Bible predicts final fate of Gaza and Palestinians

For the past several decades, the issue of the Palestinians vs the Israelis over land rights has apparently inflamed the world, and influenced politics as well. What does God say about the Palestinians final fate for their enmity towards Israel?

This is to examine the roots of the issue from a biblical perspective, and to look at the final disposition of the Gaza area and other territories according to Bible prophesy.

Divine assignment of the land

First of all, God had originally ordained that the tiny land would belong to the Jews, not others. But others were welcome to live there in peace under Israeli rule. Others would also be blessed, which they have been (oil reserves !!), but that tiny spot, in a sea of billions of square miles of Arab land, belonged to Israel. God had His reasons, and they need to be respected. This is all summarized in these other 2 posts, so it will not be repeated here:

See …….Zionism: Man’s idea or God’s plan? Click here for more

See …… Israel’s divine right to the land Click here for more

Prophecy from the Book of Zephaniah about Gaza

Zep 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;

Zep 2:2 Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you.

Zep 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

Zep 2:4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up

Recent events even indicate that Ashkelon, and other small towns near Gaza, are constant target for HAMAS destruction. This would result in eventual retaliation by Israel:

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On March 1 and March 2, 2008, rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip (some of them reportedly Grad rockets) hit Ashkelon, wounding seven, and causing property damage. This is the first time that Hamas has been able to reliably strike Ashkelon. The mayor, Roni Mahatzri has stated that, “This is a state of war, I know no other definition for it. If it lasts a week or two, we can handle that, but we have no intention of allowing this to become part of our daily routine.”

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On May 14, 2008, a Katyusha rocket fired to Ashkelon struck a clinic in the third floor of the Huzot shopping mall. This attack resulted in three people seriously injured, two moderately injured and eleven people suffered minor wounds. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said its fighters launched the rocket. (So this is the fiery serpent attacking Israel, which will eventually cause the destruction of Gaza.)

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On June 16, 2008, a Grad-type rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck an Ashkelon cemetery leaving one person lightly to moderately wounded. Another rocket exploded inside the city. The victim suffered shrapnel wounds to his neck. Several other people suffered from shock and were treated by emergency medical staff at the scene. Gaza’s Hamas rulers took responsibility for the strike. Hamas here is the serpent or cockatrice, supported by the modern day serpent offspring of the ancient Babylonians. (This is explained below under the Isaiah prophecy.) The serpent is trying to destroy Ashkelon.

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Zep 2:5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD [is] against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

*** If God said this to me, I would repent and leave the area alone. There will not be one Palestinian left in Gaza when God finishes coming against it. They will all die.

Zep 2:6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings [and] cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

Zep 2:7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.

*** The Lord promises to restore the attacked town of Ashkelon.

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Prophecy from the Book of Isaiah

Isa 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit [shall be] a fiery flying serpent.

*** Philistinia or Palestina is the Gaza strip.

*** they are told not to rejoice if Israel is punished for some reason, and they think they have won the victory. This is because what comes next is much worse for them.

Isa 14:30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

Isa 14:31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, [are] dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none [shall be] alone in his appointed times.

*** smoke sounds like warfare of some kind. What is in the smoke will dissolve Gaza.

Isa 14:32 What shall [one] then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

*** Here is Lord is saying that the area is reserved for Zion and the Jews, who are trusting God to secure the land that was promised to them.

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The reference to the fiery serpent is interesting. It is assigned to destroy Gaza and the people there. What could it mean?

There are four possibilities:

1. Real serpents – unlikely since the passage is using imagery. Serpents do not produce cockatrices, which are disgusting filthy insects.

2. Angels assigned by God to destroy the Palestinian – Gaza area:

Seraphim in Hebrew means “flaming serpents.” In Judeo-Christian tradition, the Seraphim are the order of angels who surround the Throne of the Presence. They appear by name in the bible only once, in the vision of Isaiah:

“… I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the Seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

The Seraphs are also referred in the apocryphal Book of Enoch, and are associated with the “fiery serpents” who assaulted the Israelites in the Book of Numbers.

A seraph is most often depicted as one to four heads surrounded by six flaming wings, often covered with a multiplicity of eyes.

3. Demonic beings symbolized by, or in the form of, serpents with wings:

There is an Egyptian tradition of flaming winged uraeus serpents who guarded the Pharoahs.

4. The one reference to cockatrices being equivalent to offspring of serpents suggests this passage:

Jer 8:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

This passage from Jeremiah described the coming Babylonian invaders as serpents and cockatrices. Applied to the passage above from Isaiah (v 29) , it would mean that offspring or offshoots of those in modern day Babylon (Iraq-Syria-Lebanon-Jordan-Turkey) will be responsible for the destruction. Perhaps Hezbollah or HAMAS goes out of control trying to destroy Israel. Smoke comes from the “north” (v 31) which could be rockets which hit the Gaza area. Some of the weapons they use are not precise, and can hit anywhere. The Babylonians are the serpents, and the offshoots located in Gaza are the seed of the serpents.

Map of ancient Babylon- the ancient serpent:

If the fate of Gaza is to be destroyed by God, and given back to Israel, then what about the West Bank?

The Bible is fairly quiet about this. It is also noticeable that most of the violence we see today is coming from Gaza, not the West Bank. Originally, the West Bank was also part of the ancient borders of Israel, and it has been occupied before, by the Syrians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, which are all overlapping ancient empires fighting for the same territory.

Much is said about Babylon in both the New and Old Testament. This will not be addressed here, as it is too big a topic.

Bible prophecy does mention Syria, which at one time included all of Israel, and today is represented by the West Bank, with the inhabitants there. This is a prophecy which has not come to pass yet. Syria is represented by Damascus, its capital city:

map of ancient Syria

Isa 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Isa 17:2 The cities of Aroer [are] forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.

*** Aroer is in modern day Jordan

Isa 17:3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.

*** in this verse, God mentions removing the defenses (and therefore the territory) of Ephraim (Israel) by using the “remnant” of Syria. Ephraim loses its fortresses (defenses), indicating defeat to the Syrians. Then God destroys Syria, when he is finished with Ephraim. The Ephraim territory is included in the modern area of the West Bank, along with part of the territory of Manasseh, Benjamin, and Judea. These areas lost their glory when they lost their territory to the Palestinians (remnant of Syrians). Ephraim represents the northern kingdom of Israel, which fell to the Syrians in ancient times, when they sinned against God. Today, there still seems to be a reminder of this. Ephraim will get its territory back when it cries out to its Maker.

Isa 17:7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

*** In the end, the God of Israel plans to get the respect, and the territory, He deserves.