Is Mr. B.O. the Anti-christ?

We get a lot of email questions about whether or not Mr. B.O. is the anti-christ. In our opinion, probably not. He doesn't fit the complete profile. Yes, he is full of himself (Dan 7:8) and he came on the scene suddenly (Dan 11:23) and he desires socialism over a republic form of Government (Dan 11:24). But there are at least three good reasons he doesn't fit the script:

1) The anti-christ will be an extraordinary military leader.
(Dan 11:25) Mr. B.O.'s mispronouncing "Army Corps," several times in a row is a dead give-a-way that he has no military background, much less tactical understanding. Behind the scenes, we are hearing that most of the world leaders consider him inept in foreign affairs.

2) The anti-Christ will be brilliant. (Dan 11:24)
Mr. B.O. cannot even speak without using a teleprompter telling him what to say. The few times he has tried to speak without it have shown his total inability to speak coherently. He is just a very good reader.

3) The anti-christ is an "Assyrian." (Micah 5:5,6)
The best we can tell, Mr. B.O. is from Hawaii, or Kenya, or somewhere in Africa. But not Assyria! (Of course, given the fact no one seems to know where Mr. B.O. was born, it's possible he IS from Assyria!)

The bottom line is this.... if Mr. B.O. IS the antichrist, we are disappointed! We were expecting more! And yes, to be fair, no born again Believer will know who the future world leader is until after The Rapture, and therefore will be safely away from his clutches (2Thes 2:6,7).

A Biblical Treasure Hunt

INTRODUCTION

The Bible has been the principal source of inspiration to hundreds of millions of people through the ages. Many Jews and Christians believe the Bible to be the absolute Word of God and strive to derive significance from every word of the text. For these individuals, the Land of Israel, within whose borders most of the events told of in the Bible unfold is the Holy Land – ארץ הקודש – the Promised Land – and, as such, has been and continues to be a source of wonder and fascination.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Land of Israel again became readily accessible to European and American Christians and Jews. Jews began to return to the Land, then called Palestine, to resettle it, first in small bands of Zionist pioneers and then in larger and larger groups of immigrants. Christians came mostly as pilgrims to visit and pray at the Holy Sites, but also as scholars. Others came to settle as the Templars; and still others simply as tourists to explore and wonder – who can forget Mark Twain and his Innocents Abroad. But they all came with Bible in hand as their guidebook eager to uncover the Land’s past and present secrets. The scholars established learned societies – the British Palestine Exploration Fund, the American School of Oriental Research, the German Deutscher Verein zur Erforschung Palaestinas. They came as archaeologists, as geographers, as ethnographers, as geologists, as agriculturalists; others came as seekers of fortune, as artists, as poets, as mystics. Some, inspired and guided by the words of the Bible, came to explore for oil.

Oil?! What have the Bible and the Land of Israel to do with oil? Israel may be the Land of Milk and Honey, a land even of olive oil – but petroleum? Everyone has heard of the famous quip that, when coming out of Sinai, Moses mistakenly turned left to Canaan (Israel), the only land in the Middle East without oil, when he should have turned right to Midian (modern Saudi Arabia). Yet there have been oil and gas discoveries in Israel. The Heletz oil field was discovered in 1955 and is still producing, if only marginally, today some 50 years later. The Zohar gas field was discovered near Arad in 1958 and is still in marginal production. Major world class gas discoveries (with estimated reserves of over 3 trillion cubic feet) were made in 1999 and 2000 in the Mediterranean Sea off the coasts of Israel and Gaza.

Indeed, hydrocarbons in the form of tars and asphalts have been known and mined in the Dead Sea region of the Land of Israel since Neolithic times 11-12,000 years ago (Mithen, S., After the Ice, [Phoenix, London, 2003], at pp. 74-75). The Bible in Genesis 14:10 refers to wells of tar or slime as the basis for the wealth of the Cities of the Plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah. Strabo the famous Greek geographer writing at the beginning of the 1st Century of the Common Era (C.E. = A.D.) extensively describes the tar and asphalt seeps in the Dead Sea and the surrounding canyons. (Strabo, Geography, vol. XVI, Chap. 2, paras 42-45.) Josephus in The Jewish War, writing towards the end of the 1st Century of the Common Era discusses the Dead Sea asphalts towards the end of Excursus V.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that in the 1830s, the Austrian mining engineer, Josef von Russeger, conducting a geological survey for the Egyptian government, should report on asphalt seeps from rocks on the southeastern shores of the Dead Sea. The German traveler Rothe describes asphalt seeps and small oil impregnated pools in the Nahal Arnon canyon on the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea in 1874. Similar sightings were made by various geologists and travelers in the late 19th Century and early years of the 20th Century in canyons along the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea (particularly in Nahal Heimar, where tar seeps can be seen even today) and at various other sites in the rift valley from the Dead Sea in the south to the Yarmuk River Valley just south of the Sea of Galilee in the north. (See Lavi, B., Ha’zahav Ha’shachor b’Eretz Yisrael (Black Gold in the Land of Israel) [Carmel, Jerusalem, 1999] [“Black Gold in Israel”], at pp. 24-27 and the sources cited there.)

Serious commercial interest in petroleum exploration in the Land of Israel goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. The Socony Vacuum Company, predecessor of Mobil Oil, received exploration licenses in the years preceding World War I, though the first well was not commenced until 1947 by the British-dominated Iraqi Petroleum Company which had discovered the major oil fields in northern Iraq. This first well, known as the Huleikhat Well, was abandoned shortly after its commencement as a result of increasing violence in the area preceding Israel’s independence. The well (renamed the Heletz #1 and still in marginal production) was reentered by two small Israeli oil exploration companies in 1955 and led to the Heletz field discovery. Regrettably though, essentially for geo-political reasons, following Israel’s independence, the large international oil and gas companies which had been involved in the area since before World War I withdrew from Israel and have since steered clear of the Land and refused to participate in oil and gas exploration activities there, preferring to protect their interests in the Arab and Islamic world.[1]

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[1] At the end of the 1990s, following the discovery of the Mari field by the Israeli-American Yam Tethys (the Delek group and Noble Energy) consortium, British Gas, a large multinational natural gas company extensively involved in Egypt, got involved in off-shore exploration in the Mediterranean Sea off the Israeli coast. In early 2005, British Gas, after failing over a period of several years to interest other international oil and gas companies to participate in the project, returned almost all its rights to the Israeli government for a combination of geo-political and commercial reasons while retaining its Palestinian and Egyptian interests.

THE SEARCH FOR OIL IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

Notwithstanding the desertion of the large international oil and gas companies following the establishment of the State, exploration continued in Israel over the ensuing 50 years, albeit in fits and starts, led by Israeli and a number of smaller American and Canadian companies. Among these companies have been at least seven, which have drilled or participated in the drilling of at least 11 exploratory wells, the founders of which were directly inspired by Biblical references they and many of their supporters interpreted as pointing to the existence of oil and gas reservoirs in particular areas in the Land of Israel. An eighth company, Hoshana Oil, directly inspired by Biblical references, acquired an exploration license, but never drilled a well. – A detailed listing of the companies, their founders and their activities is set out in the Appendix.

Interestingly, with the exception of one company, Ness Energy, founded by Texas oilman Harold “Hayseed” Stephens who, inspired by the stories in Genesis concerning the Cities of the Plain, was drawn to and active in the southwestern corner of the Dead Sea, all of the biblically inspired wildcatters have been drawn to areas in the Sharon Plain and on and around Mt. Carmel, just to its north.

Six of the wells drilled over the years by four companies (Asher Oil, Moriah Exploration, Camberly Exploration, Ness Energy) have been relatively shallow, drilled to targets in rocks of Jurassic age (150 million years old) and into younger rocks of Pliocene and Cretaceous age between 650 and 2,682 meters (2,136 and 8,800 feet) deep. These were all dry holes. Five of the wells drilled by another group of companies (Energy Exploration, Givot Olam Oil Exploration and Zion Oil & Gas) have been drilled to much deeper targets, between 3,500 and 6,531 meters (11,484 and 21,428 feet), into older rocks of Triassic age (200 to 250 million years ago). All these deeper wells – the Atlit #1 (known also as the Asher-Atlit well), the Meged #2, Meged #3, Meged #4 and the Ma’anit #1 (re-entry) – have had strong petroleum shows. Projects responsible for the drilling of four of these wells, the three Meged wells and the Ma’anit #1 well (re-entry) are in early 2006 still active: – the Meged wells drilled by Givot Olam, an Israeli public limited partnership, were recognized in 2004 by the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner as having resulted in a discovery although production has not yet been established; and the Ma’anit #1 (re-entry) well, drilled by Zion Oil & Gas, an American company, is undergoing appraisal and analysis.

What is it in the Bible that inspired the founders of these companies, mostly Christian evangelicals, but also a Jewish Habad Hasid, to spend years of their life and a good part of their personal fortunes on these activities? The founders of the companies that drilled the wells both on and at the foot of Mt. Carmel were generally inspired both by the story of Elijah’s sacrifice described in I Kings 18:30-40, believing that the water poured on Elijah’s offering was oil from oil seeps in the area – and also by the Blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy 33:24. The founders of the three companies who drilled and are drilling the deep wells in the central and northern parts of the Sharon Plain and on the Mediterranean coast north of the Plain of Sharon and west of Mt. Carmel were and continue to be inspired primarily by the Blessings of Joseph and Asher in Genesis 49:22-26 and Deuteronomy 33:13-17 and 24. The founder of Hoshana Oil, who was interested in the area just south and east of Mt. Carmel, was inspired by Blessings of Asher and Zebulon and Issachar in Deuteronomy 33:18-19 and 24.

