when the empire divided in two, the Byzantines occupied the land. Then, in 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