The Oracle Page 6

  “So how did it happen?”

  “Through the star of Bethlehem,” he said. “It all began in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem with a conflict between the Greek Orthodox and Latin clergies that oversaw the sanctuary. It involved a metal star that had mysteriously disappeared. The Russian government sided with the Orthodox clergy, while the Ottoman Empire, along with France, Britain, and Sardinia, sided with the Latin clergy. The conflict would lead to the Crimean War. The war would prove a turning point for the Ottoman Empire. In the course of the conflict, the empire would enter into massive loans with its European creditors, the first of several that would lead to financial disaster, bankruptcy. Two years after the end of the Crimean War, the sultan enacted the Ottoman Land Code. All land now had to be registered.”

  “Why?”

  “So it could be taxed,” he replied. “So he could raise money. It would open the door for the large-scale buying and selling of Ottoman land . . . including the Holy Land. But according to Ottoman law, no land could be sold to foreigners, those outside the empire.”

  “But then how could it have any effect on the mystery?” I asked. “If the Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, they would be considered foreigners and wouldn’t be allowed to purchase land.”

  “But the mystery,” said the Oracle, “ordains that the land must be transferred back to its original owner. So it must come about one way or another. The registration of the land didn’t solve the empire’s financial problems. And the situation was critical enough to cause the government to do something unprecedented. Nine years after the first land code, the empire enacted a new law, a new Ottoman Land Code—the land could now be purchased by foreigners.”

  “Then the land could now be purchased by the children of Israel, by the Jewish people.”

  “Exactly,” said the Oracle. “As in the Jubilee, those who occupy the land must release it . . . they must relinquish it. The land must return to its original owner. And so it would all happen as it was prophesied. The effect of the law would be almost unnoticeable at first. But in time it would change the history of the Middle East and the modern world. Jewish people would begin purchasing their ancient land, at times through third parties and unknown to the Ottoman authorities. When the authorities realized what was happening, they tried to stop it. They placed a ban on Jews buying land in Palestine. But the prophecy could not be stopped. The release of the land would continue nonetheless and would prepare the way for the return of the exiles.”

  “And it only happened because of the Ottoman Land Code. And the Ottoman Land Code only happened because of the Ottoman debt. And the Ottoman debt only happened because of the European loans. And the European loans only happened because of the Crimean War. And the Crimean War only happened because of the missing star!”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “all events are part of the mystery. The mystery doesn’t cause the events but causes all things to work together for the appointed purposes.”

  “What about my vision? What did the man and the woman in the vineyard have to do with what you just told me? I don’t see it.”

  “Because you’re only seeing it as a man and a woman. But what you saw was more than that. They were symbols. The man stood for the people of Israel; the woman, the land of Israel.”

  “The woman was chained and in a cage . . . ”

  “As the land of Israel was for ages held captive by its invaders. And as the woman was cast down, wounded, and crippled, so was the land abused by those who occupied it, crippled, parched, and withered . . . a land of sorrow and despair. And as the man came to the woman, so the people of Israel began coming to the land. But they found it parched and barren. As the man tried to revive the woman, so they tried to revive the land. But it would be slow at first to respond. He gave her water. So they brought water to the land. Step by step and slowly it began to bear. The deserts would blossom. The long-withered land would again become beautiful.”

  “What about the canopy?”

  “The huppah,” he said. “It’s the Hebrew wedding canopy under which the bride and groom are married. So it was written,

  No more shall your land be called Desolate. . . . Your land shall be called Married. 2

  “Before Israel’s first exile in Babylon, God gave a word to the prophet Jeremiah foretelling the return of the exiles to the land. It would foretell as well what would take place in the return of modern times:

  ‘Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them . . . in the cities of Judah . . . I will cause their captives to return,’ says the LORD.” 3

  “Was the timing of the land’s release significant?”

  “I would think so,” he replied.

  “When did the release begin?”

  “In 1867.”

  “1867! Of all the years in history . . . the land is released in the same year! The year of the stranger’s visit . . . the man with the measuring line . . . the unearthing of biblical Jerusalem! Everything happened in that same year?”

  “Remember,” said the Oracle, “when is it that you measure out a land?”

  “When you want to build on it . . . or when the land is to be transferred.”

  “So the land must be transferred. And what must happen after the stranger’s journey?”

  “The Jewish people must come back from their exile to the land.”

  “So then the land must be made ready for their return. So in accordance with ancient ordinance, the Ottoman Empire begins to release the land; the one occupying the land must release it. The stranger’s journey began on June 8, 1867. Do you know when the release began? On June 10, 1867. So of all the years and days of human history, the relinquishing of the land begins two days after the stranger’s journey begins.”

