Is Ezekiel 38 Imminent?
By Bill Salus
ProphecyDepot.com
20 June 2010: Current Middle East events are definitely stage setting for the final fulfillment of the Israeli War prophecies of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38-39. Turkey's recent newsworthy gyrations against Israel has got the “EZEKIEL 38 NOW” advocates rightfully at the edge of their seats. Now, Turkey and Iran, both members of the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy, share a common enmity toward Israel.
Mainstream media has seized the opportunity to make Turkey’s bid to embarrass Israel and Iran’s nuclear aim to destroy Israel front page news. This media blitz has played an instrumental part in creating a significant amount of recent Ezekiel 38 newspaper exegesis.
Certainly, there is just cause to consider the Ezekiel 38–39 prophecy in light of recent events, however, what about Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, and the Palestinians? They also are at odds with Israel and likewise frequently dominate current Mideast headlines. Curiously, Ezekiel 38 describes nine distinct populations by their ancient names including Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Libya but omits the historic name equivalents of Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas, and the Palestinians.
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hey, i have a few questions (what else is new) while i believe(and i`m sure ull agree)bills work is annointed and he`s a superb scholar a few questions linger: 1)why not mention egypt by name? why does asaph say "hagarites"? i`m not sure egypt is involved it psalm 83/isaiah 17 2)tho jordan is turning against isreal i dont think they are at the point yet where they would actually go to war yet indicating psalm 83 could still be a year out. am i mistaken? and finally
ReplyDeletefinally 3)have you noticed that the ezekiel 38&39 nations(russia, turkey, iran...) are close allies with the psalm 83/isaiah 17 nations(syria,lebanan,gaza...)it would appear that a war at this time would include nations from BOTH battles(gog/magog and psalm 83) not just one tho the inspired word of God says otherwise. what do you make of all that? especially that the gog/magog nations are closely intertwined with the psalm 83 nations. any insight?
ReplyDeleteby the way, i realize i brought up a number of questions but they have puzzled me for some time. i appreciate all the insight and clarity you can bring so thank you.
ReplyDeletehartdawg,
ReplyDeleteBill Salus sent the following response for you:
hartdawg,
1. The Ezekiel 38 Now fervor is primarily driven by newspaper exegesis. Iran and Turkey are acting out against Israel out of Islamic hatred. They are not driven by the desire to take spoil yet. There enmity toward Israel will grow after Ps. 83 is fulfilled. I believe people should set the newspaper exegesis aside and see if they really think Israel is ripe for Ezekiel 38. Conversely Ps. 83 is not newpaper exegesis. The enemies of Israel in Ps. 83 are today showing their desire to destroy Israel to grab the promised land, which is their goal expressed in Ps. 83:12. Ps. 83 is imminent.
2. Regarding Egypt. Asaph appeared to banner Egypt as the Hagarenes. The Hebrew word is below and is best translated as Hagarenes vs. Hagrites. Either way even the Hagrites have ties with Hagar through Ishmael's loins. However the clue as to why Egypt is not mentioned by name is in Ps. 83:2. Asaph appears to be connecting the ancient hatred with Ps. 83. Two groups, those who hate you, and your enemies. Those who hate you would be Hagar, Ishmael, Esau, Ammon, Moab, and perhaps Amalek. By using Hagar instead of Pharaoh or Egypt, Asaph emphasizes the family feuds that spawned the olam ebah, ancient hatred.
Bill
hartdawg,
ReplyDeleteSomething occured during the transmission of Bill's Emailed response from his domain into the Gmail/Google domain that prevented the Hebrew characters for the words Hagarenes vs Hagrites from appearing as the were originally.
I believe it is the "olam ebah" (an old/perpetual/everlasting hatred) which is the eschatological key here. The "olam ebah" began with Esau and Jabob, and revolves around the dispute of the covenant birthright and Esau's contempt and hatred of it and his spiteful intermarriage with the Ishmaelites which propagates that ancient hatred to this day, albeit through Islam. See Ezekiel 25:15 and Ezekiel 35:5 specifically, but read the entire chapter for context.
Also, Bill would like you to "consider the possible association of Isaiah 19:16-18 in relationship to Ps. 83."
the term "everlasting hatred"reminds me of obadiah. i dont recall isaiah 19:16-18 in his book.(tho i only read it once then sent it to my folks in alaska)i`ll have to reread isrealstine.
ReplyDeletei hate to admit being guilty of newspaper exegesis. thats what sensationalists do. i just didnt know what to make of recent events tho i knew instinctively psalm 83 precedes ezekiel 38&39. thanks for the clarity
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever read Joel Rosenberg's fictional book: The Ezekiel Option? The reason I ask is because in the story the invasion of Gog/Magog is a UN Russian led invasion for failing to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. At least that is the excuse Russia uses when they are actually after Israel's new oil and gas industry.
