Gold.’ It would give voice to two thousand years of Jewish yearnings for the Holy City.
“So she would sing of how the ancient cisterns had dried up . . . how the ancient market square was deserted . . . how no one of Israel’s children was able to enter the ancient city . . . and how, unlike in ancient times, no one now ascended to the most holy place in the Jewish faith, the Temple Mount. And around the ancient city were the sounds of desolation, the howling of the wind in the mountain caves. 1
“It was a song of Jubilee, the longings of the separated for their long-lost inheritance. And it was the echo of a song sung in ancient times. In the sixth century BC, when the Jewish people were taken captive to exile in Babylon with Jerusalem left in ruins, a song of lamentation and longing went forth, the song of the exiles that would become known as Psalm 137:
By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song . . . saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ . . . If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! . . . ” 2
“The willow tree,” I said, “like this one . . . and the harp on the willows, as in the vision.”
“Yes,” said the Oracle. “The ancient lamentation spoke of the songs of Zion, the songs of Jerusalem, so ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ would specifically refer to the songs of Jerusalem. In the ancient lamentation the writer tells of the Jewish people hanging up their harps. No longer could they sing the songs of Jerusalem. In the modern lamentation the same word appears—kinor, the Hebrew harp. The writer writes that she herself has now become the harp yearning to sing the songs of Jerusalem.
“The ancient song contains the words ‘Eem eshkakhech Yerushalayim,’ ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem.’ In the song given to Israel in the spring of 1967 the same words appear, the same exact Hebrew words from the ancient song sung by the Jewish exiles by the rivers of Babylon.
“Psalm 137 was the song of the first exile. ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ was the song of the second. And it would be a song of prophecy. It would be a sign of what was about to take place. The separation of the Jewish people from Jerusalem had gone on for two thousand years. ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ was sung on May 15, 1967. Less than thirty days after it was sung, the exile that had begun in ancient times would come to an end. The song’s longings would be fulfilled.”
“What was the reaction to the song?”
“The audience was transfixed. When it was finished, there came an outburst of thunderous applause that wouldn’t stop. The song had struck a deep and ancient chord in the nation’s soul. It began rapidly spreading across the land among the religious and nonreligious Israelis alike. Children were humming its melody. Its author began performing it for Israeli soldiers. They had no idea that they would soon be swept up in a colossal whirlwind of events that would bring the song’s longings and the nation’s ancient prayers to fulfillment.
“In fact, on the very day that ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ was first sung to the nation, the events that would bring about its fulfillment were being set in motion. Enemy troops were moving across the desert to mass at Israel’s borders. The song would be a prophetic harbinger of the colossal events that were about to take place and that would lead to the gates of the ancient city.”
“How did it happen?”
“How it happened,” he said, “was a manifestation of how the mystery works through all events and powers. One of those powers was the Soviet Union, the atheistic, anti-God, and anti-Israel Soviet Union.
“In May 1967, on the eve of Israel’s anniversary, an official of the Soviet Union sent word to Gamal Abdel Nasser, president of Egypt, that Israel was intending to launch an invasion. It was a false report.”
“Why did they do it?”
“Perhaps to stir up trouble in the region. Regardless of the motive, the superpower that had declared war on the Bible was about to cause biblical prophecy to come to fulfillment.
“Nasser responded by sending Egyptian troops into the Sinai Peninsula toward Israel’s