Edom in Prophecy

Last week, or the last time I spoke, last week or two, it was about the Gaza Strip, what's with Gaza, and Felicity in general talked about the Edomites, who became the Idumians, and part of Edom was Amlech, and they are the ones who lived right in the area.

And when Israel and Judah finally fell, the Edomites, specifically Amlech, and several related people that were related by the same general family in man, family of men, moved into that area. It's called the Shephala, the coastal plain, where Gaza and the other four main Philistine cities were, Philistia, and basically the Gaza Strip, and a larger area than that. But basically south of Judah, all the way over to the sea, because the Philistines took that part of the seacoast, and Judah never had that except for the times when the Philistines were subjugated.

And so we spoke about mainly not just the people, but the area that encompassed this mixed group which was made up to a great extent of Edom and also related peoples.

And we just showed that Gaza is what's going to happen in the war. It's a very upsetting thing.

And we're a long ways away. But it's been a place of continual warfare since before the time of David, even, since the time of Moses, actually, is when the conflict started with Amalek, which is a subtribe of Edom. And so it's just been a problem. And interestingly, God has specific prophecies about that area, not just the one family or grouping that lived there, but the people that shared it. And we went over that last time, so I don't want to say much more than that this time. I'd like to cover the larger story of Edom. And of course, it's larger and encompasses many more scriptures, or quite a few more scriptures, a lot more history, and so on. But we don't need to know all the details. We'll go into some of them. But what we need to know is the overview and what God says generally about the family of Esau, which became known as Edom. So it sounds like a big assignment. It is, I suppose. Let's see if we can hit the highlights. First of all, last time I gave you a list of three major sections of scripture, which have within each one of them a list of individual countries that God has prophesied about. And I was just thinking this was planned in advance, of course, today. It's a good thing, I guess it came with Veterans Day and other extra good things, because this has to do with God taking a real problem. And Esau or Edom actually stands for all of the enemies of God, the enemies of Israel, which became the enemies of God because he has a plan. He said Israel is going to be here. And since I'm focusing on just those scriptures, we're going to have a lot of negative prophecies, specifically against Ascalon and Gaza and Gath and so on I mentioned last week. But here's some general ones. These are the three sections.

By the way, I have a handout which is in the process of being made.

I get the basic outline, but I want to add some things to help study this subject. But just so you have it on one sheet, it's very helpful. Isaiah 13 to 27. I did mention this last time.

And Jeremiah 46 to 51 is equal to 25 to 32. If you didn't get that down, it's on the handout. I will be either sending or bringing that particular one. But let's notice these three sections and catch some of the things we missed last time since I was focusing. Just have a more narrow focus there. Let's go to Isaiah 11. This, of course, is a very famous chapter. It's about when Christ comes back, the rod that would rot out of the stem of Jesse, which would be the branch.

And Jesse was David's father, and Jesus was specifically prophesied to be and was, gives the, you know, the entire history of the family, genealogy. And so this refers to Jesus Christ when he would come back. And so we've read this scripture many times. I like to just, it's mainly about the setting up of the kingdom. But there are a couple of comments. Verse 11. Verse 10, you'll set up an ensign of the peoples to him that shall the nation seek, and that's Jesus Christ. His rest shall be glorious. Verse 11. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, because he saved them when they were dispersed another time and in the end time in that day, as I just mentioned, over and over in Isaiah and other prophets' writings. It means the second return of Christ at that time in the world. And then he talks about recovering the remnant of his peoples from several different nations in the last part of the verse. And then he mentions the ensign for the nations again in verse 12, bringing back the outcast of Israel and gathering them, the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of... Now this is a big one. Verse 13. One of the big things that is at the beginning of the millennium and plays a key role in peace for the whole world. And that is... So here's step one for peace.

As far as the nations are concerned, the envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

So in other words, the two sticks that stood for the beauty and bands for the Israelites in the north and the Jews in the south that were both broken because they broke the covenants of God to them. And so that breach will be healed. And you put Ephraim, which is the leading tribe of northern Israel, and Judah back together, and they become... And if they're ahead of Judah right before God, they become the unstoppable instrument to go out and bring peace to the whole world. Some of it is by war, but that war is spiritual, and the physical nations won't have to fight with physical... You know, they won't have to fight their battles anymore. Jesus Christ will. So they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west, and shall spoil them on the east. And it mentions Edom and Moab. So these are the nations, the small nations, just surrounding Israel and leaving out the bigger nations. But those are the ones that they always have battles with. Not the only ones, but these were the ones that God is going to start with. I don't know his whole plan, because you're looking forward to it.

But then he talks about a highway to tie everybody together and so on. So this is... This talks about Edom and Moab, and I'm just going to go through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel here.

