“In ancient times, when Israel returned to the land, the priests were there. When the nation entered the Promised Land under Joshua, the first Israelites to cross the Jordan River and lead the nation in were the priests. When the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, the priests were there, central in that return and leading in the nation’s restoration. And so on June 7, 1967, when Israel returned to Jerusalem after its two-thousand-year-old exile, the priests were again present at the moment of return.”
“And they would have been the first to return . . . with the soldiers.”
“As in ancient times. The two were connected. It was the priests who sounded the trumpets that summoned the nation to war. And the soldier who drove the jeep that brought the two priests to the Holy City, he was also carrying another mystery. His name was Menachem HaCohen. He too was one of the kohanim, a son of Aaron, a priest of Israel.”
“It was the day of the priests!” I said.
“So the three priests arrived at the ancient wall of the Temple Mount, where their ancestors had ministered to God in ancient times. It was only after a time that the full weight of what was happening fell on Rabbi Tzvi Kook. He began to weep. As for Rabbi David HaCohen, he approached the wall, leaned against its ancient stones, and stood there frozen for hours, praying and reciting the psalms. The Lord had brought comfort to the priests. And as for their driver, the translation of his name, Menachem HaCohen, forms a phrase: ‘the comfort of the priest.’
“And so on June 7, 1967, when Israel returned to Jerusalem, the Jubilean ministers came home. Each had returned to his own possession.”
“The next mystery would reveal why it all had to happen when it did. And the secret would go all the way back to the days of Babylon.”
“And how was it revealed?”
“Through the man in the chariot.”
Chapter 38
THE BABYLONIAN CODE
I RETURNED TO the garden to find the Oracle sitting in a vineyard filled with trees, vines, clusters of purple grapes, and an ancient-looking stone press.”
“The man in the chariot who took me to Jerusalem . . . who was he?”
“A very ancient man,” he replied. “What happened in the Jubilee of 1967 was the undoing and redemption of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. But is it possible that what took place was connected as well to a mystery even more ancient?
“When the Assyrian Empire collapsed at the end of the seventh century BC, two powers were left to battle for supremacy, Egypt, under Pharaoh Necho, and the newly ascendant kingdom of Babylon, under King Nabopolassar. With Nabopolassar in ill health, his son, the crown prince, led the Babylonian army to the city of Carchemish. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. In Carchemish he dealt a decisive blow to the Egyptian army. Babylon was now the undisputed supreme power of the Middle East. Nebuchadnezzar and his army now swept southward and eastward, bringing the peoples, lands, and cities of Syria and Israel into subjection and incorporating them into the newly established Babylonian Empire.
“One of the cities brought into subjection was Jerusalem. In the face of the Babylonian onslaught, the Judean king, Jehoiakim, surrendered and became Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal. The Scriptures record that Nebuchadnezzar received tribute from the next Judean king, Jehoiachin, treasures from the Temple, and captives from Jerusalem’s upper classes and royal families. Babylonian chronicles likewise bear witness to Nebuchadnezzar’s taking of Jewish captives back to Babylon. The city of Jerusalem was now under Babylonian sovereignty, and with it the entire nation.”
“Was Babylon near two rivers?”
“Yes, the Tigris and the Euphrates.”
“The rider in my vision said he was from the ‘land of two rivers.’ Was he Nebuchadnezzar?”
“He was. So Jerusalem was now a vassal city, and Israel, a territory of the Babylonian Empire. Soon after subduing the city and the land, Nebuchadnezzar received word that his father had died. He left his army and the business of transporting the captives in the hands of others and rushed back to Babylon to take the throne. Many view this moment as the beginning of the ‘times of the Gentiles,’ the age when Jerusalem would lie in subjugation to the Gentile kingdoms and empires. It would also mark the beginning of the end.”
“The end?”
