THE “RETURN OF THE JEWS.”
By A. Carter
The call of Abraham occurred in 1922 B. C., and two hundred and fifteen years later Jacob went down to Egypt with his family, a little company of sixty-six souls. It was two hundred and fifteen years afterward that his descendants, numbering about three millions, came out of Egypt, having endured a century of slavery. Had they then shown a childlike trust in God, which the series of miracles attending their deliverance should have developed, they might have entered the promised land in about two-weeks’ time (Deut. 1:2); but through unbelief they failed to enter. Hence, after forty-years’ wandering in the deserts of Arabia, their children were at last permitted to enter the land of Canaan. Notwithstanding the wonderful things God had done for them, and their bitter experience in the wilderness, they continued only a few years as a happy and righteous nation in Canaan. About thirty-six years from the time they crossed the Jordan, they entered upon the first period of captivity as a punishment for their wickedness. The following four hundred and fifty years was marked by a succession of relapses into abominable idolatry and grossest sin, followed by severe punishment through being taken captive by their enemies. During those centuries of contact with surrounding heathen nations they might have seen in those nations the terrible consequences of living without the favor of God. But those depraved nations, with their cruel and despotic rulers, did not serve as an object lesson and warning to the Israelites; for discontent with their own divine Ruler showed itself in a demand for an earthly king, that they might be like the nations around them. Accordingly the Lord let them have the desire of their heart, and three times permitted the nation to have a king, each one ruling for a period of forty years. Yet even this degree of liberty did not awaken a feeling of gratitude to God for His forbearance. Instead of peace, unity, and righteousness as the result of the past one hundred and twenty years, no sooner did King Solomon pass away than the people’s passion and rebellion burst forth again, causing the rupture of the kingdom. During the three hundred and seventy years which followed, the national life of Judah and Israel is stained with a long record of sin and trouble, which was intensified by the disgraceful lives of most of their kings, numbering thirty-nine in all. The mercy and long-suffering of God were manifested in raising up prophets, and speaking through them solemn words of warning and entreaty to each generation. Yet they did not mend their ways, and the divine judgment again fell, in the form of the Babylonian captivity. This was the heaviest blow which had descended on the nation since they left Egyptian slavery, nearly nine hundred years before. As the seventy-years’ captivity was drawing to a close, the prophet Daniel was honored by a visit from the angel Gabriel, who, in answer to prayer, was sent to instruct the prophet concerning God’s plans for His chosen people. This revelation of the divine purpose is found in Dan. 9:24–27. The seventy weeks of years, or four hundred and ninety years, cover the last and most important probationary period in the history of the Jews, as a nation. They had sinned grievously for many centuries, but now they were to be gathered from among the nations whither they had been scattered, and be organized into a united nation once more, to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, whose advent had been long foretold. The twelve tribes had been carried away captive by the Babylonians, who ruled the world at that time, and now the succeeding universal kingdom of Medo-Persia was to be instrumental in restoring them to their former position in their own beloved land. When Moses was commissioned to lead his countrymen out of Egypt, how thoroughly was the work done by the Lord! Every tribe was delivered, and the immediate needs of that great multitude were supplied by their enemies, so that they went away furnished with gold and silver and other valuables. Now another great deliverance is at hand, and the work must be as thorough as on the former occasion. All the people must be called, and hence the king of Persia sends a written order “throughout all his kingdom.” Ezra 1:1. If any of the Jews were too poor to bear the expense of the long journey to Jerusalem, the king’s command is, “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.” Ezra 1:4. The result of this decree was that “all Israel dwelt in their cities.” At the dedication of the temple a sin offering of twelve he goats was offered for “all Israel, . . . according to the number of the tribes of Israel” (Ezra 6:17), and they “killed the passover for all the children of the captivity.” Ezra 6:20. Thus we see how God used human instruments to gather His people once more as a united nation,—there were no so-called “lost tribes,”—and they thus continued for four hundred and ninety years, which brings us down to the year A. D. 34. The long-looked-for Messiah had come, and had been rejected. He came unto His own, and they received Him not. The knowledge that this highly favored and much loved nation had now missed its last opportunity, and His realization of its sad doom, moved the Son of God to tears. Luke 13:34, 35. Jesus told them, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” But that solemn warning was unheeded, and “the little while” ended in three and one-half years from the date of Christ’s crucifixion. The apostles, having given to the Jews the word of God concerning Christ, said, “Seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13:46. In a few brief years—A. D. 70—Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the Jewish nation as a nation has since then ceased to exist. They have experienced in all its bitterness and pain the time of darkness, of which they had been faithfully warned by their best Friend. How impressive are the words found in Jer. 19:11: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again.” Let us now notice some very significant facts in connection with this subject: It is well known by all Bible students that seven is regarded as the sacred number, and is used a great376many times in the Scriptures to indicate a perfect work, or completeness. I have therefore been much impressed by discovering the following points:— Seven times Israel was on probation after entering the promised land, and while the Lord was their king. During that time their divine Ruler conquered seven hostile nations. Seven times the Israelites went into captivity during that period. The Babylonish captivity was for seventy years; the restoration of Jerusalem occupied seven weeks of years, or forty-nine years; and the final period of probation, including the forty-nine years, covered a period of seventy weeks of years, or four hundred and ninety years. The downfall of the nation occurred in A. D. 70. When Peter asked his Master how often he should forgive his brother who sinned against him, the answer was, “Until seventy times seven,” this being just what the Lord had himself done during the four hundred and ninety years of their history; for seventy times seven had the day of atonement come round, when individual and national sins for the past year were confessed and pardoned. The calm and unprejudiced mind must, we think, be impressed with these things, and must see that God’s work with the Jewish nation is complete. From the call of Abraham to the destruction of Jerusalem is over two thousand years. The patience and long-suffering of God have indeed been great. Unbelief kept these people out of the land of Canaan for forty years, and their guilt in spurning and killing the Saviour led to their lasting expulsion from their own land. Is it possible for them to re-enter and enjoy even greater earthly blessings in these last days?—No; especially as they still reject Him. There is no promise of such a thing in the word of God, and it would be inconsistent with the Lord’s former actions toward them to grant such a privilege now in the face of their hardened unbelief, which, be it noticed, has continued for nearly two thousand years since the advent of Christ. By unbelief they were broken off, and only by true faith can they return. [To the foregoing it may be added that the threatening pronounced upon the Jews in Leviticus 26, that they should be punished “seven times” more for their sins, does not bring to view another prophetic period of two-thousand-five-hundred-and-twenty-years’ punishment, as many imagine, which is to be fulfilled in their history; for the expression “seven times more” is an adverb, and denotes only the degree of punishment, not the time, which God would bring upon them if they persisted in their sins; as if God had said, which He virtually did say, I will bring upon you a sevenfold severer degree of punishment if you continue to walk contrary to me, which they certainly continued to do. But the expression, while it involves no definite prophetic period, must certainly denote the continual and unrelaxed condition of God’s disfavor toward that people, as a people. No man can break through it to find a period of restoration and arbitrary future blessing for the Jews, aside from, or independent of, the regular provisions of the gospel, as set forth in the New Testament. The New Testament record is that Jews and Gentiles alike are subject to the dealings of God, on the same conditions. There is in Christ “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female.” That is, none of these distinctions are to be taken into account in reference to judgments or blessings to come upon the people. Those who accept Christ, regardless of nationality or previous condition of servitude, will be owned by Him. And all who reject Him, whether Jews or Gentiles, will be rejected by Him. Why should the Jew be brought back to repeat his offense?—Ed.]