THE JUDGMENT OF EDOM
The prophet Obadiah has a single theme: ‘judgment upon Edom’. The main purpose of this judgment is directed toward the hatred and anger that Esau clings to against his brother Jacob. Amos 1:11 says, “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he (Esau) pursued his brother (Jacob) with the sword, and cast off all pity; his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”
In Obadiah 1:10, we see that because of Esau’s violence against Jacob, shame shall cover him and he will be cut off forever. This is evident when Nebuchadnezzar entered Judah to carry off captives. Obadiah reveals in Obadiah verses 11-14, “In the day that you (Edom) stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away captive (Jacob’s) forces, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you (Edom) were as one of them. But you should not have looked on the days of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. You should not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yes, you should not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; neither should you have stood in the crossways to cut off those among then who escaped; nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of his distress.” Obadiah also speaks of the Day of Adonai when He will bring judgment upon all the nations of the world, including Edom. This indicates that these descendants of Esau must still be around today, maintaining that deep hatred toward Jacob. We observe this in the drive to obtain control of Jerusalem and destroy Israel. God will use Esau’s descendants and their anger to help reestablish the people of Israel in the Land of Israel, even though a multitude of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob today still live in the Diaspora.
Obadiah 15-16 states, “For the Day of Adonai is near upon all the nations. As you have done (descendants of Esau), it shall be done to you; your reward shall return upon your own head. For as you have drunk the wine of my wrath upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yes, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had never been.”
If Edom is going to be present in the end of times, the latter days, then we should start asking ourselves, where and who are the descendants of Esau called Edom? We know that when our Jewish people were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar, Edom moved into the land of Judah. Writings indicate their presence in the Land during the time of the Maccabees, even after the defeat of Antiochus Epiphanes.
In the book of II Maccabees 10:14 it says, “Gorgias became military commissioner of the region of Judah and maintained a force of mercenaries and stayed in a continual state of war with our people. At the same time Idumeans (Edomites) who controlled important fortresses were exerting pressure on our people by welcoming outlaws from Jerusalem and endeavoring to maintain a state of war. It was the beginning of a turn of events as Judah under the leadership of Hycanus, for fifty years, had the opportunity to expand territory for the nation of Israel. Hycanus invaded Idumaea and forcibly Judaized the Idumaens (Edomites). It brought about an unexpected result a century later as an Idumaen, Herod, began his reign in Jerusalem as a Jew, ending the Hasmonean reign of the Maccabees. Herod, like his father Antipater, both Edomites, who in the Persian and Hellenistic periods had been pushed from the Negev into Southern Judah, were living in an area called Idumaea. Later, when Israel was reestablished as a nation, the Edomites at that time were also living in Jerusalem.”
During the period when the Roman Empire was controlling Israel and Jerusalem, we see Edomites at that time living in the land of the descendants of Jacob. They continued to live there even through the time of Yeshua the Messiah, and even beyond the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. All the Jews died or were forced out of the land. Rome was then the conqueror, but the Edomites were not cast out and remained in the area of Idumaea. The land of Idumaea was the land between Beersheva and Hebron and at that time included Ashdod, and having an influence on Ashkelon and Gaza, which had been under control of the Nabateans. Even though there may be others from the surrounding nations who escaped destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, it appears that the descendants of Esau, (Edomites) were to have the greatest influence on the survivors from these surrounding nations.
The name, Palestine, derived from the Greek, was assigned to the land of Israel by Rome. The Romans were the first in the land to call the people in the land “Palestinians”, and continued to perpetuate that name even though they were actually Edomites. It says in the scriptures that God is coming to destroy the descendants of Esau; that means the hatred of “Palestinians” toward Israel is, in actuality that unchanged hatred of Esau, destined to be destroyed.
There is more evidence that the ‘Day of Adonai’ as described in Obadiah, is very close. All the ‘nations’ said to bear a deep hatred toward Israel in the latter days are presently in place, and will act according to God’s etsah (counsel and purpose).
When Israel was reestablished as a nation in 1948 under the British Mandate, a war immediately broke out against her with the surrounding Arab states. According to the armistice signed after this war, Israel was delegated land for establishing the modern nation of Israel, including a small part of Jerusalem. The biggest portion of Jerusalem and the West Bank was granted to Trans Jordan. Within this land previously belonging to Israel, over 500,000 ‘Palestinians’ (or should we say, Edomites) were then occupying this territory. These ‘Palestinians’, as they were referred to, were offered to become citizens of present-day Jordan, however, many refused.
