Christian Zionism between 16th and 18th centuries

After the appearance of Luther's reform movement and the spread of Protestantism and welcoming approach of followers of this religion to Hebrew language as a valid and necessary tool to understand the Torah, this language developed in Europe as well as other languages such as English, French, Greek and Latin. In the late sixteenth century, the letters of the Hebrew entered printing house, and the language was introduced not only among men and followers of the Protestant Church, but also in knowledge, and in particular the judicial and legal figures.
Finally, by teaching Hebrew at British universities and governments in Western Europe, a new chapter of academic studies about the language opened and developed in the culture and society.
Popularity of Hebrew language and culture in universities and European societies, and it had effective influences including:
1. The creation of a background for accepting the Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament admission, in particular the issue of return of the Jews to Palestine in the future.
2. Convince students and researchers to accept that the purpose of the word "Israel" in texts of the Old Testament means all the tribes of the world's Jews.
3. Acceptance of biblical interpretation of Christ, before the end of the age of the universe, and the return of Jews to Palestine, as a necessary condition for the appearance.
In the seventeenth century, some Christian writers of Europe in their writings spoke about the imminent advent of Jesus Christ and Jewish settlement in Palestine.
In 1621 C Sir Henry Finch was the first person who wrote a book by title of “the great return” in which he announced the imminent return of the Jews.
In 1642 C., another writer named John Arthur published another pamphlet, and in this text he declared the advent of Jesus Chris in1661 C.
In 1774 C. an English officer published a book and said Chris appears in 1795 C., and he invited Jews to immigrate to Palestine. The author announced England as a whip in the hands of the Jews!
In the nineteenth century, another priest named Joseph Miller took a higher step and by setting the day and month and year of the advent of Jesus Christ, and in his thoughts he count down the time by announcing the re-emergence on the date of March 21, 1843 C.
But in America, the first book that was published in this country was the Torah, the Psalms, which were released as Pay Psalm. Hebrew and Jewish studies and curriculum started at Harvard University in 1636 C., and eventually this language became a mandatory course, in a way that no student could graduate unless he could translate Hebrew text of the Latin Torah.
"The academic thesis" of the first graduates of the Harvard University in 1642 C., was: "Hebrew the mother language”. In the seventeenth century, the religious Reformation got to its peak by the emergence of "puritanism» in the UK. This movement which is also known as “purification move " placed the Hebrew as start point of his work and stated that graduates of Emmanuel College of Cambridge University, must be dominated in it. In light of this move, Jewish ideas and principles changed to political beliefs, and immigration of Jews to Palestine and the establishment of their sovereignty on the land were emphasized.
Since this period, a new attention was paid to the Old Testament (Torah) and this book was the only source of philosophy and thought and behavior of these Christians. Hebrew was so in the point of attention that even some of them assumed it as the language of prayer and reading the Bible, and others stressed on teaching the language in secondary schools and recommended it. Gradually the desire to withdraw from the ethos of the Christian, and tending to Jewish ethics and habits was among them and became a strong desire. It went so far that one of Extremist groups of this movement asked the Great Britain’s government to declare Torah as the basis of the law of the constitution. And the other groups officially accepted Jewish faith!
But those Christians who remained on their religion found an emotional attitude toward those who called themselves as "the chosen nation of God".
On the other hand, still the seventeenth century had not started that a phenomenon known as "the revival of the Sami people" - in the words of the Jewish historian, Cicil Ras- appeared in official circles and popular places.
This phenomenon had three major inputs:
1. the necessity of loving and kindness toward the Jewish people.
2. The shame and the guilt of the former Jewish suffering.
3. Actions to fulfill the immigration and settlement of Jews in Palestine.
before this period, Palestine in sight of Christians was considered as a Christian land which during the two centuries of the Crusades against the Muslims, they were trying to achieve it, but since this time, with the publication of books and various journals, the issues of older people of God, Israel, Jerusalem and the State of Israel were discussed as the preparations for the advent of Christ.
one of the works produced which is considered as the product of the culture and beliefs of the period is a book that Sir Henry Finch, legal adviser to the king of England, published in 1621 C. by title of “global return”, in which he demanded from the Christian authorities to apply their force for the Jewish nation to rebuild their empire.
He was one of the Christians who said: by the reappearance of Jesus Christ, God’s state will be established in the Palestinian, and it continues for a thousand years; but, this subject needs the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine.
In the eighteenth century, the Zionist tendencies became more strength and in the Protestant field of Europe, attention was added to the Jews. It was the product of several factors. Among these factors, the revolution of America and the beginning of the French Revolution and the rise of the industrial revolution in Europe led to the development of the ideas of enlightenment and contemplation was released. Also acceleration of foreign businesses and increase of tourists and emergence of archeologists and travel of many Europeans to holy sites in Palestine and publication of some itineraries about and publication of stories about the ancient times of Israeli people, such as the book “two trips to Jerusalem” written by Nathanial Crouch, which was released in 1704 C.
In the 17th and 18th century we can observe the growing influence of Christian Zionism orientation in European literature, especially in Britain, France and Germany. During this period, a number of European poets and writers in their literary works started humming about the need of Jewish immigration to Palestine to create a Judaize country.
John Milton (1608-1674 C.), English poet, in his famous literary piece, titled “the Lost Paradise” wrote:
God will soon open sea for the Jews to return frisky to their country. As before, he split up the Red Sea and the Jordan River for their ancestors to go to the Promised Land. And leave them to God and the destined time he has set for their return.
