The Oracle

by Jonathan Cahn

“So there was an appointed Scripture . . . What was it?”

  “It was the ordinance of the Nazir.”

  “No! That’s too . . . ”

  “But it was.”

  “How many times does the ordinance of the Nazir appear in the Bible?”

  “Only once,” said the Oracle, “only in that one passage. And it was that passage that was the appointed word to be read on the Sabbath of the Six-Day War.”

  “What did it say specifically?”

  “It said this:

  Now this is the law of the Nazir: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 2

  “So the appointed Scripture ordained the very thing that took place at the time of its appointing, the bringing of the Nazir to the sanctuary. The command could never be fulfilled until the Six-Day War, when its words were appointed to be read. And so the command to bring the Nazir to the sanctuary was being recited all over the land of Israel and all over the world on the very week that the jeep driven by the priest would bring the Nazir to the sanctuary.

  “And so on June 7, 1967, the separated one came home, the Nazir returned to Jerusalem. It was the sign of the Nazir. Remember what it means. When the Nazir is brought to the Temple Mount, the days of separation come to their end. So it was on that day that the two-thousand-year-old days of separation between the Jewish people and Jerusalem came to their end.”

  “The next revelation began with a mystery revealed to me behind the second door.”

  “Then it was linked to the year 1917.”

  “It was a mystery begun in the Jubilee of 1917 but only completed in the Jubilee of 1967.”

  “And what did it involve?”

  “The day of the lions.”

  Chapter 40

  THE DAY OF THE LIONS

  I RETURNED TO the garden and joined the Oracle under a fig tree.”

  “In my vision I saw lions coming out of a stone relief and going to war. What did it mean?”

  “The lion,” he said, “is a symbol of power, authority, and royalty.”

  “They encircled a mountain. Did the mountain represent Jerusalem and their battle, the Six-Day War?”

  “It did,” he replied. “The battle over Jerusalem began on June 5 when the Jordanian army, despite Israel’s warning to refrain from war, began shelling Israeli positions around the ancient city. Jerusalem was about to be drawn into the war.

  “In order to cut off the Jordanian forces and stop the shelling, Israel set out to encircle the mountains and roads that surrounded the ancient city. Though it was not the initial or intended purpose, the strategy would lead to the return to Jerusalem. Central in the encirclement of Jerusalem was Israel’s Harel Brigade. The brigade’s commander was ordered to seize the vital passageways leading to and from the city and to take the mountain ridges to the north and east of Jerusalem. The success of the Harel Brigade would give Israel control of the Judean hills and open the door for the Jubilean event.”

  “And the lions that went up to the top of the mountain?”

  “That would be the 55th Brigade,” he replied, “a brigade of paratroopers. On the eve of the Six-Day War the 55th Brigade was being prepared for battle in the Sinai Peninsula. But the war’s rapidly shifting dynamics caused a change in plans. The brigade was sent instead to fight in the hills surrounding Jerusalem. On the morning of June 7 the brigade’s commander was standing with his men on the Mount of Olives. His intelligence officer received word from the army’s chief of staff to take Jerusalem. The commander then told his men of the order. The brigade made its way down the Mount of Olives, up Mount Moriah, and through the gates of the ancient city.”

  “But why lions?”

  “You’ve asked about the lions,” said the Oracle, “but not about the rest of your vision. When the vision began, what did you see?”

  “A bearded man, a stone relief of an ancient battle, and birds.”

  “Birds,” he said. “You’ve seen them before.”

  “Yes, the vision of the birds . . . the taking of Jerusalem by the British, the first time in history that a war over the land of Israel and Jerusalem involved the sky . . . and wings.”

  “And what Scripture was appointed in The Book of Common Prayer to be read on the last day of fighting in the battle of Jerusalem?”

  “The prophecy that spoke of the Lord delivering Jerusalem ‘as birds flying.’” 1

  “And which prophet spoke those words?”