  “Did the Oracle ever tell you if there was a reason why everything was happening in the same year, in 1867?”

  “He did. And the key was already there in the visions.”

  “Which one?”

  “The man in the white turban.”

  Chapter 14

  THE SEVENTH JUBILEE

  I RETURNED TO the Oracle the next morning. It was a windy morning, as was the night before. And on the mountaintop the gusts were even stronger. The Oracle’s robe fluttered against the rock on which he sat.”

  “The man in the white turban with the sword and the red flag . . . what did he represent?”

  “You wanted to know why everything happened to happen at the same time.”

  “Yes, and why at that particular same time,” I replied.

  “The timing is determined by the mystery.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “In the Jubilee the land must be released at the set time. And who is it that must relinquish it?”

  “The one who isn’t the original owner but who occupies it.”

  “And what if the land has changed hands more than once after the original owner has lost it? Who must then relinquish it at the set time?”

  “The last one who occupies it.”

  “That’s correct,” he replied. “The Jubilee undoes the last transaction, but in doing so, it undoes all of them. By restoring the land to its original owner, the Jubilee undoes all the transactions of all those who have occupied it. So who was it that occupied the Holy Land at the time when all these things took place, the stranger’s return, the man with the measuring line, the lost city?”

  “The Ottoman Empire.”

  “And it would be in the days of that empire that the return of the land to its original owners would begin. They would be the last occupiers of the land before the return. So the Jubilee would undo the last transference of the land, its transference to the Ottoman Empire. How did the Ottomans come into possession of the land in the first place?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “In AD 70 the armies of Rome destroyed Jerusalem, drove the Jewish people into the nations, and occupied the land. Then, when the empire divided in two, the Byzantines occupied the land. Then, i
n the seventh century, the armies of the Muslim caliph Umar occupied the land. From then on the land, with the brief exception of the Crusader kingdom, would be occupied by various Muslim rulers and warring factions . . . up until the occupation of the Ottomans.”

  “So what did I see in my vision?”

  “The last acquisition,” said the Oracle, “the last taking of the land by the last occupiers before the time of the restoration.”

  “And who was the man in the red cloak?”

  “That would be Selim.”

  “Selim?”

  “Selim I, Selim the Grim, an Ottoman prince who defeated his father and brothers to ascend the throne as sultan. Soon after his accession he challenged the Persian shah Ismail in battle and defeated him. Next he turned his armies against the Mamluk Sultanate, an Islamic empire centered in Cairo, Egypt, and, at the Battle of Raydaniyah, defeated it. Selim now became the master of all the lands that had been ruled by the Mamluks. One of those lands was Israel, and one of those cities was Jerusalem.”

  “So the Mamluks were the last occupiers before the Ottomans.”

  “Yes.”

  “So what I saw in my vision . . . ”

  “Was the Ottoman conquest of the land under Selim I,” said the Oracle, “the last transference.”

  “So when did the Ottomans come into possession of the land?”

  “Not long after the days of Columbus. They would occupy it through the Reformation, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and into the twentieth century.”

  At that he paused and looked into the distance before speaking again, before asking me a question.

  “So according to the ordinance, when does the Jubilee take place?”

  “In the fiftieth year,” I replied. “But there would have been several Jubilees from that time to modern times.”

  He gave no response . . . but remained silent as if waiting for my next question.

  “The Battle of Raydaniyah . . . what year was it?” I asked.

  “1517,” said the Oracle.

  “The mystery!” I exclaimed.

  “What is the mystery?” he asked.

  “1517 . . . the last transference of the land. If the Jubilee is every fifty years, then it will lead you to a specific year.”

  “And what year is that?”

  “1867! The year everything happened!”

  He let me ponder that for a few moments before speaking again.

  “There is a number given in the Scriptures,” he said, “to signify completion, ending, the ending of an interval of time, a period, an age—the number seven. The last transference of the land began in 1517. Then, in 1867, the final transference, the releasing of the land back to the children of Israel, was set in motion. So how many years was it from the beginning of the Ottoman conquest, from the last transference of the land, until the year 1867?”

  “Three hundred fifty years.”

  “So what was the year 1867?”

  “The seventh Jubilee.”

  “The seventh Jubilee,” he repeated, “the year of completion, the year of the beginning of the end. And that’s why after two thousand years everything began in that particular year. That’s why the stranger had to undertake his journey in that particular year. That’s why the land had to be measured out in that particular year. That’s why the ancient city lying in the dust for two thousand years had to be found in that particular year. And that’s why the land had to be released at that exact time. It all had to happen in 1867 because 1867 was the year of Jubilee, the year of measuring, of transferring, of uncovering, and of relinquishing and release. It all happened in the year of the Jubilee, and in the seventh Jubilee, the Jubilee of ending.”

