Esau - Past, Present and Future Esau – Past, Present and Future

Study 3 "Edom - the people of My curse" Esau – Past, Present and Future

Who is Edom in the Latter Days? Some begin with a very flimsy premise! “First, it is taken as a conclusion requiring no proof that the prophecies of the last days concerning Edom are about the Arabs since so many of the Arab tribes are descended from Esau and because ancient Edom is unquestionably Arab territory today.” A latter day Christadelphian writer H A Whittaker The Last Days – Chapter 2 – Jew and Arab Esau – Past, Present and Future

Esau represents the nations Babylon and the Goat-nations..….Esau will have had the dominion over Jacob long enough; and the time will now have arrived to prove to mankind “that there is a God that judgeth in the earth”. Esau has lived by his sword, but not righteously. He crucified the king of Israel, persecuted and killed his brethren, corrupted the faith, trod under foot the Holy City forty and two months, and poured out the blood of Jacob like water upon the ground. But they who war against Zion and her sons “shall be as nothing, as a thing of nought”. - Bro. Thomas – Eureka Vol. 5 pg. 50 Remember this quote? Esau – Past, Present and Future

Esau and the Nations 70 - number of the nations - Gen. 10; Deut. 32:8. The “generations of Esau” listed in Gen. 36 lists 70 different names of the off-spring of Esau (exclude the names of cities, nations and women, and count male off-spring only once). Edom became the name by which God denominated all anti-Semitic nations - see Obadiah 15. The "all nations" involved in the controversy of Zion are called "Edom" - Isa. 34:1-6. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Edom in Isaiah 34 Bro. C. C. Walker in “The Ministry of the Prophets” page 498 writes concerning Isa. 34: “The opening of this chapter is an emphatic challenge of wide-reaching application, that at once tells us that we must not limit the matter to the times of Isaiah, or a century or two later, nor to a few hundred square miles of territory that properly belong to Edom in his day…” Esau – Past, Present and Future

Edom "the people of my curse" Isa. 34:5 "curse" - cherem - doomed, devoted to destruction. (The word is next to Hormah in the Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew words). The word is used of Jericho as a “devoted” city. Occs. Zech.14:11 – “no more utter destruction”. It is the last word of the O.T. in the Hebrew. Used in the context of the Amalekites - 1 Sam.15:21 where “things which should have been utterly destroyed” is all one Hebrew word. Its root charam occurs 7 times in 1 Sam.15 as “utterly destroy/ed”. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Edom and Bozrah – Typical Names Edom means “red” and is identified with Adam = the flesh in political and religious manifestation. Bozrah can signify “fortification”, “sheepfold” or “vintage”. These two names taken together in the appellative sense denote the “blood of the sheepfold” or “vintage”. The land of Israel is to be a sheepfold for the slaughter of Gog, and thereafter Europe will become a winepress for the destruction of antitypical Edom. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Identification of Latter Day Edom Isa. 34:9-10 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. Rev. 14:10-11 …and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Bozrah, Babylon and Rome Etymologically linked – Bozrah means “sheepfold” or “fortress” – Babylon was in the plain of Dura = “wall”, “rampart” or “dwelling” – Rome in Hebrew (Romiith – has N.V. of 666) = “fortification”. Bozrah was the capital of Edom just as ‘Babylon the Great’ or Rome is the capital of all nations who oppose Christ – Rev. 14:8; 18:2 (cp. Isa. 34:11). Thus Edom symbolises all anti-Semitic nations led by Catholicism in the last days. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Edom in Jewish Tradition The Jews understood the prophecies concerning Edom as having a double application, and relating ultimately to the Gentiles. Bro. C.C. Walker in the “Ministry of the Prophets” (pg. 508), quotes Jewish writers to show how they saw in the oppression they suffered from Rome the “rule of Esau”. They referred to the Roman Captivity as the Jaluth Edom, and saw in the miseries they suffered from A.D. 70 onwards an antitypical application of the oppressions their forefathers had suffered from ancient Edom. Esau – Past, Present and Future