  “Isaiah,” I replied. “Was he the man with the beard?”

  “Yes. And in your vision he was linked to the stone relief, the siege of the ancient city. Isaiah was there when Jerusalem was under siege by the Assyrians. It was then that he prophesied that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem and that the deliverance would come ‘as birds flying.’ But there was more to that prophecy. Directly above the verse that speaks of the flying birds, the prophecy speaks of another animal:

  As the lion and the young lion roaring over its prey when a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor be disturbed by their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. 2

  “So the prophecy foretells the deliverance of Jerusalem as birds flying and as lions roaring. So if the deliverance of Jerusalem in the Jubilee of 1917 came as birds flying, could it be that its deliverance in the Jubilee of 1967 would come as lions roaring?

  “At the end of your vision behind the fourth door, you saw a young, slender ram transforming into something like a lion. So in the days leading up to the war, many feared for the young nation’s survival, just as you feared for the ram. But once the war began, Israel was aroused as a lion. The nation responded to its encroaching enemies with massive force, ferocity, and lightning-like speed. And as the roar of a lion strikes fear in the hearts of its enemies and melts their resolve, so the roar of Israel’s might in the Six-Day War struck fear in the hearts of those who had planned its destruction and melted their resolve. And as a lion’s roar warns its enemies not to invade its territory, so Israel warned Jordan not to invade its territory. It was the defiance of that warning that would usher in the fulfillment of prophecy.

  “The lion is also Israel’s symbol of royalty. Jerusalem was the throne from which the kings of Israel reigned. Thus the city itself became identified with the lion and would be adorned with their images. So in the Six-Day War, Israel battled for its royal city, the city of lions.”

  “So that’s why the lions were in the vision.”

  “For all those reasons,” said the Oracle. “But there’s more to the mystery. I told you that it was the Harel Brigade that seized the mountain ridges surrounding Jerusalem and that opened the way to Jerusalem’s restoration. The commander of the Harel Brigade was Colonel Ben Ari. Do you know what Ari means?”

  “No.”

  “It means lion.”

  “The Lord would fight as a lion.”

  “So in the Six-Day War leading the troops in the battle for Jerusalem was a man named Lion. The prophecy says that the Lord will fight as a lion specifically for Mount Zion and for its hill. Mount Zion and its hill stand for Jerusalem, the city set on the mountain of God. Do you know what the name of the Harel Brigade means? Harel means the mountain of God. So in battle for Jerusalem you have Colonel Ari and the Harel Brigade . . . the lion and the mountain of God . . . So the Lord fought as a lion for Mount Zion.

  “There was another leader,” said the Oracle, “another colonel who played a central role in the regaining of Jerusalem. He was the operations officer of the army’s Central Command. He was the one who directed the battle for Jerusalem. And on the morning of June 7 it was he who gave the critical command to the 55th Brigade to take Jerusalem. His name was Arik Regev. Do you know what the name Arik means?”

  “No.”

  “Lion.”

  “So the battle for Jerusalem was directed by a man named Lion.”

  “The lion who directed the
battle for Mount Zion and gave the order to take its hill. And there was another who was central in Jerusalem’s return, the man who received the command to take the city, the intelligence officer of the paratroopers brigade. He was the one who came up with the plan that put the paratroopers in place to enter the city gates. His name was Arik Achmon. And his name was also . . . ”

  “Lion.”

  “So the man who gave the command to take Jerusalem and the man who received it were each named Lion.”

  “And the one who devised the plan that led to the return of Mount Zion was named Lion.”

  “And then there was the man who, more than any other soldier in the Six-Day War, became famous for his role in the city’s liberation. He was also a colonel. He was the commander of the 55th Paratroopers Brigade, the one who charged his men to take Jerusalem, the one who led them into the gate, and the one who took the Temple Mount and then the Western Wall. His name was Motta Gur.”

  “The name doesn’t sound like the others.”

