Gaza and Ashkelon in Bible Prophecy

 

Gaza and Ashkelon in Bible Prophecy

           Gaza is about 59 miles West of the city of Jerusalem.  Ashkelon is about 16 miles North of Gaza.  The Gaza Strip is about 25 miles long running from the Southeast to the North in Israel along the West coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  The Gaza Strip varies between 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide or deep extending from the coastline West into the nation of Israel. 

          The city of Gaza, which is today geographically Gaza City, is first mentioned in Genesis 10:19 as one of the cities that were occupied by the descendants of Noah’s son Ham after the Great Flood, and of which became part of the land of the Canaanites. 

 15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations” (Genesis 10:15-20).

           Most of the geography of what we know as today as the Promised Land, or the nation of Israel, was occupied by the Canaanites until the time of Joshua.  God had promised the land of the Canaanites to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15:8.  The consummation by the “smoking furnace” passing between the divided sacrifices was God’s confirmation of the land promised to the descendants of Abraham in the nation of Israel.  Gaza and Ashkelon were two of the main cities that were part of this Promised Land. 

The fact that this real estate was given by God to Israel and the surety of that promise was confirmed by the fact that Abraham was not given any conditions on his part for the fulfilment of the land promises.  The surety of these land promises are a covenant between the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus, represented by the “smoking furnace” that passed between the sacrificial animal parts consuming them.  This portrays the propitiation of God’s wrath in its prophetic fulfillment in the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. 

It is important in this context of the preservation of the nation of Israel and the land promises to the nation of Israel are NOT condition on the faithfulness of the nation of Israel to the Mosaic Covenant.  God’s promise of preservation of the nation and the surety of the land promises are secured by the unconditional promise of God in the Abrahamic Covenant intent upon manifesting the sovereignty of God within human events and throughout human history.  God has miraculously accomplished His land promise and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the history of the world. 

 7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not” (Genesis 15:7-10).

          After the forty years of purification of the “mixed multitude” from the children of Israel after their Exodus from Egypt, Joshua led the faithful remnant into begin occupying the Promised Land.  Joshua was commanded to purify the Promised Land of the Canaanites.  The Canaanite culture was wicked beyond description.  The Canaanites were an extremely sexually deviant culture practicing bestiality, incest, fornication, homosexuality, and even child sacrifices.  The product of the procreation resulting from this sexual deviance was considered by God as human “vomit” and was addressed by God in His instructions regarding Israel’s separation from these practices.  What God addresses and forbids to the nation of Israel in Leviticus 18:19-25 were common practices of the Canaanites. 

 19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness. 20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her. 21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech {infant and child sacrifice}, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:19-25).

           The four-hundred and thirty years that Israel was under Egyptian bondage was the longsuffering of God in giving the inhabitants of Canaan (“Amorites”) time to repent.  Instead, the Canaanites grew more violent, oppressive, wicked, and perverse with every generation until

 12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full {complete to where God gave them up}” (Genesis 15:12-16).

          Joshua was commanded to either drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land or to annihilate them, man, woman, child, and beast, if they would not abandon the Promised land and leave it.  In Deuteronomy 20:10-20, God gave more lenient instructions regarding the inhabitants outside of the boundaries of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 20:10-15).  God gave strict annihilation commandments regarding the Canaanites that refused to abandon the real estate within the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 20:16-20).  This commandment to the children of Israel still stands.

 16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 20:16-20). 

           Joshua and the children of Israel failed to remove the Canaanites from Gaza and Ashkelon.  This area has been an historical thorn in the flesh of the nation of Israel since Joshua’s and the children of Israel’s failure to drive them out of what we now call the Gaza Strip. 

 40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded. 41 And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon” (Joshua 10:40-41).

           The area that surrounds the cities of Gaza and Gibeon is still what constitutes the geography known today as the Gaza Strip.  The lesson we should learn is that our failures to do what God says to do become a testimony of unfaithfulness to the generations that follow.  This failure by the children of Israel to occupy and remove or annihilate all pagans within the Promised Land will continue until Jesus accomplishes this purging at His second coming. 

