he was drawn into the mystery and fulfilled the words of the prophecy.”
“No, but he was always part of the mystery.”
“What do you mean?”
“Since ancient times the scattered children of Israel would pray to God to have mercy on Jerusalem, to restore the city and bring them home:
Have mercy, Lord, our God . . . on Jerusalem, Your city; and on Zion, the resting place of Your glory . . . Rebuild Jerusalem, the city of holiness, speedily in our days. Bring us up into it and gladden us in its rebuilding and let us eat from its fruit and be satisfied with its goodness and bless You upon it in holiness and purity. 2
“They prayed that prayer, seeking God’s mercy, virtually every day of their exile for two thousand years. And for two thousand years it seemed to them as if God wasn’t hearing their prayers. But the stranger would be the sign that their exile was about to end. God had heard their prayers.”
“But how was he always part of the mystery?”
“The stranger’s real name was not Mark Twain. At his birth he was given the name Samuel. Samuel is a Hebrew name. So he was given a name that came from the land of Israel, the land he would one day visit. And in Hebrew his name contained a message.”
“What?”
“God has heard.”
“Samuel means God has heard?”
“Yes. For God had heard the prayers of His people. He would fulfill His purposes for Jerusalem and the Promised Land. And what were the prayers that His ancient people prayed, that He heard and would soon answer? They were that He would restore the land and that He would bring them back, that He would have mercy, that He would be merciful to them. The stranger’s real last name was not Twain; it was Clemens. Clemens also holds a mystery and a message. Do you know what Clemens means?”
“No, what does Clemens mean?”
“Merciful . . . the quality of showing mercy. The stranger was a sign. Samuel—God had heard their prayers; Clemens—and was about to show them mercy.”
“So Mark Twain never realized the part he played in the mystery.”
“He never did.”
“And the man with the measuring line?”
“Warren came to the land of Israel believing the Bible. But he had no idea what was waiting to be revealed—and waiting from ancient times.”
Chapter 12
THE LOST CITY
I RETURNED TO the Oracle to inquire into the meaning of the next vision.”
“I saw a city become stone and sink into the ground. Then it rose up from the earth and became alive again. What was I seeing?”
“In the Jubilee,” he said, “the connection between the land and its owner is restored. Up until then the original owner has no right concerning the land. He can’t even walk on it without the permission of the one now occupying it. But when the Jubilee comes, the owner can again walk on his land, farm it, build on it, and dwell on it. The barriers are removed. The owner’s connection to the land and the land’s connection to its owner are reaffirmed and restored.
“When the Jewish people lost their homeland and their Holy City in the first century, the Romans tried to erase every connection between the land of Israel and the people of Israel. They remade Jerusalem into a pagan city and called it Aelia Capitolina. And to further eradicate the connection of the Jewish people to their homeland, they renamed the land of Israel Palaestina, meaning the land of the Philistines.”
“Who were the Philistines?”
“Israel’s ancient enemies,” he said. “The erasing was so successful that for most of two thousand years the land of Israel would simply be known as Palestine. The Jews were even banned from setting foot in their Holy City. So the owner was cut off from his land. And the other powers who would follow the Romans in occupying the land and the city would do similarly, obscuring the connection of the land to its people.
“But when the Jubilee comes, the connection between the owner and the land is restored, and that which was lost is regained. I told you of Charles Warren, the man with the measuring line. But remember, he didn’t only measure Jerusalem. In order to map out ancient Jerusalem, he had to dig it up. So he came with more than surveying equipment; he came with shovels and pickaxes.”
“The pickax in my vision.”
“He uncovered the walls of the ancient city, ancient gates, and chambers. He uncovered what was hidden under