The thorns of prophecy

During the latter part of January 2025 Rachel and I went on a ministry/family trip to the USA. Immediately after our return to Israel, I (Avner) came down with a strong case of bacterial pneumonia – high fever, intense shakings, sweats, brain fog and much physical weakness. I eventually ended up in Beersheva’s Soroka Hospital for a few days, responding well to strong antibiotic treatment. I received excellent care from the primarily Arab Bedouin medical staff. At this point I am home, gradually regaining strength (about 80% back to normal). Fever, sweats and shakings are gone. Mental clarity is nearly fully recovered. Sense of humor is untouched. Prayer is appreciated for a full and speedy recovery.

So much has happened during this last month in our fast-moving world. In particular, in the Middle East, head-spinning and earth-shaking events continue at break-neck speed. Yet the Scriptures’ prophetic perspective and spiritual wisdom still speak with clarity, authority and truth to all who would listen. Our generation is moving so quickly that we could well be missing the main thrust of the divine story: God, the Great Referee, is operating on the playing field of this planet – for His glory and for the salvation and restoration of His chosen people Israel.

Thorns in your eyes

God warned Moses and Joshua that the Jewish people would be confronting mortal enemies who were still living in the Promised Land. He gave the Hebrew nation clear instructions on how to deal with these enemies, and soberly warned Israel of specific consequences if His commands were to be ignored (see Judges 1):

• “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from you, then it will come about that those whom you let remain of them will be like thorns in your eyes and like pricks in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And just as I plan to do to them, I will do to you” (Numbers 33:55-56; see also Judges 2:1-5, where the Angel of YHVH re-emphasizes this point directly to Israel).

The armies of Israel were to make no covenant or agreement with the ‘inhabitants of the land’; they were also to tear down their religious sites. If Israel allowed their foes to co-exist with them in the Promised Land, YHVH declared: “Know with certainty that YHVH your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you. But they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which YHVH your God has given you” (Joshua 23:10-15). The God of Jacob promised that, if Israel did not follow YHVH’s commands on this matter, “YHVH will bring upon you all the warnings, until He has eliminated you from this good land which YHVH your God has given you.”

• According to the words of Moses, Joshua and even YHVH Himself, Israel’s refusal to exile its mortal enemies from the Land would lead directly to the Exile of the Jewish people – to Assyria, Babylon and New York. Since the biblical covenants promise the Land of Israel exclusively to Jacob’s children, no treaty, accord or covenant between Israel and its enemies is kosher in the sight of YHVH – especially when it involves handing over any part of the Promised Land to its foes. The Bible tells us that this is how God views the matter.

Edom and Amalek – all in the family

Over 2,600 years ago, about 600 B.C., the prophet Ezekiel described Edom/Esau as Israel’s sworn enemy:

• ADONAI YHVH says this: “Because Edom has acted against the House of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred great guilt, and avenged themselves upon them, therefore this is what ADONAI YHVH says: I will also reach out with My hand against Edom and eliminate human and animal life from it. And I will turn it into ruins; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. And I will inflict My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom in accordance with My anger and My wrath. So they will know My vengeance,” declares ADONAI YHVH (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

Eight hundred years before Ezekiel entered into prophetic ministry, Moses had already pinpointed the coming significance of Esau’s firstborn grandson Amalek: he was described in the Scriptures as an arch-enemy of the Jewish people: “Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz” (Genesis 36:12). The background to this enmity is explained in Exodus 17, at the Battle of Rephidim:

• Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” Joshua did just as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it came about, when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed; but when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. And Moses’ hands were heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. So his hands were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then YHVH said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and named it YHVH NISI [‘YHVH is My Banner’]. And he said, “Because YHVH has sworn, there will be war for YHVH against Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:8-16)

Wiping out the name of Amalek

 

The God of Israel’s commandment to destroy Amalek is something very serious in His eyes.

• “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. So it shall come about, when YHVH your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which YHVH your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven. You must not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)

 

The principle here is straight out of the Abrahamic Covenant: “I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you I will curse!” (Genesis 12:3 ESV). In Moses’ day the Amalekites attempted to slaughter the Jewish people – exactly what Hamas jihadis tried to do to Jewish people on October 7, 2023 in the Gaza border area. YHVH’s response to Amalekite atrocities was not to proffer a Camp David peace treaty or an Oslo Peace Accords. The God of Jacob didn’t even suggest the possibility of a ceasefire, or the exiling of all Amalekites to another country. YHVH’s orders were straight to the point: Israel is ordered to slaughter Amalek, to wipe out even the remembrance of that people from the face of the earth. How many people today would consider these commands of the God of the Hebrews to be politically correct?

