The historical Revelation
What human, or group of humans, from many centuries ago could or would have put in their book a bunch of predictions that are highly unusual, inconsistent and/or supernatural?
And even more astounding - how is it that every single one of these unusual, contradictory and/or supernatural predictions have, over the course of history, actually occurred?!
Check out the absolutely unique , supernatural history of the Jewish people,
which was somehow all predicted thousands of years ago.
And even more astounding - how is it that every single one of these unusual, contradictory and/or supernatural predictions have, over the course of history, actually occurred?!
Check out the absolutely unique , supernatural history of the Jewish people,
which was somehow all predicted thousands of years ago.
)According to religious Jews, the Torah was dictated to Moses in the desert around 3330 years ago. Biblical critics teach that the Torah is actually a compilation of four human made texts which were redacted around 2,500 years ago into the current text. (for several problems with this theory read this).
Let's assume for now that the biblical critics are correct. Imagine the possibility of human authors, sitting around thousands of years ago, thinking what to write in their guidebook. “Don't kill”, “don't steal” - sounds good to me. However, when one reads the Torah in some depth, one finds that, apart from these basic precepts, it contains some pretty remarkable claims.
Could a human, or group of humans, living many centuries ago, have written a book, containing unusual, inconsistent and/or supernatural predictions, which actually came true?
Consider the following absolutely unique, supernatural history of the Jewish people, which was all predicted in the Torah and, then decide for yourself whether this could possibly have been predicted and written by a human or humans.
1. Eternal Nation
Close to the beginning of the Torah, the author claims that the Jewish people will be an eternal nation.
"I will ratify My covenant between Me and you and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your offspring after you" (Genesis 17:7).
Anyone familiar with human psychology knows that this is something that any nation would want to claim, but anyone familiar with history knows that it is pretty unlikely to be manifest - as demonstrated by the fact that nations and empires rise and fall all the time. There are no Aztec, Babylonian or Edomite nations around today to name a few.
Now, a Chinese text written thousands of years ago saying they would be an eternal nation would be unremarkable. As they have a strong, large, well-established country, many many people, a shared language and culture and being generally free from persecution, you would expect that.
Yet the history of the Jewish people has shown that we have lacked all these major factors that strengthen the chance of survival. Even more astounding is that the author of the Torah predicts this, which goes in the face of the eternal nation prediction actually coming true. Far from predicting that the Jewish people would have a common well-established land, many people and resources and remain free from persecution - the author predicts the exact opposite!
First, why would anyone predict such awful things for their nation?
Secondly, seeing that they did all happen, how did this first prediction - that there would always be Jews - also stand the test of history?
As Mark Twain famously said:
"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way... The Jew has made a marvellous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendour, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"
(Essay “Concerning the Jews”, 1899)
This does not make Jewish history unusual, it makes it completely unique.
Consider the following.
PART ONE – Three negative predictions
2. Exiled and Dispersed
The Torah says that we will enter the land of Israel but then, after not following the Torah
"the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other…” (Deuteronomy 28:64)
Far from having a strong consistent homeland, the Jewish people were exiled twice from their land - first, when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE and second, after ‘Herod’s’ Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. An earlier example of Jewish dispersal is the conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, when the ten tribes of the northern
Kingdom were exiled from the land and became the “Ten Lost Tribes”.
We see throughout history that the natural consequence of being conquered is assimilation into the conquering power’s culture. This applies even more so after exile from the land completely.
For centuries, Jews were expelled from many countries eg England (1290), Spain (1492), Portugal (1496) and never had a stable homeland. We became the ‘Wandering Jews’, dispersed all over the world. The vast majority of Jews today do not live in the same country in which their grandparents were born! For much of our history, most Jews never set foot in Israel.
The striking fact is that the prediction of dispersal came true. It is perplexing to think that human authors would make this claim: Would they have said: “We are going to go into the promised land - and then mess it up and get kicked out!?”
What other religion makes claims against themselves like that?
We see that this prediction is:
(i) negative (goes against human psychology to write such a thing);
(ii) extraordinary (why would humans think this would happen?); and,
(iii) inconsistent (goes against the eternal nation claim)
3. Few in Number
Now, suppose we were exiled and dispersed, but there were billions of us; then. no doubt, we would easily have survived.
However, the Torah says:
"You will be left few in number, instead of being like the stars of the heavens in abundance, for you will not have hearkened to the voice of HASHEM, your God." (Deuteronomy 28:62)
This is remarkable considering that one of the first commandments in the Torah is to be fruitful and multiply.