  “And nobody planned it. No one was aware of the timing.”

  “Again,” said the Oracle, “the mystery is beyond anyone’s planning. Mark Twain had no idea that his dark witness of the Holy Land would be the fulfillment of ancient prophecy. The Ottoman sultan had no idea that his attempt to relieve his debt would be critical in bringing about the return of the Jewish people to the land. None of them, not even Charles Warren, who would later catch a glimpse of the larger picture, could fathom the ancient mystery that would cause their lives and actions to be joined to the ancient purposes appointed for that exact moment in time. And it wasn’t just them. It was the course of kingdoms and the repercussions of empires. That too was required for these things to take place as and when they did. It was the entire world that was required . . . and that would be required.”

  “Would be . . . as in what was still to come?”

  “Yes. The seventh Jubilee would mark the end of one era and the beginning of another, the first Jubilee of restoration, the Jubilee of seeds, of sowing, of planting, and of the setting in motion of ancient purposes. The seeds of the seventh Jubilee would begin germinating and would come to their fruition in their appointed times. Some would be revealed sooner, and some later. But in time the entire world would see it.”

  Chapter 15

  FRUITION

  THAT WOULD BE the last of the mysteries of the first door, the last of the first stream of visions. It was then that the Oracle began speaking as if to seal up what had been revealed up to that point and to tell me more . . . what would happen next.”

  “The Jubilee,” said the Oracle, “represents the setting in motion of God’s purposes. It sets the stage. It inaugurates the course. It sets in motion the train of events that must take place in the coming period.”

  “The coming period . . . ”

  “The time until the next Jubilee.”

  “So then what took place in the Jubilee of 1867 would set in motion a train of events.”

  “A train of prophetic purposes that, with the passage of time, would become increasingly manifest . . . the fruition of the seeds.”

  “How so?”

  “Let’s start with the stranger. The ancient prophecy foretold the very words he would speak. He had to bear witness. So Mark Twain’s destiny was to bear witness through his words. And so he did. And the words of his witness had to go forth to the world. And so they did. While still journeying, he would send his reports of the land back home, where they would appear in newspapers throughout America. But the witness of the stranger would go beyond that. Shortly after he returned from his journey, he was approached by a publisher to convert the reports of his journey into a book. The book would be released in 1869. It would be called The Innocents Abroad. The book was the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy.”

  “How was it received?”

  “It would become a best seller. And because of it, the witness of the stranger would go forth not only to the nation and to the world and to his generation but to the generations that would follow. It would continue to bear witness long after his death. And of all the books he would go on to write, it was The Innocents Abroad that would, in his lifetime, outsell the rest. It was this book that would establish him as an author and catapult him to international fame. So his career as an author would begin and always be interwoven with an ancient mystery, the fulfillment of a prophecy given by Moses.”

  “You said that he is considered the father of American literature. So then could it be said that American literature came into existence because of the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy?”

  “It could be said.”

  “What about the man with the measuring line, Charles Warren?”

  “His life would also follow the course set forth by the ancient mystery. He would be called the pioneer of Jerusalem archaeology. He would lay the foundation for the uncovering of ancient Jerusalem. And with each uncovering, the connection between the Jewish people and the land would be revived, restored, and renewed.

  “His measuring and mapping out of Jerusalem would prove so successful that it would open the door for a greater mission. The next decade would thus see the mapping out of the entire land. The survey would cover the area from Dan to Beersheba, the same borders given in the Bible to identify the l
and of Israel. And as they measured and mapped out the land, they discovered long-lost places, sites, and cities of Bible times. And with every discovery the connection between the Jewish people and the land was further restored and strengthened. All this would in turn be part of the building of momentum for a greater restoration that would take place in the following century.

  “When you told me your vision of the angel with the measuring line, I told you that the prophet Zechariah saw the same thing and that in his vision the angel wasn’t there just to measure Jerusalem but to give a prophetic word. The word would concern the restoration of Jerusalem, a call to the exiles of Israel to return to the land and to the blessings that would await them there. So the man with the measuring line is the one who issues a prophetic call.”

  “But Charles Warren was an engineer, not a prophet.”

  “But he was also the man with the measuring line, and the man with the measuring line is the one who issues a prophetic call.”

  “So did it happen?”

  “After measuring Jerusalem and uncovering its ancient pathways, Warren returned to England. There he would be led to write down a vision concerning the land and its future. It was not only a vision but a specific plan on how the vision could come to fruition. It was called Land of Promise. Keep in mind the state of the land when Warren penned his words. It was the time of the stranger and the barren, grassless desolation. That makes what he wrote all the more prophetic and stunning.”