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Chapter 25: The Origin Of The Problems
In Gaza
One of the tools that Satan uses to persecute Israel is Palestinian terrorists. God permits this because of Israel’s past disobedience. God, in his foreknowledge, set the boundaries of the nations of the world according to the number of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 32:8 KJV When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. Genesis 9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) According to the book of Jubilees Noah divided the world into three parts, and dealt it by lot to his three sons. Jubilees (Paraphrased from chapter 8) And Noah divided the land into three parts and he divided the land by lot which his three sons would possess. Shem was assigned the middle of the Earth, and to Ham was assigned the south and the Nile river. For Japheth came the portion in the north, the region of Gog. And the sons of Noah divided the land for their children before Noah. And he made them all swear an oath to curse each and every one who seized a portion which did not fall to him by lot. And they all said, so be it, let it be so until the day of judgment when the Lord God will judge them with a sword and with fire. Canaan, the grandson of ham promptly broke the covenant and settled in the land promised to Shem. Jubilees (Paraphrased from chapter 8) And Ham and his sons went into the land which was his possession in the south. But Canaan saw the land of Lebanon as far as the river of Egypt was very good. And he did not go into the land of his inheritance, but he dwelt in the land of Shem. And Ham his father, and his brothers said to him, you have settled in a land that is not yours and did not come to you by lot. Do not do this because if you do your children will be cursed. Do not dwell in the dwelling place of Shem and his sons. You are cursed and you will be more cursed than all of the sons of Noah by the oath which we swore before God and Noah our father. But he would not Listen to them and he dwelt in the land of Shem, and therefore the land was called Canaan. God called Abraham to be the progenitor of a people set apart for him. These people would inherit the land called Canaan that belonged to Shem’s descendants. Genesis 17:4-5 & 9 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." God told Abraham that his descendants would not possess the land until they had served as slaves in Egypt for a long time. Hundreds of years later, the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt and fulfilled his promise to Abraham. He ordered the Israelites to drive out the descendants of Canaan from the land, and to utterly destroy those who refused to leave peacefully. This was the fulfillment of the curse that their forefathers had agreed to. The Israelites were also commanded by God not to make any treaties, or intermarry with those who were living in the land. Exodus 34:12-16 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. For when they prostitute themselves to their Gods. and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their Gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. Numbers 33:51 & 56 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. "'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. " If the Israelites allowed the Canaanites to remain in the land they would become like barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides, which is exactly what happened in the Gaza area, and continues until this present day. Joshua 11:-22 Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive. Joshua conquered most of the land of Canaan and it was renamed Israel. The Canaanites that he did not conquer lived in Gaza and the cities nearby and they became barbs in the Israeli’s eyes, and thorns in their sides, as the Lord had spoken. (Exo 23:27-33 NCV) "I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against, and I will make all your enemies run away from you. I will send terror ahead of you that will force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way. But I will not force all those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert and the wild animals would become too many for you. Instead, I will force those people out slowly, until there are enough of you to take over the land. "I will give you the land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the people who now live in the land, and you will force them out ahead of you. You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods. You must not let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, you will be caught in a trap." The Israelites were commanded to complete the job of driving out the illegal aliens from the land afer the death of Joshua, as their population grew, but failed to do so and brought the troubles they suffer today upon themselves. Instead, they did the exact opposite of God's command and intermarried with the people living in the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's descendants. Judges 3:5-3:8 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their Gods. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel. Now that we know how the problem began, what we are looking for is some biblical indications about what to watch for in Israel and in the Gaza strip in the end times. The prophet Jeremiah speaks about the end times, when the Lord will pour out his wrath on the Earth. These verses have had partial fulfillment's in the past when various empires conquered Israel and the surrounding territories, but their future fulfillment pertains to the time when Christ returns and destroys the armies of the world at Armageddon. Jeremiah 25:17 & 23 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); The cup Jeremiah is talking about is the cup of God’s wrath that will be poured out during the tribulation period, the same cup or bowl or vial that is spoken of in Revelation. Zechariah 9:5 Ashkelon will see it and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither. Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted. It appears that their will be some type of autonomous Palestinian ruled zone in Gaza and the surrounding areas when Christ returns, because they will have a king or a leader at that time. (Note: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is proposing this very thing, an autonomous Palestinian zone in Gaza in April of 2004. We may se prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes in the near future) Zephaniah 2:4 & 6-7 Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. The land by the sea, where the Kerethites dwell, will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens. It will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes. Eventually, after the return of Jesus Christ, the Israeli’s will possess all of the land that God promised to their ancestors. Before that happens it appears that there will be a Palestinian state formed in Israel, but even so, there will still be turmoil in the Gaza area until Christ returns. It is not the fault of the present day Palestinians that they were born in Israel. It is the sin of their ancient forefathers who settled in a land that was not their own, that is causing agony for both Palestinians and Jews. However, any Palestinian who desires a better lifestyle would be well advised to emigrate from Israel to another place, or resign themselves to having a lifetime of strife, a menial job, and eventually losing their home and property to Israel. As if that were not enough they will also be subject to God’s wrath during the tribulation period unless they receive Christ as Lord and Savior before the rapture. Note: according to the Al-Najah university in Nabulus, Gaza has the worlds highest unemployment rate, 58%. |