The Palestinian Peoples Prophetic Identity

Are the Palestinians referred to in Biblical Prophecy as Edom and Mt. Seir?

If one reads the historical accounts concerning Edom and their ancient hatred of Israel, many of the characteristics of the Palestinian people match those of the Edomites. Even their attitudes and actions correlate to the despised nation of Edom.  The prophets has much to say about the destiny of Edom.  Many people believe that the Edomites no longer exist, which is basically true with a couple caveats.  The people known as the Edomites or Idumeans have seized to be a nation known as Edom.  But clearly there was even in the 1st century Edomites who lived and even ruled over governments, notably Herod the Great and the long line of heirs who ruled Judea with an iron grip.  But what generally is not know is that when the Kingdom of Judah went into captivity in 3338 (Jewish Calendar), The Edomites rejoiced over the misfortune of their brother Jacob and cheered on the Babylonians as they destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.  This act of hatred is remembered every weekday when we recite the Birkat HaMazon:

”  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we singHaShem’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cleverness. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.  Remember, HaShem, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!”  O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.  Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

After the Jewish people were sent into captivity the Edomites moved themselves into the ancient lands of Israel and claimed them as their own.  The Edomites also intermarried with the children of Moav, Ammon and with the people that were moved into the land by the Babylonians.  The Torah tells us that Edom freely mixed with the Arab people’s.

The Palestinian people through the Palestinian Authority claim that they have been in the land of Israel for many centuries.  Their characteristics, depravity and actions all match those of Edom.  The following prophecies will bring these into sharp focus so that there is no doubt that the modern people called Palestinians prophetically fulfill the role of Edom in the Last days.

The Prophecy of Ezekiel

The prophet Ezekiel outlines the reason that HaShem hates the Edomites and has decreed their utter and complete destruction.

“Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it and say unto it, `Thus saith HaShem GOD: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out Mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am HaShem. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end, therefore, as I live, saith HaShem GOD, I will prepare thee for blood, and blood shall pursue thee. Since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.  Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. And I will fill his mountains with his slain men; in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy rivers shall they fall that are slain with the sword. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return; and ye shall know that I am HaShem. (Ezekiel 35:2-9)

The second half of this chapter reveals Edom’s lust for the heritage of Israel and their corrupt attempt to steal the land that HaShem has given to Israel.  Note verse 10 which can also be applied to the modern day desires and efforts of the Palestinian Authority:

Because thou hast said, “These two nations and these two countries shall be mine and we will possess it,” though HaShem was there, therefore, as I live, saith HaShem GOD, I will even do according to thine anger and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I have judged thee. And thou shalt know that I am HaShem, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are laid desolate. They are given us to consume.”Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them. Thus saith HaShem GOD: When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee. Thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am HaShem.'”

Chapter 36 reminds the EdomitePalestinians that the Mountains of Israel are the possession of the children of Israel even though they claim, “those ancient heights have become our possession (36:2):

  Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, `Thus saith  HaShem GOD: Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen. Therefore thus saith  HaShem GOD: I have lifted up Mine hand. Surely the heathen who are about you, they shall bear their shame. “`But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown.  And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be built. And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and bring fruit. And I will settle you according to your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings; and ye shall know that I am HaShem. Yes, I will cause men to walk upon you, even My people Israel; and they shall possess thee and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men.  (Ezekiel 36:6-12)

The Prophecy of Ovadyah

The prophecy of Ovadyah (Obadiah) openly condemns Edom (descendants of Esau) and Teman (northern Saudi Arabia) to annihilation for not only gloating over Israels misfortunes but for murder (vs 14).  Historically, when Israel was sent into captivity, Edom also came in to possess their land.  As many bible students know, Edom or Esau intermarried with Ishmael and other Arab Peoples.  Many of the Arabs in the Middle East have Edomite blood and Esau’s hatred.  The land that the Palestinian Arabs have claimed and stolen is according to this prophecy going to be wrested from their grip and they will be destroyed:

  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith HaShem GOD concerning Edom: We have heard a word from HaShem, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen: “Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle”:
Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen; thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, `Who shall bring me down to the ground?’ Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, from thence will I bring thee down,” saith HaShem.  If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how thou art cut off!), would they not have stolen till they had enough? If the grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?   How the things of Esau are searched out! How his hidden things are sought out!  All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border; the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee. They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee; there is no understanding in him.  Shall I not in that day,” saith HaShem, “even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?  And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side–in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem” even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.  Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that remained in the day of distress. For the day of HaShem is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble; and they shall kindle them and devour them. And there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for HaShem hath spoken it.”   And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the plain the Philistines. And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the south. And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be HaShem’s.