THE EDOMITES IN END TIME BIBLE PROPHECY.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT YET UNTOLD STORY.
The ancient blessing given to Jacob, even in the midst of some trickery, is well recognized from Genesis chapter 27:1-29. But the left-over blessing of Isaac upon his son Esau in Genesis 27:30-46 is almost unknown. It is not spoken about by our dispensationalist Bible prophecy teachers. Then too, dominionist churchmen are not disposed to discuss scriptural matters which they are inclined to ascribe to the Jewish House of Judah and therefore irrelevant.
But history moves on. The latter day dominance of the earthy Edomites, dwelling among the Judeo-Christian people of Jacob, in those fat places of opportunity is now being seen. So, the Edomites are here in the rich nations of the West. And even as our Western culture descends into godless paganism they are rising up to prominence.
The Bozrah prophecies are another biblical perspective, one seldom recognized. There we see the latter day spiritual children of Esau emerging as a future reality during the tribulation period. The Mystery Bozrah story from Micah 2:12-13 is laid out clearly for us in the prophetic scriptures. In fact, this Edomite connection will turn out to become an important part of the end-time drama. We shall discuss this further down in this article.
WHO ARE THE EDOMITES?

The question of the identity of the Edomites is a matter of great importance, especially as we come into the latter days. What is the essential spiritual character of an Edomite? As we shall discover, this spiritual and character identification is the key to the matter, not bloodlines or race. Certainly the Edomite spirit has, and still does, track down through families. But any person of any race can become an Edomite. As with Jacob-Israel, the Edomite identity is grafted in by an adoption of that essential Edomite spirit.
So, the essence the Edomite identity is a spiritual one. It is not at all necessarily related to DNA, although the spirit of Esau can and often does run in families. It is world-view, a lens through which a person views events that have an impact on him. It is a way of feeling, thinking, and acting. It is not just a matter of race or ancestral lineage Being an Edomite is a matter of character. Out of the spiritual emptiness comes a certain jaded or negative disposition to God. Along with that comes a negative disposition to anyone who is shifty, or pretends to uphold the banner of holiness or righteousness.
TRACING THE EDOMITES BACK TO THE PATRIARCH ESAU,
THE FIRSTBORN SON OF ISAAC AND REBEKAH.
Let's go back to the beginning. 4,000 years ago, in the time of the patriarch Isaac, son of Abraham, two nations wrestled within the womb of Rebekah. The two boys were Jacob and Esau. Esau was born first. Jacob came out soon afterward grasping the heel of his brother. The name Jacob means, "heel grasper" or "supplanter". Jacob was somewhat of a shyster and trickster. But nevertheless he looked up to the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac. And despite his shifty nature he took responsibility in calling his family and others into that devotion. Jacob was a caring and nurturing man devoted to the family of his fathers. In essence he was a man of the home and hearth.
The children of Jacob spawned the Judeo-Christian people, with their nurturing ethic and a culture of caring for others. Jacob was a man of the flocks and herds. He was to be found near the tents of Isaac, his father, and Rebekkah his mother. He was drawn into the character and ways of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That was the way it was way back at the beginning. And that is the way it remains today.

Esau was different. He had little time for all that. Esau was Isaac's firstborn and his favorite son. He was a hunter and a free spirited man, comfortable in the wilderness away from society. He was a roving man of the open fields. He took down what he wanted with the bow. He had little time for nurturing much of anything, whether it be caring for the family, husbandry of animals, or planting crops for harvest. He was not one to waste time at home shepherding the flocks and tending to crops and gardens. Esau had little patience for such domestic matters. These were just onerous chores to him. To him these occupations were mundane and boring. He'd rather be out hunting!
Esau was a wild man. He sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage. In this act of spiritual neglect he showed that he had very little interest in his spiritual inheritance. He was an earthy man, and a phallic sort of a man. Esau was a hustler, an exploiter of others and what others had, rather than a nurturer of plants and animals. He was motivated to "go out and get" things rather than to establish things and watch them grow. He preferred to 'take down' what he wanted in the wild. A life of cultivating plants and tending to the flocks was not for him. He sneered at culture. He rejoiced in being uncultured. Being wild at heart and a hustler was a badge of honor to him. We can certainly see that same rebellious and bullying spirit rising in our Western culture today. This is now becoming a matter of grave concern in our public schools.
