In a letter to the editor of the Times and Seasons, June 15, 1841, Orson Hyde wrote the following:
"Since I have arrived to
years of more mature reflection, and become religiously inclined, the writings
of the Jewish prophets have won my affections; and the scattered and oppressed
condition of that people, has enlisted the finest sympathies of my heart.
Believing therefore, that the words of Hosea the prophet 2. 23, connected with
your magnanimity, will prohibit the indulgence of any prejudice in your
feelings against the author of this production, in consequence of his not being
able, by any existing document or record, to identify himself with your
nation."
"About nine years ago, a
young man with whom I had had a short acquaintance, and one, too, in whom dwelt
much wisdom and knowledge in whose bosom the Almighty had deposited many
secrets, laid his hands upon my head, and pronounced these remarkable words: 'In
due time, thou shalt go to Jerusalem, the land of thy fathers, and be a
watchman unto the house of Israel; and by thy hands, shall the Most High do a
good work, which shall prepare the way, and greatly facilitate the gathering
together of that people.' Many other particulars were told me by him, at
that time, which I do not write in this letter: But sufficient is written to
show that divine appointment is claimed as the main-spring that has sent me
forth from the embraces of an affectionate family, and kind friends as well as
from the land that gave me birth." (Times and Seasons 2, no. 23
[October 1, 1841]: 552-53, emphasis added)
According to critic Dick Bear
This was a prophecy given to Orson
Hyde, one of the twelve apostles that Joseph Smith had chosen.
History records that Orson Hyde
did go to Jerusalem. However, for those
Mormons that feel that he did a great work and greatly facilitated the
gathering of the Jews they are sadly mistaken.
Orson Hyde dedicated Jerusalem on October 24, 1841. It took 107 years for the Jews to
return. I believe I can safely say that
when the Jews returned in 1948 there was not one single Jew who had ever heard
of Orson Hyde. Only by performing mental
gymnastics can you accept this as a true prophecy. (Dick Baer, Letter to Family
& Friends)
In reality, however, this is an example of a fulfilled prophecy.
As John A. Tvedtnes wrote in response to Baer:
It doesn't take "mental
gymnastics" to accept this as a fulfilled prophecy, only a better
knowledge of history than Mr. Baer displays. The Jews did not return in 1948,
as he states, but were already there in large numbers prior to that time. A
brief summary of the history of the return is given here:
1800 There were about 10,000 Jews
in Palestine, by estimates of the time.
1823 During his visit to Joseph
Smith, on the night of September 21, Moroni indicated that the time for the
gathering of Israel was near.
1836 On April 3, Moses restored to
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the keys of the gathering of Israel.
1839 Sir Moses Montefiore, in
meetings held in London, mooted the idea of an autonomous Jewish state. There
was support from some prominent British statesmen. Montefiore entered into
negotiations with Muhammad Ali, ruler of Egypt and Palestine, to gain a charter
for Jewish settlement in Palestine. The attempt failed when Muhammad Ali fell
from power in 1841, deposed by the Turks.
1840 The first Hebrew printing
press, which had been set up in Safed in 1831, was moved to Jerusalem. In this
year, there were several proposals for Jewish immigration to Palestine. Rev.
Wilson Filson Marsh published an article in Der Orient, proposing that a Jewish
state be set up as a buffer between Egypt and Turkey. Abraham Benisch (who
became editor of the London Jewish Chronicle) sent a memorandum to the Foreign
Office, detailing plans for Jewish settlement in Palestine. The idea received
public approval from several British notables.
1841 On October 24, Orson Hyde
dedicated the land of Palestine for the return of the Jews, from atop the Mount
of Olives.
1852 Judah Alkali wrote and
distributed pamphlets in London, encouraging Jewish return to Palestine.
1854 Sir Moses Montefiore and
others established the Jewish Hospital in Jerusalem.
1861 The Jewish population of
Jerusalem had grown too large for the Old City. As a consequence, the first
Jewish quarter (Mishkenot Shaananim) outside the city walls was built, under
sponsorship of Sir Moses Montefiore. The first land expressly sought for
agricultural purposes was purchased by Jews at Moza, where settlement began in
1873.
1863 The first Hebrew journal
began publication in Jerusalem.
1869 With continued expansion of
the Jewish population of Jerusalem, the suburb of Nahalot Shiva was
established.
1870 The Jewish Mikveh Israel
Agricultural School was opened near Jaffa, to teach immigrating Jews how to be
farmers.
1872 Continued growth in the
Jewish population of Jerusalem necessitated the establishment of another
suburb, Mea Shearim.
