Psalm 83 War?

By: Dan Brown

The First War

For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)

As the day of the Lord nears, the Bible describes three different battles. Each battle gets progressively larger in scope. The first battle involves the destruction of Iraq and the nations bordering Israel. The second battle is led by Russia with the rest of the Islamic nations, and the third is the battle of Armageddon, which involves Asia with an army of two hundred million.
The destruction of Iraq is the opening salvo of the wars, but other nations are destroyed along with Iraq. It appears the people facing judgment with Iraq are the Palestinians, Egyptians, Syrians and possibly Saudi Arabians. God judges these nations when they attempt to annihilate Israel.

Palestinians: Philistines, House of Esau

The day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done [to Israel], it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head…”Then the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, so that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau,” For the Lord has spoken. Then those of the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau, and those of the Shephelah the Philistine plain; Also, they will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. (Obadiah 1:15, 18-19)

The prophet Obadiah stated that as the day of the Lord draws near, a horrific war erupts between the Jews, the “house of Jacob” and the Palestinians, the “house of Esau.” This war results in all the Palestinians being driven out of the covenant land. The prophet stated that Israel will possess the Plain of the Philistines, which is Gaza. Ephraim and Samaria, located in the West Bank, are brought under Israeli control, along with Gilead. Gilead is the East Bank of the Jordan River.

Syria and Lebanon

Syria is Israel’s longtime worst enemy. Israel fought Syria in 1948, 1967, and 1973. Syria is the base for several organizations like Hamas. Syria also controls Lebanon and uses this country as a front to attack Israel.
The prophet Isaiah spoke of the war that crushes Syria but also weakens Israel. This first war totally destroys Damascus, and the nation of Syria ceases to exist. This war begins a chain reaction to the battle of Armageddon. When Israel totally destroys Syria, this is another key indicator that the day of the Lord is near.

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins…The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,” Declares the Lord Almighty.
“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.” (Isaiah 17:1, 3-4)

During this war, the fortress (military power) ceases from Ephraim (a name for Israel). Syria also ceases from being a nation. Israel becomes thin, or loses a large percentage of its population.

Iran and the Mahdi

Iran’s final confrontation with Israel is found in the second battle, but it does have an important place in the first battle. Iran is an extremely important player in the wars leading up to the day of the Lord and therefore requires special attention.

On August 3, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His election sent powerful forces in the Middle East rushing toward a climax in a cataclysmic war with Israel. With both Ahmadinejad rising to power, and a few months later Hamas, the die was cast for a huge confrontation with Israel.

Ahmadinejad’s Theology:
He follows Shiite Islam and believes in the coming of Mahdi.
The Mahdi is Arabic for “rightly guided one.” He is a special ruler who ranks just below the Prophet Mohammed. The Mahdi is the restorer of Islam and justice who will rule just before the end of the world. He is a military figure who leads the Islamic armies in conquering the entire world. Under the generalship of the Mahdi, the entire world becomes Islamic. Those who fail to submit to Islam must die. This is the Islamic theology of the Mahdi.

The background of the Mahdi is very unusual. Ahmadinejad believes that the Mahdi is the twelfth Imam, Mohammed ibn Hasan, who was a direct descendant of Mohammed. Ibn Hasan lived in the ninth century. When he was five years old, he fell into a well. He went into a state of concealment that will last until the end of time, when he emerges as the Mahdi. Ahmadinejad believes this is the end of time, and that the Mahdi is soon to be revealed.
Ahmadenejad is then a mahdaviat, which means “the belief in and efforts to prepare for the Mahdi.” This was evident when he spoke before the United Nations in September 2005. During his speech, he offered a prayer for the hastening of the Mahdi to bring “justice and peace.” This prayer follows:

O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.
Because Ahmadinejad is a mahdaviat, he has no fear of war with the United States or Israel.

Egypt

The fighting draws Egypt into this first battle, where Egypt is completely destroyed. It appears that the fighting between the Israelis and Palestinians spills over to Egypt. Egypt attacks Israel to its own doom. The destruction of Egypt is so complete that the survivors flee into the nations of the world. The Nile River stops flowing. Prophet after prophet describes the terrible destruction coming to Egypt – prophecies about the destruction of Egypt that have yet to be fulfilled. They await fulfillment when the day of the Lord is near.
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. (Joel 3:19)
Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord. “Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it, therefore I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush. No foot of man or animal will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years. I will make the land of Egypt desolate among devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries.(Ezekiel 29:9-12)

Jordan – Saudi Arabia

In the Bible, the modern nation of Jordan comprises three small nations: Ammon, Moab, and Edom. Ammon is the northern section of Jordan, Moab is the central section, and Edom is the southern section. The prophet Zephaniah spoke about the day of the Lord and the total destruction of Ammon and Moab – destruction has not yet happened and awaits future fulfillment (Zephaniah 1:14).

The destruction is so great that it turns part of the Jordan into Sodom and Gomorrah.

I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the reviling of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoit them, and the remnant of my people shall posses them. (Zephaniah 2:8-9)

The prophet Isaiah described the awesome judgment on Edom, also referred to as Idumea. The region of Idumea includes southern Jordan and the northwest corner of Saudi Arabia. The fact that Idumea includes part of modern-day Saudi Arabia is important. Isaiah said that during the day of the Lord, this area will burn with pitch or oil. The very nation known for oil is going to be on fire with oil!
Isaiah called the time of judgment on Idumea “the year of [God’s] recompenses” for what this nation did to Israel. God’s judgment falls directly on Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)
My sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. (Isaiah 34:5)

The area burns so intensely that no one can pass through it.

The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. (Isaiah 34:9-10)
Thus the Bible shows that the Palestinians’ hostility toward Israel erupts into an awesome war that destroys entire nations. The conflict draws in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. It appears that weapons of mass destruction are used and the entire nations cease to exist.