thousand years Ben Gurion returned to it . . . each to his own possession.”
“So he did.”
“And his declaration,” I said, “would be answered from across the world by President Truman—two world leaders, each living out the template of a leader from ancient times, and each fulfilling their part in the ancient mystery . . . and the world had no idea.”
“No, the world had no idea,” he replied. “But, nevertheless, its future would be determined by it.”
“The next mystery would open up one of the most amazing of ancient words ever given concerning an event that would take place in the modern world. It would comprise another prophetic convergence of time and space.”
“And how would it be revealed?”
“Through a prophet . . . and a king I met while walking.”
Chapter 31
THE DAY OF AMOS
WHEN I FOUND the Oracle, he was sitting in one of the chambers of the cave I had never before entered, a small chamber, illuminated by the light of oil lamps. There was nothing of note within it except a short, wide stone platform, upon which rested an open scroll, the text of which I took to be Hebrew.”
“The king on the seashore,” I said, “and the man who helped him build the house of branches . . . who were they?”
“The king you saw was David, the founder of the nation’s royal dynasty.”
“And the man who helped him rebuild?”
“The bearer of burdens. In Hebrew the name Amos means burden bearer. It was the prophet Amos.”
“And the house of branches?”
“In Hebrew a house or shelter of branches is called a sukkah, or tabernacle. The house of branches belonged to the king. The vision concerned the tabernacle of David.”
“The tabernacle of David?”
“The phrase appears several times in the Scriptures. It has many layers of meaning, but it certainly refers to David’s kingdom and thus the nation of Israel. In your vision it was fallen. So in ancient times the kingdom of Israel had collapsed. The tabernacle of David had fallen.”
“The man offered to help the king raise it up. What did that mean?”
“It was Amos through whom the most famous prophecy concerning the tabernacle of David was given, a prophecy that would foretell the raising up of the fallen tabernacle. In the modern world that tabernacle was raised up on May 14, 1948, the day of Israel’s birth, a day of prophecy. The nation that had closed its eyes in ancient times in a war of flaming arrows and siegeworks now opened them in an age of atomic weapons and superpowers.”
“What was the prophecy?”
The Oracle leaned over to examine the scroll. Using his hand to find the place, he began to read, or rather to translate, the ancient words:
“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. 1
“The kingdom of David, the nation of Israel, had fallen. But in the end times God would restore it. So in the birth of Israel in 1948 the tabernacle of David was raised up; the nation that had once stood in ancient times had been destroyed but was now being resurrected. The prophecy continues:
And I will repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins. 2
“So the nation that had been broken for two thousand years and a land that had been covered in ruins would now be repaired.”
“What does that mean, to raise up the ruins?”
“The ancient cities that now lie in ruins would be rebuilt. The fallen buildings of the land would rise again. And on the ruins of a civilization that had fallen, a new nation would rise. The prophecy goes on:
. . . and rebuild it as in the days of old. 3
“The new nation was to be rebuilt ‘as in the days of old.’ So Israel would be rebuilt as it had been in ancient times. Its language would be rebuilt as in days of old, its people, its land, its army, its government, its culture, the nation itself. The prophecy continues:
I will bring my people Israel back from exile. 4
“The regathering of the Jewish people began in the days before the nation was born, but its greatest fulfillment would come after its birth as Jewish people began returning in unprecedented numbers from the far corners of the earth.
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them.5
“Which is exactly what happened as the Israelis built new cities on the ruins of the ancient ones. The prophecy goes on:
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also