Ancient people with high birth-rate = huge numbers!
We know that, whereas the average birth-rate in America is 1.7 children per family, the average number of children in orthodox Jewish families in 8. According to natural history, had the Jewish nation grown at the same rate as the rest of the world, we should now be 400 million people, the third biggest nation on the planet after China and India! Far from that, we make up only 0.2% of the world's population.
Once again - a) who would make this prediction about their own nation and b) how did it transpire contrary to all natural history?
[It may be said it is because of persecution that we've remained few in number. However, since the Holocaust (after which we have not been overly persecuted), the rest of the world's population has grown by three and a half times. That
means we should have gone from 11 million Jews at the end of the Holocaust to 39 million now. We know that isn't the case and, far from even doubling our numbers, we have maintained a consistent rate of increase throughout the ages
to reach 14.7 million today (even given our overall high birth rate).]
We see that this prediction is:
(i) negative (goes against human psychology to write such a thing);
(ii) extraordinary (goes against natural population growth trends); and,
(iii) inconsistent (goes against the eternal nation claim).
4. Persecuted
Can we think of any way an exiled nation with very few people could actually survive even though they are scattered around the world? How about this: The Jews will be so beloved in the eyes of the entire world that the nations will make sure they continue to exist, no matter where we are. "Ah, those wonderful Jews, we must keep them alive and well, forever. Let's build Jewish cultural centres in every city."
We see the reverse is true.
Anti-Semitism is the most universal, irrational, extreme type of hatred the world has ever known.
This was, of course, predicted in the Torah:
"And among those nations, you will not be tranquil, there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; there HASHEM will give you a trembling heart, longing of eyes and suffering of soul. Your life will hang in the balance, and you will be frightened, night and day, and you will not be sure of your livelihood." (Deuteronomy 28:65-66)
Once again - a) who would write this about themselves and b ) how are there any Jews left, given this reality?
We see that this prediction is:
(i) negative (goes against human psychology to write such a thing);
(ii) extraordinary (why would humans think this would happen?); and,
(iii) inconsistent (goes against the eternal nation claim)
NO OTHER NATION EXISTS THAT HAS BEEN EXILED, DISPERSED, REMAINED FEW IN NUMBER AND CONSISTENTLY
PERSECUTED BECAUSE THIS IS A GUARANTEED RECIPE FOR VERY QUICK EXTINCTION.
YET, FOR THE JEWS, IT WAS ALL PREDICTED, IT HAS TRANSPIRED AND WE
HAVE NOT ONLY SURVIVED BUT, AGAINST ALL ODDS, THRIVED.
PART TWO – Three positive predictions
So far, we have seen three unusual, negative and unnatural predictions which are not things people would normally predict about themselves. These are inconsistent with the prediction that we will be an eternal nation, but which have all actually occurred. Now, let's say we could find a reason that somehow this small nation has survived (eg, there was always a core who held deeply to their beliefs), what sort of influence and impact would you expect the small nation to have on the affairs of mankind? At best, the Jews should be hobbling through existence, tails between their legs, living in some small villages somewhere, hanging on to their traditions as best they can. Somewhat like the gypsies or aboriginals, who are pretty scattered and disliked, without a homeland of their own – and, as would be expected, have made absolutely
no impact on civilisation whatsoever.
Yet, with the Jewish people - we see the opposite is true.
Consider the following three amazing predictions in the Torah of the flourishing of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, which are being revealed in front of our very own eyes.
5. Light unto the Nations
The author of the Torah makes the far-fetched prediction, going in the face of all natural possibility - that this exiled, hated, tiny nation, far from being unheard of and struggling to hang on, would in fact be a light unto the nations!
"And I will make you into a great nation; I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you." (Genesis 12: 2-3)
Incidentally, the phrase ‘Light unto the Nations’ comes from the Book of Isaiah:
"I the LORD have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people's
covenant, as a light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).
Now, everyone knows that Israel, despite being just 72 years old, having no natural resources and having been at constant war or threat of war, is a world leader in high-tec, medicine, science, agriculture, defence, and higher education; and that Jews, despite making up only 0.2% of the world population, have won 22% of Nobel Prizes. That is simply not natural.
(Check out this incredible video about Israel Defying the Odds).
Let's read more from Mark Twain:
"Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers."
Much more importantly, it is Judaism that gave the world the morals which we all hold as obvious today, and taught the world about the existence of the One G-d in whom the majority of the world’s population now believes Plato and Aristotle
believed in infanticide and the Romans forced gladiators to fight to the death and had other blood sports as popular entertainment., Judaism, through the Torah, demonstrates to the world that that was not in order.
