Sabbath 4/2/40/120

Dear Friends,

Bush Snr was the start to place Iraq Oil in the hands of the US payment system. Bush, the Clintons and Bush II all planned 9/11 with Mossad and the CIA to justify the invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and then Iran and lastly China. That is the basis of the war unfolding now.  The wars developing in Europe and the UK and the US and also AU and the rest of the Commonwealth were developed by the Globalist Bankers using the Marxist system and the Bankers promoting the UN and the Muslims and the dictators.

The EU is using Macron to destroy France and keep them within the EU.  So also will they destroy Spain, Portugal and Germany and force a Muslim occupation of UK, Europe and Scandinavia.

There will be an intensive conflict where the King of the South pushes at the Northern Forces and by its Muslim conflict ensures the King of the North will react and invade North Africa and the Middle East.

European nations will destroy the EU and if France is destroyed and Le Pen cannot save it then UK and Scandinavia and Germany and a few smaller nations with NATO Forces will be forced to invade the Middle East as well as the key areas of Libya and Somalia and the areas surrounding both on into the Atlantic Coast. The North African Coast will be shut down and the capacity to ferry these invaders will be stopped by massive force and the destruction of the North African and Middle Eastern harbours.  Greece will also be occupied and fortified.

Egypt will also be taken over and made subject to the Northern powers and also be subject to the power from the Levant.

The forces unleashed at the Euphrates will develop the final war (Revelation chapter 19:1-21) (cf. The Seven Trumpets (No. 141): and The Wars of the Last Days and the Vials of the Wrath of God (No. 141B)).

As we see in Daniel 11:40-45, news from the East and the North will alarm the King of the North and they will occupy the Middle East and go out to destroy the opposition forces. The third beast will be destroyed and forced into the fourth beast of Daniel 7 (see Commentary on Daniel 7 (No. 299C)).

Russia and China and Syria and Iran are all forcing the confrontation and in the occupation that follows we see that Damascus and Syria will be destroyed and absorbed in the Nation of Israel which will then extend to the Euphrates and from the Sea to the Arabian Desert.

Damascus was protected by the Hittite empire until it fell in 1200 BCE and it was occupied by the Arameans.  Up until that time it had been a system of waterways and towns defended against the desert tribes and the Egyptians and then the Assyrians. David conquered Damascus and made it tributary (2Sam  8:5-6; 1Chr. 18:5 ff).

Under the reign of Solomon Damascus was conquered by Aram-Zobah and he made Damascus independent of the Israelites.(1Kgs 11:23 ff). Tabrimmon of Damascus was the ally of Abijam of Judah against Israel (1 Kgs 15:19). His son Ben Hadad I (900-875) was allied to Baasha of Israel but afterwards allied himself with Asa of Judah (1Kgs 15:18 ff.). Ben Hadad II and his son Hadadezer made war against Ahab of Israel who was killed in the Battle of Ramoth-Gilead in 853 BCE (1Kgs 22).  Ben Hadad III ruled for two years and was then killed by Hazael (843-797) (2Kgs 8:7-15) who was followed by Ben Hadad IV who was victorious and conquered almost the whole territory of Israel and besieged Samaria (2 Kgs. 6:24 ff).  

Through the intervention of Elisha the siege was raised and under Jeroboam II the power of Israel was restored (2 Kgs. 14:28).   Damascus was forced to fight against the Assyrians to prevent them taking them over and it was obvious that they had a natural ally in Israel in the West.

In 734 the Syrians under Rezah formed an alliance with Israel at Samaria under Pekah and they made war against Judah under Ahaz to force Judah to go to war with Israel and Damascus against Assyria.  Isaiah warned Ahaz of the dangers of this move. Ahaz relied on Assyria.

The Syrian-Ephraimite alliance ca 734 BCE is referred to in 2Kgs 16:1-20 notes to Oxford Annotated RSV; and Isaiah 7:1-8:4 and 17:1-6 fn. The Glory of Israel is held to refer to Samaria before its destruction and Rephaim is the valley NW of Jerusalem (2Sam. 5:18).