During a second war initiated by the Arabs in an attempt to destroy the Jewish people, Israel victoriously won back the remaining part of Jerusalem and a large portion of the West Bank. This was the war of 1967. Evidence of the hatred of Esau has surfaced again, raging now for sixty years, and at this time in history, the Palestinians (Edomites) are trying to negotiate for the establishment of their own state, with Jerusalem as their capitol.
Who is pushing for this change? All the Arab nations along with Iran and many factions of the United Nations. God’s plan for these Arab states, and the nations of the world who come against Israel, will be answered on the ‘Day of the LORD’, according to Scripture.
During the ‘Day of Adonai’ all those who are wicked will be judged as individuals. But, those who acknowledge and put their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His Messiah, Yeshua (who will at that time return as the High Priest (Cohen HaGadol) will be saved out of the terrible day of God’s coming judgment upon the earth. The prophet Obadiah enlightens us more in verses 1-9, “Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom: ‘We have heard a rumor from HaShem, an ambassador is sent among the nations, arise, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made you (Edom) small among the nations; but greatly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? Though you exalt yourself like an eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down,’ says the LORD. ‘If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, would they not have stolen till they had enough. If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some grapes? How Esau shall be searched out! How his hidden treasures shall be sought out! All the men of your confederacy (Arabs) have brought you even to the border of Jacob (and that’s exactly where they are today). The men at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Those who eat your bread have laid a trap under you; there is no understanding in him. Shall I not in that day,’ says the LORD, ‘Even destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountains of Esau?’ ”
Today we are witness to a confederacy among all the Arab nations. Are they only using the ‘Palestinians’ for their own purpose? Have they not deceived them? The enmity between Jacob and Esau is close to an end. The fate of Edom may lie in the hands of the Arab nations and the United Nations. When the purpose of the ‘Palestinians’ has been accomplished we may see a change of events. When we see the final results from the conflict between Esau (Palestinians) and Jacob (Israel), the United Nations may assume control over Jerusalem. The UN wants Jerusalem as their own international city seeking to establish their campaign for a “One World Government”. We observed President George Bush campaigning for this on behalf of the United Nations. Organized under a two-state plan, they have been trying to push this through under the Annapolis Resolution. Even at the time of the British Mandate, the United Nations wanted control of Jerusalem. The pope continues to press for this as well.
If and when it does happen, these factions will no longer need the ‘Palestinians’ as their ‘scapegoat’ to seize control. How do we know this? Scripture speaks about the ‘abomination of desolation’ that was prophesied by the prophet Daniel. This ‘abomination’ will take place sometime in the future when the Holy place and Holiest of Holies is rebuilt and he, the anti-Messiah, will pollute the temple before God. There is today a major attempt for globalization via the United Nations, and the drive for establishment of a One World government, with a one-world leader to rule the world from their ‘International City of Jerusalem’. Revelation 11 states, “There was given me a reed like a rod; the angel stood saying, ‘Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it. But the court, which is outside the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months (three and a half years).’ ” We understand by this that Israel will probably not control Jerusalem for a period of time after having returned to the Land.
Matthew 24: 16-20 says regarding those days, “Then let those who are in Judea flee unto the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes. Woe to those who are with child, and to those who nurse children in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a Sabbath day.”
Ezekiel 35: 1-15 speaks about Mount Seir (Edom): “Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ‘Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it. Say unto it, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out my Hand against you, and I will make you most desolate. I will lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate, and you shall know that I am the LORD. You have had a perpetual hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity at the time that their iniquity had an end. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will prepare you unto blood and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, even blood shall pursue you. Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. And I will fill your mountains with your slain men; on your hills, and in your valleys, and in all your rivers shall they fall who are slain with the sword; I will make you a perpetual desolation. Your cities shall not be inhabited; then you shall know that I am the LORD. Because you have said, These two nations and these two countries (Judah and Israel) shall be mine, and we will possess them, although the LORD was there; therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will even do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have showed in your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them when I have judged you. And you shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all your blasphemies that you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume’. Thus with your mouth you have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me; I have heard them. Thus says the Lord GOD: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. As you did rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto you, You shall be desolate, O Mount Seir and all Edom, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.”
Isaiah 63:1- 6 reads: “Who is this coming from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah? Who is this, majestic in attire, pressing forward in His great might? It is I, who contend victoriously, powerful to give triumph. Why is your clothing so red, your garments like him who treads grapes? “I trod out a vintage of the peoples alone as no man was with Me. I trod them down in My anger, trampled them in My rage; their life-blood spattered My garments, and all My clothing was stained. For I had planned a day of vengeance, and My year of redemption arrived. Then I looked, but there was none to help. I stared, but there was none to aid. So My own arm wrought the triumph, and My own rage was My aid. I trampled peoples in My anger, I made them drunk with My rage and I hurled their glory to the ground.”
