And Then The End Will Come

For many years before the final exile of Judah to Babylon we know that the Jewish government was already subject to the Empire of Babylon. Israel had become a province of the gentile empire. We have a reversal of that timeline today ( we are not moving toward captivity but toward the end of captivity), but we have never yet seen a reversal of the imperial situation.

The fact that the government of Israel today cannot simply do what it wants is the fact that would stand out in a history book. What "imperial" power is actually in control in the land of Israel today from the point of view of a future historical perspective looking back on this period? How would the present day situation read if it were written in a book of the Prophets?

The gentile world empire is split today between east and west, or rather, north and south, but it is no less still one empire, or as our governments are fond of calling it, one "civilization", which began in "Mesopotamia". We see that at the time of Mashiach's days on earth Israel was "managed" by the Romans, the fourth beast spoken of in the book of Daniel.

Whether it is with a Temple or without a Temple, since the days of Nebuchadnezzar, Israel has never been out from under the hand of gentile domination. The times of the gentiles did not start with the destruction of the second Temple. Nor have they yet ended.



Today the center of gentile power that "manages" Israel is the US. It is that simple. This is so whether we are looking at the people of the Jewish nation, G-d's nation, Israel, who live in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or New York or Buenos Aries.

But the gentile power is a house divided against itself. We should look at what divided it.

Historically speaking, when was it divided? The division began with the death of Alexander the Great, when the Greek Empire failed to establish a singular and settled control over Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. This is when the "prince" of Egypt and the "prince" of Persia (then centered on Syria) saw opportunity to ascend in power through the necessity of one or the other establishing clear dominance in the land of Israel.

We remember that Alexander himself had a vision of the High Priest of G-d who then met him on his way to conquering Jerusalem, which he then did not conquer out of fear of the word of G-d. However, this resulted in the Roman ascendancy to power over the Greeks, not the immediate ascendancy of Israel to power over the Greeks. For such was the purpose and plan of G-d.

But while the Romans ascended to power their empire did not heal the underlying spiritual division between the north and the south for control over Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. The first manifestation of this division between the Ptolemies of the south and the Seleucids of the north seemed to be obscured by the Hasmoneans. But the Hasmonean failure to messianically exploit the fear of HaShem instilled by prophetic power into Alexander resulted in their becoming merely a bridge to the Romans.



It could not have been otherwise. For it was the purpose of G-d that Mashiach should come and suffer for Israel's redemption, allowing for the ascendancy of an Edomite empire, the unG-dly kingdom of Rome.

It was no accident that the king of Judah at the time of Yehoshua HaMashiach was a prince of Edom, representing a prince of the south. Nor was it any accident that both Titus and Hadrian were representing the prince of the north. While the southern rule would always be a more sympathetic, pulling, force toward the Jews, the northern rule would always be a more anti-Semitic, pushing, force against the Jews.

The Hasmoneans seemed to obscure the struggle between the northern power and the southern power to control Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. Once the Romans took control they also took over the mantle of obscurity covering over this struggle from the eyes of the world. It appeared that Rome was one and that Jerusalem and the Land of Israel was now being 'managed' by one gentile power. This illusion was shattered when the Roman Empire was itself divided into two forces. In fact the division had always been there. It had been inherited from the Greeks and was simply manifesting itself again.

But why instead of being divided into a division of north and south was the Roman Empire divided into a division of east and west? To the eyes of the world this suggested that the division was based on new conflicts, merely gentile concerns, and not the old division between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, which centered on the Land of Israel. But to Biblical eyes it was and is clear that nothing had changed.

Edom/Rome took on the responsibility of ruling the world at the time when Israel and her Messiah ought to have been prepared to do this. But HaShem no longer had the same interest in sustaining this world that He had previously, in preparing for the coming of Mashiach to Israel.

HaShem was now interested in sustaining this world only for one purpose: bringing about the repentance of Jerusalem in order that she would receive her Messiah. After that there would be a new interest in sustaining this world for a time. For all these ages, from the time of Adam, were only for the purpose of preparing the world for re-creation, for cosmic redemption, for bringing a knowledge of HaShem that transcended sin and death.