“Years later, when the Judean king Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, the Babylonians returned. This time they set fire to the Temple, razed the city to the ground, ravaged the land, took thousands into captivity, and brought the Jewish kingdom to an end. These two events, Jerusalem’s subjugation and loss of sovereignty and the destruction of the Jewish kingdom, would open and close a period marking the nation’s last days.”
“How long was it in between the two events?”
“The answer appears in the Book of Jeremiah and 2 Kings. Both use the same expression to date it. Jerusalem was destroyed in
the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar.” 1
“The nineteenth year,” I repeated. “In the vision the man told me it would take nineteen minutes to get to the city. The nineteen minutes were the nineteen years.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “the key is the nineteenth year.”
“So it would be the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. So when did it begin?”
“Shortly after his troops entered Jerusalem. It was then, after hearing of his father’s death, that he returned to Babylon to receive the crown. Nineteen years later he destroyed the kingdom of Judah. So it wasn’t just that Jerusalem was destroyed in the nineteenth year of his reign but that the two events took place nineteen years apart.
“We can further pinpoint it. We know that it wasn’t long after his victory in the Battle of Carchemish that Nebuchadnezzar swept through the land of Syria and Israel. The battle took place in the year 605 BC. Most scholars place it in May or June. Nebuchadnezzar’s father then died in the middle of August. Nebuchadnezzar ascended the Babylonian throne on the first day of the month of Elul.
“Therefore, the window of time for the Babylonians to enter and subjugate Jerusalem falls in between June or July and mid-August 605 BC. Further, the subduing of the cities and lands of Syria could not have happened instantly, and Jerusalem, to the south of Syria, would have fallen in the latter part of that conquest. Thus we can further narrow down the first conquest of Jerusalem to the days between July and mid-August 605 BC.
“Beyond that, when Nebuchadnezzar left the region to return to Babylon, the fighting had apparently subsided, Jerusalem had already been subjugated, and its Jewish captives had already been taken into Babylonian custody. That would have also taken time. These factors point to the subjugation of Jerusalem in July, or the Hebrew month of Tammuz, in the year 605 BC.”
“What about the other event, the destruction that came nineteen years later? Do we know when in the year it happened?”
“It happened in the summer, in the Hebrew month of Av. Both events took place in the summer. So from the initial Babylonian invasion and subjugation of Jerusalem to the nation’s destruction, it was a full nineteen years.”
“But you said the first invasion would have most likely taken place in a different month, the month of Tammuz.”
“Tammuz is one month before Av. So the time between the two events would be just over nineteen years, nineteen years and a few weeks.”
“So how does all this relate to the mystery?”
“We’ve looked at two days,” said the Oracle, “each of them representing a loss, the loss of sovereignty, and the loss of national existence. But the Jubilee brings restoration, the reversing of loss. So when did Israel’s restoration as a nation take place?”
“In 1948,” I replied.
“So then,” said the Oracle, “what happens if you add the period of Israel’s destruction to the start of the period of Israel’s redemption? What happens if you add the nineteen years of the mystery to the year 1948? Where does it bring you?”
“To 1967! 1967 is the nineteenth ye
ar!”
“Israel was restored as a nation on May 15, 1948. Jerusalem was restored to Israel on June 7, 1967. So the time period between the two events is nineteen years . . . and a few weeks—the same exact time period of the nation’s destruction. And do you remember how the events of 1967 began, what triggered everything to come out at that exact time?”
“It was triggered by the Soviet Union sending a false report to Egypt.”
“And when did they do that?” asked the Oracle. “They sent that word on the eve of Israel’s anniversary as a nation—the anniversary of the nineteenth year. And when Rabbi Kook spoke his prophetic word on Israel’s restoration, he did so on the day that marked exactly nineteen years from the day of Israel’s declaration of rebirth.
