The Commission was established at a time of increased violence; serious clashes between Arabs and Jews broke out in 1936 and were to last three years. On 11 November 1936, the commission arrived in Palestine to investigate the reasons behind the uprising. The Commission was charged with determining the cause of the riots, and judging the grievances of both sides.
Chaim Weizmann made a speech on behalf of the Jews. On 25 November 1936, testifying before the Peel Commission, Weizmann said that there are in Europe 6,000,000 Jews . "for whom the world is divided into places where they cannot live and places where they cannot enter."
The Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, testified in front of the commission, opposing any partition of Arab lands with the Jews. He demanded full cessation of Jewish immigration. Although the Arabs continued to boycott the Commission officially, there was a sense of urgency to respond to Weizmann's appeal to restore calm.
After Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified, some of his followers were crushed. They had hoped that he would be the Messiah who would destroy the tyranny of Rome and restore the kingdom of Israel. But their idea of the Messiah was not God’s idea. Yeshua died, but he also rose from the dead, and to his disappointed followers he said:
“How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets…. They said to each other, “Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:25-27 NIV, Luke 24:32 NIV)
“To suffer these things and then to enter his glory.” He had to first die as an atonement for our sins, and then rise from the dead—as the prophets of the Hebrew Bible had said.
We invite you to explore these passages from the Jewish Scriptures and their fulfillments in the life of Yeshua.
“A land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:12)
DF soldiers conduct training in a field near the border with Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.
Over the more than month long Operation Protective Edge conflict between Hamas terrorists and the IDF, a strikingly few number of civilian casualties have been suffered on the Israeli side.
Over 3,356 rockets have been fired at Israel, with that number rising everyday, and only four people have been killed as a result of rocket fire. While Israel’s Iron Dome is a wonder to behold and responsible for maintaining the safety of Israeli civilians from rocket fire, the numbers show that only 578 rockets were destroyed by Iron Dome Interceptions, or roughly 17 percent of all rockets fired at Israel.
Simple statistics show that there is something extraordinary occurring here.
Whether one chooses to believe that providence is behind the overwhelming number of misfired rockets or not, one must admit that the number of casualties should in theory be higher. After all, Hamas is quite experienced when it comes to rocket fire at Israel, having more than 14 years of experience.
Irena Sendler was born in Poland into a Christian family in 1910. She lived just fifteen miles from the largest Jewish community in Poland and from an early age became familiar with the Jewish people. At the age of seven, her father, who was a doctor, contracted typhus and died. Many of his patients were Jews whom other doctors would not treat.
The Jewish community appreciated the work of her father and offered to pay for Irena’s education; her mother politely declined.
Attending the University of Warsaw, she experienced anti-Semitism when the university participated in the “ghetto-bench system”, where Jewish students were placed on the left side of lecture halls in seats designated for them only. She opposed this system and as a sign of protest defaced her grade card in public, resulting in a three year suspension from the university.
In 1939 Germany invaded Poland and the brutal treatment of Jews began. Irena did what she could by offering food and shelter. However, when the Warsaw Ghetto was created in 1940, Irena could no longer help the isolated Jews. The Ghetto was an area the size of New York’s Central Park, was surrounded by 10ft high walls with barbed wire on top and guarded by Nazi guards. Around 450,000 Jewish people were forced to live in this area.
The conditions in the ghetto were dire. Forced to live on just 180 calories per day, around 5,000 Jews died each month from starvation and disease.
It was at this time that Irena joined a small underground movement called Zegota, the Polish Council to Aid Jews, where she became the head of the children’s division. Using her social worker papers and the papers of a worker of the Contagious Disease Department (who was part of the Zegota) she gained access to the Warsaw Ghetto under the false pretenses that she was inspecting for disease.
Irena described the ghetto as “pure hell beyond description.” So disturbed by what she saw, she gathered some of her colleagues and told them, “Listen, we have to declare war on Hitler!”
Putting together a small group, Irena devised a plan to smuggle children out of the ghetto. Each time she entered the ghetto she begged mothers to give up their children.
They turned everyday items into smuggling tools, hiding children in coffins, potato sacks and even a tool box. The children who could speak good Polish were taught Christian prayers to be smuggled through a Church at the entrance to the ghetto, but this was risky as the Nazis guarded the entrance.
