Psalm 83:1-18
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You:
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah Deal with them as with Midian, As with Sisera, As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon, Who perished at En Dor, Who became as refuse on the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, Who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.” O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.
Perhaps some of the names in this passage are unfamiliar, but they are names of countries that surround Israel today. At least weekly, reports have been published that Israel's enemies (specifically Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria) want to eliminate this God-given land and the Jewish people who inhabit Israel.
We are witnessing an Israeli air assualt against Hamas in the Gaza strip. One must be cautious when reading most national/international media reports about this conflict because Israel may likely be portrayed as the villain because they have been forced to strike Hamas leaders who hide out among civilian populations. The sad result is that civilians get killed or wounded and the propoganda in the national media generally blames Israel for these casualties.
The truth is that Hamas (like Hezbollah in the 2006 war) uses women, children, and civilians as shields as they hide out among the general population and lob rockets into Israel as they have been doing non-stop for quite some time. Hamas' unwillingess to stop killing Israeli's through their frequent rocket fire was the catalyst for Israel's Air strikes. There is no way that any other soveriegn nation would sit idly by and allow a terrorist group continue to behave in this way without consequences.
It will be very interesting to watch how this incursion unfolds. Just today (1/3/09) Israel has been forced to enter into Gaza on the ground. Since Hamas terrorists live among the general population, a ground invasion will be the most effective in eliminating the terrorists and minimizing collateral damages.
It is important to know that Hamas is ONLY a proxy for Iran. Iran is the head of the snake in this scenario, as Israel finds itself surrounded by the coils of this serpent who is hell-bent on annihliating Israel. This is not speculation, it is a well-known repeated statement by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Further, these statements are repeated by Hamas leaders in Gaza (west), Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon (north), and Syrian leaders (northeast). Iran and its proxy leaders have its headquarters in Damascus, Syria interestingly enough.
Is that significant to Bible prophecy? Certainly it is. There is no way to determine if Psalm 83 (above)/Isaiah 17 (below)is about to be fulfilled, but the violence in the Middle East is intensifying by the hour and it has the potential to draw other Iranian proxies into a larger regional war. If this happens, pay close attention to the words of the Lord as you read the prophecies of Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17. They will come to pass at some point in the future, we just don't know exactly when, but each time Israel finds itself in a deadly battle, it takes us that much closer to the fulfillment of God's prophetic Word.
Isaiah 17: 1-14
Proclamation Against Syria and Israel
The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken;They will be for flocks Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,The kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Syria;They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” Says the LORD of hosts.
“ In that day it shall come to pass That the glory of Jacob will wane, And the fatness of his flesh grow lean. It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, And reaps the heads with his arm; It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain In the Valley of Rephaim. Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, Like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three lives at the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in its most fruitful branches,”Says the LORD God of Israel. In that day a man will look to his Maker, And his eyes will have respect for the Holy the of Israel. He will not look to the altars, The work of his hands; He will not respect what his fingers have made, Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars. In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough. And an uppermost branch, Which they left because of the children of Israel; And there will be desolation. Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings; In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow. Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the kind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who rob us.
For additional commentary on Isaiah 17, please read "Soveriegnty Isaiah 17" in prophecy section of this website.
The Bible commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They need the true peace of Jesus Christ as does the rest of this world.
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