Another prophecy from Isaiah declares that the
time is coming when Damascus will be completely destroyed, and some of the
surrounding cities in Syria will become a place of grazing for animals.
Isaiah 17:1-2 “The burden of
Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down,
and none shall make them
afraid.”
The next
verse states that there will be repercussions in other areas due to the fall of
Damascus.
Isaiah 17:3 “The fortress also shall
cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria:
they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.”
When I looked up Ephraim, it was
defined as including Samaria and most of what is today’s West Bank, land that in
conjunction with the Gaza Strip is commonly but erroneously identified as Israeli
“occupied land.” Hamas is the ruling authority in Gaza, and Fatah’s
Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Though these two groups have been divided in government, they are
unified in their desire to bring about the destruction of the state of
Israel. Consider the following quote from
the New York Times on November 29, 2016, of comments made at a party conference
that confirmed Mahmoud Abbas as leader of Fatah: “Ahmed Haj Ali, a senior Hamas
legislator, was invited to address the conference. ‘We are partners in this homeland, our cause,
struggle and resolutions,” he told the delegates, “and we in Hamas are ready to
fulfill all requirements of this partnership with you and all factions.’”
The relationship between Hamas and Iran
has had its ups and downs, but consider this quote from www.al-monitor.com in June 2016: “Relations between
Hamas and Iran never ended and were not affected during recent years. They
diminished on some levels at certain times, but the relationship remained
ongoing, at least on the military level.
The difference today is that Hamas and Iran decided to make this
relationship public and saw no need for it to remain clandestine. Public
rhetoric about the resumption of relations is now clear and explicit."
This event is also described in
Jeremiah 49:23-27 and Zechariah 9:1-7. When I read through these
sections, there seemed to be a connection with the destruction of Damascus to
Tyre and Zidon. These cities were located in what is today known as
Lebanon. This event will bring sorrow to Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron (an
area that includes the Gaza strip, the land occupied by the Palestinians today,
and the area just north of the strip on the coast); these were all Philistine
cities of Old Testament times. Zechariah 9:5 seems to indicate that this
will destroy all hope for a Palestinian state.
Zechariah 9:5 Ashkelon shall see
it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for
her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and
Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
“ashamed” = disappointed, wither away
From that point on
there will be no recognized “king” of Gaza. Ashkelon, a city on the coast
of the Mediterranean just north of the Gaza strip, will not be inhabited after
this.
(to be continued…)
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