The Enemy From The North
If you hold to a certain kind of eschatology, or end
times view, right now, it is really hard not to see that we are living in the
end times. All the ducks appear to be lining up in a row. There is a prominent
strain of futurism in the church that looks at the books like Daniel,
Revelation, passages in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and other books as all, and
see their prophecies as pointing to a future end times event that centres
around the nation of Israel in the land of Canaan.
Generally, those who hold such an end time’s view tend to
be Christian Zionists, or dispensationalists. These are broad categories, and I
am sure there are people who will read what I am writing and say, “Hey, I’m a
dispensationalist and that’s not my view.” Or there might be people who hold
this sort of end times view but not be strictly in those categories. But
broadly speaking Christian Zionists are believers who categorize the Jewish
people as God’s primary people. They see the fate of the Jews and Israel as
central to God’s plan. They tend to see this as all coming about at an
unspecified future date, but think it will probably happen imminently. And they
tend to see nations like Iran, Russia, and China, to one degree or another,
along with the religion of Islam, as major players in the end times events that
immediately precede, or happen during the Great Tribulation, which many in that
school of thought would also call the “time of Jacob’s struggle” (cf. Jer.
30:7).
One of the most consistent things you will hear coming
out of this school of end times belief is the idea that Iran is one of the
enemies that will attack Israel from the north in a coalition of nations, and
will help precipitate the final battle, or one of the final battles.
Now, just consider for a moment how the world currently
looks if this is your theological perspective? You have a war in the far north
between Russia and Ukraine. Just put aside all the political discussions from
both sides about what led to it, you have Russia on the move, even if in a
moderate way. You have China rising and spreading its influence around the
world. East Asia experts are making predictions about when China will make its
move on Taiwan, and you have a slowly escalating competition for dominance
between China and the United States in the South China Sea region. And in the
Middle East Israel is at war against the Palestinians in Gaza, it is making
moves against the Palestinians in the West Bank, it is under rocket attack from
the North from Hezbollah, and it has exchanged fire with Iran. If you have the
eschatology that says these nations will rise up in a coalition against Israel,
then this is going to be sending your end times radar into overdrive mode. How
could it not? All these key players in what you consider to be rock solid
biblical prophecies are stepping up to the plate. This feels like slam dunk to
someone with this end time's view.
A more astute observer will point out here that Iran is
not to the north of Israel, it is to the far east. However, in the ancient
world when attacks from the major Mesopotamian powers came towards Israel, they
came across west to the north of Syria and then would attack down through Syria
into the land of Canaan, sometimes going all the way to Egypt. This was just
the route that horse and infantry-based forces were required to take to avoid
the Arabian desert which would kill any army that tried to cross it. So though
none of the nations which attacked from the major Mesopotamian powers were
actually north of Israel, that is the route they would have taken.
But what do these passages about an attack by a coalition
from the north actually say? Do they point to a last day battle between “God’s
people” in Israel, and the forces of the evil being constituted by Iran and co?
Let’s examine some of these prophecies.
The first mention of a direct threat from the north explicitly
in the Bible is in Isaiah 14 and it is actually given to the Philistines, and
refers to them being attacked by Babylon,
“28 In
the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle: 29 Rejoice
not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will
be a flying fiery serpent. 30 And the firstborn of the
poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill
your root with famine, and your remnant it will slay. 31 Wail,
O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you! For
smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.”
Earlier in Isaiah we see that God threatens to bring
Assyria down to bear on Israel and Judah (Isa. 7:17). But there is no explicit
mention of the “enemy from the north” in that passage, though of course Assyria
did attack from that direction. Here in Isaiah 14 God is warning the
Philistines (Palestinians) that danger is coming to them from the north, “For
smoke comes out of the north…” This is a reference to the burning cities they
will see in the distance as the Babylonian armies come to bear on their nation.
This would also apply to the camp fires of a mighty host of soldiers on the
move.
The next explicit mention of an attack from the north
comes from Isaiah 41:25 which says, “25 I stirred up one from the north, and he
has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall
trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.” The context makes
it very clear that this is referring to Babylon. For instance, we know from the
historical record that it was Babylon that eventually came and was used by God
to discipline Israel. And Isaiah 39:6 tells us that, “Behold, the days are
coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored
up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the
Lord.” But we should also note that Isaiah 43:14 also says this, “Thus says the
Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I send to Babylon
and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which
they rejoice.” God is going to use Babylon to discipline Israel, but he is also
going to bring back the fugitives and we will see later also
punish Babylon for their attack. So, the threat to the north here is clearly
Assyria first, and then Babylon. Which is precisely what we know from the
historical record, and many other passages in the Bible, actually happened to
Israel.