WHERE ARE THE EDOMITES TODAY?
4,000 years have passed by. And so we now come to the big question. Where are the Edomites today? We know that they are out there. We know that they are in existence today, in our time. And how do we know this? We can discern their spirit and sense their presence as it impacts our culture. We can also know for a certainty that the children of Esau, the Edomites, will be rising up as we approach the latter days. We know this because of the left-over blessing Isaac gave to Esau in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 27:39-40 (NKJV)
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness/(rich places) of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven/(places of God's blessing) from above.
40 By your sword/(your gun) you shall live,
And you shall serve/(be subject to) your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
that you shall break his, (Jacob's), yoke (of civility)
(those "onerous chains of bondage" to Jacob's "straight" life), from (off) your neck.”

The spirit of Esau is a parasitic or symbiotic spirit. It is an irritant upon the souls of disgruntled and resentful men. That spirit never forgives. Nor will it receive forgiveness. So the human hearts over which it rules are often seen to remain "unforgiven". They do not need to be bound by that spirit forever. But sadly, they often are.
The Edomite is often seen to nurse his anger. He "keeps his wrath forever". It is uncommon to see such a person surrender to God, although it is not impossible. He often remains "unforgiven". He seldom finds peace with God, peace with his fellow man, or peace with himself. Unless he repents, he cannot be saved from his own wrath, nor from the wrath to come. Rejecting the blood of atonement for sin provided by the blood of Christ he remains bloody minded in himself. Such a soul grows to hate everyone around him. Unless God intervenes and saves him he goes to the judgment shaking his fist at God, and then descends into the fires of perdition in a torment that will last forever.
This restless seething anger is the driving force of end-time Esau. He wants to break loose all constraint and grasp something he calls "freedom". His is not a freedom nurtured and enjoyed within boundaries of Godliness or civil behavior. Esau wants HIS notion of freedom. He demands freedom to express himself, - - - -and in any way he pleases!
We also have the end-time prophetic scriptures mentioning Edom in Daniel 7:21. Then in Isaiah 63:1-6 the prophet describes the returning Messiah coming to Bozrah in an apocalyptic judgment. He is trampling the wicked, the ones who have abused His covenant people. The unrepentant Edomites enclosing God's called out people, have despised His ministry in the Gospel. They have rejected His rule in the hearts and stood up to prevent His coming rule in Jerusalem.
In Micah 2:12,13 the prophet Micah speaks of a huge gathering of Jacob. It seems that the Judeo-Christian people are being gathered, refined, and nurtured in Messiah. This will be happening in association with the flight and exile of the Woman of Revelation 12, who flies off to "her place" out in a wilderness destination. This is also known as the Second Exodus and is cross-linked in Holy Scripture as the Wilderness of the People. The return of Messiah to Mystery Bozrah, returning as the Breaker at His sheepfold, is a magnificent end-time story. Micah describes the sheepfold of Bozrah as a noisy camp meeting. The Bozrah Saga ends up with the epic Bozrah Deliverance. This is the work of an awesome God. Why are we not hearing this part of the end-time story? Why are our popular Bible prophecy teachers remaining silent about this?
THE EDOMITES LIKE MANY OTHER PEOPLE GROUPS HAVE MIGRATED.
THEY ARE NO LONGER TO BE FOUND WITHIN THEIR ANCIENT BORDERS.
Some scholars affirm that the Edomites are "the Palestinians" or "the Arabs". This is sloppy scholarship. It maligns and does a disservice to the Arabs, the children of Abraham and Hagar. The first time we see the pre-incarnate Christ, the Angel of the Lord, He is appearing to Hagar, mother of Ishmael. He tells Hagar that her son will live. He will be blessed with wealth and become the 12 tribes of the Ishmaelites, the Arabs.
