The Hebrew Bible stands unique among the Abrahamic faiths, and really among all faiths, as having a sustained body of Prophetic material, stamped with the phrase “Koh ‘Amar YHVH” (Thus says YHVH), running many pages, and often sequential.

There is little doubt that 1967 is the benchmark of Biblical Prophecy and the Last Days (see Restoring Abrahamic Faith, pp. 92ff). That, along with the dates 1917 and 1947 seem now confirmed in history and the chronologies of Daniel, plus the Kislev 24 connections.
What one finds in the Prophets are shorter “snippets” or overviews, such as Jeremiah 30-31, Psalm 83, Psalm 104-106, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Haggai 3, and so forth, but of even more fascination are the longer sustained prophecies that seem to actually offer a sequential treatment taking one to the day when YHVH will be King over all the earth and YHVH’s name ONE. Of course the sequence of events is a varied one, from war, death, and destruction to redemption, life and joy.

Among these are of course Zechariah 8-14.  However, these chapters are divided by “Oracles” into 8-11 and 12-14, and it seems likely that these are two “takes” on the same period, from two different standpoints. That would mean that the “battle” of 12 is not the same as that of 14, which seems obvious in terms of outcome. There is good reason to think that current events in Israel, since at least 1967, fit well into Zechariah 8, but not into the events of chapters 12-14. However it should be noted there are also “flashbacks” and “asides,” such as 13:7-9, usually set off by “white spaces” so one must look at the Hebrew text.

Isaiah 24-35 is another longer and sequential prophecy, quite complex, but the “white spaces” give the proper divisions. Also there is Isaiah 40-66 and of course Ezekiel 37-39.  Then there are the oracles to the nations in Jeremiah 46-52 and Ezekiel 24-36.

In terms of Gaza there is something really interesting in Ezekiel 39:11-16. Please note the location for the permanent burial of Gog and Magog! As it turns out this was never an area that Israel was to occupy or will occupy, as it is reserved for this final fate.

Despite many 19th and 20th century apocalyptic expectations, particularly made popular in American and Britian, the wheels of “fulfillment” seem to turn rather slowly, not in a decade or even a Jubilee, but often several centuries. Hence, witness the 300 year history of “Zionism,” or the Return to the Land by the Jewish people. Even more unsettling to standard Christian apocalypticism, that tends to expect things to be solved quickly, and from heaven, with one fell swoop, is that any reading of the chronology of the Masoretic text indicates that the 6000 year mark was passed somewhere between 1997 and 2002. So the “Millennium” is here, but not with a bang or even a bust, but more of the gradual shifts, changes, and struggles, that Maimonides associated with the Messianic age.

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