ReplyDeleteLast week Russia at the UN calls on Israel to sign NNPT:
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100611/159382830.html
I know Psalm 83 is going to happen first, and Isaiah 17, so could it be that Israel uses a nuke on Damascus, and this gets the ball rolling for Ezekiel 38 & 39. It appears to be that the nukes will be the excuse, but the real target might be Israel's newly found gas, and possibly oil wells?
I purchased and read Joel Rosenberg's fictional book "The Ezekiel Option."
ReplyDeleteThe discrepancy I noted in his fictional account is based upon the sum of the types spoils the Magog Confederation comes after.
These are spoils that Israel will almost certainly come into possession of as a result of the Psalm 83 conflict and which the Gog Confederation seeks to despoil Israel of. Oil and gas are not mentioned in Ezekiel 38:12-13 per se, but monetary wealth (silver and gold) and livestock and goods are specifically mentioned.
Psalm 83 is a prayer, not a Divine "thus says the Lord" oracle from God so I think we should be careful with assuming that it is a prophecy about some impending war that might not happen, imo.
ReplyDeleteAs for 'newspaper exegesis', everyone who has a blog about prophecy does it. We're all guilty of it, especially 'newspaper eisegesis'. I see it ALL the time no matter where you look.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYou are quite incorrect. Psalm 83 is more than just a prayer. It is an intercessory prayer AND a prophecy from an inspired Asaph that has been in the process of literal fulfillment since 1948.
The key to understanding this Bible fact is to know what God's Word has to say about Asaph.
2 Chronicles 29:30 clearly tells us that Asaph was a "chozeh," (H2374)and a chozeh is synonomous with the word prophet and the "Thus saith the LORD" aspect of Divine authority as defined by 2 Samuel 24:11-12
Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer (chozeh), saying, “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the LORD..."
Secondly, discussing the clear meaning - the Bible interprets the Bible - of the prophetic Word of God is absolutely not "newspaper eisegesis." That's what folks like Shoebat, Richardson and a few others engage in and have been thoroughly refuted.
Mike wrote
ReplyDelete"If there was such a "clear meaning" there would not be so much debate surrounding Biblical eschatology."
Who, pray tell, disputes the Word of God that I just quoted to you? Let me know and I will personally reprove and rebuke that person(s) for their heresy.
You provided nothing to dispute the fact that Asaph was a seer, a chozeh, thus a prophet, and therefore Pslam 83 is a prophecy.
So don't waste my time talking about people who look to Islamic texts in an incredibly vain if not idiotic effort to sell their rubbish-for-profit under the guise of a Biblical prophetic interpretation.
Mike wrote...
ReplyDelete"You deleted most of my previous post. Why?"
Because it was superflous and irrelevant to the subject matter of Bill Salus' article "Is Ezekiel Imminent".
In case you did not bother to read, ALL comments to this blog are moderated for content. The superflous part of your comment was deleted as it had no bearing on the subject of Bill's post.
"And where did I write about anybody who "look to Islamic texts"?
Do the names Shoebat and Richarson ring a bell? They base a vary large portion of their work on Satanically inspired Islamic garbage. Any metion of their rubbish warrants an immediate round file depost per my moderation template. That part of your comment IS the superflous content I saw fit to remove because it has no bearing on the subject matter of Bill Salus' article and was wholly off-topic.
I noticed that Iran called off it's attempt to run the Gaza blockcade last week. Probably due to pressure from Putin and Russia. I think that maybe we just missed the beginning of the anticipated Psalm 83 conflict, because if Iran had gone ahead, Israel would surely have confronted that ship with arms (which is exactly what Iran wants) and shots would have been fired. If that were to happen, you can be sure that Hezballah would have begun firing some of it's 40,000 missiles at Israel. That surely would have begun the Pslam 83/Isiah17 conflict! Can't be far off though. The whole region seems to sitting on go, just waiting for something to set it off. Probably this summer I think, but who knows, could take another year.
ReplyDeleteI think Iran will still send it's ships. And so will Turkey and the rest. They backed down last week because Israel was completely unambiguous about what it's actions would be if they continued on their course.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know what spark will ignite this coming war; it could be something as low-level as the kidnapping which preceeded the 2006 summer war. A push will become a shove, and a shove will become a war because no one on the Arab/Islamic side really wants a negotiated peace.
Following up my last comment, HAMAS official Mahmoud A-Zahar is on record telling the British daily newspaper The Independent that the Gaza flotilla will recommence after the conclusion of the World Cup.
ReplyDeleteZahar said at least 8 ship will arrive off Gaza from the Persian Gulf with even more coming during Ramadan.
Haratez has an interesting report on this.