A Land of Unwalled Villages

[angels4u]

31 minutes ago, WilliamL said:

Your point about EMPs is very salient. That would set the stage for the horses. However, "all of them [the armies] riding on horses" (Ezek. 38:15) could not be pulled off quickly: it will take years for the horses to be bred, and warriors to be trained. This is why I say that this prophecy will not be fulfilled until many years has passed after the Rapture.

Actually Russia is already breeding a special kind of horses, so this could very well happen,google Russia and special horses (I believe the got them in the UK)

[angels4u]

On 4/7/2022 at 5:47 PM, WilliamL said:

Israel is not currently "A Land of Unwalled Villages." They have walls and gates, to keep out Palestinian terrorists.

And invaders currently do not have vast armies mounted on horses, which the birds will subsequently eat.

This prophecy is by no means imminent; rather, it will take place at the 7th Bowl judgment. At a time when the world has been dramatically reduced in population, with military technology destroyed by the devastation brought about during the 7 Trumpets and early Bowls.

I believe you’re right, this battle will happen on the end of the tribulation when all nation will go into fight..

[WilliamL]

3 minutes ago, Alive said:

How will the peoples of all nations travel to Jerusalem each year? No technology?

Zechariah 14:16 NKJV And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.

This passage has somewhat different translations. Suffice it to say that it seems to indicate that representatives of the nations shall attend the Feast, not entire nations: that would be impossible, no matter the technology. Unless all those people were piled upon on top of each other.

So I think that is your answer: representatives of the nations will attend. And that would be possible no matter what the technology of the time.

Also, it should be pointed out that this will be during the era of the Millennial reign of Christ, when the earth will be rapidly restored to bountifulness. So I don't think transportation will be any problem in those days.

[WilliamL]

7 minutes ago, angels4u said:

I believe you’re right, this battle will happen on the end of the tribulation when all nation will go into fight..

Whoa there! don't go putting out thoughts I did not express!

According to my well-posted and evidenced eschatology, the Rapture comes "immediately after the tribulation" (Matt. 24:29), during the 6th Seal.

Whereas Ezekiel's (as contrasted with Revelation 20's) Gog-Magog war will not occur until the 7th Bowl/Revelation 19 -- many years, and I think likely decades, after the Rapture.

[Alive]

Two points. Waalvord and company pride themselves on a literal interpretation of all prophetic statements and do so with much energy. It is indeed thefoundation of their hermenuitic. What does EVERYONE MEAN iftaken literally?

Second...a long boat ride both ways each year?

[missmuffet]

22 minutes ago, Alive said:

Two points. Waalvord and company pride themselves on a literal interpretation of all prophetic statements and do so with much energy. It is indeed thefoundation of their hermenuitic. What does EVERYONE MEAN iftaken literally?

Second...a long boat ride both ways each year?

Waalvord was a good teacher. All good teachers take the Word of God literally because that is what God intended. 

[Alive]

41 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

Waalvord was a good teacher. All good teachers take the Word of God literally because that is what God intended. 

He had a long life in service to the Lord, as did his wife and partner.

[WilliamL]

54 minutes ago, Alive said:

Two points. Waalvord and company pride themselves on a literal interpretation of all prophetic statements and do so with much energy. It is indeed the foundation of their hermenuitic. What does EVERYONE MEAN if taken literally?

Ah, but literal to one is not always the same translation as the literal to another. Case in point:

"shall go up from year to year" : "from": Hebrew מִדֵּי.   The  מִ is a preposition that means "from, out of." But what does דַּי mean?

דַּי: KJV Translation Count — Total: 38x

The KJV translates Strong's H1767 in the following manner: enough (6x), sufficient (5x), from (5x), when (3x), since (3x), able (3x), miscellaneous (13x).

Outline of Biblical Usage:

sufficiency, enough

enough

for, according to the abundance of, out of the abundance of, as often as

Strong’s Definitions [?](Strong’s Definitions Legend)

דַּי day, dahee; of uncertain derivation; enough (as noun or adverb), used chiefly with preposition in phrases:—able, according to, after (ability), among, as (oft as), (more than) enough, from, in, since, (much as is) sufficient(-ly), too much, very, when.

This double-word  מִדֵּי is in the NKJV translated to mean "from," ignoring the second part of the word. But the full double word could be well translated "from as often as." In short, the biblical Hebrew is unclear, as it often is. There is no definitive "literal translation" here.

Now, verse 17 has "And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem..." "Of the families," to me, seems to clarify the meaning: representatives of the nations, not the whole nations themselves = every single soul in every single year.  Because, as I pointed out earlier, that would seem to be a ludicrous statement. Some of the representatives come every single year; others do not = "as often as."

[missmuffet]

Just now, WilliamL said:

Ah, but literal to one is not always the same translation as the literal to another. Case in point:

"shall go up from year to year" : "from": Hebrew מִדֵּי.   The  מִ is a preposition that means "from, out of." But what does דַּי mean?

דַּי: KJV Translation Count — Total: 38x

The KJV translates Strong's H1767 in the following manner: enough (6x), sufficient (5x), from (5x), when (3x), since (3x), able (3x), miscellaneous (13x).

Outline of Biblical Usage:

sufficiency, enough

enough

for, according to the abundance of, out of the abundance of, as often as

Strong’s Definitions [?](Strong’s Definitions Legend)

דַּי day, dahee; of uncertain derivation; enough (as noun or adverb), used chiefly with preposition in phrases:—able, according to, after (ability), among, as (oft as), (more than) enough, from, in, since, (much as is) sufficient(-ly), too much, very, when.

This double-word  מִדֵּי is in the NKJV translated to mean "from," ignoring the second part of the word. But the full double word could be well translated "from as often as." In short, the biblical Hebrew is unclear, as it often is. There is no definitive "literal translation" here.

Now, verse 17 has "And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem..." "Of the families," to me, seems to clarify the meaning: representatives of the nations, not the whole nations themselves = every single soul in every single year.  Because, as I pointed out earlier, that would seem to be a ludicrous statement. Some of the representatives come every single year; others do not = "as often as."

Literal is literal. There is no other interpretation. Man can not give the Word of God his own meaning and interpretation. 

[WilliamL]

26 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

Literal is literal. There is no other interpretation. Man can not give the Word of God his own meaning and interpretation. 

Try translating OT passages from Hebrew into English, and see how well YOU fare.

I have an Hebrew-English Tanakh, published by the Jewish Publication Society: top scholars of Hebrew. On at least every second or third page, in the footnotes at the bottom, there are one or more references to the cited verses that say, "Meaning of Hebrew uncertain."

But since you are so sure that "literal is literal, which version of the Bible will you attest to being perfectly literal??