READ AND LISTEN
The four empires of Daniel are shaping up to take their places in the end of days. The principle that history is prophecy that will become history again is all through the scriptures. Now it appears that YHVH will allow the four Edomite kingdoms of Daniel to rise to the occasion to become part of the trigger for the Great Tribulation.
A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE EDOMITES
The Edomites were nomadic mercenaries because of the prophecy Esau received from Isaac in Genesis 27.
Gen 27:39 At this, his father Isaac replied to him, “Look! Away from the fertile land will be your dwellings; away from the dew of the skies above.
Gen 27:40 By your sword you’ll live; but you’ll serve your brother. But when you’ve become restless, you’ll break off his yoke from your neck.”
With no birthright and no blessing on his horizon, Esau moved to, and conquered, the Horite territory at Mount Seir with YHVH’s assistance.
Deu 2:12 The Horites used to live in Seir before the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, exterminated them, and settled there instead, just as Israel will do in the land of its possession, which the LORD gave them.)
Deu 2:22 This is what he did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them. So they dispossessed them and settled there in their place, where they live to this day.
Esau was not satisfied with the territory given him by YHVH so he began to make war with the surrounding nations and to migrate to other parts of the middle east. The Edomites became well known as mercenaries, men who make their living through war, as Isaac prophesied.
As a mercenary, Esau led a band of them against Jacob when he re-entered the land after leaving Haran.
Gen 32:3 Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him into the land of Seir (that is, into the territory of Edom) to meet his brother Esau.
Gen 32:6 Later, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We went to your brother Esau. He’s now coming to meet you—and he has 400 men with him!”
Esau’s four hundred men were mercenaries from the Ammonites, Moabites and other surrounding nations.
After he conquered the Horites’ territory, he immediately began a monarchy form of government at Mount Seir (Genesis 36: 32-29). His aim was to create empires, not just one empire. In order to conquer and destroy Jacob, Esau would have to create empires strong enough to rule over Jerusalem. In doing so, he would raise the wrath of YHVH against him because Jerusalem belongs solely to Israel.
All four of Daniel’s Beast empires are Edomite kingdoms. They descend from Esau who is Jacob and YHVH’s arch enemy on the earth. There are many clues about each empire’s connection to Esau in scripture and in history. It is no wonder that these arise with the final Beast in the end of days. The Great Tribulation is nothing less than the final war between Esau and Jacob over Jerusalem.
Esau’s transgressions against Jacob will be addressed by YHVH.
Amo 1:11 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom—and now for a fourth—I will not turn away; because he pursued his brother with a sword, refusing to be compassionate. His anger was raging continuously; he kept up his unending wrath.
What are the three, and then the fourth, transgressions of Edom? This is a reference to the four Edomite empires that are found in the Book of Daniel. Esau needed all of these kingdoms, including the 7th and 8th mentioned in Revelation, to conquer Jacob. Each kingdom became successively stronger and more evil, even though the Persian empire seemed to be the most benevolent to the Jews.
ESAU & BABYLON
Esau is called a ‘man’, but not only a ‘man’, but a ‘man of the field’. His reputation is that of a hunter (see Jer 16:16 regarding the hunters YHVH sends to His people).
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man….
Babylon’s leader, Nebuchaddnezzar, fulfills the first scriptural symbolism of Esau as ‘a man’ with the description of his statue.
Dan 2:31 “Your majesty, while you were watching, you observed an enormous statue. This magnificent statue stood before you with extraordinary brilliance. Its appearance was terrifying.
Dan 2:32 That statue had a head made of pure gold, with its chest and arms made of silver, its abdomen and thighs made of bronze,
Dan 2:33 its legs made of iron, and its feet made partly of iron and partly of clay.
Let’s revisit Genesis’ description of Esau again.
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field….
Now, go to Daniel to find out that Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled Esau’s description by literally becoming ‘a man of the field‘.
Dan 4:28 All of this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Dan 4:29 About a year later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,
Dan 4:30 he commented to himself, “Isn’t Babylon great? I’ve built a royal palace in it by my own might and power, for the sake of my majesty.”
Dan 4:31 As the words were being spoken by the king, a voice came forth from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, this is declared to you: ‘The kingdom has been taken from you!
Dan 4:32 You’re to be driven away from people. You’re to live with the wild animals of the field. You are to be made to eat grass like cattle, and seven years will pass you by until you realize that the Most High is sovereign over human kingdoms and grants them to whomever he desires.’
Dan 4:33 The decree was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar immediately. He was driven away from people to eat grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”
ESAU & PERSIA
Babylon was the first of Daniel’s four empires. The second was Persia.
Dan 8:20 The ram that you saw with a pair of horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
Genesis records the generations of Shem from which come the Persians.
Gen 10:22 Shem’s sons included Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.
Although Esau is not connected to the Persians through Elam (his grandfather, Abraham, came through the Arpachshad line), he is, nonetheless, Persia. This happened because of the migrations and wars perpetrated by Esau.
One son of Esau, Husham, was a king in Persia. He is also listed among the Edomite kings in Genesis 36 and 1 Chronicles 46.