Edom/Rome took on the responsibility of ruling the world and it was a responsibility that it did not merit or deserve and, despite its roads for commerce and military technique could not uphold. When Diocletian briefly reunited the splintering empire he did so by purely military force. It was as if the western Roman Empire was no longer needed as a united political entity by Divine Providence for the purposes of the captivity and purification of Israel and would not be needed as such again until the very end days.

The eastern Roman Empire, which came to be called the Byzantine Empire, but which was still the Roman Empire, was sufficient as a political entity for control of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel until modern times. Whether this power was "Christian" or Ottoman Muslim should not be allowed to confuse us. Only when Britain and then the US took over the management of the Land of Israel from the Turks did the balance of power shift back to the heirs of the west and the Holy Roman Empire.



The secret of how the east and west of the Roman Empire is actually north and south can only be understood when it is understood that the division of the Roman Empire into east and west always included a division into north and south. While the trouble for Rome and for the Empire was always coming from the north, while Diocletian labored to harness this power, pushing up the Danube, his main challenge, like every ruler of the fourth beast before and after him was to try to resolve the power struggle over the Land of Israel between the forces from Egypt and the forces from Persia. Nevertheless, the foundation of Rome's power is the division between north and south and it will never heal this division without destroying itself, although it must make every effort to do so in order to sustain itself.

We must understand that when Roman Diocletian or Gallerius would fight against the Egyptian powers they represented the spiritual prince of the north. When they turned around and fought against the Persian powers they represented the spiritual prince of the south. Ultimately, this effort to unify these forces and bring into one and bring "global peace" took form in a political manifestation of Christianity. Just how nearly this incurable division between north and south over the Land of Israel seemed to be healed by this political Christianity, after the invention of this system by Constantine, can be seen by consideration of the story of two sister-in-laws, Aelia Eudocia Augusta, Theodosius the Second's wife, and Pulchria, Theodosius's older sister.

Pulchria was a devout Constantinian Christian. While the anti-Semitic, (at that time German) forces of the north supported and filled Pulchria, so that she influenced her brother to exile the Jews and burn their synagogues, Eudocia used her influence at court to protect the Jews. That this was not merely a result of Eudocia's own non-Christian upbringing can be seen from the fact that she moved to Jerusalem to compose literary works and later died there, having paraphrased the first eight books of the Tanach, as well as Daniel and Zechariah. Thus we see a spirit of Byzantine (Roman) Christianity that seeks to be "Hebraic" and inviting and protective toward the Jews and a spirit of Byzantine (Roman) Christianity that seeks to destroy the Jews utterly and entirely. And these forces that united and divided Eudocia and Pulchria are the forces that moved the western empire out of Rome to Milan and produced the Holy Roman Empire and that carried the Byzantine Roman Empire to modern times, once it became disguised as the Moslem Empire.

We should not think then, that the military power that passed from Germany to Britain and the US is simply the power of the king of the north and that the Arab power is simply the power of the king of the south. Rather, we should recognize that whatever power is controlling Egypt is the king of the south and whatever power is controlling Persia is the king of the north, even if, as in the case of Diocletian, it is the same earthly power, simply being used as a pawn by one and then the other spiritual power. When the US controlled Persia it was in the position of the king of the north. When Russia controlled Egypt, it was in the position of king of the south.

What we need to understand is that these two forces are the forces of the captivity of Israel working in the heart of the Jewish person whether they live in Jerusalem, New York or La Paz. This is not about Christendom or Islam. There can be no true liberation of the people of Israel or of the Land of Israel until Israel as the only nation of G-d accepts fully her responsibility to take back from Edom the challenge of ruling the earth, from Adam to beast, from the grasses to the angels, Israel must rule all by rightly interpreting the Torah of G-d. And this will not happen by building settlements on the west bank. This will come only by the Good News of Israel and Her Messiah being made known unto the ends of the earth and by the ingathering of the gentiles through the conversion of their very messianic religion itself to the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the faith of Yehoshua the Messiah. Then, and only then, will the end of the captivity come.