A Coalition of Hate
Part 2: The Stage Is Set (Obadiah and Jeremiah 49)
Last week we began a new sermon series based on some of the less studied and misunderstood prophecies of the Old Testament. I shared with you my belief that we are living in the final days before the return of Christ. As such I also believe that whatever we see occurring to the nation of Israel today has already been predicted to occur by the prophets of the Bible. In other words, I believe we should be able to find some specific prophecies in the Bible that are happening right before our eyes.
Now, since prophecy is centered around the Jewish people. If we are to find out if God has said anything about the times we are living in, we should look to see what is happening to the Jews. Today, we are witnessing Israel’s struggle with Palestinian refugees, militants, terrorists, and their hatred toward the Jews as a people and a nation. This conflict is affecting the entire world, and the world’s response is making matters more difficult for Israel by pressuring her to do things to her detriment.
We have watched since Israel’s national rebirth in 1948 how the surrounding Muslim nations have repeatedly tried to destroy Israel. The most recent attempt occurring just two years ago in the Second Lebanese War. While the world stumbles around in confusion God is not a bit surprised by what is happening to His people, because over 3000 years ago these events were foretold in His Holy Word. And anyone who cares to read and understand these prophecies should marvel as more and more evidence of God’s truth is being fulfilled before our eyes.
I. A Middle East War
A Middle East war is looming on the horizon. It is a battle whose purpose is to judge the nations of that region for how they treated the Jews, God’s chosen people, throughout the ages. Most Biblical scholars have read the prophetic passages concerning this event without full recognition of what is coming. Among those who do realize that a battle is being described, they usually place its occurrence in the final seven-year tribulation period of history.
But this battle is unique and different from either of the two major battles that most prophecy scholars recognize as occurring in the end times. This Middle East war is not the Battle of Gog and Magog; nor is it Armageddon. This battle precedes both of those, and we can see the players in this conflict jockeying for position on the nightly news.
Last week we read the prophet Asaph’s vision of modern events in Psalm 83:1-8. Let’s reread this passage together to remind ourselves what it says. “O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. [2] See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads. [3] With cunning they conspire against your people [Jews]; they plot against those you cherish [Jews]. [4] “Come,” they say, “Let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.” [5] With one mind the plot together; they form an alliance against you – [6] the tents of Edom [Palestinians, and S. Jordan], and the Ishmaelites, [Saudi Arabia], of Moab [central Jordan] and the Hagrites [Egypt], [7] Gebal [N. Lebanon], Ammon [N. Jordan] and Ammalek [Negev, S. Israel], Philistia [Gaza Strip and Hamas], with the people of Tyre [S. Lebanon and Hezbollah]. [8] Even Assyria [Syria and N. Iraq] has joined them to lend strength to the descendants of Lot [Moab and Ammon above].
This little-studied psalm shows us that at some point in Israel’s national existence they are going to be confronted with possible annihilation at the hands of a coalition of enemies bent on wiping them off the face of the earth. I told you the modern equivalent of the ancient names of Israel’s enemies and we compared them to the map of the Middle East. If you brought your map back with you, you will notice that all of these enemies are Israel’s immediate neighbors. They all have fought battles against Israel in the past 60 years and lost. They all share borders with her. And they are all predominately Muslim countries.
We also noted that the driving force behind this alliance of nations was the Palestinian push for their own national identity in the land promised to Israel.
That brings us up to date and begs the questions: how is this prophecy going to play out, what will the results be, and when will this prophecy take place? We are going to try to answer these questions in the next few weeks by studying what God has revealed through the words of His prophets given thousands of years ago.
We’ll begin by taking a look at the book of Obadiah. This is one of the minor Old Testament prophetic books, which I seriously doubt you have heard a sermon or teaching on in a long time, if ever. It is a short book, only 21 verses long. And the entire book is composed of God’s response to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict introduced in Psalm 83. (That’s probably why you haven’t heard to many sermons on it. Not too many people realize the connection between these passages and the importance of their content to us today.) We will also be looking at the 49th chapter of the book of Jeremiah, which echoes the message given to Obadiah.
II. Edom - The Instigator
Let’s read Obadiah 1 and Jeremiah 49:7, 14.
Obadiah 1:1, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom [Palestinians] – We have heard a message from the Lord: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, ‘Rise, and let us go against her [Israel] for battle’ –.”
Jeremiah 49:7, 14, “Concerning Edom [Palestinians]:… [14] I have heard a message from the Lord: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, ‘Assemble yourselves to attack it [Israel]! Rise up for battle!’”
Remember, Psalm 83 is a call for help to God on behalf of Israel as she is facing possible annihilation from her neighbors. The book of Obadiah and Jeremiah 49 are part of God’s answer to this plea.
These two passages begin by telling us that both Obadiah and Jeremiah have received a message from the Lord concerning the main player or instigator behind this coalition of hatred against Israel. This would be Edom. Now, remember last week we said that when the Bible is talking prophetically about the territory of Edom, it is talking about Southern Jordan. However, when it is talking about the tents of Edom, the house of Edom, or the Edomite people, we find their descendants today among the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
So in these passages, God is sending a message to His prophets about the Palestinian people, because both of them say this message concerns Edom.
Obadiah and Jeremiah are both saying, “I’ve gotten a reply from God, and the coalition listed in Psalm 83 which is forming against Israel will be centered around Edom or the Palestinians. They are not just forming this alliance against you, soon those Palestinians are going to be sending out messengers to all their allies to come because the time is ripe for a full-out battle to begin.”
III. Condition of Palestinians at the Time of this Battle
Now, you may be wondering, how do we know that these are prophetic Scriptures? How do we know that they haven’t already occurred in the past when Israel was a nation the first time? Well, as I mentioned last week, the first reason we know that these passages are prophetic in nature is because never before in history has there been such an alliance of nations against Israel as is described in Psalm 83. But one can be found forming today.
The second reason we know that these passages are prophetic and likely referring to modern times is found in the book of Obadiah and in Jeremiah 49. These two books tell us what kind of condition the Edomites or Palestinians are going to be in when this prophetic battle occurs. And as you will see, these conditions are being met for the first time in history right before our very eyes.
A. Small Among Nations
The first condition the Palestinian’s find themselves in is found in Obadiah 2 and Jeremiah 49:15.
Obadiah 1:2, “See, I will make you [Edom, Palestinians] small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.”
Jeremiah 49:15, “Now I will make you [Edom, Palestinians] small among the nations, despised among men.”
Even though the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is presently affecting the entire world in one way or another, the Palestinian people instigating it are themselves very small in number, stature, and territory. When Israel was a nation living in their homeland the first time, Edom and the Edomites were a large nation with great territory. It was their land that the Israelites asked permission to pass through on their way to the Promised Land, but were denied. Herod the Great was an Edomite.
It is only today, when Israel is a nation living in their homeland for the second time, that we find that the Edomites or Palestinians fit the description as being small among the nations. The only territories they can claim are the areas of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Their population as of February of this year rests at 3.76 million compared to Israel’s population of 7 million (O’Loughlin).
Likewise these verses say that they are utterly despised. The Palestinians today are a people who are despised worldwide as well as locally. Worldwide, while the Palestinians may receive some sympathy for their refugee plight, their terrorist tactics and religious intolerance are despised.
Locally, they have the backing of the surrounding Muslim nations. And yet, those same nations show their contempt by refusing to allow them to settle inside their own borders, and by using them to promote their own goals against Israel without having to dirty their own hands.
B. Deceived By Pride
The second thing God tells us about these modern-day Edomites or Palestinians is that the terror they inspire has given them a false sense of pride that deceives them.
Obadiah 1:3, “The pride of your heart has deceived you…”
Jeremiah 49:16, “The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you…”
The Palestinians use suicide bombings and other forms of terror attacks against their enemies mainly because there is no way they could defeat them in an all out battle by themselves. They don’t have the numbers or the military technology or discipline to take on the Israeli military. So, instead they use scare tactics to wear down their opponents. And since the international community is pressuring Israel to give in to some of their demands, the Palestinians are being deceived into thinking that their tactics are working.
This false belief has also increased their pride not only in themselves but also in their false religion as well. “The Islamic suicide bomber usually utters the chant ‘Allah Akbar’ just before he or she blows up their intended Israeli target. This chant means Allah…is greater than everything” (Salus 203). But as Jehovah God said over a thousand years before Allah even existed, “Your pride has deceived you, and it will be your downfall.”
Okay, let’s see what other descriptions God gives us that show us that this prophecy is coming to pass before our eyes.
C. Pushed to the Border
Obadiah 1:7, “All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive you and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.”
Here we have the first clear mention of Edom’s co-conspirators. The Palestinian’s allies of course are the members of the coalition of hate listed in Psalm 83 (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.) But notice that this alliance isn’t quite as amicable as you might first think.
Psalm 83:4 tell us why this coalition has come together. “Come,” they say, “Let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.” They all agree with the Palestinian cause. They all want to see the nation of Israel destroyed and the Arabs once again in control of the Holy Land. But that is where this “friendship” ends, although the Palestinians don’t know it.
The surrounding Muslim nations that join the Palestinian coalition are creating a trap and deceiving their Palestinian kinsmen. They are using this small group of people to further their own plans while at the same time trying to keep their own hands “clean.”
The first reference in this verse says that the Palestinian’s allies, those who are in coalition with them, are forcing them to the border. The border referred to here, is the Israeli border. The Palestinian people are being encouraged, and perhaps even forced to populate the refugee communities along the Israeli borders. They are being used as a form of insulation between Israel and the neighboring countries.
While the nations that ally themselves with the Palestinians could easily assimilate them within their own borders, they make it very difficult for these refugees to do so. Instead they force these displaced kinsmen to remain along the West Bank, within the Gaza Strip, and in various other camps which all lie along the Israeli border.
The second thing this verse says is that these nations, which the Palestinian’s think of as friends are deceiving, overpowering, and setting traps for them. When the Arab countries were defeated by Israel in the Six-Day War they realized that they wouldn’t be able to cut Israel off militarily at that time, so they adopted strategies of terror and propaganda, using their displaced Palestinian kinsmen as front-line, human land mines in this battle to eradicate the Jews.
These nations promote Palestinian patriotism and pride, and they encourage the myth that Israel is their native homeland. They pretend to be the Palestinian’s friends while at the same time they are basically trapping these unsuspecting refugees into fighting their battle against the Jews for them.
The Second Lebanese War that we witnessed in 2006 is a perfect example of this trap. While small terrorist groups and Palestinian refugees were sending rockets into Israel and being bombed by the superior Israeli armed forces, these neighboring countries were flying under the radar. They supported the Palestinian effort by supplying weapons, yet not by committing troops or in any other way openly backing them so as not to draw Israeli or world attention. Neither did they make any effort to absorb those refugees fleeing the Israeli military. Instead they put those innocents deliberately in places that were sure to attacked so that they could later cry fowl or “disproportionate amount of force”.
I believe that short war was just a dress rehearsal for the battle that is predicted to occur in the Bible. In fact, if you want to know something else fascinating. While the Second Lebanese War was being fought in the Middle East a little-known discovery was being made in an Irish bog that should have Biblical prophecy scholars sitting up and taking notice.
In July 2006, a construction worker in Ireland came across an ancient 20-page book dated to the years 800-1000 AD while driving his backhoe’s shovel into the mud of a bog. It was a spectacular find. Pat Wallace, the director of the National Museum of Ireland, called it a “miracle find” because “it’s unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing.”
What was this ancient book that caused such a stir? It was a book of psalms. But what is even more fascinating, is that it was found opened to none other than Psalm 83.
So as you can see these prophetic passages in Psalm 83, Obadiah and Jeremiah 49 are obviously speaking of events that are occurring in the Middle East today and in the near future.
As I said before this battle is not the Battle of Gog and Magog, which will come later. We know this because Ezekiel 38 and 39 doesn’t list any of the nations of the Psalm 83 coalition taking part in the Battle of Gog and Magog. I believe that is because as a result of this battle between Israel and the coalition of hate, the neighboring nations will no longer exist.
Next week we will examine the result of this battle in greater detail. If you want to get a head start finish reading the book of Obadiah and Jeremiah 49.
Sermon Sources
Salus, Bill. Isralestine. (Crane, HighWay, 2008.)
Kovacs, Joe. Psalm in a Bog Linked to Israel’s Current War. WorldNetDaily.com. July 26, 2006. Accessed November 11, 2008.
O’Loughlin, Toni. Census Finds Palestinian Population Up By 30%. The Guardian. February 11, 2008. www.guardian.co.uk Accessed November 22, 2008.
