Kabalyero ng Disyerto 16- PHILISTIA (Palestine)

by : desertknightfm- Rhojel

Judgement on Philistia

29 "Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For from the serpent's root a viper will come out, And its fruit will be a flying serpent. 30 "Those who are most helpless will eat, And the needy will lie down in security; I will destroy your root with famine, And it will kill off your survivors. 31 "Wail, O gate; cry, O city; Melt away, O Philistia, all of you; For smoke comes from the north, And there is no straggler in his ranks. 32 "How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it."  ~ Isaiah 14:29-32

Philistia and the Roman Empire

Roman Emperor Hadrian applied the name Syria Palestina to the entire region of Judea after crushing the 3 years of Bar Kokhba revolt, the latter name deriving from the Kingdom of Judah of the 6th century BCE.

The intension of changing the name of Judea to Philistia (Palestine) and merging it with the neighboring province of Syria turning the whole province of Judea to Syri Palestine was to suppress Jewish connection to the land to avoid them for organizing another revolt.

This strategy was also applied to Jerusalem by changing its name to an Aelia Capitolina and making it exculusive for Roman citizen and later on to all christian to prevent the Jew in entering the city after it was fall in the hand of the Roman Empire.

This two given names by Rome to these important places in Israel was a derogatory and humiliating term imposed by the Romans on the Jews, who constituted the vast majority of the people who lived there. Rome forced on the Jews and their land, not the name of Israel that God had ordained, buth the name of an arch enemy of the Jews, the Philistines.

In Earliest History, It Was Cannan's Land

The commonly used name of Palestine today refers to that region of the eastern Mediterranean coast from the sea to the Jordan valley and from the southern Negev desert to the Galilee Lake region in the north. The word itself is derived from "Plesheth", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into the English language as the name of "Philistine". Plesheth, (root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. The ancient Philistines were not Arabs, nor even Semites, but were most closely related to the ancient Greeks originating from Asia Minor. The word Palestine (or Palestina) originally identified the region as "the land of the Philistines," a war-like tribe that inhabited much of the region alongside the Hebrew people. But the older name from antiquity for this region was not Palestine, but Canaan, and it is the term most used in the Old Testament regarding this particular parcel of land.

   The Amarna Letters (an advanced art of ancient Canaanite writing) of the 14th century BC referred to "the land of Canaan," applying the term to the coastal region inhabited by the Phoenicians. The Canaanites had many tiny city-states, each one at times independent and at times a vassal of an Egyptian or Hittite king. The Canaanites never united into a state.

The history of Palestine is complicated by the many different cultures and civilizations that have flourished in the region. The first historical reference to the inhabitants of Canaan occurs in Genesis 10, where the table of nations is recorded. Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah is said to have fathered most of the inhabitants of the land. These include Sidon (the Phoenicians), Heth (the Hittites), and the Jebusites (who lived near Jerusalem), the Amorites (in the hill country), the Girgashites, the Hivites (peasants from the northern hills), the Arkites (from Arka in Phoenicia), the Sinites (from the northern coast of Lebanon), the Arvadites, the Zemarites (from Sumra), and the Hamathites. (from Hamath) (Genesis 10:15-18) The history of Palestine gains its significance for the Christian with the beginning of the Biblical period. But the region was inhabited by other cultures long before Abraham and his family arrived.

As the human eventually became scattered over the earth, a number of cultures emerged. Small city-states began to be organized in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Almost at the same time Egypt and the fertile region of the Nile River Valley emerged as a unified nation west of Mesopotamia. In the 29th century BC the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united, and the world power of the ancient Pharoah’s was born. The area of Canaan witnessed the same urban development and population increases during this period. The cities of Jericho, Megiddo, Beth Shan, Ai, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Shechem, Gezer, Lachish, and many others were all in existence during this time.

Canaan Land become the promise Land for Israel (Numbers 34:1-29)

Around 2000BC the patriarch Abraham arrived in Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees in lower Mesopotamia, and found the land controlled by Amorites and Canaanites. Abraham lived for a while in Egypt, where he was exposed to this great culture of the ancient world. For 430 years the descendants of Abraham were in Egyptian bondage, but God raised them up a champion in the person of Moses to lead them back to the Land of Promise. After Moses, God strengthened the new leader of Israel, Joshua, and he led the Israelites in successful campaigns to win control of Canaan, just as God had promised.

