Israel vs. Philistines. / 2024 11 04
The Tale of Two Peoples, by Daniel Hill
Israel. About 2000 BC. When God promised Abraham that after 400 years his lineage would receive the land of Canaan as an "inheritance", Satan learned in which lineage the "son of Eve" would be born that would crush him, and the hatred he had hitherto felt for all women was now directed against all Jews. When Abraham came to the land of Canaan, the land was fertile but sparsely populated. Abraham had a son named Isaac with Sarah, followed by the grandchildren Jacob and Esau. Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons and now the family grew rapidly. One day the brothers, in jealousy, sold their brother Joseph, the dreamer, as a slave to Egypt, but all that now befell Joseph was included in God's long-term plan for in Canaan the population had also increased and now they saw a threat in Abraham's growing family. Around 1700 BC. countries and islands in the eastern Mediterranean were affected after the 7 good years with 7 years of extreme drought and earthquake so in order to survive, the whole Jacob family moved down to Joseph in Goshen, who was now the pharaoh's right hand. Joseph's dream interpretation had saved Egypt and when the 7 difficult years were over, Joseph had let a 250 km long canal be dug out west of the Nile so that this "Bahr Yusef" canal, with a number of lakes in the next El Nino disaster, would forever supply Egypt with water.
The Philistine. The same 7 years of drought and great water shortages made life difficult to live on the Greek islands and as the island peoples were not welcome on the mainland they joined together and became known as the sea people "Peleset" from the Aegean, pirates who showed no respect for the lives and cultures of others in their raids along the coasts. In time, they conquered the entire Gaza Strip and had a temple built there to the fish god Dagon and they became the Philistines of the Bible, a hard-to-beat enemy of the Jews who around 1500 BC., after 440 years in Egypt, had returned to take the Promised Land. When Moses and the Jews fled from Egypt, they made their way down to the Red Sea, where Pharaoh's mounted army almost caught up with them at the bottom of the sea. But God allowed the sea to return and Pharaoh's army was drowned. When the Philistines heard the rumor of a weakened Egypt, they went on the attack, and of this great war can be read in the hieroglyphics. During the journey to the land of Canaan, Moses had received the tablets of the law and introduced a democracy of the people, but despite several miracles, the Jews were frightened when they saw how tall the Canaanites were in comparison to themselves, where the slave diet made them short in stature. Only after another 40 years of wandering in the desert did it be their grandchildren who took Jericho. But during these 440 years, Satan had prepared the Canaanites and Philistines for a war against the Jews by creating kingdoms in which despots, fascists, ruled the country by the sword. But God was with the Jews, and when Israel finally stood there to take Gaza, they were tired of all the wars and settled down, despite God's warning of future wars against the Philistines.
Judg. 16:23 The chieftains of the Philistines gathered together to celebrate a great feast of joy, and to offer sacrifices to their god Dagon, singing, "Our god has delivered our enemy Samson into our hand." After Samson's hair had grown back out, he cried out, "Lord, my God! Think of me and give me the strength back this one time. May I die at the same time as the Philistines!" Then he pushed the pillars with such force that the house collapsed. (1 Samuel 5) The Philistines took the ark of God as a trophy to Ashdod and placed it in the temple of Dagon, but the next morning the people of Ashdod found their fish-god lying prostrate on the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the wrath of the Lord held the people of Ashdod and Gaza in terror with boils.
Babylon. (600 BC.) The Jews had wavered in their faith for many years, and the Lord now allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to attack Israel as punishment. God's warning was that all who resisted the judgment would die, while those who humbled themselves would be allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years in captivity. The peoples who fought against Nebuchadnezzar that were exterminated was Syrians, Jews in northern Israel, and the Philistines, while the Jews in the south, "prophet-believing Zionists," was taken to Babylon as slaves, and among them was the prophet Daniel. But if Babylon has now destroyed all the Philistines, what will happen to the judgment of Zeph. 2. “Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon a wasteland. Woe to you, you who dwell in the coastal land, woe to you, creteans! (Greece, the island of Crete.) The Lord directs His word to you: Canaan, and land of the Philistines, I will cause you to perish with all your inhabitants. The coastal land will become desert fields for the shepherds.” In 1980, Arafat decided that he was now a true Philistine, related to the Goliath who "defeated" David, and there he imposed the judgment on the Palestinians in "Zeph. 2" which today is being fulfilled after the massacre on October 7, 2023, because they proudly lie, abuse and insult God's people. "The Lord will therefore put a terror in you."
