Gurion in the modern world. Or you could say that the transformation of a man in the modern world named David Grün into a man from the ancient world, Ben-Gurion, would lead to the transformation of a people in the modern world into a nation from the ancient world. And it would all be crystallized on May 14, 1948, as a short and stocky man with a halo of white hair read the words of a hastily written document into a cluster of microphones before the world. Those hearing his words had little idea that the speaker himself was the embodiment of the mystery manifesting before the world. The man who announced the resurrection of the ancient nation was himself a living resurrection of what had perished in ancient times.
“The event was the reversal of what had taken place in the war of the ancient Ben-Gurion. The Jewish people had lost their government, their citizenship, and their nation. Now, as the modern Ben-Gurion spoke, all those things came back into the world. In the aftermath of the war waged by the ancient Ben-Gurion, the Jewish people were taken captive and exiled to the ends of the earth. But in the aftermath of the war waged by the modern Ben-Gurion, the gates would be open for the exiles to return home from the ends of the earth.”
“Ben Gurion,” I said, “was following the Jubilean ordinance.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “but how do you mean that?”
“The one who is separated from his land must return to it. So in ancient times Ben-Gurion was separated from the Jewish nation . . . But after two thousand years Ben Gurion returned to it . . . each to his own possession.”
“So he did.”
“And his declaration,” I said, “would be answered from across the world by President Truman—two world leaders, each living out the template of a leader from ancient times, and each fulfilling their part in the ancient mystery . . . and the world had no idea.”
“No, the world had no idea,” he replied. “But, nevertheless, its future would be determined by it.”
“The next mystery would open up one of the most amazi
ng of ancient words ever given concerning an event that would take place in the modern world. It would comprise another prophetic convergence of time and space.”
“And how would it be revealed?”
“Through a prophet . . . and a king I met while walking.”
Chapter 31
THE DAY OF AMOS
WHEN I FOUND the Oracle, he was sitting in one of the chambers of the cave I had never before entered, a small chamber, illuminated by the light of oil lamps. There was nothing of note within it except a short, wide stone platform, upon which rested an open scroll, the text of which I took to be Hebrew.”
“The king on the seashore,” I said, “and the man who helped him build the house of branches . . . who were they?”
“The king you saw was David, the founder of the nation’s royal dynasty.”
“And the man who helped him rebuild?”
“The bearer of burdens. In Hebrew the name Amos means burden bearer. It was the prophet Amos.”
“And the house of branches?”
“In Hebrew a house or shelter of branches is called a sukkah, or tabernacle. The house of branches belonged to the king. The vision concerned the tabernacle of David.”
“The tabernacle of David?”
“The phrase appears several times in the Scriptures. It has many layers of meaning, but it certainly refers to David’s kingdom and thus the nation of Israel. In your vision it was fallen. So in ancient times the kingdom of Israel had collapsed. The tabernacle of David had fallen.”
“The man offered to help the king raise it up. What did that mean?”
“It was Amos through whom the most famous prophecy concerning the tabernacle of David was given, a prophecy that would foretell the raising up of the fallen tabernacle. In the modern world that tabernacle was raised up on May 14, 1948, the day of Israel’s birth, a day of prophecy. The nation that had closed its eyes in ancient times in a war of flaming arrows and siegeworks now opened them in an age of atomic weapons and superpowers.”
“What was the prophecy?”
The Oracle leaned over to examine the scroll. Using his hand to find the place, he began to read, or rather to translate, the ancient words:
“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. 1
“The kingdom of David, the nation of Israel, had fallen. But in the end times God would restore it. So in the birth of Israel in 1948 the tabernacle of David was raised up; the nation that had once stood in ancient times had been destroyed but was now being resurrected. The prophecy continues:
And I will repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins. 2
“So the nation that had been broken for two thousand years and a land that had been covered in ruins would now be repaired.”
“What does that mean, to raise up the ruins?”
“The ancient cities that now lie in ruins would be rebuilt. The fallen buildings of the land would rise again. And on the ruins of a civilization that had fallen, a new nation would rise. The prophecy goes on:
. . . and rebuild it as in the days of old. 3
“The new nation was to be rebuilt ‘as in the days of old.’ So Israel would be rebuilt as it had been in ancient times. Its language would be rebuilt as in days of old, its people, its land, its army, its government, its culture, the nation itself. The prophecy continues:
I will bring my people Israel back from exile. 4
“The regathering of the Jewish people began in the days before the nation was born, but its greatest fulfillment would come after its birth as Jewish people began returning in unprecedented numbers from the far corners of the earth.
