Turkey and Palestinians in Bible Prophecy

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Today's Bible Reading: Obadiah 1

Topic: Judgment on Edom; Final triumph of Israel

Commentary:
Introduction to Obadiah; The Identity of Edom (Obadiah) :


Nothing is known of the prophet Obadiah beyond the words of his prophecy. His name, meaning "Servant of the Eternal," may have been a name or it may have simply been used as a title. As to when he lived and preached, while most modern scholars date his book to the time immediately following the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., "some scholars date the book very early, in the mid-ninth century b.c., following raids by the Philistines and Arabian tribes during the period of King Jehoram of Judah (see 2 Chr. 21:16, 17). This date would make the Book of Obadiah the earliest of the prophetic books" (Nelson Study Bible, introductory notes on Obadiah). Under inspiration, the prophet Jeremiah later utilizes some of Obadiah's prophecy in his own prophecy against Edom (see Jeremiah 49:7-22).
As mentioned, Edom or Esau rebelled in the days of King Jehoram against Judah, and they would continue to be in revolt (see 2 Kings 8:20-22). The book of Obadiah describes in more detail the future of Edom. Indeed, the prophecy of Obadiah is clearly for the end time, as the reference to the "day of the Lord" shows (verse 15; compare Joel 2:1-2)—as well as the references to the return of all Israel, the ultimate defeat of Edom and the establishment of the Kingdom of God (verses 17-21).
Yet who is Edom today? As discussed earlier, Edom is another name for Esau (Genesis 25:30). Esau and his descendants originally lived in the region of Mount Seir (Genesis 36:8-9), southeast of Judea, in what is now southern Jordan, around the city of Petra. The Greeks and Romans called this area Idumea (i.e., Idum = Edom). Because the Bible refers to end-time Jordan as "Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon" (Daniel 11:41), it is evident that many Edomites must still live there. It should also be noted that Idumea extended into southern Judah: "The Edomites were gradually pushed into the southern half of Judea, including the region around Hebron, an area which the Greeks later called Idumaea" ("Idumaea," Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1966). (The biblical king Herod the Great was an Idumean—an Edomite). One of Esau's grandsons (and a tribal chief) was Amalek (Genesis 36:10-16), who became father of the Amalekites. Some rabbinical schools in Israel teach that the Palestinian Arabs—the most fervent adversaries of the modern Israeli state—are Amalekites. In light of the prophecy in Exodus 17:16 of conflict between the Amalekites and Israelites from generation to generation, there may be considerable validity to this identification (see also Obadiah 10). Jordan's population is heavily Palestinian, and many of the Palestinians in Jordan and Israel are evidently Edomite by descent.
This identification of the Palestinians becomes clearer from a careful reading of Obadiah 19. It is speaking of territories—that those who control particular territories in the Holy Land will come to possess additional territories there. In context, we can see that Israelites in this verse are retaking areas that the Edomites have stolen. Fascinatingly, the areas listed as doing the taking here are areas that are today populated by Jews. The areas being taken back are now populated by Palestinians—thus apparently identifying the Palestinians as Edomites, at least in large measure. Notice: "The South [the Negev, now held by the Israelis] shall possess the mountains of Esau [southern Jordan and perhaps the area of Hebron, the southern West Bank now populated by Palestinians], and the Lowland [the Shephelah, or lower hills between the central hill country to the east and the coastal plain to the west, now populated by Jews] shall possess Philistia [most of which is now the Gaza Strip, territory now held by Palestinians]. They [the Jewish Shephelah inhabitants] shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria [the northern West Bank, now occupied by Palestinians]. Benjamin [the area around Jerusalem, presently held by the Israelis] shall possess Gilead [northern Jordan]."
