Arab States and Prophecy

"The Arab states are all descendants of either Esau or Ishmael, but the root of the present day conflict begins [right here] with these two individuals."[1]

What caused the conflict between Israel and the Arab States

There are three key parties;

1. The Jews
1. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: the Children of Israel – being the Jewish people (See Genesis 12:1-3)
2. The Arabs
2. The descendants of Ishmael (Genesis 12:10-20; 16:1-14)
3. The descendants of Esau (Genesis 25:19-34; Genesis 27:41-46)

For completeness Iran – old Persia, is also included.

The descendants of Ishmael and Esau form the Arab States. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom God renamed Israel, form the Israelites, and are the Jewish people.

Ishmael, the son of an Egyptian Maid

The root cause of all troubles in the middle-east was Abraham & Sarah’s lack of faith and Abraham’s actions in Egypt, including attempting to pass of his wife Sarah as his (half)-sister, and returning to Canaan, the land God had given him with Egyptian maids including Hagar (Genesis 16:1). Sarah’s lack of faith, and her folly[2] in giving Hagar to Abraham to father a surrogate child[3], although God had promised her a son, led to the birth of Ishmael, one of the arch enemies of YHWH and the Jews. Although Ishmael was not the promised son (Galatians 4:24, 25), God promised him a great nation.

And the angel of the LORD said to her [Hagar], "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." (Genesis 16:11-12)

And God heard the voice of the boy [Ishmael], and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation." Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. (Genesis 21:17-21)

From these verses we learn

1. Ishmael would be a wild donkey (ass) of a man
2. He would be against every man, thus a man of aggression, attacking all who he came into contact: his descendants do not want peace, are always willing to fight.
3. Everyone else hand would be against Ishmael: which history has borne out, with no peace in the Middle East. His aggression would bring retaliation on him, thus war results.
4. He would he would “dwell over against (or in the presence of) all his kinsmen”, idiom that means, not even his own descendants will live in peace – they will fight each other, and they would not move away from the area.

This tribe forms part of the heart of the troubles in the Middle-East.

Esau

The other father of the Arab states is Esau whose beginnings are outlined in Genesis 25:27-34. The root cause of the issues arising was the lack of faith of Jacob – Esau’s brother along with Jacob’s mother, Rebekah. Esau was not the chosen vessel of God; he was unrighteous with the Book of Hebrews saying he was a fornicator and profane (Hebrews 12:16), selling his birth right to Jacob for a mere meal. Scripture says he despised his birth right (Genesis 25:24). Thus Jacob became the surrogate firstborn meaning he would receive the patriarchal blessing, but rather than waiting in faith and trusting Jehovah to fulfil his promise to Rebekah (Genesis 25:23), Rebekah takes matters into her own hands (Genesis 27). She sets in train a course of events that sees the patriarchal blessing go to Jacob and not to Esau by deception with the end result of Jacob receiving the spiritual and physical benefits of the Abrahamic Covenant.

So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob." (Genesis 27:41)

In these verses we see: Esau hated Jacob, which plays out when Moses attempts to negotiate with his descendants while trying to travel from the Egypt to Canaan (Numbers 20:14-21, Deuteronomy 2). This hatred continues today.

Each of the major states in the Middle East are mentioned in prophecy (often more than one), outlining their future. These prophecies are relevant today, as most have yet to be fulfilled.

Prophecies against The Arab States and Iran