The called out from among these people have a wonderful future. Once they break free of that bloodthirsty Islamic moon worship of Allah things will turn around for them, and gloriously so. Allah is a capricious ruling religious spirit. We see a merciful smiling Allah one minute and righteous beheading Allah the next. No wonder the Arabs are unstable in their ways! Their god is flip-flopping in an unpredictable manner all the time. In Islam, as in other religions, there is no cross to unify justice and mercy as we have in Christendom. The Judeo-Christian people have been enormously blessed by this in their system of common law. There is a wonderful peace and stability to be found in the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. This is the peace that Jesus/Yeshua brings to men, and in the increase, the basis for great blessing we currently see Western nations, and later the Gospel blessings that will be enjoyed by all nations in the times to come.
So, given the present day politics of the Middle East, the assertion that the Arabs are the Edomites may sell well in the politico-religious marketplace and be easy for Westerners to swallow. And yes, there is some truth to the present day Palestinian-Edomite connection. But this does not exhaust the much wider prophecy of Isaac over his son Esau.
The fact is, many nations, especially the nations the Bible describes as the fat places of the earth have gathered Edomites. The Arabs are primarily the descendants of Ishmael. Yes, it is true that Ishmaelites intermarried with the Edomites. But many other nations intermarried with and adopted the spirit of the Edomites as well. And unlike the Edomites the Old Testament prophecies present a happier final outcome for the Arabs who are primarily the children of Ishmael, Abraham's son through Hagar. The Arabs as a people have been hogtied and bound by that scimitar waving Islamic pseudo-religion. But it has only been for the past 1300 years of their 4,000year history. This state of affairs can change. And it will change! A great revival will spread to all the Islamic nations. We are already seeing it with the wonderful youthful church in Indonesia.
We know from the Millennial prophecies that there will be a highway running north and south of Israel to bless the Arab people round about. The Arabs are destined for ultimate redemption. And during the coming Millennium that highway with connections north and south from Israel will be a channel of great blessing, far and above what we have already seen with the abundance of oil, and "treasure hid in the sand".
Esau's spiritual descendants are a different story. They are forever angry at God, angry at Jacob/Israel, and and angry with themselves. They never seem to repent. And so unless they are dramatically changed by God their doom is certain. Their final judgment was prophesied over them by the prophet Obadiah and mentioned in other places as well.
THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL WERE DIVIDED, SCATTERED, AND DISPERSED. SO TOO WERE THE EDOMITES. THEY ARE LONG GONE FROM THEIR HOMELAND IN MOUNT SEIR. THEY ARE NO LONGER CLUSTERED IN THE LANDS SOUTH OF THE DEAD SEA. SO, WHERE DID THEY GO?
So where are the Edomites today? It is difficult to imagine that the sons of Esau are still to be found corralled up within their rocky ancient borders southwards from the Dead Sea. But nevertheless, that is what many Bible teachers want us to believe. They don't seem to want to address the matter.
As we know, the children of Esau's brother Jacob have also departed from their ancient borders. The lost ten tribes of Israel were the first to leave. The Assyrians invaded the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. taking the northern ten tribes captive. Even before the Assyrians came many had heard the prophets and decided to leave. The Assyrians captured the northern ten tribes and deliberately intermingled them with other nations. As Yair Davidiy and Steven Collins have documented so well the ten lost tribes regathered in their tribal groups and though many histories and wars migrated into the West, far from their homeland in Israel. After the Breach of Jeroboam they had disavowed allegiance to their King in Judah. And with that they lost their national sovereignty. So the lost tribes never returned, (except to come back in the Crusades or as pilgrims visiting the Holy Land in later times. They Crusaders even attacked their long lost home city of Jerusalem.
The people of the West have a deeply pervasive collective amnesia. They call themselves Caucasians. But they have no memory of the time when they were back at the Caucasus Mountains. Nor do they seem to want to know where they came from. They know that they have been named Caucasians. But the hidden roots of European race escape their understanding. Their connection to the Caucasus Mountains, the Gates of Gog, still remains a hidden secret. A long forgotten history lies shrouded in the mists along with a repressed memory of a terrible wrenching blood feud with the house of Judah. But right now Sleeping Beauty is asleep. At this stage she does not seem inclined to wake up and remember.