Just a little comment about Edom. And Edom is always treated as a criminal. He's the bad boy. He has to be punished, and the nation does, because he's creating a large part of the problem.

And so let's go on then to... So the first part... First point for peace, then.

The first step in the millennium is that the surrounding neighbors, which always fought against with hatred, will be subjugated. And then Jeremiah chapter 49. I mentioned this last time, and we picked a couple of points out of it. So let's just do that quickly.

Jeremiah chapter 49. It's 7 through 21 is the whole section. Let's go to verse 10. This is a prophecy against Edom. It's not about. This is against Edom.

And interestingly, the first four verses, I think, or first three, are a direct quote, or else Obadiah is a direct quote of these. It's the same words. Obadiah is the minor prophet that is directed to prophesy against Edom. And it's severe. We'll touch on that. We only have time to touch on it, but we'll do that a little bit. Let's go to verse 10. But I have made Esau bare, just stripped.

I have uncovered his secret places. And it refers to, as a reference to Peter, they had caves and secret hideaways. And Peter, which earlier was called Selah, or S-E-L-A. It's not S-E-L-A-H of the Psalms. It's S-E-L-A, Selah. But I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. They had caves and tunnels. That reminds me anything about the news.

They had a network of places, and they felt they were just impregnable. And God comments on this and says, you're not impregnable. I will bring you down from your heights. So I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His seed is spoiled, and his brethren and his neighbors. And he is not. It's not he is some other thing. He just isn't.

So at a certain point, there is going to be a slaughter, and God will finally do what he said, what he told Saul to do, which is there is a group within Edom, and they are terrorists. They have been from the time Israel left Egypt and were before that among themselves. And even the other Edomites and other neighbors were wary of these people, and fortunately, they're scattered and not concentrated. There's a comment about Edom used to be just the number one nation, apparently in warfare. But they're scattered, like Simeon and Levi were within Israel. So, fascinating thing. I have made him bare. Verse 11 is interesting. Well, they all are. But it says, he is not. Leave the fatherless children. So the army is going to be so wiped out, there's going to be a huge enormous amount of fatherless. And I will go kill them myself? No. He's not looking to exterminate even them with the Holy Spirit. They will be citizens of the world tomorrow.

But I will preserve them alive and let thy widows trust in me. What a fantastic thing. Something's going on here that shows a general principle. God says, I will punish. Sometimes he does punish. Most of the time, how does he punish? He lets the people that he has created and told not to act that way punish each other. There is a parallel to this. He says, vengeance is mine. The wrath of God. He was serving on the wrath of God. Says a lot about that, too. So in the New Testament it says, vengeance is mine. I will repay. Don't you go trying to do my job and make things right? You'd have to kill everybody because everybody is guilty. That is a true statement. Everybody would have to die. Unless God takes the vengeance or the punishment himself and Jesus Christ's sacrifice is taken in payment of everybody's lives. It actually is just completely true of every human being besides Christ. So that's how God wants to pay. Then he says, I'll pay back all right, but I give them chance after chance and only pay them back with death when they will not repent. Same thing in the book of Revelation. Plagues and they still didn't repent. More plagues they still didn't. More plagues they blasphemed God. So finally God does that, which He promises to make His word true. But that's interesting that even Amalek, the worst of the worst, eat them in general. There is a place in God's kingdom for them.

And that love and care and the care of a father, a nursing father, like Moses said, is applied to everybody. Even the worst terrorist. It used to be a question, you know, could you forgive Hitler? Do you think God could forgive Hitler and would you? Well, when you look at the fact he was abused by his father and both grandfathers who were all three ministers, Lutheran ministers, and then went out to, was chosen by Satan as a terrible instrument, he acted out his own persecution on others. So that gives you a little bit of compassion. Just a little crevice or crack where you think maybe the worst person I have ever hated, and we have, the worst person I have hated, God doesn't have the same view.

He will bring that person around if they will have it. That's the answer, if they will have it. So that's just a side light, but it's about Edom, and this is about the worst of the worst. So let's go to Jeremiah. We are in Jeremiah. Let's go to, well, more about, more in chapter 49 here.

It talks about, I, Lady, Saw, Bear. I just read that. And just trusting, his widows are going to have to trust for me. Who's the closest relative of the Edomites?

Well, you got Esau, and then you got Jacob. These are lights. Same family.

What's God's principle for adoption? Don't have nearly as big a problem in a nice society.

But they go to a close relative. That's who adopts. Who is Esau's closest relative?

Do you suppose that God has in mind, giving to Israel the commission of putting their money where their mouth is? Israel always claims to be great. We're very generous. Have been.

Because of what God gave us, didn't come out of the well springs of our heart, it came from God. Do you suppose that God might say, okay, now, put your money where your mouth is. I've given you the best of everything.