Or as John Adams, Second President of America said:
“I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.”
An exiled, small, severely persecuted people, becoming a Light unto the Nations?! Unheard of and totally unpredictable by humans some 2,500 years ago! Yet, amazingly, this actually happened, as predicted in the Torah.
6. Interdependency of the Land of Israel and the Jewish People
This is where it becomes truly astonishing . We know from the 1st century historian Josephus that the land of Israel was an extremely lush, fertile area, with big cities and an abundance of trees and crops.
Yet, whoever wrote the Torah made a supernatural prediction about the future of the Land:
"I will make the land desolate; and your foes who dwell upon it will be desolate. And you, I will scatter you among the nations, I will unsheathe the sword after you; your land will be desolate, and your cities will be a ruin...All the years of its desolation, it [the land] will rest…” (Leviticus 26: 32-33/35)
The Torah is saying that when the Jewish people are exiled, the land itself will rest and remain desolate. Does the land have consciousness? Does it know who is there and refuse to bear fruit for or be settled by anyone apart from the Jewish
people? Who's ever heard of such a thing?
When the native Americans were driven from their land, did it remain desolate? No, it turned into Manhattan.
The fact the land, of what is now Israel, remained desolate is even more remarkable given the fact that a) it is the land-bridge between Africa and Asia, therefore making it one of the most prized pieces of real estate in the world and b) it is considered the holy land and most important place (after their capital) for the Muslim and Christian empires who ruled over it.
Every empire who ever tried to rule the world came and conquered and tried to make the land flourish and extensively habitable - yet not one of them ever succeeded. We see historically that the area of the Land of Israel did indeed remain desolate for nearly 2,000 years - through the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. There were no flourishing fields, no big conurbations, no thriving civilisation and a dwindling population (in 1890, there were only 440,000 people in the whole land, whereas today, Jerusalem alone has twice that number).
Since the Jewish people retuned to the Land of Israel in 1948, the land itself has become fertile and is thriving. The land has responded only to the Jewish people.
No other nation has ever been able to cultivate it and build such a thriving civilsation here. Now, there are bustling cities, commerce, technology, agriculture and a multi-million dollar export industry of fruit, flowers and vegetables around the world.
That this transpired is unique and supernatural as it transcends the laws of nature.
Yet, whoever wrote the Torah predicted exactly that! Was that the work of human authors at least 2,500 years ago? I think not.
7. Return to the Land
To top it all: whoever wrote the Torah made the incredible prediction that the exiled Jewish people, unlike any other nation ever, would not only survive, but will actually return to their land!
"Then HASHEM, your God, will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will return and gather you in from all the peoples, to which HASHEM, your God, had scattered you.” (Deuteronomy 30:3)
HASHEM, your God, will bring you to the Land that your forefathers possessed, and you shall possess it; He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your forefathers." (Deuteronomy 30:5)
A nation, or a people, who were without a homeland for around 2,000 years and which still exists is unique in itself. For that nation then to return to their land after all that time is totally unimaginable. For that fact to be predicted 3.300 years ago is supernatural.
In 1900, only 0.5% of Jews were living in the Land of Israel. In 1948 and 1949, 341,000 Jews made Aliyah. .Within the first six years of the Jewish state being re-declared in 1948, the population of Israel doubled. I made Aliyah in 2008 along with 13,701 other Jews. In 2020 around 49% of the Jews of the world live in Israel. By numbers, more Jews live in Israel today than at any other time in history. 120 years ago, no-one in the world spoke Hebrew. Today it is a revived language spoken by millions of people around the world.
All of this was so incredibly unlikely that it is unique in human history, yet it was all predicted.
YOU HAVE WITNESSED A COMPLETELY UNUSUAL AND SUPERNATURAL HISTORY THAT IS STILL
UNFOLDING BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES. MORE INCREDIBLE IS THAT IT WAS ALL PREDICTED IN A TEXT THAT WAS
WRITTEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO. WHO COULD HAVE MADE THESE UNUSUAL, INCONSISTENT AND
SUPERNATURAL PREDICTIONS THAT ALL ACTUALLY TRANSPIRED?