What are these Blessings? How do the founders of these oil and gas exploration companies, many of them oil and gas professionals with years of industry experience, come to connect Biblical verses with potential petroleum reservoirs located deep underground? Is there any possible connection between the Blessings and the story of Elijah’s sacrifice? With other references appearing in historical texts concerning what may possibly be oil seeps in the area of the Carmel?

In what follows I have tried to collect and present the various Biblical and historical references that I understand have inspired the founders of these petroleum exploration ventures.

I. THE BIBLICAL CLUES

THE TRANSLATION: Except where otherwise noted, the translation used is that of The Jerusalem Bible (Koren, Jerusalem, 2000). The Jerusalem Bible is a Bible published with the original Hebrew text and an English translation printed on facing pages. In the words of the editors:

“The English Translation is not essentially new: it is rather a thoroughly corrected, modernized and revised version of those Anglo-Jewish Bibles which have long been accepted for home and synagogue use throughout the English-speaking world. As a basis for this edition, the ‘Jewish Family Bible’ of M. Friedlander, published with the sanction of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Dr. N. M. Adler in 1881, was selected. That version had two important merits: it was faithful to the MASORA, or received Hebrew text, and it retained as much as Jewish sentiment permitted of the unsurpassed language and rhythm of the ‘Authorized Version’ [King James] of 1611. These advantages have been preserved in the present version.

“In addition to the text of Friedlander, a comparison was made with the interesting nineteenth century Jewish Bible of Isaac Lesser, and with other later translations. As a result many fresh readings have been adopted. The language of the older versions has been modernized where it was felt that the ancient linguistic and grammatical forms would cause difficulty for the present-day reader. Also many points of detail have been corrected in the light of modern scholarship, or as a result of fresh application to the TARGUMIM and the classical Jewish commentators.”

For ease of use, proper names do not appear in transliteration from the Hebrew as in The Jerusalem Bible, but in traditional English spelling. Also, rather than using colons followed by small letters to show breaks between sentences as in The Jerusalem Bible which follows the traditional Hebrew punctuation, I follow the modern English tradition using periods followed by capital letters.

A. THE BLESSINGS OF JOSEPH

1. Jacob’s Deathbed Blessing of Joseph:

Genesis 49: 22-26:

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. The archers fiercely attacked him, and shot at him and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made supple by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob (from thence from the shepherd, the Stone of Israel), by the God of thy father who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of thy father are potent above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brothers.”

[Variant Translation: The Jerusalem Bible translation above is based on The King James Version. The Revised Standard Version translates the opening passage of verse 26: “The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the beyond the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills, ….” This translation is based on the Septuagint, the 3rd Century translation of the Bible into Greek by the Jews of Alexandria. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew “HOREI”, literally “parents”, as “mountains” based on the argument that the root “HOR” in this context can also mean mountain as in “HOR HA’HAR” (Numbers 20:22). The translation of the Septuagint was adopted by the Rashbam (Rabbi Samuel ben Meir), the grandson of the noted Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), who lived in the Rhine Valley in the 12th Century. Olam Ha’Tanakh (Davidson–Eti, Tel-Aviv, 1993) [“Olam Ha’Tanakh”], vol. “Breishit” [Genesis], p. 253.]

2. Moses’ Deathbed Blessing of the Tribes of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim):

Deuteronomy 33 : 13-17:

“And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew and for the deep that couches beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of primordial hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and its fullness, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush. Let the blessings come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.”

B. THE BLESSING OF ASHER

Moses’ Deathbed Blessing of the Tribe of Asher

Deuteronomy 33 : 24:

“And of Asher he said, be Asher blessed above sons; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.”

C. MOSES’ SONG OF PRAISE TO GOD AND THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND DEATHBED TESTAMENT TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL

Deuteronomy 32 : 13:

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the fields; and he made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.”

II. THE LANDS OF JOSEPH (MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM) AND ASHER – THE MAP.

Cartographical Note: There is a dispute among scholars as to whether the southern border of Asher extended down the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea and included the northern parts of Mt. Carmel or it ran along the Kishon Stream which flows along the northeastern flank of Mt. Carmel. In all cases it is generally agreed that the Lands of Manasseh abutted on and lay just to the south of the Lands of Asher.

Geographical Note: In the context of appreciating the geological implications of the map of the northern portions of the Lands of Manasseh, it should be mentioned that running approximately from somewhat east of Caesarea in the West to Megiddo in the East and representing the southern boundary of the Mt. Carmel range is Wadi Ara, the Ara Valley or Nahal I’ron (part of the ancient Via Maris or Way of the Sea that ran between Egypt and Damascus) which, from dipping beds and seismic data, geologists infer to be a major fault feature. A fault the size of Wadi Ara in a tectonically active area, in which the Carmel range and the northern Samarian hills (including the Umm-el-Fahm anticline) are located, is a phenomenon which is of major interest to petroleum geologists and explorationists.

III. A POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION OF THE BLESSINGS IN THE HUNT FOR PETROLEUM (ROCK OIL) IN ISRAEL

1. The Blessings of Joseph and of the Tribes of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim) mention their “land” as being blessed with “blessings”, “bounties”, “chief things” and “precious things” lying deep underground in “ancient mountains” and “primordial hills”. It is also said that these “blessings” shall be on “the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of [Joseph].” Finally, the Blessings compare Joseph to a fruitful tree “by a well.”

2. Two questions arise: (i) what are the precious things lying deep underground? and (ii) under what part of the lands of Joseph do these precious things lie?

3. Initial clues to possible answers to both of these questions appear in the Blessings of Joseph; additional clues appear in the Blessing of Asher and the Song of Praise.

(i) The Location:

The Joseph Blessings in both Genesis and Deuteronomy talk of the blessings coming “upon the head of Joseph and the top of the head of [Joseph].” The Hebrew word for “head” is “ROSH”. In Hebrew, when talking geographically and topographically, “ROSH” can mean the upper or higher area, thus the northern area, in the same way as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern part of that state. The Hebrew word for “crown of the head” – “KODKOD” – also can have a geographical/topographical connotation meaning highest part or crest.

Looking at the map, we can see that the lands of Joseph’s son Manasseh are in the northern part of the lands of Joseph, north of the lands of Ephraim, thus in the “ROSH” or “head” of the territories of Joseph. The reference to the “KODKOD” or “crown of the head” then points us to the upper or northern portions of the lands of Menasseh.

But we can see from the map that the lands of Manasseh stretch all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River and parts of the Tribe of Manasseh occupied lands east of the Jordan River. Where in this wide stretch of territory do we begin our search?

Let us start with the Blessing of Asher who “dips his foot in oil”. The word “foot” in Hebrew is “REGEL” and, again, “REGEL” also has a geographical and topographical meaning. Specifically, it means the lower portion of an area, i.e. the southern portion of an elongated territory running on a north – south axis, in the same way again as Michigan’s Lower Peninsula is the southern portion of that state. (And, of course, there is always the Puglian “heel” and Calabrian “toe” of the “boot” of Italy) Assuming for a moment that the “precious thing” and the “bounty” refer to “oil”, we note that the blessing does not say that the precious thing is in the “foot of Asher”, rather it says that Asher “dips” his foot into the oil. Again looking at the map, we see that the southern portion of the lands of Asher touch on and, indeed, extend into the western side of the lands of Manasseh, west and south of the Carmel range.

We thus appear to have a geographical marker as to where the search might begin: the western side of the northern parts of the lands of Manasseh near that part of the southern portion of the lands of Asher which extend into the lands of Manasseh. Interestingly, this is also the area through which Wadi Ara runs, the inferred fault which divides the Carmel range to the north and the Plain of Sharon and Samarian hills (including the Umm el-Fahm anticline) to the south. (See the Geographical Note to the Map above.)

As noted in the Cartographical Note to the Map, some biblical scholars are of the opinion that the southern border between the lands of Asher and Manasseh is the Kishon Stream that flows in the plain along the hills flanking Mt. Carmel to the north-east, with the Carmel range lying wholly within the lands of Manasseh. Even in this case, though, the southern portion of the lands of Asher “dips” into the northern portions of Manasseh.

(ii) The Treasure: Hard Mineral or Liquid?

The Joseph Blessings talk generically of “precious things”, “chief things”, “bounty”, “fullness” and “blessings” lying in “ancient mountains” and “primordial hills” deep underground. But what are these “precious things”? Gold? Silver? Diamonds? Coal? Iron? Uranium? Water (which in the thirsty Land of Israel is certainly a treasure)? Petroleum (which derives from the Latin “petrus” meaning rock and “oleum” meaning oil – in other words “rock oil”)? Or perhaps some other mineral or liquid treasure.

Not surprisingly, this question was raised as early as the 12th Century by the biblical scholar and grammarian Rabbi David Kimhi (the Radak) who lived in the Provence, France. In his commentary on the Blessing of Joseph in Genesis, the Radak talks of subterranean waters; while in his commentary on the Blessing in Deuteronomy, in discussing “MEGED” – “precious things” – he raises the possibility of gold or silver or other precious metals, at the same time also referring to waters in his discussion of the reference to “TEHOM” which follows the verse’s first reference to “MEGED” and precedes the second reference to “MEGED”. (Kamelhar, M., ed., Commentaries of Rabbi David Kimhi on the Torah (Mosad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem, 1970) [“Radak Commentaries”], at pp. 209 and 288.)

