Psalm 83 – A prophecy in process
– Bill Salus
NOTE: My friend Bill Salus
wanted to share his compelling work with you. You can click on the link
above for graphs, etc.
A Google search of "The
Psalm 83 prophecy" on March 31, 2012, displayed 1,380,000 results.
Another Google search on the same day under "The Psalm 83 war"
uncovered 2,460,000 results. These numbers reflect approximately 50 times
as many results than there were in the same month four years beforehand.
Psalm 83 is the central theme of
Isralestine and, frankly, Internet research in these areas at that
time was generally fruitless, which is why the book was an eight-year work
requiring countless hours of biblical study and extra-biblical historical
research. (And at the time, most of the respected existing commentaries on
the Psalm offered little more than poetic expositions.)
So what is all the hype about
Psalm 83? Why did the Google results increase exponentially over the past
four years from tens of thousands to tens of millions? I believe these
increased numbers reflect a growing interest in the timely prophetic
implications of the Psalm — especially after the Arab Spring that dominated
much of the news in 2011.
Interestingly, some scholars
suggest that Psalm 83 is simply an imprecatory prayer of lament concerning
Israel's Arab enemies through time. Others like me believe it is a bona
fide Bible prophecy. In an article called "Psalm 83, What IT
IS, and What it IS NOT," I attempted to dispel the possibility that the Psalm is
merely a prayer.
The Psalm speaks about an Arab
confederacy that forms for the explicit purposes of destroying Israel, and
dispossessing the chosen people from their Promised Land once and for all.
If it is an imminent prophecy, this implies that the confederacy fights for
the establishment of one more Arab state called Palestine.
This conclusion is reached by
analyzing who the confederate members are today and comparing the
modern-day equivalents to the ancient populations listed in Psalm 83:6-8.
Presuming the Psalm is indeed a
prophecy, there are diverse opinions among prophecy experts about the
Psalm’s timing:
Some teach the prophecy was
fulfilled historically in 2 Chronicles 20. This is generally a minority
view that is refuted in my article "Psalm 83 – Has It
Found Final Fulfillment?" Another minority view holds to the thinking that Psalm
83 occurs during Ezekiel 38. This argument is debated in my article called "Is Ezekiel 38
Imminent?"
Another timing argument is that
the Psalm occurs during the final seven-year tribulation period. One of my
favorite eschatologists, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum (Ph.D.), once held this
view as expressed in his book, Footsteps of the
Messiah. (1) Dr. Fruchtenbaum, who also
believes Psalm 83 is a prophecy, has seemingly reconsidered this view for
the general reasons that are explained in my article, "Is Psalm 83 a
Great Tribulation Event?"
In my estimation, one morning
soon, the world will wake to the world-changing Mideast war described in
Psalm 83. The Psalm specified that six key things needed to be in place
before the major Middle East battle could begin:
1. Israelis (Psalm 83:3)
2. The Nation of Israel (Psalm
83:4, 12)
3. An Israeli Defense Forces;
the IDF (Psalm 83:9-11)
4. Palestinian Refugees,
i.e., the tents of Edom (Psalm 83:6)
5. An Arab League (Psalm
83:6-8)
6. An Arab Hatred of Israelis
(Psalm 83:3)
Presently, all six of these
prerequisites are in place. Israelis became a reality when Israel was
reborn as a nation on May 14, 1948. As evidenced by the Arab-Israeli wars
of 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, the Hezbollah-Israel conflict of 2006 and the
Hamas-Israel confrontation in 2009, Arab hatred has been displayed ever
since the Jewish state was reborn.
Palestinian refugees became a
reality in the aftermath of the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, as did
the IDF that promptly formed to respond to Arab aggression. With each
subsequent war, the IDF became a stronger army — apparently in fulfillment
of Ezekiel 25:14, 37:10, and Obadiah 1:18.
Lastly, the Arab League was
established in Cairo on March 22, 1945, before all the conflicts began. The
Arab League includes each member identified within the Arab confederacy of
Psalm 83. Apart from fragile peace treaties between Israel and Egypt, and
Israel and Jordan, the Psalm prophecy essentially appears to be on the
verge of fulfillment.
Many pundits believe that the
new majority-Islamic-fundamentalist parliament of Egypt will soon abrogate
the 33-year-old peace agreement with Israel. Should Egypt break peace with
Israel, there are few that believe Jordan will covet the lone-wolf position
of being the only remaining Arab state that has a peace accord with Israel.
The legitimate concern is
reflected in the adage; "As goes Egypt, so goes the rest of the
Middle East."
Lacking a substantial peace
accord with the most populated Arab state, Egypt, and the most moderate
one, Jordan, there is little to prevent Psalm 83 from being fulfilled. Much
like the rebirth of Israel was a prophecy in process, so is Psalm 83.
