Traditionally few prophecies of the Last Days have been interpreted with more complete confidence than this one. When the Gog-Magog forces sweep into the Holy Land, they will simultaneously drive through to Egypt and also pursue the retreating defenders (the British army!) into Edom. At the crucial moment the Messiah and a mighty phalanx of warriors — the immortalized saints, now marching to the Land of Promise by the route followed by Moses and Israel — will come to the rescue and utterly destroy the invading army in a terrible carnage. This done, the march on Jerusalem is resumed, and the King of Glory enters his capital.

In the light of the current political situation and especially when the developments of modern warfare are considered, all this sounds rather odd. But quite apart from assessing this speculation in its relevance (sic!) to the twentieth century, it is surely time to take a fresh look at it and ask a few pointed questions about its Biblical basis.

Elsewhere (“The Last Days,” ch. 10) it has been shewn that the evidence for believing that the Judgement will take place at Sinai is hardly satisfactory and certainly not such as warrants confidence. The idea of a wilderness march by immortalized saints, who in any case would be able to transport themselves with the speed of angels has a further element of incongruity, and appears to be based almost entirely on a misreading of Micah 7: 15: “According to the days of thy coming out of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.” This passage does not necessarily mean that precisely what happened at the time of the Exodus will happen again with Messiah in place of Moses. A11 that can be safely got out of it is that the marvels of Israel’s experience then will be matched by the manifestations of divine power through the Messiah. The entire scheme of prophetic interpretation often referred to as “the march of the Rainbowed Angel” has been built on one or two assumptions of this kind. A judicious re-appraisal of the solidity of its foundations has long been overdue.

A NEW DELIVERANCE

In many parts of Isaiah (e.g. chs. 29-33) there are copious allusions to Israel in Egypt and the wilderness, yet in interpreting these chapters with reference to the contemporary crisis — Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah — no one is misled into thinking that the prophet was foretelling a march of rescued Israel through the wilderness of Sinai. His message was, very simply and forcefully, that there was to be a divine intervention in his day on behalf of Israel such as would parallel in its breath-taking majesty and power the magnificent demonstration of divine glory experienced by Israel under Moses.^[29] And this duly took place, not in the wilderness of Sinai, but underneath the walls of Jerusalem. It is true that after the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, many captives were released from bondage and returned with joy and thanksgiving to their homeland, but these came from Assyria, not from Egypt. If Isaiah’s language about Sinai and the Exodus is not to be taken literally, but rather as a parallel to events in his day, is not the same likely to be true of his contemporary Micah? Of course the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah can be expected to have further fulfilment in the Last Days, but since the first fulfilment was not literal, how can one be confident that the second will be?

RE-INTERPRETATION

Returning to Isaiah 63, it has to be noted that the prophecy is couched in the most general terms, with the exception of the mention of Edom and its capital, Bozrah, and also the idea (v. 5) of redemption and vengeance when all hope seems to have been abandoned. Yet even the references to Edom and Bozrah are far from certain, for with only the slightest change in the pointing of the Hebrew text, the opening challenge may be read thus: “Who is this that comes, more than man, raiment more crimsoned than the grape-gatherer?” If this reading be accepted, and it is just as possible as the more familiar translation,^[30] then no geographical reference remains, and the prophecy is seen as a picture of divine intervention, truly, but not in any specific place.

Another approach to this problem accepts the AV reading but interprets it as an allusion to the Song of Deborah after the rout of enemies in northern Canaan: “Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel” (Judges 5: 4, 5). This language is echoed in Isaiah 64:1: “O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence…”

Again it has to be emphasized that in the days of Deborah there was no recapitulation of Exodus deliverance or wilderness journey, but there was a deliverance comparable to those mighty happenings, and this is the point of the allusion.

Even if the traditional interpretation of Isaiah 63 were accepted, it should not be overlooked that the Lord coming first to Jerusalem, later seeking out certain enemies for special judgement in the territory of Edom and then returning to Jerusalem could fulfill it. There is nothing in the prophecy which rules out such an idea, and in Isaiah 25: 9, 10 there is an exact parallel regarding Moab. It is this view, which is favoured by the present writer, but only in a tentative fashion, because no arguments are known which definitely rule out the alternative modes of interpretation just mentioned.

HELP FROM JEREMIAH

It is not difficult to demonstrate that this “punitive expedition” in the direction of Edom is not against the forces of the great northern confederacy. Jeremiah 49: 7-22 is a prophecy with marked similarities to Isaiah 63, and a careful reading of its details makes very clear that this is a judgement on the Arab enemy of Israel. Verse 12 repeats the language of Jeremiah 25: 29, a prophecy which is concerned first of all with Israel’s hostile neighbours. Verse 19 also is important: “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly drive them away (RVm): and who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? (or possibly: who will cause men to know me?), and who is that Shepherd that will stand before me?”

Who can this be but the Messiah? And he comes “from the swelling of Jordan,” not from mount Sinai, against the proud enemy “that dwells in the clefts of Sela” (v. 16).

DETAILS EXAMINED

Other details of Isaiah 63 can now be considered more specifically.

“Who is this that comes from Edom?… I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” This is the leader with blood-stained raiment, described in Revelation 19: 11-16 as “King of kings and Lord of lords” and also as “the Word of God.” In that prophecy he has a sharp sword going out of his mouth — “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The idea is the same. He speaks in righteousness, and judgement ensues.

It is a mistake, commonly made, to picture this divine Man as being alone in the judgement described. The Hebrew word translated “trample them in my fury” necessarily describes the action of a multitude. And in the parallel in Revelation 19, the crowned warrior is followed by an army “clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” Since this is the description of the glorified saints (Revelation 19: 8), and since the leader is already crowned, the saints have already been made immortal in Jerusalem (“The Last Days” ch. 10) by one whose kingdom is already in existence.^[31]

Then in what sense is he “alone”? The next phrase explains: “of the peoples there was none with me.” This word is commonly used with reference to the tribes of Israel. It is a redemption brought to Israel when at last they realize that their own efforts cannot save them. The rest of the chapter, so often neglected, emphasizes this theme. “The day of vengeance (vengeance for the oppression of Israel, not of the saints) is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” The word “redeemed” implies a near kinsman. This is a greater Joseph saving his brethren, but only when they acknowledge the despite done to him long before (Genesis 42: 21).

The mention of “the day of vengeance” recalls Isaiah 34: 8, which prophesy also is directed against Edom (34: 6), in “the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” “Red in thine apparel” is a play on the name Edom; and “I will stain all my raiment” plays with the (untranslatable) double meaning of a Hebrew word, which also signifies “redeemed.” Thus this dramatic divine act — the Arm of the Lord bringing salvation (v. 5) — looks both ways. It is on behalf of a people reconciled to Christ and recognized as His kinsfolk. And it is against callous unspiritual enemies who refuse to see Israel as the Chosen Seed of Abraham with full right to the Land by divine covenant.

[29] Compare also Isaiah 63:015, a passage, which makes the same point very clearly.

[30] See W. A. Wordsworth’s En Roeh, in loc.

[31] Another possible interpretation here identifies these who are with Christ as his angels of judgement (note Revelation 15: 6). This view would not seriously interfere with the main point being made in this paragraph.

For many years this familiar passage has been expounded as a prophecy that there will come a time when the nations of the world will either be seized by an overmastering anxiety to get together and rid themselves of the threat of war, or will feel at some political juncture that at last they have actually devised a scheme by which war has been finally abolished. At such a time “sudden destruction cometh upon them”; it will overtake them “as a thief in the night.” This will be the final cataclysm at the coming of the Lord.

Interpreted in this fashion, the Peace and Safety cry has been regarded as one of the outstanding signs of our times. U.N.O. and, before it, the League of Nations and also nearly every other twentieth century effort to patch up the quarrels and bickerings of the nations have in turn been hailed as the fulfilment of Paul’s prophecy, with the logical (sic!) conclusion that the coming of the Lord is just round the corner.

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the value of this long-standing interpretation is only in direct proportion to its degree of Biblical support. For too long interpretation of these Bible signs has been by means of politics instead of by means of Bible. Thus the elucidation of Bible prophecy has been brought down to the level of a semi-political game, valid for those who are forbidden to take part in politics in any other way.

A FRESH APPROACH

The present approach will be on somewhat different lines.

