Are Modern Nations Really Talked About in the Bible?
Part 1
When we read the Bible, which was written from 2,000-3,500 years ago, we often don't get the feel it relates to today, especially when reading prophecy about the End Times and the nations involved. We read about Israel, of course, as well as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Ethiopia and a list of unrecognizable nations. Yet we do not see mentioned by name China, Russia, Germany, Italy, England or the United States. How can that be? If the Bible is the actual word of God, then didn't God know there was going to be a USA or Europe? How can we trust prophecy or understand it when most of the time the scenario just doesn't fit what we know about the world? Is there going to be another Assyrian Empire? Does Assyria even exist today? Is Greece going to be the most powerful nation under another Alexander? That doesn't seem likely. Are we indeed living in the End Times? Will the world as we know it really ever end, as Jesus foretold?
Believe it or not, the Bible is as current and relevant today as the day when it was first written. The hard-to-pronounce nations mentioned still exist on planet Earth, and you can prove it to yourself!
Assyria:
In the Bible, we read about the great Assyrian Empire that was later destroyed by Babylon. Its people vanished from subsequent history. However, the Bible gives us clues to where these people moved, and, interestingly, they are not the people of modern-day Syria. Assyria was originally a region on the Upper Tigris River, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur, also spelled Ashur. The Assyrian homeland or "Kir" was located near a mountainous region, extending along the Tigris as far as the high Gordiaean or Carduchian mountain range of Armenia, sometimes known as the "Mountains of Ashur."
The Assyrians were a race of warriors, more cruel and brutal than any previous race. Their history is one of kings and slaves, wars and conquests, bloody victories and sudden defeats. In other words, they were a nation of military men. Regimentation was their rule of life. The nation of Israel (made up of the tribes of Jacob) had already split into two nations by the 9th century B.C., soon after King Solomon died.The northern 10 tribes (today called the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel) were conquered by the Assyrians and led into captivity never to be seen again. Or so thestory goes, anyway. Only the southern nation of the former Israel remained. It was called the nation of Judah (were we get the name Jew from). The northern tribes named Israel were NEVER JEWS, an important point distinction.
After the northern tribes were taken into captivity, the Assyrians replaced them with a new, different race. They are the people called Samaritans in Jesus' time. The reason why Jews in the New Testament regarded the Samaritans as "dogs" was because they despised the impostors who were claiming to be Israel.
Assyria was soon pushed out of its homeland and forced to move through the Caucasus Mountains (this is where we get the word Caucasian from) into the lands of Europe—with the ten tribes of Israel. The 17th chapter of 1 Kings has this amazing text. "...Until the Eternal removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by His servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
As the ancient Babylonian kingdom gained ascendancy, the wandering peoples of Assyria and the ten-tribe captives among them were pushed ever northward, and westward. The leading tribe of the Assyrians was called the "Hellmann." The Latins called the land of Germany "Alumni." Today, Mexicans and Spaniards call Germany "Almena." A German is "un Almena."
"Teuton" merely means "spear warrior," a name given to the Germanic peoples by the Romans. "Deutschland," the German word for Germany, comes from the Germanic pronunciation of "Teuton," and has no ethnological origins. It refers, instead, to the ancient names applied to the warlike peoples encountered by the Romans in northern and central Europe.
Ultimately, the southern House of Judah was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, more than a century after its cousins from the northern ten-tribed nation of Israel had gone into captivity. Now, the "Jews" of Judah were to endure seventy years of captivity. But, unlike the ten-tribed House of Israel, now supposedlylost from history, the Jews were prophesied to return to the land of Palestine. They did so, following the decree of Cyrus, under Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel.
