Is America In Bible Prophecy?
Dr. Thomas Ice
No one disputesthe fact that America has a unique history during which it became, andcontinues to be a preeminent feature in global affairs. The recent war in Iraq is but oneexample. In a quarter of amillennium it has become a nation unlike any other nation in the history of theworld. In some respects, it rivalsnations with much longer histories. Yet the Bible is remarkably silent when speaking about the role ofAmerica in Bible prophecy. Dr. TimLaHaye writes, "One of the hardest things for American prophecy studentsto accept is that the United States is not clearly mentioned in Bible prophecy,yet our nation is the only superpower in the world today."
Dr. LaHaye hasput his finger upon the source that likely generates the often ask question,"How does America fit into Bible prophecy?" Rarely, if ever, does anyone ask, "How does Mexico, orCanada, or Chile fit into Bible prophecy?" The United States has a strong Christian heritage and iscurrently the world's only superpower. Since many Christians believe that we are near the end of the age, it ishard to envision a prophetic scenario which excludes America-the world's mostinfluential nation. Yet, othernations are the focus of biblical prophecy.
America Will Be Included With The Nations
Thereare no specific references to the United States in Bible prophecy. However, there are biblical statementsabout what the nations in general will be doing during the tribulation period. Passages like Haggai 2:6-7, Isaiah66:18-20, and Zechariah 12:2-3 speak of all the nations involved in end-timeevents. These kinds of references clearly will includethe United States in their fulfillment, but they do not teach us anythingspecifically about America in prophecy.
Some have brought forth various biblical passagesfrom which they theorize that America is included in a more specific way. I will now address the merits of someof these suggestions.
Is AmericaReferenced in Ezekiel 38?
These twochapters refer to the Battle of Gog and Magog and speak of their invasion ofIsrael. Ezekiel says this willoccur "in the latter years" (38:8) and "in the last days" (38:16). The invasion involves a coalitionheaded by "Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal"(38:2). Magog has been identifiedas ancient terminology for the area including modern day Russia, The Ukraine,and Kazakhstan.[2] Ezekiel further identifies Magog ascoming from "the remote parts of the north" (38:6).
Gog will lead theinvasion of Israel, but Ezekiel 38:5,6 says that other nations will join withhim. Persia (Iran), Ethiopia orCush (Sudan), Put (Libya), Gomer and Beth-togarmah (Turkey).
I believe theinvasion will most likely take place before the tribulation officially begins,but after the rapture.[4] Such a view would help to explain avacuum on the world political scene at the beginning of the tribulations leftby the removal of the influence of Russia and her Muslim allies, and possiblyeven the United States due to the conflict. This would then prepare the way for the Revived Roman Empire(Western Europe) and the Antichrist to sign the covenant with Israel (Daniel9:2427).
Perhaps thestrongest case for America in Bible prophecy can be made from a statement foundin Ezekiel 38:13.
"Sheba, and Dedan, andthe merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company toseize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, tocapture great spoil?'" (Ezekiel 38:13)
Itis argued that "the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages," refers tothe colonies of Western Europe and the nations that have subsequently arisenfrom them. This would includeNorth America and the United States. Thus, the response to the invasion of Magog into Israel from Sheba andDedan and the merchants of Tarshish and its villages will be one ofnonintervention. They will simplysay, "Have you come to capture spoil?"
Who are Sheba andDedan? "Sheba and Dedan are notdifficult to identify. They arelocated in the modern country of Saudi Arabia."[5] Sheba and Dedan are said to be inalignment with "the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages."
The identity of"the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages," is the key phase for thosewho believe this to be a reference to America. What are the arguments for this interpretation?
First, merchantsof Tarshish refer to the Phoenician maritime and trading community located inSpain during the general time of King Solomon, 3,000 years ago. Second, the merchants of Tarshish,during the last 500 years, developed into the modern mercantile nations ofWestern Europe like Spain, Holland, and Britain. Third, the phrase "with all its villages" or the variantrendering "with all its young lions," would be a reference to itstrans-Atlantic colonies, which would include America. Thus, it is reasoned, because America is the most dominantof these Western nations, this must be a reference to America.
This view isstrongly espoused by Steuart McBirnie, who concluded:
In the light ofsuch conclusive scholarship, coming to light most significantly at this timewhen the nations indicated by Ezekiel to be involved in a great Middle Easternwar, we can now say with definite assurance that the merchants of Tarshish and"the young lions (colonies) thereof" must include the Western nations of Europeand the Americans, particularly the United States.[6]
David Allen Lewis agrees:
So the younglions of Tarshish would definitely refer to the North American colonies as wellas the European colonies, and hence bring the U. S. into this prophecy as oneof the nations that will strongly protest the Russian invasion of Israel in thelast days.[7]
How valid is suchan explanation of this passage? Wewill now examine the viability of the individual elements in this view and thenassess the overall interpretation.