The Birds and Beasts of Isa. 34 Symbol of nations – Dan. 4:20-22. Vv.11-15 – Unclean birds and beasts because they represent the Gentiles. Released from Babylonian control when Rome finally destroyed – V.10. V.17 – They possess “the land of Idumea” for the ad olahm – the duration of the Millennium. They are the “them” of Isa. 35:1 for whom the once desolate wilderness of “the land of Idumea” will flourish in the Kingdom. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Edom = All Nations – Obadiah 15-17 For, near, is the day of Yahweh, upon all the nations,—Just as thou (Edom) hast done, shall it be done to thee, Thy dealing, shall come back upon thine own head. For, as ye (Edom) have drunk on my holy mountain, all the nations shall drink continually,—Yea they shall drink and swallow down, and shall be, as though they had not been. But, in Mount Zion, shall be a delivered remnant which shall be holy,—and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. (Rotherham) Esau – Past, Present and Future

The final struggle before the Kingdom is fully established is between Israel (Jacob) and Edom (Esau)!

The Second Exodus of Israel 40 years under Elijah’s leadership “the land of the north” (Jer. 3:18) Elijah’s mission 30 years conflict Wilderness of the Peoples (Rev. 17:3) Baptism (Isa. 11:11-16) Rebels purged out Bonds of the Covenant Roth. – “and will contend (shaphat – to judge) with you there face to face” – Ezek. 20:35

Antitypical Edom Antitypical Edom relates to the political and ecclesiastical institutions of Gentile nations who oppose Christ at Armageddon and beyond. It is analogous to the Gogian confederacy of Ezek. 38 (political); Babylon the Great (Rev. 17 - ecclesiastical); or the 4th Beast of Dan. 7. The end of the 4th Beast is total destruction. Edom does not apply to Arab nations neighboring Israel, for they find a privileged place in the Kingdom alongside Israel – Isa. 60:6-7; 21:13-15; Ps. 72:9. Esau – Past, Present and Future

Abraham’s Family Tree Abraham Ishmael Isaac Esau Jacob Arab nations (Hagar) (Sarah) Ishmael Isaac Esau Jacob Arab nations Edom Israel Esau – Past, Present and Future

Sons of Ishmael and Esau in the Future = Nations First of the nations to attack Israel – Num. 24:20 End of Edomites AD 70 Amalek – Ps. 83:7 Utterly destroyed in Mt Seir – 1 Chron. 4:42-43 Connected with Gog (Agag) – Num. 24:7,20 Nebajoth – Isa. 60:7 Kedar – Isa. 60:7 Tema – Isa. 21:14 Ps.72:9 “they who dwell in the wilderness” Esau – Past, Present and Future

Isa. 21:13-15 “The Oracle on Arabia” (Roth.) Gog triumphant Jews flee Israel Jordan "O ye travelling companies of Dedanim" Jews flee “they did meet the fugitives with their bread” – R.V. Bedioun Arabs Jews flee Dedanim - Descendants of Abraham and Cush – Gen. 25:3; 1 Chron. 1:9 Sinai Arabia Transformed “In the forest (ya’ar – to thicken with verdure) in Arabia must ye lodge (dwell).” Tema (son of Ishmael Gen. 25:15)

Next Study "Edom's destiny - Miniature of all nations" (God willing) Esau – Past, Present and Future

Christ in Jeremiah 49:19 “a lion from the swelling of Jordan” represents Nebuchadnezzar primarily (Jer. 27:6), but Christ in its latter day application (Rev. 5:5). The “chosen man” is Christ (Isa. 49:7) “for who is like me?” – Christ is called Michael (Dan. 12:1) – “Who is like El”. “I will rouse him up, and make him run upon her” (alternative translation) – this is Christ’s work – to bring judgement upon latter-day Edom. Esau – Past, Present and Future

The False Shepherd Zech. 11:17 - “Woe to the idol (eliyl –vain, good for nothing) shepherd that leaveth the flock!” – This is the Papacy. Rev. 16:13 - The Pope is described as “the false prophet”. 2 Thess. 2:4 – “that wicked one” who sits in “the temple of God”. Hence, Jer. 49:19 – “who is that shepherd that will stand before me?” refers to the Papacy in “the habitation of the strong” (“strong sheepfold” - R.S.V.). Esau – Past, Present and Future

Next Study "Edom's destiny - Miniature of all nations" (God willing) Esau – Past, Present and Future

Esau – Past, Present and Future