The Glorious Land

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 1, 1913

The Glorious Land

“north” in its great conflict “at the time of the end,” these countries would come under his control. History records the fulfilment of every detail of this prophecy. Our limited space will permit of only the briefest glance at this history.

The Glorious Land

“He [the king of the north] shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown.” The glorious, or, as the margin gives it, goodly, land is Palestine. It constitutes a large part of what has long been designated Syria, which at the time of the end was the Syrian province of the Turkish Empire. It was in the “glorious land,” stretching from the base of Mt. Carmel to the Jordan, that the terrible struggle for supremacy took place between France and Turkey. When that contest began, the Syrian province was in revolt against Turkey, and was practically independent. But Turkey’s victory over France proved to be a victory over Syria also.

Mr. John Barker, writing from Syria in 1803 regarding the pasha, or governor, of the Syrian province, says:—

“Djezzar, or Jezzar Pasha, himself can not be said to be ‘in rebellion’ against the Porte. He acknowledges the supreme authority of the sultan; he contributes largely to the maintenance of the state. . . . There exists not a governor in Turkey more absolutely in subjection to the will of the sultan than this pasha. The proof of his subordination is the immense sums of money he daily sends to Constantinople.

“The expression ‘state of rebellion’ carries with it ideas of insecurity and popular disturbances, yet I can with truth aver that for half a century past there has not existed greater security and tranquillity than reigns throughout all Syria at the present moment [May, 1803].”—“Syria and Egypt Under the Last Five Sultanies of Turkey,” Vol. I, pages 67, 68, 71, by John Barker, British consul-general to Turkey from 1799-1849.

This Djezzar was governor of Syria at the time of the French invasion, and is the one who defended Acre during the terrible siege. He had previously been in constant rebellion against the Turkish government. But following the war with the French, a great change was effected, and Turkey came into full control of the “glorious land.”

“Egypt Shall Not Escape”

Following the victories over the French and the revolted province of Syria, Turkey effected the complete subjugation of Egypt. Paton, who spent many years in Egypt as an official of the British government, gives a faithful history of the remarkable revolution that took place after the French evacuated Egypt. He says:—

“No sooner were the French expelled from Egypt and the English about to leave, than the Mamelukes began again to raise their heads out of the slough into which they had sunk; and, supposing that they had henceforth only to deal with the decadence and disorganization of the old Turkish government, they somewhat too confidently anticipated a resumption of the power that placed at their feet all the sensual luxuries of this favored land. On the other hand, the great object of the Porte was to retain the power, and prevent it from again falling into the hands of the Mamelukes. Out of this complicated game Mohammed Ali rose the winner of the valley of the Nile.”—“History of the Egyptian Revolution,” Vol. II, page 2.

“After the departure of the French, civil war broke out afresh between the Turks and the surviving Mamelukes, which resulted in 1806 in the elevation to the post of pasha of Mehmet Ali, an Albanian adventurer who had become leader of one of the contending factions. His authority, however, was not firmly established until after a long struggle with the Mamelukes, five hundred of whom he perfidiously massacred in 1811. The dispirited survivors fled to Nubia.”—The American Encyclopedia, article “Egypt.”

“The Mamelukes were effectually exterminated by this atrocious massacre; and Mehmet Ali rapidly consolidated his power within his province, and also extended it beyond the Egyptian territory.”—The Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, article “Mehmet Ali.”