But Edom's descendants may be found elsewhere as well. Besides their sedentary life in the Mount Seir region, some of them appear to have become nomadic, ranging over vast territories as early as patriarchal times. A text from the ancient city of Ugarit, on the northern Syrian coast, mentions "the well-watered land of Edom," which was evidently in some proximity. Later, in the sixth century B.C., Nebuchadnezzar carried many Edomites of the Mount Seir region away captive to Babylon and other Babylonian territories. Perhaps that is why we find the city of Basra in Iraq—possibly a slight variation of the biblical Edomite city of Bozrah (Genesis 36:33; 1 Chronicles 1:44; Isaiah 34:6; 63:1). It is thus likely that there are still Edomites in Iraq and scattered throughout the Middle East. During the laxity of Persian rule, Edomite wandering appears to have resumed. The chief tribe of Edom was Teman (see Obadiah 9), named after Esau's eldest grandson (Genesis 36:10-15). And the rocky plateaus of Persia and Turkestan eventually became known as the land of Temani. In Turkestan in Central Asia was a city named Amalik, seemingly after Amalek. The name of Teman appears to have come down to us in the form of the name Ottoman—that is, the Ottoman Turks (only the vowels in spelling being changed over the centuries). While the Turks appear to be a somewhat mixed people, it does seem that a large number of them are Edomites. The historical Hor Turks may be named after the Horites, who were closely associated with the Edomites in Genesis 36.
Perhaps most surprising is to find that elements of Edom may be found in Europe. The Jewish Talmud says that Edomites settled very early on in southern Italy. It is believed by many Jews that the people of Edom became dominant among the early Romans, establishing themselves as the ruling elite among them and later among the Germans. There may be some truth in this, as Isaiah 34 and 63 describe the ultimate destruction of end-time Babylon (a power bloc led by a final resurrection of the Roman Empire) as the destruction of Edom and the Edomite capital of Bozrah. However, Edomites in Europe would seem to make up a rather small percentage of the population there. (More research on the modern identity of Edom can be found at www.british-israel.ca/Turkey.htm and at www.britam.org/now72.html —with the caution that the citing of outside sources for further study is not an endorsement of everything in those sources).
The Fate of Edom (Obadiah)
Despite their self-imagined greatness and pride, God says he will make the Edomites small and despised among the nations (Obadiah 2). Their dwelling in the "clefts of the rock" (Obadiah 2; Jeremiah 49:16) may refer to the rock-hewn city of Petra mentioned earlier (the word for "rock" being the Hebrew Sela, equivalent to the Greek Petra), and perhaps other rock fortresses. High above Petra and on other mountains of Edom were high places for worship, lookouts and refuge. "Some of the mountain peaks of Edom reach over six thousand feet; Jerusalem [by comparison] is about 2,300 feet above sea level" (Nelson Study Bible, note on Obadiah 3). Yet the Edomites would be brought down—not just physically, but figuratively from their exalted prideful arrogance (Obadiah 4; Jeremiah 49:16).
In Obadiah 5 God says that grape gatherers or even thieves would take merely their fill—not everything. But God will go way beyond this. Edom will be utterly laid bare, completely plundered of everything and everyone (Obadiah 6; see Jeremiah 49:9-10).
In verse 7 of Obadiah we see Edom in a "confederacy"—an alliance—perhaps the same one prophesied in Psalm 83:1-8. In any case, we see that the Edomites' allies will turn on them. Yet the Edomites won't be able to see it. Their "wisdom" or cunning (as the Hebrew could also be rendered) and understanding will not reveal it—as God will confound and destroy them (Obadiah 8-9; Jeremiah 49:7).
Proverbs 24:17 says, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles." A comparison of that principle with Obadiah 12-14 shows one of the major reasons God is and will be angry with Edom. In the past invasions of Israel and Judah, Edom has often cheered it on and even participated, as will again be noted in the Bible Reading Program comments on Amos 1:11-12 (another prophecy of Edom). Apparently, the Edomites of the end time will continue in the same pattern, cutting off the escape of Israelites, contributing to their devastation and turning them over to the enemy (Obadiah 10-11, 13-14).
Yet Edom will pay dearly—as will all nations that have dealt maliciously with God's people (verses 15-16). But it will be particularly bad for Edom. At the time of Christ's return, Obadiah tells us, the land of Edom will be destroyed, and it appears from verse 18 that, at that time, none of the physical descendants of Esau will survive. (We will examine this matter further when we later read the prophecy of Edom in Jeremiah 49:7-22.)