What follows the demise of the Edomites? Isaiah discloses to us in Isaiah 62: 10-12: “Pass through the gates! Clear the road for the people, Build up, build up the “highway” (Hebrew – Mesilla; an exalted way for the return of a righteous remnant.) Proverbs 16:17 tells us “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul.” I don’t think it is difficult for us to see we are nearing the ‘Day of Adonai’. It is time for our Jewish people, as well as the gentile nations to recognize the redemption that has been provided by the hand of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; His eternal sacrificial atonement provided through His only son, D’var HaShem, Messiah Yeshua. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and through His obedience, allowed His blood to be poured out for each one of us, so that we would not have to live a life of eternal damnation, but instead, eternal life with Him. This opportunity for eternal salvation is for all who will embrace Him, whether Edomites or ‘Palestinians’ or the surrounding Arab nations.
Isaiah 28:16 declares: “ Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.” II Peter 3:2-9 states: “That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the emissaries of Adonai and Messiah, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willfully forget: that by D’var HaShem (the Word of God) the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same D’var (HaShem), are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with Adonai one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. Adonai is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
KURDISH FACTOR
The Kurds are a people hated not only by Iraq, but also by Turkey, Iran and others throughout the Muslim world. Many of the Kurds have become Sunni Muslims, which I believe they did for their own protection from persecution. Few Kurds have become Shiite Muslims like the Iranians, who are not Arab, but have greatly mistreated the Kurds. Because of the large number of Kurds existing in several different countries within the same geographical region, they have named the region “Kurdistan”. Kurdistan is an area of SW Asia in which they have lived for centuries, on an extensive plateau and mountain area that covers 74,000 square miles. It is a region that includes portions of the Muslim countries of Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. 23 percent of the 35 million Kurds live in Iraq. Most of the Kurds today live in Turkey and 10 % in Iran. In Iraq, where they struggle with the threat against control over their own lives, most live in Dahuk, Mosul, Irbil, Sulaimaniyal and Kirkuk, a rich oil producing area.
KURDISH HISTORY IS TIED TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB
In a brief history of present-day Kurds, we see them conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century; in the eleventh century they became a region held by Seljuk Turks. The Mongols were the next to take over the land they occupy from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries; then the Ottoman Empire in the early nineteenth century. It was at this point they attempted the creation of an autonomous Kurdish state, but even then they were unable to succeed. In 1974 the Iraqi government sought to impose its plan for limited autonomy in Kurdistan. It was rejected by the Kurds and heavy fighting erupted. After the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran (1979), its government launched a murderous campaign against its Kurdish inhabitants as well as a plot to assassinate Kurdish leaders. Iraqi attacks have never slacked off and continued throughout the Iran-Iraqi war from 1980-1988. Poison gas attacks to quash Kurdish resistance, along with execution of male Kurds all resulted in the massacre of approximately 200,000 of their people in a one year period. It wasn’t until 1992 when they were under the United Nations protection that an autonomous region was established for the Kurdish people.
There is an extensive plateau and mountain region that covers 74,000 square miles where the Kurds have always resided. I believe with worldwide support and God’s help that the Kurds could obtain the state that they seek. The Kurds have lived in two other nations where the threat of persecution has prevailed by neighboring Muslims. The first is Azerbaijan. Many believe this was originally Kurdish and was established by those of the tribes from the northern nation of Israel when carried away by Assyria. There are reports that some from Azerbaijan immigrated to Israel when it was established as a nation in 1948. Armenia is the other nation in which Kurds have lived, also in the Kurdish region, and hated by those surrounding them because they refuse to become a Muslim nation.
When the Assyrians carried off the northern nation of Israel, they were placed in the same area of SW Asia. According to II Kings 17:6, it states, “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor (areas) by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes”. Guess what! These two points are located in this plateau in the land where the Kurds live today… As I continued my research, I found in Ezekiel 1:3 the following regarding Judah: “The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel, the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river, Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him”. It is this location where the Lord spoke to Ezekiel, but better yet, it is in the same area of Habor that those of the Northern Nation of Israel were carried off 150 years earlier. (Chebar is today spelled Khabur on the map.) We also discover that both the northern nation of Israel and nation of Judah were carried to the same location. But this isn’t the most exciting point of interest. Think about this; outside of Israel, it was the origin from which all the descendants of Jacob were carried off and dispersed throughout the whole world. In the Torah, Deuteronomy 28:64, written for all the descendants of Jacob states, “And the LORD shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest; but the LORD shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night, and shall have no assurance of your life; in the morning you shall say, Would God it were evening! And at evening you shall say, Would God it were morning for the fear of your heart wherewith you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. And the LORD shall bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spoke unto you. You shall see it no more again; and there you shall be sold unto your enemies for male and female slaves, and no man shall buy you.”