Deadly serious about Amalek

 

YHVH’s determination to remove Amalek from the rosters of mankind is something that some people have difficulty comprehending. King Saul was one such person.

• Then Samuel [the Prophet] said to Saul, “YHVH sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of YHVH . This is what YHVH  of armies says: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, in that he obstructed him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and completely destroy everything that he has, and do not spare him. But put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey’”

• Then Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah going toward Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and completely destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the more valuable animals, the lambs, and everything that was good, and were unwilling to destroy them completely; but everything despicable and weak, that they completely destroyed

• Then the word of YHVH came to Samuel, saying, “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands” . . . So Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of YHVH! I have carried out the command of YHVH!” 

• So Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were insignificant in your own eyes, that you became the head of the tribes of Israel? For YHVH anointed you as king over Israel. And YHVH sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are eliminated.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of YHVH ? Instead, you loudly rushed upon the spoils and did what was evil in the sight of YHVH !”

• Samuel said, “Does YHVH have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of YHVH? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Since you have rejected the word of YHVH, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15; see also 1 Samuel 28:18)

The God of Israel sees the dividing up of the Promised Land and sharing it with the Jewish people’s enemies as major rebellion against His will. Such a step disqualifies kings and brings exile upon the Jewish people. We live in sobering times, when both the majority of the world and a significant percentage of the Jewish people are not tracking with the abiding nature of these commandments of God; they have no problem ignoring these divine principles. Yet the word of God has not changed.

Jewish history and enemies of the Jews

The Jewish calendar of feasts and fasts is replete with the names of our enemies – those who tried to commit genocide against the Israeli nation, and nearly succeeded in doing so. Egypt’s Pharaoh, Sinai’s Amalek, Balak of Moab and Balaam his professional curser, Edom, Haman of Persia – this is a partial biblical list of our historical foes.

Psalm 83 lists eleven enemy nations who are trying to carry out genocide against the Jews: Edomite Palestinians, Ishmaelite Bedouin, Moabite Jordanians, Sinaitic Hagrites and Amalekites, Lebanese from Gebal and Tyre, Central Jordanian Ammonites, Gazans from Philistia, Northern Iraqis from Assyria, and Southern Jordanians descended from Lot. The upcoming Feast of Purim reminds us of how another nation – Iran - nearly wiped out all the Jewish people living in the Persian Empire. And once again, in our day Iran’s shadow falls across the doorstep of the Jewish nation, glowing with nuclear energy.

In modern times, Islamist and jihadi enemies have become part of the equation. According to the words of the Hebrew prophets, these nations are taking counsel to divide up, occupy and rule the Jewish homeland, actively pursuing the murder of the sons and daughters of Jacob.  They are backed up at the UN, strengthened by the EU and USAID, and trained and armed by superpowers of East and West. These Islamist forces push counterfeit strategies directly opposed to biblical principles: they strive not to bless Israel but to curse her; not to liberate the Jewish people but to enslave them; not to bring life to the Hebrews but to annihilate Jacob’s seed. And in a perverse reversal of Genesis 12:3 and Romans 1:16, they strive to actuate these demonic strategies “ to the Jew first.”

The Bible’s most-wanted list of enemies of the Jews

In Ezekiel chapters 25, 35 and 36, a comprehensive list of Middle Eastern enemies of the Jewish people is given. Their sins against Israel are detailed and coming judgments are described. Here are the countries, their sins against Israel, and their judgments:

Ammon

• “Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, and have rejoiced with all the malice in your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I have reached out with My hand against you and I will give you as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and eliminate you from the lands. I will exterminate you. So you will know that I am YHVH” (Ezekiel 25:6-7)

Moab

• Moab and Seir say, “Behold, the House of Judah is like all the nations,” . . . I will give Moab to the people of the East . . .  So I will execute judgments on Moab” (Ezekiel 25:8-11)

Edom

• ADONAI YHVH says this: “Because Edom has acted against the House of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred great guilt, and avenged themselves upon them, therefore this is what ADONAI YHVH  says: I will also reach out with My hand against Edom and eliminate human and animal life from it. And I will turn it into ruins; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. And I will inflict My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom in accordance with My anger and My wrath. So they will know My vengeance,” declares ADONAI YHVH (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

Philistia

• This is what ADONAI YHVH says: “Because the Philistines have acted in revenge, and have taken vengeance with malice in their souls to destroy [Israel] with everlasting hostility,” therefore this is what ADONAI YHVH  says: “Behold, I am going to reach out with My hand against the Philistines and eliminate the Cherethites. And I will destroy the remnant of the seacoast. I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am YHVH, when I inflict My vengeance on them” (Ezekiel 25:15-17)