1873 Because Orson Hyde, in 1841,
had not had any witnesses to his dedication of the Holy Land (John E. Page had
not kept his promise to accompany him to Jerusalem), Brigham Young had decided
to send another group to dedicate the land. In February of 1873, this group,
headed by Pres. George A. Smith, rededicated the land for the return of the
Jews, in a tent erected atop the Mount of Olives.
1878 The first Palestinian Jewish
agricultural settlement (Petah Tikvah} was founded.
1880 By this year, Jews had become
the majority of the population of Palestine's then-largest city, Jerusalem.
Ben-Yehudah arrived in Palestine and revived the Hebrew language as the
official tongue of the local Jewish population.
1882 The Bilu and Hibbat Zion
movements were formed in Russia and began promoting settlement in Palestine.
This was the year of the "First Aliyah (immigration), when thousands fled
Russia and Rumania and settled in Palestine. The first all-Jewish Palestinian
town (Rishon le-Zion) was established.
1894 The increasing Jewish
population of Jerusalem made it necessary to found another settlement (Yemin
Moshe) outside the city walls.
1897 The first Zionist Congress
was convened in Basel, Switzerland, under the leadership of Theodor Herzl.
Plans for the resettlement of Jews in Palestine were made.
1898 On May 8, 1898, Anthon H.
Lund of the Quorum of the Twelve rededicated the Holy Land from atop the Mount
of Olives.
1902 Francis M. Lyman and others
visited the Holy Land and rededicated it. Two prayers were offered on March 4,
one atop the Mount of Olives and the other in Elder Lyman's hotel room. On
March 16, another prayer was offered atop Mount Carmel in Haifa.
1905 The "Second Aliyah"
(immigration) brought thousands of Jews from Russia to Palestine, following an
abortive Socialist revolution in their homeland.
1909 The first kibbutz or
collective farm (Deganiah) was established on the southern shore of the Sea of
Galilee, by the Jewish National Fund. That same year, Tel-Aviv (now the world's
largest all-Jewish city) was founded just north of Jaffa.
1914 At the outbreak of World War
I, there were 85,000 Jews in Palestine.
1917 At the instigation of Zionist
leader Chaim Weizmann, the British foreign office issued a white paper (the
"Balfour Declaration") favoring the establishment of a Jewish
homeland in Palestine.
1919 The Emir Feisal, son of Emir
Hussein and the chief Arab delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, met on
January 3 with the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and an agreement was drawn up
for the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish state.
1919-23 The "Third Aliyah" (immigration) brought many
thousands of Jews of the Hehazlutz movement from Russia, Poland and Galicia to
Palestine.
1920 The Haganah was organized as
a Jewish army to protect the Palestinian Jews from Arab attacks: in 1948, it
became the Israel Defense Forces. In December of 1920, the Histadrut - the
Jewish labor union, still active in Israel - was founded.
1921 On November 3, Elders David
O. McKay and Hugh J. Cannon, of the Quorum of the Twelve, rededicated the Holy
Land. There were widespread Arab riots and attacks on Palestinian Jewish
settlements, in protest over Jewish immigration.
1922 In response to Arab riots and
demands, the British issued a white paper which temporarily halted Jewish
immigration to Palestine.
1924-28 The "Fourth
Aliyah" (immigration) brought thousands of Jews from Poland.
1925 Official opening of the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, on April 1.
1927 On October 18, James E.
Talmage, of the Quorum of the Twelve, rededicated the Holy Land from atop Mount
Carmel. By this year, the Palestinian Jewish community was large enough to
demand - and receive permission from the British mandage government to organize
its own National Council.
1929 Widespread Arab riots and
attacks on Palestinian Jewish settlements took place, in protest over Jewish
immigration. There were already 160,000 Jews in the country.
1933 In May, Elder John A.
Widtsoe, of the Quorum of Twelve, rededicated the Holy Land from atop the Mount
of Olives. There were more widespread Arab riots and attacks on Palestinian
Jewish settlements, in protest over Jewish immigration.
1933-36 The "Fifth
Aliyah" (immigration) brought some 164,267 "letal" immigrants
from Nazi Germany to Palestine. Many others slipped in illegally.
1936 By the spring of this year,
there were nearly 400,000 Jews in Palestine, comprising 30% of the total
population.
1936-38 Widespread Arab riots and
attacks on Palestinian Jewish settlements, in protest over Jewish immigration.
1939 At the outbreak of World War
II, the Jewish population of Palestine had reached half a million.