“The time leading up to the war would be known as the waiting period. The period began when Egyptian troops crossed the Sinai and concluded three weeks later with the outbreak of the Six-Day War. On what day did that period begin? On May 15, 1967, the day that marked Israel’s nineteenth year. And when was the prophetic song ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ first sung to the nation? On the day that marked Israel’s nineteenth year. It all began as Israel completed its nineteenth year.
“In the ancient cycle the nineteen years concerned the loss and destruction of Jerusalem and Israel. In the modern cycle the nineteen years likewise concerned Jerusalem and Israel. The ancient nineteen-year cycle concerned the loss of sovereignty and existence. The modern nineteen-year cycle concerned the exact opposite, the exact reversal, the regaining of sovereignty, the undoing of loss, and the nation’s rebirth. So in the year of Jubilee the nineteen years of loss and destruction become the nineteen years of restoration and rebirth.
“And since the Jubilee is about reversal, what happens,” said the Oracle, “if we reverse the nineteen years of destruction? If the ancient nineteen-year cycle begins with the soldiers of a Gentile kingdom entering the gates of Jerusalem . . . then the modern nineteen-year cycle will end with the soldiers of a Gentile kingdom departing Jerusalem and with Israeli soldiers entering in its gates. And so it did in 1967.
“And if the ancient nineteen-year period begins with the Jewish nation losing its sovereignty over Jerusalem . . . then the modern nineteen-year period will end with the Jewish nation regaining its sovereignty over Jerusalem in 1967. And so it did.
“If the ancient nineteen-year period ends with the mass departure of the Jewish people from the land . . . then the modern nineteen-year period must begin with the mass return of the Jewish people from exile to the land in 1948. And so it would.”
“And,” I said, “if the ancient nineteen-year period ends with the Jewish nation disappearing from the earth . . . then the modern nineteen-year period must begin with the Jewish nation reappearing on the earth.”
“And so it did,” said the Oracle, “in 1948. And remember what I told you about the times of the Gentiles, which many have seen as beginning in 605 BC when the Babylonians first invaded. So then what about that which took place in the corresponding year, 1967, the regaining of Jerusalem? Is it possible that it then could be seen as the beginning of the end of the times of the Gentiles?”
“Is it?”
“Perhaps,” he said. “It could be seen as such. And so it was prophesied in ancient times by the rabbi from Nazareth, ‘Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’” 2
“The next time I saw the Oracle, he would open up another revelation of the secret things from ancient times that play a part behind the world events of modern times.”
“What secret things?”
“A mysterious person I had never heard of before.”
“What mysterious person?”
“The man called the Nazir.”
“And how would it be revealed to you?”
“Through a man in a black robe.”
Chapter 39
THE NAZIR
I FOUND THE Oracle sitting under a tree filled with fruit, each one red, round, and with what looked like a crown at its bottom.”
“It’s a pomegranate tree,” he said. “Images of pomegranates adorned the Temple of King Solomon.”
So I joined him under the pomegranate tree.
“The man in the black hooded robe, whose name was Separation . . . what was that about?”
“There was an ancient ordinance,” he said, “concerning a vow. If an Israelite desired to consecrate himself for the Lord’s purposes, he would take a vow of separation. The vow would involve abstaining from wine, from cutting his hair, and from defilement. The vow could be taken for a specific period of time or for life. The one who took the vow was called the Nazir. Nazir comes from a Hebrew root word meaning to separate. So the Nazir was the separated one, and the time of his vow was known as his days of separation. The root word from which nazir comes can speak of both separation to the Lord or from the Lord.”
“So the man in the black robe whose name was Separation was the Nazir?”
“A form of the Nazir,” he replied. “And when did you see him?”
“At times of calamity, loss, and exile.”
“In the days of their separation,” he said. “What you saw was the embodiment of Israel’s exile, their days of their separation. Now, according to the ancient ordinance, the Nazir could only begin his vow and bring it to completion in one place—the sanctuary. In the days of the wilderness he would be brought to the doors of the Tabernacle. In the days of the Temple he would be brought to the Temple Mount. So the days of separation could only end on the Temple Mount. But for most of two thousand years the Temple Mount was in enemy hands and the appearance of a Nazir among the Jewish people was a rare phenomenon.