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Command the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance will have these boundaries: 3 " 'Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern boundary will start from the end of the Salt Sea, 4 cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon, 5 where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Sea. 6 " 'Your western boundary will be the coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west. 7 " 'For your northern boundary, run a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor 8 and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad, 9 continue to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north. 10 " 'For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11 The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Kinnereth. 12 Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. " 'This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.' " 13 Moses commanded the Israelites: "Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes, 14 because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. 15 These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan of Jericho, toward the sunrise." 16 The LORD said to Moses, 17 "These are the names of the men who are to assign the land for you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. 18 And appoint one leader from each tribe to help assign the land. 19 These are their names: Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah; 20 Shemuel son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon; 21 Elidad son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin; 22 Bukki son of Jogli, the leader from the tribe of Dan; 23 Hanniel son of Ephod, the leader from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph; 24 Kemuel son of Shiphtan, the leader from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph; 25 Elizaphan son of Parnach, the leader from the tribe of Zebulun; 26 Paltiel son of Azzan, the leader from the tribe of Issachar; 27 Ahihud son of Shelomi, the leader from the tribe of Asher; 28 Pedahel son of Ammihud, the leader from the tribe of Naphtali." 29 These are the men the LORD commanded to assign the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

Thus, prior to its conquest by the Israelite Hebrews under Joshua, the area referred to today as Palestine was known as the "Land of Canaan," but afterwards it received the name Eretz Yisrael or "land of Israel" (I Samuel 13:19). As recorded in Ezekiel (26:20), Palestine was also referred to as Eretz Chayim in Hebrew, or the land of the living. The land of the living was a symbol-spiritualized term for those living away from the influence of Babylon. Ironically, the land east of the Jordan River was named separately as Ever ha'Yardan, or, "the other side of Jordan."

With the rise of the United Jewish Monarchy under David and Solomon, the Hebrew people extended their influence over more of Canaan Land (later known as Palestine) than ever before. But around 920BC Israel was divided into two segments, the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah. These were turbulent times in the history of the Jewish people, and eventually resulted in the uprooting of Israel from the land.

In 606-605BC Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, annihilated the Egyptian army, and effectively came into control of all of the land of Israel (Canaan Land) to the Egyptian border. In 597BC, Jerusalem, as foretold by the prophets, (Ezekiel) fell to the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. Later, when Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon, he allowed the Jews to begin to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the waste city. As a Persian province, the region was governed by regional rulers under Persian authority. Later the Greeks under Alexander the Great established rule over the former land of Israel, eventually giving sway to localized Jewish revolts that ended with Rome gaining control over the region just prior to the time of Christ’s birth.

Palestinian Revolt Against God Providential Design for Israel.

Again the name Palestine itself is derived from "Plesheth", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into our modern English as "Philistine". The Philistines were not Arabs, nor even Semites, but were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and other Greek localities. The Philistines reached the southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BC, seized the southern coastal area, where they founded five settlements (Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gat). In the Persian and Greek periods, foreign settlers, chiefly from the Mediterranean islands, overran the Philistine districts. After the Roman conquest of Judea, " Palastina" became a province of the pagan Roman Empire and then of the Christian Byzantine Empire, and very briefly of the Zoroastrian Persian Empire.

Ezekiel 47:21-23. "'You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance,' declares the Sovereign LORD."

This passage of the Lord God pertains to all non Jewish people who desire to have a protected citizenship under Israel's sovereignty. All people living in the promise land should not seek a sovereignty of their own that replaces Israel. They should be willing to subjects to the laws and governance of Israel. They should also worship and follow the decrees of the God of Israel. Modern Israel has made a provision for such people. There are Arab Israelis who have the full rights and privileges, including voting, of Israeli citizenship. There are duly elected Arab Israelis in the Israeli Parliament that represent their Arab constituencies.