As can be readily seen from the
list, "Zionist" activity increased significantly after the
restoration of the keys of the gathering in 1836. In his 1841 prayer, Orson
Hyde asked the Lord to inspire the Jews to return home and to inspire the heads
of nations to assist them in this. This is exactly what happened. In 1950,
Orson Hyde was honored by the World Zionist Organization for his work in
preparing for the return of the Jews and in 1979, a park in his honor was
dedicated outside Jerusalem, at the instigation of the Israeli government and
the municipality of Jerusalem. Inside the park is a large plaque containing his
prayer in both Hebrew and English. The present author translated that prayer
into Hebrew and it was originally hand-printed on parchment for presentation to
President Harold B. Lee, when he came to Israel in September, 1972. At 3:00 AM
(Jerusalem time) on the day before President Lee's departure, Mayor Teddy
Kolleck of Jerusalem received a call from David Kennedy, who reminded him of a
conversation they had had a few years previous concerning Orson Hyde. Kolleck
had suggested, at that time, that there should be a monument to Orson Hyde in
Jerusalem. Now was the time to discuss it. The mayor presented the idea to
President Lee and the Orson Hyde Park was under way. In December of 1972, David
Galbraith and I called on Mayor Kolleck to give him a copy of the
English/Hebrew prayer on imitation parchment (a photocopy of the original,
which also formed the basis for the monument). When Mr. Kolleck unrolled the
scroll, he began reading the Hebrew side, then switched to the English. After
just a moment, he stopped and said, "Why, this is the Orson Hyde Prophecy.
I don't need to read it; I've memorized it. Do you want to hear me repeat
it?" So much for the Jews not acknowledging Orson Hyde! (John A. Tvedntes,
A Reply to Dick
Baer)
The following is the prayer Orson Hyde offered on the Mount of Olives, Sunday morning, October 24,1841:
O Thou! who art from everlasting
to everlasting, eternally and unchangeably the same, even the God who rules in
the heavens above, and controls the destinies of men on the earth, wilt Thou
not condescend, through thine infinite goodness and royal favor, to listen to
the prayer of Thy servant which he this day offers up unto Thee in the name of
Thy holy child Jesus, upon this land, where the Son of Righteousness set in
blood, and thine Anointed One expired.
Be pleased, O Lord, to forgive all
the follies, weaknesses, vanities, and sins of Thy servant, and strengthen him
to resist all future temptations. Give him prudence and discernment that he may
avoid the evil, and a heart to choose the good; give him fortitude to bear up
under trying and adverse circumstances, and grace to endure all things for Thy
name's sake, until the end shall come, when all the Saints shall rest in peace.
<>Now, O Lord! Thy servant
has been obedient to the heavenly vision which Thou gavest him in his native
land; and under the shadow of Thine outstretched arm, he has safely arrived in
this place to dedicate and consecrate this land unto Thee, for the gathering
together of Judah's scattered remnants, according to the predictions of the
holy Prophets--for the building up of Jerusalem again after it has been trodden
down by the Gentiles so long, and for rearing a Temple in honor of Thy name.
Everlasting thanks be ascribed unto Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou hast preserved Thy servant from the dangers of the seas, and from the
plague and pestilence which have caused the land to mourn. The violence of man
has also been restrained, and Thy providential care by night and by day has
been exercised over Thine unworthy servant. Accept, therefore, O Lord, the
tribute of a grateful heart for all past favors, and be pleased to continue Thy
kindness and mercy towards a needy worm of the dust.
O Thou, Who didst covenant with
Abraham, Thy friend, and who didst renew that covenant with Isaac, and confirm
the same with Jacob with an oath, that Thou wouldst not only give them this
land for an everlasting inheritance, but that Thou wouldst also remember their
seed forever. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have long since closed their eyes in
death, and made the grave their mansion. Their children are scattered and
dispersed abroad among the nations of the Gentiles like sheep that have no
shepherd, and are still looking forward for the fulfillment of those promises
which Thou didst make concerning them; and even this land, which once poured
forth nature's richest bounty, and flowed, as it were, with milk and honey,
has, to a certain extent, been smitten with barrenness and sterility since it
drank from murderous hands the blood of Him who never sinned.
Grant, therefore, O Lord, in the
name of Thy well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to remove the barrenness and
sterility of this land, and let springs of living water break forth to water
its thirsty soil. Let the vine and olive produce in their strength, and the
fig-tree bloom and flourish. Let the land become abundantly fruitful when
possessed by its rightful heirs; let it again flow with plenty to feed the
returning prodigals who come home with a spirit of grace and supplication; upon
it let the clouds distil virtue and richness, and let the fields smile with
plenty. Let the flocks and the herds greatly increase and multiply upon the
mountains and the hills; and let Thy great kindness conquer and subdue the
unbelief of Thy people. Do Thou take from them their stony heart, and give them
a heart of flesh; and may the Sun of Thy favor dispel the cold mists of
darkness which have beclouded their atmosphere. Incline them to gather in upon
this land according to Thy word. Let them come like clouds and like doves to
their windows. Let the large ships of the nations bring them from the distant
isles; and let kings become their nursing fathers, and queens with motherly
fondness wipe the tear of sorrow from their eye.