The first clue to answering this question can be found in Jacob’s blessing of Joseph in Genesis which at 49:22 refers to the fruitfulness of Joseph lying “by a well”. A “well” can be a cistern dug into the ground to be filled with rainwaters or waters (or other liquids) brought by aqueduct from afar. Or it can be a well dug to an underground source of naturally flowing liquids, as an artesian well. The Hebrew word used in the Blessing is “A’YIN”. “A’YIN” in Hebrew means a naturally flowing spring or fountain; this as differentiated from “BE’ER” which is the Hebrew word for a well or cistern. (The Revised Standard Version properly uses “spring” in translating “A’YIN” in verse 22.) Thus, from his Blessing in Genesis, one can conclude that the fruitfulness of Joseph’s lands will flow naturally from an underground source. If correct, this would seem to rule out the underground treasures being hard metals or minerals.

This conclusion appears to be supported by the use of the words “TEHOM” and “ROVETZET” in one of the phrases (“the deep that couches beneath”) that appears in both of the Joseph Blessings and is used to describe the location of the treasures in relation to the surface of “the land” of Joseph – above, on or below. “TEHOM” principally denotes particularly deep waters, as well as subterranean waters, and is only derivatively used to denote an abyss. “ROVETZET” is a word used to describe an animal lying recumbent, ready to pounce when cause is given, a condition similar to that of a liquid lying pressurized deep underground ready to spring/flow upwards when the pressure is released by drilling a well into the reservoir. – Interestingly, use of analogies from the animal world to the world of petroleum continues through the ages. For example, the legal regime applying to ownership rights in underground petroleum reserves which can flow from under the property of one person to that of another is strongly influenced by the medieval English “law of capture” that governed the rights to wild animals which roamed at will from the lands and forests of one landowner to those of another, something which neither forest trees nor hard mineral mines did or could do. And, of course, “wildcat” is the term used for a high risk exploration well. (In Talmudic times, the root word “RAVOTZ” was used also to denote the act of sprinkling water. Babylonian Talmud, “Tractate Shabbat” 95:1 – - ע הצ תבש ” א and the commentary of Rashi there, as discussed in Sefer Breishit [Genesis], vol. 3 [Mosad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem, 2003], at p. 328, “Da’at Mikra” commentaries to 49:27.)

The source of the Hebrew word TEHOM is the Babylonian TIAMAT. According to the ancient Mesopotamian creation story as told in the epic “Enuma Elis”, Tiamat was the primordial goddess of the salt waters. In the war with the younger gods – the offspring of Apsu (the primordial god of the sweet waters) and Tiamat – which led to the creation of the world, Tiamat was killed by Marduk, the champion of the younger gods. Marduk then stretched Tiamat’s carcass out over the waters and of it created the sky and the earth, commanding her carcass (now the earth) not to allow the salt waters, the waters of the deep, Tiamat’s original realm, to escape. (Pritchard, J. B., ed., The Ancient Near East – An Anthology of Texts and Pictures [Princeton, 1958], at pp. 31-35 [“Akkadian Myths and Epics, The Creation Epic”, Tablet IV, ll. 130-140].) “TEHOM” or TIAMAT also plays a role in the Biblical creation, Genesis 1:2 : “. . . and darkness was on the face of the deep [TEHOM]” – “םוהת ינפ לע ךשחו”. And then Genesis 1:6-7 tells us: “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide water from water. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament, and it was so.” See “Olam Ha’Tanakh”, vol. “Breishit” [Genesis], at pp. 13-14 (discussion at “Early Creation Stories”) and pp. 17 – 18 (discussion at Genesis 1:2 – “TEHOM”).

The story of Tiamat and the creation of the earth from her dead female body also appears relevant for the present purposes when we recall the reference in Jacob’s Blessing in Genesis to “the blessings of the breasts and of the womb” immediately following the references to “the blessings of the deep [TEHOM] that couches beneath.”

* * *

But the question remains, are the riches referred to in the Blessings of Joseph water or petroleum (rock oil)? Or perhaps both?

(iii) The Treasure: Water or Petroleum? or Both?

(a) “MEGED” – Water or Oil? - The traditional answer to this question has been water. The Radak (R. David Kimhi) suggested as much in the 12th Century in his commentary on Genesis 49:25

(“Radak Commentaries”, at p. 209). Rabbi Sa’adia Gaon, the leading rabbi and scholar of the 10th Century and founder of the great Academy at Sura in Iraq, appears to agree. (Kapach, Y., ed., Commentaries of Rabbeinu Sa’adia Gaon on The Torah (Mosad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem, 1963) [“Rasag Commentaries”], at p.154.) In both these cases, the reasoning appears to be grounded in the references in the Joseph Blessings to TEHOM which, as discussed above, is associated with underground water.

Nor, indeed, should this conclusion come as any surprise. The southern foothills of the Carmel range just north of Wadi Ara, located in the northern portion of the Lands of Manasseh and today known as Ramot Menasseh – the Manasseh Hills – are among the most fertile lands in Israel, blessed with a great number of natural springs. The cause lies in the fact that underlying Ramot Menasseh are two fresh water aquifers – the Mountain Aquifer carbonates of late Cretaceous age and the overlying local Ovdat Group Aquifer of the more recent Eocene age. Most of Israel benefits from only one or rarely two aquifers; so with its two aquifers, the Ramot Menasseh region in the north of the Lands of Joseph is, indeed, blessed with precious subterranean sweet waters.

However, there is a clue in the Blessings of Joseph which could support a conclusion that the “precious thing” is or is also petroleum. This clue can be found in the multiple references to the treasure lying in “eternal” and “ancient mountains” and in “everlasting” and “primordial hills”. One of the first things one looks for in exploring for petroleum is “ancient” anticlines (as the Umm el-Fahm anticline, see the Geographical Note at The Map, above) and buried structural highs. Anticlines and structural highs are geological terms for mountains and hills now typically lying deep under ground, but which had been mountains and hills on the earth’s surface in “primordial” ages tens and hundreds of millions of years ago. Interestingly, in these anticlines one frequently finds both oil and water, with the oil, being lighter than water, lying on top of the water – though sometimes the oil and water bearing strata are interspersed. But at the relevant depths the water is almost always salt water, the sweet waters of the aquifers feeding the springs of the Ramot Menasseh and other sweet water springs and wells around the world usually running in more recent geological strata which overlie the oil bearing strata and so, being closer to the earth’s surface, are more readily accessible to man.

As noted, in the dry Land of Israel, these sweet waters are indeed precious blessings; but are they the only precious liquids referred to in the Blessings of Joseph? Specifically, they may be “precious things of earth”, but not necessarily the “precious things” of the “deep [TEHOM] that couches beneath”. Rather, those deep or rather deeper blessings may be the precious things that lie on top of the salt water of Tiamat, the goddess of whose skin and bones the earth was made with the purpose of ensuring that the subterranean salt waters not escape. And these deeper precious things, lying just on top of the abysmal salt waters, may just be (rock) oil.

(b) “SHEMEN” – Olive Oil or Rock Oil? - For the next clue, we turn again to the Blessing of Asher which refers specifically to “oil”. The Hebrew word for “oil” as it appears in the Blessing is “SHEMEN”. Any speaker of modern Hebrew will tell you that “SHEMEN” means vegetable oil, particularly olive oil, but can also mean oils extracted from animal fats. He will very likely point out, however, that it does not mean “rock oil” or petroleum, for which he will say a wholly distinct word exists: “NEFT”.

Even in modern Hebrew, however, petroleum based lubricants are referred to by the word “SHEMEN” and oil shales, rocks suffused with hydrocarbons from which oil can be extracted by various treatment processes, mining and retorting and in situ heating, are known as “PITZLEI SHEMEN”. Unabridged dictionaries of modern Hebrew go even further and reveal that one of the uses of the word “SHEMEN” is in the term “SHEMEN ADAMA” or “earth oil”, which is defined as “a type of oil which is taken out of the earth and is used for burning; . . . petroleum.” See Gur, Y., Milon Ivri (1946) and Even-Shoshan, A., Ha’Milon Ha’Hadash (Kiryat Sefer, Jerusalem, 1979) (“Even-Shoshan”). In his groundbreaking lexicon of the Hebrew language, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, uses the term “SHEMEN ADAMA” in his definition of “NEFT”: “this is SHEMEN ADAMA, a form of liquid which flows out of the ground and even spouts up, and is used for light and heat, Naphta; . . .” Ben-Yehuda, E., A Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew (Yoseloff, New York – London) (“Ben-Yehuda”), vol. VIII, p. 3719. But more importantly, in his long entry for the word SHEMEN, along with reference to the term “SHEMEN ZAYIT” (“olive oil”), Ben-Yehuda refers to the terms “SHEMEN AVANIM” and “SHEMEN AVNI” – forms which mean “stone oil” or “mineral oil”). In his discussion of the term “SHEMEN AVANIM”, Ben-Yehuda states “of the first type are NEFT (naphtha), stone oil (stein öl)”. Ben Yehuda, vol. XV, p. 7258.2 So we find in Hebrew an accepted use of the word “SHEMEN” in the form of “SHEMEN ADAMA” or “earth oil” 3 and in the form of “SHEMEN AVANIM” or “stone oil” for petroleum, just as in Latin where “PETROLEUM” is “rock oil”.

But true to customary usage, the typical speaker of modern Hebrew will nonetheless, in all likelihood, persist in saying that the reference in the Asher Blessing to “oil” means quite literally “olive oil” and has nothing to do with petroleum. And he will rightly add that the lands of Asher along the Mediterranean coast of Israel, as the lands of Manasseh to the south and east of Asher, were historically blessed with olive groves and known as a major source of olive oil; whereas there have been no commonly known petroleum fields in the region.

* * *

This persistence will be supported by the speaker’s knowledge that in Biblical times, olive oil was very valuable and had many uses – for cooking, illumination, medication and lubrication, among others. He will add that the best indication of the perceived value of olive oil is the fact that olive oil was used to anoint kings and high priests and that the word “SHEMEN” and its derivatives are used metaphorically in Hebrew to denote plenty, fullness, riches.

