Esau's Descendants: Tenth Horn
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Daniel 7:7-24 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. (8) I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. … (19) "Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; (20) and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. … (23) "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. (24) The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings.”
We have already discussed the above-quoted passage of scripture in the section dealing with the revelation of the nine horns on the beast. In that section we stated that the ten kings mentioned in this passage are ten leaders that will emerge from within the worlds Islamic states, and we showed that nine of those Islamic states are already in place. And so in this section we want to discuss the next prophetic event, i.e. the emergence of the tenth horn on the beast.
We will see in this section that this particular event has already begun to be fulfilled; nevertheless it will only be completed in the future. So why is that? The answer lies in the identity of the tenth Islamic state: It is the state of Palestine, which doesn’t yet exist. So why do I say that Palestine will be the tenth horn on the beast? In the section dealing with the revelation of the nine horns on the beast, we used Psalm 83 as one of the text passages. In that passage the Lord specifically mentioned Edom being one of the ten confederate states against Israel in the last days. As we will see in this section, the Palestinians are the direct descendants of Edom. Therefore we can be fully assured that the Palestinian people will eventually gain their independence as a sovereign nation state. When that finally happens, all ten Islamic states forming the core of the Antichrist’s kingdom will be in place; waiting for the next sequential event, i.e. the emergence of the ten leaders of those nations.
Genesis 25:21-26 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (22) But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. (23) And the Lord said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger." (24) So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. (25) And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. (26) Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
In order to understand why the tenth horn has not yet emerged, it is necessary to discuss some background information. In the above-quoted passage of scripture we have the account of the birth of Isaac’s twins, Esau and Jacob. Although it is widely understood that the Jews are the biological descendants of Jacob, it is not widely understood that the Palestinians are the biological descendants of Esau. And so in light of that, we will now take a bit of time to establish this particular truth. Biblical records reveal that Esau was the founder of the Edomite nation (Genesis 36:9). And so we see that by identifying who the modern-day descendants of the Edomites are, we can therefore identify Esau's biological descendants.
Historical records teach us that in the year 587 BC, after the conquest and exile of Judah by the Babylonians, the Edomites migrated to Judea and settled in the region of Hebron. The region of Hebron was vacant at the time because the Babylonians had forcefully expelled the Jews. Biblical records confirm this fact, for the Lord says of the Edomites, "Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession" (Ezekiel 36:5). As an aside, the Lord's comment to the Edomites in this passage is an ominous warning to their descendants that they are trespassing on His land.
Nevertheless, the Edomites prospered in their new country for more than four centuries. Over time the geographic region of Judea fell first under Greek control, and then under the control of the Romans. During all this time the Edomites remained in the region around Hebron, and were called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumaea" or "Idumea". Around the time of Jesus, the Idumaeans constituted the majority of the population of Western Judea[1]. Biblical records confirm this because they speak of a great multitude from Galilee, Judea, and Idumea coming to Jesus and following Him (Mark 3:7-8).
The Idumaeans remained a significant and separate portion of the population of the Roman province of Judea during both the first and second Jewish revolts against Rome, which took place in 70 and 136 AD respectively. The second Jewish revolt resulted in the final destruction of the Jewish population still living in Judea. It was at this time that the Roman province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina (i.e. Palestine). After the final expulsion of the Jews, a mixed population replaced them, made up of Roman veterans and immigrants from the neighbouring Roman provinces of Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia[2].
Nevertheless, throughout this period the Idumaeans, who were the majority population, continued to reside in what had now become the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. The Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, continued to govern the province of Palestine until the year 637 AD. And so over time, all the inhabitants of Palestine (including the Idumaeans) eventually became known as Palestinians. In 637 AD, Palestine fell under Muslim control, and, other than a brief period between 1099 AD and 1291 AD when the Crusaders controlled Palestine, it remained under Muslim control for the next 1,300 years. It was during this period that nearly all Palestinians (including those of Idumaean descent) converted to Islam.
That status quo remained in place until 1948 when the United Nations authorized the State of Israel to be established in the territory of Palestine. When that happened, a significant migration of Jews from around the world returned to settle in the newly created State of Israel. The local Palestinian population rejected the creation of the State of Israel on "their land" however, and a war broke out between the Jews and the Palestinians. The Palestinians lost the war, resulting in approximately 700,000 Palestinian refugees being displaced to three main locations, i.e. Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan[3]. And so we see that historical records show that the people known as Palestinians, are the descendants of the Idumaeans/Edomites, who are the descendants of Esau.
There is one further factor that shows that the Palestinians are Esau's descendants. Genetic studies have shown a close genetic relationship between Palestinians and Jews, suggesting a shared ancestral heritage[4]. Their shared ancestral heritage would be Isaac as the father of both Esau (the Palestinians) and Jacob (the Jews). And so when we add these factors together, we can see that the Palestinians are indeed Esau's descendants. At the time of writing this series, approximately 2 million Palestinians live within Israel having Israeli citizenship. Additionally, there are approximately 5,5 million Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip[5]. A further approximately 3 million Palestinian refugees are living in Jordon[6].
Michael E.B. Maher
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