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There are many nations of the world opposing Israel. Many of them ‘have two machine guns and a gunboat, and talk big.’ But, the chief among them are the nations listed in Psalm 83, all of them joined with Islam and all of them saying of Israel, “Come and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” (v.4)
Some of these nations/people are around Israel: Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Gaza. and Jordan. But Asaph the Psalmist calls upon God to “Persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with the storm...let them be put to shame and perish.”(v.15)
The words ‘tempest and storm’ also have the meanings of hurricane and whirlwind and evoke in our minds a picture of terrible destruction upon these nations which continually blaspheme against Israel and their God.
A graphic picture of that destruction is spelt out in Zech 14:12 and it is a frightening scenario.
“And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them…”
Needless to say, the nations around Israel don’t read the Hebrew Bible, BUT, people who do read, must fear the judgments to come.
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