Prophecy in the Psalms.
It
was brought to my attention by a comment posted on a web-forum that there
appears to be prophetic themes in the Psalms. This is something that I had not
considered as the Psalms are songs written primarily by the Kings David and
Solomon. The originator of the theory based his premise on the fact that Psalms
is the nineteenth book of the Bible and the forty-eighth from the end of the
Bible and Gospel, and the state of Israel was recognised by the United Nations
in 1948. I considered this a bit of a stretch because when the Psalms were
written there was only the Old Testament so they were not the forty-eighth from
the end of the Bible and secondly the years on the Hebrew calendar do not
coincide with the dates on the commonly used calendar.
That
being said I know that scribes were taught to be very careful and accurately
transcribe Biblical passages because as the living word of G-d it is believed
that to change a single letter may change the fate of the world. So with a
different point of view I decided to reread the Psalms to see how the
suggestion of prophecy might reconcile with history. The outcome was quite
surprising, most seemed to have no direct bearing and as there are only 150
Psalms any prophecies must relate to only a portion of a Psalm or be repeated.
According to Hebrew tradition every fiftieth year is a Jubilee Year so 150
Psalms would represent three Jubilees, interesting because there is an ancient
text called the Book of Jubilees, which is also known as The Little Genesis.
The prophecy would have to be a pattern of recurring themes but in modern times
there are sufficient coincides of Psalms relating to current events to at least
imply that the Bible exerts some control over our lives.
Obviously
it would take an enormous effort to try and relate every event in history to a
Psalm but just by selecting significant years in the last century and comparing
those to lines in Psalms we can assess how likely it is that there is a link.
The Psalms were written about three thousand years ago so the likelihood of
current events being identified with lines in any of the 150 Psalms should be
zero but one or two could be regarded as coincidence, any more than that is indicative
of a connection.
The
following are some lines from Psalms that appear to have commonality with
events that occurred in years that are numbered the same as particular Psalms.
1918
– WWI and the British are victorious over Turkey
freeing Israel
(Palestinian Mandate) from the rule of the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Psalm
18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they
were too strong for me.
18:48 He delivers me from my
enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have
delivered me from the violent man.
18:49 Therefore I will give thanks
to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name.
This
is interesting because although Muslim control was removed Israel remained
under Gentile (British) control.
The
Nazi years preceding WWII; 1935 Psalm 35:7 For without cause they have hidden
their net for me in a pit, which they have dug without cause for my life.
1936
Psalm 36:1 An oracle within in my heart concerning the transgression of the
wicked: there is no Fear of G-d before his eyes.
The
Holocaust 1939-1945.
Psalm
40:12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken
me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head;
therefore my heart fails me.
Psalm
40:13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, make haste to help me.
Psalm
42:10 As with a breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me, while they say to
me all day long, “Where is your G-d?”
Psalm
43:22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter.
The
Nazis were defeated in 1945 which appears to be reflected in the beginning of
Psalm 45:1 My heart is overflowing with a good theme; …
In
1948 the United Nations partitioned Britain ’s
Palestinian Mandate and created the countries of Iraq ,
Israel , Jordan and Lebanon . Prior to this the Biblical
prediction of a Jewish return to Israel had seemed impossible, but
Psalm 48 appears to have some reference to the United Nations meeting.
Psalm
48:4 For behold, the kings assembled
together, they passed by together.
48:5 They saw it, and so they
marvelled; they were troubled, they hastened away.
48:6 Fear took hold of them there,
and pain, as of a women in birth pangs,
In
1967 came an even more startling prophetic fulfilment when during the Six Day
War Israel regained control
of Jerusalem .
Psalm 67 is extremely short having only seven verses and the seventh says,
Psalm
67:7 G-d shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
Having
identified sufficient apparent links to be more than mere coincidence I decided
to see what the Psalms might indicate about current events and Psalm 109 caught
me completely by surprise because of its apparent link to events happening in
2009.
Psalm
109:2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened
against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
109:3
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me
without a cause.
This
was surprising because of two 2009 events, a blood libel published by a Swedish
newspaper that claimed Israel
was selling Arab body parts for organ transplants. An illegal transaction under
Israeli law and which even the reporter who wrote the story admitted had no
supporting evidence and he had no knowledge of its truth, surely a case of lack
of journalistic integrity. The second item was the Goldstone Report an
extremely biased report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council which
includes states known for having questionable records with regards to human
rights or a history of hostility towards Israel, including Saudi Arabia, Cuba,
Pakistan, Bahrain, Mauritius and Qatar. The UNHRC has consistently
discriminated against Israel
and the mandate for the Goldstone Mission was obviously no different.
Psalm
118 was extremely short and contained no obvious events but Psalm 119 is one of
the longest in the whole Israel Bible; implying that 2019 will bring a
multitude of events.
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