Grow Barefoot: Covenanted Against God

Psalm 83:5-8

⁵For they have conspired with one mind;
they form an alliance against You—

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸Even Assyria has joined them;
they lend support to the sons of Lot.

Selah

Review

Day One, Verses 1-4: The enemies of God are an arrogant group who come together in intimacy and familiarity to bring about the destruction of God’s people. God may seem silent during this onslaught but that is only because He spoke in the past. His promises to Israel remain firm; the arrogance of man will not destroy the word of God… Read more here.

Covenant against God

Covenants are the foundation of God’s promises with humanity. God made several covenants throughout the Old Testament. This is a simplified list but it gives you an idea of the blessings of God’s covenants.

Consistent with their arrogance, this group chooses not to covenant with God. After all, the New Covenant is available for all. They choose to covenant against God. I’ll just warn you now – this is not a good choice in the end.

So, who is this group so arrogantly aligned together to cut covenant against God? Is this more than a random list of hard names that scares us if we have to read it out loud in a Bible study class? Absolutely it is. This list is far from random; they are a precise list of peoples that will align together against Israel sometime in the future. Perhaps the not-so-distant future.

Who Were They Then?

This alliance is primarily the descendants of three different men – Lot, Ishmael, and Esau. All three of these men have something in common – they all separated from Abraham or Abraham’s descendants.

While Abraham was still Abram, he and Lot went separate ways when their flocks and possessions grew too large to share the same land (Genesis 13). Lot settled to the east of Abram. In this list, his descendants occupied the areas of Moab and Ammon.

Abraham ß split à Lot

Ishmael was Abraham’s son through his wife’s servant, Hagar. After the birth of Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac, Sarah had Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. Needless to say, family dysfunction is nothing new. His descendants include the Ishmaelites and the Hagrites.

Isaac ß split à Ishmael

Esau was the twin brother of Jacob; they were the sons of Isaac. Esau was the oldest but through greed and trickery his birthright went to Jacob instead. Again, lots of family dysfunction. They later reconciled somewhat but settled in different areas. Esau’s descendents included Edom, Gebal and Amalek.

Jacob ß split à Esau

The remaining three groups are Philistia, Tyre, and Assyria. They are of different ancestry but they do have one thing in common with the descendants of Ishmael, Esau, and Lot. They all separate from God’s chosen people – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Covenanted against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not a good place to be. God said to Abraham,

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

Who Are They Now?

Today, these groups are popular in world news headlines. They include Lebanon and Syria to the north of Israel along with the group Hezbollah. They include the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank along with Hamas. Finally, to the south and southeast, this list includes Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In short, this alliance forms a tight ring around the tiny nation of Israel.