RIDING WITH ALLENBY

As I dream, it seems to me
I have ridden with Allenby.

On a day, in the time long gone,
I rode into the heart of the dawn
Out of Gaza. My desert steed,
Son of a sire of the Nedjid breed,
Took the breath of the morning sun
With never a pause till we had won
er rocky steep and o er sandy swell
To the riven House of Gabriel.
Then, ere the shut of the eve, we came
Where the last red streamers lit with flame
The mosque of Hebron set in the vale,
With its towering minarets, and its tale
Of Isaac s and of Abraham s tomb,
Where only the Faithful in the gloom,
By the flickering cressets flecked, may fare
When the swart muezzin calls to prayer.
Thence on to Bethlehem we sped,
With the dome of Allah overhead,
And not a shred of a cloud in view
To blur the breadth of its gold and blue.

So he marched, and it seems to me
I have ridden with Allenby!

Then Jerusalem, and the Hill
Of Golgotha, and the sacred, still
Church of the Holy Sepulchre !
The Vale and the Mount, and the ceaseless stir
Of pilgrim feet where the Christ once strayed,
Under the cruel cross down weighed !
I rode by Jenin with its palms
Clear cut against the noonday calms.
I rode by Nablous, I rode by Nain,
And over the wide Esdraelon plain
Up the slopes to Nazareth,
Where out of the dim bazaars the breath
Of the shaven sandalwood was blown.
I skirted the snow-crowned mountain zone
Of Hermon, and saw the morning star
Silver the huts of Kerf Hawar;
And then I looked on the lovely loom
Of orange, pomegranate and citron bloom
(A bower that to the Prophet s eyes
Was a prescience of Paradise),
And entered Damascus as the sun
Peered over the brow of Lebanon.

So he marched, and it seems to me
I have ridden with Allenby!

Never again the Turkish blight
On all this land of lure and light !
Never again the Turkish ban
From far Beersheba unto Dan
This home of holy memories !
Rather the beam of His promised peace,
His peace for all men under the sun
From Nebo north to Lebanon,
His peace through the hand that set them free!-

I have ridden with Allenby!

Editor: The poem is about the British freeing the Middle East of the Turks in 1918. Allenby and TL Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) were the central figures and attacked in parallel from Sinai ending up with the liberation of Damascus.

Although he was a supreme master of cavalry warfare, before entering Jerusalem, Allenby dismounted and together with his officers, entered the city on foot through the Jaffa Gate out of his great respect for the status of Jerusalem's, as the Holy City, importance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam (see his proclamation of martial law below). He subsequently stated in his official report:

"...I entered the city officially at noon, 11 December, with a few of my staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attaches of France, Italy, and America.

"The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France and Italy. The population received me well..."

He is also more controversially alleged to have said, "today the crusades have ended".

Others claim that Allenby said that no man should enter Jerusalem in triumph riding a horse until Messiah does so himself.

As Allenby passed into Jerusalem, Jews and Arabs poured into the street shouting and singing the praises of Allah'nbi, for that is how his name sounded to them. The Turks also thought he was Allah'nbi, which literally, in Arabic, translates, "Prophet of Allah." Allenby's humility was doubly important as he lead his horse through the streets rather than ride. It sent a subtle message that, yes, Allenby was a great liberator, and, yes, it was in order for Jews and Arabs to dance and sing his praises. But, this was neither the Messiah nor the Islamic Madhi.

How very important it is to win a battle humbly and with a right view of oneself as a servant of God Almighty and the Captain of our Salvation.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

There is no greater treachery in the Church of Jesus Christ today than these rags like the Sword of the Lord which over and over give the glory to man for building Sunday School attendance, winning souls, and proliferating bus routes. I hate it. Any man who allows himself to be thus exalted is a damned hireling and needs to be thrashed with a bull whip.

Think about this, preacher, the next time you sing, "To God be the Glory, great things hath he done..." Are the sheep bragging about YOU all week to their neighbors, or are the bragging about Jesus? I went to a small church to pastor in Michigan, and after the first Sunday, one of the ladies in the church told someone, "We have another John MacArthur." BARF! I was physically sick when I heard this later. And, God have mercy on John MacArthur if he cannot preach any better than I can.

But, what about the line, "I have ridden with Allenby!"?

I must say that it is a great experience to have gone to battle with a warrior of Christ who has great zeal and great humility. There is a manly esprit that one feels with such a man for the rest of one's days-- good memories of serving and battling for Christ together. How grand it will be in the Glory to share these memories around the throne of the Captain of our salvation!

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