THE KURDS ARE THE OLDEST DESCENDANTS OF JACOB
Kevin Alan Brook wrote a book on this subject and the following is information he researched. In 2001, a team of Israeli, German, and Indian scientists discovered that the majority of the Jewish people around the world are closely related to the Kurdish people, more closely than they are to the Semitic-speaking Arabs, or any other population that was tested. The researchers sampled a total of 526 Y-chromosomes from 6 populations (Kurdish Jews, Kurdish Muslims, Palestinian Arabs, Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Bedouin from southern Israel) and added extra data on 1321 persons from 12 populations (including Russians, Belarusians, Poles, Berbers, Portuguese, Spaniards, Arabs, Armenians, and Anatolian Turks). Most of the 95 Kurdish Muslim test subjects came from northern Iraq. Ashkenazic Jews have ancestors who lived in central and Eastern Europe, while Sephardic Jews have ancestors who lived in central and Eastern Europe, and also have ancestors from southwestern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. The Kurdish Jews and Sephardic Jews were found to be similar to each other. Both of these have Jewish populations which differ somewhat from Ashkenazic Jews, who intermarried with Europeans in the Diaspora, and identified as Gentiles. The researchers suggested that the approximately 12.7 percent of Ashkenazic Jews who have the Eu 19 chromosomes—which are found among 54 and 60 percent of Eastern European Christians—descend paternally from eastern Europeans (such as Slavs) or Khazars. But the majority of Ashkenazic Jews, who possess Eu 9 and other chromosomes, descend paternally from Judeans who lived in Israel two thousand years ago (about the time of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem). In the article in the November 2001 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, Ariella Oppenheim, of the Hebrew University of Israel, wrote that her new study revealed that Jews have a closer genetic relationship to populations in the northern Mediteranean (Kurds, Anatolian Turks, and Armenians) than to populations in the southern Mediteranean (Arabs and Bedouins).
In the 1990’s, a team of scientists (including the geneticist Michael Hammer, the nephrologist, Karl Skorecki, and their colleagues in England) discovered the existence of a haplotype (an organism or cell with a single set of chromosomes) which they termed the Cohen modal haplotype, CMH” Cohen is the Hebrew word for “priest”, and designates descendants of Judean priests from two thousand years ago, again about the time of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. Initial research indicated that while only about 3 percent of the overall Jewish population has this haplotype, 45 percent of Ashkenazic Cohens have it, while 56 percent of Sephardic Cohens have it. David Goldstein, an evolutionary geneticist at Oxford University, said, “It looks like this chromosomal type was a constituent of the ancestral Hebrew population. However, it soon became apparent that the CMH IS NOT SPECIFIC TO Jews or descendants of Jews. In a 1998 article in Science News, Dr. Skorecki indicated (in an interview) that some non-Jews also possess the Cohen markers, and that the markers are therefore not unique or special. The CMH is very common among Iraqi Kurds, according to a 1999 study by C. Brinkman et al. And in a 2001 article, Oppenheim wrote, “The dominant haplotype of the Muslim Kurds (haplotype 114) was only one micro satellite-mutation step apart from the CMH. Furthermore, the CMH is also found among some Armenians according to Dr. Levon Yepiskoposyan who has studied genetics for many years. Dr. Avshalom Zoosmann-Diskin wrote, ‘The suggestion that the Cohen modal haplotype is a signature haplotype for the ancient Hebrew population is also not supported by data from other populations’.”
In short, the CMH is a genetic marker from the northern Middle East, which is not unique to Jews. However, its existence among many Kurds and Armenians, as well as some Italians and Hungarians, would seem to support the overall contention that Kurds and Armenians are the close relatives of modern Jews and that the majority of today’s Jews have paternal ancestry from the northeastern Mediterranean region.
In ancient times, the royal house of Adiabene and some of the common people of Adiabene converted to Judaism. The capital city of Adiabene was Arbela (known today by Iraqis as Irbil and by Kurds as Hewler). King Izates became closely attached to his new faith, and sent his sons to study Hebrew and Jewish customs in Jerusalem. His successor to the throne was his brother Monobazao II, who also adopted Judaism. In her 2001 study, Oppenheim references the kingdom of Adiabene, but suggests that while Adiabene’s conversion to Judaism resulted in the assimilation of non-Jews into the community the recorded conversion does not appear to have had a considerable effect on the Y-chromosome pool of the Kurds. Could the descendants of northern Israel living in the region cause this effect?