Edom

• Since you [Edom] have had everlasting hostility and have turned over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the punishment of the end, therefore as I live, declares ADONAI YHVH, I will certainly doom you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you. I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will eliminate from it one who passes through and returns. I will fill its mountains with its slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines. I will make you a permanent desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am YHVH. Since you have said, “These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them,” although YHVH was there, therefore as I live, declares ADONAI YHVH, I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your envy which you displayed because of your hatred for them; so I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. Then you will know that I, YHVH, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are desolate; they have been given to us as food.’ And you have spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I Myself have heard it. This is what ADONAI YHVH says: As all the earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the House of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am YHVH (Ezekiel 35:5-15)

• Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of YHVH. This is what ADONAI YHVH says: “Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’ therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what ADONAI YHVH says: “For good reason they have made you desolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the talk and the rumor of the people.” Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of ADONAI YHVH. This is what ADONAI YHVH says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the abandoned cities which have become plunder and an object of ridicule to the rest of the nations which are all around – therefore ADONAI YHVH says this: “Certainly in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder.” Therefore prophesy in regard to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “This is what ADONAI YHVH says: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have endured the insults of the nations.’ Therefore ADONAI YHVH says this: ‘I have sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves (Ezekiel 36:1-7)

Prophecy about Gaza

About 720 BC, Isaiah prophesied concerning a Last Days military invasion of Gaza (the Philistine Plain) by the combined forces of Israel’s armies. This invasion will conquer all of Gaza, as well as possess the Edomite/Palestinian West Bank, all of Jordan and other unnamed Arabic speaking peoples east of Israel.

• Then it will happen on that day that YHVH will again recover with His hand the second time the remnant of His people who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a flag for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and those who harass Judah will be eliminated. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them (Isaiah 11:11-14)

Current events show us that this End of Days oracle is not far off.

 

When the God of vengeance arises

When Messiah Yeshua returns, He will not have a long-stemmed rose between His teeth. On the contrary. According to Revelation 19:11-16:

• And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called ‘The Word of God.’ And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

The New Covenant Messiah, “out of whose mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:15-17), is the same Lord spoken of in Psalm 137:7-8:

• Remember, YHVH, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem – those who said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare to its foundation!” Daughter of Babylon, you devastated one: Blessed will be one who repays you with the retribution with which you have repaid us!”

 

The God of the Bible is not only the God of love and of mercy; He is also the God of justice and vengeance, though many believers sidestep these aspects of His divine character. Psalm 94:1-10 enlightens us:

• YHVH, God of vengeance – God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, Judge of the earth! Pay back retribution to the proud. How long, YHVH, shall the wicked – how long shall the wicked triumph? They pour out words, they speak arrogantly. All who do injustice boast. They crush Your people, YHVH, and afflict Your inheritance. They kill the widow and the stranger and murder the orphans. They have said, “YHVH does not see, nor does the God of Jacob perceive.” Pay attention, you stupid ones among the people, and when will you understand, foolish ones? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? Or He who formed the eye, does He not see? He who disciplines the nations, will He not rebuke – He who teaches mankind knowledge?

The enemies of the Jewish people are very much alive. Their murderous malice shimmers before us. God is raising up His Ezekiel 37 army to confront and vanquish Israel’s foes. Our prayers to Him need to recognize His multi-faceted nature: the God of victory is also the God of vengeance. We are to call on Him for His strategies and heart to be fulfilled – not only for international repentance, but also for His glory, His victory and His holy vengeance.

 

 

How shall we then pray?

• Pray for revelation and courage to be given to Israel’s leaders in political, intelligence and military spheres – to understand and counteract strategies against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8) – as jihadi armies gather at our borders.

• Pray that enemy strategies against the Jewish people and their state, against Middle East Christians and other minorities – will be confounded, and that a great harvest would take place in all of these areas!

• Pray for the protection of Israeli and Jewish people from the assaults of jihadi terror organizations and Western fellow-travelers, and the return of the Jewish people to both the Land and the Messiah of Israel

• There are approximately 24 living Israeli hostages remaining, kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP/PLO and the Mujahideen Brigades.  Hamas is also holding on to approximately 70 Israeli corpses as cold storage bargaining chips. Pray for the speedy release of all the hostages, and for YHVH’s justice to be brought on the heads of the Islamist kidnappers

• Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey
 

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