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Today In Prophecy
Israel’s Growth “He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12, NKJV). Jews have been, and continue to be, far more migratory than any other religious group, according to a new study from Pew Rsearch. One in four of the world’s Jews have migrated from one country to another, compared to just 5% of Christians and only 4% of Muslims who have left their native lands. The findings are part of a comprehensive new study on religion and global migration, released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which tracked the journeys of the world’s 214 million migrants. “The world Jewish community is consolidating,” said Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. “Jews are abandoning Third World countries where historically they had been persecuted and moving to large and generally free First World countries.” No other major religious group approached the 25% migration rate of the Jews, said Phillip Connor, the senior researcher on the study. On average, he said, only 3% of the world’s population migrates. The study shows that the vast majority of the 13.3 million Jews worldwide now live in one of two countries: 43% live in Israel and 39% live in the United States. The study suggests that the two major drivers of this Jewish migration to either Israel or the U.S. have been the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the fall and breakup of the former Soviet Union beginning in 1989. Israel’s Uniqueness By man’s standards, Israel’s rapid growth rate is atypical for developed countries. Since the 1948 founding of the State of Israel, immigration has led the almost tenfold increase in the population. Since its establishment, Jews have immigrated to Israel from some 130 countries. Now a densely populated country, the land of Israel still has large regions which are thinly populated. Compared to most countries, the population of Israel is young (median age 28.3 years), its infant mortality rate is low (5.8 deaths per 1000 births), and life expectancy is high (78.7 years). The population growth of Israel has not been uniform. It’s growth has occurred mainly during four waves of Aliya (ascent in Hebrew, the word used for the immigration of Jews to Israel). First was the founding of the State. Between the years 1948-1951, Israel absorbed some 700,000 immigrants, with its population doubling as a consequence. Second was the Law of Return, adopted by the Knesset in 1950, which legally established Jewish immigration to the nation of Israel. This law determines the right of every Jew to immigrate to Israel and become an Israeli citizen. Moreover, a child or a grandchild of a Jew, a Jew’s spouse and a spouse of the child or grandchild of a Jew who are not Jewish themselves are also entitled to this right, according to the amendment to the Law in 1970 (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2001). Adoption of this law led to rapid growth in the mid 1950s, when some 170,000 immigrants arrived in Israel from North Africa and Romania. The third wave occurred in the early 1960s, when some 180,000 immigrants arrived from North Africa. Finally, following the fall of the Soviet Union, some 900,000 immigrants arrived from the former USSR in the 1990s and some 60,000 immigrants made Aliya from Ethiopia in one of the most dramatic immigrations the world has seen. Two-thirds of the total of three million immigrants who arrived in Israel between 1948 and 2007 came from Europe and America. In 2007, Israel’s annual immigration dropped to an almost 20-year low. A deteriorating security situation in the Middle East, especially the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict, was thought to be discouraging immigration according to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The financial crisis of 2008 and the Arab Spring changed this pattern. In 2008, it was estimated that approximately 6,400 Jews lived in Arab countries and another 32,000 lived in non-Arab Muslim countries. In March 2008, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council about oppression Jews faced in Arab countries that forced them to find amnesty elsewhere. In 2009, as the Arab Spring accelerated, special arrangements were made to bring many Jews to Israel from sensitive Arab-controlled regions. As the financial crisis loomed, beginning in 2009, Israel experienced a 19% increase of U.S. immigrants from North America and a 6% increase from Canada. “We are proud of the attractive and innovative absorption options which we provide olim — from Hebrew ulpan to job options,” said Liran Avisar, head of the Jewish Agency’s Aliyah delegation in North America. “These difficult economic times have prompted people who were considering aliyah to decide that now is the time.” Prophetic Restoration From a Biblical viewpoint, Israel was not reborn by chance. The immigration to Israel is not random. Significant world events since 1874 have contributed major steps in the restoration of Israel: • In 1878, the right of Jews once again to own land in Palestine • World War I, the Balfour Declaration calling for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. • The 1930’s Great Depression, world economies no longer attracted Jews to stay away. • World War II, Hitler’s hunt for Jews caused many to flee Central Europe and go to Israel. • East vs. West, when over 1,000,000 Soviet Jews return to Israel. • 2007 Financial crisis, with the West hit hardest and more American Jews begin to return. Jeremiah 16:14,15 (NAS): “Therefore behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no longer be said, As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them. For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.” As far as is known, there were no Jews who remained in Egypt at the time of the Exodus — likely over two million exited that country. Our day has already seen over twice that many return to the land promised to Abraham. God’s promise to restore the descendants of Abraham to the land is a first step in setting up His earthly kingdom. “I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you ... Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you ... I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes ... You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:24-28, NAS). First comes the return of the people, then the restoration of the land, and finally comes the redemption of their hearts. Israel is not now a religious nation, but there is a definite influence for God: public lands are adorned by scripture; the Sabbath is observed; scriptures are discussed openly. Perhaps most important for those emigrating from atheistic countries, there is an exposure to God and scripture for the first time. Once Israel returns to God, He will use that nation to bless the Gentile nations, as promised in Isaiah: “and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of the Lord your God. And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you. Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you ... Your gates will be open continually ... so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession” (Isaiah 60:9-11, NAS). The promise to faithful Abraham will then be fulfilled: “and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:18, RVIC). |