victory spread across the world. It was a watershed moment. It was Britain’s first major victory in the Middle East and, some would say, of the war itself. It would also be the breakthrough event that would lead to the restoration of the Jewish people to the land.”
“It had to be,” I said. “In the year of Jubilee the land has to be restored to its original owner, and it was the British Empire that issued the declaration of restoration. So the British Empire had to be given the land so it could be given back to the Jewish people.”
“Yes. And just as Beersheba was intrinsic to Israel’s beginning, so it would again be intrinsic to the beginning of Israel’s restoration. As it was the first place in the land to be claimed for Abraham and his children, the first to be taken away by others, and the first to be restored . . . so after two thousand years of exile Beersheba would also be the first place to be reclaimed and returned to Abraham’s children. And it all took place in the year of Jubilee, when what is lost must be restored to the original owner. But now the mystery operates on a global scale.”
“When exactly was Beersheba regained?” I asked.
“On October 31, 1917.”
“Does that date have any significance?”
“October 31, 1917, was the same day that the British War Cabinet approved the Balfour Declaration. So after two thousand years the promise of the land and the beginning of its transference took place on the exact same day. As for the Sabbath that sealed the week Beersheba was regained, there was an appointed Scripture.”
“What was it?”
“It was this:
Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.” 2
“On that very week! That very Scripture!”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “the very Scripture that marks the very first time the name Beersheba appears in the Bible or anywhere . . . the account of Abraham’s regaining of Beersheba.”
“So the word appointed to seal the week of the regaining of Beersheba was the Scripture that spoke of the regaining of Beersheba.”
“And the words were proclaimed throughout the world. For in the year of Jubilee the right of the original owner to his ancestor’s land must be reaffirmed. So Beersheba constituted the first legal title given to the Jewish people concerning their right to the land.”
“And it just happened to happen to be appointed for that week.”
“Appointed long before anyone involved with those events was born . . . the fingerprints of God.”
“Amazing.”
“In the Jubilee the ancestral land must be relinquished by the one occupying it. And so it all begins in that year with the relinquishing of Abraham’s city, Beersheba. The victory would lead to the ultimate relinquishing of the ultimate ancestral possession—Jerusalem. And so in the year of Jubilee, with only twenty-two days left in that year, would come the liberation of the Holy City, Jerusalem. The city would be given to the empire that had just issued the declaration decreeing the return of the land to its people. Two days later General Allenby would enter its gates, ascend a platform, and declare a new beginning for the city and the land.”
“As the ram in my vision entered the gates and ascended the platform.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “and so the little boy who had read of the heroes of the Promised Land had now become one of them. And the Bible student who never wanted a career as a soldier was now the vessel through which the ancient prophecies would be brought to their fulfillment.”
“It was not only Jerusalem’s liberation that fulfilled the ancient prophecies but its preservation.”
“You mean that the city was preserved in the midst of war?”
“Yes.”
“And was that part of a mystery?”
“Yes . . . the mystery of the birds.”
Chapter 21
THE BIRDS
WHEN I RETURNED to the Oracle, I found him sitting on one of the ledges on the mountain rock surrounding the oasis. I joined him there. I had come to ask him about the birds in the vision. And there were now birds circling over our heads. I asked my question.”
“In my vision I saw a flock of giant birds heading to a battlefield and transforming into airplanes. What did it signify?”
“The Holy Land,” he said, “is the most contested piece of property on earth, and Jerusalem, the most fought-over city. But in 1917 something appeared over the land and the city that would mark and separate that war from all the wars