From Moses to Armageddon: The Long War for God's Holy Mountain

Transcription

1 From Moses to Armageddon: The Long War for God's Holy Mountain Artist s illustration of Mount Sinai as portrayed in the book of Exodus. (Wikimedia Originally published by Providence Lithograph Co., 1907) By Derek P. Gilbert One of the most amazing things about the Bible is the way it can surprise you. You re plugging along, reading a chapter because you know it s a good thing to do. Suddenly a new piece of the puzzle falls into place and you realize, again, that the breadth and depth of the war in the spirit realm is far greater than we understand. This happened to me again recently as I prepared for the weekly online Bible study that Sharon and I host. While studying chapters 11 through 15 of the Book of Exodus, the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, I unexpectedly learned that the event was a called shot, a clear message to the rebellious Watchers that their days are numbered. More than that, it was a foreshadowing of the final conflict for the holy mountain of God between armies heaven and the rebellious forces of the Antichrist the Battle of Armageddon. The account of Moses parting the Red Sea is a magnificent story by any standard. The Israelites hurried flight from Egypt after the terrible tenth and final plague, the destruction of the firstborn, makes for wonderful cinema. Picture the spectacle of enough men, women and children to fill a major American city, along with the herd animals and beasts of burden to feed and carry them and their possessions, moving with all possible speed into the desert.

2 Then Pharaoh, his heart hardened, ordered his military, arguably the finest fighting force in the world, to give chase. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of chariots were deployed, raising an immense cloud of dust that must have been seen by the Israelites long before the soldiers drew near. Imagine being an Israelite at the back of the line. The reaction of the people has been preserved for history, and you can almost feel the terror behind their anguished cry to Moses: Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? (Exodus 14:11, ESV) You know how the story ends. Yahweh Himself, in the pillar of cloud, intercepted the Egyptian column and prevented the soldiers from reaching the terrified Israelites. Then, following the Lord s instructions, Moses raised his hand over the sea, the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind that blew through the night, and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (Exodus 14:22) In the morning, the Egyptian army, ordered to pursue, descended into the pass between the waters and were thrown into confusion by Yahweh in the pillar of fire and the cloud. Just as the soldiers decided they d had enough, the Lord directed Moses to stretch out his hand once more. The sea returned to its course, swallowing the Egyptian forces, soldiers, horses, and all. Modern computer graphics could not possibly do the scene justice. And yet it is important to understand that far more took place during this encounter than is revealed at first glance. What occurred on the shore of the Red Sea was nothing less than the opening of a titanic can of cosmic justice on the fallen angels who were worshipped as gods not only in Egypt, but across the entire Ancient Near East. First, pay attention to the opening verses of Exodus chapter 14: 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 4 And I will harden Pharaoh s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. While we don t know the exact locations referred to in these passages, one thing is clear: Yahweh told the Israelites to turn around. The Hebrews had already passed this place, and God instructed them to turn back, which is how most English translations render the phrase is verse 2. (And just imagine that poor guy at the back of the line when that order came down!) A number of locations have been proposed for Pi-hahiroth, usually along the north edge of the Gulf of Suez. It is generally agreed by scholars that the Hebrew words translated Red Sea, yam suph, actually

3 means Sea of Reeds. For this reason, many believe that the story, if they admit to any basis in history at all, must have taken place on one of the shallow saltwater lakes between the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed, archaeological research over the last decade has connected place names from the early stages of the Exodus to locations in the eastern delta region, not far from the military road that connected the Nile valley to the Levant. Other proposed sites are situated farther south on the Gulf of Suez, but they would have required the Israelites to travel south from Goshen into the heart of Egypt, rather than east or southeast into the Sinai peninsula. As the Israelites were eager to put distance between themselves and Egypt before Pharaoh changed his mind again, this route seems less likely. One possible location that is particularly intriguing places the crossing on the northeastern finger of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, at the southern tip of Sinai. The Straits of Tiran, the narrow sea lanes between Sinai and the Arabian peninsula, are named for Tiran Island, three miles off the Sinai coast. It was Egypt s closing of the Straits of Tiran, through which shipping to Israel s only Red Sea port must pass, that prompted the Six-Day War in Tiran Island is dominated by the 1,600 Mount Tiran. The Strait of Tiran theory proposes that Mount Tiran is Baal-Zephon, which translates as lord of the north. If this is correct, then Yahweh directed the Israelites to make their dramatic sea crossing in front of a mountain devoted to Baal, the chief god of the Canaanites, a god of storms, the sea, and maritime trade. And the north was known to be the location of Baal s palace on his mount of assembly. Besides being a geographic location somewhere on the coast of the Red Sea, Baal-Zephon was the god known to ancient Greeks as Zeus Kasios, or Zeus of Mount Kasios, a peak also called Mount Zephon (the modern Mount Aqraa, on the Syrian coast just south of the border with Turkey). It was there, the ancients believed, that Baal held court over the gods. This was acknowledged by the ancient Hebrews. The prophet Isaiah, in his condemnation of Lucifer, identifies the seat of the fallen cherub s power: 13 You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; (Isaiah 14:13, ESV, emphasis added) Now, a site in Egypt named for a Canaanite god may seem unusual, but shrines devoted to Baal-Zephon

