LEARNING DAILY

Amos 1:6-7, Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they took captive the whole captivity to deliver them up to Edom. But I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, which will devour its palaces.”

The war between Gaza and Israel is certainly on people’s mind today and raising questions about its relationship to Bible prophecy. I have been considering this like you might be and can tell you I don’t know. I have read some literature relating this to Psalm 83 where we are told of a conspiracy formed against Israel – we will have to watch and see.

I have found that Gaza has been mentioned in the Bible no less that twenty times; Gaza was not mentioned in a favorable light in any of these Scriptures. The prophet Amos was told to speak against the wickedness of Gaza. The people were brutal and cruel in their behavior toward others, especially Judah. Gaza was the capital of the Philistines; it was where Samson went to be with Delilah, and you know the result of that situation. Eventually, God used Samson to destroy the leaders of the Philistines. One other portion of Scripture, in Acts 8, Philip is sent by the Lord to an Ethiopian eunuch who is on the road going from Jerusalem to Garza. The Ethiopian is saved and baptized as a result of that meeting. Joel Rosenberg comments that from this event we can know that God loves the people of Gaza. However, they must repent and turn to Jesus Christ, or they will face judgment.

 I want you to go to Psalm 83 with me for a few minutes. Please read, research, and meditate on this as I give some thoughts. The nations that this Psalm states will form a confederacy are areas all around Israel. These modern-day nations are Jordan, Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, and Iraq. If you read the Psalm, you will see God is telling us that the people who live in these areas hate Israel and the Jewish people. They hate the God of Israel. “For behold, Your enemies make a tumult, and those who hate You have lifted up their head’ (v. 2).  Verse 4 goes further, “They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’” The group named Hamas continue to show the cruelty and brutality that the prophet Amos mentioned. The reports and photos coming from their invasion of Israel would support what the Psalmist and Amos wrote. Would you agree that Hamas desires to do what the psalmist wrote in verse 4? There actions would seem to be very clear. Do I believe that all the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip believe as Hamas? Probably not. Yet, it is clear that those who support what is happening will lose. Hamas is attacking God’s chosen people.

God’s ultimate desire is that people – all people – would repent and follow Him. Psalm 83:15-18 reminds us of this. “So pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord are the Most High over all the earth.” Our prayer should be for Israel and for the people of Garza to repent from their hatred and follow the soon coming King of kings and Lord of lords.