Following this line of thought, though, can lead us to the interesting conclusion that the reference in the Blessing of Asher to the “SHEMEN” in which Asher’s “foot” or southern territories is dipped need not necessarily be only a literal reference to “oil” whatever its source (in which kings and soldiers were wont in Biblical times to wash their feet before setting out on or on returning from a long journey – see commentary on Job 29:6 in “Olam Ha’Tanakh”, vol. “I’yov” [Job], at p. 159). Rather, such reference might also be a metaphoric reference to the precious things – “MEGED” is the word repeatedly used in Moses’ Blessing of the Tribes of Joseph – and bounty to be found couching in the deep beneath the lands of Menasseh on which the southern territories of Asher border and which are to flow to the surface out of Joseph’s well.

2 Use of “SHEMEN AVANIM” as the Hebrew term for petroleum or naphtha appears in “Raishit Limudim”, a scientific primer written in Hebrew by B.B. Linda and published in Berlin (Rossman) in 1878. The reference appears in a discussion of mineral and earth resins at p. 75, sec. 107.

3 “Earth oil” as a term for petroleum is common in petroleum producing provinces around the world. In Sumatra, Indonesia, where petroleum seeps have been known for centuries and where Royal Dutch-Shell had its first major discoveries at the end of the 19th Century, the term for petroleum is “miniac tennah” or “oil from the earth”. Forbes, R.T., Studies in Early Petroleum History (Brill, Leiden, 1953) (“Early Petroleum History”) at pp. 111 and 172-173 (quoting P.S. Boccone, Museo di Fisica [Venezia, 1697].) – In Burmah, a tributary of the Irawaddy River along which oil seeps have also been known for centuries, is known as Yenangyoung or Earth-Oil Creek. Forbes, Early Petroleum History, at p. 169 (quoting M.A. Symex, An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom as Ava, sent by the Governor-General of India in the year 1795). It was near Earth Oil Creek that Burmah Oil, forerunner of British Petroleum, got its start at the end of the 19th Century.

(c) Rock Oil in Biblical Hebrew – “SHEMEN” or “NEFT”? - The question, though, still remains as to the nature of the apparently liquid treasure – “MEGED”: petroleum or water? Does the answer perhaps lie in the use of the word “SHEMEN” in the Blessing of Asher not only in a metaphorical sense referring to riches generically, but also in the literal sense of “SHEMEN ADAMA” – “earth oil” – or “SHEMEN AVANIM” – “stone oil”, petroleum, “rock oil”?

As noted, the common Hebrew word for petroleum is today “NEFT”. However, the word “NEFT” does not appear in the books of the Hebrew scriptures. The first appearance of the word “NEFT” in Hebrew literature is in “Tosephta Shabbat” (2:3) in a discussion of what oils are permitted to be used in lighting Sabbath candles. (The Tosephta are Rabbinic works composed in the early Mishnaic period in the last centuries Before the Common Era [B.C.E. = B.C.]). – Interestingly, “NEFT” or petroleum is permitted for use in Sabbath candles, while there is a dispute as to whether “ZEFET” or tar may be used – “ZEFET” frequently deemed to be ritually unclean, a condition not attributed to “NEFT”. (It should also be noted that a possible reading of the final version of the Tosephta as appears in Mishna Shabbath 2:2 (3rd Century of the Common Era) is that, rather than being a product wholly distinct from “SHEMEN”, “NEFT” is one of the several sub-categories of “SHEMEN” that are discussed: “and the sages permit all the oils with sesame oil with nut oil etc. with resin and with petroleum.”

The fact that the word “NEFT” does not appear in the Hebrew scriptures should come as no surprise since “NEFT” was originally a Persian word which in all likelihood was introduced into the Hebrew language with the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon during the first Persian domination of the Land of Israel in the period described in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. (See, II Maccabees 1:36 [E.J. Goodspeed, The Apocrypha – An American Translation, Random House, New York, 1959]: “Nehemiah’s people called this Nephtar, …; but most people call it Nephtai.” Both the Greeks and Arameans also adapted the Persian word “neft” for their word for petroleum – “naphtha”.)

What then was the Hebrew word, if any, used in the pre-Persian period for petroleum or “rock oil”? For an answer to this, we perhaps need look only as far as the Moses’ Song of Praise which appears in chapter 32 of Deuteronomy immediately preceding chapter 33 in which the Blessings of Joseph and Asher appear. There, Moses, in praising the bounty of the land of Israel, describes one of its attributes as a place where the People of Israel will “suck … oil out of the flinty rock” (“YA’NIKEIHU . . . SHEMEN MEI-HALAMISH TZUR” – (Deut. 32:13). The Hebrew word used in this passage is “SHEMEN” – the same word that appears in the Blessing of Asher. The context in which the word “SHEMEN” appears in the Song of Praise can understandably lead to the conclusion that “rock oil” or petroleum is meant and that in Biblical times, the word “SHEMEN” may have referred also to “stone oil” or “earth oil” – “SHEMEN AVANIM” or “SHEMEN ADAMA” (the terms used by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and other modern Hebrew lexicographers and educators since at least the 19th Century) – as well as to vegetable and animals oils – just as in current English usage the word “oil” refers generically to vegetable, animal and mineral, including “rock”, oils. Indeed, the appearance throughout Israel of patches oil shales (“PITZELEI SHEMEN” in modern Hebrew) and bituminous chalk deposits interbedded with flintlike or flinty rock (chert or, in Hebrew, “HALAMISH TZUR” – the phrase used in the Song of Praise) deposits appears to support that conclusion (see footnote 7 below) – The word “SHEMEN” is also used in describing a natural excretion of stone in Job 29:6: “… and the rock poured me out rivers of oil” – “V’TZUR YATZOUK I’MADI PALGEI-SHAMEN”. Note that again in Job the word for rock is “TZUR”, the same word used in the Song of Praise, notwithstanding the existence of many other words for “rock” in Hebrew.

At this point it should be noted that the Hebrew word “SHEMEN” originates in the Akkadian (ancient Babylonian) word “ŠAMNU” or “SHAMAN” – meaning a thick, viscous liquid – and is a cognate of similar words used in ancient Semitic languages throughout the Middle East. (See, Ben-Yehuda, vol. XV, p. 7254 n.1, and Even-Shoshan at “SHMN”). Interestingly, Akkadian (and neighboring Assyrian) also had a word for petroleum, indeed two compound words, both of which were based on the word “šamnu”: specifically “šaman-iddî” and “šaman-šadî”. The first means literally “oil of asphalt” and the second “oil of the mountain”. (See, Forbes, R.J., Bitumen and Petroleum in Antiquity” [Brill, Leiden, 1936] [“Petroleum in Antiquity”], at p. 7 and Table I.) The development of both of these terms makes eminently good sense given the major asphalt and tar resources found in the region and extensively used by the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians, as well as the many liquid oil seeps in the mountains of Kurdistan lying in Assyria north of Babylon and, to a lesser extent, on the plains of the Euphrates to Babylon’s northwest, all of which were well known in antiquity. Assuming that Forbes is correct in his lexicographic and etymologic references – and there seems no reason to doubt them – it is clear that the root word “SHMN” or ŠMN was used by the Semitic speaking peoples of the ancient Middle East to include petroleum – the “rock oil” of the Romans and the “stone oil” or “earth oil” of the modern Hebrew lexicographers. What reason then for the Song of Praise’s reference to “oil out of flinty rock” and Job’s “rock poured … rivers of oil” not to be references to petroleum? The relevant texts were all written in approximately the same period.

