Daniel 9:27: "Gabar Bĕriyth Rab"

11 January 2013: This will be a companion exegetic article to Ezekiel 37:10 "Meh'ode Gadowl Chayil" posted here on 1 January 2013. I awoke with a start at 3 AM this morning with the burning thought that Israel is to be confirmed within the "gabar bĕriyth rab" or "covenant among many" found in Daniel 9:27 at the very beginning of the 70th Week. I now believe the NATO alliance resolves the eschatological issue of what ultimately becomes of the Israel Defense Forces following the near-future decisive victory in fulfillment of Psalm 83, to the almost unfathomable security condition that is prophesied to exist prior to Ezekiel 38/39, and, ultimately to the advent of the 70th Week as presented in the concluding paragraph post of that article.

According to the God-breathed prophecies the angel Gabriel gave to the prophet Daniel, there would be only four prophetically important world empires to exist between that time and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth: the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian and the Roman. Of these the last, the Roman, would not end, but would re-emerge in the last days as ten ethnically diverse kingdoms giving their authority to the Antichrist, a man who rises to achieve supreme authority over all of them, and thereafter through dark schemes, deception and military conquest over the global community of nations.

The illustration (click to enlarge) above shows the expansion of Rome over time, from its early days as a republic to its largest extent as an empire, perhaps just a decade or so from when we believe John was given The Revelation of Jesus Christ on Patmos. Within these lands and their territories and former colonies across the globe we can almost certainly find the "Beast Empire" of the 70th Week.

Living Eschatology is the Living Word of God

Immediately prior to the 70th Week there is prophetic reference to such an alliance in Ezekiel 38:13 as "the merchants of Tarshish" in association with the kingdoms of the Arabian peninsula, Sheba and Dedan. Evidence of this alliance is extant today, particularly in media reports of the close cooperation between NATO and the kingdoms of the Arabian Peninsula such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait.

The modern beginnings of this alliance began with the events of 1991 and Operation Desert Storm. They continue today with the recent events in Libya (2011) and now Syria (2011-12), and have been equally evident in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq 2003-2010) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan 2001-2013) where the NATO military presence is particularly robust. We can therefore reasonably expect the modern "Roman Empire" to continue its growth and expansion as Bible prophecy has flawlessly forecast for the past 2,645 years (Daniel 2:1 to Present Day).

In the several hundred years that immediately preceded the literal fulfillment of Daniel 9:26 and Matthew 24:2, many military alliances, battles and wars occurred over a vast area which prophetically facilitated and then culminated in that single event on Tishba B'Av 70 AD. Few of those events were of sufficient importance to warrant mention within the Biblical text, excepting only the prophetic narrative of Daniel 10:10 through Daniel 11:45. Rome, specifically the Roman Legions which executed the sack of Jerusalem and the razing of the Temple, (V Macedonica, X Fretensis, XII Fulminata and XV Apollinaris), were a unified force operating under the supreme authority of just one man, but they were named for the regions where they had been formed, had been fought in conquest for Rome, or for the supreme deity worshiped by the Roman Emperor.

Roman Legions sack the Temple, Tisha B'Av 70 AD

There is no prophetic text in the Bible describing a repeat of a military campaign of this type. Instead there is the peaceful sounding "gabar bĕriyth rab" or "covenant among many" of Daniel 9:27 that will be confirmed.  I believe this points to Israel's admission into the NATO alliance and its unwitting (for the most part) acceptance of the man who will be the Antichrist. I believe this was prophesied to occur by Jesus Christ at the Temple, and was recorded in John 5:43: "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive."  

In these last days Israel wants nothing more than to be accepted as an equal by these modern Roman nations, yet they are the same Roman nations where for nearly 20 centuries since their forefathers forced exile from the land they had been relentlessly persecuted, chased, evicted, forcibly converted, and ultimately murdered on an industrial scale. To these Roman nations Israel wishes to return in military and political alliance just a generation after God had taken them out and returned them to their own land as promised. 

In these last days Israel's military forces reciprocally and routinely war game with and play host to in the land of Israel the modern equivalent of Rome's legions. Soon this covenant, this alliance, pact, peace treaty or whatever we would call it, will come to pass and it will be the doorway to the abomination of desolation and the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). And some people say that history does not repeat itself. Well, history will repeat itself, but this last time it is for the glory of God and the establishment of His kingdom upon this Earth.