And from Jacob, pardon me, from Esau, I've taken every, all the good stuff.

Why? So you can learn to be like me, Israel. Be my firstborn son. Be my little child that I give nicknames to. You'd learn to be like me and share my wealth first with Edom, the one that Israel hated and had reason to hate. A lot of people that hated Palestinians, they've done so much. And other terrorists. I should. I need to clarify that. The Palestinians are terribly affected by that element in society, but it's spread all around the Middle East. And now to other nations, I read something I have to find out is true, but where that one tribe, the Agaiites specifically, have gone all over the world, they were certainly active in the time of Esther and their job, inspired by Satan, is to kill God's people, Jews, Israelites, whatever. So that's some backstory there, and I think it makes sense. There's no new doctrine. I didn't have a new doctrine here. Who does God require Israel to make peace with first? Edomites and the others that are related peoples. The children of Lot and Moab and Ammon, modern Jordan, etc. So it's just fascinating to me that God requires his people, his children, each one of us, even the whole nation of Israel, to do what he said in the first place and learn to be like me and act like me and do like me. So okay, on to a mention of Basra in verse 13, shall become a desolation. That comes up because that was the scene of the crime, scene of Edom's big crime, which we'll come to a little bit later, Basra and Mount Hore, which wasn't too far away, right on the King's Highway that went up from just south of the... it was close to the south of the Dead Sea, a bit east, and as they came out of the Sinai Peninsula, they went by there and came to Basra, which was a, you know, a key place. So one of the major cities of ancient Edom and... oh, here it is. I mentioned this a while ago, did I? These are specifically, verse 14, 15, and 16, I mentioned Isaiah, they parallel, but these are specifically 14, 15, and 16. I've heard a rumor, God says, and for lo, I will make you small among the nations and despised among men. 16, the terribleness has deceived thee, own terribleness, that is your foul, evil hatred and pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rocks, and so on. 14, 15, 16, our Obadiah, it only has one chapter, verse 1, verse 2, and verses 3 to 4. So it's just a straight parallel. Interesting to notice. Okay, now we go to Ezekiel. Check the time here. I think if I had to guess, I'd say we're barely on time.

I want to try to get this out to you and not cover all the details. Ezekiel 25 verses 12 to 14, I'll just mention. It says, Edom has greatly offended. There was a sin that the nation of Edom did as a nation in war. Many, the same thing all through. But you have greatly offended, and we'll come back to that just as we close. Now, let's go to some of the things about the beginning of Edom, and that would be the man Esau.

And we'll try to hurry through this as well, because we need to hurry, I guess. But we just want the main points. We don't have time at all to study all through this. It was sure interesting, though, to review this last three or four weeks, just the whole story, and learn new things about it. You know, it's fascinating. If you read any part in the Bible and get to the real meaning, it just opens up, and because it's super interesting. Okay.

Genesis 25, where the prophecy was given, I'm going to do a lot of summarizing, I think.

I don't... we don't need to take the time. You're familiar with the story. If not, a good time to review, and go back to, in this case, Genesis chapter 25. I'm dealing with my ancient Bible here. It's falling apart. Okay, I'm going to go to verse 22 to 23. Genesis 25. Generations of Ishmael from verse 12 on verse 22.

Now, this is when Rebecca was pregnant, and they were twins, but they weren't normal twins. You know what twins were, and probably seen a few at least, but these boys were fighting.

They were just a tumult. It felt like a war. And so, Isaac entreated his wife so she could become not barren anymore, and so she conceived. Verse 22. The children struggled together within her, and she said, if it be so, why am I this? Which means, rough translation, what's going on here?

You know, and she went to inquire of the Lord, and that's what she said, what's happening here. And the Lord said unto her, and we don't know, by the way, how she didn't have a local minister.

Melchizedek was at Jerusalem, and that wasn't that far. And at times, since the time of Adam and Eve, they had been able to access or go talk to the priest of the Most High God. And so, it may be that she did that. It doesn't say what here. But she inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said unto her, and this is her, not Isaac, so, two nations are in your womb, and two men are of people shall be born of thee. The one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the older one shall serve the younger. Very, very basic, you know, little bit of a prophecy, but profound, but it's not that much. Now it goes into the birth of Esau and Jacob right after that verse 24. And so, let's read a couple more verses. In winter days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb, and the first came out red all over like a hairy garment, and he called his name Esau, which means red, as you probably know. After that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel, and as children have that grab reflex. And so, he got ahold of Esau's heel, and his name was called Jacob, which can mean supplanter. There are a couple of names it could be, but supplanter, or one who undercuts, or heel catcher, as people said. Isaac was three core years old, sixty years old when she bore them. Okay, so then we have that, and then after that, the sail, actually this was the sail of the birthright, so just, I'm just, you know about the story, Esau despised his birthright, verses 27, verse 34, he says he despised it, his whole birthright. And this shows another big thing about Esau. God didn't count with Esau. He just, you know, I've had some experience recently with some people I know pretty well, and nice people, relatives. Just not a thought about God. And Esau was this way, you know, he was just, from the very beginning, what God said, it just bounced off. Let's see now, I'm make sure I, yes, that's all I want to read there, and let's go then, write the next chapter is chapter 27. Pardon me, the next is 26th, and going to 27th. A couple of things here.