7 The Land of Israel has large quantities of oil shales (“PITZLEI SHEMEN” in modern Hebrew), oil suffused rock, lying in thick surface strata in the hills of Bet Shemesh southwest of Jerusalem, mid-way between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast, and in the desert plateau of Mishor Rotem overlooking the Dead Sea. Several attempts over the past twenty-five years have been made to extract oil from these shales. These attempts have had very limited success, among other reasons because of the relatively poor quality (low organic content) of the rock and high costs of production. (Efforts to produce these shales have recently been renewed by Lapidoth-Heletz, L.P., an Israeli petroleum exploration company using a new Russian in situ production technology.) Some geologists are of the opinion that the Mishor Rotem shales and shales buried under the Dead Sea are the source of the oil and tar seeps in the Dead Sea area.
Interestingly, underlying these oil shales and bituminous chalk deposits which are also located throughout the Negev plateau are chert beds of the Senonian (Upper Cretaceous) age. To the north, the chert beds pass laterally into patches of highly bituminous (10-20% organic matter) chalk deposits located throughout the Land of the Shefala, the Sharon Plain, the Galilee and the Jordan Valley. Outcrops of these bituminous chalk-chert interbeddings appear at several sites in the Lower and Western Galilee and in the Jordan Valley. Surface deposits of bituminous limestones with organic content as high as 25% have been found near Hammath and Tiberias in the valleys of the Jordan River and its tributary the Yarmouk and on the high plains of Jordan above the eastern bank of the Jordan River and eastern shore of the Dead Sea. These deposits too are sometimes associated with chert beds. Forbes in Petroleum in Antiquity, at p. 25 (quoting Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer writing in the 1st Century BCE,) notes that it is possible that these deposits were known in antiquity.
In his Black Gold in Israel, at pp. 29-3, Lavi describes the attempts to explore the Yarmouk deposits in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. These attempts had their origin in stories of local Bedouin of oil seeps and a burning hill covered with “NEFT” at Tel-el-Hamid. Based on this and similar petroleum sightings in the Yarmouk valley, the first attempt to drill an oil well was commenced in 1914 at Macarin in the Yarmouk Valley, about 24 km (13 mi.) east of the Sea of Galilee. According to Lavi, the well was never completed and its findings were in dispute. During World War I, German engineers exploited bituminous shales containing crude oil in the Macarin area for the Hijazi trains. H. Michelson, “Geological Survey of the Golan Heights (With Some Remarks on Exploration for Hydrocarbons” (TAHAL Hydrology Division, 1982), at p. 13 and the works cited there.
In 1982, a water well was drilled at Ein Said on the northern bank of the Yarmouk some 6 kilometers (4 miles) northeast of Hammat – 17 kilometers west of the Macarin well and 7 kilometers east of the Sea of Galilee. Unexpectedly, this well encountered several sections of rich bituminous chalks containing liquid hydrocarbons. These sections, which contained chert sills, were found at depths between 500 – 900 meters (1,600 – 3,000 ft.) Id.., at Fig. 1 and pp. 6, 12-14.
As noted above at page 20, the Hebrew word for chert, a flintlike rock, is “HALAMISH”, one of the two words in the phrase appearing in the Song of Praise’s reference to the source of the “oil” to come from “the flinty rock” – “SHEMEN MEI-HALAMISH TZUR”. The other word in the verse, “TZUR”, means rock generically and, in certain contexts, is also used specifically as a variant of the word “TZOR” which is the Hebrew word for flint. It should be noted too that, as can be seen on the Map, the Yarmouk River was the southern boundary of the territories of Menasseh east of the Jordan.
Historically, oil shales, bituminous chalks and marls, and bituminous limestones (with organic content ranging from 4% to 20% and even up to 25%) were known as rockasphalts. Outcrops and surface deposits of rockasphalts occur throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean. They are known to exist in Syria, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Kouweit, Bahrain, Albania and Sicily, as well as in Israel and Jordan. Many of these deposits were known in classical times. Forbes, Petroleum in Antiquity, at pp. 18-30. And according to Forbes, methods to produce bitumens (semi-solid and viscous hydrocarbons) from rockasphalts were known in antiquity and classical times, with vases of asphalts produced from rockasphalt found by archaeologists in the ancient Persian city of Susa, and references to the process in the works of Aetius of Amida, the 6th Century Byzantine physician, and al-Ma’sudi, the 10th Century Arab historian. Id., at pp. 37-39

(d) Biblical Parallelism. The common Biblical literary form parallelism, may provide additional support for the conclusion that the reference to SHEMEN in the Song of Praise may well be to “rock” oil and not olive oil. The verse reads “suck honey out of the rock and oil [SHEMEN] out of the flinty rock.” Most of the medieval European exegetes of the Sephardic (Spanish) and Ashkenazic (Rhine Valley) traditions, including for example, Rashi (Rabbi Solomon bar Isaac) (11th century), Avraham Ibn Ezra (12th century) and the Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel) (13th Century), understand the reference to “honey” and “oil” metaphorically as reference to date palms and olive trees both of which grow in abundance in the rocky Land of Israel.

This agriculturally based interpretation of the rabbinical scholars living in rich agricultural areas of Europe is understandable (Rashi owned vineyards and was a grower of grapes in the Champagne region of France); but is it appropriate? The question arises in light of the phrase introducing the reference to honey and oil: “made him suck” or in Hebrew “VA’YA’NI’KEIHU”. Literally, “YA’NI’KEIHU” means the sucking of milk out of a breast, but it also means generically to draw out or absorb. This hardly seems an apt metaphor for the growing of trees out of earth, even though it may be argued that the root systems of trees suck up ground water for sustenance, which in turn enables their fruit to grow, and ground water generally underlies even rocky surfaces. The term, however, might well be appropriate for use when referring to sucking or drawing or pumping liquids out of rock formations above or below ground, in caves or subterranean strata – from Tiamat’s breasts and womb: the “blessings of the breasts and of the womb” of Jacob’s Blessing.

Interestingly, in his translation into Arabic and his interpretation of the relevant verse in the Song of Praise, the great Sa’adia Gaon does not refer to “honey” as being the honey of sweet dates, though date palms certainly abounded in Iraq. Rather, for the sage, honey is literally the honey of bees which were known to build their hives in rock crevices and caves of the Middle East and Israel. (Rasag Commentaries, at p. 151 n. 10; see also Olam Ha’Tanach, vol. “Devarim” [Deuteronomy] 32:13, at p. 240 at “VA’YA’NI’KEIHU DEVASH MI’SELA”.) This is a phenomenon which is still well known in Israel today, where bees continue to build their hives in the burial caves of Beit Shearim on the north-east flank of Mt. Carmel (see “Ha’aretz”, June 30, 2005, at p. A-18.) Regrettably, Sa’adia Gaon does not appear to address the term “SHEMEN” as appears in the following clause of verse 13, other than by an unexplained reference to “HALAV” or “milk”, which of course is also sucked out of its natural container – the breast. (This use of “milk” and “honey” may be a reference to the preceding chapter of Deuteronomy in which the Land of Israel is described as the “land of milk and honey.” Deuteronomy 31:20. And, interestingly, in his translation of Deuteronomy 32:13, R. Sa’adia Gaon does reverse the verse’s reference to “honey” and “oil” to read “milk” and “honey”.) Thus, from Sa’adia Gaon’s reading, the parallelism seen in verse 13 of the Song of Praise can lead to the conclusion that the reference to “SHEMEN” may well be a reference to “SHEMEN ADAMA” or “SHEMEN AVANIM” – earth oil or stone oil: As “DEVASH” or honey is deposited in crevices of surface rocks in the porous matrix of a bee-hive to be sucked or otherwise drawn out of the honey-comb by man for his use, so the “SHEMEN” in the context of “earth oil” is deposited in the porous matrix of subterranean rock strata, the breasts and womb of TEHOM, from there to be sucked or pumped out by man. – This interpretation is strengthened by the presence of black chert – “HALAMISH” – interbedded with bituminous chalk and oil shale – “PITZLEI SHEMEN” – deposits throughout Israel. (See footnote 7 above.)

* * *

Thus, it would appear that, as well as giving us a geographical marker as to where the search for the treasure should begin, the Blessing of Asher, when read together with the Song of Praise, may also provide us with an indication concerning the nature of at least one of the “precious things” located under the north-western portion of the lands of Manasseh; an indication which points to the treasure’s being petroleum – “rock oil”, “stone oil”, or “earth oil”.

8 The similarities between and tendencies to confuse “rock oil” and the more common – at least for the ancients – olive oil is not new or limited to persons attempting to interpret the Song of Praise and Blessing of Asher, but go at least back to the Greeks and Romans. In his Petroleum in Antiquity, Forbes refers to similar confusion in the armies of Alexander the Great in connection with oil seepages in Turkmenistan near the river Oxus as reported by the Roman historian Plutarch (“The greasy oily liquor ‘Became perfectly clear, when the surface was taken off, and neither in taste or smell differed from real (Olive) oil nor was it inferior to it in smoothness and brightness, though there was no olive tree in that country.’”) and to confusion about the nature of the seeps near Agrigento in Sicily reported in the 1st Century BCE by the Greek physician Dioscorides (“’Bitumen is found in its liquid state near Acragantium in Sicily. It floats on the surface of springs and is used in lamps instead of (olive) oil. Those who call it Sicilian oil are mistaken for it is an established fact that it is a kind of liquid bitumen.’”), with Pliny and Aristotle making similar observations. Forbes, Petroleum in Antiquity, at pp. 28 and 30. – In this connection, in his Early Petroleum History, at p. 85, Forbes relates that in 1690 a local chemist analyzed a clear, white and thick waxy petroleum found in a well near Viterbo, Italy “and found it very much like olive oil, as it did not have the usual sulpherous smell.”

Blockade the Waterways; Gog of Magog's "EVIL PLAN" By Bill Salus

In the summer of 2009 Russia and Iran, for the first time ever, conducted joint naval maneuvers in the Caspian Sea. In April 2010 Iran test fired five new coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles during their “Great Prophet 5” war game in the Persian Gulf. Shortly thereafter, in May, 2010 during their “Judgment Day” war game, according to the Iranian press, Iran demonstrated its fitness for sole responsibility over the security of the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's crude is channeled to market. What is running through the apocalyptic minds of Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his Iranian Mullocracy?

Military events like these involving Russia and Iran are among the reasons scholars are justifiably stirring over the possibility that the Ezekiel 38 & 39 Bible prophecy is about to find final fulfillment. The Hebrew prophet predicted approximately 2600 years ago the coming of a Russian – Iranian led nine member strong coalition seeking to destroy Israel and confiscate great booty. Scholars are split as to what the great booty is and if Israel presently possesses all of it.

Some suggest Israel becomes wealthy by discovering oil under her soil, while others, including myself, believe Israel captures Arab spoils of war resulting from an Israeli Conquest over the confederacy of nations listed in Psalm 83. However, it could be a combination of both Israeli oil and Arab spoil, inclusive of much OPEC oil.

Others, like me, suggest that the Israel described in Ezekiel 38 & 39 doesn’t presently exist. Ezekiel’s Israel will be a wealthy sovereign Jewish State that dwells securely, without walls, in the center of the Promised Land. The land Ezekiel likely alludes to is far greater than that defined by the Partition Plan of 1947 (UN Resolution 181). Rather it probably involves the landmass described in Genesis 15:18. This would make the center of the Promised Land inclusive of modern day Jordan.

Israel doesn’t possess Jordan presently; however, according to Jeremiah 49:1-2 and elsewhere, someday they will. Jordan is a member of the Psalm 83 confederates and their bitter consequence for participating in the coming Arab – Israeli war appears to be their surrender of sovereignty to a victorious Israel.