 In a word, the Palestinians do not qualify for the protections to be given to those under Israel's God-ordained governance. The so-called "Palestinians" under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, are loath to have Israel as their sovereign authority. The Palestinian Hamas, as well as the Arab goal of peace envisions the total elimination of Israel as a nation and a people. The Palestinian flag portrays the current boundaries of Israel as being the boundaries of a future Palestine State without any mention of Israel. But even more sobering is the fact that those peoples including Christians who sympathize and promote a Palestinian State have placed themselves in alliance against God's providential designs for Israel.

The Prophetic Paradigm of Palestine

   This article began by highlighting the prophetic scripture from Joel chapter three that deals with the world’s obsession with partitioning the land of Israel. Joel’s prophecy mentioned the ancient conspiracy among the Phoenician Empire in complicity with the people of Mt. Seir. (Esau’s descendants and the ancient Palestinians)

Joel 3:1-4 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head;

God’s word through his prophet Joel reveals that the ancient conspiracy of ‘parting god’s land” will be dealt with in a recompense fashion by God almighty in the days when He has returned a remnant of Israel from the four corners of the world. Jehovah God says, “I will bring again the captivity” (undo the Dispersion) and plant his people back in their own land, and There, He will plead with the nations for his people, which they have scattered, and parted MY land.

Joel continues to recount the duplicitous conspiracy and prophetic pattern that the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon were engaged in with other perpetual enemies of Israel. The conspiracy involved the ancient descendants of Esau (Mt. Seir) that were enabling and aiding the Phoenicians in capturing and enslaving the Jews for work in the Phoenician world trade and commerce industry, while in return, the people of Mt. Seir sought to steal the Land of Israel. To this conspiracy, God pronounced a judgment against Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestine.

History records that the Phoenicians were famous for their trade and commerce and their skill as a seafaring people. Phoenicia had two major sea-ports, Tyre and Sidon, which were semi-independent city-states. Phoenicia grew in world influence as its merchant fleets brought wealth into the country from all over the known world. The nation increasingly became independent of foreign domination and by its "golden age" (about 1050-850BC) the Phoenicians achieved their height of prosperity and influence. Phoenicia went on to found many colonies along its shipping routes, so that many Phoenicians lived in Crete, Cyprus, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, North Africa (Carthage), and even Spain. Tyre and Sidon began to realize their colonial and expansionist dreams. Under Hiram I, the ruler of Tyre (980-947BC), Phoenicia began a colony at Tarshish in Spain. (Ezekiel 38 also mentions Tarshish as being instrumental in global trade with Sheba and Dedan in the Last Days when Russia invades the land of Israel) Tyrian ships began to dominate Mediterranean commerce, and helped lay the groundwork for the formation of later European powers. Phoenicia’s merchants became princes, and the honorable ruling elite of the earth says Isaiah 23:8. (Isaiah 23:8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?)

Several prophets of the Old Testament prophesied against Tyre and Sidon. They condemned the Tyrians for delivering the ancient Israelites to the Edomites (Amos 1:9) and selling them as slaves to the Greeks (Joel 3:5-6). Jeremiah prophesied Tyre and Sidon's defeat (Jeremiah 27:1-11). But the classic prophecy against Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestine was given by Ezekiel. This prophecy was partially fulfilled when the Assyrians came and ended the Phoenicians hold on the Eastern Mediterranean Coast of Palestine. (Canaan) (Sidon, or Zidon was a son of Canaan)

Ezekiel prophesied of the Lord against Mt. Seir. (Palestine) Ezekiel’s prophecy forecast that the Palestinian conspiracy to steal the land of Israel, and the perpetual hatred and bloodletting practiced against Israel by the descendants of Esau would cause God to recompense their evil upon their own heads!

In the days of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, the people of Mount Seir (the Edomites) joined the Ammonites and the Moabites in an invasion against Judah. For this reason, the prophet Ezekiel staunchly predicted God's destruction of "Mount Seir" because of their strong hatred of Israel and their desire to possess the lands of Israel and Judah. Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestine appeased the Seirians in this conspiracy.

This same conspiracy is being revisited today in the Middle East Conflict. The Western world is involved in a world scheme of placating the Arab hatred of Israel (oil resources and cartels) and enforcing the ages old conspiracy to ‘partition” the land of Israel, and give it to the Palestinians.

But the Lord has spoken, and He will speedily recompense evil upon the heads of the nations of this world and the conspiratorial designs of the inhabitants of the Coast of Palestine!