A Line by Line Exposition of Ezekiel 38 – Part 6
March 21, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
We concluded Part 5 with an exposition of Ezekiel 38:12, which has been done continuously from Ezekiel 38:1. We will now continue this exposition, beginning with Ezekiel 38:13
Ezekiel 38:13 – Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarsh ish
with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil
? h ast thou g
athered thy company to take a prey
? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
Verse 13 mentions three other descendants which were not mentioned previously as being among the horde that attacked Israel, namely, Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish. Sheba and Dedan settled in the land we know as Saudi Arabia, later colonizing across the Red Sea in the horn we know today as Ethiopia.
Tarshish is much harder to nail down
to a specific location. The descendants of Tarshish were sea merchants who became the peoples
of the Mediterranean Sea coast. The headquarters of the descendants of Tarshish is now generally accepted by most biblical authorities as a district in
the south of Spain where the city of Tartessus once existed.
The merchants of Tarshish scattered their descendants in village settlements along most of the coastal sections of Europe.
I am persuaded that Europe represents the descendant offspring of Tarshish.
It is quite possible that God
may look upon the rest of Western Civilization as being the offspring (descendants) of Europe (“the young lions thereof”).
The countries of the New World became the “melting pot” of Europe. It is very interesting what Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the rest of Western Civilization have to say to Gog about his attack on Israel: “Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey
? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” This is no more or less than the perfect description of a diplomatic protest to Gog’s actions.
When the anti-Christ and his armies roar south into Israel in a blitzkrieg lightning strike, the rest of the free world will protest, protest, protest – and do nothing about it. The anti-Christ will take Jerusalem within a week of his initial strike in the north, and within three weeks most of Israel will have fled into the Negev
south of Beersheva, where she will remain for some three and one-half years. Jerusalem will fall and only one-third of Israel’s population will make it safely into the Negev. A truce will be declared, and it will hold from almost three and one-half years,
Zechariah 13:8 to 14:2 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein
shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
[2] For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the
city.
Lord willing, we will continue expositing in Part 7on the remaining verses in the 38th Chapter of Ezekiel