This is, he had already showed that he didn't care about the birthright. One of the commentaries, actually several, I think, mentioned that this, the reason why Jacob wanted the birthright was that half the wealth, or no, a double portion of the wealth of the family, went with that.

Well, I don't know about that. Commentaries are full of comments, and some are worth more than others, so, but I passed it along. But at any rate, he chose to try to get the birthright, which was of God, even more than the blessing. So he knew that God, not that he was obeying God, or had a right attitude at all, had a wrong spirit, like his brother. But he knew that what God had was valuable, and he wanted it. Okay, long story short, they say, my sister always says that, I can count on it, every phone call. Okay, verse 41, into chapter when the stealing of the blessing, actually lying to his father and getting it, the stealing of the blessing, into that story was in verse 41, and Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, you know, Dad's not going to be living too much longer, I'll just kill him. And that ties right up with the sermonette, demonstrating once again, there's so many parallels between two speakers on a particular day. God inspires these things.

We struggle along to do our best to handle it well, and with the confidence, that God will get the message out. Consider this, it wasn't just Esau, most of the family of Abraham, all of his children, quite a few children, many nations, didn't say four or five, but many nations, most of them hate the Jews, their closest brothers or their brothers.

It wasn't just Edom. Edom was leader, and therefore he becomes a type of all the enemies.

I'll get back to that if we have time, otherwise another time, but that's the general rule. Okay, then we go to chapter 28, and here is, you know, he is wrath. He's really mad, and he's planning to murder, and so his, their mother cooks up a plan, and she says, interesting, she blames it on, blames it, not blames it, but she put, she states as her reason for wanting to get Jacob out of there, as, I'm just sick of these wives that Esau has chosen, the daughters of Heth, when the real reason was the safety of Jacob highlighting her, you know, evil, when, when, we don't actually have anything that says that Isaac knew that Rebekah did it.

She probably fessed up in later years. When Isaac said to Esau what, what Jacob had done, he says, your brother has stolen the blessing from you, and he doesn't mention the mother. So did he not know? I don't, I can't tell. He doesn't say. But there, but things between Isaac and Rebekah, uh, were never smooth. They never agreed eye to eye. She really favored Jacob. He really favored Esau. That, by the way, of course, is a, is a recipe for family disaster, which we see here. So there, there are a couple of other points here. We'll leave that for another time about this relationship, but she sends him off as quick as possible, and is successful, and God's in that, you know. So what does Jacob do? Interesting. He, when he first realized, when Esau said, no, I'm Esau. Who is this other guy? He said, oh, no. Who is it that came in? I've already blessed. And Esau breaks down and sobs. Can't you bless me with anything? And, and he said, I've made him your Lord. And I've given him all the, you know, the double portion, the fair parts of the earth. And Esau begs again, and he gives him a blessing. Same blessing, or a couple of them, anyway. As Jacob, but just much less. That's all he had left to give. So why couldn't he just change it? Say, well, Jacob lied, and that's off. It's fraud out. It has to do with God's will in the first place. Secondly, it has to do with cultural things because they didn't have paper. He didn't sign contracts. And this was the signing and the sealing of a contract. A verbal sealing of it. And you couldn't go back on it. Was that a good and godly idea? No. That's how they handled it in that culture. But God uses our cultures widely, widely varied to get his work done and his sovereign will. So that's what happened there. Interesting. One more thing that Esau does, which shows character. He said, well, did he go back like his parents had told him to? He told both of them to.

And go back to their people, their relatives, and choose a wife there. No. He went over and got one of Ishmael's daughters. Actually, yeah, it says his daughter. That could refer to granddaughter, but one of Ishmael. Mahalat. And he takes the third wife. Later he took a fourth and a fifth, at least, and had one child by either a concubine. Well, she became a concubine, at least. So he was not careful in his reproducing. Let's say it that way. But his solution here was still to go do it his own way and not do what his parents told him, which is go back to your relatives. We want you to marry somebody in our clan. So that shows you that what I said is backed up once again.

