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Ancient Zechariah Prophecy Predicts Jerusalem will Intoxicate the
Arabs and Burden the Nations
Part Two: Jerusalem a Cup of Drunkenness to the Arabs
By Bill Salus
In Part one of this two-part study, Jerusalem was explained to be a burdensome stone to
the nations. Part one called, Jerusalem A Burden to the Nations, is linked here:
Part two will address what
happens to the surrounding
Muslim nations in Zechariah
12:2. These Arab states
falsely and forcibly contest
Israels biblically endorsed
sovereignty over Judah and
Jerusalem.
Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of
drunkenness, (or trembling), to all the surrounding (Arab) peoples, (on the right hand
and on the left), when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. (Zec. 12:2,
NKJV; emphasis added)
Land for Peace Deals ARE NOT Biblically Endorsed!
On August 3, 2017, the Haaretz Newspaper in Israel reported the following,
Jared Kushner Warns 'There May Be No Solution' to Israeli-
Palestinian Conflict
http://solutionsimplicity.com/pdm/jp2.pdf
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President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner,
expressed hesitancy at the United States' ability to broker a
peace deal between Israel and the PalestiniansWere trying to
work with the parties very quietly to see if there's a solution.
And there may be no solution. i
The 36-year-old Jared Kushner, who President Trump appointed as his lead Middle East
peace envoy, has discovered what the former US Presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and
Barrack Obama were forced to realize; that finding a diplomatic solution that ends the Arab-
Israel conflict is virtually impossible.
These former US Presidents and their appointed envoys have tried trading the biblical
Promised Land for Mideast peace to no avail, and Donald Trumps team is thus far following in
the same failed footsteps. Land for peace deals are not biblically endorsed! The only diplomatic
solution available to resolve the present Mideast conflict is described in the prophecy of
Jeremiah 12:14-17, which was explained in part one of this two-part article.
http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.804604http://solutionsimplicity.com/pdm/jp2.pdf
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Jeremiah 12:16 requires Israels Arab Muslim neighbors to abandon their worship of
Allah, the god in the Koran, in favor of worshipping Jehovah, the God of the Bible. Under the
present Mideast religious environment, this will not happen! Jeremiah 12:17 declares, But if
they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that (Arab) nation, says the Lord.
Diplomacy Will Fail and Middle East War Will Prevail
Jared Kushners assessment of the problematic Mideast peace process, And there
may be no solution, is incorrect! Historically, when diplomacy fails, which it likely will in
this case, wars typically prevail to resolve world and regional conflicts. This is what the Bible
predicts will happen in Zechariah 12:4-6 and elsewhere.
In that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider
with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every
horse of the peoples with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their
heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their
God. In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile,
and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples
on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own
placeJerusalem. (Zechariah 12:4-6)
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As a result of the sequence of events detailed in Zechariah 12:2, in that day, the
prophet foretells how the Arab-Israeli conflict will conclude in the above verses. It ends very
badly for the surrounding Arab nations and terrorist populations within them. The Arabs were
duly warned in Zechariah 12:2 to abandon their siege upon Judah and Jerusalem. Zechariah
declared that their struggle to control Jerusalem would cause them to tremble and reel like a
violent drunkard. However, they persisted in their unbiblical pursuit of homesteading this holy
land.
It is safe to presume that these verses deal with the Arabs, because in both verses 2 and
6, Zechariah identifies the enemy as the surrounding neighbor nations. He uses the Hebrew
word, sabiyb, to distinguish them.ii This is the same Hebrew word used in Ezekiel 28:24-26
and 36:3-7 to describe the neighboring Arab nations that share common borders with Israel.
Zechariah 12:4-6 describes a battle strategy that can never be incorporated into any
nations military manuals except for Israels. It involves a joint military campaign that combines
supernatural intervention with conventional warfare. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will
unleash their superior firepower upon their Arab enemies, while they simultaneously witness
their God Jehovah miraculously weaken the enemy forces.
