1. What great calamity befell the Jewish people?
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve,” Amos 9:9.
2. During this time would there be a colony or government established by them?
“Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth,” verse 9, last part.
NOTE: The grain of corn dropped upon the ground will gradually be covered with dirt, and springing up will grow into a large stalk of corn. God has declared that such would not be the case with the Jewish people, and to this day they have never established a government of their own but have been in a scattered condition through all these years.
3. Why was this punishment placed upon them?
“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saying that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord,” verse 8.
NOTE: God said He would destroy the kingdom, but would not destroy all the seed of Jacob. The kingdom has been destroyed because of the wickedness of the people, but the seed of Jacob are scattered the world over. They are in every nation on the globe.
4. Give one of their main sins.
“Thus saith the lord: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; . . . But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction,” Jeremiah 17:21-23.
5. What would happen to the city of Jerusalem if they failed to keep the Sabbath?
“But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day . . . then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched,” Jeremiah 17:27.
NOTE: Sabbath breaking was the greatest sin the Jewish people were committing in that age of the world’s history, and it was because of this that their chastisement commenced at the time it did.
6. What is said of the land of Palestine during the seventy years captivity?
“And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long . . . as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years,” II Chronicles 36:20, 21.
7. In what year did this punishment commence?
“Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations,” Jeremiah 25:9.
NOTE: The margin tells us this took place in or near the year 606 B.C. History gives about the same date.
8. After these people were scattered among the nations, what would they become? “Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people,” I Kings 9:7.
9. Commencing in the year 606 B.C. for how many years would they be severely punished?
“And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins,” Leviticus 26:18.
10. How many days are there in three and one half times?
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent,” Revelation 12:14. Here we have a period of three and one half times. Verse 6 reads as follows, “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore (1260) days,” verse 6.
NOTE: In this prophecy we have three and one half times representing twelve hundred and sixty days (1260). Then we can very easily double this prophecy, which would make the seven times under consideration. This would equal twenty-five hundred and twenty (2520) days, the length of time the Jewish people would be scattered among all nations.
11. In the prophetic books of the Bible, what does one day represent?
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise,” Numbers 14:34.
NOTE: If one day in prophecy represents one year, twenty five hundred and twenty days would represent twenty-five hundred and twenty (2520) years, or the length of time the Jewish people would be scattered among all nations. This great period of time commenced in or near the year 606 B.C., and counting down the stream of time twenty-five hundred and twenty years would bring us to the year 1914, and in this very year the great war broke out upon the world, which has brought about the fulfillment of many prophecies, some of which we will give as we proceed with this great study.
12. Concerning the Jewish people, what has God said of their re-gathering?
“And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth,” Isaiah 11:12.
13. What does Jeremiah say on this same subject?
“Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God,” Jeremiah 32:37, 38.
14. Concerning this same subject, what does Joel say?
“The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head,” Joel 3:6, 7.
15. Concerning this same subject, what is the teaching of Amos?
“And I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel,” Amos 9:14.
16. Jeremiah, in speaking on this subject presents a wonderful thought.
“Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall return thither,” Jeremiah 31:8.
NOTE: We have given several scriptures concerning the gathering of the literal Jew, and many more could be given on this wonderful subject. God has seen fit to supply us with an abundance of scripture telling us when they were scattered, how long they would remain in this condition, and at what time they would be gathered again. Their twenty five hundred and twenty years ended in the year 1914 as we have already seen, and in that year the world war broke out upon the world. This war continued to grow in fierceness until the Holy Land was wrested from the hands of the Turks, which has cleared the way for the return of the Jews to their own land; the land that was promised to Abraham of old, and the movement is on foot in all the Allied nations, of giving the Holy Land to this people as a national home. After 2520 years of persecution they are wending their way homeward, and accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. God has said: They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first born. Jeremiah 31:9.