A not unimportant feature of Paul’s two letters to Thessalonica is the number of allusions, which it contains to the Lord’s Olivet prophecy. This is specially true in the section 1 Thessalonians 4: 15-5:10 (the chapter division here is unfortunate):

It is doubtless true that several of these correspondences occurring by themselves could hardly be recognizable as allusions to the Lord’s discourse, but the fact that they come together in the space of a few verses makes the probability of close connection a near-certainty. Those accustomed to tracing this kind of allusiveness in the inspired writers of Scripture will more readily perceive the character of this paragraph in 1 Thessalonians.

SLUMBERING VIRGINS

Once the fore-going parallel is recognized the conclusion becomes inevitable that those assuring themselves of peace and safety are not the nations of the world but the Lord’s own unprepared servants. It is to them that the Lord comes as a thief in the night.

A further argument, readily educible from this passage, leads to the same conclusion. Paul continues: “sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child.” This figure of speech needs to be pondered. A pregnant woman knows that her travail is inevitable. Also, she knows roughly when it will come. But she never knows the precise time. Almost always she is at length taken by surprise.

All these aspects of Paul’s simile are marvellously appropriate to the waiting church. She knows that the Lord will come. From the signs of the times she has a fair idea that the present epoch will see his coming. But “of that day and hour knoweth no man.”

On the other hand, to attempt to apply Paul’s figure to the nations of the world is to make nonsense of it. They do not know that the day of crisis is inevitable. All their planning is based on the assumption that it can be staved off by their own scheming. In any case the entire context of Paul’s exhortation disallows the possibility of reference to godless nations. In this epistle the apostle is concerned first and last with the well-being of this newly-founded ecclesia in Thessalonica.

A SECRET ADVENT?

A further conclusion to be drawn from this re-examination of 1 Thessalonians is that the idea of a preliminary secret thief-like advent of Christ before his open manifestation in glory to the nations of the world loses all its Biblical support.

Not only here but also in every other place where the same figure is used; it has reference to the condition of the Lord’s servants. It is to certain of the7n that the manifestation of the Lord will be like the stealthy depredations of a thief: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments … “ (Revelation 16: 15). “If therefore thou (Sardis) shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief …” (Revelation 3: 3). “The Lord is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But (to some who are unrepentant) the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3: 9, 10).

On the other hand Christ himself warned pointedly against being misled by those who teach that the second coming will be stealthy and secret. In effect the churches teach this when they try to persuade that the Lord’s coming is to the heart of the believer, or mystically in the “Real Presence” in the sacramental bread. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach the same thing when they affirm an invisible “spiritual” presence of the Lord since 1914.

“BELIEVE IT NOT”

To all these the answer of Scripture is: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24: 23-27). This passage is so clear and emphatic, it should make those pause and consider who have been in the habit of thinking (and teaching) in terms of a secret coming of Christ to his people assembled to meet him in some remote uninhabited part of the world.

It is not in this sense that the Lord comes as a thief. The point of this simile is different. When a burglar has broken into a home and slipped away with all the money and the choicest items of wealth it contains, the householder suddenly awakes to the fact that what he deemed to be his most treasured possessions are gone, they are his no longer.

The Lord’s coming will be like that. For all, and especially for the unprepared, there will suddenly dawn a day of stark self-awareness when with a flash of honest insight such as is rare even with the most mature and spiritual, it is realized that those things which have counted for so much in life — cars, clothes, homes, gardens, holidays, social standing, professional or business status —are seen to be of very little value in the presence of the Lord. It will be as though they have all been suddenly snatched away by a thief.

For over a century this unique prophecy in Ezekiel 38, 39 have been the sheet-anchor of all the political expectations built round the prophecies of the time of the end. The main ideas educed from it seem to be unshakable. At the same time the fact has to be faced that the enthusiasm of expositors has often run away with them. Now and then the handling of this prophecy has been quite unworthy of the stark grandeur of its theme. And it has to be admitted that even the most balanced and cautious attempts at elucidation of its details look in need of overhaul in the light of the altogether unexpected turn of events since 1948.

The biggest of the many mistakes that have been made is in the interpretation of the details of this Scripture by the help of ancient maps, political geography, and newspaper articles, rather than by Scripture itself. This kind of emphasis should always be accepted with considerable caution.

The identification of Gog with Russia appears to be fairly secure. That this is an allusion to Gugu, a Scythian king mentioned in a Babylonian inscription, seems reasonable; and the Scythians most likely inhabited all the area round the Black Sea. But a safer means of identification is the expression in 38: 15: “thou shalt come forth from thy place out of the uttermost parts of the north” (RV). From the standpoint of one in Palestine this expression most obviously refers to Turkey or Russia, yet even this conclusion loses some of its inevitability when one encounters the same expression in Isaiah 14: 13 (RV) regarding the king of Babylon!

PRECARIOUS IDENTIFICATIONS

The suggestion, once very popular, that Magog is Germany, is a pure guess, completely devoid of all Biblical support. The obvious meaning in Ezekiel would seem to be that Magog is the land the great leader, Gog, comes from.

Meschech and Tubal quite demonstrably are not Moscow and Tobolsk. In Ezekiel 27: 13 they are listed among the many nations and peoples trading with Tyre. But that city of commerce traded only with the peoples of its own hinterland, like Damascus, Sheba, and Dedan, which had caravan routes reaching to the sea, and with those regions overseas which could be reached by their intrepid sailors — Javan, Carthage, Tarshish, and the isles of Elishah. But Moscow and Tobolsk fall into neither category. It is difficult to envisage in what way those remote places could maintain a trade with Tyre in slaves and vessels of brass.^[20] This identification rests solely on similarity of sound — a precarious foundation! By such a method it would be as reasonable to equate Gomer with Wales (Cymri). How much confident dogmatism has gone into the equation of Rosh with Russia for exactly the same reason and no other’ Yet rosh is one of the commonest of Hebrew words. In all its hundreds of occurrences it is correctly translated “head” or “chief.” Then how can anyone be sure that in this single place it should be treated as a proper name?

The Ethiopia mentioned in the Gogian confederacy is not necessarily modern Abyssinia. The Hebrew name is “Cush,” which is the ordinary word for “black.” As a geographical name it has more than one application. It may refer to an eastern Cush, the land of the black mountains (Genesis 10: 6-8); or to Midian, the land of black tents (Habakkuk 3: 7); or to the Sudan, the land of black people. From the context in Ezekiel 38 it is difficult to say with confidence which of the three is intended.

Attempts have often been made to include France in the list of invaders, as Gomer or Togarmah, but this seems to be the result of wishful thinking or guesswork more than the fruits of Bible evidence.

It would be, no doubt, both interesting and highly desirable to identify with certainty all the members of this military alliance, but the present state of knowledge counsels caution in this matter. The main point is clear and incontrovertible — a mighty invasion of the land of Israel from the north is indicated here.

BRITAIN?

Both the identification and the character of “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish” have about them the same elements of uncertainty. The equation of all three with Britain, for many years asserted with supreme confidence, now (1969) begins to look slightly sick in the light of modern politics and the events of the past twenty years. “Perfidious Albion,” which has systematically and cravenly broken all its promises to the Jews in a spineless attempt to keep friends with oil-rich Arabs, has, as its reward, achieved only promotion from a first-rate to a third-rate power in record time. The “toothless bulldog” is feared by none and respected by few. Its economic, political and social decay has become the best possible modern exemplification of one of the greatest truths in history: “Him that curseth thee, I will curse.”^[21]

Yet it has to be conceded that these facts in themselves do not rule out as hopeless the old familiar interpretation. Over the centuries God has brought about many strange and sudden transformations in the political scene, and the same thing could happen again, even though at the time of writing there is not on the horizon a cloud even as big as a man’s hand.

The real criterion is still the evidence from Scripture — and a re-examination of this does not go far to allay misgivings.

It seems pretty certain that there was both an eastern (2 Chronicles 9: 21 and 20: 37) and a western (Jonah 1: 3; Ezekiel 27: 12) Tarshish. If the former is India, as seems most likely, there is little help towards identification with Britain, for the ties of both India and Pakistan with the old imperial power are now about as tenuous as they could be. Also, both are militarily innocuous, and the latter is strongly, almost violently, antagonistic to Israel. Nor does the fact that Phoenicians traded with England prove that country to be the western Tarshish, for the Phoenicians certainly traded also with Spain, a country far more rich than Britain in “silver, iron, tin, and lead.”

