Jerusalem

History

Destruction at the time of the Chaldees

Edom

In the 6th century BC the Edomites had made league with the Babylonians and then assisted them in the destruction of Jerusalem. Speaking of this very thing is Psalm 137:7, which exclaims:

“Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.”

Likewise, from the Septuagint, from 1 Esdras 4:45 we read:

“Thou also hast vowed to build up the temple, which the Edomites burned when Judea was made desolate by the Chaldees.”

After the deportations of the last of Judah by the Babylonians, it is evident that those same Edomites moved into the land. A century or so later, Persian inscriptions place much of the province of Idumaea in the land of Israel. Ezekiel chapters 35 and 36 discuss the Edomite takeover of lands formerly belonging to Israel and Judah.

Power of the Dog

Matthew 7:15 Keep away from the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are rapacious wolves. 16 You shall know them from their fruits. Does anyone gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? 17 Thusly every good tree produces fine fruit, but the rotten tree produces evil fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, nor is a rotten tree to produce fine fruit. 19 Each tree not producing fine fruit is cut down and cast into the fire! 20 Indeed from their fruits you shall know them.

Wolves, foxes, dogs, they are all of the biological family named Canidae. Out of these, wolves and dogs are called Canini, and foxes are called Vulpini. Dingos, jackals, coyotes and hyenas are also of this family. They are all Canines, and to the ancients they were all basically dogs. Herod was called a fox by Christ. The Canaanite woman was called a dog. Psalm 22 prophesied that Christ was to be killed by the “power of the dog”, which referred to the Edomites in control in Jerusalem. By all of this, we know who the wolves are. Paul warned in Acts chapter 20, that after his departure “oppressive wolves shall come in ... not being sparing of the sheep”, and then he contrasted these to the false teachers who would arise among the people themselves. So we see that while not all false teachers are wolves, we certainly must be aware of and defend against the wolves first. Christ is warning us to do this, and we have no commission to be complacent regarding these wolves! We must spot and eject them – or at least sound the alarm - it is our duty!