Research has recently begun into the ancient ties between Kurds and Jews. It would be interesting to see if the various Jewish groups have as strong a family tie to Kurds in the maternal lineages as they do in the paternal lineages. Preliminary studies indicate that Jewish populations in Eastern Europe and Yemen have maternal origins that contain much more non-Israelite ancestry than their paternal origins. Despite this mixture with other groups, the Jewish Judean people ultimately began their exile from Israel within an area nearby Kurdistan, prior to migrating southwest to Israel or to other parts of the world. This exciting research demonstrates that Kurds and Jews may have shared common fathers several millennia ago. This should, hopefully, encourage both Kurds and Jews to explore each others cultures and to maintain the friendship that Kurds and Jews have enjoyed in northern Iraq in recent times (as chronicled in Michael Rubin’s recent article “The Other Iraq”. As Rubin indicates, the Kurdish leader, Mullah Mustafa Barzani, once visited Israel and met with Israeli government officials. Rubin refers to the Iraqi Kurds “special affinity for Israel” and writes that “in the safe haven of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Jews and Israel are remembered fondly, if increasingly vaguely.” Let us hope that this relationship can be renewed and strengthened.
PRESENT-DAY KURDISH FEELINGS
The Kurds may walk out on the new Iraqi Government because Kurdish autonomous rule in the three northern Iraqi provinces has been omitted to satisfy Iraq’s Shiite majority. Two Kurdish leaders, Massoud Bazani and Jalat Talabani, were shocked that the United Nations failed to support what was originally promised to the Kurds today. A unanimous UN Security Council vote was hailed by the United States as a major breakthrough because of the vote support in favor of a US-led foreign troop presence in Iraq and completion of the handover of power. While Paul Bremer laid down the law, the Kurds were given the understanding that they would be well looked after when a vote was taken. It appears an accommodation given the European Union and the United Nations changed the picture. The Kurdish leaders were accused of expanding their boundaries toward Mosul in the west and also in the direction of Kurkuk, which should already be in the Kurdish area. They were told one story when they agreed to help with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Now a turnabout seems to be taking place. It is obvious that the President has returned to the old US political fundamentalism of the Middle East to satisfy the Arabs or Iran.
The following is a sad but beautiful picture of Kurdish loyalty. “America has no better friend than the people of Kurdistan.” “A year ago, the Kurds merged forces and fought side by side with the American forces for the liberation of Iraq, taking more casualties than any other US-led force. Today Kurdistan remains the only secure and safe place in Iraq. No coalition soldiers have been killed in any area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government. It is also said that ever since liberation, we have detected a bias attitude against Kurdistan from the American authorities for reasons that the Kurds cannot comprehend. What the Kurds originally asked for was the following:
1. That Transitional Administration Law is incorporated into the UN Security Council resolution granting autonomous control over their area.
2. That the US commits to protect the people and government of Kurdistan in the event of insurrection or disorder leading to a withdrawal from the rest of Iraq.
3. That the coalition carries through on commitments to prevent the Arabization of Kurdish lands and moves forward to settle the status of Kirkuk.
4. The oil-for-food revenues unfairly taken from Kurdistan last year be restored in their entirety and that Kurdistan receives it’s per capital share of the $19 billion in reconstruction assistance appropriated by the United States Congress.
5. That the United States support Kurdish plans to own and manage Kurdistan’s natural resources.
6. That the United States and United Nations will state that Kurds are eligible for the post of prime minister and president.
7. If ethnic criteria are to be used to exclude Kurds from the two top positions in the interim government, we think it fair for Kurdistan to be compensated with a disproportionate share of relevant ministries in the interim government signed by Masoud Barzani, Kurdish Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
The people of Kurdistan seek control of Kirkuk, a stake in the oil resources located in their territory and a respectable share of the reconstruction appropriation approved by the United States Congress. It’s quite obvious that the United States is only interested in the upcoming elections.”
THE KURDS DESIRE FREEDOM
“The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) both supported the United States for two reasons:
1. To put an end of an oppressive regime and a hope that a democratic Iraq would follow.
2. They knew they couldn’t stop the American forces and wanted to be on their side because American leadership was openly supporting a free Iraq.”
With the current situation, the hatred against the Kurdish people has not changed.
Many Kurds are losing faith in the possibility that the Muslim Arabs will support their rights to autonomy.
It is not easy to find words to express the tragedy of more than 35 million Kurds who are ill-fated by being separated into four nations that do not respect the Kurds right to freedom and real democracy. It’s very difficult for Kurds who aspire freedom and progress to live among those who promote evil in the name of Islam. But it is even more tragic to see the governments of the United States, England, European Union, Russia and China not interested in helping the Kurdish people. It is not fair when 35 million people living on their ancestors’ land are deprived of statehood while nations numbering only in the thousands have support from the United Nations and have become free states. The reality of the situation is that the Kurds have been condemned by being placed where they are. If they are as closely related to the descendants of Jacob as research seems to point out, then we can understand their position. God says all must return (T’shuv) to Him. Deuteronomy 28: 45-48 speaks about the curses against the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, till you be destroyed: because you hearken not unto the voice (words) of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you: And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder and upon your seed forever, Because you serve not the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, but for the abundance of all things. Therefore shall you serve your enemies which the LORD shall send against you, in hunger, thirst, and nakedness and in want of all things and he shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you?”
