In light of events that have unfolded in Israel in the last couple days, I have decided to upload three articles in quick succession written about a year ago. A handful of time sensitive updates have been made. The brutal attack by the terrorist organization Hamas, primarily slaughtering innocent civilians, including women, children, and elderly folks, has shocked the civilized world. The trio of articles provide a bit of brief history as well as some perspective on what we can expect to see unfold in the days and weeks ahead. The fulfillment of Bible prophecy has escalated and the nation of Israel is right in the center of it!
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“Psalm 83 War at the Door?”
We know that the minute hand of the “end of days” prophetic time-clock began ticking on May 14,1948. The Holy Spirit—the Supernatural author behind the 40 contributing writers of the Bible, made sure we have an abundance of Scripture as proof on the subject. There are many Scriptures that speak of the nearness of the Day of the LORD, referring to the “Apocalypse of John”, recorded in the Book of Revelation. One of these is found in Obadiah verse 15:
For the Day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; as you have done, it shall be done to you. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.
Although there is constant talk of peace or peace agreements of one kind or another around the globe, the Bible tells us there are going to be multiple wars before Jesus returns to set this world straight. As far as the Middle East goes, which is primarily my emphasis in this writing, the Bible has an abundance of passages describing a major Mideast war that has not happened yet. Bible scholars speak of a great northern war, referring to a violent war between Israel and Hezbollah; others are convinced the time has come for the Gog-Magog War (or the Ezekiel 38-39 War); still others say that Israel is about to become embroiled in the Psalm 83 War. Personally, this writer leans strongly toward the latter as being the Mideast conflict most likely to break out first. It is possible that the full war will be set in motion by a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. I guess we’ll see.
Psalm 83 was written by Asaph, one of Israel’s prophets, about 1,000 years before Christ. Asaph wrote Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83. He was a close associate of King David, in fact he was likely mentored by Israel’s most famous king. There has been considerable controversy over whether Asaph’s psalm was merely written as an imprecatory prayer, or was it in fact a foretelling of coming events. Even among those who believe there are latter day events foretold in the psalm, there is argument that the prophecy has already been fulfilled during Israel’s wars with its neighbors including its independence war, the six-day war in 1967, and the Yom Kippur war with its neighbors in 1973. I find a problem with this conclusion because the psalm presents details that have not yet been fulfilled. We have also been provided a number of corroborating passages of Scripture scattered throughout several of the Old Testament prophetic books that lead me to the same conclusion. One of these passages which happens to provide a wider description of the land God gave to the Israelites is found in the first few verses of Joshua 13.
1 Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. 2 This is the land that yet remains; all the territory of the Philistines and all that of the Geshurites, 3 from Sihor, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward (which is counted as Canaanite), the five lords of the Philistines—the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites; 4 from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians as far as Aphek, to the border of the Amorites; 5 the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath; 6 all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon as far as the Brook Misrephoth, and all the Sidonians—them I will drive out from before the children of Israel, only divide it by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you. 7 Now therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.” Joshua 13:1-7
At the time God spoke these words to Joshua, he was about 92 years old. He had fought hard for many years but as we notice in the above passage, God said “there is very much land yet to be possessed.” Joshua lived to be 110 and so lived another 18 years but he was not allowed to finish the task. It was left to be accomplished sometime after Joshua’s conquests.
As we jump ahead in time to our present generation, history has recorded that from the beginning of Israel’s rebirth in 1948 to the present there have been a number of military conflicts, invasions, special operations and other critical events between Israel and its border enemies. Setting aside the Gaza problem for the moment, the Shi’a Twelvers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the IRGC-Qods Force (QF) and their proxy army Hezbollah have had only one thing in mind for Israel — its complete and utter obliteration from the face of the earth.
According to Joshua’s prophecy, the next war with Israel’s neighboring nations will be nothing like anything that has happened to this date. To be clear, there is no ambiguity in what God stated to Joshua, and what God foretold, has not been fulfilled at the time of this writing. The text in Joshua 13 is quite explicit and we should see flashing red lights when we read what God said. The land promised to Israel is still “very much”. He always, always keeps His promises! It will however take a divine intervention.
