Friends & Foes:
Israel's Enemies
Lv 26:32
I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein
will be astonished at it.
Dt 20:10-18
10 When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.
11 It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to you, then it shall
be, that all the people who are found therein shall become tributary to you, and
shall serve you.
12 If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then
you shall besiege it:
13 and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every
male of it with the edge of the sword:
14 but the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all that is in the
city, even all its spoil, you shall take for a prey to yourself; and you shall
eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you.
15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you,
which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an
inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;
17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the
Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God
has commanded you;
18 that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they
have done to their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God.
Jsh 23:1,4,7,12,13
1 It happened after many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their
enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,
4 Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an
inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have
cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.
7 that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you;
neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them,
neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;
12 “But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these
nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and
go in to them, and they to you;
13 know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these
nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you,
a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this
good land which Yahweh your God has given you.
2Kg 17:24-41
24 The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from
Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria
instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and lived in the
cities of it.
25 So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they
didn’t fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some
of them.
26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which
you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don’t know the
law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold,
they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests
whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach
them the law of the god of the land.”
28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived
in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.
29 However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of
the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in
which they lived.
30 The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth
made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites
burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of
Sepharvaim.
32 So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves priests of the
high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the manner of the
nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34 To this day they do what they did before: they don’t fear Yahweh, neither
do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or the law or the
commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
35 with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and commanded them, saying, “You
shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor
sacrifice to them;
36 but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with
great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him,
and you shall sacrifice to him.
37 The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he
wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore. You shall not fear other
gods.
38 You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall
you fear other gods.
39 But you shall fear Yahweh your God; and he will deliver you out of the hand
of all your enemies.”
40 However they did not listen, but they did what they did before.
41 So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved images. Their
children likewise, and their children’s children, as their fathers did, so
they do to this day.
Ps 83:2-8
2 For, behold, your enemies are stirred up.
Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
3 They conspire with cunning against your people.
They plot against your cherished ones.
4 “Come,” they say, “and let’s destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
5 For they have conspired together with one mind.
They form an alliance against you.
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab, and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also is joined with them.
They have helped the children of Lot.
Ps 106:34-38
34 They didn’t destroy the peoples,
as Yahweh commanded them,
35 but mixed themselves with the nations,
and learned their works.
36 They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38 They shed innocent blood,
even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted with blood.
Is 41:11-13
11 Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and
confounded.
Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall
perish.
12 You will seek them, and won’t find them,
even those who contend with you.
Those who war against you will be as nothing,
as a non-existent thing.
13 For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand,
saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid.
I will help you.’
Jr 12:14-17
14 Thus says Yahweh against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance
which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up
from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.
15 It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have
compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and
every man to his land.
16 It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to
swear by my name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught my people to swear by
Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and
destroying it, says Yahweh.
Ezk 28:24,26
24 There shall be no more a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting
thorn of any that are around them, that did despite to them; and they shall know
that I am the Lord Yahweh.
26 They shall dwell securely therein; yes, they shall build houses, and plant
vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments on all those
who do them despite all around them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh their
God.
Ezk 36:2-7
2 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the enemy has said against you, Aha! and,
The ancient high places are ours in possession;
3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because, even because
they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might
be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips
of talkers, and the evil report of the people;
4 therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus
says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and
to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken,
which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are
all around;
5 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I
spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have
appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their
heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains and
to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord Yahweh:
Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the
shame of the nations:
7 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I have sworn, saying, Surely the
nations that are around you, they shall bear their shame.
Ezk 38:1-8
1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince
of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh,
Meshech, and Tubal:
4 and I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you
forth, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full
armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;
5 Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6 Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of
the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.
7 Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are
assembled to you, and be a guard to them.
8 After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come
into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many
peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it
is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of
them.
Zc 12:2,6
2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding
peoples, and on Judah also will it be in the siege against Jerusalem.
6 In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood,
and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the
surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will
yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.
Zc 14:14
Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding
nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great
abundance.