The Jewish Tribe of Judah presents a different story. The royal son of Jacob is Judah. The Jewish house has been scattered around the world. The great Diaspora took place after the city of Jerusalem destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.. The second Temple was burned by a wicked mob. This was against the orders of the Roman general Titus. This outrage by "the people of the prince, (the Antichrist), who is to come" unfolded precisely as prophesied by Daniel nearly 600 years before. See this article.
So the Jewish people of the family of Jacob have also continued to migrate and regather in their tribal groupings through the centuries. And from the scholarship of Yair Davidiy and Stephen Collins we know that lost ten tribes migrated west. Since 1948 the Jews are back in the land in Israel. This is a "fact on the ground" which greatly upsets the powers of this world. Unlike their brethren in the lost ten tribes the people of the Jewish tribe, the tribe of Judah, remember who they are. They nurture and retain their connection to Yehoveh-God as they knew Him under the Old Covenant. The God of Israel established His covenant with the nation of Israel. And thus the sovereignty of Israel was established back at Sinai. Their entrainment in the God of Israel came under the Mosaic priesthood, under the judges, under King David and King Solomon, and then in captivity and subsequently under the Rabbinical priesthood. After the destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C. the teaching was in the synagogues and Yeshivas. The Hebrew schools preserved the Hebrew language,and the Old Testament scriptures. The rise of the rabbis brought an explosion of commentaries on the Law such as the Mishna and the Talmud. All this started during the 70 year captivity in Babylon. After many dispersions, persecutions, and migrations our Jewish brethren still retain the Torah, the Tenakh, and their Jewish customs. This helps them to maintain their identity. And now, after all these centuries, the Hebrew language has been restored. It is now the spoken language of the newly formed state of Israel.
The Jewish people know their roots. This is why the people of the West nurse a certain jealousy of the Jewish house. They are brethren to the Jews but do not know it yet. They have a deep spiritual problem which cannot be resolved without accepting the inner rule of Messiah. Politics cannot resolve this problem. The ten tribes cursed themselves when they seceded from the union and the Kingdom of Israel which was the Jewish House of David. They rejected the rule of the House of David thereby cutting off their sovereignty in Israel. This great family feud came after the death of Solomon. It all erupted at the Breach of Jeroboam around 920 B.C.. It still remains as a great national tragedy spawning terrible anti-Semitism and genocidal histories. This is something that only the indwelling Messiah can bring. Because He is both King of kings and High Priest. Holy history still awaits the restoration of Israel. Only the coming of Messiah, first into human hearts, and then to reign upon this earth, will bring the long awaited "peace on earth and goodwill among men".
People are inclined to be jealous of those who are gifted. They especially resent others who have something that they long for and have come to believe that they themselves cannot ever have. This jealousy and resentment of the Jewish house by Westerners and their persecution of Jews is a long sad and sorry record of history. But the feud will end and in an epic way in times to come. The promised Restoration of all Israel will surely come to pass. See Hebrews chapter 11. How will this happen? It will happen during the great End-Time Revival of the latter days.
So as we have seen with Israel, histories push people across rivers and mountain ranges. They carry people across oceans and seas and see them migrate across the face of this earth. So even though people groups and nations are no longer to be found within their ancient borders that does not mean they have disappeared from history. The lost ten tribes are no longer in Samaria. But they do exist! They are now to be found elsewhere!
It seems God has seen fit to hide this truth for the present. And given the tricky nature of Jacob, (a character trait we might view in ourselves at present), both the Western political powers and our Laodicean and Dominionist churches are hiding the truth about the lost ten tribes. No doubt this has been allowed to happen for some very good reasons.
So here we are attempting to trace another important people group, the Edomites. What happened to them? Where did they go after their Idumean governing presence in Israel under the Romans? Remember how the Herods ruled Israel under the Romans? Remember the genocide committed by Herod in Bethlehem? Where did they go from their homeland in Mount Seir and Bozrah and Petra? Is it possible that the Edomites continued to track along with all the lost tribes of Israel basking under the birthright blessings of Israel in places our patriarch Isaac described as the "fatness of the earth"? Just where did the children of Esau go? And where are they to be clustered today?

Mel Gibson starred in "Road Warrior", an apocalyptic nightmare in
which godless graceless men and women of violence have a chance to
have their day, hunting and gunning down all who stand in their way.