And so in Isha's book, God just didn't count. He just undoubtedly gave some kind of religious sacrifices and so on. Now we have Genesis 32. And I don't need to read this, so I'm just not going to.

I'm just going to summarize it. Jacob leaves. He's gone for 20 years or 40 years.

And that's argued by different people, you know, genealogists. But he comes back. I think it was probably 20, but then I look at the... I also think it was probably 40. I don't know. So it's not told us, and people who know genealogy have said that. So I'll just leave it with that. Genesis 32 then. In verse 11, see, he's coming back and he comes to the creek or the river Jabbok, and he's going to cross over. And he sends, you know, he gets word, he sends out people. And Esau is headed there, toward him with 400 armed men. That's a huge group, and he just had a bunch of women and a few men who weren't used to fighting. And you know that he wrestled all right with God, and God changed his name to Jacob, or Israel, which means... from Jacob to Israel, which means...overcomer with God. It has to have that with in there. Overcomer or winners with God.

We had a radio program, God's Winners, and that's caught on there, so that's kind of common problems now. It came from this. So Jacob wasn't going to win a fight with Esau in that circumstance, and he knew it. He was just terribly freed. And he says, I will not let you go in the wrestling match until you bless me, because he knew by then who he was wrestling. And he says in verse 11 something that's amazing. I'm sorry, I'm not even there.

Um...3, 2, 11, you probably read it. Deliver me, I pray thee from the hand of my brother, Jacob prays, from the hand of Esau. For I fear him, lest he will come and smite one, and the mother...pardon me, smite me, and the mother with the children. What in the world was Jacob thinking? Could it be that he knew the character of Esau, and that he had taken the lives of people that upset him? Because it says that later. He had murdered. Or I guess it implies the Jews say that their tradition is that he had murdered. But anyway, could it be that Jacob knew something about Esau, and had good reason to fear? I submit the definite possibility of the answer is yes. Otherwise, why would he say such a thing? Um...well, of course, he knew that he had...Esau had basically sworn, made it well known that he was going to kill Jacob. So, chapter 33, they embrace to Jacob's great relief. Esau is overwhelmed with emotion, and they wept. And Esau wants to go with him, protect. You know, protection. He's got 400 men. And Jacob, and he wants to...and he says, what's all this bleeding out here? You know, well, that's my gift, where your servant has been blessed by God. You know the story. So, then Esau wants to...he wants to be together.

And he offers favors and gifts himself in the opportunity to follow him and go with him back, accompany him for protection. And Jacob makes up an excuse and refuses everything that Esau offers. So, the question is, you know, did Jacob really repent? Apardon me. Did Esau really forgive Jacob? And the answer seems to be, he wanted to. He wanted to make amends. But Jacob didn't accept anything. So, what's with Jacob? He knew he was guilty, and he already had expressed that a few years ago when Laban tricked him. He says, well, God is paying me back. You know, this is what I deserve. I deserve to be tricked. I always wondered why he didn't fight for his woman. I'd say, I don't care about your stupid traditions. You know, I love that one, not that one. But, like I say, it's a different way of looking at things, a different culture. Okay, so what happened after this also shows something about Jacob and Esau, the twins.

Esau said, Sayonara. That'll be great, because Jacob said, we've got real slow traveling, and we'll get back to where we're going, and we'll come and visit you after that. Well, Jacob never did. And Esau was content with that. They lived down there, and his nation was growing. And so, so what's with Jacob and Esau? It doesn't really tell us, but a couple of other things give us some hint. Oh yes, big important thing. They didn't have a meal together. That's the symbol throughout the world. Certainly in the family of Abraham, both sides of the family are all sides of the family.

You take food together. You eat. It's a symbol of fellowship, acceptance, love, relationship. It acknowledges the relationship, even if it might be chilly. You might have dinner with, you know, you know, a head of state, but you're acknowledging there's a personal relationship if you actually eat food together. And they didn't do this. That was the biggest thing that happened, aside from, you know, the fact that God prevented Esau from fulfilling his desire to murder Jacob. So, we don't know about that. It was 23 years later that their father Isaac died, and they both met at the funeral and buried him. That's in chapter 35.

So, otherwise, 35-36 are genealogies. There's one interesting point in chapter 36 verse 31, and this is important, or else I wouldn't mention it, being in a hurry like this. But, 36-31, this is a list in all the genealogies of Esau. This is a list of the kings in Esau, or in Edom, before there was a king in Israel. And there's a considerable list of kings.

So, that means, and this apparently, they say this particular section was added by Ezra to add to the, I don't know why, but that's what they say. Okay, so, explain why this is important and what has gone on, and try to catch up with the story here.

