TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY IN BIBLE PROPHECY
Lesson 9: Ezekiel's outline of the significant political developments
in the restoration of the modern Jewish state.
SETTING: Ezekiel 37:1-14 employs the resurrection of "dry bones"
to symbolically foretell how the dead hope of a revived
nation of Israel would spring to life in a future time
and inspire the Jews to return to their ancient land
and restore the Jewish state.
I Ezek. 37:15-17 uses the imagery of two united sticks to
describe the ethnic and political make-up of the returning
Jewish nation builders.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and
write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel
his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it,
For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of
Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they
shall become one in thine hand (Ezek. 37:15-17).
A The first stick, "Judah and the children of Israel his
companions," refers to the ancient kingdom of Judah that
was composed of Judah, the ruling tribe, and the tribes
of Benjamin, Levi, part of Simeon, and individual
members of various other tribes that lived in the
southern kingdom.
B The second stick, "Joseph, the stick of Ephraim" (the
ruling tribe), and "all the house of Israel his
companions," refers to the ten tribes that comprised
the northern kingdom of Israel.
C "And join them one to another into one stick" states
that the returning Jews will not be divided into two
contending kingdoms of Judah and Israel again, but
united into one stick, or nation.
D Modern Israel is composed of two ethnically distinct
Jewish communities:
1 The Ashkenazic Jews of European descent (the majority
from Poland and Russia), shaped Israel's beginnings
at the time of independence in 1948.
2 The Ashkenazim ("Germans," in Old Hebrew), who made up
85 percent of the population in 1948, fulfilled the
new nation's leadership role symbolized in Ezekiel's
first stick.
3 The original Sephardim (literally "Spaniards") were
the powerful Jews of Moorish Spain, who were expelled
from the country in 1492 and dispersed to North
Africa, the eastern Mediterranean (Turkey), and Asia.
4 The darker-skinned, culturally disadvantaged Sephardic
Jews fulfilled the less prominent role in building the
nation symbolized in Ezekiel's second stick.
E In 1948 the Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews fulfilled
Ezekiel's two-joined sticks prophecy by uniting together
to form the modern state of Israel.
II Ezek. 37:18-19 symbolically shows the eventual replacement
of Israel's long-standing political leadership by a former
minority.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto
thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by
these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; behold, I will
take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim,
and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them
with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one
stick, and they shall be one in mine hand (Ezek. 37:18-19).
A The slight change here, the stick of Ephraim named
first, shows that the reins of Israel's government will
eventually pass into the hands of the nation's former
Sephardic minority.
B Fundamental changes in Israel's electorate reveal that a
role reversal of Sephardim over Ashkenazim first surfaced
in Israel's 1977 election.
1 The Ashkenazim's Labor party ruled Israel without a
break from 1948 to 1977.
2 As the Sephardim's numbers increased from 15 percent
of Israel's Jewish population in 1948 to 60 percent
in the early 1980's, so also did their voting power
increase.
3 In 1977 the Sephardic vote put the Likud block
candidate, Menachem Begin, into office.
4 In 1984 the Sephardi backed Likud block candidate,
Yitzhak Shamir, did not win the national election,
but neither did Labor's candidate, Shimon Peres.
a The two contending parties agreed to share the power,
including the rotation of the prime ministership.
b Peres was sworn in as Prime Minister for the first 25
months, with Shamir taking the position for the
following 25 months, starting October 1, 1986.
5 Shamir's Likud coalition held a slight governing
majority over the opposition Labor party until the
summer of 1992 when Likud lost to Labor's Yitzhak
Rabin.
6 (Likud lost when Shamir failed to patch up a dispute
with Sephardi leader, David Levy, who withdrew his
support for Shamir.)
7 Thus, in recent years the Sephardic vote has been the
decisive factor in determining who wins Israel's
national elections.
C The prophecy predicts that the Ashkenazim will not break
off into a separate nation once the former Sephardic
minority wrest the scepter of political power from them.
D What major influences have caused the two ethnically
distinct branches of the modern Jewish nation to set
aside their differences and remain united as one nation?
1 The surrounding Arab states view that there is only
one kind of Jew in Israel, the kind that should be
forced to leave Palestine.
2 Every Israeli citizen's awareness that the survival
of the Jewish state depends on a united military
front against their hostile Arab neighbors.
E In Ezekiel's second telling of the prophecy, how do we
know the naming of the stick of Ephraim first, instead
of the stick of Judah, is prophetically significant and
not simply an inconsequential variation in the second
version?
1 Note first that the second version begins with the
explicit command, "Say unto them."
a This explicit command demonstrates that the author
has a very important and precise message in mind and
expects those who will carry out this teaching
assignment to repeat the lesson, word for word.
b Clearly, the author was focused on the exact contents
of what would be said next, and every word in that
message, by predetermined design, has purpose.