In the attempt to trace and locate a people group a good historian will not remain totally fixated on the ancient geography of that people. That will just be the place where the investigations begin. If they care for the truth scholars will show some diligence in tracing that people through the centuries in their histories and in the migrations that ensue from those histories. If it can be proven that a people group were wiped out or died out or had become totally assimilated by another nation then historians can go ahead and write their epitaph, but not before. No such proof of extinction can be offered concerning the Edomites. Nor can an epitaph can be written concerning the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Bible scholars who make any such assertion are being highly presumptuous. If we can believe what God has written by His Holy Spirit in our Bibles the Edomites are not only present in the end-time drama but they ill come to their doom at the end of the age. So, that being the case we had better get serious about discovering where these people are and how we are to recognize them. We are not to recognize them in any racial way but by spiritual discernment, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can recognize the Edomite spirit as it expresses itself though people and through the culture.
So as we search out the story of the Edomites we need to keep an open view here. We also need to our eyes wide open for a reappearance of people groups that scholars and historians have found it expedient to throw into the dustbin of history. Yes, this is sad but true. The dissemination of misinformation is often found to be socially or politically expedient. Churchmen are inclined to proclaim certain untruths because of pressures that are brought to bear upon them. They are "leaned upon" by the powers of this world to keep the masses "quiet". This hiding of the truth is probably good for the masses. But God's covenant people are going up to witness in the latter days. So these people not only deserve the truth but they will have an appetite for the truth. They will seek the Truth and find Him. And He will guide them and tell them everything they need to know.
Others do not need to know.
We trust "authorities" to tell us the truth. But we serve a God who is very personal. He became personal to us when we were "born again". He has given us the Holy Scriptures. And He gave us His Comforter/Guide by His Presence in the Holy Spirit. So we must take the time to do our homework and take this responsible action ourselves. In order to discover the truth we must do our own homework. See 2Tim. 2:15,16
To present a good example of miscarriage of historical truth it is no secret that modern historians of a liberal secularist mindset don't like the Puritans. So they proceeded to write their epitaph and throw them into the dustbin of history. But this was highly presumptuous of them. They were dead wrong. The Puritans are with us today!
Babylon is another interesting issue. Babylon was an ancient very worldly sophisticated and advanced civilization. It was conquered by the Medo-Persians in 586 B.C.. So the Babylonian Empire ceased to exist as such. And yet the Bible clearly speaks of a resurgence of the very same worldly spirit of Babylon. Mystery Babylon will be a presiding influence over a prominent civilization that will rise up to assume a key role in the end-time drama. In Revelation 17 and 18 we see a world system that the Bible calls Mystery Babylon. And where are the people of this Mystery Babylon to be found? It is unrealistic to expect that we can find end-time Mystery Babylon by poking around the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon 50 miles south of Baghdad in modern Iraq. This would be a useless exercise. That ancient ruin, contrary to what some are saying, will never be rebuilt. That old archeological dig will never again be the center of world commerce, world military power, and the wellspring of material sophistication that it once was. But according to the Holy Scriptures another highly sophisticated society will arise in the latter days, assume world dominion, and take on the name "Mystery Babylon". This too is an identification that can only be achieved by discernment of spirits.
So here is the bottom line. The people and the spirit that hovered over them have gone from their ancient dwelling places! They have moved on to other geographical regions. The Mystery Babylon John spoke of in Revelation 17 and 18 cannot be found just by looking in their old haunts by the Euphrates River back in Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. The Babylonians have grown up and moved out. They have left the cradle of civilization. Similarly, Mount Seir is now just a desolate wilderness. Today the Edomites are no longer to be found there. They have gone on to other places.
