Old Testament Summary Lesson 47: “Let Us Rise Up and Build”

Some 1917 Parallels with Cyrus: The respect and honor Cyrus has in Jewish History is reflected by the Foreign Minister of England, Sir Arthur James, Earl of Balfour. His “Balfour Declaration” called for the return of the Jews to their homeland in 1917.
Why Not Uganda? “In 1903 the Zionist movement was shaken by the introduction of the Uganda Scheme . . . rather than the disputed territory of Palestine. Weizmann was . . . unwilling to agree to Zionism without Zion . . . Balfour . . . puzzled by the Zionist rejection of the Uganda plan . . . asked Weizmann to explain . . . Weizmann then asked Balfour whether, if he were offered Paris he would abandon London.” Balfour answered, “No, London is the capital of my country.” Weizmann replied, “Jerusalem was the capital of our country when London was a marsh.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

The Awe-inspiring Gathering: “The Talmud teaches that the ingathering of the exiled kingdoms will be part of the coming of the Messiah. The great exile to Babylonia in the sixth century B.C.E. was ended by Cyrus the Great of Persia. However, the rabbis did not consider his proclamation and the return at that time to be the Ingathering of the Exiles since it was incomplete. The day of the ingathering, the rabbis write, will be “as great as the day on which heaven and earth were created.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)
Clay like Formation and Shaping of God’s People: Amazing Parallels Today: Enemies of the Jews today want to prevent them from “building the wall” (or settling their ancient country) as in ancient days. Even Orthodox Jews maintain that the State of Israel is not legitimate because the Messiah did not restore it! A similar matter of dissent and subsequent success was when the State of Israel’s government had approved the building of the “Mormon” center on Mount Scopus where the BYU Study program is currently located. The building was well under way when an Orthodox Jewish group (dedicated to crushing Christian activities) started a twofold campaign.