  “Because the name comes from a different Hebrew root. Do you know what Gur means?”

  “No.”

  “Lion cub or young lion. So the man who actually took the city and who led the nation through its gates was also named Lion.”

  “In the vision I saw two lions made their way to the top of the mountain. Did one of them represent Colonel Gur?”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “and the other, his intelligence officer, Arik Achmon. They were the first two to enter the gates.”

  “Two lions,” I said.

  “Do you remember how the prophecy began?

  As the lion and the young lion . . . ” 3

  “Two lions!”

  “One could take the words as poetic parallelism, but the fact is the prophecy specifically identifies two lions in the deliverance of Jerusalem. And what kind of lions does it specifically identify?”

  “The lion and the young lion.”

  “So the two who were the first to take Jerusalem were Arik Achmon and Motta Gur. Arik means lion, and Gur means young lion, ‘the lion and the young lion.’”

  “Amazing!”

  “And the prophecy says that the Lord will fight as the lion and the young lion for Mount Zion and for its hill. The phrase was used to designate Jerusalem and specifically the Temple Mount. And it was Arik Achmon and Motta Gur who were the first to ascend the Temple Mount, the lion and the young lion fighting for Mount Zion and its hill. The prophecy speaks of a lion roaring over its prey, in this case the Lord roaring as a lion, in this case over Mount Zion and its holy hill. So it was Gur, the young lion on the Temple Mount, who roared to Israel and to the world the most famous words of the war: ‘The Temple Mount is in our hands.’ 4

  “The day after Jerusalem’s liberation, the nation’s founder and first leader, David Ben-Gurion, walked through the gates of the ancient city. He was at that time an old man. Do you know what the name Gurion means in Hebrew?”

  “What?”

  “Lion cub. So as the two lions and their troops entered the gates of the city, the nation of Israel returned with them. Do you know which gate it was that the soldiers entered through to win Jerusalem?”

  I was silent.

  “It was the Lion’s Gate. The lions entered through the Gate of the Lions.”

  “No one could have put all this together.”

  “No one but One,” said the Oracle. “The prophecy says it will be as the lion, but it will be the Lord. The manifestation of lions in Jerusalem’s restoration wasn’t about lions. It was the sign from ancient times that behind it all was the hand of God bringing to pass the prophesied return and restoration, the Almighty moving . . . as a lion.”

  “The next revelation would center on a man who would play a central part in the Jubilee of 1967. It could even be said that he was born to fulfill that part.”

  “And how was it revealed to you?”

  “Through a boy in a threshing floor. It was through him that I learned the mystery of the Jubilean man.”

  Chapter 41

  THE JUBILEAN MAN

  I RETURNED TO the garden to find the Oracle sitting in the shade of an olive grove. I joined him there.”

  “What was the central sign of the Jubilee?” he asked.

  “People returning to their land.”

  “Yes, that’s what took place. But what was the sign that the Jubilee had come? What was it that heralded it?”

  “The sounding of the ram’s horn.”

  “Yes. So it was written in Leviticus, in the Jubilean ordinance: ‘Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound . . . ’ 1 The trumpet of the Jubilee is the ram’s horn, the shofar. For the Jubilee to begin, the shofar had to be sounded. It was the sounding of the shofar that signaled the year of return and restoration, and release throughout the land.

  “Is it possible that in 1967, the Jubilean year that witnessed the most dramatic of returns concerning Jerusalem, the sign of the Jubilee, the sounding of the shofar, could have manifested?”

  “In my vision I saw an angel give a shofar to a boy to sound it at the set time.”

  “The central moment of that Jubilee came as Israeli soldiers entered the ancient city and made their way to their most holy of places. The images of Israeli soldiers returning to the Temple Mount and to the ancient stones of the Western Wall reverberated across the world. It was the defining moment of the war and the embodiment of the Jubilean return. It was at that precise moment that an ancient mystery manifested. In the midst of the soldiers standing at the Western Wall was a man holding a ram’s horn. He set it to his mouth and blew. The sound of the Jubilee went forth in the Jubilean year, on the Jubilean day, in the Jubilean place, and at the Jubilean moment. The same sound ordained in ancient times to proclaim the return of the exiled heirs to their lost inheritance now proclaimed to the world the return of the Jewish people to their lost inheritance.”