In any case the phrase “merchants of Tarshish” is not bound to mean “merchants who live in Tarshish.” It may simply mean “merchants who trade with Tarshish,” and thus may indicate the much more local commercial power of Tyre. From this point of view it might be simpler to say that the merchants of Tarshish represent U.S.A. rather than Britain, though in that case all the usual supporting evidences educed from the familiar passages about both eastern and western Tarshish becomes not only valueless but a real hindrance. The passages listed above positively refuse to fit in with such a view.

“All the young lions” of Tarshish is another detail long overdue for re-examination. Even when the British Empire was at the height of its grandeur the application of these words to dominions and colonies, whilst apparently obvious enough, had precious little Biblical foundation to rest on. Why, one wonders, was the evidence of Ezekiel 19:2-6 on this point so consistently overlooked through several generations? There the young lions are the princes of the house of Judah (compare the way in which the greatest scion of that house is called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” and see also Genesis 49:9). Is it likely that Ezekiel would use the identical symbol with two widely differing meanings? More probably, surely, the expression describes either certain outstanding national leaders associated with Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish or, possibly, the great Jewish merchant princes who carry such influence in the world of commerce.

At one time and another much has been made of the phrase: “Art thou come to take a spoil and to take a prey?” If indeed the word “come” requires that the speaker be actually present in the invaded land or in close proximity to it, then modern developments and present prospects both make reference to a defensive challenge by Britain decidedly difficult.

SHEBA AND DEDAN

Again, Sheba and Dedan have been glibly replaced by modern Muscat and Aden. Even if this assumption were warranted (which it certainly is not), one would be left wondering why these somewhat obscure corners of British influence (if they can be so described today!) should be picked out as the foremost way of identifying the protector of Israel in the Last Days.

In any case, the Bible evidence concerning Sheba and Dedan altogether disallows the conclusion, which has been so often uncritically reached.

Ezekiel 25: 13 and Jeremiah 49: 8 and 25: 23 pointedly associate Dedan with Edom and Teman, which were certainly located to the immediate south and south-east of Israel, and not in the remote corners of the Arabian peninsula.

Concerning Sheba, there is at least one clear-cut line of evidence, which makes identification with the southern corner of Arabia highly unlikely. Lamentations 4: 21 identifies the land of Uz, where Job lived, with Edom. Mention of Eliphaz the Temanite supports this. The Sabeans who raided Job’s oxen and asses were actually, according to the original Hebrew text, men of Sheba^[22] (see Job 1: 15 RVm). If Sheba is in the extreme south of Arabia, then these raiders had travelled across nearly a thousand miles of desert to capture beasts with which they had almost no hope of getting home —another thousand miles! Such considerations require that Sheba be placed along with Dedan in the northern part of the Arabian Desert. And now where is the ground for identification with either Britain or America? The modernising of “Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish” with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria is at least as likely as the more familiar alternatives, especially in the light of the Septuagint reading “Arabs” for Sheba.

In recent years a completely different interpretation of the passage under examination has been canvassed. Instead of the words: “Art thou come to take a spoil …?” being read as a challenge and a rebuff to the northern invader, they can be taken to mean: “You are going to invade Israel and profit from its prosperity? then we will join you in this and share in the plunder.” Such an interpretation is not impossible, and would certainly accord well with the historic character of the Arab races in their dealings with Israel.

So far the net outcome of the present investigation is to leave the main idea of the traditional interpretation of Ezekiel 38 where it was, but to throw some doubt on the soundness of many of the details associated with that exposition.

WHEN FULFILLED?

There remains another important aspect of the prophecy, which has hardly had the serious consideration that it deserves, even though it is suggested more than once in the writings of Dr. Thomas. The assumption is often made, indeed it is usually taken as almost axiomatic, that this Gog-Magog invasion will take place before the coming of the Lord and will actually be the most clear-cut sign available to the saints that his return will happen almost immediately. Is there any single argument which points clearly to this conclusion? Certainly there are several difficulties in the way of such a view and these are considerations, which cease to be difficulties if the prophecy is read, as having application to the time after Jesus has become King of the Jews in Jerusalem. These arguments, which have been discussed at greater length elsewhere,^[23] are listed here briefly for convenience:

1. Israel dwelling securely. Can this ever be true of Israel whilst ringed round by hostile Arab states?
2. “Dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.” The words have never shewn any sign of being true since 1948, nor — by ordinary judgement — can they be until Arab enemies become friends or subjects.
3. “To take a spoil and to take a prey.” In itself the small state of Israel is a prize not worth grabbing by any greater power. It is true that the geographic situation of Israel would make it a prize worth having, but the prophecy does not hint at geographical advantage. Instead: “cattle and goods,” i.e. material wealth. But once their Messiah rules over Israel, their material prosperity will be evident to all the world. And if meantime the world has been ravaged by nuclear war, famine and pestilence (Matthew 24: 7), the contrast with the rest of the world will be all the greater.
4. The language used to describe the destruction of Gog and his army (39: 17) is quoted in Revelation 19: 17, 18 concerning the judgement meted out by him whose name is King of kings and Lord of lords. For those who believe in letting Scripture interpret Scripture, this and point 4 will be decisive.
5. The phrase “dwelling securely” is applied in Ezekiel 34: 28, 24, 25 and in Zechariah 14: 11 to the time when the kingdom is established.
6. With the alternative concept—an invasion of the Land before the Lord’s coming, the sequence of ideas in Ezekiel 37, 38 has to be completely disregarded:
7. Valley of dry bones—Israel’s final time of trouble.
8. The nation united in the Land.
9. Their Messiah ruling over them; God’s sanctuary in the midst of them.
10. The invasion from the north when Israel are in peace and prosperity.

Admittedly, chronological sequence cannot be insisted on in prophecies of the Last Days; e.g. Zechariah 12-14: “in that day,” Isaiah’s “Little Apocalypse,” chapters 24-26; the book of Revelation itself. But in Ezekiel 37, 38 the detailed parallel with Ezekiel 34 requires strict sequence.

1. “I will set up one Shepherd over them.”
2. “My servant David a prince among them.”
3. “And I will make with them a covenant of peace.”
4. “I the Lord will be their God …”
5. “and they, the house of Israel, my people.”
6. “I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land.”
7. “And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness (i.e. the open country; compare without walls, having neither bars nor gates).”

The first six of these seven quotations from Ezekiel 34 are found almost word for word in Ezekiel 37: 22-27. But the last is repeated in 38: 8, 11. The conclusion seems to be inescapable that since in chapter 34: 23-31 the prophet is picturing the blessedness of Israel when Messiah’s kingdom is fully established, the same is true in chapter 37, 38 — including the expression “dwell safely.” And since another common meaning of the Hebrew phrase is: “dwell in trust (in God),” this is probably how it should read here, emphasizing the conversion of Israel.

One difficulty in the way of this conclusion (that the Gog-Magog invasion happens after the return of Christ) is more apparent than real: “After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.”

This seems to indicate that Israel must suffer for their sins at the hands of Gog. Yet it need not. “They shall bear their shame” (RV) may mean repentance and acknowledgement of unworthiness rather than the suffering of punishment. In other words, this passage is equivalent to the familiar words of Zechariah 12: 10, which tells of a repentance of Israel not only before Messiah’s coming but even more poignantly afterwards.

It should be noted that there is no hint in Ezekiel 38, 39 that Israel suffers in any way from the northern invasion. “As a cloud to cover the land … to take a spoil and to take a prey” describes intention. There is no lasting achievement. No sooner is the land over-run than it is delivered by divine power.

The language of 39: 3 seems to require this conclusion: “I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.” This is a picture of an invader still in action with his weapons of offence when he is annihilated. Thus any interpretation, which requires Gog’s occupation of the Land to last for several years, or even months, must be disallowed.

[20] A similar argument based on Ezekiel 32:26 goes further to eliminate this interpretation.

[21] And in the Hebrew text, the second word here is much stronger than the first.

[22] The word for Sabeans is written quite differently.

[23] “The Last Days” chapter 1.

The Lord’s Olivet prophecy of the Last Things includes the most detailed picture of the Judgement, which Scripture presents. Yet one detail has served to confuse students of this chapter more than any other. Because Jesus said: “Before him shall be gathered all nations,” the conclusion has often been reached that Matthew 25: 31-46 is not the judgement of the Lord’s own servants to which, for example, Paul alluded when he wrote: “we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.” Instead, it is assumed, this is a national judgement in which the nations are held accountable for their attitude to the Jews — “my brethren.” This Judgement is taken as a final outworking of the divine principle which Abraham learned: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.”

