Looking for that Blessed Hope!

Who were/are the executioners of Gaza?

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. Zep 2:4-5.

In this passage the word ‘Cherethites’ = “executioners”. All of the cities mentioned were the ancient cities of the Philistines. They were ferocious men as King David even used them to serve as bodyguards.

We will come back to this passage, but first a little history. Jeremiah 46 began the section of Jeremiah’s prophecies against the nations surrounding Judah. Jeremiah 47 is the record of this prophecy against the Philistines, the ancient enemies, and rivals of Israel.

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. This prophecy was given before Pharaoh attacked the city of Gaza around 609 B.C.

2 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. Later, from the north, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar would conquer all of the cities mentioned in Zep. 2:4-5 including the Egyptian occupation of Gaza sparing none.

3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;

4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the Lord will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. Tyrus and Zidon were Phoenician (Lebanese) cities allied to the Philistines but were cut off and unable to help them.  Understand that the Philistines came from Caphtor. Today it is called Crete an island off the coast of Greece. There is zero DNA connection between the ancient Philistines and today’s Palestinians as the Philistines were completely wiped out. ‘Palestine’ came from the word Philistine during the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. It was a Roman insult to the Jews knowing the Philistines were their ancient enemy.

5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself? One that has their head shaved will eventually grow their hair back. Keep this in mind.

From Jeremiah 47, we see how the prophecy of Zep, 2:4-5 would be fulfilled. Now let’s look again at Zephaniah. By the way, if you did not already know, violence in the bible is the Hebrew word Hamas.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Remember in Jeremiah 47 the baldness? Could it be eventually this strip of land would once again contain ferocious men capable of unspeakable evil? That is what we saw on October 7^th as these executioners came flying and driving into Israel killing anyone alive. This verse also says Gaza shall be forsaken or meaning to leave without intending to return. That is exactly what is happening today with Hamas. They are either captured or killed by the IDF or forced to flee south to the Rafa border with Egypt while the IDF utterly destroys Gaza infrastructure.

⁵ Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. All were destroyed except a few women that married into the Jewish population (Neh 13:23).

Benjamin Netanyahu is the current PM of Israel and possibly also a prophet. I have read many of his statements concerning this war and many seem to be prophetic utterances. He has repeatedly stated they will not stop until Hamas is totally demolished. Here are his latest statements.

“We will not withdraw the Israel Defense Forces from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. None of this will happen,” Netanyahu told students and staff during a visit to the Bnei David pre-military academy in Eli in Samaria’s Binyamin region.

“I hear talk about all kinds of deals. I would like to make it clear: We will not conclude this war without achieving all of its goals. This means eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel,” the premier said.

https://www.jns.org/ben-gvir-threatens-to-topple-government-over-hostage-deal/

I highly recommend reading again the 3 chapters of Zephaniah. It is a very intriguing book. There may also be another theme that is presented in this book. We know the biblical number 7 refers to the program of God on behalf of man, like the 7-day week, 7-year tribulation, Noah was on the Ark 7 days before the rain came, on the 7^th day Noah sent out a dove, and again 7 days later. The ark rested in the 7^th month. You get the idea hopefully. There are numerous examples that one can find.

So, why the 7? Because “the day of the Lord(s)” is mentioned 31 times in the KJV and exactly Seven times within the book of Zephaniah alone. Is it a theme suggesting we need to be ready when the ‘executioners” strike Israel, for the Day of the Lord is near???