William Blake (1757-1827 C.), another English poet, in his poems, addressed the Jews and meanwhile he said:
O British! Wake up ... Wake up, wake up. Your sister Jerusalem is calling you. Why these believers are sleeping as the dead ones and closed your ancient doors?
But Israeli poetry among the non-Jewish poets owes Lord Byron (1788-1824 C.). Poetry of “Jewish Songs” has repeatedly been translated into Hebrew and the following bits of this piece are famous:
Wild pigeons have nests
Fox also has its own nest
People have a land for themselves
And the Jews do not have anything except the grave.
Byron elsewhere, for induction of oppression and repression of Jews, states:
The history of the Jewish people is story of people who have been driven out of their homeland and have sought for refuges around the world, and they have found that all agree to destroy them. Jews were the victims of many disasters and their life has been nothing but sustainable suffering”.
The poet Robert Browning with the poem "Day of the Holy Cross" in 1850 C. and the famous story writer, George Eliot, by composing a long story, "Daniel Deronda » in 1874 C. began walking to this field.
Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel has introduced the recent work as literary grounds of Balfour promise.
Except those mentioned in pieces and literary works, poets and writers such as Jean Racine (1639- 1699 C.), Jacque Bussuet (1627-1704 C.), Alexander Pope (1688-1744 C.) Samuel Tyler Colridge (1772-1834 C.) and the effects of Torah literature that involves the dream of establishing a Jewish state can be observed.
In addition to writers and poets, group of scientists and philosophers of Europe also were not freed from Zionist interests.
John Locke, English philosopher and the founder of empirical thought, wrote in the book “suspense on the Epistles of St. Paul”:
Surely God is able to gather the Jews in a unity... and set them in their country, in their favorable situation.
Isaac Newton, who discovered the law of gravity, in the book “Reflections on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John” which was published five years after his death, stated that "the Jews will return to their homeland soon... but I do not know how this can be achieved . Time should make it clear. “He’s even gone ahead and tried to present the introduction of the timeline of events of future. He had predicted that an earthen material power will help them in return.
Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen and the famous chemist, also had a deep faith in the Christian mission of the Jewish people, and he said that Judaism and Christianity will complement each other. Thus, he asked the Jews to believe in Jesus the son of Mary, as the awaiting Christ. He addressed the nation and said:
I asked the Lord of heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that we Christians and you Jews worship him to end your sufferings and miseries and gather you, the most famous people on the planet, in a land.
Zhanzhak Rousseau, a philosopher of the social contracts, in Emil book which was released in 1762 C. has said:
We'll never realize the intrinsic motivation of the Jewish people, unless they are entitled to have Free State and schools and universities.
Blaise Pascal, the famous physicist, has also recognized the children of Israel as messengers of Christ’s return, and had a special respect for the Jewish people, as the top nation who had sincere religion.
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher and critic, has been described the Jews as "Palestinians who live among us".
One thing to remember here is essential, which is that when Zionist thought were promoted by many Christian evangelical dignitaries, the Jews were away from the wheels of these activities, and they often showed disagreement against this phenomenon. Therefore, it is not unrealistic to say that the Jews themselves were the last ones who accepted Zionist thought.
In explaining the negative position of the Jews against the Zionist movement, it must be said that:
Mainly religious Jews design their wishes on the past events, and they say in the interpretation of the law: the children of Israel because of the crimes they committed against the people in the past and disobeyed their God, and they worshiped other gods lost their Holy Land, Judaism, in its essence, is the religion of the Covenant. Although this promise is different among generations, but the pact is always maintained between Jews and God of Jews. God promised to the Jews to live in the Holy Land and have a comfortable life with good chances, but they also had to listen and observe the moral and contractual requirements that prophets have stated in different times.
God is the only one who commands about his Jewish children and their approaches, and only God knows what time the Jews have had enough moral developments and qualification, to correct his accord with them and by sending them "Ma Shayah" ( awaiting Christ), saves displaced and wandering Jews and accommodates them in the Holy Land.
Through continuous ages and centuries, from the second destruction of Solomon's Temple till the early nineteenth century, these ideas were common among the Jews, and they accomplished no efforts to establish a state in Palestine, and they were only waiting for emergence of Christ so that by divine miracle he would provide them the preliminary establishment in Palestine.
For this reason, anybody who invited them to immigrate to Palestine without the emergence of Christ, was convicted of blasphemy and heresy; because if the return was without God’s will and Christ's return it would have been an ominous return.
Prior to the completion of this topic, it is necessary to pay attention to one thing, and that is it: certainly one of the areas of the emergence and spread of the idea of Christian Zionism is the USA. At this point we only mention one example.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790 C.), famous American scientist and statesman, and Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States (1801-1809 C.), have both insisted that "the withdrawal of Israel" from Egypt to Canaan, is seen as a supreme model of freedom fights of the America nation.
On the other hand, in the fourth of July 1776 C., in the feast of the independence of America, Congress of this country asked them to offer a design for the logo of the United States.
Franklin suggested: the image of Moses opened his hands in prayer, and Pharaoh is riding on a chariot while drowning in the sea, and the waves of the sea are split and a way had appeared inside it. Below the picture there is the common slogan of that day can be seen "against the rebellious, obedience to God".
But Jefferson suggested a picture of the children of Israel in a wandering era in which some cloud guided them in the day and a pillar of fire guided them at night.
We should mention that Jefferson’s suggestion was just from the text of the Torah, in Exodus, Chapter 13, including 21 which had said: "In this journey, God guided them in day by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire in night. In this respect they could travel day and night."