Thou, O Lord, did once move upon
the heart of Cyrus to show favor unto Jerusalem and her children. Do Thou now
also be pleased to inspire the hearts of kings and the powers of the earth to
look with a friendly eye towards this place, and with a desire to see Thy
righteous purposes executed in relation thereto. Let them know that it is Thy
good pleasure to restore the kingdom unto Israel--raise up Jerusalem as its
capital, and constitute her people a distinct nation and government, with David
Thy servant, even a descendant from the loins of ancient David to be their
king.
Let that nation or that people who
shall take an active part in behalf of Abraham's children, and in the raising
up of Jerusalem, find favor in Thy sight. Let not their enemies prevail against
them, neither let pestilence or famine overcome them, but let the glory of
Israel overshadow them, and the power of the Highest protect them; while that
nation or kingdom that will not serve Thee in this glorious work must perish,
according to Thy word --- "Yea, those nations shall be utterly
wasted."
Though Thy servant is now far from
his home, and from the land bedewed with his earliest tear, yet he remembers, O
Lord, his friend: who are there, and family, whom for Thy sake he has left.
Though poverty and privation be our earthly lot, yet ah! do Thou richly endow
us with an inheritance where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do
not break through and steal.
The hands that have fed, clothed,
or shown favor unto the family of Thy servant in his absence, or that shall
hereafter do so, let them not lose their reward, but let a special blessing
rest upon them, and in Thy kingdom let them have an inheritance when Thou shalt
come to be glorified in this society.
Do Thou also look with favor upon
all those through whose liberality I have been enabled to come to this land;
and in the day when Thou shalt reward all people according to their works, let
these also not be passed by or forgotten, but in time let them be in readiness
to enjoy the glory of those mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare.
Particularly do Thou bless the stranger in Philadelphia, whom I never saw, but
who sent me gold, with a request that I should pray for him in Jerusalem. Now,
O Lord, let blessings come upon him from an unexpected quarter, and let his
basket be filled, and his storehouse abound with plenty, and let not the good
things of the earth be his only portion, but let him be found among those to
whom it shall be said, `Thou hast been faithful over a few things, and I will
make thee ruler over many.'
O my Father in heaven! I now ask
Thee in the name of Jesus to remember Zion, with all her Stakes, and with all
her assemblies. She has been grievously afflicted and smitten; she has mourned;
she has wept; her enemies have triumphed, and have said, `Ah, where is thy
God?' Her Priests and Prophets have groaned in chains and fetters within the
gloomy walls of prisons, while many were slain, and now sleep in the arms of
death. How long, O Lord, shall iniquity triumph, and sin go unpunished?
Do Thou arise in the majesty of
Thy strength, and make bare Thine arm in behalf of Thy people. Redress their
wrongs, and turn their sorrow into joy. Pour the spirit of light and knowledge,
grace and wisdom, into the hearts of her Prophets, and clothe her Priests with
salvation. Let light and knowledge march forth through the empire of darkness,
and may the honest in heart flow to their standard, and join in the march to go
forth to meet the Bridegroom.
Let a peculiar blessing rest upon
the Presidency of Thy Church, for at them are the arrows of the enemy directed.
Be Thou to them a sun and a shield, their strong tower and hiding place; and in
the time of distress or danger be Thou near to deliver. Also the quorum of the
Twelve, do Thou be pleased to stand by them for Thou knowest the obstacles
which they have to encounter, the temptations to which they are exposed, and
the privations which they must suffer. Give us, [the Twelve] therefore,
strength according to our day, and help us to bear a faithful testimony of
Jesus and His Gospel, to finish with fidelity and honor the work which Thou
hast given us to do, and then give us a place in Thy glorious kingdom. And let
this blessing rest upon every faithful officer and member in Thy Church. And
all the glory and honor will we ascribe unto God and the Lamb forever and ever.
Amen.