The first few verses of Psalm 83 give us a good indication why a supernatural intervention is needed from Israel’s God. The verses read:
1 Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You… Psalm 83:1-5
Asaph’s description of Israel’s enemies is an uncanny description of Israel’s enemies surrounding them today. The cry for Israel to be obliterated and its memory forever removed has never been louder. What could be a possible reason? I think verse 12 of the psalm gives us a clue:
“…Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession.”
Amazing! With the vast amount of land presently possessed by the Arab nations, they cannot rest until they push the Jewish nation into the Mediterranean Sea—a little sliver of land the size of the tiny state of New Jersey, on the Atlantic coast of the United States! Really?? Could it be a demonic drive to face off with Israel’s benefactor, YHWH? Good luck with that! Not only is He the Almighty Creator of all that exists, He has claimed Jerusalem as His city, and He has given claim to it to His chosen people to possess it — the Jews.
As we go back to Psalm 83, we find a listing of Israel’s enemies. Asaph of course listed them by their ancient names:
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; 7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot. Psalm 83:6-8
Here is Asaph’s listing of Israel’s enemies using the ancient names with their corresponding modern equivalents:
- Tents of Edom: Palestinians and Southern Jordanians
- Ishmaelites: Saudis (Ishmael was the father of the Arabs)
- Moab: Palestinians and Central Jordanians
- Hagarenes: Egyptians (Sarah’s maid Hagar was the Egyptian matriarch)
- Gebal: Hezbollah and Northern Jordanians
- Amalek: Arabs of the Sinai
- Philistia: Hamas of the Gaza Strip
- Tyre: Hezbollah and Southern Lebanese
- Assyria: Syrians and Northern Iraqis
Each one of these entities will be participants in this confederacy against Israel. The “Tents of Edom” which Asaph put in the lead position of his list, appear to have a special part in the lead up to the actual breakout of total war between Israel and this confederacy. When the Bible uses the term “tents”, historically this is generally referring to military encampments or refugee camps. A considerable percentage of Palestinians have some ancestry stemming back to the Edomites. Most of the refugees are a result of the outcome of the independence day war Israel was forced into on May 15th of 1948. The surrounding Arab nations told the Palestinians to temporarily evacuate until the Arab armies destroy Israel. The plan was for the refugees to come back after Israel was destroyed. The problem for the Palestinians was that Israel miraculously won the war! Israel then made the decision not to allow the multitudes of sworn enemies of the Jewish State to return and become a greater headache to the fledgling Jewish nation than the problems they already were facing.
Without going into the full history of the Palestinians, I will just briefly refer back to a couple verses mentioned in Part One of this writing. God’s words spoken through the prophet Obadiah about the Edomites (Palestinians) are found in verses 2-3:
2 “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘who will bring me down to the ground?’”
The international community has for many years urged the Palestinians to resettle into their ancestral Arab lands and away from the modern-day nation of Israel. They, however, for the most part are still living as refugees and either chosen not to, or have not been able to resettle in their native lands. There are numerous camps located within the borders of Israel and also in neighboring Arab nations. Some of them are quite large. These Arab host nations, for the most part, have been unwilling to allow the Palestinians to assimilate within their borders. Their refugee status has now extended for over seventy years. Older generations of refugees pass the refugee status from one generation of descendants to the next. They have truly been “made small” among the nations and dependent upon financial assistance from the United Nations as well as Arab nations that find the Palestinians as useful tools for their nefarious purposes.
At the end of verse 3 above, we find the phrase: “you (who) say in your heart, ‘who will bring me down.’” It is well known that terrorist homicide bombers always yell “Allah Akbar” just prior to blowing themselves up in the proximity of their intended target. Islam has been guilty of passing down the ancient hatred for the Jews from generation to generation. Not only have the Palestinians been reduced nationally, but they will also be brought down spiritually. Allah will not prevail against the will of the Almighty YHWH.
