ISAIAH’S END-TIME TIMELINE

ISAIAH Chapters 15-16

MOAB, AMMON, and EDOM IN PROPHECY

Who is Moab, Ammon and Edom?

All are a part of the modern day nation of Jordan. The British and French victors of the first World War divided the middle east as the spoils of the Ottoman empire, which had sided with the Germans. By drawing lines on maps, British and French diplomats created the ‘nations’, kings and the kingdoms of Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and others. Arabia was once ruled by the royal Hashemite family, who claim direct descent to Mohammed and Fatimah. But the Hashemites were driven out of Arabia by the now ruling Saud family. The British, who had also made promises to give the land to the Jews, finally allotted the rule over the newly created nation, “Jordan” to the Hashemites, who rule over it now. And also designating a small piece of the land to the Jews.

Biblically, that land of Moab, Ammon, and Edom were in close proximity to the land of the Canaanites, at the time of the people chosen by God were redeemed out of Egypt and sent to the land of Canaan. There and then, a portion of those lands were conquered and was given to the tribe of Gad, half the tribe of Mannasseh, and Reuben. Later in the days and reign of king David, Moab, Ammon, and Edom were defeated and that land was incorporated into Israel. (See the books of Kings.) The Ammonites and Moabites were the children born of incest by Lot and his daughters. After they fled Sodom and Gomorrah, the land was granted by God to them. Edom is the land once given by God to Esau.

Traditionally, these three nations, although they were populated by relatives of Abraham’s seed, or were his actual seed, (but without the promise) became their enemies, and rejoiced in many of Israel’s demises. Moab, Ammon, and Edom all conspire in the doomed End Time war if Psalm 83 is to be then applied. And it is in that context, that is in End Time of Judgment, that Isaiah will address all of them sooner or later individually, starting here in Isaiah 15 and 16 and again in chapter 25 with Moab. As does Jeremiah, who in sister Scripture addresses Moab in chapters 47,48 & 49. And Ezekiel deals very harshly with Ammon in chapter 25. “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel, therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD.’” [Ezekiel 25:6-7]

“Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.” [Jeremiah 49:5-6]

Moab, or central Jordan is slated for destruction at the coming of Jesus. Isaiah 25 has Israel hiding, and longing for Jesus. At the breaking of the Day of His return, Israel celebrates the Saviour, and his salvation. “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)But the next verses have Jesus’ foot on Moab’s neck as he is made to swim in a dunghill…“For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.” [Isaiah 25:10-12]

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah mourn Moab and lament that her pride was her undoing. The destruction coming upon her is terrifying. “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.” [Jeremiah 47:43-44] A remnant of Moab, as a remnant of Ammon will remain.“Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.” [Jeremiah 47:48]

The Southern Jordan, (Edom) judgments are very severe. Obadiah and Ezekiel 35 both direct their focus on Edom for their perpetual hatred of Israel: “Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord 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 the LORD.

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 the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith 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.” [Ezekiel 35:1-7]

“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.” [Obadiah 1:10-12]

Then what is the general meaning of these prophetic words now addressed to Moab in Isaiah 16? First, there is the promise of a mighty ruler that is to come. Then follows a fleeing associated therewith as a consequence of some desolation that has come upon that land. Next, an exhortation to Moab to shelter the refugees and not to betray them to the Destroyer or plunderer that seeks to take their lives. Then, shortly after the destruction of the Destroyer, there shall be a glorious and just Ruler who shall sit on the throne of David.

This corresponds exactly with other Scripture prophecy, including that of Matthew 24. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains…..For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this (that) time, no, nor ever shall be.” And in the sister Scripture of Luke 21, we see the greatest of persecution of the people of God that follows that key event there proclaimed. As to the specific time, it is the Last Days.”…for these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” These verses are connected with Daniel 9:26, 27 (read) which relate to the same person and events of Daniel 11:21 leading up to his reign of horror coming to and end in verse 45. That person being him who will be received, who has came in his own name. [Psalm 55:20,21]

We see then why the enlightened of Israel is to flee. It is the same fleeing of Revelation 12:6,14 and the same Destroyer, the Anti-Christ, empowered by cast down satan, in the same pursuit, that of verses 15-17. And because of his swiftness and his closing the way of the north from escape, “…wandering birds cast out of the nest…” those that would heed are encouraged to flee to the south and southwest unto the mountains, which would include the land of Moab. These are those, that Moab is commanded to deal mercifully with and hide. As they are told here in Isaiah 16:4, the Destroyer will not last long.

Last lesson we looked at God’s prescribed Prophetic Chronological order for the last of the Last Days’ decreed judgments, outlined within the previous few chapters of Isaiah. That being that the Lord will:

1. Finally finish judging Jacob’s seed, and that by the instrument of their enemies.
2. Then He will judge the people and nations of the earth, and specifically names names through the prophets, and prescribes those just judgments on those that are the enemies of the blessed and covenant seed of Abraham, called to be Israel.
3. Then He will judge the super-natural forces, inciting and leading those nations.
4. Then He will restore the Tribes of Israel to the promised Land as His preeminent mediators, in the Millennial earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ, who is finally received as their Messiah.