TheMerchants of Tarshish
What does thephrase "the merchants of Tarshish" mean? Tarshish appears to be a wealthy trading community on the extremity ofthe Mediterranean world. "Tarshishis ancient Tartessus in the present-day nation of Spain. This view is supported by standardHebrew language reference books..[8] One work states:
We read often in theOT of "ships of Tarshish" which were large, oceangoing vessels (Ezk 27:25) thatcarried all sorts of precious cargo, especially metals such as silver and gold(I Kgs 10:22; 22:48; II Chr 9:21; Isa 60:9; Jer 10:9; Ezk 38:13) as well asiron, tin, and lead (Ezk 27:12).[9]
HarvardProfessor, Barry Fell, has done extensive study on these matters and theirrelation to activities in pre-Columbus America. Dr. Fell says:
From the Bible welearn that the ships of Tarshish were the largest seagoing vessels known to theSemitic world, and the name was eventually applied to any large ocean-goingvessel. . . . the ships of Tarshish became proverbial as an expression of seapower. . . .
it is not unlikely that the merchants ofTarshish may have been associated with the trans-Atlantic migration of theCelts who came to America. IndeedJames Whittall, with whom I have discussed the decipherment of Tartessianinscriptions here in America, thinks that the American Celts were deliberatelybrought here by Phoenicians, who wanted mining communities to exploit Americannatural resources, and with whom they could then trade. If this hypothesis is correct, thenTartessian vessels would surely have played a major role in the Celticmigration to New England.[10]
There does appearto be a significant basis to support the notion that the merchants of Tarshishare connected with the seafaring Phoenicians of 3,000 years ago. These merchants naturally establishedtrading posts scattered along their various routes. Dr. McBirnie may well be right when he concludes:
Only in the past half-dozenyears has much light been thrown on the historic location of ancientTarshish. Books and articles inlearned archaeological journals written before that time now seem to haverather limited value. In someinstances, they are more confusing than helpful, despite the prestige of theirauthors. The reasons for certaintyof identification are found in recent archaeological discoveries which confirmthat ancient authorities were right all along in their identification ofTarshish as a Western European colonizing power based in Spain.
WithAll Its Villages
The otherimportant phrase in this passage refers to the "villages" or "young lions" ofTarshish. First, is the Hebrewword kepire best translatedinto English as "villages" or "young lions?" There is no question that the Hebrew text favors a renderingof "young lions."[12] Some English translators wereapparently influenced by early Greek and Syriac translations of the Hebrewwhich support the reading of "villages." However, the original Hebrew is authoritative, not a translation,regardless of the age of other translations.
Young lions are oftenused as figures of energetic rulers. Such would most likely be the case if this translation were used in thistext. "Villages" would certainlymake sense in the geographical context of Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish. Either rendering would fit. Again, perhaps it would be best toremain with the MT [Hebrew Masoretic Text] (a somewhat harder rendering, thoughsensible).[13]
MarkHitchcock says, "Young lions are often used in the Scripture to refer toenergetic rulers. Therefore, theyoung lions who verbally oppose God's invasion are strong military andpolitical leaders who act with Tarshish."[14]
Although "younglions" is to be preferred, whether it is the villages that are protesting ortheir leaders-young lions-the point is the same. Dr. McBirnie summarizes the significance of thisinterpretation:
"Young lions" is, inthe Hebrew, "whelps" or "cubs"; obviously offspring or colonies. The "Merchants of Tarshish" weredefinitely colonizers. This is theplain and logical meaning of the phrase Ezekiel used.
After all, whatelse could he say if the mysterious vision was for a future time? He must perforce have used the termsand names of his own day. He probablydid not understand the full implication of what he wrote. But he surely would say that, longafter his time, a new confederacy of power would arise from the WesternAtlantic nations, whose armies, riches and power might also provide the meansof a future role in the reservation of Israel.[15]
Conclusion
I believe that ifAmerica is referenced in Bible prophecy, this passage is the best bet. However, this passage could include theentire Western Hemisphere. Thisdoes not mean that America will have become an insignificant nation during thetribulation. That may be true, butit also could be that she is somehow part of the Revived Roman Empire of theAntichrist, since our country originated as colony established by Europe. In spite of the apparent biblicalsilence on this subject, it does not mean that America's role in end-timeprophecy is not clear, for it is very clear. The United States will be included in the prophetic destinyof the Gentile nations. In themeantime, believers are to be about the work of preaching the gospel, living agodly life, and looking for the blessed hope and appearing of our Great God andSavior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Maranatha!
Endnotes
[1]Tim LaHaye, "Is the United States in Bible Prophecy?"National Liberty Journal, 26:2(February 1997), p. 16.
[2]Mark Hitchcock, After The Empire: Bible Prophecy in Light of the Fall ofthe Soviet Union (Wheaton, IL:Tyndale House Publishers 1994).
[3] Hitchcock, After The Empire, pp. 5586.
[4]Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of TheMessiah: A Study of the Sequenceof Prophetic Events (San Antonio,TX.: Ariel Press, 1982), pp.69-83.
[5]Hitchcock, After the Empire, p. 100.
[6]W. S. McBirnie, Antichrist (Dallas: Acclaimed Books, 1978), p. 89.
[7]David Allen Lewis, Prophecy 2000 (Green Forest, AR.: New Leaf Press, 1990), p. 103.
[8]See Francis Brown et al., eds., The NewBrown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-Lexicon of the Old Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, rev. ed,1977) p. 1076-77;Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius' Hebrew & Chaldee Lexicon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), p. 875; and Hitchcock, Afterthe Empire, pp. 100-101.
[9]R. Laird Harris, Gleason J. Archer, Jr., Bruce K.Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 Vols., (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), II:981.
[10]Barry Fell, America B. C., New York: Pocket Books, 1976, 1989), pp. 93-94.
[11]McBirnie, Antichrist p.62.
[12]Brown, New Hebrew-Lexicon, p. 498.
[13]Ralph H. Alexander, "Ezekiel" in TheExpositor's Bible Commentary, 12Vols., Frank E. Gaebelein, Gen. Ed., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), vol. 6, p. 933.
[14]Hitchcock, After the Empire, p. 101.
[15]McBirnie, Antichrist p.79.