Reversing jihad

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.

The shedding of blood is serious business in the Bible. God instructed Noah and his sons: “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. I certainly will require your lifeblood; from every animal I will require it. And from every person, from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person. Whoever sheds human blood, by man his blood shall be shed – for in the image of God He made mankind” (Genesis 9:4-6). The death penalty for murder is one way that the God of Jacob uses to instill fear in the heart of mankind – to fan into flame a reverence for life.

YHVH declares to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:35: “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution.” Retribution is the deserved and severe punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act. God promises to visit His divine vengeance on the enemies of the Jewish people, those who cause harm to and shed the blood of His Hebrew servants. He even commands the nations to rejoice with the Jewish people as YHVH avenges the blood of the sons and daughters of Jacob by punishing anti-Semites:

Indeed, I raise My hand to heaven, and say, as I live forever: If I have sharpened My flashing sword, and My hand has taken hold of justice, I will return vengeance on My adversaries, and I will repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword will devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired leaders of the enemy. Rejoice, you nations, with His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will return vengeance on His adversaries, and will atone for His land and His people.” (Deuteronomy 32:40-43)

In Psalm 94:7 the psalmist even calls the God of Jacob the ‘God of vengeance:’

God of vengeance, YHVH! God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, Judge of the earth! Pay back retribution to the proud! How long shall the wicked, YHVH – how long shall the wicked triumph? . . . He has brought back their injustice upon them, and He will destroy them in their evil. YHVH our God will destroy them. (Psalm 94:1-3, 23)

Biblical vengeance

Biblical vengeance is rooted in God’s justice and has a special connection with violence committed against the Jewish people who under the protection of the Abrahamic Covenant (see Genesis 12:3). God’s wrath is kindled against the hatchers of anti-Semitic schemes; the Scriptures say that He will turn wicked plots against the evil people who devised them. Judges 9:56 describes this dynamic as ‘God repaying wickedness by returning all their wickedness on their heads.’ It is a major theme in the Bible:

For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to eliminate them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and eliminate them. But when it came to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews was to return on his own head, and that he and his sons were to be hanged on the wooden gallows (Esther 9:24-25)

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed be known among the nations in our sight. Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You. According to the greatness of Your power, let those who are doomed to die remain. And return to our neighbors seven times as much into their lap their taunts with which they have taunted You, Adonai. (Psalm 79:10-12)

Because of violence to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be eliminated forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem – you too were as one of them. Do not gloat over your brother’s day, the day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah on the day of their destruction. Yes, do not boast on the day of their distress. Do not enter the gate of My people on the day of their disaster. You indeed, do not gloat over their catastrophe on the day of their disaster. And do not lay a hand on their wealth on the day of their disaster. Do not stand at the crossroads to eliminate their survivors. And do not hand over their refugees on the day of their distress. For the day of YHVH is near for all the nations. Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. (Obadiah 10-15)

Moreover, what are you to Me, Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying Me with retribution? But if you are showing Me retribution, swiftly and speedily I will return your retribution on your head! Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples, and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, behold, I am going to stir them up from the place where you have sold them, and return your retribution on your head (Joel 3:4-7)

When we read the Bible as if it really means what it says – especially when it talks about times of war – we discover that it is a Jewish book, one wherein the God of Jacob passionately defends His Jewish people and destroys their enemies. Some followers of Yeshua find it difficult to accept this: they prefer to focus on how Jews are sinful and thus are deserving of judgment. Certainly, all descendants of Adam and Eve do sin, but our observation is that a cold-hearted imbalance has affected some Christians in this area. They choose to do PR work for Israel’s enemies rather than to labor ‘for Zion’s sake’ (see Isaiah 62:1, 6-7) – for defending, protecting and interceding for the Jewish people.

God’s enemies hate both the Jews and the God of the Jews

The majority of Christians see the Bible primarily as a devotional book and not as a book or history and prophecy about the Jewish people, written to inform all people of YHVH’s ways and priorities. Certainly, the Scriptures have wonderful applications to us and to our lives – but not at the expense of the Body of Messiah ignoring what God wants us to see: YHVH’s priority choosing of the Jewish people –

in the history of mankind (see Romans 11:28-29; Isaiah 63:9, etc.)

in the centrality of its geography (Jerusalem is His capital city, Israel His Promised Land; see Zechariah 14:16-21)

in salvation emphasis (see John 4:22, “Salvation is from the Jews;” Romans 1:16 – the priority of the gospel; in Revelation 5:5, Messiah Yeshua is the Jewish Son of David)

Here are eight Scripture passages which shine a divine spotlight on how the God of the Hebrews opposes those who seek the murder, torture, rape and kidnapping of the Jewish people. He commands those who believe in Him to call out to Him, beseeching Him to scatter, curse and destroy these enemies:

Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, “Rise up, YHVH! And may Your enemies be scattered, and those who hate You flee from Your presence” (Numbers 10:35)

And YHVH your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you (Deuteronomy 30:7)

Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day, when the king’s command and edict were to be put into effect, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it turned out to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained mastery over those who hated them . . . So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying; and they did as they pleased to those who hated them (Esther 9:1, 5)

Look at my enemies, for they are many, and they hate me with violent hatred (Psalm 25:19)ִ

For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves (Psalm 83:2)

So He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, and He led them through the mighty waters, as through the wilderness. So He saved them from the hand of one who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy (Psalm 106:9-10)

Do I not hate those who hate You, YHVH? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies (Psalm 139:21-22)

“Blessed be YHVH God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the House of His servant David – just as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times – salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant” (Luke 1:68-72)

These above aspects of God’s character are things that many Westerners have never seriously considered. But men and women who have served in combat forces often have an easier time relating to the reality of these truths. Exodus 15:3 tells us: “YHVH is a Man of war; YHVH is His name!” The God of Jacob understands that spiritual warfare also involves the enemy trying to physically destroy the Jewish people and their land. These realities do not take YHVH by surprise. As He revealed to Moses on the Eve of Passover: “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am YHVH!” (Exodus 12:12)

Jihadi conquests will soon be annulled

Muslims who believe the Qur’an also believe in and are committed to jihad – physical and violent war against Jews, Christians and secularists – until these three groups either bow the knee and declare their belief in Islam, or submit to a second-class slave-like status as dhimmi (‘protected ones’) under Islamic dictatorship, or are beheaded for opposing jihadi armies. All lands conquered by Mohammed’s armies are considered by Islamic jurisprudence to be ‘waqf’ – Muslim-controlled endowments forever. Those who long for the triumph of the mujāhidīn (the jihad warriors’ army) ardently look forward to the day when all countries will be in submission to the green banner of Mohammed. For them this is an article of faith; that is what they expect from history future.

Over 100 different ethnic groups were brutally conquered by the armies of Islam in the original jihadi invasions. National freedoms were taken away; people were forced to convert to Islam at the point of the sword or be slaughtered; women were raped; native languages were made illegal and the speaking of Arabic was required of all. All the North African ethnic populations (including Berbers like Saint Augustine) were forced to now define themselves as Arabs, Muslims and descendants of Ishmael – even though nearly none of them were Arabs or descendants of Abraham or Ishmael (see my book ‘Jews, Arabs and the Middle East: a Messianic perspective’ for more background here).

Today in the Middle East, Islam is the beating heart of Replacement Theology. It has borrowed Samaritan and Christian expressions of Replacement Theology (where Jews are no longer considered the chosen people and their gifts and callings have now been transferred to ‘the new religion’) and Islamized them: Ishmael replaces Isaac; Mecca replaces Jerusalem; the Qur’an for all practical purposes replaces the Bible; Mohammed replaces Yeshua as the highest Messenger; etc. However, one thing remains constant throughout – whether Samaritan, Christian or Islamic: anti-Jewish hatred. If anything, anti-Semitism gets amplified through Qur’anic teaching and through jihad:

“The Prophet… said: ‘The Hour (the Day of Judgment) will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. A Jew will hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will say, ‘O Muslim, O slave of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!’ – except for the gharqad (ed., box thorn), for it is one of the trees of the Jews” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2926)

The God of Jacob unequivocally declares that He will undo the effects of jihad when He restores the Jewish people. There will be a restoration of the people of Jacob to their own Promised Land. He will use Israel as a war-club to defeat all His Middle Eastern enemies. In the end, the Jewish people will destroy their destroyers:

Adonai YHVH says this: Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred great guilt, and avenged themselves upon them, therefore this is what Adonai YHVH says: I will also reach out with My hand against Edom and eliminate human and animal life from it. And I will turn it into ruins; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. And I will inflict My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom in accordance with My anger and My wrath. So, they will know My vengeance, declares Adonai YHVH (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them. Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. For I am YHVH your God who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, “Do not fear, I will help you.” Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you people of Israel; I will help you,” declares YHVH , “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I turned you into a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges. You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, and make the hills like chaff. You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them. But you will rejoice in YHVH; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41:12-16)

YHVH says to Jacob, “You are My war-club – My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms” (Jeremiah 51:20)

For YHVH will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, even though destroyers have laid waste to them (Nahum 2:2)

How should we then pray?

Pray for jihadi deception, dissimulation and lying to be uncovered and rejected by world leaders

Pray for clarity, moral courage, discernment and strategies for Israel’s leadership at all levels in utterly destroying the Hamas threat

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be finally shattered and all chains broken off the Palestinians living there

Pray for minimal loss of life on Israel’s side and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 212 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas.

Pray that the outstretched arm of YHVH will not return before it brings justice to God’s enemies

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

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