7
explode, and red hot sulphur and salt are
hurled high into the air, to rain down as burn-
ing brimstone. Boiling bitumen creates a
smoke as from a furnace.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls sup-
ported the authenticity of the Bible. These
scrolls were found by an Arab shepherd boy in
the Spring of 1947 whilst searching for a
missing animal. They include some of the old-
est manuscripts of the Bible, revealing how
authentic are the translations in our posses-
sion. These scrolls were stored in clay jars
hidden in caves in a hillside on the north-west-
ern shore of the Dead Sea. The extremely dry
condition of the area has preserved the scrolls
against damage for two thousand years. They
included fragments in ancient Hebrew of
every book of the Old Testament (except
Esther). One find was a complete scroll of
Isaiah, dated between 175-150 B.C. This text
differs very little from that of a modern Bible.
This silenced critics who had claimed that vast
changes had occurred in Old Testament text
owing to its antiquity. God guarded His mes-
sage to mankind so that it has come to him
without being distorted by the passage of
time.
The Bible has been assailed by scoffers for
centuries, just as it is ridiculed today by
agnostics and atheists. These doubters and
unbelievers come and go, but the Bible
continues to show those with hearing ears the
way of salvation, and to tell of the Kingdom
yet to be established on the earth.
S
cattered by God’s almighty hand,
Afflicted and forlorn,
Sad wanderers from their pleasant land,
Do Judah’s children mourn;
And even in Christian countries, few
Breathe thoughts of pity for the Jew.
Y
et listen, Believer, do you love
The Bible’s precious page?
Then let your heart with kindness move
To Israel’s heritage;
Who traced those lines of love for you?
Each sacred writer was a Jew.
A
nd then as years and ages passed,
And nations rose and fell,
Though clouds and darkness oft were cast,
O’er captive Israel,
The oracles of God for you
Were kept in safety by the Jew.
A
nd when the great Redeemer came
For guilty man to bleed,
He did not take an angel’s name,
No – born of Abraham’s seed;
Yahshua, who gave his life for you,
The gentle Saviour was a Jew.
A
nd though his own received him not,
And turned in pride away,
Whence is the Gentile’s happier lot?
Are you more just than they?
No! God in pity turned to you;
Have you no pity for the Jew?
G
o then, and bend your knee to pray
For Israel’s ancient race;
Ask the dear Saviour every day
To call them by his grace;
Go, for a debt of love is due,
From Christian Gentiles to the Jew.
The Persecuted People
Author Unknown