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obeyed the Divine mandate, and "spread abroad" with Israel's land as their centre, and
with one common language to unite them both in worship and in service, a great step
forward would have been accomplished. This would have fulfilled one meaning of the
word Jezreel, i.e. "sowing", with a harvest of peace in view. This, however, was
antagonized by Satan the "Resister" (Zech. 3: 1, 2), and the "sowing" was transformed
into a "scattering" and a confusion, and will not be remedied until He Who scattered both
the nation and the nations, gathers them once again, with Jerusalem in their midst, but
when that blessed event will take place we do not here stay to consider; it will emerge as
we examine the usage of the word "gather" which is to follow.
To be scattered, consequently became a sign of a curse (Gen. 49: 7). Lev. 26: is a
series of alternating references to disobedience and its punishment.
Lev. 26: 14, 15.
Commandments, statutes, judgments, despised, covenant broken.
Lev. 26: 16, 17.
The consequent punishment.
This alternation occurs five times, and in the last pair, namely in Lev. 26: 27-39 we
read:
"And I will scatter you among the heathen (or nations) and will draw out a sword after
you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste" (Lev. 26: 33).
"The dispersed of Judah" are said to be "in the four corners of the earth" (Isa. 11: 12),
and the prophetic import of this scattering is crystallized in the opprobrious epithets "the
Ubiquitous Jew" and "the Wandering Jew". Passages could be multiplied to show that
God Himself scattered Israel as a punishment for their sins, as it is written "He that
scattered Israel, will gather him" (Jer. 31: 10). Nevertheless, just as in the preaching of
the gospel the Lord stoops to use human instruments (Rom. 10: 14), so the animosity of
the nations against Israel often furthered, unwittingly, the Divine purpose.
"For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of
Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage
Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land" (Joel 3: 1, 2).
From N.T. and from O.T. alike we find sufficient evidence to refer to Israel as "the
Scattered People", but whether Isa. 18: 7 refers to Israel is a moot point.
Let us now turn to the other side of the picture, and see whether we are justified in
calling Israel "the Gathered People" as we look to the end of prophecy and the day of
restoration spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3: 19-21).
Whether Israel will be gathered by the consent and help of the nations of the earth,
whether they will be gathered by miraculous intervention, or a combination of both, it
stands written: "He that scattered Israel, will gather him", and justifies our closest
attention to the terms used in the associations revealed. The Hebrew word that must
occupy our attention is the word qabats, and Brown, Driver, and Brigg's Lexicon tells us
that in the Sabean the word means a "harvest", and in many if not in all references, the