If a child pretended to be sick, or was genuinely sick, then Irena’s team could legally remove the child from the ghetto in the ambulance. They would also hide another child under the stretcher carrying the sick child.
Irena also kept her dog in the back of her truck which she trained to bark each time they passed through the ghetto gates. This had the double effect of keeping the guards at a distance and also covering up any crying or other noises that the children might make.
Every rescued child was housed by non-Jewish families and provided with new documentation and a new name. However, Irena kept the real names of the children and their location written on thin pieces of tissue and stored them in jars. She then buried these jars under a tree that only she knew the location of.
Irena (who was using the alias Jolanta) was arrested by the Gestapo on 20 October 1943 after her operation was discovered. She was placed in the notorious Piawiak prison where she was questioned and tortured. The Nazis broke both her legs and ankles. No matter how much they broke her body, they could not break her spirit. She never revealed the names or locations of any of the children or the Zegota.
She was eventually sentenced to death by shooting and sent off for execution. The following day her death was announced and posters were placed over the city. However, Irena was not dead. In fact, she read one of the posters herself. The Zegota had bribed her executioner, who instead of shooting her, helped her escape and faked her death.
During the remaining years of the war, she lived hidden, just like the children she rescued. When the war was finally over, she dug up the bottles and began the job of finding the children and trying to find a living parent.
Unfortunately, almost all the parents of the children Irena saved died at the Treblinka death camp. But Irena had already made each family who accepted a child promise that they would send the children to Jewish families when the war had ended.
When she counted all the names in her jars, there were over 2,500 children.
With the exception of diplomats who issued visas to help Jews flee Nazi-occupied Europe, Irena saved more Jews than any other individual during the Holocaust. “Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this earth and not a title to my glory,” she said.
Her fight for the Jews did not end with the war, she was also an advocate for Israel. In fact, in 1969 she was forced to retire early from Poland’s Ministries of Education and Health after she made public declarations of support for Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.
Irena Sendler was recognised by the State of Israel in 1965 as “Righteous among the Nations”. In her later years she also received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest honour, for her work saving the children.
Irena passed away in 2008 at the age of 98. A remarkable woman who declared war on Hitler… and won.
A brilliant and succinct dossier articulating the legal and historical background that is essential to understanding Jewish rights in the land. It is extremely important to save and share this material, as it provides data critical for properly defending Israel.
With the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Second Jewish Commonwealth came to an end. From then until modern times, what had been Judah, and was renamed Palestina by the Romans, was only an appendage to one empire or another, never an independent country.
San Remo:
Jewish legal rights in the land in modern times began with the San Remo Conference and resultant San Remo resolution, which has been called the Jewish Magna Carta.
For centuries, Palestine had been part of the (Turkish, Muslim) Ottoman Empire. With the end of WWI, the land of that Empire was taken by the Allies. Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, with the US as observer, met in San Remo, Italy, to decide how it would be divided: Palestine was put under British Mandatory rule.
Below is an excellent 15 minute film about the discovery of the formerly classified minutes from the San Remo peace conference of April, 1920. This long hidden document explains the legal rights of the Jews as well as the Palestinians. By returning to the negotiating table and respecting historical facts and international law the film believes there can be real peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Balfour Declaration:
At San Remo it was decided to incorporate the Balfour Declaration into Britain’s mandate. The Declaration, in the form of a letter, was an endorsement by the British government of the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine. Written in 1917 by the British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour, and sent to Lord Rothschild, it stated:
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, , and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object.”
By “Right”:
In June 1922, Winston Churchill, who was then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote in a policy paper that:
“…in order that this community should have the best prospect of free development and provide a full opportunity for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance.”
League of Nations Formalizes Mandate:
In July 1922, the League of Nations, predecessor to the UN, formally adopted the British Mandate for Palestine — a legally binding document that was approved by all 51 members of the League of Nations.
It agreed that:
“the Mandatory [Britain] should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917 [Balfour Declaration], by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people…”
And it gave recognition to:
“the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”
The term “reconstituting” gave acknowledgement to the fact that there had been a Jewish nation in Palestine at an earlier time.