Vital people groups tend to migrate in their histories, exploring lands across oceans and migrating on to more favorable places. Consider the Jewish people, the children of the patriarch Judah. They were uprooted by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.. Then after their return from Babylon under Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah they again suffered the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.. They were scattered again by the Romans in the following years. The land of Israel, having lost all 12 tribes, was re-named 'Palestine' after the Philistines, Israel's worst enemy. Today we are very well aware of just how far the Jews have gone since their being driven from their ancient homeland in southern Israel two millennia ago. Up until the 20th century nearly all of the Jews remained out there in the Diaspora far from Jerusalem and Judah. The Jewish tribe were to be found nestled in among the nations. If we had visited the land Israel had inhabited in earlier centuries we would fail to turn up the sovereign nation of Israel. Nor would we count any significant number of Jewish inhabitants. Today, of course, it is a different story. But still only 4 million of the 20 odd million Jews are back in the land.
TRACING THE EDOMITES BY DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS.

I saw these young men at the local Walmart and snapped this photo.
Is America seeing the prophesied rise of the angry family of Esau?
Esau was a wild man. He was a man of the hunting field. Was his ancient land precious to him? Holy history and profane history present us with no evidence of this. But there is no doubt Esau a vigorous roving man, an active free ranging soul. So like his brother Jacob we can expect that he too has left his ancient homeland in the Middle East. Search for Esau in those places south of the Dead Sea today and you will come up with very little. There is not much there at all except a barren wilderness and a few very humble nomadic people wandering through it. Big bad Esau has long gone from these parts. He has moved on from those ancient territories to the fat land, to "fat city" where he can do his exploits and carry on with his exploitations in other lands.
So where are the Edomites today? Isaac's blessing on Esau was very clear. He prophesied over his firstborn son Isaac. And he gave him a "left-over" sort of blessing that provide us with some clues. Isaac told Esau,
1. His descendants would end up dwelling in rich countries. - Gen.27:39
2. He would live by the sword, (gun).
3. Eventually he would break free from the Jacob's yoke of civil behavior and run wild. - Gen.27:40
If the Edomites are around today might they be found in nations such as ours. Are they here with us among the people of the West? Why not? The richest nations are to be found in Western civilization. Isaac's blessing states, "Behold your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth."
So we are looking for fat, (or rich), countries? Modern Jordan is a desert wasteland. It does not even have much in the way of oil. So it does not fit the bill here at all. Esau's ancient homeland is now a poor country. As much as we would like to imagine Esau's people, the brothers of Jacob, being still restricted to their ancient borders this does not seem likely. We do not see them living as troglodytes in the caves up in Petra anymore. Nor do we see them in Jordan living in tents and riding camels up around ancient Bozrah after all these ages. If we think the people of Esau have not moved out of those rocky territories southeast of the Dead Sea we are deceiving ourselves. Let's face it, thousands of years have passed by. The spirit of Esau is now flowing in the nations far abroad. Today's Edomites are still hustling their way through life. But they are within new borders as citizens of some very rich and prosperous countries, notably the nations of the West. Isaac's blessing over Esau in Gen. 27:39,40 is very clear. The Scriptures declare that the children of Esau, the Edomites will be found in the "fatness of the earth". That means we might expect to find these hustlers and predatory people of modern times to be mixed in among the citizens of some especially blessed and wealthy nations.
DISCERNING THE SPIRIT AND CHARACTER OF ESAU THROUGHOUT HISTORY.
REALIZING THAT THE EDOMITE SPIRIT IS RISING UP IN THE WEST TODAY.
What can we say about the character of Esau? Well this much we know. He scorns his spiritual inheritance. He is not interested in seeking out the blessings that come from the God of Israel. He is a profane man. He lives by the sword or by force of arms. Does he put his trust in guns and military armaments first and foremost? And why are so many Americans doing this today? That is an interesting question.
Esau was always inclined to be violent and wrathful. He has little patience for those whose proclivities tend toward nurturing and cultivating something to make it grow. He would rather name what he wants and claim it, then grab it by force of his own human presence. He is a humanist of the baser kind but he can often hide it well with a disarming smile. He scorns the nurturing life in God, considering it evidence of weakness. He is not inclined towards cultivating good things or shepherding or teaching his children about God as his brother Jacob is. He prefers to hunt and to get his food by taking it down as hunters do. Esau may well be the stereotypical hustler, predator and "bad guy". Do we find such people in rich western countries including Europe and the U.S? Of course we do! We see his image plastered all over the movie billboards. And in those cowboy westerns might we be able to discern the Edomites? Could they be those nasty bad guys with the black hats? The characters played by Clint Eastwood in the "spaghetti westerns" and his main role character in "Pale Rider" and "Dirty Harry" come to mind. In the movie "The Unforgiven" we can discern heavy overtones of Esau. Similarly the cult of the gangster attracts a lot of worth-ship in the minds of people today.