Prophetic events facilitated by the surrender of Jordanian sovereignty to Israel would probably include the burial of the hordes of Magog invaders in the future valley of Hamon Gog, east of the Dead Sea, and the flight from the coming Antichrist of the faithful Jewish remnant into Edom, which is modern day Southern Jordan. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to develop these two prophecies in greater detail at this point.

The point of this article is that the Russian – Iranian led coalition of Ezekiel invaders seems to have at least a two - prong strategy in place for invading Israel. The goal of the invasion is the destruction of the Jewish State and confiscation of plunder and booty as per Ezekiel 38:12-13. The two - pronged strategy appears to involve an economic boycott/blockade of Israel’s booty coupled with a subsequent overwhelming military assault upon Israel.

Identifying the Ezekiel invaders on a map suggests this consortium is assembled in part for the purpose of blockading Israel’s ability to commercially export its plunder and booty into world markets. Observe from the table and map of invaders that they all border the major bodies of water surrounding Israel. Is this coincidence or calculated on Russia’s part? Israel will desperately need freedom of passage through these waterways in order to export its plunder and great booty to world markets.

Even the countries of Saudi Arabia (Dedan) and Yemen (Sheba) who apparently abstain from joining the Ezekiel confederacy border the Red Sea, which is South of Israel. Should they have enlisted the Red Sea would be potentially blocked by them on the eastside and Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia on the Westside. This would render the Red Sea entirely impassable for Israeli cargo ships. It may be that they are invited into the coalition by Russia, however, perhaps due to their genuine fears of the Israeli Defense Forces and perhaps the Jewish God Jehovah, they opt out.

Consider the strong possibility that the Israel Defense Forces will already have executed the vengeance of God against the Psalm 83 confederates described Ezekiel 25:13-14, Obadiah 1:18, and elsewhere. Thus, Israel could potentially be in receipt of more land, plunder, and great booty prior to the official formation of the Russian coalition. Saudi Arabia is a participant of Psalm 83 under the banner of the Ishmaelites. According to Ezekiel 25:13, at least Northern Saudi Arabia (Dedan) is part of the affected Psalm 83 warzone.

Presently Russia is bidding to regain its former Soviet Union superpower status. In the process it is unknowingly locking arms with the other Ezekiel invaders. Russia reportedly has large military export contracts with Iran, Turkey, Libya and most of the other Ezekiel 38 invaders. Additionally, Russian national relations with these coming invaders are stronger than ever. Thus, part one of Russia’s two - pronged strategy, the enhanced arming of the invaders for a coming overwhelming military assault against Israel, is already taking place.

The other potential component of interest to add into the Ezekiel 38 equation is the untapped oil wealth landlocked in the Caspian Sea. Estimates suggest the world’s largest lake hosts enormous amounts of untapped oil. Presently littoral rights are a major matter of tension between the nations of Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan, which all surround the Caspian.

The Russian - Iranian joint naval exercises referenced earlier suggest they ultimately intend to share domination of this potential oil fortune. They will want to transport Caspian oil out into world markets and presently the main distribution is the BTC pipeline running through Baku Azerbaijan, Tbilisi Georgia, and Ceyhan Turkey.

Russia and Iran presently lack the necessary exclusive control of this critical pipeline. However, that could easily change since Turkey ultimately enlists with the Ezekiel invaders and some suspect so will Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. This would give the Russian coalition the ready means and access to control the Caspian oil and its exportation. Only Georgia would possibly stand in the way and we know Russia can overpower Georgia. Russia temporarily shut this pipeline down during its invasion of Georgia in August of 2008.

Sovereignty over all major oil export pipelines and distribution waterways in tandem with control of robust Iranian and Caspian oil reserves will make Russia’s coalition a commercial force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, they will not be content with that but will also seek Israel’s plunder and great spoil. If Russia and Iran control all the Caspian and OPEC oil supplies in the future, they could possibly become unstoppable in their bid for collective world control. It is probably this goal that partially allures the other members to join in the Ezekiel coalition.

THE EVIL PLAN

‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your [Gog of Magog] mind, and you will make an evil plan: You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; [Israel] I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army [formed your coalition] to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’ (Ezekiel 38:10-13; NKJV)

We are told in Ezekiel 38:10 that the Magog confederacy acts upon an "EVIL PLAN". Ezekiel 38:11-13 give clues into the size and scope of this "EVIL PLAN". Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the merchants of Tarshish suggest Russia is inviting nations to strategically coalesce with them to steal Israel’s wealth. This is the underlying feature of the plan, "to take plunder". This suggests Russia campaign's upon this "to take plunder" platform as it forms it's coalition.

The theme of commerce is found in these above passages within the usage of terms like “merchants” and “livestock and goods”. The merchants are probably would be purchasers of Israel’s wares, which consist of “livestock and goods”. “Livestock” likely represents agricultural interests and “goods” probably commercial interests, such as oil and natural gas etc. These are "acquired" goods probably alluding to spoils of war collected by Israel in the aftermath of their victory in the Psalm 83 war.

In conclusion, it appears Russia formulates a comprehensive campaign involving strategically located allies intended to invade Israel in the aftermath of the Psalm 83 war. Israel wins that war according to scripture and in the process renders the inner circle of Arab nations and terrorist populations sharing common borders with Israel of little utility to Russia and its coalition.

This is probably why they are not listed among the Ezekiel invaders. It is important to note that Ezekiel writes about the Psalm 83 nations in other chapters, but omits them from the Ezekiel 38 invaders. This is most likely because they are not part of Russia’s coalition.

In the aftermath of Psalm 83, Israel probably annexes more territory and captures Arab spoils of war making it potentially a very wealthy nation. Russia then forms its campaign and alliance to prevent Israel from blossoming into a significant oil exporting nation. Russia assembles predominately Muslim nations sharing a dislike for Israel. This coalition seems to be specifically selected in order to blockade Israel’s exports first and then destroy the Jewish State should it resist. Perhaps the infamous; “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out," in Ezekiel 38:4 has something to do with a waterway related campaign against Israel. However, perhaps instead of catching fish on the seas it may be regarded with exporting oil through them.

Israel, the apple of God’s eye, becomes the ripe carrot dangling on a string that entices Russia, Iran, and their coalition to invade. They covet Israel’s newfound plunder and booty and seek to choke off Israel’s ability to conduct world commerce. Ultimately they militarily come to take it for themselves and wipe Israel off of the map. Ezekiel 38 & 39 informs us that the God of Israel will divinely defeat the Magog alliance and uphold His Holy Name in the process. (Ezekiel 39:7)

DC Knows that Obama is Ineligible for Office

The certification of constitutional qualification for the office of president

By JB Williams Saturday, April 24, 2010

Members from all three branches of the Federal government already know that Barack Hussein Obama is ineligible for the office of President. National leaders, to include members of the US Supreme Court, already know that Barack Hussein Obama is not a “natural born citizen” of the United States of America, and therefore, is ineligible for the office he currently holds. (See JB’s new article on The Bottom Line on Natural Born Citizen)

What they don’t know is how long it will take for most Americans to figure it out, or what to do about it.

The diversionary search for an authentic birth certificate is ongoing and Obama has now spent in excess of $2 million in legal fees to keep that search alive.

Eric Holder’s Department of Justice continues to deploy taxpayer funded attorneys around the country to file dismissals on behalf of Obama, denying all American citizens access to the courts as a peaceful remedy, which only fuels the fire of discontent and the questions about Obama persist.

Michelle Obama states that Kenya is Barack’s “home country.” She knows, after twenty years with Barack. The Ambassador or Kenya has confirmed the same His family friends all know it, and are in fact quite proud of the fact that Americans had no hesitation in electing a “black man from Kenya” as President of the United States.

The US Supreme Court knows what the constitutional condition of “natural born citizen” means. Even the most far left member of that court, Justice Ginsberg, is on record proclaiming that a “natural born citizen” is a birth child of TWO legal US citizens.

Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi knows that Barack Hussein Obama is not eligible for the office of president, which is why she refused to certify the following language when certifying Obama as the DNC candidate for president in 2008.

This is the normal language for certification of nomination for president and vice president, filed by the DNC only in the state of Hawaii…


This is the language filed by the DNC in the other 49 states, however…


Note that the language which certifies that Barack Hussein Obama meets all constitutional qualifications is missing in the DNC documents filed in 49 of the 50 states. The certification of constitutional qualification for the office of president was filed only in Hawaii. That text is missing in the DNC certification filings for all other states.

Whereas the RNC filed the exact same certification document, including the constitutional text for John McCain in all 50 states, Obama was technically certified in only one state, Hawaii. A mere inconvenient technicality, I’m sure…

The US Congress knows that Barack Hussein Obama is not constitutionally qualified for the office he holds. Although the congress passed a resolution proclaiming Senator John McCain a “natural born citizen” as the son of two US citizens, no such congressional resolution exists for Barack Hussein Obama.

The press knows that Obama is not a “natural born citizen,” having written on several occasions about the “Kenyan born” senator from Chicago. A number of citizens have already been arrested and jailed for asking these questions.

Over four-hundred law suits have been filed across the country asking the courts to force Obama to become the “transparent president” he promised to be, and all four-hundred are being dismissed before discovery, all on the basis that “no citizen has proper legal standing” to ask who and what their president really is…

Over a half-million citizens have now signed a petition demanding to see Obama’s birth records.

Numerous members of the US Military have refused deployment orders from Obama, on the basis that he refuses to evidence his constitutional qualifications to issue such orders. In most cases, the soldiers have simply been reassigned, so as to avoid any disciplinary action that could end in “defense discovery” which might finally force Obama to open up his files once and for all.

