The Everlasting Hatred (14 page)

His son, Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, beheaded John the Baptist. They were a cunning and vicious clan. The New Testament records how they gained control over Israel for a short time under Roman sponsorship.

But perhaps the most important factor is this—there is evidence that Esau's descendants not only became part of the Ishmael/Arab race but also joined with them against Israel. They were certainly prominent among the warriors who first converted to Islam and helped spread it across the Mediterranean world.

The Bible records how Esau became part of the Arabs. When Esau observed that his father gave strict orders for Jacob not to marry any of the Canaanite women, and that the two Canaanite wives he had already married grieved Isaac, he sought to please his father. So we read, “Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.”
⁸⁹

Throughout the history of Israel, the Edomites seized every opportunity to vent their hatred against them. This is briefly illustrated by the following Biblical accounts of the Edomites' actions.

When Israel came out of captivity from Egypt, the Edomites would not even let them pass through their land. “Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.”
⁹⁰
God graciously spared Edom despite the fact that this brought great hardship upon Israel.

Amalek, one of the chiefs descended from Esau, has been a persistent enemy of Israel. When he fought against Israel as they came from Egypt, God made this prediction:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner; and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
⁹¹

Ezekiel predicts that God will judge “all Edom” (referring here to all Arabs) for appropriating Israel's land. This judgment comes in the last days when God miraculously returns the Israelites from all the countries where He scattered them. This prophecy refers to our time. God warns, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against
all Edom
, for
with glee
and
with malice in their hearts
they made my land their own possession so that they might plunder its pastureland.”
⁹²

God warns Edom again about the judgment that will fall on all his descendants at the coming of the Messiah. The reason is clearly given here:

This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.
Because he pursued his brother [Israel] with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked
, I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.”
⁹³

A prophecy in the Psalms concerning the final mad attempt of the ancient descendants of Abraham's other sons to destroy Israel shows that Edom and Ishmael linked together and leading the confederacy to wipe Israel off the earth. Just look at the list of
Israel's enemies in the “Last Days.” It reads like a “Who's Who” of their ancient enemies.

Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, And do not be still, O God! For behold,
Your
enemies make a tumult; And those who hate
You
have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against
Your
people, And consulted together against
Your
sheltered ones. They have said,
“Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more
.” For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: The tents of
Edom
and the
Ishmaelites
; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot… . Who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.”
⁹⁴

All the usual suspects are in this predicted line up of bad guys. Edom and the Ishmaelites are the primary Arab people. The descendants of Moab, the Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, and Philistia melted in the mixed group that were absorbed by the Arab culture and then later became converted to Islam. Today, these people make up the nations of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. The other places named are:

Tyre, which is now Lebanon

Assyria, which is modern Syria

Persia, which is modern Iran

All of these people are linked together by their common continuous enmity toward Israel.

The battle cry of all these people in five previous wars with Israel has been to wipe Israel off the map and to slaughter its
people. God enabled Israel to defeat them in 1947, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982. But now Iran (Persia) is on the verge of producing nuclear weapons. The Ayatollah Khomeini and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have both declared that they will soon obliterate the state of Israel.

In the next chapter, we will examine how this ancient enmity became woven into a religion founded by a direct descendant of Ishmael. We will see how the spread of hatred toward Israel became co-extensive with the spread of this religion—Islam.

“From the beginning, its [Islam's] spread was accomplished through physical violence, bloodshed and war. Violence not only against non-Muslim infidels, but also against fellow Muslims. Much of Islam's spread in the world was the result of traders and Sufi missionaries, this is true. Yet the weaponry—scimitars and sabers—all through the art and symbolism of Islam, makes violence and war a central theme of Islam… . Mohammad both taught and practiced violence from the beginning. The phenomenal and almost unparalleled efflorescence (exponential growth) of early Islam was due in no small measure to the latent powers of the Bedouins, who, in the words of the Caliph Omar, ‘furnished Islam with its raw material.'”

—A
BDUL
H
OUSSAIN
Z
ARIN
K
OUB
⁹⁵

There is very little recorded history of the sons of Ishmael and Edom, outside of the Biblical record, prior to the birth of Mohammad and Islam. We know the names of the twelve sons of Ishmael from whom the Arabs primarily descended, but not all twelve tribal lines can be clearly traced. However, in the following passage from Genesis 25, the Bible does give a careful genealogy of Ishmael, to demonstrate that God kept His promise to him:

This is the account of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived [to the east] in hostility toward all their brothers.
⁹⁶

The second son, Kedar, is the most frequently mentioned son of Ishmael. He became the most powerful and wealthy of all his brothers.

Ezekiel confirms the sons of Ishmael as wealthy merchants who traded with the great seafaring Empire of Tyre in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. before God destroyed it for its wickedness. Ezekiel writes,
“Arabia
and all the princes of
Kedar
were your customers; they did business with you in lambs, rams and goats.”
⁹⁷
This report is part of a prophecy about Tyre's destruction, which was fulfilled by Alexander the Great.

We also find some of the descendants of Abraham's other sons through his aforementioned concubine Keturah. They are mentioned in this same prophecy regarding Tyre as being part of the Arab peoples. They lived in the port cities on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in what is now Yemen and Oman. Ezekiel writes,
“Dedan
traded in saddle blankets with you… . The merchants of
Sheba
and Raamah traded with you; for your merchandise they exchanged the finest of all kinds of spices and precious stones, and gold.”
⁹⁸
Sheba and Dedan are grandsons of Abraham through Keturah's second son, Jokshan.
⁹⁹
Much is written about
the spices produced in the southern part of Arabia. Such sought after spices as frankincense and myrrh were produced there.

Isaiah predicts that the wealth of Nebaioth (Ishmael's firstborn) and Kedar will be offered to the Lord at His Second Coming when He sets up His Kingdom in Israel. In Isaiah 60:7 we read, “All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple.”
¹⁰⁰
This prophecy is very important because it indicates that descendants of Kedar and Nebaioth will continue to exist and prosper until the end of future Kingdom age. This means that a remnant of these people will repent and believe in the Messiah Jesus during the Tribulation and go into the thousand-year kingdom.

According to Islamic teaching, Abraham (in Arabic,
Ibrahim
) did not stay in Canaan with Isaac and send his other seven halfbrothers to the land of the East.

Muslims teach that Abraham went to Mecca, where he raised all eight sons together. Muslims also believe that it was Ishmael— not Isaac—that Abraham offered as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah until the angel stopped him. They absolutely believe that Ishmael was the chosen one of God, not Isaac. This is the basis of their denial of the Biblical covenants that are specifically confirmed to Abraham through his line of descendants from Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons. It is on this basis that Muslims claim all the land of Israel and Jerusalem. Christians view this as a great error because it is contrary to the specific testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught that the God of the Bible is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—not Abraham, Ishmael, Esau, and Mohammad. The Lord Jesus confirmed this when He taught, “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God saying, ‘I
AM
the
God
of
Abraham, and the
God
of Isaac, and the
God
of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
¹⁰¹
Jesus leaves no question about both the source of the Old Testament and just who are the heirs of His promise to Abraham. The continuous action of verb tense for I AM is the basis of why Jesus said that even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died, they are still alive with God. He thus showed that He considers even the tense of verbs inspired by God in the Scriptures.