Gen 36:34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
1Ch 1:45 And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.
1Ch 1:46 And when Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad, which smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
Husham is listed in the Persia Kings List as the 3rd King of Persia. He was called Husham in Hebrew and Hushang in Persian. His son Alphidun (sometimes called Feridoun) had two sons, one of whom was named Tur. Tur, grandson of Husham, Founded Turkestan. Husham or Hushang, famous in the Biblical record, is the Temanite king who ruled over the children of Esau or Edom. His native land was in Persia — proving how early certain of the children of Esau were moving out of the land of Edom by the Red Sea into the land of Persia.
One thousand years of Persian history is missing from today’s history textbooks. Most writers begin their account of Persia about the time of Cyrus the Great. A few archaeological notes usually precede the story. But the real history of Persia (or Iran) for a thousand years before Cyrus has been deliberately removed from history books. This was done to deliberately obscure Esau’s whereabouts and activities throughout history. Esau was ruling Persia long before Cyrus the Great came on the scene.
Esau’s descendant, Cyrus, founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes- the Medes and the Persians. Together, the Medes and Persians became known only as Persians. Their remnant still remains in the modern nations of Iran and Russia, both of which are known as the ‘bear’.
Dan 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild Solomon’s Temple. While this move seems to show Cyrus’s benevolence toward the Jews, it really was done to make Judea a vassal of the Persian Kingdom. This pattern is seen today in how the UN has made Israel its vassal.
Currently, it appears that President Elect, Donald Trump, may become a Cyrus figure for the Jews. If he moves the US embassy to Jerusalem as promised, this will bring about the same constant conflicts and wars fought by Ezra and the Jews in Biblical times. It will not bring peace.
ESAU & GREECE
All of our American history books teach that democracy came from Greece, but our Bibles reveal something different and quite extraordinary. Elective government, also known as democracy, came from Esau. Elections of kings are revealed in this list of the kings of Esau.
Gen 36:32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
Gen 36:33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
Gen 36:36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:37 And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:38 And Saul died, and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:39 And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.
There is no mention that the people elected the rulers. But notice that none of the kings were succeeded by their sons. Also note that no warfare is mentioned. Without succession or warfare, there is only one alternative to obtain a new king which is elections, a function of democracy. Thus, Greece adopted democracy from the Edomites! In fact, the scriptures show us that Greece in the Book of Daniel is Esau.
Daniel saw a third Beast, a leopard.
Dan 7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
The leopard represents the King of the Greek Empire, Alexander. The symbol of the leopard is a fitting symbol for the kingdom of Grecia in view of the swiftness of its conquest. Only one of the four heads and wings had to do with Judah and the Holy Land. Alexander’s death led to the middle east being broken up and ruled by four different generals.
This is why YHVH gives us additional imagery via a goat in Daniel 8 to link Greece with Esau. The leopard was the first symbol of Greece, but the goat shows us the Esau connection.
Dan 8:5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
Dan 8:8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
Dan 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
The goat’s great horn was broken into four horns, each one for a governor of Greece that would reign over a part of the middle east after Alexander’s death.
The goat’s association with Esau comes from his hairiness and the territory given to him at Mount Seir.
SEIR, THE MAN – ESAU
Hairy
Gen 27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy (שׂער Seir H8163) man, and I am a smooth man:
SEIR, THE PLACE – ESAU
Edom
Gen 32:3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir (שׂעיר Seir H8165), the country of Edom.
The masculine noun (שׂעיר H8163 sa’ir) denotes a he-goat (a bristly guy; Leviticus 4:24).
Strong’s H8163 and H8165 are related through a common Hebrew root. Esau is “seir”, hairy, and he is from “Seir”, the ‘Mount’. The shaggy goat represents Esau, who was so hairy Jacob put a goatskin over his arms to …receive the blessing. The Book of Daniel plainly identifies Esau as the “rough goat”.
Dan 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
The “rough goat” is Strong’s H8163, seir, the same word that represents the man, Esau.
Three ruling empires, followed by a fourth, according to Amos 1:11, is in store for Israel. Let us examine the fourth.
ESAU & ROME
The founding of Rome, according to its mythology, is the same as Esau and Jacob’s. Rome’s founders were twins: Romulus and Remus. Remus was killed either by Romulus or by one of his supporters. Esau’s sole objective for the past 4,000 years has been to murder Jacob and all of his progeny.
Esau came to be identified with Rome by the Jewish Rabbis who even nicknamed Rome “Basra“ from the time of the Bark Kokhba revolt. Basra was the ancient capital of Edom at Mount Seir. Jewish tradition holds that the Romans were the descendants of Esau, the red-haired and blood-thirsty twin brother of Jacob. Judaism calls Rome “Edom”, (another name given Esau in Genesis 36:1) from the Hebrew root which means both “red” and “blood.” When we look at the Jewish-Roman relationship later on, we will see that the Romans were the spiritual inheritors of the Esau worldview.
Ibn Ezra says, “Rome, which led us away captive, is of the seed of Kittim.’