Now an eighteen year veteran flight surgeon and active Lt. Colonel faces court martial as he makes his demands for proof that Obama is constitutionally eligible to issue orders as Commander-in-Chief.
Obama’s entire domestic, foreign and national defense agenda has proven to be wholly anti-American

Obama’s entire domestic, foreign and national defense agenda has proven to be wholly anti-American on every possible level. Still, the answers concerning who and what Barack Hussein Obama Jr. really is remain elusive in the face of unprecedented efforts to ask the right questions.

No matter who asks, how they ask or where they ask, not one single individual in Washington DC or even state government seems willing to weigh in on the most important issue of our era. Who and what is the man sitting in the people’s White House?

How in the hell did we get an overtly anti-American resident of the people’s White House without so much as a simple birth certificate to prove who this person really is?

And why won’t a single elected representative of the people engage in the effort to force an answer to this question?

The answers to these and many more questions are likely very simple and equally chilling…
The Speaker of the House does not refuse to certify her candidate as “constitutionally qualified” in forty-nine of fifty states by accident

Nobody spends $2 million in legal fees to hide an authentic birth certificate. The Speaker of the House does not refuse to certify her candidate as “constitutionally qualified” in forty-nine of fifty states by accident. A press that knew he was the “first Kenyan born senator” didn’t forget that he was Kenyan born when he decided to run for president.

Most importantly, the people DO have a right (read - proper standing) to ask who and what their president really is, in any court, any time. And soldiers are court-martialed for refusing orders, unless those orders were issued by an illegitimate Commander-in-Chief.

DC knows what most Americans have yet to figure out…

Obama is NOT a natural born citizen no matter where he might have been born. Obama’s birth father was at no time an American citizen and on this basis alone, Obama cannot be a constitutionally qualified resident of the White House.

They know something else that the American people have yet to figure out…

The US Constitution no longer stands as the governing law of this land. Obama’s many unconstitutional policies, Czars, executive orders and statements provide the proof, and the fact that nobody in DC cares whether or not Obama is constitutionally qualified to be president of the United States should send a shiver down the spine of every red blooded American citizen, no matter their partisan agendas.

The people willing to ask the tough questions are deemed crackpots and conspiracy theorists, racists or bigots. But those tough questions should be obvious questions to all Americans and every president should have to answer those questions, no matter race, creed, color or party affiliation.

I fear that those questions will only be answered at the tip of pitch forks and torches one day. Sooner or later, the people will run out of patience with a system built to exclude them. When that day comes, I fear what methods will be employed and whether or not there will be a country left to save by then.

But sooner or later, one way or another, Obama will have to answer those questions. One day, the world will know who and what this man is and there will be a day of reckoning like no other in American history.

The longer it takes for that day to arrive, the more dangerous the situation will become. A man not even qualified to hold the office is using that office to destroy the greatest nation on earth. How much patience can the people be expected to display?

Obama is not eligible for the office he currently holds and everyone in a position to know - already know.

What they don’t know is how much longer they can keep it all a secret, or what will happen next.

The Two End Time's Judgments Upon Edom - Part One

The Bible predicts two powerful prophetic judgments upon Edom; the first on the people and the second on the land. Judgment one, executed by the Israeli Defense Forces, eliminates the Edomites. Judgment two takes place in ancient Edom and is delivered single-handedly by Jesus Christ against Antichrist and his armies. Part one of this two part article identifies both judgments but primarily focus upon the first. Part two expounds upon the timing and purposes of the second judgment.

The first judgment:
1. Concludes the present Arab – Israeli conflict
2. Ends the ancient Arab hatred of the Jews
3. Gives Israel sovereignty over modern day Jordan
4. Eliminates the Palestinian Refugee crisis
5. Elevates the Israeli Defense Forces into “an exceedingly great army”
6. Proves God’s Genesis 12:3 Gentile foreign policy is still effectually in tact

The second judgment:
1. Makes an end of wickedness and wicked ones
2. Terminates the Antichrist and his armies (Armageddonites)
3. Devastates modern day Southern Jordan
4. Saves the Jewish Race from Genocide by the Antichrist
5. Paves the way for the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ.

These are just a few of the results of these two end time judgments upon Edom.

WHO-DOMITES? Who Are The Edomites Today? Simply put they are the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of the infamous Jacob of the Old Testament. In Genesis 32:28 God changes Jacobs name to Israel and his twelve sons and their descendants became the nation of Israel. Likewise the descendants of Esau formed the nation of Edom from which comes the term Edomites. (Genesis 36:1, 9)

The Edomites were spawned in Edom, which is today Southern Jordan. Although a remnant of Edomites still reside in Southern Jordan, most Edomites migrated in several waves centuries ago into Israel proper and made Hebron their central city. Hebron still exists today in the West Bank and is predominately inhabited by the Palestinians.

Around the time of “Alexander the Great”, (born 356 BC), the Edomites became known in the Greek language as the Idumeans. Presently Edomite descent can be traced into the Palestinian ethnicity as follows: (Edomites-Idumeans-Palestinians). Although the Palestinians are made up of a mish mash of ethnicities, many of them are Esau’s Edomite descendants.

Who are the Palestinians? “Palestinian” is the ethnic label tossed about loosely in modern times to identify three predominately Arab groups of people: the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians of the West Bank, and the Palestinian Refugees. These groups inhabit the territories that most closely border modern day Israel, with pocket communities in the surrounding Arab nations. It is generally understood that these three groups are comprised of a mixture of peoples who descended from various origins, including Esau, the father of the Edomites.

There are numerous prophecies in the Bible written by various prophets that foresaw Edomite participation in the current Middle East crisis. These prophecies, when appropriately discerned, present us with invaluable insights into the cause, details, duration, and resolution of the conflict at hand. As such this prophetic information has direct specific application to this present generation. (Fig. 1. Dheisha (Palestinian refugee camp, Bethlehem, West Bank 1949)

First Judgment upon Edom


The cornerstone prophecy regarding the Edomites around which all first judgment events are designed is contained in Psalm 83. Psalm 83:6 labels them as the “tents of Edom”. In Biblical usage populations residing in the “tents of” condition are either refugees or military encampments. In this instance the Psalmist appears to identify the Palestinian refugees of today.

Additionally, it is important to note that these refugees are listed first among the confederate populations predicted to come against Israel. This implies that they are the star of the prophetic show. Thus the present Palestinian Refugee crisis serves as the rallying call of the Psalm 83 confederacy. (Fig. 2. Baqa'a Palestinian refugee camp, Jordan, 1969)

These Palestinians ally with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt with the goal of destroying the nation of Israel. This confederacy probably also includes the Hezbollah (the inhabitants of Tyre in Psalm 83:7), and Hamas (Philistia in Psalm 83:7).

Several of the prophecies related to the first judgment on the Edomites are listed below. By association, we can safely conclude that the entire Psalm 83 confederacy is adversely affected by the first judgment of Edom. In my book, “Isralestine the Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East,” I identify the connecting prophecies that affect the Arabs listed in Psalm 83.

“For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. The house of Jacob [Israel Defense Forces (I.D.F.)] shall be a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau [Palestinians] shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,” For the LORD has spoken. (Obadiah 1:15,18; NKJV)

These Obadiah passages inform us that the I.D.F. will decimate the Edomites leaving them with “no survivor”. Furthermore, it identifies the timing of the judgment to be prior to the Day of the LORD. The first judgment occurs just prior to the Day of the LORD, when it “is near”, but not yet come.

The Day of the LORD is commonly connected with what is called the seven-year “Tribulation”. This is a distinct seven-year end time’s period when God pours out his wrath on sinful humanity through a series of trumpet and bowl judgments described in the book of Revelation. This means that the First judgment upon Edom is a Pre-tribulational event.

‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them,” therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate from Teman; Dedan [Saudi Arabia] shall fall by the sword. I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, [I.D.F.] that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the Lord GOD. ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because the Philistines [Palestinians / Hamas] dealt vengefully and took vengeance with a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the old hatred,” therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites [Palestinians of Gaza] and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon them.”’” (Ezekiel 25:12-17; NKJV)

The expanse of the devastation extends deep into the collaborating Arab populations. Ezekiel 25:12-17 points out that the I.D.F. will defeat the Palestinians, Saudis (Dedan), and Hamas (Philistines and Cherethites) for their confederate involvement.

For brevity, I only list these prophecies regarded with the first judgment, however the chapter in Isralestine called “The Final Palestinian Farewell” lists many more.

In the aftermath of the first judgment Israel seems to expand its sovereignty over modern day Jordan, West Bank, and Gaza. This would correlate with the prophecies in Jeremiah 49:1-22 and Obadiah 1:19. Israel annexing the territory of Southern Jordan paves the way for the final end time’s faithful Jewish remnant to flee there during the Antichrist genocidal campaign against the Jews.


The Two End Time's Judgments Upon Edom - Part Two


Part One covered the first judgment upon Edom illustrating that the Israeli Defense Forces would be the tool used by God to end the Arab – Israeli conflict. In the aftermath of the first judgment Israel seems to expand its sovereignty over modern day Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza. This would correlate with the prophecies in Jeremiah 49:1-22 and Obadiah 1:19. Israel annexing the territory of Southern Jordan paves the way for the final end time’s faithful Jewish remnant to flee there during the Antichrist genocidal campaign against the Jews.

The Bible foretells a remnant of Jews will come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation period (Hosea 5:15). Additionally the Bible declares at the same time the Antichrist will be attempting a final campaign to destroy the Jewish race. This impetus to destroy the Jews is a major theme in what is often called the Armageddon campaign.