Commenting on Orson's prayer and the establishment of Israel in 1948, Vern Grosvenor Swanson wrote that:
What is never considered to any
degree in Latter-day Saint peculiar literature is what happened after the first
half of the prayer on the Mount of Olives; which the author suggests was
oriented perpendicular to the north door of the Gate of Mercy (Eastern, Susa)
of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. Hyde climbed down Olivet, then in
clockwise fashion circumambulated around the Harem al Sharif, to the southwest
entrance. There, he was denied access so he continued to circle until he passed
the pilgrim monastery he was staying. He then walked on until he accessed an
unguarded entrance on the north side of the Temple Mount.
Once inside and upon the platform
of the Temple Mount, he quickly and quietly used the divining rod he brought
from Nauvoo. It helped him locate where he should built another stone altar.
Unfortunately, Hyde’s records are not so precise; however, we gather that the
second altar was on the platform but located north of the Dome of the Rock
because he undoubtedly did not want to be discovered for his own safety. He
oriented an alignment between the first stone altar he had built earlier and
the second altar he just completed. He knelt and repeated his earlier prayer. It
is the author’s opinion that the first stone altar was where Christ’s Ascension
took place and his Second Coming will split the mountain asunder; the second
stone altar marked the Holy of Holies o the location of the Ephraimatic-Jewish
fourth temple. Since the northern end of the Harem is not well guarded he was
able to safely retreat.
Pre-Aliyahs
(immigrant) Zionist Movements began just before and after Hyde’s dedication of
the Land of Israel. This prompted a reaction by Reformed Jew who rejected the
idea of a return to Zion. A conference of Reformed Rabbis at Frankfurt-am-Main
(15-28 July 1845) deleted from their ritual all prayers pertaining to a return
(David Einhorn, one of 31 rabbis at the conference, argues this point. “Reform
Rabbitical Conference Ends in Frankfurt,” Center for Israel Education Post).
A newfound desire to return by Diaspora Jews to their ancestral homeland was a
response against anti-Semitism and the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightment)
movement to preserve identity and not assimilate.
By
the end of the century (1897) with the likes of Theodor Herzl who wrote that
year Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) and the First Zionist
Congress in Basel also in 1897 formalized Jewish apirations of a Palestinian
state were born. While it might be chauvinistic to say that the Zionist
national movement began with Orson Hyde and later rededications of Palestine by
Latter-day Saint general authorities, the author believes that it was an
undergirding force. As Silas Marner said, “It takes many cycles of the sap
before the bloom is seen” (The third novel by George Eliot, Silas Marner:
The Weaver of Raveloe [1861]).
Then,
British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration
on the 2nd of November 1917, in a letter to Lord Walter Rothschild promising
the Jews of the world a homeland. It reads, “His Majesty’s Government views
with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national homeland for the
Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement
of his object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
Palestine” (Letter form Lord Balfour to Jewish leader Lord Rothschild, as
quoted in John Hagee [1988], p. 27). With the wresting of this area from
Ottoman Turkish rule by General Edmund Allenby in 1920, Palestine was made a
British Mandate by the League of Nations in June of 1922. . . . The United
Nations vote declared the state of Israel on the 15th of May 1948. It was a
“theological earthquake” of the first magnitude. The chemist, Chaim Weizmann
was named its first president of reborn Israel that same year after its
wandering for 2,000 years. Israel was born in a single day, “Who hath heard
such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth
in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed,
she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:8)
Thought
it seemed like tiny Israel had no chance of survival, it did and would prevail.
The enemies of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the children of
Ishmael and Esau through the ages. The Amalekites which attacked Moses and the
children of Israel when they were in the desert, may be just these same peoples.
“Because the Lord has sworn: The Lord will have war with Amalek from
generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16)
However,
the archangel Michael-Adam has a special assignment to guard Israel (see Daniel
10;13, 21; 12:1; Rev. 12:7). The psalmist wrote that “he who keeps Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalms 121:4). The enemies of Israel will
fail and her friends succeed, for the Lord said, “I will bless those who
bless thee, and curse him who curseth thee; and in you all families of the
earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). And how was it blessed? For instance,
Haym Salomon, a Jewish banker in Philadelphian helped finance the Revolutionary
War. Founding father John Adams, respected the Jews. He wrote:
In
spite of . . . Voltaire [an ardent anti-Semite], I will insist that the Hebrews
have done more to civilize men that any other nation. If I were an atheist and
believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained
the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. . . .
I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and to propagate
to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign
of the universe, which I believe to be that great essential principle of all
morality, and consequently of all civilization (David Allen Lewis, Israel
and the USA [Springfield, MO: Menorah Press, 1993[ pp. 3-10). (Vern
Grosvenor Swanson, Hour of God’s Judgment: Joseph Smith’s Paradigm of the
Last Days [Springville, Utah: CFI, 2022], 42-43, 44)
Further Reading:
Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies