Deconstructing the Islamic End Time Paradigm

24 January 2009: As is the case with the majority of the exegesis within what some have dubbed the “Islamic End Time Paradigm,” an undue excess of emphasis has been placed on three prophetic verses from Numbers 24:17-19 by those trumpeting an “Islamic Predominance” during these last days. A severe twisting of the meaning of these verses attempts to lay them as the exegetical cornerstone which adherents perceive to be an Islamic world government led by a Muslim Antichrist. Deconstructing this bogus paradigm begins by removing its foundation.

“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.” —Numbers 24:17-19 (KJV)

According to the “Islamic Predominance” exegesis the above King James Version of the prophetic text has been twisted into a very myopic exegesis which basically posits that when Yeshua Ha'Mashiach returns during the apogee of the battle of Armageddon (Har Megiddo), His singular purpose will be to “destroy” the modern day descendants of the Moabites, Midianites and Edomites, i.e. the sons of Ishmael, the Arabs. In this view Yeshua Ha'Mashiach is reduced from His true role as “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” into something of no more import than any of the common Serbian war criminals guilty of the Muslim ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Hercegovina a little over a decade ago.

In keeping with the ultimate truth that the Bible interprets the Bible, the correct exegesis for this prophetic passage is found in Revelation 19. The symbolism in the above prophecy is not a literal condemnation limited to the destruction of the surrounding Arab nations or the Arab people. On the contrary “Moab” is representative of all nations from the far corners of the earth per Revelation 19. Indeed, the prophet has given us another most important clue with the phrase “sons of Sheth.” As the symbolic use of Moab points to all of the nations of the earth, so to “sons of Sheth” is indicative of all the peoples of the earth.