4 (and Zeus Kasios) are attested across the ancient world from Assyria to Egypt to Spain. It is possible that the worship of Baal was brought to Egypt by the Hyksos, Semitic invaders who controlled Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) for a period of roughly one hundred years just prior to the Exodus. Speculation aside, wherever it was located, there is no question that it was important to Yahweh that the final, decisive confrontation with Egypt take place over against Baalzephon, because it was there that He directed the Israelites to lure Pharaoh and his army. That this was a supernatural showdown cannot be overstated, and not just because of the miraculous parting of the waters. Yahweh Himself told Moses that the terrible tenth plague was more than punishment against the inhabitants of Egypt for the stubbornness of Pharaoh: For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. (Exodus 12:12, ESV, emphasis added; see also Numbers 33:4) Say what?! How many times have you heard that part of the story? To repeat: Yahweh declared that the while the firstborn of Egypt were being struck down, He would be executing judgments on their gods. Are we to believe that God spoke metaphorically, declaring His superiority over imaginary beings, inanimate blocks of wood and stone? That is illogical and inconsistent with the biblical narrative. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, Paul told the church at Ephesus, and the Exodus is another example of war in the unseen realm: Yahweh promised Moses that He was about to put the smackdown on Osiris, Anubis, Horus, Isis, and the rest. [1] And that, apparently, wasn t enough, because He directed Moses to turn the column around, return to Baal-Zephon, and demonstrate His authority there at a site dedicated to the Lord of the North, who ruled from his mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. No wonder that, a generation later, Rahab of Jericho told Joshua s spies: I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. (Joshua 2:9-11, ESV) Think about it: Not only did Yahweh defeat the gods of Egypt, He followed that by demonstrating His authority over Baal-Zephon, the Canaanites chief god and lord of the sea, and Yahweh did it with a miraculous sea crossing at a site dedicated to Baal.

5 So how does this relate to Armageddon? The Book of Revelation tells us that the armies of the world will gather to do battle against the forces of Christ at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. (Rev. 16:16). Scholars have traditionally believed that Armageddon is derived from the Hebrew har məgiddô, or Mount of Megiddo. In a sense, that would seem to be a logical place for a battle. Megiddo is located at the western end of a narrow pass on an important trade route between Egypt and Assyria. Because of its strategic importance, Megiddo was the site of several historic battles notably, between Egypt and rebellious Canaanite vassals in the 15th century B.C., Egypt and Judah in 609 B.C. (at which King Josiah fell), and during World War I between Allied troops and the Ottoman Empire. There is a problem with this interpretation, however: There is no mountain at Megiddo. While the site is slightly elevated above the surrounding terrain, Megiddo is situated in the Jezreel Valley. There are mountains around the valley Mount Carmel to the west, Mount Tabor to the east, and Mount Gilboa, where King Saul committed suicide, to the southeast but Megiddo is not identified with them. So where do we look for the Mount of Megiddo? Given that most Old Testament apocalyptic prophecy centers on Jerusalem and Mount Zion (for example Joel 3 and Zechariah 14), it is likely that the word Armageddon is based on misreading the Hebrew. It is common in Greek translations for the letter gamma to represent the Hebrew ayin, so that the original harmo ed mount of assembly was transformed into har məgiddô. As mentioned above, the Hebrew prophets acknowledged the Canaanite belief that Baal s palace was located on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. They also devoted a considerable amount of ink to Yahweh s holy mountain, an abode with which He had been identified since Eden: You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. (Ezekiel 28:13-14 ESV) Eden, on the holy mountain, is described as the seat of the gods (Ezekiel 28:2) in other words, Yahweh s mount of assembly. In Psalm 48, this holy mountain is given a name:

6 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. (Psalm 48:1-2, ESV) Clearly the Psalmist is equating Zion with Zaphon. Since Zion isn t much of a mountain it isn t even the tallest peak in Jerusalem and it certainly isn t in the far north, a deeper meaning is implied. What is intended is a comparison, appropriating the imagery of Baal s mount of assembly, his har-mo ed, to show the superiority of Yahweh. At some point in the future, and perhaps the not-too-distant future, it is at Yahweh s har-mo ed that the climactic battle between the armies of heaven and the forces of Antichrist will be fought. And a careful reading of the Old Testament reveals that as early as the time of the Exodus and perhaps even as far back as the destruction of Nimrod s man-made mount of assembly at Babel Yahweh made it clear to man and small-g god alike that the preeminent holy mountain on Earth is where He chose for His name to be remembered Zion. For further reading, please see Cris Putnam s excellent essay Armageddon: The OT Background to the Battle for the Cosmic Mountain : [1] Further study of the Divine Council paradigm is recommended to understand the nature of the supernatural beings, possibly the Watchers, placed over the nations by Yahweh after the Tower of Babel incident. They apparently rebelled against Yahweh and encouraged the neighbors of the ancient Hebrews to worship them as gods. See