DIFFICULTIES

There are serious difficulties in the way of this interpretation. For instance:

1. If this view is correct, then the doctrine of a judgement on a national basis rests on this Bible passage only, and it a highly debatable one, as it is hoped to demonstrate by and by. The precarious nature of conclusions that have only one (sic!) Scripture to support them has been demonstrated over and over again. Every sect in Christendom sins against this canon of Bible interpretation. It is a habit, which Christadelphians must ever be vigilant against. Nowhere else in the Bible is such a “national” judgement described or even hinted at. So enthusiasts for this particular interpretation of Matthew 25 should hesitate before they achieve dogmatism regarding it. “A doctrine which is based on one text of Scripture will generally be found to rest on no text at all. It is our duty to expound the dark places of Scripture by the clear ones, and to interpret the single texts of Scripture by the whole proportion of Faith” (C. Wordsworth).
2. The mind boggles at the idea of a national judgement. How can it be applied? And if it can, then will it not inevitably involve a tremendous element of unfairness—by God Himself who says: “Come, let us reason together?” If the basis of judgement is to be that mentioned earlier—a nation’s attitude to the Jews—then what of nations, which have had no contact worth mentioning with the Jews? — Fiji Islanders, Eskimos, Hottentots. And what of nations which have changed again and again in their treatment of God’s ancient people? In the reign of king John, England was outstanding in its persecution of the seed of Abraham; in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries she set the world a shining example of humanitarian treatment of them; in the period 1920-1950, the shameful thirty years, this country broke its promises to the Jews and indulged its administrators’ prejudices against them to an extent that made imperial downfall inevitable. Then if the coming of the Lord takes place, say, in 1980, what kind of assessment will be made of this country’s worth? Or must such judgement depend on what a particular nation does to the Jews in the last few years before the Lord returns?
3. More than this, is it not obvious that nations are not morally all of one piece? Again, England in its year of grace 1969 is a striking illustration of the difficulty. In recent years no nation has thrown itself into moral decline and decay with the same dramatic thoroughness that this nation now exemplifies. Yet unquestionably it still has an unvocal core of wholesome good-living people (and the world’s biggest colony of Christadelphians) with a decent humane attitude to the Jews, and with reverence for the Bible. Then if the English are to receive judgement as a nation in the Last Day, either the godless are going to be wonderfully blessed for the sake of the Bible-loving minority or the wholesome section of the nation is going to be dragged down to undeserved degradation and punishment because of the rest. It is all very difficult.
4. In the details cited in this Matthew 25 picture of judgement, the actions commented on are only too obviously those of individuals to individuals, not of nations: giving food and drink to the needy, helping the sick, giving hospitality, visiting the miserable in prison. Some of these beneficent acts may be possible on a national scale, but certainly not all are.
5. A further difficulty is this. The ground for rejection is not hatred or persecution (of the Jews) but just lack of positive good-will towards those designated “my brethren.” As a basis for national reprobation this is somewhat difficult to understand.

ARGUMENTS THE OTHER WAY

Over against these unresolved problems there can be set a number of positive arguments which seem to favour or even require that the entire passage be read as describing the judgement of the saints in Christ, those who are “his brethren” and whose final destiny is declared when they “come forth … unto the resurrection of life or … to the resurrection of condemnation.”

1. The passage itself seems to be decisive: “Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” These words can describe only one set of people—those who are the spiritual seed of Abraham, who have been chosen according to the gracious divine purpose in Christ before the world began (Ephesians 1: 4). To apply this passage to any but these is to debase the meaning of Bible words. The “national judgement” theory comes to grief here immediately.
2. “When saw we thee hungry, thirsty, sick, in prison, and did not minister unto thee” are the words of people very conscious of having lived lives of “Christian service.” Ignorant nations of the world could not express themselves in such terms. These are the words of men intent on justifying themselves by amassing good works to their own credit!
3. The phrase “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren…” only makes sense if “these my brethren” are present at the judgement. Indeed, by far the most natural interpretation is to take them as meaning the approved already set on his right hand.
4. The accompanying parables — the faithful and unfaithful stewards, the wise and foolish virgins, the servants with the talents — all emphasize the theme of personal responsibility to “the Bridegroom,” “the lord of the servants.” Is it likely then that the last sixteen verses of this discourse switch suddenly to dealing with an altogether different principle — that of national responsibility?
5. The Greek text of verse 32 strongly suggests the idea of individual responsibility. The grammatical point is somewhat technical and therefore not easy to explain without a lot of jargon. In Greek, as in nearly all languages, a plural noun takes a plural verb. But Greek has one marked exception to this rule. When the plural noun is neuter gender, the verb is singular. A good example of this is Revelation 1: 4: “the seven Spirits which is before his throne.” Here “Spirits,” being neuter plural in Greek, is correctly followed by the word “is” (singular). The translators have rightly turned it into the plural “are.”

Similarly in Matthew 25: 32, the phrase “before him shall be gathered all nations” should normally have the verb in the singular form because “nations” is neuter plural (in Greek). Yet the verb is actually plural. It would seem that the words include a grammatical solecism for the sake of emphasizing (by the plural verb) that this judgement is to be on an individual basis.

A further detail serves to corroborate this conclusion. “And he shall separate them one from another…” should normally have the word “them” in neuter form to agree with the neuter word “nations”; yet in fact the pronoun is masculine, as though yet again to bring out emphasis on individual people.

6. The similarity between the Lord’s parabolic language about sheep and goats and the powerful prophecy of judgement in Ezekiel 34 is not to be missed (see especially verses 17, 20). This resemblance is not accidental. But Ezekiel 34 is about God’s judgement of unworthiness in Israel, not among the surrounding nations. It would seem evident from Matthew 25 that Jesus was declaring the extension of the same principle of judgement to his spiritual Israel also. This is reasonable. But to pick up a prophecy about Israel and apply it to Gentile nations in their friendship or hatred of Israel is surely a dislocation not so easy to accept.
7. There are several examples in the Old Testament of the word “nations” being used in the sense of “people out of all nations”; e.g. Psalm 9: 17: “The wicked shall return (Hebrew) into Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.” The word “return” implies that there has been a resurrection. And the word “forget” strongly suggests that this verse pictures the fate of those responsible to the God of heaven and yet neglectful of His law.

A much more appropriate example is Isaiah 25: 7: “And he will destroy in this mountain (Zion, where Christ sits on the throne of his glory) the face of the covering that is cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” The next verse dearly shews that saints out of all nations are meant, for it is for them that the Lord “will swallow up death in victory.” There is Paul’s authority for this interpretation in 1 Corinthians 15: 54.

With such a case, both positive and negative, regarding this judgement passage in Matthew 25 should there not be considerable reluctance to promulgate the idea of a judgement of the nations? Or has some evidence the other way been overlooked? Are there other places in Scripture, which teach such a doctrine? It would be interesting to know.

The concluding section of Joel’s prophecy is mainly concerned with a more detailed expansion of the threat of divine judgement against the inveterate enemies of Israel, a judgement that has already been pronounced in chapter 2: 20, 30, 31. The reason for this anger is given with detail and indignant emphasis. Israel has been ravished by a host of enemies—Tyre and Zidon, Philistia, Egypt, Edom (vv. 4, 19). Neither the mighty Assyrian nor the barbarian northern tribes are hinted at, but only those names, which represent the Arab nations, round the state of Israel in the twentieth century.

The picture is one of savage inhuman treatment meted out to Land and people alike. The Land is divided up amongst the invaders (v. 2) and ruthlessly plundered (v. 5), the people are exported to far-off lands as slave labour1^[9] (vv. 6, 8) and are even used as currency to purchase self-indulgence (“they have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine”)—and all this to work off a grudge and a spite against the Jews. Yet this sanctification of a Holy War (v. 9) is really an attempt at reprisal against God: “will ye repay a deed of mine?”(v. 4) It was God who brought Israel back to their land. Then how can Arabs hope to set themselves against the plan of the Almighty?

AN ANCIENT DFLIVERANCE

God in His indignation will bring these adversaries into “the valley of Jehoshaphat,” the valley where Jehovah is One who metes out judgement. It is a mistake to seek a geographical identification of this valley, even though there are plenty of maps, which confidently, though for no good reason, place it to the east or south of Jerusalem. The allusion is to God’s marvellous deliverance of His people in the days of king Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20). On that occasion a great confederacy from Ammon, Moab and Edom (v. 22) came against a king and people who abandoned all trust in themselves and who instead leaned for help on the God of their fathers. So the “Lord sent liers in wait” against the enemy, and there was a great overthrow. These “liers in wait” were evidently angels who, unseen, set the invaders against one another (v. 23), as in the day of Midian (Judges 7: 22; Isaiah 9: 4).

