Origin of Arabs' 'perpetual hatred'

There are only five one-chapter books in the Bible and the only one-chapter book in the Hebrew Old Testament is Obadiah and it’s only about one little group of people—the Edomites, descendants of Esau, relatives of the nation Israel with an ancient hatred for Israel.

“They are a small group of people compared to all the nations of the earth and yet there are at least 15 if not 20 different specific passages in prophetic Scripture about God destroying Edom and one whole book about it,” says Jordan.

“What you learn when you read Obadiah is you’re actually dealing with ‘the day of the Lord.’ This thing that comes from an ancient old hatred goes all the way into the Last Days. It’s important you understand who these people are because they play a key role in the assault against Israel in the Last Days.

In Ezekiel 35: 3-5, God promises, “Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. [4] I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
[5] Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end.”

Mount Seir is a particular place in Edom existing in today’s southern Jordan. Ezekiel, Obadiah and all the other Old Testament prophets use ancient terms to describe territories and the people inhabiting them. The country Jordan didn’t exist even 100 years ago. Middle East boundary lines and nations had their names identified by Europeans with the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.

“I want you to notice that phrase ‘because thou hast a perpetual hatred,’ ” says Jordan. “If you look at Amos 1, another passage on the Second Coming of Christ, verse 11 says, ‘Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever.’

*****

“There’s been bad blood between the Edomites and the Israelis from Day One. To understand this you have to go back to Abraham because all this revolves around God’s plan and purpose with Abraham and his seed and predates the Edomites.

“Edom is the descendants of Esau, who is Jacob’s brother. Before there was a Jacob and an Esau, there was an Ismael and an Isaac. All of this controversy, this family feud, and this perpetual hatred and wrath between these brothers starts in Genesis 16.

“God made the Abrahamic Covenant with Abraham and Sarah, promising them a land and a seed to fill that land and great prosperity and stature in the earth. It focused on that seed line.

“Genesis 16:2 says, ‘And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 3] And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
[4] And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.’

“The problem wasn’t that Abraham couldn’t have a child, but God had kept Sarah from conceiving. The reason He did that is because God didn’t want the child to be the natural product of Abraham and Sarah; He was going to wait until Abraham was unable to father a child and then miraculously give them the capacity so there was no question God gave them the seed.

“Sarah gives Abraham to Hagar and Hagar conceives. Hagar understood the Abrahamic Covenant. She understood, ‘Now I’m going to be the one to have Abraham’s seed. My boy is going to be the one who’s going to be the great nation. My boy’s going to be the one who God blesses in the earth and gives great stature.’ She looks at Sarah and thinks, ‘I got it now! I’m going to be the mother of the descendants.’

“The mistake Abraham and Sarah made is what injected into the descendants of Abraham this perpetual hatred. It focuses around jealously over the Abrahamic Covenant. The family feud begins there.

“In verse 9, the angel tells Hagar to ‘return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.’ Now, what’s the chance of that? You know, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Submission is the opposite of, ‘We’re not going to do that!’

*****

The passage continues, [10] And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
[11] And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
[12] And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Jordan explains, “God actually takes Ishmael and blesses him and he has twelve sons. He has a great nation that comes from him; in fact, his descendants become what we call the Arabs. Saudi Arabia is where his descendants went to live. When you see that territory where Ismael goes, that’s modern-day Saudi Arabia.

“By the way, Islam places Ismael at the head of the seed line, not Isaac, which tells you something about what goes on in Islam. All of the hatred toward Israel in the Middle East comes out of jealousy over the covenant God made with Abraham and his seed.

“It’s a jealousy of Ismael against Isaac because it’s ‘Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,’ not ‘Abraham, Ismael and Esau.’ The hatred comes because Ismael and Esau are jealous over the blessings of Abraham going to their brothers, not them.

 

*****

“Circumcision was the sign Abraham’s seed carried around in their flesh that they were that special seed line. You notice in Genesis 17 that Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised and Ismael was 13. That’s the second time that number 13 appears in your Bible. The first time is in chapter 14. Both times it’s in connection with rebellion.

“It says in chapter 21 that ‘Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.’  Notice that the despising Hagar had for Sarah she passed on to her son. He’s got the same attitude toward his step-mother that his mother had.

“So just like Hagar was jealous, now there’s Ismael and he’s going to mock and be angry and have hatred toward Sarah and Isaac. So Sarah says, ‘Throw her out; cast out the bond woman,’ and Abraham does.

*****

“The first thing involved in the Abrahamic Covenant is God’s going to give a land. The ownership of that land is part of what they’re jealous of.

“Hagar winds up going down into Egypt and the people there knew who she was because Abraham was a prominent figure in that part of the world at that time. In Genesis 14 he had been part of a battle and rescued a bunch of kings and political leaders.

Hagar and Ismael go into Egypt and spread their venom. They don’t say, ‘Boy, Abraham’s this great guy and God’s going to bless the world through Isaac.’ They go down there with that mocking, hateful attitude and they’re angry.

“When you read about Esau in Genesis 27:41, it says, ‘And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.’

“He’s got the same attitude that his uncle Ismael and step-grandmother Hagar had. He’s going to hate them because of the Abrahamic Covenant.”

( to be continued . . . )