Jerusalem Trodden Down Of The Gentiles

The Arab Mayor of Jerusalem, a Mohammedan, wrote a description of Palestine's capital, in a financial paper on the 27th February last. In connection with its history, he stated:

"And as proof of its destruction, there is the fact that none of the stones of which the walls of the city were built are traceable, in spite of the fact that these walls were built of strong material and on deep foundations."

How striking to read, in such a journal, such words from a follower of the False Prophet ! Why striking? Because just 1900 years before, in that same city, the rejected Messiah had said to His few friends

"Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." (Recorded thrice, by Matthew, Mark and Luke.)

Christ was indeed particularly referring to the Temple, but many writers testify that its destruction was as complete as that of the walls. Not only does Josephus describe how the foundations of the Temple were upturned in the search for hidden treasures, but the Jewish Talmud itself says that Terentius Rufus, whom Titus left in command after the Roman victory, tore up the foundations with a ploughshare. Eusebius later visited the ruins and told how "Jerusalem was ploughed up by the Romans." (But we understand that the o4ginal foundation laid by Solomon. remains intact deep down below the surface.-H.E.).

The prophet Micah (3. 12) had been very specific when he said, "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field." Those words "For your sake " cannot fail to recall to us the shout of the Jewish mob: "His blood be on us and on our children." That generation had not passed away 'before the vengeance fell. Of that time the Lord had also said (Luke 21. 24):

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led captive into all the nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

Centuries before, Moses had spoken of the distress which would follow their disobedience (Deuteronomy 28. 64; read to end of chapter)-"Ye shall be plucked from off the land ... the Lord shall scatter thee among all peoples ... and among these nations shalt thou find no ease and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot

Only last month (April) the secular press gave confirmation of the fulfilment of these words when the Manchester Guardian referred to the Jews in Germany as "the unhappy members of a race which from its earliest days was ground between the powers of the north and the south, of the east and of the west, was dispersed over the face of the earth, and has never, by Pagan or by Christian (the reference is, of course, to those powers which are nominally Christian), been allowed wholly to rest."

But are the "Times of the Gentiles" about to end? These present persecutions have united the Jews, world-wide, as never before; and more earnestly than ever are they longing to return to Palestine. They are pressing the British holders of the mandated country to allow them more liberal immigration.

Although for some years, in common with the widespread opposition to orthodoxy, the younger Jews have spurned the religion of their fathers, the new troubles are turning many back to read their Scriptures afresh. There they will find, after the above-mentioned prophecy in Deuteronomy, these further words in chapter 30.- "When all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, ... and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God and shalt obey His voice ... that the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee and will return and gather thee from all the peoples."

While they are sensitive because of the present troubles, may many be shown that the Jesus whom they rejected is indeed the Messiah-the Christ, and, accepting His salvation, obtain that new heart which will delight in obedience to God.

For evaporation, read, saturation; page 75, April.

unknown | May 1933
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