Here in the spirit of Edom we see people who cannot find redemption. Esau's spirit is forever angry. He has a chip on his shoulder. Everything to him is a "raw deal". He just never gets over it. His is an awful and tragic story. Esau just never repents. His heart never melts or breaks over the things he has done. And so he never finds forgiveness or grace. Because of this Obadiah the prophet pronounces God's ultimate and total doom on him. - Obadiah 1:18.
So what does an ancient character from the Old Testament have to do with us as Christians today? We know that discernment of spirits is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As we discern the spirit of Esau in the scriptures we can look up and view the world around us. We can trace the spiritual flows we see in Esau back then and in our culture today?
Let us go to the Old Testament first. If we take a look at the character of Doeg the Edomite, who lived back in the time of David. As we look at what he did in the town of Nob we can immediately begin to see the Edomite traits in this man. Doeg was a common soldier in Saul's army. He rose up to do a heinous bloody deed during on a dreadful day of wrath and bloody mayhem. All this was unleashed and brought into play by the jealous rage of King Saul against David. Here is how it happened.
David was being pursued by King Saul. Upon discovering that David had passed through the town and had been fed and sheltered by the priests of Nob King Saul flew into a rage. He ordered his army officers to slaughter of all the priests of Nob immediately. These were his own countrymen, his own priests!
None of Saul's men in the army of Israel would obey this murderous order. It was a call to slaughter all the holy priests of Israel that were in that town. But King Saul's terrible wrath did draw a certain man. He stepped forward to respond to the order. His name was Doeg and he was an Edomite. Here we see a classic example of godless bloodthirsty Edomite wrath. Doeg drew his sword and killed all the priests there at Nob. None of them were shown any mercy whatsoever. But he was not finished. He then proceeded to kill all the women and children in the city as well. But his genocidal fury was still unabated. He then proceeded to kill every animal in Nob. By the time the Edomite had finished slaughtering there was not a living human soul or animal left in the city. - 1Sam.22:16-19. Such is the murderous wrath of Edom. And it was unleashed by a king in a fit of jealous rage, a king who once was spirit filled and sang ptaises to God along with the prophets of Israel, a king who should have known better.
Haman is another example of an Edomite, even worse, an Edomite from that vicious sub-family of Edom, the Amalekites. These people have always harbored a genocidal hatred of the covenant people of God. Haman was a prominent Edomite in the service of the Medo-Persian rulers in the days of Queen Esther. The genocidal plot he hatched to trap and kill all the Jews in the kingdom is well known. Such was, and is, the homicidal anger of the sons of Esau. And when they were stirred up the bloody crimes the Edomites have committed against God's covenant people is all a matter of historical record.
Let us move forward to the time of Christ's first advent. We know Esau's sons were around at that time and impacting holy history. The Herod's were Edomites. They ruled over the Jewish nation in Judea with an iron fist. They were drawing the authority for their tyrannical excesses from Rome, the superpower of the time. The Romans found the Edomites very useful in executing their Macchiavellian rule. The Edomites had no scruples. They performed the wishes of Rome without any twinges of conscience. Brutal Roman ways were never a problem for the Edomites. They were always eager to oblige their Roman masters. They would spill Jewish blood whenever the occasion or the opportunity presented itself. Herod butchered his own children when he feared they might be a threat to his rule. And Herod's barbarous massacre of the children of Bethlehem is a well known part of the Christmas story. After their visit with King Herod the wise men from the lost tribes out in the Parthian Empire must have seen something in the man that disturbed them. After finding the Christ child they were not inclined to return to Herod as he had requested. Instead they returned to their own country by another way.
So is Isaac's firstborn son Esau still in our midst today? Have we seen any evidence of his anger and murderous wrath rising up in our time? Well this past century has seen genocides too numerous to recount. The 20th century saw more Christians and Jews martyred than all the previous centuries combined. Current martyrdoms are rising and number approximately 170,000 per year. Genocide of good people and innocent unborn babes and infants is on the increase.
