Why May 1948? (Part 1)

See the series here

 

Have you wondered why The Lord allowed the re-establishment of Israel in 1948, long before His promised Millennial Reign? He had allowed the land, iteratively, ‘to vomit out’ (i.e., exile) Jacob’s descendants, just as He had instructed Moses to warn, if they fell into persistent sinfulness. They largely did, wanting to be, not special, but ‘just like everybody else’. Thus, out of their lands, they were vomited, iteratively. ¹

 

But in May 1948, He allowed a modern nation of Israel to form, and many Jews to return to Palestine. But spiritually-speaking, just as Jacob’s descendants had left Palestine, in large part, so they returned—as secular as any other people and nation today. They still largely reject The Lord’s original plan for them to be ‘His unique, called-out/separated nation and people.’  First, they rejected His plan for them. Much later, they rejected Him, personally. In doing so, they effectively modeled their dual rejection, for the world, and the world, except a few of us, has continued to follow their model. ²

Let’s review some Biblical patterns and prophecies that reveal the faithfulness and wisdom of The Lord’s 1948 decision. 

 

A Pivotal Pattern

 

Jacob’s descendants only occupied the covenant land a fraction of the time, from when his name was changed to Israel, to early 2026. While in the land, they enjoyed The Lord’s Grace, as He patiently urged them to embrace His strategic plan for them. They didn’t; thus He drove them into exile to live among people they desired to emulate. In His Mercy, He allowed subsequent generations to return to the land, to be tested. But subsequent generations responded just like their ancestors, and were subsequently ‘vomited out’. The Bible reveals The Lord isn’t finished with this well-worn pattern! Each return from exile served clear purposes across His long arc of history--following a progressively preparatory pattern toward prophetic perfection.

 

1. Egyptian and Wilderness Exiles (~470 years)

 

For some strange reason, we might not classify the 430 years Jacob’s descendants spent in Egypt as ‘an exile’ from the promised land’. Rather, we might regard it as The Lord saving them from a regional famine in Canaan. Spiritually, however, the presence of that broad famine signifies The Lord’s possible judgment on the increasingly gross sinfulness of all Canaanites, including Jacob’s family, as the overarching reason for their migration. Recall, the latter chapters of The Book of Genesis documents how Jacob’s family had vigorously contributed to Canaan’s sin load!

 

The pattern of a pivotal link between persistent sinfulness and famine would not be strategically revealed until:

 

    •  The Lord instructed Moses to write about it in Deuteronomy 28:48 and 32:24, and,

    •  He much later gave to Ezekiel a distilled, fuller version in Ezekiel 14:12-23, of what I call 

       Heaven’s 4 judgment henchmen against persistent sinfulness—the first of which is famine! 

 

Ponder this: Most people across the ancient world may not have known what the Hebrews had learned from Moses about the link between persistent sinfulness, and famines, wars, wild beast attacks and pestilences. Jacob’s kinfolk had the advantage of this insight, but they dismissed it in their push to be like other sinful people. Moreover, since then, across the world today, WE ALL have had the benefit of learning the same insight! VOILA!… We ‘followed, and CONTINUE to follow what Jacob’s seed had long ago modeled’!

 

The Exodus: The strategic objectives of the exodus were:

 

    •  To reveal The Lord’s plan for Jacob’s descendants to form a nation, in covenant with Him,

    •  To prompt them to organize and ready a mighty army to begin invading and conquering land across Canaan, with His abiding support, and

    •  To initiate the time He would allow them to learn, and demonstrate fidelity to His covenant. 

 

The timing of the exodus was pre-determined to correlate, in some way, with the end of about 4 decades of additional Grace The Lord had much earlier told Abram He would extend to Amorites in Canaan. (Genesis 15:16) That meant Jacob’s fast-growing family would need to be away from the land for about 400 years, pending the expiration of that ‘Mercy clock’. It is unclear whether The Lord’s command at Sinai, to form an army, signaled that His Grace to the Amorites had already expired, or would expire within or after the 40 years Jacob’s descendants wandered in the wilderness.³

 

2. The Assyrian-then-the World Exile (2,670 years)

About 390 years after ancient Israel had been split into 2 nations (Israel--10 northern tribes; and Judah--2 southern tribes), The Lord severely judged the northern nation for their persistent, gross sinfulness. He dispatched Assyria to attack it repeatedly, and finally, to conquer and enslave its people. For millennia, they became ‘the 10 lost tribes of Israel’, scattered across the world. This was the longest of all the exiles experienced by Jacob’s descendants. What might that spiritually signify to you?

 

3. The Babylonian Exile (~70 years)

 

Similarly, about 136 years after Assyria conquered Israel, The Lord dispatched Babylon to attack and eventually conquer Judah and Jerusalem, its capital, to enslave many Jews, and to destroy the Temple. Though many Babylonian captives were a righteous remnant, The Lord declared the sins of Judeans were much worse than those of the Israelites, whom He had exiled to Assyria! This notwithstanding, after a pre-determined, 70-year exile, He had predicted many would return to Judah, with their Babylon-born descendants. Most of the latter books of The Old Testament chronicle relevant aspects of their captivity in Babylon, their release by Persia, and their return to Judah over several decades. The unique manner, and timing of their permission to return to Judah was spiritually pivotal in that it:

 

    •  Correlated with The Lord’s promised judgment on Babylon for its persistent sinfulness  

       (Persia conquered Babylon);

    •  Fulfilled a ~150-year old prophecy that pre-named the king who would facilitate their release from captivity (Cyrus, first king of Persia);

    • Allowed ample time for every precursor to the birth of Christ to be fulfilled—rekindling Jewish lifestyles and customs in Palestine, rebuilding Jerusalem and the 2nd temple, and re-establishing religious functions, etc..;

    •  Allowed for new generations to return to gage their fidelity to The Lord’s plan for Judah; and

    •  Facilitated every prophecy concerning The Lord’s birth as a man, His ministry and eventual self-sacrifice for the sins of mankind—a sacrifice that still today, can be imputed as having been made for us, personally. 

 

4. The AD 70 Exile (~1,878 years)

 

It seems safe to conclude the AD 70 Roman invasion of Judah, that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, fits The Lord’s pivotal pattern of allowing the land to ‘vomit’ out Jacob’s descendants after His long-term Grace to them had expired, without any substantive repentance for their persistent sinfulness. Their GREATEST sin was likely their failure, about 7 decades earlier, to perceive, believe and receive Him as their long-promised Messiah. They were driven out of Jerusalem and Judah to join the massive, global, Jewish diaspora. Much later in their exile, some of Jacob’s descendants returned to buy parcels of land in Palestine. In 1948, The Lord initiated the first stage of His ancient promises to regather Jacob’s descendants to the covenant land. ⁴

 

So what might be His strategic purposes 

for their last return to Palestine??

 

See Part 2

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¹ Note how The Lord used a similar ‘vomit out’ metaphor in His harsh letter to the church at Laodicea, when many members had become lukewarm in their Christian faith and passion? The Lord well knows lukewarmness is the first step that leads to backsliding, then to full-blown apostasy. See: Revelation 3:13-22, and also Laodicean Lackadaisicalness (Series).

² See: Israel, a Model (Series)). Ponder other ways in which Israel has effectively modeled behaviors that the whole world later mimicked.

³ Their disobedience was no surprise to The Sovereign Lord. Thus, it’s not conclusive that their disobedience triggered the need for an extra 40 years of Grace to the Canaanites, while the Hebrews completed their wilderness wanderings.

⁴ See: Hasty Jewish Migrations (Series)