Chapter 1: Assyria Revived

Chapter 1: Assyria Revived
Assyria was one of the great historical enemies of Israel. Their brutal takeover of the lands within the land, the land promised to Abraham, forms the basis of many prophecies of the latter day invasion of Israel. Just as Assyria conquered the lands around Israel, so the latter day Assyrian will do. Assyria took the ten tribes into captivity, and then came to take Jerusalem. Due to Judah’s last minute repentance before their God, Jerusalem did not then fall. But out of Assyria came Babylon (Is. 23:13 “Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it”). And Babylon did come and destroy Jerusalem and take the Jews [the remaining two and a half tribes of Israel known as ‘Judah’] into captivity. This is why Assyria and Babylon are at times used interchangeably in the Old Testament.

Our expectation of a revived latter day Assyria is being realized before our eyes. The Islamic State are led by theologians, deeply aware of the historical context in which they stand, seeking to be the reincarnation of such historical forces who have dominated the land promised to Abraham, or Al-Sham as they call it. Staring at maps of ancient empires and current nations, we can get the impression that all states and empires have clearly defined boundaries. But the ancient empires weren’t really like that. When you enter the European Union, there’s a sign up which says ‘Welcome in the European Union’, and a flag next to it. But the Assyrian empire wasn’t like that. And neither is the Islamic State which is developing. The nature of boundaries in our global village have changed. It’s who your friends are on Facebook, which chat groups you frequent, which news portal you read… which defines who you are, rather than which geographical area you live in. And so it is with the entity known as the IS. The entity is defined by ideology and common enemies, rather than hard lines drawn in the literal sand with entry posts. The Islamic State have internet sites and ample media channels through which to explain to us their intentions. One of the battle songs of the IS fighters goes like this [when translated into English]:

Oh soldiers of Truth, let's go.
Repeat the tune of endurance.
A light has illuminated Shaam [the Levant, the Assyrian empire, the land promised to Abraham],
so rally all the soldiers.
The Islamic state has been established,
so wipe out all the borders.
Break the crosses [of the Christians] and destroy the lineage of the grandsons of monkeys [the Jews].
The state of monotheism will remain in spite of the lies of the hateful people.

[Commentary is mine].

You can see it being sung in Arabic at http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/4296.htm , with English transcript at http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/4296.htm  .  Notice: “The Islamic state has been established, so wipe out all the borders”. This feature of the IS has struck commentators. Ben Hubbard writing in the New York Times, August 22, 2014 (‘Progress of ISIS puts Obama to test’) is an example: “The brutality of ISIS… has seized the world’s attention… ISIS has erased borders and upended alliances across the region… its vision of a stateless Middle East under the black flag of jihad terrifies the region’s governments… ISIS is one creature with two heads that can see here and see there”. Note the Biblical language of a beast with heads. Indeed, media reports and official statements about the IS often use Biblical and apocalyptic language.

Under its vision of an Islamic Middle East "the land of Israel would be incorporated as part of Greater Syria," as it once was considered during its time under Muslim occupation. And the IS has been very open about its final intentions; in areas under its control, the group has erected billboards saying 'our eyes are on Al Quds (Jerusalem)' [as reported at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/180622#.U7gANrHAA5s accessed August 2014].

Consider another battle song of the IS jihadist fighters, publicized by the group’s media officer, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who believes that the current fighting of the IS is towards the final struggle “in the battle on the day of resurrection with al-Dajjal” (“the false Messiah,” roughly in the role of the Anti-Christ of Christian eschatology):

“So rush O Muslims and gather around your khalīfah [Caliph], so that you may return as you once were for ages, kings of the earth and knights of war.
soldiers that do not see
hardship as being difficult,
And lions [ frequent symbols of Assyria] that are thirsty in battle,
Having greedily drunk the blood of kufr [apostates]”.

The Bible uses the word eretz in the Old Testament to refer either to the entire planet, or specifically to the land / earth promised to Abraham, from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt. The “kings of the earth” therefore refer to the kings or ‘knights’ within the boundaries of the land promised to Abraham, making them "kings of the earth (land)". This term is used in the Bible to describe those who will finally come up against Jerusalem, to be destroyed by the second coming of Christ (Ps. 2:2; 76:12; Is. 24:21; Jer. 50:41 kings from the borders of the earth / land- which fits the IS; Lam. 4:12 the nations who assisted Babylon take Jerusalem; Dan. 7:17 the beasts represent the kings of the earth; Rev. 16:14; 17:2,18; 18:3,9; 19:19). So we cannot but be excited when an Islamic state acts like Assyria and calls its fighters “the kings of the earth”!

The despiteful, aggressive attitude of the latter day Assyrian matches the behaviour of the IS. And there are stern prophecies predicting their end:
"Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations… Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did” (Is. 10:5-7,24).

“And He (the Lord Jesus) will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace when the Assyrian invades our land, when he tramples on our citadels… And He will deliver us from the Assyrian when he attacks our land and when he tramples our territory” (Mic. 5:4-6). The visible manifestation of Israel’s Messiah is thus associated with ‘the Assyrian’ invading the land of Israel.


Geographically, Assyria was located in what is now parts of modern Iran and Iraq, although in reality both Assyria and Babylon coerced, or operated in tandem with, a number of the other smaller powers around Israel (Is. 29:7,8;  30:28;  33:3;  34:1,2;  2 Chron. 22:22; Ps. 83). Thus Herodotus called Sennacharib "king of the Arabians and the Assyrians". We are seeing this scenario develop as various smaller powers are either coerced by or willingly cooperate with the IS.

