Jerusalem Not Reunited Immediately

1967 Jerusalem is Reunited

The nation of Israel was divided into two distinct nations from 922 BC to the eventual fall of both. They would no longer be divided in the Latter Days according to the Bible. They are no longer divided today. More than 2,500 years later!

(Zec 12:7) "The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah.

The countryside of Judah (the "tents") would have priority over Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem would not become proud.(Life Application Bible commentary notes, p1582)

(Ezek 37:15-17) Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, {16} "As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: 'For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.' Then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.' {17} "Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

(Ezek 37:20) "And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

To put this in perspective, note the number of years of Israel's existence.

1446 BC The Exodus from Egypt to form a nation

930BC Kingdom of Israel Divides

-Israel of 10 tribes

-Judah of 2 tribes

722BC Israel (Norther Kingdom) falls

586BC Judah (Southern Kingdom) falls

6/5BC Jesus Christ is Born

1948AD Israel (northern regions) reunified

-2670 years after fall of Northern Kingdom

1967AD Jerusalem and southern regions taken and reunified

-2553 years after fall of Southern Kingdom

To show how unlikely it was thought to be prior to the 20th century that the Jewish people would again posses the land of their forefathers, note what one prominent 19th Century commentator, Matthew Henrey, had to say about the prophecy of Ezekiel 37:20-22 quoted above:

"But this certainly looks further, to the kingdom of Christ; he is that one King in allegiance to whom all God's spiritual Israel shall cheerfully unite, and under whose protection they shall all be gathered. All believers united in one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. And the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel church, their becoming one fold under Christ the one great Shepherd, is doubtless the union that is chiefly looked at in this prophecy." (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, p.1413).