  “Did the man who sounded the shofar know the mystery? Did he intend to sound it on the Jubilee?”

  “He didn’t intend it that way,” said the Oracle, “any more than did any of the others intend to fulfill the mystery when they fulfilled it.”

  “All the more amazing,” I said. “And who was the man?”

  “Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the same one who sent for the priests and for the Nazir. In your vision he was the child who came to the threshing floor.”

  “How did it all happen?”

  “Goren wasn’t born in the land but was one of the exiles who returned from the nations. He was born in Poland. While he was still a young boy, his family immigrated to Palestine, which was at that time under British rule. In the Orthodox Jewish world he was recognized as a prodigy. At the age of seventeen he was ordained as a rabbi. Beginning with Israel’s War of Independence he served in the army as a military chaplain. It was Goren’s conviction that the return of the Jewish people to the land was central in God’s purposes of world redemption.

  “In the first days of the Six-Day War, Goren was at the front lines of battle. At his side was a shofar. He had intended to follow the ancient command to sound it in the midst of battle. But in the midst of battle his vehicle was struck by enemy fire, and the shofar was destroyed. Goren then asked his father-in-law if he could borrow his shofar for what could be the liberation of Jerusalem. His father-in-law complied.

  “In the days leading up to the Six-Day War, long before Jerusalem was in play, Goren had prophetically spoken of the city’s liberation. And on the morning of June 7, 1967, he would be there with the first Israeli troops as they approached the city. As he entered with the soldiers through the Lion’s Gate, he set the shofar to his mouth and sounded it. It was the very moment of the Jubilean return. He continued sounding it as he and the troops made their way to the Temple Mount, another prophetic return, the return of the Jewish soldier to the sacred ground lost in the war against Rome in AD 70, and another Jubilean moment two thousand years in the making.”

  “Each shall return to his own pos
session.”

  “And then Goren made his way to the Western Wall for the sounding of the shofar that would reverberate around the world. In ancient times who was it that sounded the shofar of Jubilee? Though the ordinance doesn’t specify, it was the priests who were called to mark the holy days of Israel, to sound the trumpets, and to herald the appointed times of God. And the priests were the ministers of the Jubilee.

  “Rabbi Goren wasn’t born of the priestly house but through marriage had become part of it. His father-in-law, David HaCohen, was born of the priestly line. In ancient times it was the shofar belonging to the priests that marked and ushered in the nation’s sacred times and holy days. From whom did Rabbi Goren obtain the shofar that would be sounded in Jerusalem’s liberation?”

  “From his father-in-law.”

  “And his father-in-law was a priest. So the shofar that was sounded in Jerusalem at the moment of Israel’s return to her Holy City was the priestly shofar. So as it was in ancient times, so it was on June 7, 1967; the shofar of the priests sounded in Jerusalem to usher in the sacred times of God.”

  “In the vision the boy was to sound the shofar on the threshing floor. Why the threshing floor? Was it because it’s linked to the harvest and the boy was told to sound the shofar at the time of the harvest?”

  “And Rabbi Goren would sound the shofar in early June, at the time of the wheat harvest. But that’s not the reason behind the threshing floor. The reason is part of a deeper mystery.

  “In the year of Jubilee, in returning to its first owner, the land returns to its original state. Do you know what the original state of the Temple Mount was?”

  “No.”

  “A threshing floor. When the Temple Mount was first purchased by King David, it was a threshing floor.”

  “So the original state of the Temple Mount was a threshing floor.”

  “And do you know what the Hebrew word for threshing floor is?”

  “No.”