I saw that. It is certainly some part of the quid pro quo going on.
Israel needs the US to help them cross the finish line I think. Netanyahu is aware he needs help. My definition of the "finish line" is dealing with the inner ring of enemies or as Bill Salus puts it the Psalm 83 crowd. As opposed to the upcoming Ezek 38 crowd.
Because whenever, however, Israel "recovers from war" by the time of Ezek 38 they are on the mountains of Israel, living in safety. I've included that passage, and bolded bits for emphasis.
We are certainly seeing them struggling in a war- whether that is THE war that Ezek refers to in Ezek 38:8 won't be known till Ezek 38 happens. There could be more wars, fought piece meal or all at once.
Either way, at some point they are recovered from war, dwelling in peace, without bars or gates and walls, on the area we know as the "west bank".
Looking at the current geopolitical landscape that cannot happen without the USA support, and right now that means Trump. Yes of course God can do it with or without Trump. But God uses human leaders with all their faults and failings.
I think God has given wisdom to Bibi to speak well of Trump, just as the ancient High Priest and his entourage did when Alexander the Great roared thru the Middle East.
They greeted Alexander with flattering words AND the passage of Daniel that dealt with the Greek Empire. Alexander had seen the High Priest and his entourage in a dream, and knew that these were sent by God. But if they hadn't treated Alexander well, the way Alexander expected to be treated - it might not have gone as well.
Alexander spared Israel and the recently rebuilt Second Temple (that Herod would later add to, and that Jesus walked in) as a result. Of course God could have dealt with Alexander harshly if he'd been foolish enough to harm Israel or the Temple, but those priests acted with wisdom and appropriate obeisance towards a king.
Trump IS a king whether or not we call him that today. Yes he has a term limit, but make no mistake, he is ruling. He rules what is currently the most powerful nation in the world and he uses that power to advance his agenda.
And God is USING Trump! Just like Alexander the Great, and Cyrus.
Netanyahu knows his history, and his section of the Bible. He and others in Israel like to look at Trump as a second Cyrus. Another ruler who benefited Israel. And Cyrus was the one under whom the Second Temple was rebuilt! Trump being likened to Cyrus is not inappropriate. Especially as we see preparations for the next Temple to be built.
Netanyahu is treating Trump like a king. Bringing honours and obeisance. This fits with history, it fits with prophecy and I think we are seeing something possibly very significant.
I think this is significant by the peace and safety aspect that is intruding here. The Nobel prize is for Peace.
And I've recently noticed a connection (might be all in my head, your mileage may vary) between this passage in Ezek 38 and 1 Thess 5:3
Ezek 38:7-14 NIV
7 “‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them.
8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.
13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’
14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it?
I find it interesting that Ezek is talking of a land recovered (past tense) from war.
Living in peace and safety or security. That repetition of peace and security/safety 3 times for sure, a fourth if you include the description of Israel as a land of unwalled villages.
This is also a false sense of peace, as we see by the fact that NO NATION comes to Israel's aid. NONE. The Sheba and Dedan crowd (Abraham Accords bunch perhaps) and Tarshish and her cubs are merely concerned with Gog's motivation- theft. Which suggests they have a vital trade agreement they are concerned about perhaps. Which again brings to mind some of the factors that Trump is known for lately.
THIS ECHOES 1 Thess 5: 1-3 NIV
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
It is my belief that all prophecy centres around God's dealing with Israel in some way. Where the church enters in we are that mystery that the prophets didn't see, the brackets around the Church Age, the interval between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel.
Even though Paul is talking to the Church in 1 Thess 5:1-3 about the timing of the Rapture he introduces this odd element- When they shall say Peace and Security or Safety. Who? If it's the UN or the other nations, they say it so often it's meaningless. A sign that is so common is not a sign. It has to be attached to something significant to make it a sign. Otherwise it's been a sign since the fall, a longing for peace and safety.
I suggest that if we are looking at this as a sign, it should have something to do with ISRAEL.
And I think the USA is necessary to get her over the finish line, to dwell in that peace and safety. On the Mountains of Israel (Judea and Samaria aka the West Bank).
A Nobel Peace Prize may be part of that package.
And if so it would be fully appropriate that it would be part of how Israel gets there.