Our next significant mention of a threat from the north
comes from Jeremiah. We read in chapter 1 of Jeremiah that,
“13 The word of the Lord
came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a
boiling pot, facing away from the north.” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “Out of
the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15
For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares
the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the
entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and
against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will declare my judgments against
them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other
gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.”
Now this is interesting, isn’t it. We see here a clear
mention of a dangerous threat from many nations to the north of Judah. But what
does this refer to? Well all we have to do is read the rest of the book of
Jeremiah and we can see that this is referring to the coalition of subject
peoples that will be coming with Nebuchadnezzar when he conquers Israel. For
instance, Jeremiah 25:9 says this,
“9 behold, I will send for
all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king
of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its
inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to
destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.”
Something that a lot of people may not be aware of is
that the Mesopotamian powers bordered the great steppe nations of the central
Asian and East European steppes. From these steppe tribes came the Scythians,
the Cimmerians, Sarmatians, the Medes, the Persians and countless other
conquering tribes. These were dangerous peoples that continually emerged from
the steppes and conquered various people. The control of these tribes changed
hands, sometimes they conquered the settled lands, sometimes the settled lands
conquered some of them, but only on the outskirts of the steppes. Never were
they fully conquered or tamed in this era. That would not happen until the
musket was introduced to warfare. However, under Nebuchadnezzar a coalition of
these tribes and other nations would make up the threat from the north that
Israel would have to deal with. We see Jeremiah mention this threat again and
again,
Jeremiah
4:5-6 – “Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the
trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble, and let us go into the
fortified cities!’ Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for
I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction.
Jeremiah 6:1 – “Flee for
safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in
Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the
north, and great destruction.
Jeremiah 6:22 – “Thus says
the Lord: “Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is
stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
Jeremiah 10:22 – “A voice, a
rumor! Behold, it comes!— a great commotion out of the north country to make
the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.
The context of Jeremiah shows that these warnings about a
threat from the north apply to the nation of Babylon, and all these prophecies
were fulfilled in the days of Jeremiah. Babylon attacked Jerusalem, destroyed
it, broke down the temple and carried the people off into exile. Babylon even
defeated Egypt at the time (Jer. 46:24), there is also another prophecy against
the Philistines as well that they will be attacked from the north (Jer. 47).
The book of Jeremiah clearly identifies this threat as the historical Chaldean,
or Babylonian empire, technically the Neo-Babylonian empire.
What is interesting is that Babylon is also warned that a
nation will destroy them from the north. Remember the Medes and Persians were originally
steppe peoples that came into the settled areas and eventually conquered much
of the known world. So, as the Persians are identified as the kingdom that
defeated Babylon in the Bible, you could argue they are a kingdom from the
north that are a genuine military threat. But they were not a threat to Israel,
they in fact destroyed Israel’s greatest enemy and it was a Persian king who
sent the Judeans home from exile. In fact, a Persian king, Cyrus, (remember the
Iranians are Persians), is even identified as the Messiah in Isaiah 44:28-45:7.
So they can hardly be described as the enemies of Israel in the Bible, as it is
Cyrus who proclaims one of the only Jubilees in the Bible and sets the captive people
free, and it is Persia that funds the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. This
hardly puts them in the category of mortal enemies, does it?
Even Ezekiel identifies the Babylonians as the threat to
Israel from the north,
“22 Therefore, O Oholibah,
thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from
whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:
23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the
Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them,
officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall
come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples.
They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and
helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you
according to their judgments” (Ez. 23:24).
Babylon is identified as the threat from the north also
in Chapter 32. Also Ezekiel mentions Nebuchadnezzar by name, the same as
Jeremiah did, in Ezekiel 26:7. This is a consistent string of identifications
stretching across multiple major biblical prophets, and also different eras of the
history of Judah.