WHOEVER DID SO,
A) HAD A CLEAR PROPHETIC KNOWLEDGE OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FUTURE, LIKE NO HUMAN HAS AND/OR
B) HAD THE ABILITY TO CONTROL HISTORY AND NATURE, LIKE NO HUMAN CAN OR
C) TOOK AN ASTRONOMICALLY CRAZY RISK FOR NO APPARENT REASON, PREDICTING A SUPERNATURAL, FANTASY HISTORY, AND, ALL BY CHANCE, IT HAPPENED AS HE OR THEY SAID.
PLEASE CHOOSE WHICH IS MOST REASONABLE TO BELIEVE AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
Let's assume for now that the biblical critics are correct. Imagine the possibility of human authors, sitting around thousands of years ago, thinking what to write in their guidebook. “Don't kill”, “don't steal” - sounds good to me. However, when one reads the Torah in some depth, one finds that, apart from these basic precepts, it contains some pretty remarkable claims.
Could a human, or group of humans, living many centuries ago, have written a book, containing unusual, inconsistent and/or supernatural predictions, which actually came true?
Consider the following absolutely unique, supernatural history of the Jewish people, which was all predicted in the Torah and, then decide for yourself whether this could possibly have been predicted and written by a human or humans.
1. Eternal Nation
Close to the beginning of the Torah, the author claims that the Jewish people will be an eternal nation.
"I will ratify My covenant between Me and you and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your offspring after you" (Genesis 17:7).
Anyone familiar with human psychology knows that this is something that any nation would want to claim, but anyone familiar with history knows that it is pretty unlikely to be manifest - as demonstrated by the fact that nations and empires rise and fall all the time. There are no Aztec, Babylonian or Edomite nations around today to name a few.
Now, a Chinese text written thousands of years ago saying they would be an eternal nation would be unremarkable. As they have a strong, large, well-established country, many many people, a shared language and culture and being generally free from persecution, you would expect that.
Yet the history of the Jewish people has shown that we have lacked all these major factors that strengthen the chance of survival. Even more astounding is that the author of the Torah predicts this, which goes in the face of the eternal nation prediction actually coming true. Far from predicting that the Jewish people would have a common well-established land, many people and resources and remain free from persecution - the author predicts the exact opposite!
First, why would anyone predict such awful things for their nation?
Secondly, seeing that they did all happen, how did this first prediction - that there would always be Jews - also stand the test of history?
As Mark Twain famously said:
"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way... The Jew has made a marvellous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendour, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"
(Essay “Concerning the Jews”, 1899)
This does not make Jewish history unusual, it makes it completely unique.
Consider the following.
PART ONE – Three negative predictions
2. Exiled and Dispersed
The Torah says that we will enter the land of Israel but then, after not following the Torah
"the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other…” (Deuteronomy 28:64)
Far from having a strong consistent homeland, the Jewish people were exiled twice from their land - first, when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE and second, after ‘Herod’s’ Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. An earlier example of Jewish dispersal is the conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, when the ten tribes of the northern
Kingdom were exiled from the land and became the “Ten Lost Tribes”.
We see throughout history that the natural consequence of being conquered is assimilation into the conquering power’s culture. This applies even more so after exile from the land completely.
For centuries, Jews were expelled from many countries eg England (1290), Spain (1492), Portugal (1496) and never had a stable homeland. We became the ‘Wandering Jews’, dispersed all over the world. The vast majority of Jews today do not live in the same country in which their grandparents were born! For much of our history, most Jews never set foot in Israel.
The striking fact is that the prediction of dispersal came true. It is perplexing to think that human authors would make this claim: Would they have said: “We are going to go into the promised land - and then mess it up and get kicked out!?”
What other religion makes claims against themselves like that?
We see that this prediction is:
(i) negative (goes against human psychology to write such a thing);
(ii) extraordinary (why would humans think this would happen?); and,
(iii) inconsistent (goes against the eternal nation claim)
3. Few in Number
Now, suppose we were exiled and dispersed, but there were billions of us; then. no doubt, we would easily have survived.
However, the Torah says:
"You will be left few in number, instead of being like the stars of the heavens in abundance, for you will not have hearkened to the voice of HASHEM, your God." (Deuteronomy 28:62)
This is remarkable considering that one of the first commandments in the Torah is to be fruitful and multiply.
Ancient people with high birth-rate = huge numbers!
We know that, whereas the average birth-rate in America is 1.7 children per family, the average number of children in orthodox Jewish families in 8. According to natural history, had the Jewish nation grown at the same rate as the rest of the world, we should now be 400 million people, the third biggest nation on the planet after China and India! Far from that, we make up only 0.2% of the world's population.
Once again - a) who would make this prediction about their own nation and b) how did it transpire contrary to all natural history?