Many of the Kurdish people find comfort in their friendship with Israel. I believe there is rationale behind these feelings. Maybe it’s time for the Kurdish people to have their eyes opened. We know that the happenings in the Middle East are tied in with scripture addressing the end times. I believe the Kurdish people will somehow figure in as part of the mystery in the overall end-time picture.
KURDISH FACTOR II
In the early 1950’s, 150,000 Kurdish people immigrated to Israel, having lived in the area since the northern nation of Israel was exiled to Assyria in 722B.C. Today there is a large area identified as Kurdistan located within the following four nations: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. It is a very hostile area for the Kurdish people, as they have always been hated and persecuted by those who controlled the area. This hostility increased after World War I with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. In 1920, the Kurdish language was banned by the nation of Turkey, diminishing the earlier Kurdish culture even more as they became known as “The Mountain Turks”. Most Kurds today outwardly profess to be Muslim, or at least members of the Sunni Muslims. In Iran, approximately four million are now known as Shiite Muslims, however, the majority express their Islam in a distinct fashion. Since mystical practices were prevalent among those of the northern nation of Israel, we have seen many professing to be Kurds draw heavily to Shamanism (hear, listen and obey) and Zoroastrianism, an element of Christianity. Mysticism continues to be prevalent as direct experiences of God through meditation, ecstatic experience and the intercession of holy men or sheiks also continues. Most of them possess a sense of the supernatural, readily acknowledging demonic activity in the form of evil spirits, meaning many have not had a heart change since the fall of the northern nation of Israel and the nation of Judah. I believe that the return of 150,000 Kurds to Israel in 1950 definitely has a deep meaning that only the future may disclose.
Many of the northern nation of Israel who were carried away in 722B.C. were, as prophesied in Deuteronomy 28: 63-68, scattered all over the world and assimilated into all the nations to which they were scattered. A strange occurrence is that both the northern nation of Israel and the nation of Judah were originally carried off to the exact same area that is known today as Iraq. It was from that point they were later dispersed to all the nations. The nation of Judah, which includes Levi and Benjamin, has maintained their identity as Jews today; even many of those who later intermarried with the people of other nations continued to embrace their Jewish identity. The prophet Hosea prophesies that “mixing” or assimilation produced “outcasts” of those of the northern nation of Israel; many no longer able to identify as descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hosea 1:10 states, “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said unto them, ‘You are not my people’ there it shall be said unto them, You are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be united together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel (a regathering)”. Isaiah chapter 10 reveals that out of all the descendants of Jacob only a remnant will return in the latter days. This remnant will be comprised of those of the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel who return to God under the Brit Hadasha. the new covenant spoken about by the prophet Jeremiah. Isaiah 10:20–27 states, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him who smote them, but shall lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though your people, Israel, are as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the full end decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a full end, even determined in the midst of all the land. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing”.
Since many of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not leave the area to which they were originally carried away, it is very possible that the Kurds, who have been so hated by the people of that area, might in fact truly be descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The problem is that we don’t have enough information to confirm at this time. It does not mean that all 35 million of the Kurds will return to the land of Israel that God has or will establish. We read in Isaiah 10: 20-27 about the outcasts; only a remnant will return and those that do return will eventually turn to the Lord in righteousness.
KURDISH AREA WITHIN THE FOUR NATIONS
Turkey – 55% of the Kurds are living in Turkey. When the Kurdish language was banned in 1920 hindering their situation even more, it caused many Kurds to flee from Turkey to Europe. Turkey, who is at present trying to become part of the European Union, has also had a close relationship with Israel and the United States. This relationship is becoming shaky because of the close working relationship Israel has with the Kurds living in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Iran has a population of 5.7 million Kurds, which represents 23% of the Kurdish population. Within Iran, the Kurds have lived under a rule which they identify as seductive. They have in the past been pushed or “encouraged” to cooperate with Iranian authority. This left them with broad freedom of cultural expression, but still they were under Iranian control. In 1979, their lives changed even more drastically when Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran and the Islamic Shiites took control. Khomeini had spent many years in Iraq, however, on his return to Iran he formed the present government, controlled under the Islamic Shiites. Iran’s long-existing hatred for Israel has drawn many of the Kurds into a closer relationship with the nation of Israel because the hostility of Iran toward the Kurds has increased.