This will happen again. In response to the prayer: “Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord,” God will send not only His Gabriel (the Mighty One of God) but also His Messiah—El Gibbor (Isaiah 9: 6).

The ensuing judgement of the nations is pictured in graphic language. There are “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” This Hebrew word translated “decision” is the same as “consumption” in Isaiah 28: 21, 22 which foretells a time of divine intervention when God will “do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act … for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.”

GRIM HARVEST

The Isaiah and Joel passages have another link, for the word “act” is used in the same context to signify “labour in agriculture.” Accordingly the Joel prophecy proceeds: “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down (or, perhaps, tread ye the grapes), for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” The Septuagint version here suggests that two separate harvests of judgement are foretold, for the word “sickle” is plural. This is the interpretation given in Revelation 14 where “one like unto the Son of man” (that is, according to a familiar Bible idiom, one who is the Son of man), wearing a golden crown and carrying a sharp sickle, is seen coming on a white cloud—the radiant Cloud of the Shekinah Glory. This divine Being—the Messiah—is urged by an eager angel of glory to begin his work of judgement: “Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Immediately after this an angel similarly equipped with a sickle, is bidden: “Thrust in thy sharp sickle (as the Son of man has done), and gather the clusters of the vine of the land.” When this is done, and the winepress is trodden “without the city (of Jerusalem),” the blood flows forth “even unto the horse bridles” which are “holy to the Lord” (Zechariah 14: 20, 21), “as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” Here is a ghastly River of Death, to contrast with the loveliness of the River of Water of Life, which is to proceed from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1 and Joel 3:18). Its dire effects carry through a distance of two hundred miles, almost exactly the length of the land from Lebanon to Kadesh, as it is described in a powerful Psalm of Judgement (29: 6, 8; compare also Ezekiel 47: 15, 19).

It is a time not only of wrath but also of deliverance. “The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem”—the judgements of Revelation 14 are the seven thunders, each introduced by “an angel with a great voice” whose shout is “as a lion roareth”; “and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people (the saints), and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.”

PUNISHMENT AND BLESSING

This double element of retribution and redemption is well suggested also by the promise: “a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” Here, once again, it would be a mistake to seek a merely geographical meaning. The valley of Shittim was where Israel committed fornication with the women of Moab to the honour of Baal-peor (Numbers 25). That iniquity — and all such sins of apostasy in Israel — is to be washed away, as it was by the water that came from the smitten rock after the idolatry of the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:21). Shittim was also the scene of vengeance against these Moabite (Arab) enemies of Israel. The Land will be washed clean of all the defilement, which they have brought in.

And not only Moab: “Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.” It is impossible to believe that in the last days Egypt and Edom will be punished for their spiteful treatment of Israel thousands of years earlier. This “violence against the children of Judah” must be something recent and specially vile. It is not clear whether the words: “because they have shed innocent blood in their land” refers to what these Arab enemies have done or to what the Jews have done. If the latter—and all Biblical associations of the phrase “innocent blood” point to this interpretation—then the sin referred to is the crucifixion of Jesus. “His blood be upon us and upon our children” is a prophecy, which must continue to be fulfilled until Jewry acknowledges its guilt. But as soon as that repentance is shewn (compare the parable of the prodigal son), “I will cleanse (hold as innocent: RVm) their blood that I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.”

The prophecy could have no finer climax.

[9] Compare here the comment made on page 24, on Isaiah 19:18, 20.

The greater part of the first fifty verses of the prophecy of Joel is taken up with an awe-inspiring prophecy of doom and of Israel’s ultimate rescue from disaster. The symbolism takes the form of a description, powerful and portentous, of a locust invasion. Some go so far as to say that nothing more than a plague of locusts is being described and that to see anything else in the prophecy is to go beyond what the language warrants. Not improbably the basis in the prophet’s own day may have been some national calamity of that character, but it is blameworthy carelessness to overlook such phrases as: “a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number” (1: 6); “spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them” (2: 17); “I will remove far off from you the northern army” (2: 20) — in the days when locusts used to make their inroads into Palestine they certainly did not come from the north!

A fair amount of Bible evidence can be assembled to support the conclusion that the original “locust” invasion described by Joel was the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib. The verbal contacts with the early chapters of Isaiah and with the history of Hezekiah’s reign are very striking. Just as Isaiah so frequently ranges forward from the calamity and deliverance of his own days to the time of Messiah’s kingdom, so also, undoubtedly, does Joel. It is this latter aspect of the prophecy that now engages attention.

IRRESISTIBEE INVADER

This mighty invasion is described as “the day of the Lord … a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness … there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it.” These words suggest — indeed, require — equation with Daniel’s “time of trouble such as never was,” and the Lord’s “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”1^[6] “A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” In other words, it is “as it was in the days of Sodom,” for Sodom was “as the garden of the Lord” (Genesis 13: 10), but it ended in a sea of flame.

The picture builds up through a long vivid paragraph (2: 4-11). This is an army countless in its numbers, remorseless and eager in its pressing forward for conquest, irresistible in its power. All attempts to withstand the unceasing pressure and to stem the onward rush are as futile as King Canute with the tide at his feet.

Mention of “the northern army” (v. 20) has led many to equate this prophecy with the Gog-Magog invasion, “from the uttermost parts of the north,” described in Ezekiel 38. But in chapter 18 hereof reasons are advanced for setting the fulfilment of that Scripture after the coming of the Lord, whereas this in Joel must necessarily be before his return. Also, if the figure of a locust army is to be given its due force, it must be remembered that locusts never come “from the uttermost part of the north” but (in Palestine) from the desert. With an obviousness, which almost shouts, the figure of locusts describes an Arab invasion. The interpretation, once popular, which takes Joel 2 as a description of immortal saints advancing remorselessly against the enemies of the Lord, is fairly clearly disallowed by Nahum 3: 15-17.

INEVITABLE DESOLATION

The northern invader of Ezekiel 38 goes into Israel because he sees something desirable to be appropriated — “to take a spoil and to take a prey” — but with these locusts “the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” Today every one knows that when the Arabs do overrun Israel, they will go in to smash and to destroy, for the sheer joy of doing this to the long-hated enemy. That which now blossoms as a rose they will turn into desert.

But if this prophecy describes Arab desolation of the Land, why is the attacker described as “the northern army” (v. 20)? Probably, it is suggested, because the inspiration and real strength of the attack is northern. The whole world knows that without Russian arms and technical skill, Russian

encouragement and Russian chess-playing subtlety, the Arabs could never mount a successful onslaught on Israel.

One result of the complete military defeat suffered by Israel will be a wave of utter despair and wretchedness through all the survivors of that time of horror. There will be no powerful friend to come to their aid. Britain, now bereft of all real influence in world affairs, will not dare to interfere. America will wish to do so, but will write off Israel as expendable in face of the risk of escalation to nuclear war.

In such dire circumstances Israeli survivors will be called upon to endure such horrors of implacable remorseless Arab savagery as will make them sigh for the comforts and kindnesses of Auschwitz and Belsen. The only thing, which might ameliorate the terrors of this time of trouble, will be the prayers of those with the Hope of Israel in their souls who intercede as Abraham did for Sodom. In the hearts of all

who read these words should be the earnest inclination to pray without ceasing that Jerusalem and its people may be at peace with their God. This is the real meaning of the words of Psalm 122.

REPENTANCE

Accordingly, in Joel 2 there follows a long-sustained appeal to Israel to manifest a repentance long overdue:

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him (Joel 2:12-14).

The moving five-fold appeal is matched by an even more moving five-fold reason emphasizing the graciousness of the God they have acknowledged with centuries-long indifference. This appeal is most probably the call to repentance to be made by the Elijah-prophet whom God has promised to raise up in the Last Days.^[7] His name ( = “The Lord my God”) has its counterpart in Joel’s repeated: “Turn unto the Lord your God.”

Another detail of special interest comes in here. The call to repentance becomes peremptory: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” This is the language of the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (the only God-appointed fast in the Jewish year: Leviticus 16: 31). Then can it be inferred that this appeal to call in the aid and forgiveness of God will be made at that time of the year — in other words, that the final defeat of Israel will take place in late September? In an earlier study of the prophetic periods of Daniel^[8] it was pointed out that if, applying them literally, and not on the year-for-a-day principle, they are made to begin at the Feast of Trumpets, they conclude at Passover and Pentecost — the times of deliverance (Joel 2: 32) and of outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2: 28).