[It may be said it is because of persecution that we've remained few in number. However, since the Holocaust (after which we have not been overly persecuted), the rest of the world's population has grown by three and a half times. That
means we should have gone from 11 million Jews at the end of the Holocaust to 39 million now. We know that isn't the case and, far from even doubling our numbers, we have maintained a consistent rate of increase throughout the ages
to reach 14.7 million today (even given our overall high birth rate).]
We see that this prediction is:
(i) negative (goes against human psychology to write such a thing);
(ii) extraordinary (goes against natural population growth trends); and,
(iii) inconsistent (goes against the eternal nation claim).
4. Persecuted
Can we think of any way an exiled nation with very few people could actually survive even though they are scattered around the world? How about this: The Jews will be so beloved in the eyes of the entire world that the nations will make sure they continue to exist, no matter where we are. "Ah, those wonderful Jews, we must keep them alive and well, forever. Let's build Jewish cultural centres in every city."
We see the reverse is true.
Anti-Semitism is the most universal, irrational, extreme type of hatred the world has ever known.
This was, of course, predicted in the Torah:
"And among those nations, you will not be tranquil, there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; there HASHEM will give you a trembling heart, longing of eyes and suffering of soul. Your life will hang in the balance, and you will be frightened, night and day, and you will not be sure of your livelihood." (Deuteronomy 28:65-66)
Once again - a) who would write this about themselves and b ) how are there any Jews left, given this reality?
We see that this prediction is:
(i) negative (goes against human psychology to write such a thing);
(ii) extraordinary (why would humans think this would happen?); and,
(iii) inconsistent (goes against the eternal nation claim)
NO OTHER NATION EXISTS THAT HAS BEEN EXILED, DISPERSED, REMAINED FEW IN NUMBER AND CONSISTENTLY
PERSECUTED BECAUSE THIS IS A GUARANTEED RECIPE FOR VERY QUICK EXTINCTION.
YET, FOR THE JEWS, IT WAS ALL PREDICTED, IT HAS TRANSPIRED AND WE
HAVE NOT ONLY SURVIVED BUT, AGAINST ALL ODDS, THRIVED.
PART TWO – Three positive predictions
So far, we have seen three unusual, negative and unnatural predictions which are not things people would normally predict about themselves. These are inconsistent with the prediction that we will be an eternal nation, but which have all actually occurred. Now, let's say we could find a reason that somehow this small nation has survived (eg, there was always a core who held deeply to their beliefs), what sort of influence and impact would you expect the small nation to have on the affairs of mankind? At best, the Jews should be hobbling through existence, tails between their legs, living in some small villages somewhere, hanging on to their traditions as best they can. Somewhat like the gypsies or aboriginals, who are pretty scattered and disliked, without a homeland of their own – and, as would be expected, have made absolutely
no impact on civilisation whatsoever.
Yet, with the Jewish people - we see the opposite is true.
Consider the following three amazing predictions in the Torah of the flourishing of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, which are being revealed in front of our very own eyes.
5. Light unto the Nations
The author of the Torah makes the far-fetched prediction, going in the face of all natural possibility - that this exiled, hated, tiny nation, far from being unheard of and struggling to hang on, would in fact be a light unto the nations!
"And I will make you into a great nation; I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you." (Genesis 12: 2-3)
Incidentally, the phrase ‘Light unto the Nations’ comes from the Book of Isaiah:
"I the LORD have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people's
covenant, as a light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).
Now, everyone knows that Israel, despite being just 72 years old, having no natural resources and having been at constant war or threat of war, is a world leader in high-tec, medicine, science, agriculture, defence, and higher education; and that Jews, despite making up only 0.2% of the world population, have won 22% of Nobel Prizes. That is simply not natural.
(Check out this incredible video about Israel Defying the Odds).
Let's read more from Mark Twain:
"Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers."
Much more importantly, it is Judaism that gave the world the morals which we all hold as obvious today, and taught the world about the existence of the One G-d in whom the majority of the world’s population now believes Plato and Aristotle
believed in infanticide and the Romans forced gladiators to fight to the death and had other blood sports as popular entertainment., Judaism, through the Torah, demonstrates to the world that that was not in order.
Or as John Adams, Second President of America said:
“I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.”
An exiled, small, severely persecuted people, becoming a Light unto the Nations?! Unheard of and totally unpredictable by humans some 2,500 years ago! Yet, amazingly, this actually happened, as predicted in the Torah.