Who is modern-day Germany? The ancient Assyrians! When we read prophecy concerning Assyria for the End Times, we should instantly think, "Germany!" Hitler knew it. He called the Germans the master race, consisting of white, blond, blue-eyed Aryans (Assyrians). The Encyclopedia Americana, under the article, "Germany," says, "In 113 B.C., when the first Germanic tribes, the Cimbri and the Teutons, attempted to break into the Roman Empire, the Germanic frontier became a major problem for maintaining the security of the Roman world." It's logical the displaced Assyrians, driven from their vast plains between the Black and Caspian Seas, would be found wandering along the major river valleys, together with remnants of the "lost ten tribes" of Israel. It should also be noted that in the Bible, the only nation that referred its homeland in the male gender was Assyria. Like ancient Assyrians, Germans today refer to their homeland as the FATHERLAND, instead of motherland like most countries do.
Gog and Magog:
Regarding the identities of Gog and Magog of Scripture, there is some difference of opinion among Bible teachers and historians. Referring to the Magogites, The Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible speaks of this diversity: "Some think they find them [Gog and Magog] afar off, in Scythia, Tartary, and (Southern) Russia. Others think they find them nearer the land of Israel, in Syria, and Asia the Less [Turkey]. Those who argue for a Scythian connection find their best argument in a reference from the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote, "Magog founded the Magogians, thus named after him, but who by the Greeks are called Sythians." Hitchcock says of the Sythians: The ancient Sythians were a great nomadic tribe who inhabited the ancient territory from Central Asia all across the southern part of ancient Russia. The descendants of Magog were the original inhabitants of the plateau of Central Asia. Today the land of Magog is inhabited by the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and possibly even northern parts of modern Afghanistan."
Persia:
Persia is easy to identify. Essentially, Persia is modern-day Iran. Many Iranians in America, if asked where they are from, will simply say they are from Persia. In fact, Iran was still called Persia until 1935. Iran is a predominantly Muslim nation. While there are some signs of change due to a growing dissatisfaction with Islam among the country's massive youth population, it does not seem likely that a majority of Iranians will leave behind its Islamic roots anytime soon.
Put:
Biblically, Put (or Phut) is the region west of Egypt. Today, this is the nation of Libya. The Septuagint translates the word Put as Libue. Most modern scholars seem to agree with this interpretation. Shoebat however includes Algeria, Morroco and Tunis along with Libya. Either way, we again have another region or nation that is entirely Islamic.
Gomer and Togarmah:
Gomer, it seems almost universally agreed on among scholars, "refers to the Celtic Cimmerians of Crim-Tartary." So Gomer and Togarmah is simply central Turkey, again, another Islamic region.
The Land of Sinim:
The ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, include the book of Isaiah, and once again confirm today's Bible is accurate and reliable. This verse in Isaiah is thought to refer to China: Surely these shall come from afar; Look, those from the north and the west; And these from the land of Sinim. (Isaiah 49: 12). You may wonder what the word "Sinim" means. Where is this land of Sinim, mentioned by Isaiah before his service was terminated in 680 B.C.? According to Strong's Concordance, "Sinim is a distant Oriental region." Young's Concordance reports, "Sinim is a people in the far east; the Chinese?" Even in today's English language, the prefix "Sino-" means "Chinese."
The Significance of Chin:
In Isaiah's day, the state of Qin was only one of hundreds of states under Zhou (770-256 B.C.). It was located in the present Gansu Province through which trade with the West was conducted. How is it that Isaiah chose Qin to indicate the Middle Kingdom? What was so special about Qin?Rang Kung was appointed as the first Duke of Qin (770 B.C.), then a small, aristocratic house. Under his administration, the state of Qin emerged as one of the 14 major states under the Zhou dynasty.8 It was 500 years after Isaiah that Qin Shi Huangdi defeated all the other competitive states and established the Qin dynasty. From then on, Qin represented the Middle Kingdom [China]. Simply put, the God of Isaiah, with divine foreknowledge, saw all the stages in the development of Qin—from a small, dependent, aristocratic house to becoming the famous Qin empire. God knew that the Duke of Qin would become ever stronger, equal with those of the other 13 states. Furthermore, He foresaw that after another 500 years, the Dukedom of Qin would still exist, defeat allthe other states, and unite them as one empire, even choosing "Qin" as the name for the new empire!
Read the Shocking Idenity of MODERN ISRAEL in Part 2
