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Light for the last days.
A series of studies in Scripture concerning the character
of the closing days of this age.
#5.
God's answer to the problem of the Suez Canal.
pp. 1 - 8
In the year 1854 the Viceroy of Egypt, Said Pasha, gave the first concession to
Ferdinand de Lesseps for the construction of the Suez Canal. The concession was for a
lease of 99 years dating from the opening of the canal. The canal was actually opened on
17th November, 1869, so that the year in which it will revert to Egypt will be 1968, or
32 years from the date of writing.
The canal is such a vital feature both commercially and strategically, and the whole
question of its future involves so many political difficulties, that one fears that war will
be inevitable. While we do not intend to convey the impression that the Suez Canal is
actually mentioned in Scripture, there seems to be abundant evidence to prove that it is
linked up with the events of the future.
Several great changes are predicted that have to do with the configuration of the land.
Among these predictions there is a definite statement that the tongue of the Egyptian sea
(into which the Suez Canal enters at Suez) is to be smitten, and that another "canal" is to
opened, joining the Mediterranean Sea with the Dead Sea, and thence, via the Gulf of
Abakah, with the Red Sea.
---Illustration---
(BE-XXVII.2).
In order to appreciate the prophecies that deal with this theme, several subsidiary
studies will have to be prosecuted in order that the geography of the Scriptures may be
intelligible, and the weight of evidence felt. Let us first of all acquaint ourselves with the
statement made by Isaiah with reference to this subject.
"And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His
mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams,
and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His
people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came
up out of the land of Egypt" (Isa. 11: 15, 16).
We shall have to refer sooner or later to the map that accompanies this article, and
there is one point in this connection which we will explain at once. In the year 1855,