This does not mean, however, that none of the Edomites will ever be in the Kingdom of God. They will be raised in the second resurrection, which will take place after the Millennium of Christ's reign (Revelation 20:5), and which is commonly referred to in the Church of God as the "Great White Throne Judgment" (see verses 11-12). At that time, everyone who has not been called by God in this age prior to Christ's return will be given an opportunity to accept God's way of life and enter into His Kingdom. And those of the first resurrection at Christ's return—the comparatively few called and faithful people of this age—will be there to help guide and teach those who will be raised in that second resurrection.
As we've seen, Obadiah evidently concerns the Israelites retaking Palestinian territories at the return of Christ. Verse 20 then concerns the redistribution of the land to all of Israel and Judah returning from captivity. The "land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath" is perhaps the entire Holy Land, stretching up into former Phoenician territory in modern Lebanon—though it could be that only northern Israel is here denoted as the land for the returning house of Israel. Then notice the "captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad." The last word here may come from sephar, "which in the Aramaic vernacular would denote furthermost limit or seacoast" (Seth Ward, "On the History of the Term 'Sepharad,'" Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, www.sephardicstudies.org/ward2.html ). By early medieval times, the Jewish people of Spain were referring to themselves as Sephardic Jews, evidently from this term. Perhaps it refers to the Jews who have been scattered since the Diaspora. They return to possess the cities of the Negev.
Finally, observe again this very encouraging promise at the end of the book of Obadiah: "Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (verse 21). Who are these "saviors," or deliverers, who judge? Describing the time of Jesus Christ's return, Daniel 7:22 says, "Judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom" (KJV). Yes, God's saints, glorified as divine kings and priests, will be given the privilege of playing a part in saving Israel and the rest of mankind. What an awesome future!
Regarding the closing words of the prophecy, "the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Obadiah 21), The Nelson Study Bible says this in its note on the verse: "These were Obadiah's last words against all human arrogance, pride, and rebellion. Edom had thought itself indestructible; but the Lord humbled that nation and restored the fallen Judah [and will do so in a far greater way for all Israel in the future]. Many people are tempted to consider themselves beyond the reach of God. But God will bring them low, just as He will lift those who humble themselves before Him. And one great day, He will establish His just rule over all."

Can Israel Survive?

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Can Israel Survive?
Israel is geographically tiny, especially when measured against its massive impact on the world. Yet it remains the unceasing target of hostile criticism, with some countries openly threatening its extinction. Only 60 years old, Israel's survival remains at stake today. What does Scripture say?
by John Ross Schroeder
Adolf Hitler ruled over and devastated much of Continental Europe from the late 1930s until 1945. Yet polls in several of these formerly captive European countries show that, when asked which country is the biggest threat to world peace today, nearly 60 percent of the respondents named Israel .
Denying Israel's legitimacy and undermining its right to exist is still very much in vogue today—even in countries previously ravaged by the Third Reich.
An easy job for any journalist would be the task of assembling quotes from hostile Arab nations calling for Israel to be destroyed.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is perhaps the most outspoken, making such statements as "Israel must be wiped off the map" (2005), "the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation . . . [it] is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm" (2006), "the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives" (2007) and "the world powers established this filthy bacteria, the Zionist regime, which is lashing out at the nations in the region like a wild beast" (2008).
Could Israel survive a nuclear exchange?
In a Dec. 14, 2001, speech, then-Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani—considered a "moderate" Muslim leader—openly threatened a nuclear attack on Israel: "If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with [nuclear] weapons like those that Israel possesses now . . . the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world [—not destroy it]. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality."
American journalist Suzanne Fields summarized Rafsanjani's simple mathematical equation: "In a nuclear exchange with Israel his country might lose 15 million people which would amount to a small 'sacrifice' from among the billion Muslims worldwide in exchange for the lives of 5 million Israeli Jews" ("Confronting the New Anti-Semitism," The Washington Times, July 25, 2004).
In other words, he believed it would be worth it to start a nuclear war with Israel that could result in the death of 15 million Muslims if the 5 million Jews of Israel could be wiped out. After all, a billion Muslims would still be left around the world, but only few surviving Jews in other countries—and no state of Israel.