HELP FROM GOD

The heavenly response to this change of heart in the Chosen People will be immediate and drastic: “Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people … Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith (what connection here with the Third Seal?): and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.” Such language can only mean that this is the final desolation of the Land of Israel (compare the even more emphatic language of Ezekiel 36: 12-15). “And my people shall never be ashamed” (Joel 2: 27).

The divine intervention is even more drastic against Israel’s enemy: “I will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the eastern sea (the Dead Sea), and his hinder part toward the western sea (the Mediterranean).” This intimates, as plainly as anything can, a flight of invaders from Jerusalem, the city newly wrested from Jews who themselves proudly celebrated in June 1967 that Jerusalem was nevermore to be “trodden down of the Gentiles” (an irony of history, this, which has deceived many a Christadelphian also).

The prophet does not indicate what will bring about this rout of a triumphant enemy, but the most obvious explanation available is: the manifestation of the Shekinah Glory of God in His Messiah, suddenly appearing at Jerusalem. Zechariah 14: 1-4 explains: All nations (round about) are gathered against Jerusalem, the city is taken, then the Lord goes forth, his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives — “and the earth shines with his glory” (Ezekiel 43: 2). It will be the Glory of God, more than the earthquakes, which will rid Jerusalem of its enemies.

SYMBOLIC? LITERAL?

However, it is not to be assumed that this great deliverance will take place as soon as Jerusalem comes under the heel of the invader. The mission of Elijah is significantly mentioned as being three and a half years (Luke 4:25; James 5: 17; but where in the O.T.?). During that period, “I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars (literally: palm trees) of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

Here, by any scheme of interpretation, is a picture of drastic dramatic happenings to terrify the hearts of the bravest. Of course the words cannot be taken literally, but it seems not at all unlikely that they describe some mysterious phenomena in that time of chaos. The symbolism of Bible prophecy has a marvellous knack of taking on something approaching literal fulfilment as well. These, then, are the “fearful sights and great signs from heaven” which Jesus spoke about along with “wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes” on a scale never known before. That phrase “palm trees of smoke” is especially ominous, for who can read it without conjuring up in the mind the grim picture of a radioactive mushroom cloud filling the sky? And since, in Scripture, palm trees appear to have symbolic association with Gentiles, there is perhaps added reason here for regarding this section of the prophecy as a description of God’s retribution on the Gentiles also.

The repentance of Israel will bring immediately the lifting up of God’s countenance upon them: “I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” In the Law of Moses it was specifically prohibited that “upon man’s flesh (i.e. a layman, one not consecrated to the priesthood) shall the holy anointing oil not be poured” (Exodus 30:32). But now such distinction will be swept away when Israel at last begins to fulfil its true destiny by becoming “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19: 6). This will also be the fulfilment of the great Elijah prophecy in Malachi 4. The hearts of the fathers shall become as little children, and the hearts of the children shall be changed to be like that of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (an impressive contrast with Isaiah 3: 5).

This “calling on the name of the Lord” will bring spiritual and physical deliverance, “for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be those that escape, as the Lord hath said (when Joel wrote, it already stood written in Isaiah 4:3), and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”

[6] Comparison of Joel 2:2 with Exodus 10:14 provides another clear proof that Joel is not describing literal locusts.

[7] It is a serious error, surely, to apply Malachi 4 to the conversion of the Gentiles. Every phrase in the context shouts for application to Israel. And John the Baptist the prototype of this Elijah-prophet, certainly preached to none but Jews, Edomite Herod being the dishonourable exception.

[8] “The Last Days” chapter 6.

Matthew 24

On the face of it the Lord’s Olivet prophecy is in three easily separable sections: (a) concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 — this in response to the question: “When shall these things be,” when not one stone of the temple is to be left upon another? (b) the Last Days, the time of the Lord’s return—in answer to the question: What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (c) exhortation to preparedness, and warning regarding the day of judgement.

Such an analysis of Christ’s discourse actually over-simplifies it. There is fair reason for believing that the A.D. 70 section of the prophecy will also find another fulfilment in the Last Days. In other words, the brethren of the first century saw the fulfilment of the first part of this prophecy in their day, and were able to profit from the knowledge of it; the brethren of the twentieth century will see the entire prophecy fulfilled from start to finish.

Even apart from the Bible evidence, which is available, pointing to such a conclusion, this may be deemed reasonably possible or even probable, because this is the character of such a big proportion of Bible prophecy. The idea is familiar, to the point of obviousness, that the prophets were inspired to utter words which mostly had some kind of fulfilment in their own time or soon after, but which were also prophecies of the consummation of the age. Psalms written by David about his own experiences were also Psalms about the Messiah (Acts 2:30, 31). Isaiah based many of his prophecies on the suffering and glory of good king Hezekiah, but these were also prophecies of Messiah (John 12: 41). So it would be strange indeed if the greatest prophecy of the greatest prophet of all time did not have a similar double application.

A SECOND FULFILMENT

Here, then, are six more reasons educed from the text itself why the first section of the Lord’s Olivet prophecy should be re-studied with reference to the Last Days:

1. “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes” (Matthew 24: 17, 18). In Luke 17: 31 Jesus had already used almost identical words concerning “the days of the Son of man.” If this fact stood by itself there might be some (though not much) justification for the assumption that the Lord used the same language because there was the same urgency about the occasions. Those who have really absorbed the spirit of Bible prophecy will know how inadequate such a view is. But in any case there are corroborative reasons.
2. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew. 24: 21). Yet the Old Testament prophets had already made the same portentous declaration over and over again regarding the Last Days! One recalls Daniel’s “time of trouble such as never was” (Daniel 12: 1) and the extreme emphasis of the words of Joel: “there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations” (2: 2). Either the words do not mean what they say, or they are to be reconciled by being applied to the same occasion.
3. It is in this section of the prophecy also that the words come: “But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved” (24: 13). There is more innate difficulty in this saying than has generally been conceded. If “the end” is A.D. 70, was Jesus saying: He who keeps the faith till the temple is destroyed shall be saved? Or did he mean: He who keeps the faith to the end of his life shall be saved? But this is a truism valid for every disciple in every age. Had Jesus said: “He that shall endure in the time of the end (of the Mosaic dispensation), the same shall be saved,” there would have been little difficulty. But he did not say that. On the other hand, reference to the Last Days allows the words to be taken literally, at their face value.^[19]
4. Verse 29 begins: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days …” This word “immediately,” the meaning of which has been evaded by a variety of tortuous or inaccurate devices (e.g. by suggesting that it does not mean “immediately” but “suddenly”) requires a very close connection between the tribulation Jesus has already foretold and the time of his second coming.
5. “Then let them which be in Judæa flee to the mountains” (v. 16). This is the experience of Lot over again: “Escape for thy life … escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Genesis 19: 17). In Luke 17: 28, 29, 32 Jesus pointed to an emphatic parallel between the Last Days and the deliverance of Lot. So it is hard to believe that here also in his Olivet prophecy he used similar language without intending a similar idea.
6. “And the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24: 14). In the first century these words had their fulfilment in the matchless work of Paul who in humble truth was able to write about “the hope of the gospel … which was preached to every creature under heaven” (Colossians 1: 23). “And then shall the end come”—about a year after Paul was beheaded, the three and a half year’s Jewish War began in Judæa. Yet as the words of Jesus are read and pondered, there is a finality about them that suggests a grander fulfilment. In this twentieth century, in spite of the blameworthy lethargy of God’s elect, the message of the imminent return of Christ goes out from scores of radio stations. Today in a much more universal fashion than was true in Paul’s day the gospel is being preached in all the world, even though it be mixed with error.

MEANING FOR THE LAST DAYS

The foregoing assembly of Bible arguments will surely predispose any earnest student of prophecy towards re-examining this part of the Lord’s discourse with a view to learning more concerning the time of his coming. The following are some of the details specially worthy of re-consideration.