The Assyrians under Tiglath Pileser conquered Damascus in 733-2. Rezin was killed (2Kgs 16:9) and Isaiah is referred to as prophesying in Isaiah 7:4 ff; 8:1 ff; and 17:1 ff.

The prophecy in Isaiah in chapter 17 refers to its reduction in vv 1-6 and then in vv 7ff we are referring to a later time under the Messiah. This is in the latter days.   Damascus became the centre of a province under foreign rulers, from the Assyrians to the Babylonians,  then the Persians and the Greeks under Alexander conquered it.

The Romans adopted the policy where Damascus became the centre of the Nabatean kingdom in 85 BCE and the ruler was Aretas III. In 65 BCE the Romans conquered Syria and Damascus came under a Nabatean governor. When Paul came to Damascus in Acts 9:22 it was ruled by Aretas IV (cf. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of The Bible, Vol.1, art. Damascus).

Damascus had not been destroyed at all in this time even when taken by the Assyrians although it had been plundered. So we then look at the fact that Damascus was not as yet destroyed and the texts from vv 7 ff concern the Last Days and the Messiah.
 
Damascus
Isa 17:1-14  An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins. 2The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. 3The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the LORD of hosts. 4And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean. 5And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. 6 Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten— two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares the LORD God of Israel. 7 In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense. 9 In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation. 10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, 11 though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain. 12 Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters! 13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm. 14 At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.

Damascus was not destroyed in the days of Isaiah.  As we see the occupation is by many nations and it will destroy them.

Jeremiah chapter 49:1-6 shows that the lands of the Ammonites that were taken from Israel (Manasseh and Gilead and the lands of the East bank) will be stripped from Jordan and returned to Israel. 

In Jeremiah 49:7-22 we see the prophecies concerning the Edomites who were captured and taken away into what passed as Judah and they were taken away by the Romans and remained in captivity until Israel was restored in 1917 under the prophecies  in The Twelve Prophets (No. 021) and the relevant prophets: e.g. Habakkuk, Haggai, Obadiah and Zechariah.

Then the text takes up the matters of Damascus.

Jer 49:23-39  Concerning Damascus: "Hamath and Arpad are confounded, for they have heard bad news; they melt in fear, they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet. 24Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee, and panic seized her; anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in labor. 25How is the famous city not forsaken, the city of my joy? 26Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day, declares the LORD of hosts. 27And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad." 28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down. Thus says the LORD: "Rise up, advance against Kedar! Destroy the people of the east! 29 Their tents and their flocks shall be taken, their curtains and all their goods; their camels shall be led away from them, and men shall cry to them: 'Terror on every side!' 30Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! declares the LORD. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you. 31"Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, that dwells securely, declares the LORD, that has no gates or bars, that dwells alone. 32 Their camels shall become plunder, their herds of livestock a spoil. I will scatter to every wind those who cut the corners of their hair, and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, declares the LORD. 33 Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals, an everlasting waste; no man shall dwell there; no man shall sojourn in her." 34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. 35 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. 36 And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come.  37 I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, declares the LORD. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them,  38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the LORD. 39  "But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the LORD."

So Damascus is to be destroyed and so also is Elam or the Iranians.   They are to be destroyed and sent to the winds. Even though they are allies of Syria in the Last Days both shall be destroyed. They will be assimilated in with Israel and then the Assyrians north of the Euphrates in what was Iraq and now Eastern Turkey and also absorbing Tyre and Sidon and what is now Lebanon and the Lands the Philistines.

Zec 9:1-17  The oracle of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and Damascus is its resting place. For the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel, 2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. 3 Tyre has built herself a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets. 4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire. 5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; 6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia. 7 I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites. 8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes. 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 11As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13 For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. 14 Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. 15 The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. 16 On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

This text is regarding the last days and we will restore all these lands under Messiah as the wars come to an end but that will be with Messiah as we see here (Commentary on Zechariah (No 021K)).

The wars will see an end to the cause of the wars, being the false religions of Hadithic Islam and the Trinitarian Christian system, Judaism and the false systems of Sardis and Laodicea (see also the Pillars of Philadelphia (No. 283)).

Wade Cox
Coordinator General.