The Assyrian is to be “broken in pieces” (Is. 30:31 RV), just as the whole image of Daniel 2 is to be, by the return of Christ as the little stone. The Assyrian confederacy which came against Jerusalem is described as being the foes of Israel who will be swept away as chaff (Is. 29:5 RV). This was fulfilled in Sennacherib’s destruction outside Jerusalem. And yet the language of being swept away as chaff refers without doubt to the image of Dan. 2 being swept away as chaff. The conclusion surely is that the Assyrian attack against Jerusalem, comprised as it was of a confederacy of local nations from within the land promised to Abraham, is typical of the final destruction of a similar confederacy by the Lord’s return.

Assyria took power over what is now known as Syria. And in the last days, “the riches of Damascus... shall be taken away before (by) the king of Assyria" (Is. 8:4). We can see Syria being either taken over by or forced into submission to the IS. Is. 9:12 speaks of the Syrians and Philistines [Palestinians] as being the mouth of a huge beast, closing around Israel: "The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth". In this lies the connection between the growing intifada against Israel on one side, and the uprise of the latter day Assyria, the IS, on Israel’s other side.  This image of an Arab beast devouring Israel is repeated in Joel 1:6 concerning the later day Assyrian invader.

The Assyrian Style Revived

Assyria was renowned for taking captives and abusing and selling them into captivity. Such a fate is predicted for latter day Israel: "You shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you" (Dt. 28:68). Until recently there was no entity likely to do this to Israel. But now, with the emergence of the IS, there is. Here's a picture of Yezidi girls captured by the IS being sold for $10 each:



Assyria and Babylon had a policy of taking away local conquered people into exile, and using people from other parts of the conquered territories to then govern or police the conquered areas. One IS defector said it was a deliberate ISIS strategy to use outsiders to police the towns it took over: "The Islamic State have brought in people from other countries, different nationalities who are quite young in age so that they can brainwash or indoctrinate them with their Isis ideology… And so they control the areas, not through the local people but with their own forces and their own men whom they prepare for this task"- quotes from Paul Wood, ‘Isis defector speaks of life inside brutal jihadist group’, first published at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28269596

The IS will be a strictly religious entity, keen to take the predictions and commands of the Koran and Hadith as literally as possible- including “When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads until you have crushed them completely; then bind the prisoners tightly,” (Sura Chapter 47). The world today is indeed shocked at reports of ISIS' gruesome sweep into northern Iraq. The UK Daily Mail  reported of ISIS: “They lined the streets with the decapitated heads of police and soldiers”. Beheading is now a well-known method used by the IS, popularized by their YouTube videos of beheading Western hostages. We note that it is the fate of those who do not worship the beast or accept his mark in Rev. 20:4.

The IS has seized billions of dollars worth of gold kept in the banks in the cities they have overrun, especially in Mosul; again in keeping with Assyria seizing gold and precious stones from its occupied territories. That certainly sounds like the behaviour of the aggressive King of the North during his invasion of eretz Israel in Dan. 11:43: "He shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things".
The Religious Dimension
The religious dimension of the invasion is also to be found in Dan. 11:44, albeit masked by translation. The King of the North will invade eretz Israel "to destroy and utterly to make away many" (AV). The Hebrew word charam translated 'to utterly make away' specifically means to consecrate, to make something over to another, specifically their god or religion. And this is the stated motive of the IS and other jihadist groups- to sanctify Israel as a spoil of war to Allah and the Prophet. This is the predicted call found in Joel 2, to sanctify war against Israel- the very language of jihad, holy war. The King of Assyria “came up” throughout the land promised to Abraham (2 Kings 17:5). The Hebrew word used is alah, meaning to ascend up- and this is the very battle cry of the Islamic State, Allah ahbar. The Assyrians were persuaded that the one true God, Yahweh, had sent them against Israel (2 Kings 18:25)- just as the Islamic State are today. “Hear [shama] the word of the great King, the King of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:28) is a conscious imitation of the shema to Israel from their King, Yahweh. “The great king” is a title of Yahweh. The king of Assyria was parodying the giving of the Law to Israel, implying his commandments were a new Torah for Israel; and the leadership of the Islamic State has spoken of producing a new Torah, making him the one mentioned in Daniel as changing laws.

The historical Assyria ‘destroyed utterly’ the nations around Israel (2 Kings 19:11); but the Hebrew word used specifically means to consecrate or dedicate. It has a distinctly religious sense. And this is precisely the idea of jihad- taking land in a holy war in order to dedicate that land to Allah. In practice, the Assyrians did this by ‘destroying’ or ‘drying up’ these lands. Charab¸ ‘to dry up’, is used about their scorched earth policies (2 Kings 19:17), and Assyria threatened to ‘dry up’ Judah (2 Chron. 32:11), just as he boasted “with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places” (2 Kings 19:24); and the metaphor continues with the idea of Assyria being like a river gushing forth over the land they had dried up (Is. 8:7). This is why God’s answer to the Assyrian threat to Judah is expressed in terms of His reminding Judah that it is He who has ultimate power to dry up rivers and nations (Is. 44:27; 50:2; 51:10- every time, the same Hebrew word charab is used).