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 spinner of the Narnia tales, British author C.S. Lewis once said:
- “The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge; God is in the dock. [Man] is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, [Man] is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is [sitting] on the [Judge’s] bench and God is in the dock.” (C.S. Lewis; 1970; God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics; Chapter 12)
Repaying Babylon
The modern world has a primitive understanding of the God of Jacob. Instead of acknowledging divine justice, today’s humanity treats evil murderers with kid gloves, while scoffing at Him who gave us the covenants. Yet even now, YHVH leaves a trail of Scriptural breadcrumbs for us, detailing how what He thinks about Israel’s enemies, and how His vengeance will soon erupt against them.
- “I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down, with no one to make you afraid. I shall also eliminate harmful animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. Instead, you will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand; and your enemies will fall before you by the sword” (Leviticus 26:6-8)
- “Raise your battle cry against her on every side! She has given herself up, her towers have fallen! Her walls have been torn down! For this is the vengeance of YHVH. Take vengeance on her; As she has done to others, so do to her” (Jeremiah 50:15)
- “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares YHVH (Jeremiah 51:24)
- The inhabitant of Zion will say: “May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon!” and, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!” Jerusalem will say. therefore this is what YHVH says: “Behold, I am going to plead your case and take vengeance for you. And I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry” (Jeremiah 51:35-36)
- “Indeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, as the slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon” (Jeremiah 51:49)
- “Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her” (Revelation 18:6)
- “Daughter of Babylon, you devastated one! Blessed will be one who repays you with the retribution with which you have repaid us!” (Psalm 137:8-9).
This divine viewpoint and these God-breathed values are rejected on a daily basis by the UN, the EU, the UK and the US, And it is no wonder: that is because, by and large, the world rejects both the Author of the Bible and His perspectives: The Prophet put it succinctly: “To the Teaching [Torah] and to the Testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn!” (Isaiah 8:20).
Over the past eight months, the world’s media and street demonstrators have justifies Hamas’ atrocities (its rape, torture, murder and kidnapping of the children of Israel) while throwing an accusatory spotlight against the IDF for its defensive actions (its attempts to free its hostages, stop rocket fire against its citizens, and destroy the jihadi armies attempting to burn and crush the Jewish state from all sides). As man puts YHVH and His Jewish people ‘in the dock’ – on trial, whether at the International Court of Justice in Geneva or at the United Nations in New York – the Bible puts the entire planet on notice: the curses of Genesis 12:3 are already descending on superpower and micro-state alike. This is YHVH’s prophesied response to the nations’ cold and cruel heart attitudes to both the Jewish people and their state.
The nations of Moses’ day – conquered and conquerors
The nations of the Middle East in Moses’ day were used to the reality that invading nations would conquer other peoples. The conquered nations then faded off the pages of history. YHVH Himself explained this realpolitik to Moses: the God of Jacob gave certain nations the command to conquer, dispossess and destroy other nations who were to be judged for their sins (see Genesis 15:16; Leviticus 18:24-28). In Deuteronomy 2, YHVH lists five nations which were to be conquered, dispossessed and destroyed at His divine command. Five other nations would do the invading, the conquering and the destroying.
- “Then YHVH said to me, Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ The Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and settled in their place; just as Israel did to the land of their possession which YHVH gave them” (Deuteronomy 2:9-12)
- “YHVH spoke to me, saying, ‘Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab. When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but YHVH destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. And as for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim (who came from Caphtor) destroyed them and lived in their place. [YHVH said], ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the faces of people everywhere who, when they hear the news of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you!’ (Deuteronomy 2:17-25)
This YHVH may not be a ‘politically correct’ God, but He is the One whom we serve:
- “Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be!” (Lamentations 3 :22-23).
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17)
- “In relation to God’s choice, the Jewish people are beloved on account of the Patriarchs, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29)
Moses and Joshua, the commanders of Israel’s armies – on trial before the World Court?
The writer of the Book of Deuteronomy tells us: “Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom YHVH knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which YHVH sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land – and for all the mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel” (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).
Moses’ commission to Joshua was to destroy all the nations living in Canaan and to dispossess them. One of the last things Moses ever said to all the people of Israel was the following: “I am 120 years old today; I am no longer able to go out and come in, and YHVH has told me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’ It is YHVH your God who is going to cross ahead of you. He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them! Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as YHVH has spoken” (Deuteronomy 31:2-3).
Moses passed this divine commission on to Joshua, who carried it out faithfully, as the Scriptures bear witness: “So Joshua struck all the land, the Hill Country and the Negev and the Shephelah [Lowland] and the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as YHVH, the God of Israel, had commanded” (Joshua 10:40).
The only exception was the case of the inhabitants of Gibeon. The Gibeonites, a Hivite tribe living just north of Jerusalem (see Joshua 9:1-2,7), craftily deceived Joshua and his armies, pretending that they were ‘from a very distant country’ (see Joshua 9:9): “So they answered Joshua and said, ‘Since your servants were fully informed that YHVH your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and did this thing’” (Joshua 9 :24).