          Israel’s failure to drive out or annihilate the Canaanites occupying the Gaza Strip took place about 1041 B.C.  The Philistines began to occupy this real estate about sixty years before around 1100 B.C.  The major cities of the Philistines were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath.  Certainly, the names of these cities throughout Bible history bring to mind the constant conflict of the children of Israel with the Philistines from David with Goliath at Gath and Samson with Delilah at Gaza (Judges chapter sixteen).   

       The prophecies of Jeremiah chapter forty-seven and Amos chapter one are both prophetic dualisms, meaning they have had a historical fulfillment by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, but also will have a future Messianic fulfillment at the second coming of Jesus.  The complete fulfilment of Israel occupying all the real estate promised by God in the Abrahamic Covenant will not happen until the Kingdom Age and the coming of King Jesus. 

 1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. 2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. 3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; 4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. 5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself? 6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. 7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it” (Jeremiah 47:1-7; see also Amos chapter one).

 

35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 If those ordinances {sun, moon, and stars} depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:35-37).

 

           Just as God waited to deliverer Israel until the “the iniquity of the Amorites” (Canaanites) was “full” (Genesis 15:16), the second coming of Jesus is waiting “the fullness of the Gentiles.  This is the “falling away” of II Thessalonians 2:3 before the rapture/deliverance of the Church and first aspects of the revealing of the Antichrist in the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. 

 

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).

 “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Even so come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20)!

All Jerry Bouey's Blogs

I know it has been a long time since I have worked on my blogs or updated them, but now I am pretty active on them - posting new content, updating the pages, fixing old links, etc. I wanted to try something new, so I created several new blogs.

One new blog, called The Substance Of Things Hoped For (Faith-based Stories and Illustration), was created for a place for me to be able to quickly repost all the stories and illustrations that Angela Trenholm (my webpartner) had on her family site (Trenholms Of Kelowna). EarnestlyContending.com (our domain and the central hub for all our personal sites) got repeatedly hacked a little over two years ago and we lost all the content and had to rebuild from scratch. It is a lot of work trying to repost articles, stories, songs, etc. that were posted from approximately 21 years ago onwards, but I am making a valiant effort. Doing it in a blog format also gives me the opportunity to easily add new content.

The second blog is for posting Daily Devotionals once again - devotionals and poems. I had done that for several years back in 2004 onwards, but eventually it became too much work to keep doing that project and work full time, developing new messages to preach at the Kelowna Gospel Mission. I had turned many of those outlines into full length studies and stored the rest in various boxes to hopefully develop more fully someday. That time did not come till now (of course, now I need to sort through all those boxes!!). This new devotional blog is called Just A Closer Walk With You (Daily Devotionals And Poems).

For those who may be new to Buy The Truth or my blogs in general, or perhaps had not visited for quite a while, I also wanted to list all the other blogs here for you as well, so you can easily check them out and bookmark them if you so desire.


My original websites (before I started any blogs) are:


Most of the content on Home of the Real McCoy are my own poems, plus some poems that I have included in several books of poetry I have put together; whereas Songs In The Night contain both my poems and any poems, songs or hymns by others I wanted to pass on to others. I have added pages for various poems that I presented in church in 2021 or 2022 (as I cannot seem to add the audio files to my blogs). Just look for those poems within Songs In The Night or Home Of The Real McCoy Table Of Contents. I do have them marked on there. Still a few more to put up with the audio files, but I will indicate those ones too when they are made. I have also decided to duplicate my personal poems on Home of the Real McCoy and Songs In The Night, in case we are ever hacked again. Building all those pages from scratch was more work than I ever expected.

I hope all these blogs and pages are a blessing to you.

In Jesus' precious name,
Jerry Bouey

Whatcha Gonna Do?

