Bible students should find the foregoing facts concerning the Edomitesdisquieting. Because Esau lost the birthright and the blessing to Jacob, itseems innate for Esau's descendants to do whatever it takes, includingmasquerading as Israel, to steal these blessings back from God’s intendedheirs.
In Genesis 28:40 Isaac told his son Esau that "when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his [Jacob Israel's] yoke from off thy neck." With this prophecy in mind, consider very carefully the implication of the following passages. Ezekiel 35:10-12 records how the Edomites had proclaimed that "these two nations and these two countries [the two houses of Israel and their respective lands] shall be mine, and we will possess it" and that "the mountains of Israel ... are laid desolate" and "given us to consume."
Ezekiel 36:2, 5 foretell that Idumea, or Edom, would claim "the ancient high places are ours in possession" and that they had "appointed my [God’s] land [of Judea, modern-day Palestine] into their possession."
Malachi 1:4 states that Edom would "return and rebuild the desolate places." In Isaiah 49:14-19, the desolate places are identified with Zion or Jerusalem and its surrounding region.
A case could be made that King Herod helped to fulfill these prophecies, even though they were principally fulfilled as a consequence of the Edomites assisting Emperor Titus in sacking Jerusalem in 70 AD. There also appears to have been a secondary fulfillment, as there often is with prophecy, when Jews immigrated to the land of Israel in 1948. Remember God is sovereign and all things happen according to His divine plan.
In other words, the relocation of the Jews to the land of Israel in 1948 has nothing to do with prophecies concerning Israelites. The Jewish settlement of the Holy Land better fulfills Ezekiel's and Malachi's prophecies that the Edomites would one day take over Jerusalem and its surrounding area and rebuild the desolate places.
Because the eschatology of many Christians, churches and ministries is based upon the belief that the Jews' migration to the Holy Land is fulfillment of prophecy about Israelites, it will be difficult for many people to abandon these ideas. On the other hand, this is an opportunity to prove that truth is more sacred than man-made doctrines.
Since 1948 American taxpayers and Christian ministries have sent billions of dollars to assist the Zionist State of Israel. But instead of being blessed for blessing these Jews, as many modern-day preachers claim, America has been cursed. Consider the record. Since 1948 and the formation of the State of Israel, America has declined socially, politically, economically, educationally, spiritually and morally. This alone should be proof enough that there has been a case of mistaken identity.
Although the Edomites appear to be fulfilling Isaac's blessing that they would break Jacob's yoke from their neck and regain dominion (Genesis 27:40), later prophecies assure us that the Edomites will not always have the upper hand:
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD. - Ezekiel 25:12-14
Thus saith the Lord GOD; ... I will make thee desolate. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD. - Ezekiel 35:14-15
Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom.... The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.... How are the things of Esau searched out! How are his hidden things sought up! ...For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou ... entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. ...as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.... - Obadiah 1:1-15
Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, the people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, the LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. - Malachi 1:4-5