The IDF are depicted as a fiery torch that easily ignites a field of sheaves. By the time the
IDF goes to battle their enemies are supernaturally reduced to mere kindling for the furnace,
like a fire pan in the woodpile. The New Living Translation equates it to being, Like a flame
that sets a woodpile ablaze.
The International Standard Version (ISV) translates Zechariah 12:6 as follows;
At that time, I will make the leaders of Judah like a brazier filled with blazing
wood, or like a torch setting fire to harvested grain. They will devour all the
invading armies, both on the right hand and on the left. As a result, Jerusalem will
again be inhabited in its rightful placeas the real Jerusalem.
The Supernatural Sequence of Events that Ends the Mideast Conflict
The sequence of battle events flows as follows. Please note that my interpretations
modernize the military scenario. Some commentaries suggest that the world abandons modern
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day weaponry and regresses back to the medieval times when wars were fought with horses
with riders who utilized bows and arrows. When Zechariah prophesied there were no fighter jets
flown by pilots, rather, there were horses arrayed for battle with riders saddled upon them. Thus,
these are the terms he used to describe this war.
First, it appears that the Lord causes the Arab artilleries, tanks and armored vehicles to
malfunction. I will strike every horse with confusion, (Zec. 12:4a)
This supernatural battle tactic was proven effective around 3500 years ago when the
Pharaoh of Egypt and his armies were attempting to attack the Hebrews at the Red Sea
crossing. The episode is recorded below.
Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army
of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the
Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with
difficulty; and the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, the Lord fights
for them against the Egyptians. (Exodus 14:34-35)
Second, these malfunctions apparently create hysteria among the enemy soldiers like it
did to the Egyptians in the above example. and its rider with madness; (Zec. 12:4b)
This same result happened in Judges 7 when Gideons 300-man army battled against
120,000 Midianites and prevailed.iii
Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchersthey held the
torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowingand they
cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon! And every man stood in his place all
around the camp; and the whole army, (120,000 Midianites), ran and cried out and
fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every (Midianite) mans
sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the (panic-stricken
Midianite) army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel
Meholah, by Tabbath. (Judges 7:20-22, NKJV; emphasis added)
This same hysteria will overtake the Ezekiel 38 invaders in the future according to Ezekiel
38:21.
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Third, the Lord will turn His favor toward the IDF and somehow the radar capabilities of
the enemys tanks, jets, rockets, etc. will become disabled. I will open My eyes on the
house of Judah, and will strike every (enemy) horse of the peoples with blindness.
(Zec. 12:4c)
Fourth, the IDF will become emboldened to battle as they witness the enemys equipment
malfunction and the Arab armies panic. They will gain courage as they focus on their fight
to regain sole sovereignty over Jerusalem. And the governors of Judah shall say in
their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts,
their God. (Zec. 12:5)
The Hebrew word for governors is alluph. It can also be translated as captain or
chieftain.iv
Fifth, the IDF seem to slaughter the beleaguered and spooked Arab armies on all sides.
In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and
like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding (Arab)
peoples on the right hand and on the left, (Zec. 12:6a)
Sixth, in victory the Jews will end the Arab-Israeli conflict and regain sovereign control
over their holy city of Jerusalem. but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own
placeJerusalem. (Zechariah 12:6b)
The Zechariah 12 and Psalm 83 Connection
Zechariah 12:2, 4-6, appears to be a minor peripheral
prophecy that is intended to find application to the more major
prophecy described in Psalm 83. Zechariah seems to provide
some of the important details that take place during the fulfillment
of Psalm 83. Several more of these peripheral prophecies exist
and they are identified in my book entitled, Psalm 83: The Missing
Prophecy Revealed, How Israel Becomes the Next Middle East
Superpower.
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Psalm 83, which was authored by the Hebrew prophet Asaph over five centuries before
Zechariah prophesied, predicts that a war between the Arabs and the Israelis will be what
resolves the Middle East conflict. Due to the striking similarities between Psalm 83 and
Zechariah 12, it appears that these two powerful prophecies are interrelated. Some of these
similarities are identified below.