THE PROPHESIED END-TIME WRATH OF ESAU BEGINS TO BE SEEN
IN THE 20TH CENTURY WITH THE SAVAGERY OF MODERN WARFARE.
WE SEE THE BOMBING OF CITIES, THE TARGETING OF CIVILIANS,
CONCENTRATION CAMPS, AND GENOCIDE ON A MASSIVE SCALE.
What other evidence do we have of genocidal wrath in modern history? 1901 saw the first concentration camps for civilians. The British government, (not the Germans), were the perpetrators. Tens of thousands of innocent Boer women and children were incarcerated behind barbed wire in compounds. This martial law policy was instituted in the Transvaal in South Africa by Lord Kitchener. He realized that the Boer farmers were using guerrilla tactics. The Boers were striking at the British by day and being supported by their womenfolk from their farmhouses by night. Lord Kitchener elected to deal with this by sanctioning brutal tactics and the establishment of martial law in the Transvaal. Under this horrific policy women and children were rounded up at gunpoint and penned up in concentration camps throughout the Transvaal.
This is a little known piece of history. I was not taught this in British History class in grammar school. Many women and children sickened and died in these awful places of incarceration. Was the policy 'successful' in bringing the war to a close? Oh yes, it certainly was. Martial law is the only way to win a guerrilla war. The land must be occupied like France, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands were in World War 2. It must be policed by military patrols, carding of citizens, and a Gestapo or Stazi style police force.
Dear saints, here is a truth that governmental leaders will never reveal to its citizens. The enforcement of a police state or martial law is absolutely necessary to win a guerrilla war. It worked in the British occupation of the Transvaal. And it worked in the German occupation of France and Europe during World War 2. This pacification of the country was undertaken by a heartless police state, martial law, and a program of terror using reprisals and random hanging or shooting of citizens after any attack on the occupiers. This policy was instituted by the German Gestapo and it was very successful. History shows that a program of social dismemberment of a nation does pacify them. These measures do break the will of the captive nation to fight.
The Americans were and are the greatest military power this world has ever seen. Yet they were defeated in Vietnam. Why? It was because they had become bogged down in a guerrilla war waged from the air. They had no command of what went on in the villages and on the ground. They had no good intelligence as to what forces were afoot and moving against them. Back in those times the Americans were unwilling to institute a police state in Vietnam. The war was unpopular and under close scrutiny by a free unembedded press. Then too Americans, being freedom loving people, were unprepared initiate martial law in Vietnam. They were not prepared to carry out the orders necessary for such an inhuman and monstrous system of conquest. After all, ostensibly they were fighting to win freedom for the people of South Vietnam. Freedom and police states just don't go together too well. And this war had a lot of reporters and photo journalists keeping an eye on things and snapping photos of nasty events.
Americans by nature are a people who cherish freedom and fair play. It would have been very hard to get regular U.S. soldiers to get into the nitty gritty of setting up an American Gestapo style administration to rule over the Vietnamese villagers.
There were exceptions to this. Special forces did exist. And they did enact martial law in some areas. These were "black" operations. Back in those days the American people heard very little about these secret "phoenix" operations. But in the areas in which they operated these brutal programs did have some significant 'success'. But they used torture and other inhumane methods to gain information from the Viet Cong. These unsavory phoenix operations had to be secret and small. And they could not be hidden from the American reporters and cameramen forever.
So despite enormous air power and firepower the Americans back in the 60's and 70's had neither the political will nor the desire to rule with an iron Edomite fist. They were unwilling or unable to dominate the Vietnamese civilian populace. They would not be brutal occupiers. Morale was already low with many soldiers turning to hashish to escape from the terrible realities of war. The eventual outcome was inevitable. The Americans were worn down by a determined enemy who were more brutal with civilians than they were. Eventually the U.S. military forces were forced to withdraw from Vietnam.
THE SPECTER OF EDOMITE GENOCIDE IS SEEN DURING WORLD WAR 2.
THE WAR TURNS UPON INNOCENT CITIZENS WITH THE BOMBING OF CITIES.