So, when we come to Ezekiel 38, the famous passage about
Gog and Magog that mentions Persia by name as an enemy from the north that
comes against Israel, we need not immediately think of this as some future
battle. When Babylon attacked Israel it would have brought with it auxiliary
troops from every nation around it, including Persia (which at this point was
still a relatively minor player). In fact, many of these passages we read have
noted that very fact. Babylon would come with a “host of peoples.” This would
be peoples from the breadth of its empire, and beyond, because they would have
put the call out to mercenaries, and other troops to join with them in their
conquest. This is just how ancient empires did battle.
However, let’s look at what Ezekiel 38 does say,
“1 The word of the Lord came
to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief
prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the
Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4
And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you
out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor,
a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia,
Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and
all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all
his hordes—many peoples are with you” (Eze. 38:1-6).
You could read this as a reference to the last days. But
it could also be a reference to the fact that when Babylon attacks Israel, they
will bring with them many other nations, including Persians, and then God will
judge Babylon. In fact, 1 Chronicles 1:17 notes that Meshech and Tubal are sons
of Aram, who is related to Asshur. The Arameans have been historically
connected to the Amorite peoples who were the founders of the original
Babylonian empire. Here we have synchronicity. Which is always nice.
Also, if you read Jeremiah 50-51 you will see that these
passages prophecy that God will judge Babylon for what it did to Israel, along
with a host of other reasons, and there is good reason to believe that Ezekiel
is saying the same thing here in Ezekiel 38-39. Babylon was defeated by the
Persians and taken over, and its people humiliated, after all. Though, you can
see why some think this is all future and is pointing to a final battle
where Iran, or Persia, joins with a host of other nations to attack Israel. But
there is no requirement to read it this way, and a lot of good reasons to read
this as fulfilled prophecy.
A good one in the immediate context is that Ezekiel 39
appears to tie this prophecy to the time of Israel’s conquest by Babylon,
“21 And I will set my glory
among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have
executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 The house of Israel shall
know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 23 And the nations shall
know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because
they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them
into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt
with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my
face from them” (Ez. 39:21-24).
All these prophecies appear to have been fulfilled, at
least in larger measure. Israel and Judah were attacked from the north, by Assyria
and Babylon respectively, and Judah was sent into exile in Babylon. Babylon was
then later attacked from the north and destroyed, by Persia and a host of other
steppe tribes and other nations. And it was Persia that restored Judah to its
land and funded the building of the temple and the city. So, there is really no
reason to believe that there will be a repeat of this in some final battle. All
of these prophecies have been fulfilled, and this is recorded both in the Bible
and in history. To apply these prophecies to a future date is unnecessary and
flies in the face of them having been fulfilled in the ancient world. Note, also
that when Israel is destroyed in the New Testament era, it is by Rome, who is
not identified in these passages at all. It is best to leave these prophecies
where they belong, as examples of God’s word having been fulfilled in the past,
so we know that we can trust in his promises that we do have for the future.
We should no longer think of the nations of the north to
what is today called Israel as a threat to the people of God, but rather as the
mission field for the church. We read in Psalm 107 this, “1 Oh give thanks to
the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the
redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered
in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the
south.” And of course Jesus says the same thing, Luke 13:29, “And people will
come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the
kingdom of God.” Don’t look to the north in fear of what might be the end of
days, look at every point on the compass and see the places God wants his
church to seek to reach people.
It is desperately sad that so many Christians are stuck
in an Old Testament framework for how we should think of the nations of the
world. Nations exist of course still, they will be there are the end, but as I
noted each one should be seen as mission field. This is not the era of thinking
of who is a threat to a nation of Israel in Canaan from the north. That was
something for the days of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Today we should be
thinking in terms of how the gospel can be taken to these places. And this is
important; the West’s, and the evangelicals church’s, favouritism for Israel,
because of a bad reading of these ancient prophecies (among other reasons of
empire of course), is a stumbling block to evangelizing many countries in this
world and bringing them the good news of Jesus Christ. An Israel first message
is not going to help the gospel spread to the nations of the world. But a
universal call where national identity is no advantage to faith in God and
salvation through Jesus, will.
When you consider this topic in these terms, you can
understand why the devil has worked so hard to sidetrack the church on this
issue. So many Christians are concerned that all the end time events have to
centre around a small nation in the Middle East. But one, that God says he will
redeem the people of Israel in the future, according to Paul in Romans 11, does
not mean this has to have anything to do with the modern nation called Israel.
Secondly, there are simply no biblical prophecies that must be read this way. And
third, Jesus said it hinged on taking the gospel to all nations and tongues. So,
we better be about the king's business then, right?