 

2 Chronicles 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 

    Two men were walking in a field and they came upon a huge hole in the ground.  It really looked deep, so they started taking turns dropping rocks into the hole to see if they could ascertain how deep the hole was.  They heard nothing so they started looking for bigger rocks and things to cast down the hole.  They finally found an old truck transmission. It took them both to lift it and drag it to the hole and cast it into this abyss.  Suddenly the heard something and were astounded a goat was running toward that hole as fast as he could go, down the hole the goat was gone.  Finally they got bored and walked away and came upon a farmer, and the farmer asked if they had seen his goat.  The responded they had and it jumped into a big hole.  The farmers said “It couldn’t be mine, mine was attached to an old truck transmission.”

    We see by our illustration, that a rope tied to both a transmission and a goat caused the farmers dilemma.  Which leads us to a few questions.

 

Is Jesus that rope that is keeping you from humbling yourself?

 

Is Jesus that rope that is keeping you from praying?

 

Is Jesus that rope that is keeping you from seeking God’s face?

 

Is Jesus that rope that is keeping you from turning from your wicked ways?

 

    No it is NOT Jesus, then who is it?

Romans 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

    Well the easy answer is a quote from comedian Flip Wilson who always included this statement “The devil made ME do it.”   He {the devil, Satan} may be involved however, he is not the primary culprit.  Our scripture tells us that “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...  So it is us (Me included) that is keeping us from the command that we should “...shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;” it is us.

So, Whatcha Gonna Do? 

    The scripture states v2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

    We need to change and repent of our ways and get back to the will of our God.

Hebrews 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

    We see from Hebrews whatever we do it must be done from the heart and done sincerely and with repentance. 

    Cut that rope and move to the Will of God via repentance, as the shoe people used to say “Just Do It.”

John R. E Chastain

Jehovah Tsidkenu

JEHOVAH TSIDKENU
"THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS"
(The watchword of the Reformers.)

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure, to sooth or engage,
Isaiah's wild measure and John's simple page;
But e'en when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu seem'd nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nail'd to the tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu - 'twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see, -
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free, -
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast,
Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne'er can be lost;
In thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,
My cable, my anchor, my breast-plate and shield!

Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,
This "watchword" shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life's fever my God sets me free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu, my death song shall be.

November 18, 1834.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Note for modern readers.
The phrase "Jehovah Tsidkenu" is taken from the Anglicised Hebrew of the following two verses in the prophet Jeremiah.

"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Jeremiah 23:5-6)


This is fulfilled in the New Testament in the doctrine of "Justification by Faith" whereby undeserving sinners are accounted righteous before God as a free gift on the basis of the redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the Gospel. (See especially Romans chapter 3 verses 21-26.)

Miscarriage ~ The Grief of Emptiness

My sweetheart and I were married on August 14, 1978, and we desired to have children as soon as the Lord would give them to us.

By November 8th, I was calling my gynecologist for information on a pregnancy test.  That was back in the day before you could purchase a self-test kit from your local drug store.  Never having had a pregnancy test before, the instructions given to me were to provide them with a sample of my morning urine.  The next day I carried my brown paper bag with a urine filled container into the doctor’s office for testing.  Then I waited for the results.  Strangely enough, I had heard a loud roar of laughter just after my sample was received by the nearby lab personnel.  I quickly reasoned that the full quart-size mason jar was a little more than what was needed for a pregnancy test!  I would have laughed with them, but I really wasn’t feeling well.  My husband had been on military sick-call for a few days and had already been admitted to the base hospital for further testing.  I was beginning to wonder if I was coming down with whatever he had.  A little later, and with a little more laughter, the official results were given to me: I was indeed pregnant.  Then I asked, “Should I be concerned that I am spotting?”

It was the next day, and my husband was being discharged from the base hospital.  But, my friend had taken me to the local ER, and I was now being admitted to a different hospital. I was in the process of having a miscarriage.  It was November 10, 1978, the decade of Roe vs. Wade, and Americans were being desensitized in order for them to accept the agenda for a woman’s right to choose. The questions I asked were responded to with medical terminology that was emotionally cold, indifferent, and that dehumanized the life that had been within me.  “You had a spontaneous abortion. The fetus was between 6 - 8 weeks gestation.”  But my heart cried, “My baby died!” as a grief of emptiness began to consumed me.

