issue of Palestine to the United Nations. The resulting Partition Plan could only go into effect if approved in the General Assembly. The vote took place on November 29, 1947, the very end of the fiftieth year from the birth of Zionism. In order to pass, the plan needed to be approved by a two-thirds majority. The outcome was in doubt up to the last days before the vote. But again the history and powers of the world would conform to the purposes of the ancient mystery.
“The Soviet Union, the world’s chief atheistic power, was certainly not in favor of fulfilling biblical prophecy. It would soon become Israel’s archenemy. But in 1947 an unlikely set of factors came together. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin saw the birth of Israel as a way to weaken and roll back the British Empire while increasing Soviet influence in the Middle East. The solidification of Soviet control over Eastern Europe in the summer of 1947 ensured that the nations of eastern Europe would vote in favor of the resolution. 1
“The American State Department had positioned itself against the resolution. But the American president was in favor of it. In this was another case of world history coalescing around the ancient purposes. Had the former president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, been in power in that window of time, it is questionable whether he would have sanctioned Israel’s rebirth. But in his last campaign for the presidency he would choose a new running mate—Harry Truman. Truman was sworn in to office as vice president on January 20, 1945. Less than three months later Roosevelt died. Truman, a man with deep sympathy for the sufferings of the Jewish people, was suddenly catapulted to the most powerful position on earth—at the precise moment of world history most critical for Israel’s rebirth. He would support and work for the passage of the resolution that would bring about Israel’s resurrection.
“On November 29, 1947, in Lake Success, New York, the United Nations General Assembly took up the vote. The final count was thirty-three votes in favor, thirteen votes against, and ten abstentions. The resolution passed. Israel would again become a nation.”
“I see the connection to the Jubilee,” I said, “but not to my vision.”
“You saw two men in an arena wrestling. The first was Jacob, patriarch of the Jewish nation. The Jewish people are so identified with him that the entire nation is often referred to simply by the name Jacob. Jacob was also called Israel. And, as would his descendants, Jacob would spend a good part of his life in exile from his homeland. But then God called him to return. On his return he encountered a man who wrestled with him through the night and to the break of day.”
“And who was his opponent with the red hair?”
“The word for red in Hebrew is adom or edom. Edom was another name for Jacob’s brother, Esau. For a good part of their lives the two brothers were in conflict. But the man in your vision only looked like Esau. In the biblical account the man who wrestled with Jacob was an angel. When neither of the two prevailed, the angel touched Jacob’s hip and crippled him. But Jacob didn’t give up. Finally the angel gave him a blessing. Jacob then returned home. In your vision Jacob represented the Jewish people. So what you saw concerned the return to the land of Jacob’s children, the Jewish people.”
“But in my vision it happened in an arena before an audience.”
“So the return of Israel happened before the world . . . and before the United Nations, those men in suits and ties. The majority of them stood up, but the minority stayed seated.”
“So they were voting on the return of Israel?”
“Yes . . . but there’s more to the mystery. You see, when the nations of the world gathered to vote on the rebirth of Israel, it was a Saturday . . . the Sabbath. So there was a Scripture appointed for that day.”
“What was it?”
“It was the return of Jacob to the land.”
“And Jacob is another name for Israel. So on the day the United Nations voted for the return of Israel to the land, the appointed Scripture was the return of Israel to the land.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle. “And that appointed portion of Scripture contains a command:
Return to your native land. . . 2
“Behind the words native land are two Hebrew words. One is eretz, or land. The other is moledet. Moledet