70 year-weeks: (70 x 7 = 490 years.) Dan. 9:24 "For your people and for your holy city, 70 weeks are appointed before evil is stopped and guilt is atoned for, before eternal righteousness is revealed and the Holy of Holies is consecrated. Know this: from the time the word went out for the restoration and building up of Jerusalem until the arrival of the one (Jesus) who is anointed as a prince, 7 weeks will pass. For 62 weeks, the city is then rebuilt with streets. But during a time of agony, after 62 weeks*, the anointed one will die and disappear. Both the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary are destroyed, as well as the prince (the antichrist) who is to come. The end comes through a flood (tribulation), and the decreed devastation continues until the end of the war. For a week's time (7 years) he (the antichrist) will make a strong covenant with many. For half a week (3,5 years) he abolishes both sacrifices and food offerings. On the wings of infamy, he comes as a desecration, until the established end will come. On the wings of abomination, he comes as a profane, until the appointed end comes upon him."
* 7+62 = 69 weeks of years (= 483 years) should go to the day when the prince (Jesus) comes to be dead without anyone replacing him. There is still 1 week (360 x 7=2520 days) known as the 7 years of the Dance of Tribulation (Jacob's Distress), where all accumulated evil during 2000 years done against the Jews will now be poured out of 7 wrath bowls on the people of the earth. And the people of the earth will be at the judgment seat of Jesus either will humble themselves as "sheep" for Jews and Christians, or a pestering "goat" who defies God.
Mistake 1: When Hamas had excavated 55 kilometers of tunnels that destroyed all freshwater, they created a land with hope for life. Hamas's war against Israel has failed and ruined Gaza, and today it will take decades to be restored. 2: When Hamas took hostages and had many Jewish civilians killed, this meant an end to their previous small wars against Israel that often ended within a month. When Hamas refuses to release hostages, women and children, and dead people in "body bags", and prevent the Red Cross from visiting them, they commit an unforgivable sin against the Jews and take away all possibility of peace between the people. 3: When people shout in the streets: "From the river to the sea Palestine be free!" When Iran leaders shout from pulpits that they want to annihilate the Jews and when the UN says that the West Bank will within a year become Jew-free, an apartheid state, then there is no alternative for the Jews other than fight to survive. 4: 75-year war. After each Palestinian attack, Israel has retaken more of the promised land, but Hamas declares that as long as they exist as a people will this war continue until God intervenes. Most likely, this will happen with a new great earthquake and a large tsunami that fills Gaza's tunnels with salt seawater. And thus end the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023 with the Palestinians abandoning Gaza and the West Bank when the same earthquake's make the Dome of the Rock fall and collapse the Aswan dam and its water submerges the entire Nile Delta and creates an economic chaos in Turkey.
5: The last mistake is when Prince Gog, Russia and Iran, gathers a large army in southern Lebanon to invade northern Israel, ... only to meet their death in "Armageddon". (Gen 6:5 The flood and Noah. Chamas = violent people with the sword of power) (Esther 7: Haman, a fascist who wants to kill all the Jews in the city of Susa, but where he and his friends fell into their own grasp.)
When I studied the history of Jews and the Philistines, I was struck by how closely they followed each other historically, but also how wildly different their choices of paths were and how the end would be. It also became apparent that people do not seek the truth but believe all lies, as long as they are repeated enough times. If you form your opinion on what today's news offers, the answer is that Israel is terrible as a nation, but if you study the facts how the NF/UN has betrayed their promise already from the year 1920, then you realize that God has really protected his people from many dangers despite all the resistance.
Matt. 5. Jesus teaches us that the blessed are the humble, they will inherit the land, and the blessed are those who keep peace, they will be called sons of God. This means that the peaceful, those who do not let hatred take over their lives and opinions but seek truth and peace, will live on in the Millennium.