Iraq has approximately 4.2 million Kurds representing approximately 20%; but through Iraq’s previous leader, Sadaam Hussein, his atrocities against the Kurds became evidence that a great number have been abused. God has a plan and a purpose. I believe His plan will eventually unlock the door for the future return of a great number of Kurds to a much larger future nation of Israel as promised in Ezekiel 47.
Syria has the smallest number of Kurds numbering approximately 1 million or about 2% living along Syria’s border with Turkey. Syria has not in the past been harsh toward the Kurds because Turkey built dams on the rivers north of the Turkish-Syrian border depriving Syria of much needed water for irrigation and city. The Kurdish hatred toward Turkey helped Syria set up a buffer zone for future border crossings. The Syrian government has recently changed their position because of the present ruthless Syrian Baathist government; the same government of which Sadaam Hussein participated.
A CHANGING WORLD
My interest in the Kurdish people was inspired by the information I came across and used in a previous newsletter about the Kurds. Ariella Oppenheim of Hebrew University in Israel produced a study on the Kurds revealing that the Jewish people (descendants of Jacob) have a closer genetic relationship to the Kurds than to those of the Southern Mediterranean Arabs and Bedouins.
In ancient times, the royal house called Adiabene and some of the common people of Adiabene converted to Judaism. The capital of Adiabene was Arbel, known today by Arabs as Irbil, and by Kurds as Hawler of Iraq. King Izates became closely attached to the Jewish people and embraced their faith. He sent his sons to study Hebrew and Jewish customs in Jerusalem. Ariella Oppenheim’s 2001 study references the Kingdom of Adiabene, suggesting that Adiabene’s conversion to Judaism resulted in the assimilation of non-Jews into the community. But, this recorded conversion does not appear to have had a considerable effect on the y-chromosome pool of the Kurdish Jews, meaning many of the non-Jews were assimilated descendants of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob and possibly from the northern nation of Israel.
A prophet named Zoroaster, living in the time of Cyrus, gained prominence in historical Kurdistan. He himself did not claim to be anyone special but he exuded knowledge based on creation and the conscience. He maintained that anyone could know the truth about God and presented it by argument similar to that put forth by Shaul (Paul) in Romans 1:18 in the Brit Hadasha (New Covenant): “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness”.
THE PRESENT WAR IN IRAQ
Israel and the United States are both convinced that Iran is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons and with Syria’s help is bolstering Palestinian terrorism in Israel. Israel’s immediate goal in meeting this threat is to build up the Kurdish commando units to balance the Shiite militias’ strength as in Shiite Iraq. Sadr, a Shiite leader in Iraq, was raised up by Khomeini when he was living in that nation. Sadr of Iraq is dangerous, but so is Hezbollah of Lebanon, also of the Shiite faith and tied heavily to Iran.
The Kurdish group presently working with Israel is known as Peshmergz, who number an estimated seventy-five thousand troops. A former Israeli intelligence officer acknowledges that Israel has been training Kurdish commando units to operate in the same manner and with the same effectiveness as Israel’s most secretive commando units, the Mistaravim. The initial goal of the Israelis is to assist the Kurds to allow them to do what American commandos have been unable to do thus far: penetrate, gather intelligence and then kill off the leadership of the Shiite and Sunni insurgencies in Iraq. There is no doubt that the Kurdish-Israeli relationship has upset the Turks because by allying itself with the Kurds, Israel gains eyes and ears in Iran, Iraq and Syria. With ongoing threats spewed from the Palestinian leadership, especially Hamas, supported by Ahmadinejad in Iran about wiping Israel from the world, we would have to say that Israel’s assistance to the Kurds has enabled Israel to monitor the Iranian nuclear effort; it would be negligent for Israel not to be there.
There is no doubt that Israel’s presence has raised tensions between Israel and Turkey. It has provoked bitter statements from Turkish politicians and a major regional shift and new alliance with Iran, Syria and Turkey, all of which is significant. Turkish sources confidentially report that the Turks are increasingly concerned by the expanding Israeli presence in the area of Kurdistan and allege the giving of encouragement of Kurdish ambitions to create an independent state. The Turks know that the large Israeli intelligence operations in northern Iraq incorporate anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian activity. Israeli involvement is not new. Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s, Israel actively supported a Kurdish rebellion against Iraq as part of its strategic policy of seeking alliances with non-Arabs in the Middle East. In 1975, the Kurds were betrayed by the United States, when Washington went along with a decision by the Shah of Iran to stop supporting Kurdish aspirations for autonomy in Iraq.