During this campaign, the Antichrist assembles the armies of the world (Armageddonites) to kill the Jews, prevent the return of Christ, and prove that Jehovah, the God of the Jews, is a promise breaker. Scripture points out that the Jewish people are instrumental in provoking the Second Coming of Christ and upholding the covenant making character of Jehovah. Thus, Satan and his seed the Antichrist seek to destroy the Jews during the Tribulation period.

Second Judgment upon Edom

Whereas the Jewish people are instrumental in the execution of the first judgment destined for Edom, the second judgment deals with the Armageddonites rather than the Edomites and is not delivered by the Jewish people, but by the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ!

The first judgment on Edom will mainly destroy the Edomites rather than Edom, the territory. However, the second judgment will devastate the land of ancient Edom making it inhospitable for humans and converting it into a habitation for demon possessed wild animals. (Isaiah 34:9-15, Joel 3:9, Malachi 1:3-4 and elsewhere.)

The second judgment upon Edom has nothing to do with terminating the end of the Arab – Israeli conflict and everything to do with preserving the faithful Jewish remnant and destroying the Antichrist and his armies. The I.D.F. victory in the first judgment of Edom will be short lived. Soon afterwards the Antichrist will be masterminding his attempt to destroy the Jews.

Zechariah 13:8 says that the Antichrist will kill two-thirds Israeli Jews in the Tribulation period. Most of the final third flees to Edom, modern day Southern Jordan. They can safely seek refuge there only after Israel annexes Edom in the aftermath of the first judgment. This could not happen presently since Edom today is under Jordanian sovereignty. Part one pointed out that the first judgment upon Edom is a Pre-Trib event; however, the second judgment occurs within the Tribulation period.

Prophecies regarding the second judgment of Edom depict the return of Christ to Edom in order to fight for the survival of the Jewish remnant. Even though this remnant flees to higher safer ground in the mountainous region of Edom, (Southern Jordan), they will remain under imminent threat from the Antichrist.

Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save [Messiah Christ].” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me [Christ alone and not the I.D.F.]. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. I have trodden down the peoples [Antichrist and Armageddonites] in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.” (Isaiah 63:1-6; NKJV)

Isaiah makes clear that Christ touches down in Edom to protect “My redeemed”, the faithful Jewish remnant. Furthermore Isaiah declares that Christ single handedly destroys the “peoples” assembled against the Jews. Isaiah 34:5 makes a similar prophetic assessment.

For My [Messiah Christ] sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people [Armageddonites] of My curse, for judgment. (Isaiah 34:5; NKJV)

Summary of Parts One and Two

The first judgment upon Edom is intended to severely impact the Middle East, and leave a lasting impression upon all the inhabitants of the world. It will serve in the future as an echo of God’s past as well as His present foreign policy contained in Genesis 12:3. Obadiah 1:15 declares; “As you [Edomites] have done it shall be done to you”, which appropriately describes the curse-for-curse-in-kind clause of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Edomites and their Psalm 83 cohorts will seek to destroy Israel militarily, but conversely the I.D.F. will prevail.

The first judgment of Edom occurs when “the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near.” (Obad 1:15) It serves as a final worldwide warning that the end of life on earth as it will be understood at that time draws near. It will also be a call to remembrance that God blesses and curses in relationship to the treatment or mistreatment of Abraham and his descendants.

The execution of tremendous fury and vengeance against the Palestinians, leaving none to carry on the lineage of Esau according to Obadiah 1:18, will demonstrate to the world that if God did not spare the descendants of Jacob’s own twin brother Esau, then none seeking to bring future harm to the Jewish people will escape the curse-for-curse-in-kind clause of Genesis 12:3.

In contrast to Jacob, who was promised descendants, a homeland, and a King forever, his twin brother Esau will have none of the above. The first judgment against Edom eliminates all of Esau’s descendants including any would be kings, and the second judgment against Edom leaves Esau’s homeland unsuitable for human habitation. Indeed one will be caused to consider the severity of cursing Israel when they think about the contrasting fates of the twin brothers Jacob and Esau.

Psalm 83; The Alternative View of the Magog

For many years we have been following the conventional view of Ezekiel 38 and 39, the ill-fated invasion attempt of Magog and its allies, notably Iran. With the growing tensions between Iran—as an ostensible nuclear power—and Israel, these passages are the subject of much current discussion and debate.

However, the conventional view still leaves a number of puzzling inconsistencies and contradictions. Ezekiel 38 indicates that Israel is dwelling safely and “without walls.” Yet, when we visit there we are confronted with a 430-mile-long wall 25 feet high. And being shelled continually with hundreds of missiles from both the Hamas and Hezbollah is hardly dwelling “safely. ”

It is also significant to notice that the motivation of the invasion attempt by Magog and its allies is to take spoil: gold, silver, cattle and goods.(1) The Ezekiel account also includes participants from distant lands.

This leaves us with a puzzling anomaly: the players listed in Ezekiel seem to exclude any of the bordering nations: Where are the
Palestinians? The Lebanese? The Syrians? The Iraqis? The Jordanians? The Egyptians? The Saudi Arabians? (Sheba and Dedan only appear as spectators rather than as participants!)

It is extremely provocative to contrast the attackers of Ezekiel 38 with the participants described in Psalm 83, which details immediate neighboring combatants. Furthermore, they also have a distinctively different agenda than the parties in the Ezekiel account:

Psalm 83

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
Psalm 83:1-5

This appears to be a significant difference from the motivation of Magog and his allies, which is to take spoil. These combatants are the immediate neighbors, which continue to harass and torment Israel today and are unabashedly committed to wiping Israel off the map!

Furthermore, the specific players highlighted here are nearby, and not the ones included in the Ezekiel account:

The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
Psalm 83:6-8

Many may be surprised that the identity of the “Tents of Edom” includes the “Palestinians” of today. This is a topic which will be treated in a separate follow-up article, tracing the origin of the "olam ebah"—the “Everlasting Hatred”—from the womb of Esau and Jacob, and Esau’s contempt of the covenant birthright, to Esau’s spiteful intermarriage with the Ishmaelites, continuing the “everlasting hatred” to this very day.(2) As the Babylonians took Judah into captivity, the Edomites (“Idumeans” in Greek), under pressure from the Nabateans in the east, moved west and established their own “Idumea” encompassing Hebron and environs.

The other members of the Confederation can be easily identified with any good concordance or Bible Handbook. (They are also explored in detail in our featured briefing pack, see page 8 of April 2010 Newsletter from www.khouse.org.)

Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Psalm 83:9-12

In pleading for the destruction of their current enemies, the Psalmist appeals to the God of Israel to do just as He did in their historical victories of the past.

O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountain on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: Psalm 83:13-17

The Judgment against Edom is mentioned in more Old Testament books than it is against any other foreign nation: (3) (Again, the origin, identity, and destiny of “Edom” will be subject of subsequent articles.)

All the members of the Confederacy detailed in Psalm 83 are Muslims. Each of them is the subject of specific judgments which are detailed in Ezekiel 25 through 32. However, the principal issue of the entire episode is to make a specific point:

That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. Psalm 83:18

His name alone is Jehovah, not Allah, the moon-god. And the Abrahamic Covenant has not been repealed! If this view is correct, it suggests a very dramatic prelude to the events of Ezekiel 38.

Order of Events?

1. Israel is regathered in the Land (Ezek 37:12; Isa 11:11,12; Deut
30:3-5).
2. Ancient cities are rebuilt and inhabited (Ezek 36:1-5, 8-10).
3. They meet Muslim/“Arab” resistance (Jer 49:16; Zeph 2:8; Ezek
25:12; 32:5; 36:2; Obad 1:10).
4. Israel establishes an army for defense—see also #10 (Ezek 36:6,7;
38:8).
5. Adjacent Muslim nations Confederate (Ps 83:1-8).
6. The Confederacy is committed to the destruction of Israel (Ps
83:1-5, 12).
7. War starts between the Confederacy and Israel (Jer 49:2, 8, 19).
8. Title regained: “My people Israel” (Hos 1:8-10; Rom 9:25,26;
Ezek 36:8-12).
9. Israel decisively defeats the Confederacy (Obad 1:9, 18; Ezek
25:13,14; Jer 49:10,20,21, 23-26; Isa 11:12-14;17:1; 19:16,17).
10. Israel has become “an exceedingly great army” (Ezek 37:10; Jer
49:21).
11. Israel takes prisoners of war (Jer 48:46,47; 49:3,6,11; Zeph 2:10,11).
12. The Region is reshaped (Isa 17:1; Jer 49:2, 10; Zeph 2:4).
13. Israel expands its borders (Obad 1:19; Jer 49:2; Isa 19:18,19).
14. Israel “dwells securely” in the Land (Ezek 38:10-12).

This, then, would seem to set the stage for the subsequent events of Ezekiel 38 and 39. If this view is correct, there may be a huge surprise ready to unfold that will totally restructure the Middle East!

“The only certain barrier to truth is the presumption you already have it.” Our challenge is to keep an open mind and study diligently, continually reexamining the numerous presuppositions that tend to blind us all. We are, indeed, entering one of the most exciting times in the history of the Planet Earth! May the Holy Spirit be your personal guide as you continue your “treasure hunt” of searching the Holy Scriptures to prove that these things are so!

Bibliography (for some refreshing perspectives):
Salus, Bill, Isralestine, HighWay, a division of Anomalos Publishing House, Crane
MO, 2008.
Shoebat, Wahlid, Why I Left Jihad, Top Executive Media, 2005.
Notes:
1. Ezek 38:12,13.
2. Ezek 25:15; 35:5.
3. Cf. Isa 11:14; 34:5-17; 63:1-6; Jer 9:25-26; 25:17-26; 49:7-22; Lam 4:21-22; Ezek
25:12-14; 35; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11-12; 9:11-12; Obad; Mal 1:4.