Summarize what has happened. And it's amazing to me. I've studied at some, I'm not a scholar on this site, but this one, this study site. As a matter of fact, I gave a three-part sermon like the first two months I was here at Omaha on this very topic. So, I expected everybody was there, could repeat every word of it, every point. And of course, not. It's a good while back, I even have to review it. But Esau was wealthy and powerful hundreds of years before Jacob was.

Jacob, you know, he had a caravan and so on. He was a patriarch. But that paled into insignificance as to what Esau had. So, when Esau came with 400 men, out of joy, I'm going to see my brother, got kind of a chilly reception. It's strange, even though Jacob was super humble.

But Esau, you know, his brother Jacob, struggling, straggling around with four wives and uptime kids and a bunch of servants and quite a few animals. Apparently, he accepted that gift. It seems like I read it last night to review and don't remember that detail. He did. Yeah. Okay, so Esau takes off and he's happy to have the animals. Nice gift. And so we'll get to dad. We'll have a good time then. If you remember that song, casting the cradle.

And they don't see each other for 23 years and so on. Esau continues being a man who had, get this, remember, Israel had 12 tribes and there was 13. Esau had 13 tribes and way more numerous than Israel. Way more numerous because a lot of them, about the time of the Exodus, about when Israel was coming up into the land. I think God did this, well, for several reasons, but Esau and a lot of the Edomites from that whole area of South Judah migrated. They went on up north. We find indications. They went to Turkey. The capital of Turkey. What's the capital of, who remembers the capital of Turkey? Istanbul. Istanbul? No. Taman. It doesn't matter. It comes from the word, one of the sons of Edom.

Istanbul, of course, was a big time leader, but this is the capital of modern Turkey. Anyway, we have the name of one of the sons of Esau, one of his princes. He had huge tribes. What is it? It is, and that's not the word I was thinking of, so sorry I brought it up.

It just won't come. It starts with a T. Taman is, sorry about that. That's a rabbit trail. My fault. I probably blew 30 seconds on that. This is bad. I'm trying to hurry.

So they seem to also, I understand from scholars, not from my own studies. Beyond me, it's very interesting to me. They seem to have gone up into the stans. That is Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc. Then there's always a lot of stans up there. So just up in that area of the world, in southern Asia, and the Ishmaelites, not Ishmaelites, but the Edomites had a huge, I read a paper, very interesting, but they were a huge, powerful nation. They didn't have enough space. They moved into southern Judah, actually the ones that were still there. But the main body moved up. You saw as huge. Edom is huge. I just have that general knowledge taken from people who are experts and scholars. Otherwise, I can't say, but I don't want to pass it along to you. But it does make sense because Esau became wealthy. He was powerful. And he saw Jacob over there struggling, just starting out, as it were, as a young man. And he was either, well, he was 60. We just read that. So he looked over and saw Jacob. And he said, that blessing that he stole and that birthright, ha ha ha ha! Boy, sure glad I got out of there soon. Or something like that. That gave him more reason to totally disregard the promise and the Word of God.

So then, Israel then goes into slavery. And so the children of Esau, they despised him way back then. They had further reason to think that that old God that Father Esau and Jacob, Esau rejected. And that God wasn't worth much. Look at Israel now. There are slaves in Egypt.

Then the Edomites spread north and east. And I'm taking that on somebody else's word. I am not the scholar that could prove that at all. But they were mixed. And who do you think lived up there in that area of southern Asia? If it wasn't.

There are 13 children of Abraham by Keturah. God said many nations. So there are just many peoples. Even into Eastern Europe. Some of them there, the Slavs. And so we have Abraham spreading all over. And they've got kind of the center of the world. And all the other, the big powers, Babylon and Assyria and Egypt, they're beyond the local neighborhood. And that's what a lot of the prophecy is about. Because that's where God is going to start. To run his plan that he had from the beginning. When Christ comes back. So, now you might say, hmm, that sounds like a speculation. Well, you kind of have to, it's like studying the pre-flood world. You have to speculate. Something happened, and maybe it was that. And the same thing was this. I don't know details. I don't, in this life, probably won't have the time to go into it. And I'm not sure it's available to be able to prove. But the principle of the basic relationship, the fight within the family of Abraham, the hatred which has to go as step one to peace in the millennium. That we can show is true. So, Israel went to Canaan, and by the time, and they harassed him during the Judges' period. The Edomites and the Moabites, and the other peoples around there, just continually harassed him. Finally, they attacked Solomon, and he beat them, not Solomon, King Saul, and he beat them back to where they weren't much trouble. But they attacked again, of course, and when they attacked David, David finished the job. And they were his, not just beaten in armies, he put them under tribute. He said, you're going to do it my way. And that was God's will. That had to be. That was prophesied. And so, they lived by each other, and have continued to have these fights. It always involved the terrorism on one side, and on the other side, defending it. This is not a political speech, by the way. This is biblical prophecy happening in our own view. The church preached this before I was born, and I preached it when I was a young man. This is what's going to happen, what I mentioned last week. So, but there's a glorious end to it. God always has that. What happened is that David subjugated him, and there's a prophecy about them being under the yoke, and then being able to break it off, and so on. I may not get to that today. But let's notice in Exodus 17, verse 14. As a matter of fact, let's not turn there. I did read this last week, where Amalek was cursed. It's because they were continually full of hatred and fighting.

