Did the Bible Predict Today's Terrorism?

Part One - By Bill Salus

Suicide Bombers, Car Bombers, Shoe Bombers, Underwear Bombers, and the latest, Brazier (breast implant) Bombers, what will the terrorist think of next? Terrorism has high-jacked humanity causing long airport lines with stricter security worldwide. What is it and did the Bible predict it?

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001 George W. Bush declared war on Terrorism. Thus, Terrorism has officially become recognized as a bona-fide method of warfare. Israel had been waging war on Terror for decades, but the fighting was primarily confined to the Middle East. This isolation enabled the world to maintain a deaf-ear foreign policy regarding terrorism. However, since September 11, 2001 terrorists have toppled twin towers in America, derailed trains in Spain, and bombed subways in London. Terrorism has expanded from the Middle East into the backyards of most every nation.

Terrorism, as we identify it today, predominately originated in the Middle East. It began within the ranks of the Palestinians (1) in an effort to antagonize the further development of the nation Israel. It quickly gained the support of the surrounding Arab nations that most closely border the nation Israel. These countries had waged four unsuccessful conventional military attempts against Israel, in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, in order to destroy the nation. As a result of these four failed attempts, these Arab nations adopted and generally embraced the unconventional means of Terrorism as a method of conducting war.

A close examination of Jeremiah 49:16 and Obadiah 1:3-4, suggests the Bible predicted today’s Terrorism. According to these prophets, terrorism is the inspiration of the Edomites, who have ancestral ties to the Palestinians of modern day. (2) Furthermore the Palestinians are depicted in these passages as being deceived into thinking that the god of their religion endorses their terrorist behavior. As this prophecy unfolds in our day we have just cause to consider that the prophets Jeremiah and Obadiah were alluding to a link between the Palestinians, Arabs, Allah, Islam, and Terrorism.

By cross – correlating, paraphrasing, and indentifying the idioms used by the prophets in the passages listed below we might conclude that they were attempting to warn us about today’s terrorism. Certain key terms and phrases are highlighted in order to explore the possibility of their modern application:

The terror “tiphletseth” you [Edomites] inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 49:16) (3)

The pride of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Whose habitation is high; You who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’Though you ascend as high as the eagle, And though you set your nest among the stars From there I will bring you down,” says the LORD. (Obadiah 1:3-4)

Jeremiah and Obadiah speak of inspired terror coming from the ethnic group formerly known as the Edomites. What’s left of the Edomites today are a small group of Bedouins residing in Southern Jordan, and a larger remnant somewhat obscured within the modern day Palestinian contingency. The Hebrew word Jeremiah uses is “tiphletseth”, and it is translated in the Hebrew vernacular of his time, as a shuddering, horrific act of terror . (4) This gripping term is uniquely utilized within the entire Bible only in this single instance, yet it is possibly the most descriptive word available in the ancient Hebrew language to identify the relatively recently fashioned terrorism plaguing the nation Israel today.

By cross – correlating and paraphrasing these two prophetic passages we discover the interesting possibility of a link between the Palestinians, Terror, Islam, and Allah.

The terror you (Palestinians) inspire and the pride (arrogance) of your heart have deceived (mislead) you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, (spiritual covering) (5) Though you ascend as high as the eagle, (religious thinking) (6) And though you set your nest among the stars (angelic typology), (7) From there I will bring you down,” says the LORD (divine judgment)

This suggests terrorism is the inspiration of a deceived group. Their deception is caused by their misguided theology. They are under the allusion that they are nestled among the stars, which in Bible typology is a reference to the angelic host. Their deception is rooted in their perception that from their vantage point they believe themselves to be divinely justified to inspire terror, and therefore protected from its consequence.

The problem for this specific type of terrorism however, is that it is primarily targeted at the Jewish people through whom the Abrahamic Covenant is in force. This covenant formatted approximately 4000 years ago (8) between the God Jehovah, and Abraham the patriarchal father of the Jewish people, is still operable and in good standing. It specifically calls for a curse-for-curse-in kind reaction to all terrible-treatment-targeted at Abraham and / or his descendants. (9) This is where the “pride” of their “heart” has “deceived” them, them being the “Edo-Palestinians” . (10) It has misled them into thinking that their Islamic faith has the ability to override this critical “curse” component contained in the Abrahamic covenant.

Analyzing these pertinent scriptures causes us to consider their potential for more than a literal interpretation. Phrases like, “you ascend as high as the eagle”, “you set your nest among the stars” and “you live in the clefts of the rock”, make it difficult to limit our thinking to airplanes, bird’s nests, and cave dwellers. Fortunately all of these phraseologies have Biblical typologies from which we can perhaps draw better conclusions as to what the prophets Jeremiah and Obadiah were describing.

This concludes Part one of this two part article. In part two the biblical typologies will be analyzed to see if they hold the key to the biblical forewarning of modern day terrorism.

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Endnotes
(1)http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=795 - Yasir Arafat’s Timeline of Terror, dated 11/13/2004 by CAMERA: Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
(2)Read the chapter contained within Isralestine called “Who-domites
(3)New Revised Standard Bible Translation, also translated the same in the New International Version
(4)New American Standard Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries
(5)Exodus 33:22 exemplifies typologically the cleft of a rock as a place of spiritual protection or covering.
(6)Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
(7)Stars in Biblical typology are often used to represent the angels. Revelation 1:20, Revelation 12:4, Job 38:7, Daniel 8:10, Jude 1:12. Isaiah 14:3
(8)He probably lived between 2166 BC and 1991 BC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham
(9)Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;
(10)Edomites later became known by their Greek name “Idumeans”, and now are best identified as a contingency within the Palestinians. Edo-Palestinians is used here as a bridge term to identify the Edomite remnant within the Palestinian ethnicity. More can be found on this in the chapter called “Whodomites”.