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,