This grief of emptiness...
...where there is no grave to stand beside, no tombstone to read, no pictures to reminisce over, and no memories to share: this is the grief of emptiness.  A grief of things that never happened but were hoped for, of things that might have been but never will be.  This grief was consuming me to a point of breaking.  Many times the only ones who understand the depth of this grief are those who have shared the same loss of an unborn child, a still birth, or the deep sorrow of a barren womb.  I didn’t need the encouragement of “You can try again.”   I was too devastated by the loss of this child.  I felt alone in my grief, after all, there hadn’t been time for any joyous announcement before my heart was forever broken for this child.  Even my husband was still trying to get his head around the thought of being a father when I was suddenly engulfed with a grief that he could not fathom.  Bewildered by the events that had so quickly come upon our lives, he was at a loss as to how he could comfort me.  He just wanted me to be alright.

The years passed, and the Lord gave us five healthy children to raise.  Then came the unbelievable  heartbreak of a grief I have never known: my 28 year old daughter suddenly and unexpectedly died.

I fell back onto the chair as I cried out in defiance... the room felt like a vacuum as my body struggled to breathe.  I tried to reason that there was no truth in the words I had just heard.  But this echo of despair was relentless, and I was forced to face a truth I couldn’t deny: my daughter was dead, and the rest of my earthly life would be lived without her.  Memories of my daughter spun in my mind and fear began to grip my heart.  Would I forget her laugh, her voice, her smile, her touch: I desperately tried to capture and seal my memories of her before they escaped me forever.


There are still days when my heart is in my throat and I struggle to swallow.  I look at the calendar, and it betrays my heart.  How can it be years when it still feels like yesterday?
This is an abyss of grief beyond all measure that still breaks me.

There is comfort in knowing the Lord.  His grace is sufficient.  But this does not mean our sorrow ends.  It means we are never alone in our sorrow.
To grieve is not to disbelieve; grief is the measure of love. 
It is His grace that points us to another day.  My mother’s heart knows that every child I carried will be etched on my heart forever.  When I get to heaven, I will know the baby I never knew, this child will be standing beside their sister, Kimberly.



In Kimberly's Bible...
...there was taped this small packet of sand...


...and the verse it was illustrating is found in Psalms 139:15-18.

...And Then Came Grief... my daughter died!

I collapse to the floor and mourn.  Grief has come to forever intrude on my life.  The hours, days, months, and years pass and yet I do not perceive them, I am stuck in that dreadful moment when I lost you.

Grief, the visitor who never leaves, inserts itself into every aspect of my life.  It shadows me like an impending storm...I feel it.  I hear it.  I see it and it overtakes me.  It dulls every happy moment.  I am ravished by it’s unending depth of sorrow...again...and again, until all I want is to die and end this aching of my heart.

There is a confounding complexity to Grief and Time:
Grief... you are both joy and sorrow to me for without love there would be no grief and I am eternally thankful to know this love.
Time... I want to remember every memory as if it were made today and I fear what you will steal  from me, and yet, time is the only thing that draws me closer to when I will see my daughter again.

Grief, I stand in the path of your devastation, sometimes unable to move, many times not knowing how to pickup the pieces, valiantly you have tried to conquer me and you almost succeed.

Grief, I make a resolve, your lessons are cruel but I choose to walk with you.  I do not fear you.  You will not make my heart cold.  I will not be isolated in my grief.  And, as with an impending storm, I choose to be prepared for the despair you will forever shower on me.
I will smile through you.
I will joy through you.
And, by God’s grace, I will live through you.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... 
...thou art with me...”. ~ Psalm 23:4


“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; 
of whom shall I be afraid?” ~ Psalm 27:1


 Kimberly Renee Coley

September 7, 1986
December 17, 2014