The rest of Judges reveals repeated terrorist attacks, invasions, and wars with the surrounding demonic people groups that are enemies of God and God’s people. The Judges are raised up as military leaders to lead the battle for the Promised Land against demonic terrorist invasions.
For example, Deborah, Gideon, and Samson all lead military campaigns against terrorist invaders seeking to take from the Hebrew people the Promised Land that God promised to them through Abraham and Isaac.
Not only was it the demonic Hamas spirit at work in the days of the Judges 2,600 years ago, in fulfillment of the prophecies given in Deuteronomy, but the ancient wars were triggered by terrorist invasions targeting civilians (including women and children) just like the current war. The Hamas spirit that was at work in the days of Judges sought to kill the leaders in Israel, overtake the nation by terroristic force, and rule over God’s people, thereby replacing God as King and Judge in the Promised Land of Israel.
Today, the Hamas Charter is considered to be the movement’s most important ideological document. Its central commitments are to religious and political war between Arab Muslims and Israeli Jews; belief that all of Palestine is Arab Muslim land, sacred and stolen by the Jews and their supporters (e.g., the United States); and terroristic jihad (holy war) as the main means to eliminate Israel and the Jews and replace them with Arabs and Islam. It says, in part:
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it. […] The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine. […] The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews) … Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes[.]”1
The eschatology of Islam, or their belief about the end times, is that Islam will overtake the world through jihad or holy war, and then an Islamic leader will arise to rule the world. This person is perhaps, if not likely to be, the false christ, antichrist, man of lawlessness, and son of perdition. This is perhaps who the Bible warns will rise up and trigger the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Adding another level of deep prophetic insight, not only did the same demons in Judges do the same things through terrorist invasions in the days of the Judges to elicit war, but the war was also over the same piece of land.
In the ancient world, the wars were waged in what is known as the Gaza Strip. Today, the Palestinians are descendants of the ancient nations that God commanded in Deuteronomy 7 to be destroyed and/ or driven out. Had God’s people obeyed instead of disobeyed, for which Jesus rebuked them in Judges 1:3-36, today there would not be a Palestinian people demanding to rule the Promised Land and operating by the demonic spirit of Hamas.
What surprised you most about what you learned in today’s devotional?
- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas. asp
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