Biblical Audio Commentary – Israel’s Psalm 83 Prophesied Land Grab

Biblical Audio Commentary – Israel’s Psalm 83 Prophesied Land Grab

 

 

Transcript:

Bible teachers are split over whether there is an upcoming Psalm 83 War or not.  Is the psalm simply imprecatory, or is it prophetic still to this day?  If an imprecatory psalm, then it’s only one that calls down curses on Israel’s enemies.  If prophetic, the issue is whether its foretelling was fulfilled in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence or one of its subsequent conflicts; or does its prophecy remain – still not achieved?

I firmly believe that Psalm 83 requires final completion as a prophecy.  I’ve commented on this probability numerous times, my latest being in my Prophecy Update earlier this year titled A Soon-Coming Psalm 83 Proxy War.

Another factor in this issue is that typically curses in the Bible are, in fact, prophetic.  One such example is that of Joshua following his victory at Jericho as the Israelites began to invade and conquer the Promised Land.  Check this out in Joshua 6:26:

Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.

 “At the cost of his firstborn shall he
lay its foundation,
and at the cost of his youngest son
shall he set up its gates.”

Now, look at 1 Kings 16:34 as to how that curse was fulfilled:

In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Is an imprecatory psalm toothless, as it were?  Or does it have the power of prophecy along with the curse?  If we compare Scripture to Scripture, we see that Psalm 83 very much has the potential and promise of a prophetic utterance.  After all, why would Joshua’s words exhibit this power while King David’s would not?

In our weekly Bible Study, we are going chapter by chapter through the Book of Genesis, currently as I write this in Genesis 15.  In reading and thinking about God’s promises to Abram (Abraham), something occurred to me.  In the final verses, specifically Genesis 15:18 God promises Abram very clearly the future land holdings of Israel.  Note how extensive they are compared to today:

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

The river of Egypt is the Nile.  Israel’s land mass according to God’s Word will stretch all the way into what is now Iraq to the Euphrates River.  You can see this visually on the map attached to this Commentary in the Transcript, at my website blog.

 

The key question is: At what point in the coming months and years prior to the Millennium, when presumably Israel’s boundaries will encompass this greater amount of land, will Israel actually acquire it to fulfill the prophecy?

I think the answer to this question is the downfall of those who do not hold to a Psalm 83 War.

Consider first what these Bible teachers think is next in the prophetic conflicts for Israel: Ezekiel’s War, a.k.a. the War of Gog-Magog.  Who are the combatants and what is the outcome?

Here is Ezekiel 38:1-6 which lists the enemies of Israel which come together against her in this war:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.

These ancient names of nations correspond today to Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, Tunisia, and others.  Personally, I think that Gomer is Germany.  As Bill Salus has pointed out in his various books on end-times prophecies, these nations comprise what he calls an Outer Ring.

 

Interestingly, none of these countries share a common border with Israel.  This being the case, once God destroys Israel’s enemies in this war, at what point would it be justified for Israel to take land as the victor from those nations directly surrounding her?  Does this make any sense?  How could Israel expand her borders and take parts of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, etc. if they aren’t involved in the conflict?  That wouldn’t go well on the world stage regardless of who’s running the show at that time.

On the other hand, consider the nations aligned against Israel in Psalm 83:5-8:

For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Asshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. 

 

ill Salus has again done us a favor by illustrating what this Inner Circle of nations looks like.  Every single one of these ancient enemies of Israel touches her borders.  They specifically include Palestinians (so-called), Jordanians, Saudis, Egyptians, Hezbollah, Lebanese, Arabs of the Sinai area, Hamas, Syrians, and Northern Iraqis.  This map is also included in the Transcript at my website blog.

 

You’ll notice when you compare the land that God promised to Abram against the Inner Circle map that we essentially have an exact overlay.  In other words, the land mass promised to Abram corresponds directly to the nations bordering Israel that come against her according to Psalm 83.

Class, here’s a question: When a nation defeats another nation in war, what is often the result regarding the defeated nation’s territory?

If you answered: To the victor belong the spoils, you are correct!  What inevitably happens in war is that the victorious nation acquires some or all of the territory belonging to the vanquished nation.

Given this correlation, what possible conclusion can we draw from this?  From all appearances, it looks like Israel acquires the land of her enemies following the Psalm 83 War.  That being the case, by the time Ezekiel’s War rolls around, Israel has – by and large – fulfilled God’s prophetic Word to Abram as to the land belonging to Israel toward the end of days.  It is this land ownership that will carry into the Millennium.

A couple other aspects of this are intriguing:

  • Once Israel claims this land as its own, might she feel more “safe and secure”?

Today, with Russian and Iranian troops in Syria on the border of the Golan Heights, Israel must always be on guard.  The Golan is a key offensive position for Israel’s enemies and has in the past used this elevated area to rain down missiles upon her.