1. Verses 9, 10 speak of persecution and bitter hatred of the faithful. At the time of writing there is no sign of this. Would God there were, for the Household of God needs the bracing influence of external adversity to save it from the eroding effects of a soft materialistic civilization and to provide it with new and better opportunities of evangelism. This could well come.
2. “And then shall many be offended … and many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24: 10a, 11, 12). The words plainly mean that many will openly renounce the Faith, many others will pervert it, but many (most) will just drift. To the modern mind these seem to be incompatible with what has just been mentioned. Yet Jesus saw no incompatibility.
3. An “abomination of desolation” is to stand in the holy place (v. 15). This means: an abomination which desolates the holy city, Jerusalem. Such a conclusion is indicated by the parallel in Luke 21: 20: “And when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies …” Since Jesus adds: “whoso readeth, let him understand,” it is a reasonable inference that the great sign of the imminence of the Lord’s return will be the desolation of Jerusalem, lately freed from nineteen centuries of Gentile domination. In Daniel 12 the prophecy already quoted continues: “And from the time that … the abomination that maketh desolate is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days;” whilst in Luke 21 the prophecy already quoted continues: “and Jerusalem shall be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This suggests that “the times of the Gentiles” which Jesus had in mind were not the long centuries of Gentile mastery of the city but the “time, times and a half,” a period of literally three and a half years when the city is laid desolate just before the coming of the Lord.
4. “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24: 22). There are several impressive examples to be found in Scripture of a divine fore-shortening of evil days. The three days’ pestilence in which David preferred to fall into the hand of God was shortened, by grace, to less than a day—again, for the sake of the elect. David prayed for the people and took the guilt upon himself (2 Samuel 24: 13, 15, 16, 17). The siege of A.D. 70 was shortened, in the mercy of God, to five months precisely (Nebuchadnezzar’s siege lasted the whole of a terrible year). This also was for the elect’s sake: Revelation 9: 5 and 8: 3, 4. Similarly it may well be that the times of the Gentiles which are still future will be shortened through the faith and prayers of the saints who discern the pattern of God’s working and influence it by their intercession as Abraham did in the days of Lot.

Tentative conclusions such as these may be momentous. The possibility of such sensational developments has perhaps not been ventilated and discussed as fully as it might be.

[19] Readers may like to probe further and seek an answer to the question why Jesus chose to include these words here and not in a later section of his discourse where they seem to be so much more appropriate.

There are certain chapters in Isaiah, which clearly had primary reference to the stirring political events in the prophet’s own day. The Assyrian was marching through the Land. Unusual political alliances came into being and dissolved again almost overnight. The Jews themselves were in a state of fragmentation. The more wholesome part of the nation put their faith in Hezekiah, their stricken king, a man whose character and experiences marvellously typify the main aspects of the work of Jesus. Because of this close correspondence between two who were each a Suffering and Glorified Servant of Jehovah, many of these prophetic chapters can be conned afresh with reference to the Last Days and the time of Christ’s Kingdom.^[5] There are difficulties galore, but is this adequate reason for not making the attempt to understand?

A REMNANT

Isaiah 17 is headed: “The burden of Damascus,” but nearly all the chapter is about Israel (one suspects that the same may be true in chapter 13: “The burden of Babylon”). It describes a time when “the glory of Jacob shall be made thin.” The prophecy continues (v. 5): “And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim” (ominous word! “Rephaim” means “the dead”). “Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.” One is immediately reminded of the double harvest symbolically described in Revelation 14: 15-19. Perhaps the “gleaning of grapes” and the “two or three berries” of the olive tree represent the faithful remnant of Israel for whom God has regard. These only are worthy of His care in Israel’s final experience of tribulation and destruction.

The hopelessness of the situation will drive those who hitherto have depended on “the work of their own hands” (Isaiah 17: 8) to “look to their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel” (v. 7).

RETRIBUTION

Nevertheless, first (as in Jeremiah 16: 18) there must come recompense on the godless nation: “And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his own hands (this is what the Jews worship today!)… In that day shall his strong cities be as the forsaken places of the Amorites and the Hivites, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel” (RVm and Septuagint). In the time of Joshua Israel rapidly took over the cities built by their Canaanite predecessors. In the time of Ben Gurion (1948), they did the same again. But in the time of Sennacherib the reverse process took place just as rapidly (2 Kings 18:13). So also must it be in the time of the end: “And there shall be desolation. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength … in the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to flourish (the vigorous beginnings of modern Israel?), but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” It is a picture of divine discipline exercised against an ungodly nation. This is inevitable. How can God bless that which ignores Him and glorifies man?

However, ultimately — because the people of Israel are “beloved for the fathers’ sakes” — the Land will be swept clean of all enemies: “And behold at eveningtide trouble: and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.”

The next chapter apostrophizes “the land which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,” that is, Egypt whose chief asset is in the rivers which flow down from Ethiopia. It is the nation, which sends its messengers “in vessels of papyrus”—a nation which is a paper tiger and which is lavish in both paper threats and paper promises. These ambassadors are given, in place of the message in their diplomatic bag, a revelation from the Lord of hosts of Israel, to “a nation scattered and peeled … a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers (that is, the nations, see 17: 13 and 8: 7, 8) have spoiled.”

The essential part of the divine message to such a nation is contained in the words: “For afore the harvest, when the blossom is perfected, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he shall cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches” (18: 5).

A NEEDED DISCIPLINE

This figure appears to describe the exercise of God’s discipline against the vine of Israel at a time when it is beginning to shew all the signs of luxurious growth. There is as yet no fruit for God when the heavenly vinedresser acts drastically against it, suddenly cutting off what looks so fair.

“They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them” (v. 6). Possibly these words may be interpreted as meaning that the final time of tribulation for Israel is to last a summer and a winter, and not the longer period of three and a half years hinted at in certain other prophecies. “But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened”—this principle probably has more than one application.

The prophecy concludes with a drastic change of tone: “In that time (why not “in that day,” as in 19: 18, 19, 23, and so frequently in other prophets?) shall a present be brought unto the Lord of hosts (consisting) of a people scattered and peeled (66: 20), and from a people terrible from their beginning (the divine deliverance from Egypt under Moses) hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place (the word also means temple) of the Lord of hosts, the mount of Zion.”

Here is a final picture of Israel chastened and changed, and now gladly and humbly submitting themselves before the God of Abraham. The time of true blessing for Israel can only come when they turn to Him in repentance and cease to glory in the work of their own hands.

[5] Here is a wonderfully fruitful topic of Bible study for those who have not already attempted it’

The prophecy of Zephaniah is very evidently connected closely with the events of the prophet’s own time — the reign of Josiah. Two possibilities present themselves. Either the prophet is foretelling events soon to happen, and the prophecy is so framed as to have reference also to events of the Last Days (much in Jeremiah and the early part of Isaiah is like this); or, recent events are being used (as in the later chapters in Isaiah) to provide prophetic pictures of bigger events in the time of the end. It is difficult to say with any confidence which of these modes of interpretation is correct, but the pointed allusions to Josiah’s Passover in 1: 7, 8, 12 suggest the second.

A FUTURE FULFILMENT

Apart from the language of the prophecy itself, there seem to be two clear reasons for a Last-Day application of it. First, there are the quotations from the prophecy of Joel: “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near … a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm” (1: 14-16). This is Joel 2: 1, 2. Some of the phrases are quoted word for word. If Joel may be applied with confidence to the Last Days, then surely Zephaniah also.

The concluding section of the prophecy (3: 14 20) reads very convincingly as a picture of events still future. But there is also this: in John’s account of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the familiar quotation from Zechariah 9:9 is prefaced with two phrases from Zephaniah: “Fear not, daughter of Zion” (3: 16, 14)—the words are not found in Zechariah. And the context in Zephaniah 3 is: “the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee … The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will Jesus thee” (vv. 15,17). The triumphal entry of Jesus was, of course, a kind of dress-rehearsal of the kingdom. The Lord was asserting his right to come to Jerusalem one day as its eternal king.

The shape of Zephaniah’s picture of judgement and blessing in the Last Days is worth noting. Chapters 1, 3 are, in the main, pronouncements of wrath against “Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Chapter 2: 4-13 is against neighbouring enemies: the Philistines, Moab, Ethiopia, Assyria. The prophecy ends with the lovely picture of the kingdom, already referred to.