It is hard to believe how some people think, but it's also hard to argue with the cold-blooded logic of this calculation.
Israel simply cannot afford the kind of nuclear war threatened by Iranian leaders. Such a war could and would do considerable damage to Iran and the Arab world should it ever come to pass. But Israel itself in all probability simply would not survive.
The enormous geographical odds against her in a war with Iran alone are almost 80 to 1. Here is a very big factor: Israel is very short on living space, especially in comparison to the vast acreages of the Arab countries, which combined are some 650 times the size of tiny Israel.
The bottom line is that only two or three nuclear detonations in Israel would leave its land totally devastated and largely uninhabitable for generations to come. What an unconscionable catastrophe that would be for the world, given the nation's overall scientific, technological, humanitarian and cultural contribution to the world!
It is a frightening thought to envision a world without Israel. Yet this is precisely what many of her enemies throughout history have seriously contemplated. Notice the plea to God from King David's chief musician Asaph, written some 3,000 years ago:
"Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, 'Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more'" (Psalm 83:1-4, emphasis added throughout). The Bible is right on target in describing conditions besetting our contemporary world.
The next few verses describe the nature of the forces arrayed against Israel. Viewed in the light of its contemporary history, these passages show that neighboring nations would be Israel's natural enemies: "For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You" (verse 5).
In the wake of the 1956 Suez War came the short-lived United Arab Republic, the union of Egypt and Syria. Does another union of hostile Muslim countries lie around the corner?
Verses 6 and 7 give the ancient names of the neighboring peoples surrounding Israel. But the overall principle remains crystal clear: Israel would be severely harassed by its neighbors.
The multiple burdens of modern Israel
The state of Israel has had to maintain its existence while being harassed by active Arab hostility often expressed by horrific terrorist acts and, more recently, continuous rocket and mortar fire well into its southern regions—now even reaching into the coastal city of Ashkelon, between the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv.
The terror group Hamas now controls Gaza and is responsible for the rain of rockets presently afflicting Israel. This "Islamic resistance movement" was established in 1987 and is infamous for its suicide bombings. The Hamas charter plainly states that "there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad" and that " Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it." Clearly Hamas is devoted to the destruction of the state of Israel.
British historian Martin Gilbert has aptly summarized some of Israel's major difficulties since its founding: "Israeli society has faced a combination of pressures that are unusual in any nation: the pressures of continuous and massive immigration; five wars; the unpredictable cruelty of terrorist attacks (and, most recently, of suicide bombers); and a sense of the isolation and vulnerability of a small nation, each generation of which has lost loved ones in war and as a result of terrorist attacks.
"Israel is not only a nation that for the first three decades of its existence was surrounded by sworn enemies, but one that, following a victorious war in 1967, has had to share part of its own land with another people" (Israel: A History, 1999, p. xxi).
The nation has also had to deal with the troubling memory of the Holocaust—the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis. The nation's Jewish population has often contemplated what talents and resources these men and women and their never-born descendants could have contributed to the national wealth and welfare.
Instead, through no fault of their own, they succumbed to the 20th century's most virulent outbreak of anti-Semitism. Six million trees (the " Forest of Martyrs") were planted in a reforesting of the Judean hills specifically in honor of the Holocaust victims. But the Nazi hostility of the Third Reich (1933-1945) has been replaced by equally virulent Arab and Muslim hatred.
The late American historian Barbara Tuchman wrote: "The Arabs are gracious and attractive people, friendly and courteous to strangers, possessing dignity, charm and even humor. On the subject of Israel, however, they are paranoid. Israel does not appear on Arab maps" (Practicing History, 1981, p. 128).
Israel has had to fight several wars of survival with surrounding Arab countries since its inception as a nation in 1948. Today this tiny state still has to periodically battle ruthless terrorist groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Yet Israel is not without its national advantages.
Israel's inherent advantages
The story of Israel is not all one-sided. Notice Barbara Tuchman's historic assessment: "With all of its problems, Israel has one commanding advantage— a sense of purpose: to survive. It has come back. It has confounded persecution and outlived exile to become the only nation in the world that is governing itself in the same territory, under the same name [although Judah would be more accurate], and with the same religion and same language as it did three thousand years ago.