The associated Words of God’s basis for judgments now coming to pass in the Last Days is established in two immutable declarations of Scripture. In Genesis 12:2,3, in that if anyone makes themselves the enemy of Abraham and his seed, He will curse them. And 15:18, that the Land is the Lord’s and He promised it to Abraham’s seed.

The Jewish people, especially those in the Land, will experience the greatest persecution of any in the past. A persecution in the last of the End Times, from a confederation headed by the Anti-Christ, whose then discovered hidden purposes include the destruction of newly reconstituted Israel. In which their ancient neighbors and now their Last Day descendants will vengefully participate once and finally, again. But possibly, only initially they agree to an alliance, and that because of some prideful thought that fills their heart, they resist the Anti-Christ. (Could it be that these are the “three” of Daniel 7:8?)

In the midst of a covenant that is entered into by the then deceived government of Israel, of which Daniel speaks in that vision that was specific to the people of Israel in the latter days (Daniel 10:14) just before the Lord’s Coming. “ And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book.” It is that designated time of the end, the same time as Jeremiah 30:7. “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.” And then their restored blessing. That time frame foretold to be 3 ½ years seen in one unique revelation from Daniel chapter 10 through 12 (wherein we also discover that mysterious realm and dynamic of good and bad Angels). And as we have noted, where Christ alludes to a crucial part of Daniel’s revelation, (Matthew 24/Luke 21) and ties it to the middle of that covenant.

We have noted how God weaves those 4 stated prophetic happenings on the heels of and following this great troubling of Jacob, in the decreed consumption. Then, the decreed consumption against Israel’s aligned persecutors and the destroyers of the whole earth. [Isaiah 28:22 with Revelation 11:18] End Time judgment prophesy against the seed of Abraham’s enemies, whose itemized indictment by God can be seen in Joel’s Last Days’ predictions of completing that judgment. “For behold, in those days, and in that time, (could only be since 1948) when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, (Jehoshaphat means: the Lord will judge) and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have (1) scattered among the nations, and (2) parted my land. And they have (3) cast lots for my people; and have(4) given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. [Joel 3:1,2-3]

“The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.” [Leviticus 25:23]

“…thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.  And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased (with Israel), and they(the Nations) helped forward the affliction.” [Zechariah 1:14-15]

Skipping past the ancient partial fulfillments of these prophesies, we jumped to the last 100 years or so. World War I and World War II, what occurred during, and what followed them, including recent events and developments, would encompass the indictment of Joel 3 and Isaiah 15 & 16. The British, as victors, were given the mandate over the Holy Land after defeating the Ottoman Turks in Jerusalem, who had taken the losing side of the Germans, in the First World War. The British had promised a homeland for the Jews in the traditional borders after the war.

These traditional borders included much on the eastern side of the Jordan river, in the area now known as the kingdom of Jordan. The problem arose because the British had also promised the same area east of the Jordan river (the Trans-Jordan) to the royal Hashemite family of Arabs, who had been displaced out of Arabia by the family clan of Ibn Saud, with the help of the British. The British chose to and parted the land to appease the Arabs. Today this prophecy is being fulfilled by the insistence of the UN that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders as well as concessions in Gaza, and disputes over the “West Bank” territory, which is biblically named “Judea and Samaria”.

The United States under the past administration, had been insisting upon a “No Natural growth” policy for Judea, which means that the number of Jewish settlers there is to be restricted, allowing for no further expanding. While Arab leaders, International statesmen, “Human Rights” groups, the Pope, the leaders of the free world, UN delegates, etc…. (all with their own agendas) are debating the “status” of Jerusalem and the “legitimate” borders of Israel.

Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD: Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about; ⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. 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 the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that 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 builded: [Ezekiel 36:10-10]

What could be seen from the seemingly contradictive Scriptures about Moab, Ammon and Edom? As there are those Scriptures that relate to their escaping the End Time destruction of the Anti-Christ, but there are scriptures pointing to their overwhelming destruction on the other hand. The discrepancy could be reconciled with understanding that they, having escaped the wrath of the Anti-Christ, (Daniel 11:41) will not escape the wrath of God exercised by united Israel at Christ’s Return. [Isaiah 11:11-14] Daniel 12 reveals a time frame of greater blessing that extends beyond the 3 ½ years for 30 days and then 45 more days for a total of 75 days. To what does this point towards? Perhaps it points to a bringing militarily united Israel into preeminence with great victories by the supernatural Hand of The Lord over their age old enemies such as those mentioned in Isaiah 11 and 15 and 16 and other places.

Regardless, Moab, Ammon, and Edom (modern day Jordan) and its followers of Islam will suffer greatly for their age old persecution of Israel and their continued rejection of God and His Messiah. Clinging and praying uselessly to their God Molach. (Isaiah 16:12, Jeremiah 48:35, 49:3) Check out the New American Standard Bible’s translation of this verse). “No longer will the people of Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful briers and sharp thorns. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.” [Ezekiel 28:24]

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