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them.5
“Which is exactly what happened as the Israelis built new cities on the ruins of the ancient ones. The prophecy goes on:
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 6
“So the prophecy foretold what would happen to the land that had for ages been barren desolation. Those who would return from exile would plant the barren land. It would blossom and bear fruit.”
“Amazingly accurate.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “but there’s more to the mystery. In the declaration that Ben-Gurion read on May 14, 1948, are the words ‘Sabbath eve.’ 7 That’s when the declaration was read.”
“So it happened on a Friday.”
“The declaration went forth on Friday, late afternoon, at the approach of the Sabbath. And then at the stroke of midnight the British occupation came to an end and the nation was born. The Sabbath begins at sundown Friday night and lasts until sundown Saturday. Israel came into existence in that exact space of time, as Friday night turned into Saturday. The nation was born on the Sabbath.”
“So then there was a Scripture appointed for the day of its birth.”
“Yes, it came from the haftarah scroll.”
“What’s that?”
“The scroll of the prophets. Its appointed word consists of much shorter passages, most often just a handful of verses. On the day Israel was reborn, there was a word from the prophets appointed from ages past to be proclaimed at that very moment, from sundown Friday night to sundown the next day, the very space of time in which the ancient nation was raised back to life.”
“So what was the word appointed for May 14, 1948?”
“It was this:
On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down.” 8
“The appointed word was the very Scripture that speaks of what took place on that exact day! The appointed word on May 14, 1948, the day the tabernacle of David was raised up, was the word that speaks of the day that the tabernacle of David would be raised up!”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “Israel’s birth took place on the day appointed for the prophecy of Israel’s birth . . . the fingerprints of God.”
“So as Ben-Gurion was announcing the raising up of the ancient nation, the appointed word was that which spoke of the raising up of the nation of Israel.”
“Yes. And the appointed word would foretell not only what would happen to Israel but what would be proclaimed to the world that day.
“The ancient word appointed for that day prophesied,
I will bring my people Israel back from exile. 9
“So the declaration proclaimed that Israel would be open for . . .
. . . the Ingathering of the Exiles. 10
“The ancient word appointed for that day had prophesied,
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them.11
“So the declaration of that day proclaimed that the exiles had . . .
. . . built villages and towns, and created a thriving community. 12
“The appointed word prophesied the exiles would plant the land that had been a barren devastation and make it blossom:
They shall plant vineyards . . . they shall also make gardens. 13
“So the declaration spoke of the planting of the land by the returning exiles:
They made deserts bloom . . . 14
“And note,” said the Oracle, “when Israel’s birth was announced to the world, there was by no means any assurance that it would survive. On the following day, when the surrounding Arab nations launched the war intended to uproot the Jewish nation at the moment of its birth, many doubted that there would still be an Israel at the war’s end. But the last words of the prophecy appointed for that day contained a promise:
“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. 15
“All these things were contained in that one prophecy, the raising up of the fallen tabernacle, the rebuilding of the ruins, the restoring of the cities, the planting of the land, the survival of the nation, and the ending of the exile . . . and all of them were appointed for the day that Israel’s exile would come to an end.”
“At the end of my vision five white flowe
rs blossomed in front of the rebuilt tabernacle. What did that mean?”
“In Hebrew the word iyar means blossom. May 14, 1948, was the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar.”
“Who decided that Israel would be born on that particular Sabbath?”
“It just happened to be the day set for the British to depart from the land. You see, even empires must follow His purposes.
“And so on the day of Israel’s resurrection, all around the world the ancient prophecy was being chanted in Hebrew. They chanted the raising up of David’s tabernacle, the rebuilding of its cities, the ending of its exile, the planting of its soil, and its survival against all odds by the hand of God. And so the ancient exile came to an end and the nation was reborn as the appointed prophecy foretelling the end of the exile and the nation’s rebirth was recited throughout the earth.”
“There would be one more mystery to be revealed before the mysteries of the third door would be finished and the mysteries of the fourth door could be opened. It was a mystery unlike the others, something of an ancient code, a cipher embedded into the Jubilean ordinance itself.”
“And how was it revealed?”
“Through the keys of the wandering man.”
Chapter 32
THE JUBILEAN CODE
THE ORACLE WAS sitting in the same chamber in which I found him the first time I entered the cave. ‘This,’ he said as I sat down beside him, ‘will be the last time we meet in this place. And this will be the last revelation of the third door, the third stream of the mysteries.’
“I had come to find the meaning of the man with the four keys. I brought a paper on which I had written the shape of each key as best I remembered it. I had shown it to him when I first shared the vision, but I thought it wise to remind him.”
The Oracle Page 14