2 Note also that God's communication with the fallen
human race centers around the task of clearing up the
confusion of this world.
a God is not slipshod in His commitment to that task.
b He would not casually change the sequence of names or
concepts.
3 The RSV rendering of verse 19, "Behold, I am about to
take the stick of Joseph . . . ," sheds further light
on this text.
a The phrase "I am about to" signals that the
original joining of the stick of Judah with the
stick of Ephraim, is about to change in some
fundamental way, at this point in the prophetic
flow of the fulfillment of the prophecy.
b The more accurate RSV translation, therefore,
enables us to say with authority that the naming of
the stick of Ephraim first, in the repeated version
of the prophecy, will indeed find fulfillment in
the former Sephardic minority eventually gaining
political control of the modern Jewish state.
III Ezek. 37:20-22 commands God's people to teach the meaning
of the next sequence of this prophecy to those around them
during the days of this portion of the prophecies fulfillment.
20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand
before their eyes,
21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will
take the people of Israel from the nations among which they
have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring
them to their own land (Ezek. 37:20-21, RSV);
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the
mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all:
and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be
divided into two kingdoms any more at all (Ezek. 37:22).
A God's people are instructed again here to teach others
the meaning of this prophecy during the days "When the
sticks on which you write are in your hand before their
eyes."
B That is, since the repeated command to teach follows the
second retelling of the prophecy, then the listener
should teach what this section of the prophecy predicts
will happen next, during the days when the Sephardic Jews
have gained control of the political destiny of the
restored Jewish state.
C Note that the teaching assignment does not refer to the
already established reversed role of the two sticks here.
1 This time the message refers to a later development in
the prophetic flow of the restoration of the Jewish
nation--"then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD:
Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the
nations among which they have gone, and will gather
them from all sides, and bring them to their own
land."
2 The fulfillment of this phase of the prophecy is
coming to pass today as thousands of Jews continue to
stream out of the fifteen nations that emerged from the
break-up the Soviet Union.
D Here again the prophecy predicts that despite the massive
influx of half-a-million Jews to Israel from mid-89 to
mid-1993, the ethnically distinct branches of the modern
Jewish state will continue to set aside their differences
and remain united as one nation.
E What fact in this passage proves that the prophecy
refers to the second ingathering of the Jews?
- "One king shall be king to them all" was not fulfilled
during the days following the first return of the Jews
from Babylon in 536 B.C., since the Jews continued to be
ruled by foreign powers.
IV Ezek. 38:24-28 explains the larger significance of the
two-joined sticks prophecy.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they
all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my
judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them
(Ezek. 37:24).
A The king over them--"David my servant"--does not refer
to King David, but rather to David's greatest
descendant, Jesus Christ.
B Why is Christ's earthly reign mentioned at this point in
the prophecy?
1 It serves to announce the timing of Christ's Second
Coming.
2 That is, Christ will not return to rule the world
until sometime after the Sephardic branch of the
Jewish family becomes a major political force in the
restored nation.
3 And subsequent to the Sephardim's political rise,
Christ will not return until sometime after the modern
Jewish state witnesses a massive influx of Jews "from
the nations among which they have gone."
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto
Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they
shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and
their children's children for ever: and my servant David
shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it
shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will
place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in
the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be
their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify
Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for
evermore (Ezek. 37:25-28).
A Note how the Jews dwelling in the land of their forefathers,
"even they, and their children, and their children's children
for ever," shows that Christ's reign will begin as a literal
earthly one which will go on for several generations.
B The text also declares the everlasting character of
Christ's reign: "and my servant David shall be their
prince for ever."
V The following recap of the rest of Ezekiel's book provides
insight into the relationship between the two-joined sticks
prophecy and the timing of the fulfillment of the final
events leading up to Christ's Second Coming.
A Ezekiel 38 and 39 cover the Russian-led invasion of
Israel in the latter days.
1 These chapters document Russia's all-out effort to
destroy the restored nation of Israel.
2 The chapters also describe the unprecedented global
scope of the wars that will take place in the Middle
East during the closing days of the age.
B The last nine chapters of Ezekiel detail Christ's
return and the establishment of His earthly kingdom.
1 These nine chapters greatly expand Ezekiel's
concluding remarks announcing Christ's Second Coming
at the end of his two-joined sticks prophecy.
2 They serve to reassure God's people that Christ will
return and establish His earthly kingdom following
the massive Russian-led attempt to destroy the
renewed nation of Israel.
3 The placement of the Russian-led invasion against
Israel, directly after the scriptures describing
the political demise of modern Israel's original
Ashkenazic nation builders at the hands of the more
numerous Sephardic Jews, and the subsequent return of
large numbers of Jews "from the nations among which
they have gone," provides two visible signposts to
look for prior to the arrival of the Russian-led
confederated army into the Middle East.