“Mandate” Explained
The mandatory system of the League of Nations was based on the principle of Allied administration of Mandate territories until such time as they were able to stand alone. That is, it was understood at the beginning that the British would ultimately withdraw, leaving an established Jewish homeland.
Area of Mandate Palestine
The original area of Palestine, for which the British Mandate was assigned, included Transjordan (what is today Jordan, on the eastern side of the Jordan River).
Credit: Hebroots
In September 1922, very soon after the League of Nations had adopted the Mandate resolution, Britain assigned TransJordan to Hashemite Arabs from Saudi Arabia. The Jewish part of the Mandate was thus reduced by over 70%.
Jews then had the right to settle anywhere in a 10,000 sq.mi. area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Mandate Transfer to UN:
With the formal demise of the League of Nations in 1946, the United Nations was established to succeed it. The UN assumed obligations of the League: Territories under Mandate were to have a “trusteeship system” applied — this was a continuation of the Mandate system of the League.
Article 80 of the UN declared that “nothing in the [UN] Charter shall be construed…to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or peoples or the terms of existing international instruments.” This preserved the Jewish right to settle in Palestine.
Violence in Palestine:
From the time of the establishment of the Mandate for Palestine, Arab challenges to it were considerable, and were often expressed violently. This was in spite of the fact at that the same that the Mandate for Palestine was established for the Jewish homeland, Mandates for Syria, Lebanon and Iraq were established, all for Arab populations. Arabs were, and still are, offended by the presence of a Jewish state.
Perhaps most grievous of all was the Hebron massacre of 1929: for three days Arabs went on a murderous rampage in the city, killing 67 Jews and destroying property. In the aftermath, the second holiest city of the Jews was left bereft of Jews for the first time in hundreds of years. (Ultimately the British prevented Jews from living in the city because they said they couldn’t protect them.)
Partition of Palestine:
In 1947, the British, who no longer wished to contend with the situation, declared intention to pull out by mid-1948, and turned the Mandate back to the United Nations. A UN Commission considered the matter and recommended a partition of Palestine into one state for the Jews and one for the Arabs, with Jerusalem to be internationalized at first.
Credit: Wikipedia
This recommendation was placed before the General Assembly as Resolution 181, which was adopted on November 29, 1947 by a vote of 33 to 12, with 10 abstentions. The Arab nations voted as a bloc against.
It is imperative to note that General Assembly Resolutions carry no weight in international law. This resolution was only a recommendation — it was not binding and it did not supersede the Mandate for Palestine in international law.
Legally, this plan would have had binding force only as an agreement between the two parties, i.e., the Jews of Palestine and the Arabs of Palestine. However, while the Jewish population of Palestinian accepted the proposal, the Arab population did not: they rejected the entire resolution. Thus the partition plan was aborted.
There is no way for Arabs today to re-instate this resolution or to claim that Jews have a right to only what was defined as a Jewish state by this aborted resolution.
Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel:
On May 14, 1948 (Hebrew date: 5th of Iyar 5708), the Jewish People’s Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved a proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel.
It asserted the natural right of the Jewish people to be like all other peoples, exercising self-determination in its sovereign state and proclaimed the establishment of a Jewish state named “the State of Israel.”
It is important to note that Israel’s legal legitimacy did not derive from the aborted partition plan — even though the state was founded on that portion of Palestine that Resolution 181 had allocated for a Jewish state.
It was established according to international norms: based on a declaration of independence by its people and on the establishment of an orderly government within territory under its stable control.
The portion of Palestine on which Israel was not established became unclaimed Mandate land. Nothing in international law had superseded the status of this land as Mandate land.
War of Independence
Within a day of the establishment of the State of Israel, it was attacked by the states of the Arab League, with clear, openly stated, intention of destroying the new state.
When the war ended in 1949, Israel controlled more territory than it had when independence was declared. Egypt controlled Gaza, and Jordan controlled Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Western Jerusalem was in Israel’s hands, and eastern Jerusalem in Jordan’s hands.
Credit: buildersofzion
Armistice agreements were signed between Israel and the Arab states with which it had been at war. Armistice lines — temporary ceasefire lines — were defined by these agreements. They are often referred to as the Green Line.