TODAY’S CRAZY WORLD
God’s “etsah” (His counsel and purpose) has reached a point that is of interest to all of us who have a love for Messiah Yeshua and HaShem (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). Scripture is giving us the information of strength and understanding we need to know. By stepping back in history 2000 years, we can see that descendants of Jacob lived in the area that the Kurds live today. Acts chapter 2 speaks about the feast of Shavuot, which is called by the church, “Pentecost”. Shavuot requires all the descendants of Jacob to return to Jerusalem no matter where they are on the earth. In Acts chapter 2: 5-12, “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews and devout men out of every nation under heaven, (which would include those of the initial scattering). Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because every man attending the (Shavuot) service heard them speak in his own language (through the Ruach HaKodesh – Holy Spirit – that was poured out at the feast). They were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold are not all of these who speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in their own tongue, wherein we were born: Parthians (Iran) and Medes (many believe the Kurds were of the Medes), and Elamites (descendants of Shem living in Elam -Iran of today), and dwellers in Mesopotamia (Iraq of today), and Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners of Rome, both Jews and proselytes (non-Jews), Cretans and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and were perplexed, saying one to another, what means this? Others, mocking, said, these men are full of new wine”. This passage shows us all the areas to which many of the descendants of Jacob had been scattered during that period of time. We can see that many of them lived in the same area that the Kurds live in today.
One scripture referencing that many of the people carried away still live in the same area and will be gathered together in the latter days is Isaiah 11: 10-13, 16. “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse (Messiah Yeshua), who shall stand for an ensign (sign) of the peoples; to him shall the nations seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that Adonai (Yeshua) shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who shall be left, from Assyria (Iraq and Turkey), and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and Cush (Ethiopia), and from Elam (Iran); and from Shinar (Babylon- Iraq), and Hamath (Syria) and from the coast lands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign (sign) for the nations and shall assemble the outcast of Israel (northern 10 tribes), and gather together the dispersed of Judah (southern nation of Judah) from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim (refers to the 10 northern nations of Israel) shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim (as they become again one nation under God within Israeli borders)”. Isaiah 11:16 states, “There shall be a highway (“exalted” way of the upright) for the remnant of his people, who shall be left from Assyria as it was to the descendants of Jacob in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt”.
Ezekiel 47 shows there will be a land inheritance for those of Judah who have not yet returned Ezekiel 47:21-23 states, “So shall you divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel, and it shall come to pass that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you (who hold an identity as Jews), and to the aliens who live among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel and shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass that in what tribe the stranger (ger – non Jew) lives, there shall you give him (or her) inheritance says the Lord GOD (Adonai-YHVH)”. Other Scriptures that provide understanding are: Isaiah 14:1, “For the LORD (HaShem) will have mercy on Jacob (those identified as Jews), and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land, and sojourners shall join them, and then shall they cling to the House of Jacob”. Isaiah 56: 6-8 tells us, the sons of the foreigner that join themselves to the LORD to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, takes hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord GOD (Adonai YHVH), who gathers the outcast of Israel, says, yet I will gather others to him, besides those that are gathered unto him.”
The prophetic expansion of the land of Israel according to Ezekiel 47 will happen, I believe, in the near future when Syria, Lebanon and Gaza are destroyed and turned over to the Jewish people by the hand of HaShem (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). It would also require the defeat of Iran (Persia), as Syria, Lebanon and Gaza are currently under Iranian dominance and influence. (Ezekiel 38)
A bond between Jewish descendants of Jacob and the Kurdish people is present because of the large number of conversions to Judaism of the Royal house of Adiabene spoken of earlier. Many who converted in the past were from the 10 tribes that were carried away in 722 BC. Research indicates that the first Rabbi within the Kurds was Asenath Barazani, a Jewish woman who held this position from 1590 to 1610 AD and was the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barazani. The following prophets were present in Kurdish populated areas: Nahum in 713 BC, Jonah 862 BC, at the destruction of Nineveh; Habakkuk 626 BC; Queen Esther and Mordechai, who were part of the Persian Empire living in the region of the Kurds. The minor prophet Daniel was also carried off to Babylon at the carrying away of Judah to Babylon in 550 BC. Over centuries, many of the descendants of the of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have assimilated among the people of the Kurdish lands and have lost their identity, of both the nations of Israel and of Judah.
From the following countries: Iran, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, there are descendants of Jacob calling themselves Arab (mixed) Jews trickling into Israel and the United States. The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center is filtering information through 2700 years of Babylonian Jewish History. I continue to try to impress upon you that God, from the beginning, has had a plan and purpose, his Etsah, and, as prophesied in scripture, and things are taking shape. We can now better identify and understand many of the characters that will play out in the last days. We are living in exciting times!!!
