Thursday, February 19, 2015

Many Fishers and Many Hunters

In France: the Telegraph declares “the exodus has begun”.

In Germany, according to the BBC, “anti-Semitism is acceptable again”. They tell the story of a rabbi who no longer wears his skullcap in certain parts of Berlin after being assaulted last year. 

And The Tower says Denmark — all of Scandinavia, really — has become “home to a scary, new form of anti-Semitism”.

Cut and Run

We’ve seen overt attacks on Jews from Muslims in Europe in the last few weeks. But these articles among others suggest that the average European, while not overtly hostile, is increasingly unsympathetic toward Jewish fears about security and disdainful of Jewish customs and practices.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has the solution for European Jews: move to Israel. A Jewish man killed in an attack outside a synagogue in Copenhagen is the most recent reason. Netanyahu says:
“Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe.”

Anticipated Departure?

While relocating is not the first choice of many Jews in Europe, if, as seems increasingly likely, Mr. Netanyahu’s invitation eventually meets with a favourable response, the impending mega-emigration will eclipse both Israel’s departure from Egypt and its return from Babylonian exile in the days of Cyrus, king of Persia. There are currently around 1.5 million Jews in Europe, most of them in France and the UK. Add in a few of the 6 million+ Jews living in the U.S. and Canada and you can see why this quickly becomes a big deal.

This historic exodus (which is in reality only the long-delayed final act of WWII) may have been anticipated by the Spirit of God as far back as the days of Jeremiah:
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.”
I wonder if this particular prophecy anticipates not just the Jewish return to Israel between 539 BC and 512 BC under Nehemiah, Ezra, Joshua and Zerubbabel but this ongoing exodus of Jews from Europe. It doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility, does it? After all, this is an exodus not just from the “north country” but from “all the countries where [the Lord] had driven them”.

Hunting and Fishing

Further, this prophesied relocation of Jews is not merely the natural outworking of a royal decree, as in the case of Cyrus, but results from intense anti-Semitic furor behind which lies the sovereign purpose of God himself:
“Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.”
The first of many “fishers” and “hunters” to come may already be on the scene, firing automatic weapons at Jewish security guards. If Jeremiah’s prophecy really has its ultimate fulfillment in the next few years of European history, things are not going to get any easier for those Jews disinclined to respond to Mr. Netanyahu’s call.

1 comment :

  1. Good point. I would say to Christians, "Resolve now what you will do."

    When the Nazis began hunting down, arresting and killing Jews before, too many people were caught unaware, having never had to take a stand on the issue before; and to their lasting shame, they failed to step up and challenge the evil or to lend aid to the persecuted. Thank God, some few did; but too few, and sometimes too late.

    If that's the way the wind sits today, and if the Time of Jacob's Trouble must come, then let us not allow history to repeat. Let not the day find us sleeping, but let us be alert and watchful for the chance to side with the Lord, and with the People who are called by His Name. Decide now.

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