These armistice demarcation lines did not define a permanent border for Israel. The agreement between Israel and Jordan includes this phrase:
“The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined…in this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines…” This is exceedingly important because the PLO/PA claims that this line is Israel’s “real” border and the line to which it must withdraw. This is simply not the case.
Six Day War
From June 5 to June 10, 1967, Israel fought a defensive war against Arab forces from Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
When it was over, Israel had control of all of Jerusalem, which was united under Israeli sovereignty; the Golan Heights, to which Israeli civil law was applied; the Sinai, which was surrendered as part of the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt; Gaza, which was surrendered in the 2005 disengagement; and Judea and Samaria.
242
In November 1967, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which addressed the situation.
This resolution did not require Israel to withdraw to the Green Line. Instead it acknowledged the right of every state in the area “to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”
Implicit here was the understanding that the Green Line did not represent a secure boundary. Israel suffered from a lack of strategic depth within the Green Line — at its narrowest only nine miles wide — which invited attack and made defense in war time difficult. (This is why Israeli statesman Abba Eban referred to the Green Line as the “Auschwitz borders.”)
Thus this resolution called for Israel to withdraw from “territories occupied in the recent conflict.” “Territories,” not “the territories” or “all territories,” meaning, withdrawal from some but not all of the area of Judea and Samaria. There is a legal history of long debate over this wording, because of its significance. Not full withdrawal because that would not leave Israel with a secure boundary.
Once again, then, we see that the claim of the PLO/PA that Israel “must” withdraw to the Green Line is not supported by the facts.
Lastly, the resolution called for “a peaceful and accepted settlement in accordance with the provisions and principles in this resolution.” That is, it called for negotiations to determine the final border of Israel.
There was no requirement that Israel withdraw prior to negotiations. And those negotiations have never been held. At the time of this resolution, it was assumed that negotiations would be with Jordan. Today the situation has changed.
“Occupation”
There is nothing in Resolution 242 that forbids construction of settlements in Judea and Samaria by Israel. As this issue is a critical one now, we need to look at this a bit closer:
Israel is not an “occupier” in Judea and Samaria.
The word “occupation” is bandied about regularly. The PA/PLO have adopted the idea of Israel as “occupier” as a mantra and much of the world has accepted it. But the facts tell us something else.
Judea and Samaria were (and still are) unclaimed Mandate land, to which Israel has the strongest claim.
Legally, occupation only occurs when one nation moves into the land of another. But there was no nation legally sovereign in Judea and Samaria before 1967 — Jordan’s presence there was not legal
There are strong legal precedents for the claim that a war fought defensively permits retention of the land secured in that war.Wrote Steven Schwiebel, former judge of the International Court of Justice:
“…the Israeli conquest of Arab and Arab-held territory was defensive rather than aggressive conquest.
“…it follows that modifications of the 1949 armistice lines.. are lawful…whether those modifications are, in Secretary Rogers’s words, ‘insubstantial alterations required for mutual security’ or more substantial alterations – such as recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem.”
With all of the above, it should not be forgotten that areas over the Green Line, in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, represent the very heart of Jewish heritage: From the Temple Mount; to Hevron and the Cave of Machpelah, where the matriarch and patriarchs are buried; to Shilo, where the Tabernacle was brought. How can Jews be “occupiers” in their own ancient land?
International Law
People have the impression that “international law” is a firmly defined body of law. In point of fact, while some international law is established in formal documents, others aspects are very fluid. Just as is the case with “occupation,” there is a tendency to politicize this term, so that Israel is forever accused of “violating international law.” Be most cautious when hearing this.
There are, as well, instances in which “international law” is interpreted to mean one thing for Israel and another for other countries.
One fascinating example has to do with the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(6), which says “the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” You may have heard accusations that Israel is in defiance of this Article because of the “settlers.”
There are two obvious retorts to this: First, that Israel is not an occupier, and second, that Israel is not deporting or transferring parts of its own civilian population — the people go of their own volition.
Eugene Kontorovich, however, is currently doing research for a paper and has discovered something else: There are many instances of movement of civilian population into occupied territory. However, while international lawyers claim that Israel must actively oppose civilian migration, refuse to provide services to settlers, etc., in these other instances the reaction is much more tempered. That is, the presumed requirements of “international law” are applied selectively to Israel.