"It is conscious of fulfilling destiny. It knows it must not go under now, that it must endure" (p. 134). Indeed, God has a very great purpose for the modern nation of Israel, even in the fulfillment of end-time Bible prophecy. A Jewish homeland had to be reestablished in the Middle East to fulfill Bible prophecy (see pages 39-41 of our free booklet Are We Living in the Time of the End? and pages 5-6 of the January-February 2008 Good News).
Martin Gilbert stated, "Although confronted with many problems, Israel possesses a strong will to succeed and prosper, to maintain its vigorous and fulfilling daily life, and to confound the critics who point to both external and self-inflicted problems as insoluble" (p. xiii).
The U.S. government has consistently supported Israel throughout its 60-year history. Former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett wrote: "We stand with Israel because Israel is a beacon of freedom and hope—to the world, generally, and in a more important sense, to the Middle East . . . Israel has kept faith with the promise of its founding [in 1948], a founding more similar to America's than perhaps any other nation's" ("Why I Stand With Israel," Alan Dershowitz, editor, What Israel Means to Me, 2006, p. 39).
The founding Israeli prime minister, David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), spoke of Israel as a "treasured people." But what type of treasure? Israeli civil rights spokesman Shulamit Aloni, a former member of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) told of Israel's "treasure [of] ethics, knowledge, culture, art, science, literature, openness and listening to and respecting every single person, man, woman, and child as freeborn human beings, created in the image of God" (p. 23).
Israel's dilemma with demographics
Bennett firmly stated: "We must never ignore the fact that if Israel loses its war against terrorism, it will lose its existence" (p. 41). The stakes are very high indeed!
Yet not every enemy is a military predator. Simple demographics have become a critical concern for Israel's leaders. Jewish identity within the nation itself is being threatened.
Israel Harel founded the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea. He also writes a weekly column for a popular Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz . He describes the threat:
"Firstly, in Israel there is a large minority group (20% in the general population, which constitutes 30% of elementary first graders), the Arab minority, which resents the identity—and sometimes the very existence—of Israel as a Jewish state. This minority perceives itself as a part of the Palestinian people. Most Arabs in Israel identify with their people who fight a cruel and unrestrained war of terror against Israel" ("The Image and Significance of Contemporary Zionism," Jewish Quarterly, Winter 2007, p. 52).
David Ben-Gurion, perhaps modern Israel's greatest patriot, felt very strongly about Jewish identity in the land. He said to the 20th Zionist Congress meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1937: "No Jew is entitled to give up the right of the Jewish nation to the land. It is not in the authority of any Jew or of any Jewish body; it is not even in the authority of the entire nation alive today to give up any part of the land" (quoted by Harel, p. 56).
Yet U.S. News and World Report editor-in-chief Mortimer Zuckerman reminds us that "it was [Yasser] Arafat who described 'all of Palestine,' which includes all of Israel, as a "holy wakf," i.e., an Islamic trust that cannot be given away" ("Denial and Hope in the Mideast," Oct. 8, 2007).
Do we grasp the extent of the significance of these conflicting territorial claims and their crucial historic, present and future implications?
Many European observers would even like to see the state of Israel void of its Jewish identity. For instance, according to noted London columnist Melanie Phillips, "The [British] general public no longer believes the Jews have a claim to the land of Israel." In her view, those who hold that belief "need to be told otherwise" (The Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2007).
She explained: "Long before the Shoah [Holocaust], the world decided the Jews should be returned to their ancestral homeland in Palestine—which consisted of what is currently Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza—because of their overwhelming entitlement to the land. This was not because of the biblical promise, but because it had been the Jewish nation state for hundreds of years, centuries before Islam came into being" (ibid.).
But will ceding portions of their homeland nonetheless bring Israel real peace with its neighbors?
Land for peace?
Israel 's pioneering founders such as David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol are almost all gone from the scene. A new Israeli intelligentsia has arisen that is apparently willing to make whatever compromises are deemed necessary to achieve peace. Land for peace became the new watchword. Giving up Gaza unilaterally seemed like a good idea. But so-called democracy in Gaza produced the election of Hamas, which has rained rockets down on Israeli citizens in the southern border area of the country ever since.
Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the intifada of 1987-92 created "a substantial bloc of guilt-ridden Israelis ready to take almost any risk for peace." This led to a situation where "a majority of Israelis were considering previously unthinkable concessions such as uprooting Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and redividing the city of Jerusalem" ("The End of the 'Guilty Israeli," March 2, 2008).
In this atmosphere Israel withdrew in late 2005 from the Gaza Strip, which it had captured from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War, turning it over to the Palestinian Authority government. But Hamas won a surprising victory in elections a few months later and started a small-scale civil war against the previous ruling forces of Fatah. Ever since, nearby portions of southern Israel have been regularly bombarded by rockets and mortar shells fired from the vacated territory.
Halevi sums up Hamas as a ruthless terrorist group "whose theology calls for the destruction of Israel and war against the Jews around the world, and whose terror attacks are small pre-enactments of its genocidal ambitions . . . Gaza was a test case for Israeli withdrawal and the experiment was a disaster."
As Halevi notes, " Had Gazans begun at this point to create a peaceful state from their new, self-governing territory, the Israeli public almost certainly would have endorsed substantive negotiations over a West Bank withdrawal." But since the Gaza withdrawal was met with rocket fire, surrendering the West Bank is apparently no longer seen as an effective "carrot" in achieving the long-sought-after peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Consider also that "from the time of the Bible to 1948, the West Bank, which includes the old city of Jerusalem (containing the Western Wall) and Hebron (where the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs are buried) has always been part of the land of Israel" (Gush Emunim, "West Bank Versus Judea and Samaria," Jewish Literacy, 2001, p. 343).
This is how many ordinary Israeli Jews view ownership. They realize that a West Bank in Palestinian hands could very well become a launching pad for rocket attacks on the city of Jerusalem and its environs.
Tony Blair's sobering assessment
Last summer former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was appointed as a special Middle East envoy under the auspices of the "Quartet" of the EU, the UN, the United States and Russia. Spending considerably more time in the region than ever before enabled Mr. Blair to gain a much better comprehension of the stubborn regional dilemmas.
He said: "I understand more than when I was the prime minister the difficulties here. I would hesitate to cede the West Bank to the Palestinians after the nightmare Israel has faced since the Gaza withdrawal."
The "land-for-peace" formula that has been the basis for Arab-Israeli peace talks was proven a failure by the Gaza debacle. Blair now acknowledges that a crucial factor for peace is "the character of the Palestinian state . . . There won't be a Palestinian state unless it is coherently governed and run, and anyone who tells you different is misleading you" (quoted by Mortimer Zuckerman, "The Elusive Mid-east Peace, U.S. News and World Report, Jan. 17, 2008).
Strong words indeed for any British prime minister, given the general U.K. predilection for the Arab world.
The most serious long-term threat to Israel
Notwithstanding the current dangers posed by Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Palestinians and even Syria, what is the Israeli government most worried about?
The most dangerous foreseeable threat is Iran's nuclear ambitions and their oft-professed desire to wipe out Israel. In mid-February Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for bilateral talks in Berlin. According to the International Herald Tribune, he said that " Iran was still seeking to build nuclear weapons and called for a greater international effort to prevent Tehran from succeeding." Olmert indicated that " Israel was 'certain' that the Iranians were engaged in a 'serious' and 'clandestine' operation to build up [nuclear] capacity'" (Feb. 13, 2008).
Several newspaper and Internet articles have already cast considerable doubt on the validity of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which several months ago stated, "We judge with high confidence that in fall, 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program."
Although the UN Security Council recently passed a resolution with further sanctions against Iran by a 14-0 vote, canny observers tend to view these new measures as little more than a slap on the wrist.
According to The Wall Street Journal: "Meanwhile, Iran continues to flout the Security Council's chief demand that it suspend its uranium enrichment program. The production of sufficient quantities of fissile material is one of three key components in any nuclear weapons program, a fact that was relegated to a footnote in December's U.S. National Intelligence Estimate [NIE] claiming Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003.