How does God describe Moses, his commission and his leading of the armies of Israel against Egypt and the desert tribes? “Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom YHVH knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which YHVH sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land – and for all the mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel!” (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).
Jephthah the Judge facing the Court of Ammon
The Palestinian desire to destroy the Jewish people and their state is not a new dynamic. Over 3,300 years ago the Ammonites of modern Jordan joined battle against the Jewish people, attempting to conquer, destroy and dispossess the Jewish people from formerly Amorite (and not Ammonite) lands. In their pre-combat negotiations with Jephthah the Judge, they claimed that the Jewish people had occupied territories which should rightly belong to the Ammonites. Jephthah’s envoys explained in semitic ‘diplomatese’ that these Ammonite assertions were actually ‘fake news,’ and that Israel had never conquered territories given by YHVH to the Ammonite (who were in fact distant relatives to the sons of Israel through Abraham’s nephew Lot). Jephthah’s diplomats rehearse recent 300-year-old Middle Eastern history to clarify this point:
- So Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What conflict do you and I have, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan; so return them peaceably now.” But Jephthah sent messengers once again to the king of the sons of Ammon, and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon . . . And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. And YHVH, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. And now YHVH, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from His people Israel; so should you possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever YHVH our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess it . . . So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. May YHVH, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” But the king of the sons of Ammon disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him. (Judges 11:12-28)
The king of the Ammonites refused to accept the historical facts of the situation (like the Palestinians also refuse to do), and went to war against Israel. The battle was decisively won by the Jewish people, for YHVH had handed the Ammonites over to the sons of Jacob: “So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them. And YHVH handed them over to him. He inflicted a very great defeat on them from Aro’er to the entrance of Minnit, twenty cities, and as far as Abel Kramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel” (Judges 11:32-33).
Samuel the Judge rules on Amalek and Agag
Balaam of Mesopotamia had prophesied by the Holy Spirit in Moses’ day that “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end shall be destruction” (Numbers 24:20). Balaam also prophesied about Judah’s coming Messiah, proclaiming that he would be even greater than King Agag of the ruling dynasty of Amalek:
- Water will flow from his buckets, and his seed will be by many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt. He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries, and will crush their bones, and smash them with his arrows. (Numbers 24:7-8)
Four hundred years later, an Amalekite King also named Agag (probably a dynastic descendant of the Agag mentioned in Numbers 24) is spotlighted by the God of Israel. King Saul was given his first assignment in the days of Samuel the Judge, and the task was a similar one to those given to Moses, Joshua and Jephthah. Saul was to totally conquer, destroy and dispossess both the nation of Amalek and its king Agag. But the Bible reveals that Saul failed to carry out YHVH’s prophesied judgments – judgments which reflected God’s international guidelines as per Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse:”
- Then Samuel said to Saul, “YHVH sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of YHVH. This is what YHVH of armies says: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, in that he obstructed him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and completely destroy everything that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey’”. . . “Then Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah going toward Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive completely destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the more valuable animals, the lambs, and everything that was good, and were unwilling to destroy them completely; but everything despicable and weak, that they completely destroyed. Then the word of YHVH came to Samuel, saying, ‘I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.’ . . . Samuel said, ‘Does YHVH have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of YHVH? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry. Since you have rejected the word of YHVH, He has also rejected you from being king” . . . Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is gone!” But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before YHVH at Gilgal. (1 Samuel 15:1-33)
The God whom we serve, the God of Moses, Joshua, Jephthah and Samuel, is deadly serious about His justice coming to pass, and about bringing vengeance on those who harm the Jewish people. He sometimes waits patiently for the right time for His judgments to be carried out, as in the Days of Noah, or regarding the generation in the desert, or the years between the crucifixion and the destruction of the Second Temple. The microscope with which we consider rapidly moving present-day events needs to have a biblical view of time here – a marathon-man perspective.
Repaying Babylon for all the evil they have done in Zion
We live in a day which mocks divine retribution and foams at the mouth with murderous hatred whenever the Jewish state makes war against its destroyers. World media shapes people’s thought and attitudes, shaping anti-Semitism and anti-Israel movements. These satanic minefields are even now exploding across the earth. Let us be on guard: YHVH’s vengeance against all nations who raise their hand to harm Israel is soon coming.
- “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 YHVH God” (Ezekiel 25:14)
- “For YHVH has a Day of vengeance, a Year of retribution for the cause of Zion” (Isaiah 34:8)
- “For the Day of vengeance was in My heart, and My Year of redemption has come” (Isaiah 63:4)
- “To proclaim the favorable Year of YHVH and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2)
How should we then pray?
- Pray for followers of Yeshua worldwide to understand these biblical and foundational truths, and to make sense of present Middle Eastern realities in light of them
- Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 120 Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, many of these hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to the corpses of Israeli citizens in cold storage to be used by them as bargaining chips
- Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders
- Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent
- 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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