A Grand Outlook

19

matter of "here a little, there a little"; and that is just what God inspired His prophet, Ezekiel, to say it would be. That prophet, being himself one of the captives in a foreign land, would be able to appreciate the glorious messages he had to convey to his fellow-captives.

A Grand Outlook.

Look at chapter xxxvi. In verse I we have this soul-inspiring command:

Thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord."

In verses 10 and 11 :—

"I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings : and ye shall know that I am the Lord."

In verse 24:

"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land."

And in verse 35

"And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited."

Dry Bones.

In the following chapter (xxxvii.) we have the evidence that it would be a gradual process. Ezekiel is there given a word picture in vision as to how it would be all brought about. The long-scattered Jews are there represented as so many " dry bones", in graves in a valley in a foreign country. In verse II he is distinctly informed

"These bones are the whole house of Israel."

And they are represented as lamenting thus:

'Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost : we are cut off for our parts "-or, as it is better rendered in the Revised Version-" we are clean cut off."

The prophet was all intent, as well he might be in view of such an exciting picture. He watched the "dry bones ", and what did he see? He saw just what he had been previously told to prophecy. In verses 4-6 :—

Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: and ye shall know that I am the Lord; and I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord."

Ezekiel saw it all. He saw the sinews come upon the "dry bones," and "the flesh" and

Sure Word of Prophecy

21

"the skin"; and then he saw "the breath enter the resurrected bodies, with the result, to use the words of Scripture, verse 10:

They lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."

The meaning of it all was told to Ezekiel in language found in verse 12 :—

"Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel."

It is not every Jew who is prepared to accept such an assurance from the prophets of Israel. For instance, the present Lord Chief Justice (Lord Reading) told Mr. Stephen Graham he did not think it likely that the Children of Israel would return to Palestine; but his interviewer, who had travelled far and wide among the Jews, replied, "Nevertheless, the air just now is full of prophecy about the return of the Jews. The Jews themselves are whispering much about the fulfilment of the old prophecies, and though it is not likely that the Rothschilds and the great financiers will go to Jerusalem, I believe there may be something in the possibility of re-establishment of the Jews in Palestine as a nation."

Sure Word of Prophecy.

Has not God been as good as His word? Has He not been at work among the "dry bones" of Israel? Have not the Jews themselves lamented their dry-bone condition for over 1,700 years? It

is not many years since that their representative organ, The Jewish Chronicle, in a leading article, printed this lament :

"We are passing through critical times. We want a first-class brain to guide us; and a first-class personality to shake the dry bones of Judaism."

When Sir Moses Montefiore visited the Holy Land, was not Israel complaining in the words of the prophet Ezekiel :

"Our hope is lost; we are clean cut off"?

That is the sum and substance of what is contained in the diary of his visit kept by Sir Moses Montefiore, and which we have had the pleasure of reading. He grieved at having to admit that in the whole land only 500 Jews and Jewesses could be found; and they-oh, "Tell it not in Gath! Publish it not in Ashkelon!" Drop the curtain over such a sorry picture, and let us look at things Jewish since then. Truly, the "dry bones" are being transformed into "an exceeding great army' of ardent nationalists, as full of hope as the "dry bones" were of despair. Just think of these facts, which can be verified at any good library :

"

In 1827.-Not more than 500 Jews in the whole of Palestine.

In 1856.-The Hadrian Edict annulled, and the Jews invited to return.

In 1875.-" The Jewish Colonization Fund" founded.