As we skip ahead a few verses in Obadiah and look at verse 7, we find something very few people notice.
All the men in your confederacy shall force you to the border; the men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread will lay a trap for you. No one is aware of it.
I have included a quote from author Bill Salus’ excellent and well-researched book, Psalm 83, The Missing Prophecy Revealed:
“In verse 7 we gain the recognition that Edom, made small among the nations and greatly despised, is involved in a confederate effort, which is most likely the same confederacy described in Psalm 83:5-8.
“These nations, supposedly having pledged a peaceful allegiance with the Edomites in support of the Palestinians plight, actually ‘force’ them ‘to the border’ (of Israel). Because the Edomites have their minds set upon their religious invincibility ‘Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars,’ the Palestinians become deceived. The deception encourages them toward the border of Israel, and serves the other nations’ purposes to use them as their pawns. This diabolical scheme uses the Palestinians as insulation between Israel and the other confederate nations listed above.
“This deception predominantly started in 1967 because of the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War. At that point, the Jews expanded their borders and the Arab leaders realized they could not cut off the nation Israel militarily. Henceforth, the Arab leaders in the region adopted the unconventional strategies of terror and propaganda. Terror enabled them to conduct an ongoing war against Israel, aimed at the continued disruption of Israel’s national sovereignty. Terror also gave these Arab nations the ability to conduct this dirty war with somewhat clean hands. They found the displaced Palestinians to be great foot soldiers and human landmines, yet the Jewish blood would not blatantly appear as stains upon their national hands.”
There are many reasons presented in Obadiah’s prophecy for the judgment that is about to come down upon them, but for the sake of time, I will skip down to the actual judgment itself. The three passages below make it quite clear what is coming.
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother “Israel” with the sword, and cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.” Amos 1:11
“I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the LORD GOD. Ezekiel 25:14
“The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,” for the LORD has spoken. Obadiah 1:18
It is important to recognize when Obadiah refers to the “house of Esau,” he is referring to the ancient Edomites in the Hebrew language. They were later labeled the Idumeans in the Greek language, and are today known as the Palestinians. If one goes back far enough in history, the Palestinians can be traced back to the ancient Philistines, and the Edomite descendants of Esau.
There still remains the question if the Psalm 83 prophecy has been fulfilled. I believe it has only partially been fulfilled. Let’s take a look back at the Psalm and see what additional details we can find. Starting at verse 9, we find these words:
9 Deal with them as Midian, as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the Brook kishon, 10 who perished at En Dor, who became as refuse on the earth. 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, 12 who said, “Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession. 13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind! 14 As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire… Psalm 83:9-14
This passage speaks of devastation being brought down on Israel’s enemies. Some might say the prophet was just expressing his anger and we are not to expect a literal fulfillment of what he asked God for. Yet, the examples given to us in that passage including Midian, Sisera, Jabin, Oreg, Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna all played their part in literal fulfillments of Israel’s enemies being utterly destroyed in her past history. The result was that these enemies never threatened or harassed the Jewish people again. What Asaph wrote in this psalm cannot be discounted as merely an imprecatory prayer. There are other passages that indicate that what is foretold in Psalm 83 is quite literally going to happen, and possibly very, very soon. Israel is being seriously oppressed today.
The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau, for the LORD as spoken. Obadiah verse 18
“In that day, I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left…” Zechariah 12:6
It is quite clear that the destruction that is coming to the enemy nations surrounding Israel will be beyond devastating, and the prophecies make it clear that it is Israel’s mighty military that God will use for His purposes. Also…just to be clear, this is not a description of the Ezekiel 38-39 / Gog-Magog war. There are definite distinctions that distinguish the two wars from each other.
There are an abundance of passages that we could turn to that corroborate what the Scriptures above state, but for the sake of time, we will move on.
Question: Do we have any indication how close we are to the time period when these things will unfold? I believe we do…
— Continued in Part Three —
Jake Geier