On May 14, 1948, the world awoke
to a Jewish state, but avid Bible prophecy students shouldn't have been
surprised. Numerous prophecies like the ones listed below came true on that
famous day.
Ezekiel 36:22-24 – foretold that the Jews would be in spiritual unbelief
at the time. It anticipated that world Jewry at large would be
characterized by the same religious indifference that had overtaken their
forefathers when the Diaspora began in 70 AD.
Ezekiel 37:11-13 – predicted the Jews would come out of a holocaust
scenario; "Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves
are cut off!" (Ezekiel 37:11)
Isaiah 11:11 – prophesied that the Lord would regather the Jews into
Israel from the nations a second time, and since there are no third, fourth
or fifth such times found in Scripture, this alert us that modern Israel fulfills
this prophecy.
(Some believe this regathering
has two phases: in unbelief, followed by belief. Thus they tend to believe
that the first phase is being fulfilled today, and the second phase will be
fulfilled by a faithful Jewish remnant at the end of the seven-year
tribulation period.)
Ezekiel 38:8 – foretells that the regathering takes place in
the "latter years," which is why many eschatologists consider
Israel to be the super-sign of the end times.
Ezekiel 39:21-29 – explains the rationale, from the Lord's perspective, of
the Diaspora and the regathering of the Jews to Israel in the latter years.
These are just a few of the
prophecies that predicted that, someday, the Jews would be regathered out
of the nations of the world back into their ancient homeland of Israel in
the end times.
The process toward prophetic
fulfillment of the rebirth of the nation of Israel began around 1896 when
Theodor Herzl published his book Der Judenstaat ("Jewish
State" in German). He is considered to be the father of political
Zionism. Herzl recognized that anti-Semitism was rising throughout the
world — especially in Europe. He believed the only way the Jews could
escape mounting world persecution was to have a homeland again.
Below is an interesting quote
from his diary (1897):
"At Basle, I founded the
Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by
universal laughter. If not in 5 years, certainly in 50, everyone will know
it."
Dying approximately seven years
after writing this statement, Herzl didn't realize how prophetic it was.
Exactly 50 years later (in 1947), the United Nations passed Resolution 181,
which called for the establishment of the Jewish state. Christians should
have anticipated that Israel was about to become a nation by the start of
the Zionist movement.
World War I was the next tip-off
that the nation of Israel was about to be birthed. In the aftermath of the
war, Lord Balfour of Great Britain issued a declaration in 1917 calling for
the establishment of a Jewish state. At that time, Israel was appropriated
land that would have encompassed modern-day Israel and Jordan. Great
Britain had full license to implement this declaration, but failed to do
so.
Britain's failure to act in
accordance with what appears to have been God's explicit will subjected the
Jews to the atrocities of the Holocaust and apparently caused the collapse
of the British Empire. At the time, there was a saying that "The
sun never sets on the British Empire," but today the sun always
sets on the British Empire!
This is because over the course
of the following seven decades, Britain relinquished sovereignty over
almost all of its colonized territories. Presently, about 50 million people
populate England and 62 million the UK as a whole. (2)
"By 1922 the British Empire
held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's
population at the time, and covered more than 33,700,000 km (13,012,000 sq.
miles), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area." (3)
Britain's demise can likely be
attributed to the clause contained in Genesis 12:3 that curses those who
curse the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Again, Christians should
have recognized after World War I that Israel would soon become reinstated
as the Jewish state.
World War II was the final clue
to the prophecy onlooker. As stated above, the United Nations General
Assembly approved the Jewish State on Nov. 29, 1947. With 33
"yes" votes, 13 "no" votes and 10 abstentions, the
Jewish state was a done deal, so on May 14, 1948, the prophecies predicting
the return of Israel were fulfilled.
Guess what nations were among
the 13 that voted "no" to U.N. Resolution 181? They were most of
the Psalm 83 nations listed above: Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and
Egypt. Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian refugees hadn't been created at
the time to oppose the resolution, and Jordan didn’t become a member of the
U.N. until December 1955. Thus, Jordan's would-be "no" vote was
unable to be counted.
Similar to the prophecies
concerning the rebirth of Israel, Psalm 83 appears to be in process.
Someday soon it will arrive; but for those of us who have been paying
attention to the stage-setting signs, we realize that the Psalm prophecy
has been over six decades in the making and appears to be poised to happen!
In conclusion, I would remind
Americans that the sun is beginning to set on the superpower status of the
United States. The precedent for this was established in modern history
through the British Empire. Over the past two decades, American leaders
have been cursing Israelis by forcing their leaders to trade God's land for
Arab peace. This diplomacy is not working, and it's the very thing that
Joel 3:2 warns against — dividing God's land!
If America persists in its
obstinacy, it will be flirting with the same fate of its British ally.
View Bill's video teaching on
Psalm 83 – A prophecy in process here.
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1 Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ph.D. Footsteps
of the Messiah, pp. 498-499 (hardcover version).
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