How will this Psalm 83 victory change the situation on the ground?  Pertinent verses in this equation are Ezekiel 38:10-11:

“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’

 If we consider Israel today, she absolutely does not fit this description.  The hostile nations surrounding her preclude the possibility of her dwelling securely.  Israel has many miles of walls she has erected to the east (Hamas in Gaza), to the north (Hezbollah in Lebanon), and the west (Jordan).  There are even interior walls in Samaria and Judea (the so-called West Bank).  How can this prophecy be accurately fulfilled given this tense situation in which Israel dwells?

  • What’s up with the Valley of Travelers discussed in Ezekiel 39:11-16?

“On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make their search. And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. (Hamonah is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land.

Note the very interesting detail concerning this valley: it is east of the sea.  What sea would that be?  It is highly unlikely that the reference is to the Mediterranean Sea.  Can you imagine a burial campaign in Israel right in her heartland?  What’s described is a cleansing of thousands of dead enemy bodies following how God destroys the invaders in this war.  This is a critical effort in order that Israel glorifies God.  No unclean thing will come before Him – especially in the aftermath of this decisive conflict.

Could the sea mentioned be the Red Sea?  No, if you look at the map and the territory Israel claims, east of the Red Sea remains part of Iraq.

The only possible sea then is the Dead Sea.  However, here’s the problem.  The land currently to the east of the Dead Sea belongs to Jordan.  If all borders remain the same by the time of Ezekiel’s War, do you think the Muslims in Jordan would allow Israel to bury these many, many bodies in its territory?  Not a chance.

Also, as we concluded earlier, since Jordan isn’t a combatant in this Gog-Magog War, then Israel has no right to claim any of its land, particularly for such a massive undertaking as the burial of these bodies.

This means, once more, the only possible solution to our quandary is that through the Psalm 83 War, Israel acquires this land east of the Dead Sea and uses it for this burial ground.

On a side note, the Valley of Travelers has an intriguing connotation.  The word Travelers is the Hebrew word abar.  It means to “pass over, through, or by, pass on”. It has the sense of passing into the realm of the dead.

The realm of the dead is also known as that place in Sheol where the shades, or the Rephaim, dwell as noted in Isaiah 14:9 with the Hebrew word rapha.  The Rephaim are related and connected to the rebellious sons of God all the way back in Genesis 6 and their offspring, the Nephilim.  God cast the fallen sons into the deepest pit of Sheol known as Tartarus.  The released spirits of the dead Nephilim became what we know today as demons, or unclean spirits.

Those who are buried in this valley are those which have passed over into the place of ancient and wicked spirits.  Given this association, we can also be assured that Israel would never bury all these fallen enemy troops in her heartland.  This burial ground in this Jordanian valley will be special, isolated, and a place far from God’s Holy Mountain of Zion.

In conclusion, Israel will and must claim the sovereign territory of its neighboring enemies following their defeat in the Psalm 83 War.  This is a necessity for the prophetic Word of God to be accurately fulfilled.  Whether this prior war will come before or after the pre-Tribulation Rapture is anyone’s guess, but the conditions for it are certainly ripe at this very time.  Once Israel has processed its claim on all this additional territory, she will dwell in what she believes is safety and security.  Not long after that, her enemies described in Ezekiel 38 will make their move.  Israel will be shocked and somehow unable to respond.

Where man ends, that’s where God begins.  It is through Him that Israel will have a mighty victory over her foes and God will get all the glory.

6 Responses to “Biblical Audio Commentary – Israel’s Psalm 83 Prophesied Land Grab”

  1. Reply Jaap van Heest

    Hello Gary,

    Maybe that’s why the jews will fly to Bosra (Petra) when the antichrist will persecute them. It lies in their territory then.

    gr
    Jaap

  2. Reply GaryW.

    There I was, all “safe and secure”. Seated in my comfy chair at my computer. I decided to relax and read GR’s blog. That was at 10:05 (CST). Now at 12:30, I have my maps, a paper copy of the blog, and my Bible and I am studying all that was written. This isn’t the first time GR has “put a hook in my mouth”. The Bible is such an amazing book. You cannot study it and ever say, “There, I’ve finished”. The more you read and study it, the better it gets. Seriously, thanks GR.

    • Reply Gary Ritter

      As serious a subject as this is, isn’t this both intriguing and fun? I’d love for a prominent Ezekiel’s-War-is-next proponent to address these issues head-on, but the odds of that are slim to none.

  3. Reply Lori

    Once Israel gets the land back Psalm 83 from the Nile to the Euphrates that is all the land that is rich is oil. Do you think the hook in the Gog’s jaw (Russian bears jaw) is oil? Honey from the Rock? Genesis 49:25, Deut 33:13 everyone knows bears like honey.

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