would sign his articles with the pen name Ben-Gurion. It would end up becoming his official name. So a young man, unsettled on his career, just happens to pick as his pen name the same name as the nation’s ancient leader in the days of its end . . . and by a multitude of the twists and turns of personal, national, and world events, nearly forty years later he would become the nation’s first leader in the days of its resurrection.
“The ancient Ben-Gurion was appointed leader in Jerusalem. The modern Ben-Gurion became Ben-Gurion when he began dwelling in Jerusalem. The ancient Ben-Gurion’s full name was Joseph Ben-Gurion. The modern Ben-Gurion was born with a middle name, Joseph. So he was now David . . . Joseph Ben-Gurion.
“The ancient Ben-Gurion was appointed leader in a council that constituted the Judean provisional government. The modern Ben-Gurion was appointed leader in a council that constituted Israel’s provisional government. The ancient provisional government proclaimed the existence of a sovereign Jewish nation to Rome. The modern provisional government proclaimed the existence of a sovereign Jewish nation to the world.
“The ancient Ben-Gurion was in charge of his people’s military defense. The modern Ben-Gurion was not only Israel’s first prime minister but the one in charge of its military defense, Israel’s first minister of defense. The ancient Ben-Gurion helped lead his people in a war that would result in his nation’s destruction. The modern Ben-Gurion helped lead his people in a war that would result in his nation’s resurrection.”
“What happened to the ancient Ben-Gurion?”
“The ancient Ben-Gurion would be seen as a moderate and a unifying force. But in the course of the revolt, extremist militant factions rose up against him and those who governed with him. He would be killed in that uprising.”
“Was there any parallel to the modern Ben-Gurion?”
“The modern Ben-Gurion would also be seen as a moderate within the Israeli political spectrum and a unifying force. In the resurrection of Israel there would likewise arise extremist militant factions. And their existence would likewise be a challenge to Ben-Gurion’s authority and government. But it was now the time of reversal. So what happened next would be the reversal of what happened in ancient times. Ben-Gurion would forcibly disarm the militant factions and unify the nation’s military forces.
“As for ancient Israel, the rise of the extremist factions would lead to chaos, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the nation’s end. But the rise of the modern Ben-Gurion would lead to the reverse, unity, national rebirth, and ultimately the restoration of the nation’s government in Jerusalem.”
“So the ancient Ben-Gurion disappears,” I said, “and then the Jewish nation likewise disappears. But in the modern world Ben-Gurion reappears, and then the Jewish nation likewise reappears.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle. “That which disappeared with the ancient Ben-Gurion—the Israeli soldier, the Israeli government, the Jewish nation—would all reappear with the reappearance of Ben-Gurion in the modern world. Or you could say that the transformation of a man in the modern world named David Grün into a man from the ancient world, Ben-Gurion, would lead to the transformation of a people in the modern world into a nation from the ancient world. And it would all be crystallized on May 14, 1948, as a short and stocky man with a halo of white hair read the words of a hastily written document into a cluster of microphones before the world. Those hearing his words had little idea that the speaker himself was the embodiment of the mystery manifesting before the world. The man who announced the resurrection of the ancient nation was himself a living resurrection of what had perished in ancient times.
“The event was the reversal of what had taken place in the war of the ancient Ben-Gurion. The Jewish people had lost their government, their citizenship, and their nation. Now, as the modern Ben-Gurion spoke, all those things came back into the world. In the aftermath of the war waged by the ancient Ben-Gurion, the Jewish people were taken captive and exiled to the ends of the earth. But in the aftermath of the war waged by the modern Ben-Gurion, the gates would be open for the exiles to return home from the ends of the earth.”
“Ben Gurion,” I said, “was following the Jubilean ordinance.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle, “but how do you mean that?”
“The one who is separated from his land must return to it. So in ancient times Ben-Gurion was separated from the Jewish nation . . . But after two