(Map superimposes the ancient names of the Psalm 83 nations over their modern-day equivalents. They
represent all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left of Zec. 12:2,6),
The Arabs form an alliance against Israel - Zechariah 12:2 says the surrounding Arab
states ally together to lay siege upon Judah and Jerusalem. Psalm 83: 2-8, 12, predicts the
same neighboring Arab states will confederate and devise crafty counsel to destroy Israel to
take possession of the Promised Land.
In modernity, we see that this devious Arab plan has incorporated conventional warfare,
as in the cases of the wars of 1948, 1967 and 1971, and It has also included a propaganda war
that has propagated the myth that the Palestinians have just claims to these Israeli territories.
This hype has successfully gotten the International community to refer to these lands as Israeli
occupied territories. The Bible endorses Israels sovereignty over these areas, but the Arabs,
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Muslim world and the international community opposes Israels rightful claims. This campaign
of misinformation has caused the international community to meddle in the sovereignty of these
areas, which was predicted to occur in Zechariah 12:3.
For more information about Psalm 83 as a prophecy that is presently in process, read my
article entitled, Psalm 83 a Prophecy in Process, which is linked here.
The Arabs go to war against Israel Zechariah 12:4-6 describes an Arab-Israeli War.
Psalm 83:4 informs that the Arabs purpose for this war is the final elimination of Israel.
They say, Let us go and erase them as a nation so the name of Israel will not be
remembered anymore. (Psalm 83:4, ISV)
The Arabs are soundly and supernaturally defeated Zechariah 12:4-6 declares that
the IDF are supernaturally empowered to slaughter the surrounding Arab armies. Psalm 83:9-11
petitions the Lord to do this very thing. These Psalm 83 verses recount the historical battles that
were fought in Judges 4-8. One of these battles was the underdog victory of Gideons 300-man
army over the 120,000 strong Midianite army. Like the Lord intervened and empowered the IDF
to victory in that historic Gideon battle, Zechariah 12:4-6 will be somewhat of a repeat
performance. Asaph petitioned for this in Psalm 83:9-11 and the Lord honors this specific
request according to Zechariah 12:4-6.
Another striking similarity is between the following verses.
In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and
like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on
the right hand and on the left. (Zechariah 12:6, NKJV)
O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind! As
the fire burns the woods, And as the flame sets the mountains on fire, (Psalm
83:13-14, NJKV)
Conclusion
This two-part article has taken a different approach to interpreting Zechariah 12:1-6. The
traditional teaching has mostly associated these verses with events that take place during the
http://www.prophecydepotministries.net/2012/psalm-83-a-prophecy-in-process-2/
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campaign of Armageddon. If thats the best interpretation, then what we see taking place in the
Middle East is simply setting the stage for events that happen near the end of the seven-year
Tribulation Period. However, if my view of these verses is correct, then the world is about to
witness the Lords supernatural intercession, rather than Americas diplomatic intervention, to
resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
I believe that Zechariah 12:1-6 and Psalm 83 are Now Prophecies, which are
prophecies that lack preconditions and could happen presently. My view is supported by the
premise that the IDF is involved in defeat of the surrounding Arab nations in both prophecies.
The IDF currently appears to be prepared to tackle this monumental task. Thus, it appears that
soon land for peace diplomacy fails and war prevails to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Moreover, this Mideast conflict will likely conclude prior to the seven-year Tribulation
Period for the following two reasons.
1. During the first three and one-half years of the
Tribulation Period, Israel is living in a pseudo peace,
which results from the ratification of the covenant in
Daniel 9:27. This implies that the IDF will be mostly
inactive and not warring against the surrounding Arab
states.
2. In the second three and one-half years of the
Tribulation Period, the Israelis are being persecuted
in the genocidal attempt of the Antichrist. This infers
that the IDF will be fleeing from the Antichrist, rather
than fighting against their Arab neighbors.
(The Now Prophecies and Psalm 83 books referenced in this article are available through Prophecy
Depot Ministries at www.prophecydepot.com)
i Haaretz news article link: http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.804604 ii Sabiyb taken from Strongs Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries: H5439. iii Judges 8:10 numbers the Midianite army at 120,000. iv Alluph taken from Strongs Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries: H441
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