What the Bible says about Wild Ass Man
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 16:11-12 The world has certainly seen a great deal of "his hand shall be against every man," which has been institutionalized in Ishmael's belief system, Islam. Winston Churchill once said of it, "That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword—the tenets and principles of which are . . . incentives to slaughter and which in three continents had produced fighting breeds of men—simulates a wild and merciless fanaticism." And now we see that he indeed is dwelling in the presence of the descendants of his brother Isaac and his nephew Jacob, fomenting problems while reaping the benefits of living among the blessings of God given for Abraham's obedience. It also sets up the fulfillment of the prophecy of Israel's downfall in Deuteronomy 28:43: "The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower." Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and other European nations have experienced a massive influx of Arab or Turk immigrants over the past few decades, for much the same reasons as the U.S. has seen so many Hispanic immigrants from Central America. Economic conditions in their home countries are so depressed and hopeless that Western democracies look like the Promised Land. Add in a heavy dose of multiculturalism and socialist welfare policies, and the result is a burgeoning foreign population that refuses to integrate and abide by common standards. Denmark [in 2002] is a good example. It has about 200,000 Muslim immigrants in a population of roughly 5½ million, or about 3.5% of the population. More than half of these are crammed into urban areas because of the possibility of employment, but many are unemployed. In Denmark, these immigrants account for more than 40% of welfare spending. It gets worse. Muslims make up a majority of the nation's convicted rapists; non-Danes commit three-quarters of the rapes in Denmark. In other categories of crime, lesser but similarly disproportionate figures prevail. They have also brought in several unacceptable and illegal practices, for instance, forced marriages—promising a baby girl to a male in the home nation, then compelling her to marry him, sometimes on pain of death—and threatening to kill Muslims who convert out of Islam. On another area of Danish concern, commentator Daniel Pipes writes: Muslim violence threatens Denmark's approximately 6,000 Jews, who increasingly depend on police protection. Jewish parents were told by one school principal that she could not guarantee their children's safety and were advised to attend another institution. Anti-Israel marches have turned into anti-Jewish riots. One organization, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, openly calls on Muslims to "kill all Jews . . . wherever you find them." ("Something Rotten in Denmark?" New York Post, August 27, 2002). Muslim clerics have also called upon adherents to take over Denmark and impose Islamic law once their population has grown large enough. By one estimate, in about forty years, Muslims will comprise one-third of Denmark's population. Keep these trends in mind as time hastens toward the return of Jesus Christ. Richard T. Ritenbaugh His Hand Against Every Man Related Topics: Aliens | Ishmaelites | Islamic Culture | Multicultural Society | Socialist Welfare Policies | Wild Ass Man

Exodus 17:16 Though Esau himself was full of bitter hatred, and Ishmael is described as a wild man, Amalek seems to have been the worst of the Edomite-related peoples. The Bible records that even God has a special enmity for Amalek, saying in Exodus 17:16, "Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." What is it about the Amalekites that turns God against them? The story begins as the Israelites are fleeing from Egypt, having just crossed the Red Sea, as Exodus 17:8 chronicles, "Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim." Evidently, the Amalekites had heard of Egypt's total defeat at the Red Sea and decided to take advantage of its usually more powerful neighbor's weakness. Between them and their prize, however, walked a strung out line of Israelite wanderers, who seemed to be, not only laden with Egyptian loot, but also easy pickings. Deuteronomy 25:17-18 fills out the story: "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God." The Amalekites, not daring to take on the main host of Israel, attacked the tail end of the line, where the slow and weak plodded along. Yet, as Moses notes, the Amalekites did not include God in their calculations. Moses commanded Joshua to select men to fight, and the Israelites met the Amalekites in battle. The result of this seesaw fight appears in Exodus 17:13-16. Forty years later, when Israel is about to cross over Jordan, God reminds Israel of Amalek's perfidious act and charges them: Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget. (Deuteronomy 25:19) The Amalekites appear again in the well-known episode in which God instructed King Saul to carry out this command: Thus says the LORD of hosts: "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." (I Samuel 15:2-3) However, despite winning the battle, Saul did not follow God's instructions completely: "But Saul and the people spared Agag [king of the Amalekites] and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed" (verse 9). God sent the prophet Samuel to tell Saul that He had rejected him as king, as well as to execute Agag. Obviously, some Amalekites escaped Saul's army. Five centuries later, as recorded in the story of Esther, an evil man named Haman plotted genocide against the Jews in Persia during the reign of Xerxes. Haman was "the son of Hammedatha the Agagite" (Esther 3:1), probably directly descended from the Amalekite king Samuel killed. These accounts relate the sort of trickery, terrorism, and underhandedness that the Amalekites seem to use perpetually. One can only conclude that these tactics are passed from generation to generation, becoming a hereditary trait. God has recorded these episodes to indicate to us how Amalek historically treats Israel. If a confederacy is formed against Israel, the Amalekites will be a part of it, and they will be eager to use any means to bring her down. Richard T. Ritenbaugh All About Edom (Part Two) Related Topics: Agag | Amalek | Amalekites | Ambush by Amalekites | Bitter Envy | Bitterness | Edom | Edomites | Enmity | Esau | Esau's Temperament | Esther, Book of | Haman | Hate | Hatred | Hatred, Reinforcement of | Samuel | Saul | Wild Ass Man

 

		The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. See what over 155,000 subscribers are already receiving each day. Email Address:     A Faithful VersionKing James VersionNew International VersionNew King James Version Leave this field empty
We respect your privacy. Your email address will not be sold, distributed, rented, or in any way given out to a third party. We have nothing to sell. You may easily unsubscribe at any time.