Witnessing Prophecy Fulfilled: The Divine Promise Unfolding Before Us, Against All Odds

The Torah of Israel is the only one where true prophecies are given and have come true before our eyes. While other religions deal with promises related only to the afterlife, because no dead have returned to life to testify the truth. A prophetic promise carries a tremendous risk, as if the prophecy does not come true and reality shows otherwise, that prophet and religion will meet their end, since a prophecy that is indeed divine must occur, and therefore a failed prophecy proves that the prophet and religion are false.

Other religions that tried their luck with prophetic promises suffered painful failures when these promises were proven false in reality. For example, the world's largest religion promised that the people of Israel would never again rule the land of Israel, and with our return to our land, it suffered a severe blow. Then the people of that religion invented a flimsy excuse, claiming the prophetic promise meant we would never control the holy city of Jerusalem. Yet they were struck again when we conquered Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Then they fought to make Jerusalem an international city, an attempt to adjust reality to their false beliefs.

Other prophecies, not from the Bible, have always been vague and unclear, open to various interpretations. They are filled with vague descriptions like 'a great thunder', 'the big city', etc.

In contrast, the prophecies in the Bible are clear and unequivocal, describing realities not open to interpretation. Additionally, the Bible’s prophecies promise scenarios that seem illogical and even absurd, yet time and again, reality proves the truth of the Bible’s prophecies.

Let's give an example of one prophecy among many - the land of Israel waiting for the return of the Jewish people.

The Torah calls the land of Israel 'a land flowing with milk and honey', and describes its agricultural abundance: "For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs, and underground waters coming out in valley and hill; a land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce, and you will lack nothing." (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). Even the Talmud contains testimonies from the Amoraic sages about the agricultural abundance in the land of Israel, and the letter of 'Aristeas', written about 2,200 years ago when the Jewish people lived in their land, describes the impressions of a delegation sent by Ptolemy II: ‘Their land is full of olive and grain crops, legumes and vineyards, honey in abundance, as well as other fruit trees and date palms. Livestock of all kinds, and pasturage is plentiful’.

Indeed, the prophecy in the Torah promises that during our exile, the land of Israel would remain desolate and barren and no nation would succeed in cultivating it, despite the fact that its soil is fertile. The Torah describes the desolation of the land during exile: "And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out the sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste." (Leviticus 26:33). The Torah describes that the nations who come into the land will stand stunned at the devastation spread here: "And all nations shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?... And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy 29:23-27).

The American author Mark Twain traveled to the land of Israel in 1867 and published his observations in his book “The Innocents Abroad,” writing: "A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds—a silent mournful expanse. There is such forlorn hopelessness to its desolation that imagination cannot grace it with the pomp of life and action. We reached Mount Tabor... all the way, we did not see a human being... hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country... Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes, over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies. Palestine is desolate and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise? Can the curse of heaven lava a land that was lush and fertile into a land of sand and stone?" In another part he adds: "In 'picturesque Palestine,' every square inch is desolate. Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpicturesque in shape. The valleys are unsightly deserts waiting desolate through slow ages, with only a sagebrush and prickly pear to mark their scorched brown edges. Every outline is harsh, every feature is distinct."

Professor Sir John William Dawson summarizes in 1888 from his book 'Modern Science in Bible Lands London,' the history of the land since the people of Israel were exiled: 'To this day, no nation has succeeded in establishing themselves as a nation in the land of Israel. There is no national unity or national spirit that has gripped here. That mixed multitude of migratory tribes who stayed there held the land merely as tenant farmers without rights to ownership, evidently waiting for those worthy of ownership'.

No nation in the world, besides the Jewish nation, was able to settle and cultivate the land of Israel despite its fertile soil, during two thousand years of exile. And then, about 140 years ago, the return of Jews to the land of Israel began, and slowly the land started to flourish and develop after two thousand years of desolation. The return to Zion began, and the mourning land dresses in a floral green coat.

Before our eyes, we see a divine promise, against all logic, that the land of Israel, the exclusive home of the Jewish people, closes its gates to foreign nations, remaining desolate and barren until the return of the Jewish people. From the day the Jews left, the land remained desolate. Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks, Crusaders, Mamluks, Turks, and British all stayed there temporarily. No other nation developed the land and was able to see it flourish, as promised in the Torah.

Rabbi Zamir Cohen in his fascinating lesson on prophecies of the end times in light of archaeological findings. Watch:

Biblical prophecies: How can one escape the birth pangs of the Messiah in the end of days? What process will the people of Israel go through until the coming of the Messiah? When will we know we have reached the last exile? Rabbi Zamir Cohen’s thorough and fascinating lesson on historical prophecies that have been fulfilled in the past and future redemption prophecies:

Want to read more? Hereyou can read about more prophecies and their realization, and you can find additional fascinating content in the 'Prophecies' section.