NO END IN SIGHT, YET: Zechariah 12:3 prophesied "Jerusalem would become a burdensome stone for all the peoples" and that "All nations of the earth will be gathered [for war] because of it."

JUST TO REITERATE WHY ISRAEL IS AT WAR: Because they’re constantly forced to defend themselves against the descendants of Ishmael!

It all started back in Genesis when Abraham and Sarah (then still known as Avram and Sarai) decided to “jump the gun” and have a baby by Sarah’s maid servant, Hagar, because they didn’t want to wait for YHWH’s promise that He was going to give them an heir.

Let’s take a look at the events … and the consequences of their choices that have echoed into present day!

Genesis 15: 1 Some time later the word of ADONAI came to Avram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great." 2 Avram replied, "ADONAI, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli'ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions? 3 You haven't given me a child," Avram continued, "so someone born in my house will be my heir."

4 But the word of ADONAI came to him: "This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body." 5 Then he brought him outside and said, "Look up at the sky, and count the stars - if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!" 6 He believed in ADONAI, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (CJB)

TIME PASSED, AND SUDDENLY, IN GENESIS 16, we see Avram and his wife Sarai panicking about not having an heir yet, and so they decided (at the urging of Sarai) to take matters into their own hands and have Abraham sleep with his wife's pagan/Egyptian servant Hagar. The result of that union was a son they named Ishmael. However, female jealousy resulted in the banning of Hagar and her child into the desert, at which point YHWH intervened:

Genesis 16: 1 Now Sarai Avram’s wife had not borne him a child. But she had an Egyptian slave-girl named Hagar; ² so Sarai said to Avram, “Here now, Adonai has kept me from having children; so go in and sleep with my slave-girl. Maybe I’ll be able to have children through her.” Avram listened to what Sarai said.

³ It was after Avram had lived ten years in the land of Kena‘an that Sarai Avram’s wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to Avram her husband to be his wife. ⁴ Avram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she conceived. But when she became aware that she was pregnant, she looked on her mistress with contempt.

⁵ Sarai said to Avram, “This outrage being done to me is your fault! True, I gave my slave-girl to you to sleep with; but when she saw that she was pregnant, she began holding me in contempt. May Adonai decide who is right — I or you!” ⁶ However, Avram answered Sarai, “Look, she’s your slave-girl. Deal with her as you think fit.” Then Sarai treated her so harshly that she ran away from her. (CJB)

The angel of Adonai found her by a spring in the desert, and convinced her to return to her mistress and submit to her authority” – with the promise that he would “greatly increase your descendants; there will be so many that it will be impossible to count them.” He also went on to say:

Genesis 16: ¹¹ “Look, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma‘el [God pays attention] because Adonai has paid attention to your misery. ¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man, with his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, living his life at odds with all his kinsmen.” (CJB)

NOTE: Please re-read verse 12 above which shows what kind of a man Ishmael would be! Judging by the behavior of his descendants which the world has witnessed again and again, many (if not most) apparently inherited Yishma’el’s character traits…

Be that as it may, Genesis 16 goes on to reveal that Hagar later bore the then-86 year old Avraham a son, whom he called Yishma‘el (Ishmael).

THE STORY GOES ON THUSLY:

Genesis 17: ¹⁵ God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. ¹⁶ I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷ At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed — he thought to himself, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?”

¹⁸ Avraham said to God, “If only Yishma‘el could live in your presence!” ¹⁹ God answered, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz’chak [laughter] (aka “Isaac” in English). I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Yitz’chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ²² With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him. (CJB)

The Bible tells us that YHWH was with Ishmael as he grew up in the eastern Sinai Peninsula where he became a skillful archer, and settled in the wilderness of Pa’aran desert. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt” (Genesis 21:20–21). When Abraham died, Ishmael attended his funeral (Genesis 25:9), proving that at least occasional and civil communications were maintained between him and his father’s household.

Ishmael fathered 12 sons and a daughter who married Esau (Genesis 28:9; 36:2-3); and he lived to the ripe old age of 137 (Genesis 25:17). Scripture says Ishmael’s numerous descendants settled near the eastern border of Egypt and lived in hostility toward all of their relatives (Genesis 25:18).

This reveals that Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations, most of whom today are adherents to that so-called “religion of peace” (spawned from the mind of a murderous, epileptic, illiterate man named Mohammed who – during his epileptic fits - supposedly received his religious dogma and “prophecies” from the Angel Gabriel).  This “religion” is and has been constantly at war with others (and even with each other) – and they don’t hesitate to take drastic action against anyone they consider “infidels”)…

RETURNING TO PRESENT DAY:

Israel is constantly provoked and even attacked and, unfortunately, whenever she attempts to defend herself, her bitter enemies (Ishmael’s descendants) always “play the victim card” … and the whole world is falling for it - thanks in part, to the media which skews their reporting to make Israel appear to be the aggressor.

As I’ve been saying for the last two decades, according to Scripture, these things MUST happen – the Bible says, the whole world WILL go up against Israel one day!  Zechariah prophesied "Jerusalem would become a burdensome stone for all the peoples" and that "All nations of the earth will be gathered [for war] because of it." (Zechariah 12:3; see also Psalm 83, Isaiah 13, 17 and 21; Ezekiel 38 and 39, Joel 3:9, Matthew 24 and Revelation 16:12-16.)

BOTTOM LINE: What’s happening in Israel today was prophesied thousands of years ago, and ONLY the return of Messiah Yeshua will put an end to the nonsense!