HEEDLESS ISRAEL

The prophet describes Israel as given over to idolatry and the pursuit of material prosperity. They have no mind for anything else. Making due allowance for the fact that Zephaniah necessarily has to use the language of his own day, the description is appropriate to the Jews now in the Land: “them that are turned back from the Lord, and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him … that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.” Today the Jews in Israel are, for the most part, godless in outlook. There is little acknowledgement of the blessing of God in the building of their vigorous new state, and little thankfulness to Him for the victories they have won. Instead, there is a rather cocksure dependence on their own powers and a glorifying of their own admittedly remarkable achievements. “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God” (3: 2). Princes, judges, prophets, priests are all castigated as unworthy of their office (3: 3, 4). Yet “the just Lord is in the midst thereof,” unrecognised; “morning by morning (through the signs of the times?) doth he bring his judgement to light” (3 :5), but these men who are skilful in “discerning the face of the (political) sky, cannot discern the signs of the times.”

Soon God will rise up early, sending His prophet Elijah among them, but the nation will continue to “rise early, and corrupt their doings” (3: 7). The appeal is made, therefore, to the faithful remnant “before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you” (2: 2); “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgement; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (2: 3).

Appeal is made to the nation to see God’s hand in the events of their own time: “I have cut off the nations (Egypt, Jordan, Syria): their towers are desolate; I have made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man” (3: 6). Yet still the lesson that God controls the affairs of His ancient people goes unlearned: “I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction” (3: 7). But no! Israel appears impervious to true wisdom.

However, inexorably the day draws near when the lesson will be learned: “In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings…for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty upon my holy mountain,” as Israel has certainly been since June 1967.

The enemy nations round about will also be involved in this dramatic transformation. Judgement and desolation will come upon them who have been used to bring desolation and judgement on Israel (2: 4, 9, 13-15; 1:17,18). All this because “they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts” (2: 10). Up to the present day there has been “reproach” in plenty. But until Arab utterly defeats Jew in battle, there is little ground for “magnifying themselves.”

A GREAT TRANSFORMATION

During the evil time referred to here, “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” when the Arabs—with formidable Russian help—are able to gloat in triumph over a people they know to be their superiors in everything except barbarism, there will be a faithful remnant who will be saved through their repentance and faith in God: “I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord” (3: 12).

Then the Lord will “take away thy judgements” and “cast out thine enemy”; from this time on “the king of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more” (3: 15). Retribution will be visited on the enemies of this nation beloved for their fathers’ sakes. Jews who have endured affliction and dispersion yet again will once more be gathered to their homeland. Now for the last time in all their fantastic history they will come from all parts to inherit the Land, this time forever. No contempt, opposition or hatred now, for God has “made them a name and a praise among all the people of the earth” (3: 20). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in person will beckon them back to a Land lately associated in their minds with fear and horror. “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem” (3: 14). The exhortation to indulge in unrestrained gladness will be needed, for the startling change which will then come over the fortunes of this stricken people will surely reduce them to stupefied silence and awe.

“Then will I turn to the peoples a pure lip, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent” (3: 9). The words have often been interpreted as a prophecy of the reversal of Babel, the institution of one common language (Hebrew?) in the kingdom of God. That this will assuredly happen may be taken as axiomatic. But whether that language will be Hebrew and whether this passage is a prophecy of that much-to-be-desired achievement is doubtful.

This famous Zephaniah passage is more fundamental than any of these considerations. Here, as in a great many other Old Testament passages “the peoples” are the tribes of Israel; and the “pure lip” is not so much the language they will speak as the ideas they will express — “calling upon the name of the Lord” and “serving him with one consent” — a condition which has never been achieved in Hebrew history since the days of Abraham. Now, at last, Israel will not only say: “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do,” but they will do what they say.

The shape of this prophecy is distinctive and clear-cut. The first fifteen verses form a poetic pronouncement of woe upon the land of Egypt; then follows a prose appendix, which five times repeats the characteristic prophetic phrase: “in that day.”

“Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud … and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence.” Both expressions allude to Israel’s earlier deliverance from Egypt, when the angel of the Lord looked forth from a pillar of cloud and fire, and when judgement was executed against all the gods of Egypt (Exodus 14: 24 and 12: 12). Just as, in ancient days, Egypt reeled under a long series of hammer blows against its people, its economy and its religion, so once again the entire land and nation is to be brought to nought — this as a necessary prelude to its conversion and restoration “in that day.”

The policy of the rulers will be proved to be worthless and ineffective: “Surely the princes of Zoan are fools … the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof”; compare the way in which the shattering defeat in the 1967 campaign was transformed into an occasion for great rejoicing by the mobs because their blundering leader had decided not to relinquish the reins of power after all!

The nation itself will be reduced to anarchy: “they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour” — a state of affairs which 1967 did not produce; that campaign only served to increase national solidarity. The prophecy goes on to imply that out of the chaos will emerge a new iron dictator, though whether of themselves or imposed by superior power from elsewhere is not clear. The phrasing seems to favour the latter possibility. Is this the “king of fierce countenance” foretold in Daniel 8:23 “in the latter time of their kingdom”? One can only conclude that an even greater humiliation is in store for Egypt than any which has yet been experienced.

WATERS DRIED UP

Especially impressive is the long and detailed prophecy of the drying up of the waters of Egypt. The word that seems to be used exclusively with reference to the Nile and its delta streams comes into this prophecy over and over again. “The Nile shall be wasted and dried up … the meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile, shall become dry;” and as a result, “the fishers also shall mourn … and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish;” also, “they that work in fine flax, and they that weave cotton shall be confounded.” It is a picture of complete economic dereliction.

Probably these pictures of the drying up of the Nile waters are to be taken symbolically, as indicating an overthrow of all Egyptian political and economic influence. But so often have symbolic prophecies turned out to have an unexpected foundation in literal fact that such a possibility is not to be ruled out in this place also. Perhaps there is reference here to the stagnation of the Suez Canal which today is every bit as important to Egypt’s economy as the Nile itself. The military destruction of Nile dams is another possibility.

ISRAEL IN EGYPT

The appendix to this prophecy of woe and dereliction has a feature which does not appear in any other place in the Bible: “In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of Hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.” The last phrase here could read “the city of the sun,” i.e. Heliopolis; but the Septuagint reading is “city of righteousness.” Such a puzzling prophecy must surely be linked with the last verse of Deuteronomy 28, which — so far as is known — has never yet received fulfilment. And, since it comes as the climax to the catalogue of curses laid upon Israel, there is fair justification for the view that this is something yet to happen in the not distant future: “And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you” (Deuteronomy 28: 68).

This interpretation gains support from ensuing details in Isaiah 19: “For they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them” (Isaiah 19: 20b).

Here is indication that these Jewish communities in Egypt are there as slaves who are to be delivered as in the time of Moses (the Hebrew text makes a significant play on the name of Moses); this Saviour is a “great one” like unto Moses.

Here, then, is the repentance of Israel, which must be manifest before their Messiah can be given to them. When this “spirit of grace and supplications” turns to God for help in the hour of greatest need, then “there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt” — not a massive Egyptian-style temple, but one of contrite hearts; not an altar with smoking reeking sacrifices, but One who is the gracious fulfilment of all such fore-shadowings.

It is not difficult to envisage how this prophecy may come to pass. In the final down-treading of Israel in their Land, a bitter experience is still in store. Zechariah 14: 2 says explicitly that in the great invasion of the Land before Messiah’s return, “the city shall be taken … and half the city (that is, half of the population of the city) shall go into captivity.” It will doubtless be a great delight to the Egyptian nation to have enormous labour camps of Jewish prisoners to build their dams and irrigate their fields. And in such circumstances of hardship and hopelessness the Jews may be driven to turn to the God they have managed without for so long a time.

A MOSES AND A JOSEPH

The Saviour promised in this Scripture turns out to be not only a Moses for Israel but also a Joseph for the Egyptians: “And the Lord shall smite Egypt, he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them” (Isaiah 19:22). “Intreat the Lord for me,” Pharaoh had cried to Moses, and had not truly meant it. But now an Egypt filled to the top with ignorance, squalor and hate will turn in submission to the God of their captives, and will be healed.

“And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it” (Isaiah 19:21). Contrast here the many times that Pharaoh vowed to release God’s people, and then went back on his promise! Instead there is to be a true change of heart. From that day forward “the Egyptians shall serve (God) with the Assyrians”—all the ancient enemies will come gladly acknowledging that the God of the hated Jew is the God of all the earth. It is possible that for “serve” the Hebrew text should read “passover” — i.e. on the highway which there shall be out of Egypt (v. 23). If this reading be accepted, then, in effect, the text reads “the Egyptians shall Hebrew with the Assyrians” — it is a picture of Gentile nations having become Jews to the glory of the God of Israel.