Israeli Defence Force soldiers can be seen staring in amazement and taking photographs of the huge duststorm cloud
On November 27 two ISIS fighters were killed during an attack on Golan Heights
Four days later a cloak of dust and rain suddenly appeared on the frontier
Israeli forces have occupied the Golan Heights, in Syria, since 1967
A huge cloud of dust and rain blew up along the border between Israel and ISIS last week, sparking online claims that it was a biblical storm.
Four days after ISIS fighters attacked an Israeli patrol in the Golan Heights, a plateau in Syria which the Jewish state has occupied since 1967, the bizarre meteorological phenomenon suddenly appeared.
Eyewitnesses said the storm seemed to stop at the boundary and be unable to enter the Golan Heights, which tower above the rest of Syria.
The cloud seemed to almost hover over the fence which the Israelis have constructed in occupied Syria, along the 1967 ceasefire line
They wrote: 'A weather phenomenon occurred at 8am Thursday on the other side of the Syrian border, in the same place where ISIS attacked Israel.
This strange storm of what appears to be dust, cloud and rain did NOT cross the border fence into Israel. It sat like a barrier between ISIS and Israel.'
Underneath Deborah Van Dam posted: 'Absolutely the divine intervention of God protecting Israel. Amen!'
Anna Rider Pollutro added: 'That is God. Israel is the Apple of His eye. Those who hate Israel God hates, those who love Israel God loves. He will defend Israel at all times. Nothing can tear her down. When God is for you nothing can stand against you.'
But the biblical bubble was burst by Matt Hingley who wrote: 'Actually, sorry to be boring, but it's simply a weather phenomenon.'
Obed Adore added: 'These dust clouds are normal and common phenomenona across the deserts of the Middle East and Africa.'
He went on to point out that in April 1980, six months before a presidential election, eight US servicemen were killed when a dust storm in the Iranian desert ruined the attempted rescue of 52 US Embassy staff during Operation Eagle Claw.
And another cynic, Adam Labaton, pointed out that large areas of northern Israel were recently devastated by forest fores: 'Has everyone already forgotten the fires? Seriously, last week half the country burnt down....no protection there.'
Eric Crane went even further: 'It's a long shelf cloud. Nothing more. Saw it more times than I can count while living in Kansas. Why some of you idiots stretch things for more than they are is the unbelievable. It's either race, gender, politics, religion, and now you can add weather to the list.
As the civil war in Syria has raged in the last five years Israelis have worried about a possible threat from ISIS but recently military setbacks have made it less likely, although the November 27 incident shows that some maverick rebels still see Israel as their main target.
What if we told you that there was a mystery right in front of us? A mystery that is not just imaginary but real, a mystery that when solved could have implications to the entire world. Would you be interested to read such a story? More than that, would you be interested to join in with such a story?
What we are about to embark upon could be every bit as exciting as a Sherlock Holmes mystery novel. Everyone loves a good mystery novel! We get caught up in the writer’s story, identifying with the characters as they seek to solve the mystery in front of them. But when the book ends, the adventure also ends. A book can be a needed escape, perhaps, but then we must go back to real life.
But we would like to offer you something different. To become detectives with us – in real life, in a mystery of epic proportions.
Which mystery? Not the mystery of when the Messiah will appear! Yes, that is the most important mystery of all, but let us agree that such a mystery can be left to many others, and has defeated many a detective over the years.
No, the mystery we propose to work on together is the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee. We propose that we work together in a series of articles and to communicate with each other in the comment fields below, in order to try to solve it.
This mystery novel, we would suggest, is a novel itself being written by God and all Bible-believing people are characters in the novel, and all are invited to be detectives if they choose to be. We—Bob, an evangelical Christian from America and Gidon, an Orthodox Jew from Israel—are co-authoring this series together. This mystery is most certainly a shared mystery, of great interest to Jews and Christians alike. Gidon Ariel, recently wrote an article on the subject, asking the question of whether the release of Jonathan Pollard on November 20th was a sign and signal that we are currently in a Jubilee year.
To “find the lost Jubilee” is to definitively find any Jubilee, and then to definitively find a second Jubilee, and then with that pattern established, solving the mystery means finding all Jubilees to come. If we are in a Jubilee year right now, and we were all to agree upon it, then we may have just solved the mystery. But, we are a long way from understanding the possibilities, or agreeing with the evidence, evidence which we have not even begun to present just yet, but which we will present as these articles go forward—physical, historical and biblical evidence.