6. Interdependency of the Land of Israel and the Jewish People
This is where it becomes truly astonishing . We know from the 1st century historian Josephus that the land of Israel was an extremely lush, fertile area, with big cities and an abundance of trees and crops.
Yet, whoever wrote the Torah made a supernatural prediction about the future of the Land:
"I will make the land desolate; and your foes who dwell upon it will be desolate. And you, I will scatter you among the nations, I will unsheathe the sword after you; your land will be desolate, and your cities will be a ruin...All the years of its desolation, it [the land] will rest…” (Leviticus 26: 32-33/35)
The Torah is saying that when the Jewish people are exiled, the land itself will rest and remain desolate. Does the land have consciousness? Does it know who is there and refuse to bear fruit for or be settled by anyone apart from the Jewish
people? Who's ever heard of such a thing?
When the native Americans were driven from their land, did it remain desolate? No, it turned into Manhattan.
The fact the land, of what is now Israel, remained desolate is even more remarkable given the fact that a) it is the land-bridge between Africa and Asia, therefore making it one of the most prized pieces of real estate in the world and b) it is considered the holy land and most important place (after their capital) for the Muslim and Christian empires who ruled over it.
Every empire who ever tried to rule the world came and conquered and tried to make the land flourish and extensively habitable - yet not one of them ever succeeded. We see historically that the area of the Land of Israel did indeed remain desolate for nearly 2,000 years - through the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. There were no flourishing fields, no big conurbations, no thriving civilisation and a dwindling population (in 1890, there were only 440,000 people in the whole land, whereas today, Jerusalem alone has twice that number).
Since the Jewish people retuned to the Land of Israel in 1948, the land itself has become fertile and is thriving. The land has responded only to the Jewish people.
No other nation has ever been able to cultivate it and build such a thriving civilsation here. Now, there are bustling cities, commerce, technology, agriculture and a multi-million dollar export industry of fruit, flowers and vegetables around the world.
That this transpired is unique and supernatural as it transcends the laws of nature.
Yet, whoever wrote the Torah predicted exactly that! Was that the work of human authors at least 2,500 years ago? I think not.
7. Return to the Land
To top it all: whoever wrote the Torah made the incredible prediction that the exiled Jewish people, unlike any other nation ever, would not only survive, but will actually return to their land!
"Then HASHEM, your God, will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will return and gather you in from all the peoples, to which HASHEM, your God, had scattered you.” (Deuteronomy 30:3)
HASHEM, your God, will bring you to the Land that your forefathers possessed, and you shall possess it; He will do good to you and make you more numerous than your forefathers." (Deuteronomy 30:5)
A nation, or a people, who were without a homeland for around 2,000 years and which still exists is unique in itself. For that nation then to return to their land after all that time is totally unimaginable. For that fact to be predicted 3.300 years ago is supernatural.
In 1900, only 0.5% of Jews were living in the Land of Israel. In 1948 and 1949, 341,000 Jews made Aliyah. .Within the first six years of the Jewish state being re-declared in 1948, the population of Israel doubled. I made Aliyah in 2008 along with 13,701 other Jews. In 2020 around 49% of the Jews of the world live in Israel. By numbers, more Jews live in Israel today than at any other time in history. 120 years ago, no-one in the world spoke Hebrew. Today it is a revived language spoken by millions of people around the world.
All of this was so incredibly unlikely that it is unique in human history, yet it was all predicted.
YOU HAVE WITNESSED A COMPLETELY UNUSUAL AND SUPERNATURAL HISTORY THAT IS STILL
UNFOLDING BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES. MORE INCREDIBLE IS THAT IT WAS ALL PREDICTED IN A TEXT THAT WAS
WRITTEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO. WHO COULD HAVE MADE THESE UNUSUAL, INCONSISTENT AND
SUPERNATURAL PREDICTIONS THAT ALL ACTUALLY TRANSPIRED?
WHOEVER DID SO,
A) HAD A CLEAR PROPHETIC KNOWLEDGE OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FUTURE, LIKE NO HUMAN HAS AND/OR
B) HAD THE ABILITY TO CONTROL HISTORY AND NATURE, LIKE NO HUMAN CAN OR
C) TOOK AN ASTRONOMICALLY CRAZY RISK FOR NO APPARENT REASON, PREDICTING A SUPERNATURAL, FANTASY HISTORY, AND, ALL BY CHANCE, IT HAPPENED AS HE OR THEY SAID.
PLEASE CHOOSE WHICH IS MOST REASONABLE TO BELIEVE AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
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