Numbers 20, verses 14 through 22. Now we come where the sin or the crime of Edom is mentioned. So we want to read this one. Numbers, chapter 20. The book of Obadiah can be divided into, first of all, a statement of the problem. And secondly, the middle five verses, the crime of Edom. So Edom's humiliation, number two, Edom's crime, and three, Edom's doom. And that's that short book of 21 verses of Obadiah.

But in Numbers 20, verse 14, this is in the years of wandering.

And here's what my study Bible says. Years of wandering, point eight, the never-forgiven sin of Edom. So here's what it is. Why is God so hard on Edom? He just doesn't say much good at all about Edom, that just in the end, I'll save you.

So Moses sent messengers to Kdash at Kdash, that's high in the Sinai, and below by 100 miles or so, or so, maybe 80, of the Dead Sea. He sent messengers to the king of Edom and says, thus says thy brother Israel. Remember, we're brethren. You know all the trouble that has befallen us.

And how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers. And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel, and has brought us forth out of Egypt. Moses continues his letter to the king. And behold, we are in Kdash, a city in the outermost, just right on the edge of your border.

Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country we will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards. Neither will we drink of the wells, we will go by this king's highway, and we will not turn to the right or the left, and until we have passed your border. And Edom wrote back and said to him, so the whole nation is... This is not just how the king felt. It's not just, well, those bad guys, you know, and their fighters.

No, the whole nation was unified. You shall not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. And so Moses answered back, but we'll go by the highway, and we will... If our cattle drink, we'll pay you for the water. And verse 20, you shall not go, and Edom came out with them with many people and with a strong hand. And after... and that would be, let me see now... Well, several hundred years after the original offense, and Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border.

Wherefore, Israel turned away from him. They went a different way. And around... and this is where Basra comes in. That was close to Basra. They had to go and circle around Basra and go on north. That's right, just below the end of the Dead Sea. If you want to look at it on the map, they were at K-Barnia and came on up. So that was what just flipped the switch. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were. That was Edom's last chance to make up with God and his decision to choose Jacob over Esau.

Because this was family lore, everybody knew who everybody was. The world was young. There weren't that many people and knew who came from who. So that was the sin. In Numbers 24 it talks about Balaam. And in 25 it continues there. And Balaam's sin, Edom had a part in that. And in Balaam's prophecy, which he prophesied, goodness on Israel. And there's one small section, just like in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, that is a prophecy against the people who were surrounding the Israelites and were their enemies. And he says Edom will be a possession and Amalek the worst of all, the worst punished of all. So that's kind of a whirlwind picture.

You get the idea of what's going on here. I'm not going to read the book of Obadiah, which that book is one chapter long and it's against Edom. This Israel revolted... pardon me. Sometime they say 845 BC. So that's before Amos and Isaiah. But apparently, as we tell, that was the time when Edom revolted and were not under Israel. And they got rid of David's subjugation. And so the prophecy back in Genesis, which I didn't read that, but... Or maybe we did. The older will serve the younger.

And I don't know if I went on to read that Edom would be under the yoke of Israel, but he would be able to break the yoke of Israel. At least he wouldn't be under there. And so that happened. That's 2 Kings 8. It mentions that if you're interested. And you get so many... By the way, I put these scriptures, and not quite all of them are on this handout. That's why I'm not passing out today. Obadiah... I have to look at one verse, verse 11.

That's all I want to note here. Because it shows specifically, it answers to the sin, where they were cruel. So Obadiah, verse 11, in the day... Well, verse 10. This is the doom of Edom. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.

And that means during this life. That doesn't mean the second death. In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captives his forces, and foreigners entered into the gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou were one of them. I'm having trouble in this light. It's just shining on the page that's wrong.

But you were one of these that were doing that. This happened in the Babylonian incursion. It happened with the Romans, and it apparently is going to happen again. There's also a type of Christ in this verse.

So the Gentiles standing around cheering. And of course, some of the Jews cheering. But some of the Gentiles, the Romans, just happy because a Jew was destroyed. God doesn't take lightly to this. Anybody know a parent? Think of a parent. If you hate his child, his or her child, and want to kill them, how's the relationship with the parent? God does not take that lightly, hatred of his people.

