“said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel…Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail…even they shall fall, and never rise up again…I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good…
- “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD.” (Amos 9)
At first glance God’s comparison of Israelites to Ethiopians appears to be a repeated statement of rejection. While the Ethiopians’ lineage is not listed in Genesis, it is related in some way with Mizraim/Egypt, who is listed as a son of Cush whose giant offspring including infamous Nimrod, and possibly Phut – whose people were called “men of war” highly suggestive of hybrid breeding.
- Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt?
Now, confusingly, this sounds like God is favorably comparing the Ethiopians with the Israelites.
“Thus saith the LORD…that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee…When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee [as at the Red Sea]…when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned...I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight,..I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” (Isaiah 43:1-4)
No question about it. God redeemed Israel with nations of high value, including Ethiopia.
And there’s more.
“and [brought up / ransomed] the Philistines from Caphtor / Crete?”
The Philistines!!??
Crete was the centre of Europe’s most ancient civilization, the Minoans,. with complex urban settlements resurfacing after the flood around 2000 BC. i.e. when peoples were fleeing the tyrant kings. Details in post 75.
According to this statement in Isaiah, the Philistines were helped to flee the oppressive Minoan civilization exactly like the Israelites were enabled to flee oppressive Egypt. To settle in Israel’s promised land, no less. Then, when Israel took possession of their promised land grant under Joshua, the LORD excluded the Philistines from the giant tribes he promised to drive out from the land of Canaan. and Judah’s western border encircled – excluding – the Philistine territory.
I can prove it from scripture.
From Joshua 15:
“This then was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families;
- their south border was from [a point in the west] the shore of the salt [Mediterranean] sea, from the bay that looketh southward…to [a point in the east] the border of Edom…and fetched a compass / curved to Karkaa:
- the east border was [from a point in the south] the salt [Dead] sea, even unto [a point in the north] the end [inlet to the sea] of Jordan [River].
- border in the north…[from a point in the east] at the uttermost part of Jordan…[meanders through mountains and valleys so minutia left unnamed here]…passed along by the north of Betharabah [i.e. includes this city]…and so northward…unto the south side of the Jebusite [i.e. a people who owned this city at this time] the same is Jerusalem [edited in later]…and passed on to Timnah [defining this as a Judean city, while later we learn is also inhabited by Philistines] And the border went out unto the side of Ekron [definitely a Philistine city but does not belong to Judah because the border is drawn] northward of this city, [i.e. excluding it]: and the border [continues to meander through inland Judean cities] was drawn to Shicron, and passed along to mount Baalah [later called Kiriath-jearim] and went out unto Jabneel [apparently insignificant, no info found]; and the goings out [to a point in the west] of the [northern] border were at the [Mediterranean] sea.
- And the west border was to the great sea, and the coast thereof.
We can’t misread this reference to “coast thereof” in this context as meaning “the seashore of the great sea. This word is translated “region, country, lot, portion, and even literally cords, tapes, ropes as used today to measure (in addition to fastening).
The Philistines only lost their autonomy, like Israel then Judah, to the Assyrians, Egyptians, and later Babylonians. under whom they gradually lost their distinct identity as a nation.
Genetic studies of modern Palestinians indicate they are primarily descended from ancient peoples who inhabited what is today Israel and Palestine, at least 3700 years ago. Taking into account the long ages assigned by Evolutionists and the genetic study showing that the Levantine Arabs had only minor later migrations’ impact on their population ancestry, we can conclude that the ancient Philistines are indeed represented by modern Palestinians.
Israel’s genocidal determination to wipe them out in order to appropriate their valuable land, especially the coastal Gaza strip, cannot be justified by scripture and will be dealt with by the LORD God, including judging the international agencies who deplore it but refuse to do anything to stop it and America which is funding it.
- “and the Syrians from Kir [“Fortress” in Assyria]?”
Syria is the updated name of the land / Padan- of Aram, son of Shem, including Job’s land of Uz, son of Aram, so also harking back to the most ancient scattering of nations.
“Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian / Aramean of Padan-aram.” (Genesis 25:20)
“Ahaz [king of Judah] sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and…the king of Israel…And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.” (II Kings 16:5-9)
And this event is where God’s otherwise bewildering preaching through Isaiah makes sense, occurring as it does in the same time period as this event mid 700’s BC.
“Are ye not as the Ethiopians, the Philistines, the Syrians?”
Denouncing the Israelites as being the same as these Luciferian humanist pagans!
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve”
BUT! there is also:
“yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth…In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen…And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel.” (Amos 9)
This promise of future redemption is witnessed NOT ONLY by Israel’s previous redemption from Egyptian bondage, but ALSO by the miraculous salvation of three other nations.
The LORD is expressing his undying love for ALL of his children – EVEN THE REBELS, exactly as he did with Cain when he gave him a chance to repent.
- Have not I brought up / rescued Israel out of the land of Egypt / Mizraim, son of Ham? –
- and the Philistines from Caphtor? Reinforcing the history of saving grace.
- and the Syrians from Kir? Another witness to God’s saving grace.
Why is the restoration of Israel a big deal but the saving of “all the heathen which are called by my name” ignored?
“I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.” (Isaiah 65:1)
And the first nation mentioned – the children of the Ethiopians – establishes a proven trail of a remnant of of a nation that was not called by “my name” belonging to YHVH.
“And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it…
And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth…wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses – WHO HAD UNITED HIMSELF WITH AN ETHIOPIAN. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them.” (Number 12:5-9)
Based on scripture we should absolutely understand that Moses and the Ethiopian woman were as much “two become one” as Adam and his wife. No offspring from that marriage are documented, but that does not exclude Moses from being the head of an Ethiopian household that maintained a loyalty to their “father Moses” just as much as Gentiles do to “father Abraham”, and exactly as Moses maintained his obedience to his father-in-law after Jethro had taken Moses into his household.
“Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,..And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance.” (Exodus 18)
Put this in context! “Moses commanded us a law…he was king in Jeshurun.” (Deuteronomy 33:4-5)
But “Moses’ father in law” had a father’s absolute authority over this king of millions of people.
“And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good...Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee… (Exodus 18:17-28)
Our humanistic post-modern culture is simply oblivious to God’s ordinances and laws and the way to live as family, including the significance of Moses’ Ethiopian wife in her supporting role to Melchizedek Moses.
“Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” (Psalm 68:31)
As early as 2000 BCE, i.e. as soon as languages fragmented and scattered into nations at Nimrod’s tower of Babel, the ancient Ethiopians can be identified as Semitic because they spoke South Semitic languages,, in particular the oldest dialect, Ge’ez. Two thousand years later, the Ethiopian Semitic languages have by far the greatest numbers of modern native speakers of any Semitic language other than Arabic.
Pertinent to this study, anthropologists note that at this very early stage in history there was a merging of Semitic culture with Cushite Agaw culture in Ethiopia. It was clearly as a result of this merging that the Agaw peoples have historically practiced a “Hebraic religion”. With as much accuracy as any anthropologist we can conclude that Semitic people converted some of Cush’s descendants to the Hebrew faith.
Ebedmelech the Ethiopian risked his life serving Jeremiah while Jerusalem was under seige, even being used by God as Jeremiah’s spokesman.
And another royal Ethiopian was certainly responsible for helping to establish the Coptic Church about 42 AD.
“And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza…and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet… And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him…Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus…And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him / joined him to the body of believers.” (Acts 8)
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.” (I Corinthians 12:13)
Kingdom Come 