The Isaiah 11 - Psalm 83 - Ezekiel 39 Connection

18 January 2013: In the past 4 going on 5 years now Psalm 83 has been the subject of much discussion, in particular since the 2008 publication of Isralestine by our cherished brother-in-Christ, author and lecturer Bill Salus, and in the steady stream of articles and essays on new insights that have been continuous since then.

Despite all of this it is no understatement to say that there will always be something new to bring to our attention regarding the ongoing Psalm 83 war between Israel and its Muslim Arab neighbors. And it will likely be proven true at some future point that even after this prophecy comes to complete fulfillment new Scripture references to it will be identified that had escaped notice previously.

Well, it was to my surprise and sheer delight that in researching additional information on Jewish Messianic expectations that I found myself reading one of the most important prophetic chapters in the Bible in this regard, Isaiah 11. It is this chapter that the Jewish traditions regarding the first of the two messiahs they hold very high and imminent expectations for, Moshiach ben Yossef (Joseph, and also referred to as Moshiach ben Ephraim), appears. To the Jews, Moshiach ben Yossef is a precursor to the arrival of Moshiach ben David.

Without getting too far off focus in the discrepancies between Jewish and Christian eschatology and the teaching of the Holy Spirit regarding the latter, the essential point I want to make here is that the text of Isaiah 11:10-16 not only ties the appearance of this Moshiach ben Joseph/Moshiach ben Ephraim to the Messianic age, but also and as expected, to the regathering of Israel "from the four corners of the earth;" as well as to the unified nature of the prophesied re-establishment of the Israeli state to be inclusive of the tribes of Judah and Joseph/Ephraim, as is also prophesied by the parable of the two sticks in Ezekiel 37:15-23, but it also ties these things directly to the elimination of the threat posed to the newly regathered Israel, as foretold in Asaph's Psalm 83, by the "Philistines" (Palestinians) and "the people of the East" identified as "Edom, Moab and the people of Ammon" (Jordan). Moreover the elimination of the military threat Israel faces ultimately extends in verse 15 to "the Sea of Egypt" and drying up of "the River" (that is, the Euphrates River in northern Iraq and Syria).

Here is the text of Isaiah 11:10-15, with emphasis given to verse 14 for its direct relevance to Psalm 83.

“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.

Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.

The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over dry-shod.

There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt."

As has been discussed previously on Eschatology Today, one of the results of the Psalm 83 near-future final military engagement will be not only the defeat of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, thus making the global objective of "a Palestinian state" a Biblical non-starter, but also the total military defeat and territorial conquest of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is also made clear in verse 14. This is prophetic concurrence and reinforcement for the text of Ezekiel 39:11-16 regarding the future burial of Gog of Magog and his militarily allied forces. 

Ezekiel 39:11

"It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog."

I suppose it should, but I cannot let it pass without saying that I literally had goosebumps and forearm hairs standing on end as I flipped back and forth among these prophetic passages. And on this note I can only close this blog item by citing the Gospel of Luke where it is written, "For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known." Amen and Maranatha.