“But in the days of Israel’s rebirth there appeared a Nazir. He abstained from wine and defilement and never cut his hair. He would also take a vow of devotion concerning Jerusalem: he would not leave his dwelling place until Jerusalem was restored to Israel. His vows of separation became so well-known that he would be known as the Nazir or the Nazir of Jerusalem. On June 7, 1967, when Jerusalem was restored to the Jewish people, its restoration would involve the mystery of the Nazir.”
“Who was he?” I asked.
“You already know him. He was a rabbi. He was David HaCohen.”
“The one who was sent for?”
“Yes, when Rabbi Goren sent for his father-in-law, he was also sending for the Nazir. And when Goren’s assistant reached his house, the Nazir found himself in a dilemma. Because of the vow, the Nazir couldn’t leave his house. But according to rabbinical law, such a vow could be nullified by the word of three witnesses. So three men stood as witnesses in the Nazir’s house to release him from his vow so that he might be taken into the gates of the newly liberated Jerusalem.” 1
“So the jeep,” I said, “it wasn’t only carrying two rabbis and three priests. It was also carrying the Nazir.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “and so it was part of another ancient mystery. Keep in mind the ancient ordinance: the only way the Nazir could complete his vow was by being brought to the sanctuary or the door of the sanctuary. And ever since the days of King Solomon, that place was in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount. So in ancient times the vow of separation could only be brought to completion with the Nazir being brought to Jerusalem and to the Temple Mount. On June 7, 1967, the Nazir was taken to Jerusalem, and not only to Jerusalem—but specifically to the Temple Mount. No one planned what took place that day in view of the ancient mystery. It happened because of the battle that forced the driver to take the route he took. They entered the newly opened gate on the city’s eastern wall, then turned onto the ancient pavement of the Temple Mount, the holiest place on earth.
“Thus the Nazir had returned to the very same place where the ancient Nazirs had to be brought to fulfill their vows, the place on which stood the doors of the sanctuary and the Court of Nazirs. It was the first known time in two thousand years that such a thing had happened.”
“So Jerusalem had re
turned,” I said, “and the Nazir had returned on the same day—to his ancient possession.”
“And note, the ordinance didn’t say that the Nazir would simply come to the sanctuary but specifies that he must be brought. So on the day of Jerusalem’s liberation the Nazir was literally brought to the sanctuary. And who was it in ancient times that would bring the Nazir to the sanctuary? The priest. And who was it on that day that brought the Nazir to the sanctuary? It was Menachem HaCohen, the priest. So he was not only driving his fellow priests; he was bringing the Nazir to the sanctuary.”
“Is it significant that the Nazir of Jerusalem was himself a priest?”
“It was,” said the Oracle. “The priest ministered as the representative of the people of Israel. The Nazir was the separated one. And yet he was a priest representing Israel. For it was the people of Israel who had become separated from their land, from their Holy City, and from their ancestral inheritance. It was Israel that had become the Nazir nation.”
“That’s why the man in the black robe was always with them in their exile.”
“But on June 7, 1967, the Nazir was brought to the place where the days of separation come to an end. For it was on that day that Israel’s days of separation had come to their end. And it was the release of Israel from the days of its separation that caused the Nazir to be released from the days of his separation . . . that he could leave his home and come to that place. So the Nazir was brought to the place where the days of separation come to their end on the same day that the two-thousand-year-old days of separation of the Jewish people from Jerusalem also came to their end.”
“And it all took place in the year of Jubilee,” I said. “And the Jubilee ends the separation. It causes the separated ones to return.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “and yet there’s still one more mystery. Do you know on what day the Six-Day War ended? It ended on the Sabbath.”
The Oracle Page 18