"Nor did that NIE make any mention of Iran's ongoing ballistic missile programs, the second key component. Instead, its chief claim was that Iran had suspended work on weaponization, which by all expert accounts is the least challenging part of a nuclear-weapons program" ("Irresolution on Iran," March 10, 2008).
Although Newsweek 's "Point of View" column played down the threat of Islamic fascism, it did state that President Bush had "warned that the Iranian government is out to destroy Israel." It also said that Tony Blair had "compared Iran to the rising fascist powers of the 1930s" (Nov. 19, 2007).
It goes without saying that the Iranian threat is far more real to the Israelis than to America and Britain, since Iran is much closer to Israel, the ancient Holy Land of the Bible.
Another deadly round of war coming
We must, of course, look to the biblical record to round out our overall picture of Israel's predicament. It is impossible to separate the land of Israel from the Word of God. Even nonbelieving secular Jews rely on the Hebrew Bible to help establish their historical and geographical claims.
Both the Bible and secular history show that the land of Israel (Jerusalem in particular) is among the most contested areas on planet earth. The city itself has fallen to invading forces more than 20 times in its recorded history. But there has been no successful invasion since the formation of the modern Israeli state in 1948.
The Bible makes it clear that end-time prophecy could not be fulfilled without the restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland.
The book of Zechariah shows that Jerusalem will be the center of global conflict immediately prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ: "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem" (Zechariah 14:1-2).
These prophesied events could not take place without the physical restoration of the tribe or nation of Judah (now called Israel) prominently in the Holy Land just before Christ's coming, with the continual international tension and turmoil that has accompanied the nation's creation and existence.
Jerusalem will once again be the scene of horrifyingly violent turmoil. Zechariah continues in verse 2: "The city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city."
So even after Israel united the city in the 1967 war, Bible prophecy tells us that Jerusalem will once again be fought over and divided. This region of the world is destined to be the very center of events at the end of this age—setting the stage for Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus Christ will indeed intervene personally and directly: "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations . . . And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east . . . Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You" (verses 3-5).
Zechariah 14:12 and Revelation 19:17-18, 21 describe the end of those armies that are gathered around Jerusalem and fight against the Messiah, Jesus Christ, at His return. It will prove to be no contest as Christ intervenes to save not just Israel, but the entire human race, from annihilation.
Jerusalem: Future capital of the world
Other prophecies tell us that Jerusalem's destiny is to become a center of peace for all nations on earth. Zechariah adds: "Thus says the Lord: 'I will return to Zion [referring to Christ's second coming], and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain'" (Zechariah 8:3; see also Jeremiah 3:17).
Long ago God promised: "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch [the Messiah, Jesus Christ], and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:5, New Revised Standard Version).
Nations will send representatives to Jerusalem even from faraway places to learn God's ways and to take them back to their peoples. As Isaiah 2:2-3 says, "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it."
In Bible prophecy, "mountains" and "hills" are often used to refer to governments and nations. This tells us that the government of Jesus Christ, established in Jerusalem, will rule over all the nations on earth.
Isaiah then continues, describing a world transformed by the wonderful knowledge of God's way of life: "Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
Under Jesus Christ's reign as the Prince of Peace, all war, weapons and even military academies will be abolished (verse 4). Peace with justice will be administered to all peoples from Jerusalem.
Sadly, these sure biblical prophecies are far from the reality of conditions in the Holy Land today—a region plagued by violence, corruption, despotism and bloody, random terror. Yet these millennial prophecies assure us that "old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing" (Zechariah 8:4-5).
The Bible pictures a majestic future with a peaceful life in this long-troubled land. All will at last be safe from harm during Christ's coming rule on earth. Jeremiah 23:6 promises, "In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely."
God speed those days! GN

Recommended Reading What factors in history led to the ancient animosities that continue to plague the Holy Land down to our day? Did you realize that many of them are spelled out in the pages of the Bible? You need to understand the surprising and little-understood truth about the conflict in the Middle East—past, present and future, and how it will finally be resolved. Be sure to download or request your free copy of The Middle East in Bible Prophecy today!