ISRAEL AT 75
Introduction: On the eve of May 14, 1948, the Arabs launched an air attack on
Tel Aviv, which the Israelis resisted. This action was followed by the invasion of
the former Palestinian mandate by Arab armies from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and
Egypt. Saudi Arabia sent a formation that fought under the Egyptian command.
(state.gov)
“Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.” Isaiah 66:8
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed
the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized
the new nation on the same day. (state.gov)
After Israel declared its independence at midnight, the fighting intensified with
other Arab forces joining the Palestinian Arabs in attacking territory in the former
Palestinian mandate.
That day was a turning point for both Truman and the Jewish nation, as it began a
process that freed Jews from nearly 2,000 years of exile and slavery in Nazi
Germany, also fulfilling Amos’ prophecy of Jewish permanent settlement in the
land of Israel.
“I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the LORD your God.” Amos 9:14-15
Though the United Nations brokered two cease-fires during the conflict, fighting
continued into 1949. Israel and the Arab states did not reach any formal armistice
agreements until February.
Associated with this promise of God is one of the most interesting verses in the
Bible, Jeremiah 32:41, which is, in fact, the only passage in the canonized Bible
when God says He is doing something “with all His heart:”
“Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in
this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.”
Chapter 1: Harry Truman becomes the 33rd President of the U.S.
April 12, 1945 was a pivotal day that changed Truman’s life permanently. He had
been leading the discussion in the Senate as the vice president, when after the
session he received a call from Roosevelt’s assistant Steve Early asking Truman to
come to the White House immediately. Truman was escorted to Mrs. Roosevelt’s
room on the second floor of the White House. Truman wrote in his diary:
“Mrs. Roosevelt and Steve Early and Colonel and Mrs. Boettiger [Roosevelt’s
daughter] were there – Mrs. Roosevelt put her arm around my shoulder and said,
“The President is dead.” That was the first inkling I had of the seriousness of the
situation.
I then asked them what I could do, and she said – “What can we do for you?” …
I was very much shocked. I’m not easily shocked but was certainly shocked when I
was told of the president’s death and the weight of the government had fallen on
my shoulders.
I did not know what reaction the country would have to the death of a man whom
they all practically worshipped. I was worried about the reaction of the Armed
Forces. I did not know what effect the situation would have on the war effort,
price control, war production and everything that entered into the emergency thatthen existed.
I knew the president had a great many meetings with Churchill and Stalin. I was
not familiar with any of these things, and it was really something to think about,
but I decided the best thing to do was to go home and get as much rest as possible
and face the music.”
Truman, shocked by the situation, was sworn in with a completely packed Oval
Office at the White House at 7:09 p.m., only 2 hours and 24 minutes after
Roosevelt’s death. The only Bible that was found in the middle of this hectic
situation was the one in the desk drawer of Howell Crim, the White House chief
usher: an inexpensive version of a Gideon Bible with bright red page borders.
Truman fretted afterwards that had he known, he would have brought his
grandfather’s Bible, which he kept in his office, at the White House.
The next day, Truman met the press representatives in the hallways of Congress, and the first thing he said to them was:
“Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don’t know if you fellows ever had a
load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I
felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.”
From that moment on began a turning point in world history that led to the birth
of the State of Israel only three years later May 14, 1948. Harry Truman and Bible
prophecy played a central role in this process.
Chapter 2: Truman the Second Cyrus
Israel’s first Ambassador to the United States Eliahu Elath and Chief Rabbi Isaac
Halevi Herzog came to the White House on May 10, 1949, to meet Truman and to
express their gratitude for the president’s actions, which had enabled the
foundation of the State of Israel.
Truman was interested in hearing the chief rabbi’s views on what had taken place, to which he replied, “God put you in your mother’s womb so that you could be the instrument to bring about the rebirth of Israel after 2,000 years. A similar mission had once been imposed upon the head of another great country, King Cyrus of Persia, who had also been given the task of helping to redeem the Jews from their dispersion and restoring them to the land of their forefathers.”
The rabbi then opened the Bible and read the words of King Cyrus from the Book
of Ezra:
This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me
all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him
at Jerusalem in Judah.
The rabbi continued:
“You were given the task once fulfilled by the mighty king of Persia, and that he
too, like Cyrus, would occupy a place of honor in the annals of the Jewish people.”
According to Elath, on hearing these words, Truman rose from his chair and, with
great emotion, tears glistening in his eyes, he turned to the chief rabbi and asked
him if his actions, on behalf of the Jewish people, were, indeed, to be interpreted
thusly. Was the hand of the Almighty involved in the matter?
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on July 14, 1949, the chief rabbi
summarized the meeting with Truman by stating that Truman was a “wonderful,
straightforward man who not only appreciated the Jewish vision of moral
principles but knows the Bible as well and respects the Jewish written laws.”
Chapter 3: The Third Cyrus Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Eternal
Capital
“I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory, so we remember
the proclamation of the great king, Cyrus the Great, Persian king 2,500 years ago.
He proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon could come back and rebuild our
Temple in Jerusalem.”
Netanyahu’s suggestion that Trump may be compared to Cyrus because of his
specific policies affecting the Jewish community gives his analogy a unique twist.
But American evangelicals have compared Trump to the Persian ruler since the
Republican primaries.
They argue that just as Cyrus, scarcely a devotee of YHWH the God of Israel,
served as God’s agent by authorizing Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to the
Promised Land and to rebuild the temple to YHWH, so the narcissistic and morally
flawed Trump can advance the causes of the evangelical community—and by
extension, the country.
Consequently, many Christians were willing to overlook Trump’s racially insensitive
remarks and sexist comments and egotistical behavior because he agreed that
their convictions had been violated and offered hope that some of these
violations could be overturned.
During the Republican primary, Trump told hundreds of evangelical leaders, “The
government has gotten so involved in your religion. Especially your religion, that it
makes it very difficult.”
Isaiah 45:1-3 prophesied Cyrus 150 years before his birth:
“Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him
the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut:
‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the
gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.”
†††
References:
state.gov
State Department Office of the Historian
New King James Version of the Bible
Jerusalem Post April 13, 3022 “Harry Truman Bible Believing President”, by Risto Huvila
The text contains excerpts from Risto Huvila’s book “The Miracle of Israel
and President Truman” (2018)
Christian Post October 28, 2018 “Is Trump Our Cyrus? The Old Testament Case for
Yes and No” by Daniel Block