If things go well, we might be able to solve the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee as early as Spring 2016, and if not perhaps by Summer or Fall of 2016, but—and here is the best part—we have a lot of confidence that, with God’s help, together we should all be able to propose a definitive solution to the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee no later than by the end of 2017.
Suppose we find it. So what? What does finding the Lost Jubilee imply for our world? We begin by establishing a few simple facts that those who have studied the Jubilee will already know.
What is the Jubilee?
The Jubilee is a special year that was instituted by God thousands of years ago when it was announced to the children of Israel in the Sinai desert just after their Exodus from Egypt. It is instituted in scripture in Leviticus 25:8-10:
“8 You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. 9 You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through you land. 10 You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.” NAS with emphasis added.
The English word “jubilee” in verse 10 in Hebrew is pronounced “yovel” and literally means “a ram’s horn.” The ram’s horn and horn mentioned in verse 8 is pronounced “shofar,” which is itself ram’s horn.
Why is the Jubilee important?
The Jubilee is a year of freedom and restoration. But beyond that, since it is a year that is consecrated to the Lord, the time of Jubilee hints at heavenly participation in earthly freedom and restoration.
Why should Jews and Christians care?
Jews in Israel may have restored during a Jubilee something critically important to their national identity, namely physical land. Christians are grafted into the seed of Abraham and Israel, so the Jubilee can bring, at the very least, spiritual blessings to Christians even as it brings, at the very least, physical blessings to the Jews.
When does Jubilee occur?
God explains that it is to be the 50th year, occurring after seven 7-year long cycles. There is great controversy about whether this fiftieth Jubilee repeats every 49 years or 50 years. We will study this later, but if our overall objective of together finding the Lost Jubilee is met, we should be able to answer this question once-and-for-all.
Is any specific year designated as the Jubilee Year by the Jews?
No, not officially, although interest to identify this year has been growing among Jews recently. There are many obstacles to an official recognition of the Jubilee in Israel today, the first of which is that lack of recognized boundaries for what land belonged to which of the twelve tribes. We will cover this more detail in future articles in this series.
Was Jubilee observed in ancient Israel?
Not that we know of. We do not possess any definitive evidence of such observance.
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Is Jubilee recognized by Christians?
Not in general, except by the Catholic Church, which is coincidentally declaring a Jubilee year to begin on December 8th, 2015! We will discuss that in part III of this series.
How will we solve this mystery?
By praying, watching, and sharing our insights together. We will pray for God’s will to be done regarding the Jubilee; we will watch to see what happens on the earth; and we will share with each other our thoughts in the comments section following each article in this series. If God decides, he can make it very obvious to all of us that a Jubilee year has occurred. We will see it with our own eyes, and hear it with our own ears. It should be that obvious.
And what if nothing happens?
If we reach December 2017 and nothing substantial has happened, then we may simply have to declare the mystery still unsolved. Our promise to you is that we won’t try to force future events to fit into our preconceived notions. Detectives follow the evidence wherever it leads, even if it means they have to go back to the beginning and start over.
This is where real life differs from a novel. If we read a good mystery novel, we are guaranteed to reach a meaningful conclusion by the end of the book. In our case, God has no obligation to grant us the right to solve a mystery in any certain time period.
We have no guarantees! But the rewards are real, not imaginary. And the Bible says in Proverbs 25:2 that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out.
We therefore to humbly invite you to join us in treasure hunt! Would you like to put your detective skills at work, and jump into this story with us? Shall we try to search it out together, as Jews and Christians who share a common interest in the outcome?
As the authors, we will gather together for you, in a series of articles, all the main facts and clues that have been written about the Jubilee, especially those hints that appear in the Bible. We will also review the facts and clues you provide as well on the comment pages! Together we will attempt to solve this mystery, by finding a treasure not hidden in the ground, but hidden in time, the Mystery of the Lost Jubilee.
Next Time…
In the next article we will travel to Jerusalem to see why so many people are wondering if we might be entering a Jubilee year, either right now, or at least very soon.
