(RNS) — It all started when I was working on The New York Times Magazine crossword puzzle.

59 down: “Last book of the Old Testament.”

Second Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible (aka Tanakh).

But, no, I realized, that would not fit. I already had the second letter, which was A.

“Malachi” fit. 

Malachi is, in fact, the last book of the “Old Testament” — the Christian version.

The Christian version of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible is different. In some cases, the compilers put the books in historical order. For example, they put the Book of Ruth after the Book of Judges, because Ruth begins with a reference to “the days when the judges judged.” So: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (which became the title of one of Lyle Lovett’s best albums).

In some cases, the compilers arranged the books by their authors. According to tradition, the Prophet Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations. So the Old Testament puts Lamentations after Jeremiah.

But assigning Malachi to be the last book of the Old Testament was not just an editorial decision.

It was a theological judgment.

Malachi was the last prophet. Here are the final words of that book:

Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD. He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD. (Malachi 3:23-24)

Why does the Christian Old Testament end with those words?

Because of Elijah. That prophet who never truly died would be the forerunner of John the Baptist, who would proclaim the coming of Jesus of Nazareth.

So, the Christian version of the Old Testament points its reader to the ultimate reconciliation of parents and children to each other, which becomes the prelude to the messianic redemption.

But the Hebrew Bible — the Tanakh — orders the books differently.

The Hebrew Bible ends with Second Chronicles. The Babylonians had destroyed Judea and the Temple in Jerusalem. Then the book ends with the ultimate restoration of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel:

And in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, when the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah was fulfilled, the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his realm by word of mouth and in writing, as follows: “Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged me with building Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any one of you of all His people, the LORD his God be with him and let him go up.” (Second Chronicles 36: 22-23)

That is how biblical history ends — with the return to Zion. The last word of the Hebrew Bible is va’yaal — “let him go up” — “let him make aliyah.”

President Harry Truman was instrumental in the creation, and recognition, of the state of Israel. He knew the Bible very well. Upon Israel’s creation, Truman proclaimed: “I am Cyrus!”

The Christian Old Testament ends by pointing toward the ultimate coming of Jesus.

The Jewish Tanakh ends by pointing to the ultimate return of the Jews to the land of Israel.

Let’s go deeper.

The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament starts with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which is mythically located somewhere near the intersection of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — which is to say, in ancient Babylon. God expels Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden — which is to say, the first human exile starts in Babylon.

The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament ends, also, in Babylon. But, this time, it is not exile in Babylon.

This time, it is homecoming from exile in Babylon.

This is why I have often said that baseball is a Jewish sport.

You begin on home base. You go out into the infield. You round the bases. The whole point of the game is to come home.

So it is with the Jewish year. You begin on home base — Rosh Hashana. You go out into the infield — the Jewish calendar. The whole point of the “game” is to come home again — on the following Rosh Hashana.

So it is with the Jewish week. You begin on home base — Shabbat. You go out into the infield — the week. The whole point of the “game” is to come home again — on Shabbat.

So it is with the Jewish soul. You begin on home base — your authentic self. You go out into the infield — an exile from that self. The whole point of the “game” is to come home again — through teshuvah (return) to your self.

And, so it is with the Jewish people. We began on home base — the land of Israel. We went out into the infield — exile, galut. The point of the “Jewish game” is to come home again — to the land of Israel — though certainly there have been Jewish voices throughout history that have seen galut as opportunity and even blessing. (The new volume, “Exile and the Jews: Literature, History, and Identity,” offers a wonderful window on that stream of Jewish thought.)

For me, Zionism, and Israel, is not merely political and not only religious. It is spiritual as well.

It is the spirituality of resurrection. A people given up for dead raised itself, phoenix-like, from the ashes of history. A spoken language given up for dead raised itself, phoenix-like, from the dustbins of the irrelevant. To me, that is the true miracle of Israel and Zionism — that a start-up nation could start itself up.

And it is the spirituality of return. A people returned to its land. A people returned to its genuine self. A people returned to power.

Are all of those elements of return unfettered blessings? No. Each comes adorned with challenges, contradictions and nuances.

And yet, on this Israel Independence Day — the most difficult, tear-stained Independence Day in its history — I live immersed in a starry-eyed dream: “A song of ascents: When the LORD restored us to Zion, we were like dreamers.”

As my plane lands at Ben Gurion Airport, the first words I utter to myself are a silent meditation — the final words of Second Chronicles: “Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The LORD God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged me with building Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any one of you of all His people, the LORD his God be with him and let him go up.” (Second Chronicles 36:17-23).

That is how the Hebrew Bible ends.

It ends with return and it ends with dreams that cannot and will not be transformed into nightmares and it ends with hope.