Rabbi Moshe Nachmanides (“Ramban”), from his book “Gate of Redemption”, “Thus it is said, “But ships will come from the coast of Kittim.” (Numbers 24:24). [The latter] are the Romans, according to the words of the Targum [Onkelos]. …And “Rome is in Grecian Italy and that many of the Edomite people are contained therein”.
From Brit-Am.org, “DUKE MAGDIEL [Genesis 36:43] one of the early leaders of Edom was the real founder of Rome according to tradition”.
Ancient Kittim is called Cypress today. Kittim was ruled by a son of Esau, Zepho, according to the Book of Jasher in chapter 61.
Jasher 61: 24 And the children of Chittim saw the valor of Zepho, and the children of Chittim resolved and they made Zepho king over them, and he became king over them, and whilst he reigned they went to subdue the children of Tubal, and all the surrounding islands.
Here is Zepho listed in Genesis as one of the sons of Esau.
Gen 36:11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.
Rome has its roots in Esau’s Greece (by way of Kittim or Cypress). The Western world today is proud of its Greco-Roman heritage. The Houses of Judah and Israel were both victims of Rome. The Jews were victms because of the historical captivity of Judea. The lost House of Israel was a silent victim because its people lost their identity before the advent of Rome and were later quietly captured within its Roman church.
Italy was split into two people groups comprised of the light skinned, light haired and light eyed group found in the north and the dark skinned, dark haired and dark eyed group of the south. The Edomites fought Roman wars, but they never left when their work was done. Eventually, they did to the Italians what their ancestors had done to the Horites at Mount Seir – they killed them or drove them north.
The poet Virgil, who lived from 70BC to 21BC, traced the founding of Rome to King Latinus of Troy. Rome’s earliest history is shrouded in mystery. It was said to have been founded by the god, Romulus in 753 BC. This is about 500 years after Latinus of Troy is said to have conquered it. Historians have no plausible explanation for this discrepancy. Could it be that the Edomite Greeks are responsible for this discrepancy?
Going with the “Latinus” point of view, we can make sense of some of the traits of Rome. For instance, just the fact of the word “Latin”, which was the language of Rome for a very long time. The Latins were a simple agrarian people that were hounded and infiltrated by the Greeks from the beginning. (Sounds almost like an Edomite trait, doesn’t it?) This is important because Greek culture had the heaviest influence on the Latins, the Romans, of all the surrounding peoples. Since it was Greece that conquered Troy, Latinus’ home country, it makes sense that the Greeks followed Latinus to Rome and infiltrated the culture with Greek Gods and the like…which is why Roman and Greek cultures are so much alike. The hybridized Romans, then, seeking a national identity, later managed to give their gods different names than the names of the Greek gods, but the attributes of the Roman and Greek gods and their cultures remained.
While there is not much to go on from scripture regarding Esau’s connection to Rome, the mode of operation remains the same. Capture and kill the Judeans or, at least, drive them from their homes. This same sentiment will rear up in the end of days. It is no coincidence that the Roman empire is also the fiercest. Notice that each of Daniel’s Beasts become worse and worse. The Edomites will never stop pursuing Jacob. No matter where Jacob goes on the earth, Esau will follow, taunt, persecute and kill. The only safe place for Jacob – all twelve tribes – is in Israel and Jerusalem, the territory of all their battles.
PROLOGUE
I have taught that the “vineyard of the LORD”, America, was captured by the end time Daughter of Babylon whose ruler was a Nebuchaddnezzar figure named Barack Obama. His time in office lasted eight years.
With the advent of Donald Trump, and his Evangelical association as a Cyrus figure, I began to see the possibility that the earth will experience, however briefly, the reappearance of the four Beasts of Daniel.
We should see these kingdoms come in quick succession or even overlap. Yeshua said He would cut the days short for the sake of the elect, thus, the quick succession or even the overlap. The Obama/Nebuchaddnezzar, Daughter of Babylon, administration had eight years and is now refusing to leave Washington. An example of overlap into the next prophetic empire. No one knows how long the Trump/Cyrus administration will be in office. It must be there long enough to stir up trouble for Jerusalem as did the first Cyrus.
Right now, Greece and Rome are reappearing. Greece has reappeared in the form of the Paris peace conference. Paris is a Greek mythological figure attributed with having used the Trojan Horse to steal Helen from her husband. Yeshua has a bride that the Paris peace conference is attempting to steal away from YHVH by making the Jews choose between between a Jewish State or a democracy (becoming Edomites).
On Shabbat, January 14, 2017, the day before the Paris peace conference, Rome raised its ugly Edomite head to establish the Palestinian embassy within its walls while rejecting Israel’s embassy. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with Pope Francis at the Vatican and inaugurated the Palestinian Authority (PA) embassy there. As he was raising the black, red, white and green flag, Abbas called on the world’s leaders to recognize the State of Palestine when they get together in Paris on Sunday.
We now have all four of Daniel’s Beast empires involved in the attempted destruction of the modern State of Israel. May the Messiah, host of the heavenly armies, soon appear!