Psalm 137 verse 7, I'll just quote it. You stood around, you helped plunder, and you helped slaughter. You wanted to kill Jews. I'm adding something. And they said, quote, raise it, raise it, burn it, burn it! Of the temple, of the city of Jerusalem, the whole thing. Okay, I said I'd come back to Isaiah 34, and he's equal to 35.

And we have two minutes, so I'm going to... because I don't want to give a whole sermon on that. But there is something we need to look at here. Isaiah chapter 34. This is against Edom. This is that section that I didn't read a while ago. Verse 2, for the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations. This talks about the end of the world. Armageddon is the focus, the final focus, but the whole day of the Lord, and it is fury upon their armies.

But this is in the section that brings up Edom. Verse 5, for my sword shall be bathed in heaven.

Behold, it shall come down upon Edom and upon the people of my curse to judgment. He talks about the Lord having a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Now, this is where it mentions the day of the Lord.

Verse 8, for this is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. This is interesting because the day of the Lord seems to be a year. It doesn't say that, but there are some indications. And then there's another tie-in to the end time, and this connects with one other or two other scriptures. Edom with Rome, that is, God's enemies, all of God's enemies. As a matter of fact, Rome was called Edom, I think, in one prophecy, because it stood for the enemies of God in general.

It shall not be quenched night nor day, and the smoke shall go up. That's the fire of their society. The smoke shall go up forever from generation to generation. And this doesn't mean an ever-burning fire, as we've studied. It means that it will go up until the job is completely done.

Completely done. So that ties... this is important because it ties Edom with Babylon and Rome, where this... and the end time beast, where this prophecy will be fulfilled again. Now let's go over to Ezekiel and wrap it up, because we can make the point without reading a lot. This is Ezekiel chapter 35. Prophecy against Mount Seir, or Edom. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Set your face against Mount Seir. That's a prophecy against the Edomites. And he basically talks, I will make you desolate.

I'll lay your city's waste, and you shall be desolate, and you shall know that I am the Lord. There are two things this means. The literal wiping out of the literal nation, the physical nation, which God says in other places. But there's something else. It's the end of the world, the second coming of Christ he's talking about.

And he gives this prophecy about the entire world. First, these small nations. First, Israel to Isaiah. He said, How long do I have to preach? Isaiah says to God, chapter 6, the commission, God's answer, until every last city is destroyed. Why? Because that's what not following, rejecting God's view and his ways and obedience to God, it's his authority to decide who will be in charge like your brother or you, who's going to be the head of the family.

If you reject God and his authority over your life, so it becomes the entire world, specifically Edom as an example, and every single one of us as individuals, if we reject what God has given, that is his authority over our lives, we're goners, not with hatred, but we're goners because we can't be allowed. We can't have anything that hurts in God's kingdom, and hatred is the basic core of hurt, having hatred in one's mind, the exaltation of self against God. And I will lay thy cities' waste, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So there's the key right there. All this punishment. For what reason?

So that you shall know that I am the Lord. And that's mentioned to every nation that is spoken to, it's mentioned to the whole world, and it's mentioned to every single person who is converted. We have to understand and know God, and know that he is the true God. And here is the key freedom, the specific, the worst thing that they and the whole world will be punished for, because you have had a perpetual hatred, and has shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, when they should have had compassion, in other words, in the time that their iniquity had an end.

And that's a bit confusing. That's when Israel was ready to repent or had repented. And they were being punished, and they knew it, and Edom came along and shed their blood. And so you're going to have to learn the same thing that Israel learns, God is saying, and that is, you have to know that I am the Lord, you shall know that I am the Lord, verse 9.

And I won't read, that's the main point. Verse 12, repeated, you will know. Everybody, the whole world, has to know this, that going God's way is not just going to give you major problems or inconveniences and so on. That's true. But the end thereof isn't a metaphor. It's actually death. Anything against God's way is death. So, is the history of... the question is the history as far as takeaways.

Is the history of Edom, though we didn't read every detail, is that relevant to this whole world right now? The geopolitical situation that's going on, is it relevant to me personally and you personally? The answer, as we would say in the Ozark, is yup. It sure is. It's definitely... this is relevant. Prescription. Relevance in prescription, you know. Prescription. Let's make sure we're doing our part. Our part isn't to go out and win the political wars or, you know, go over and fight for freedom in a physical way. Our part... and this really gets right back to the sermon at least they just detailed... dovetailed today. Okay, those are the official takeaways. One takeaway that you're not taking away is this handout, which I'm not finished with. Just a few more details and I thought that'd be, you know, helpful to read up on this subject and understand. Happy Sabbath. God's blessings and thankfulness to everybody.