ISIS a Reenactment of Biblical War Between Israel and the Amalekites, Military Analysts Say
Some military analysts have suggested that the war against the Islamic State terror group, particularly in its attacks on Egypt, is a reenactment of an ancient biblical confrontation between Israel and the Amalekites.
"Exodus tells of the legendary battle between Amalek, the ancestral enemy of the Jewish people, and the Israelites, which took place at a site called Rephidim, located in the Egyptian desert," Breaking Israel News reported in an article on Thursday.
"Two thousand years later, a new battle against Israel's enemies is being staged in exactly the same place: an Egyptian airfield in Bir Gafgafa, which is located precisely on the biblical site of Rephidim in the Sinai Peninsula."
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BIN credited the observations to Giora Shamis, editor of the Israeli military intelligence website Debka Files, who noted that on this particular issue, Egypt is an ally of Israel in the battle against the Islamic State.
Coptic Christians have suffered greatly in a number of violent IS attacks in Egypt in recent times, including in twin Palm Sunday bombings in Alexandria and Tanta, which killed 45 Christians, and forced churches to mark a somber Easter.
Shamis told BIN that the Bible provides a strong source of commentary about the large-scale war IS is engaged in today.
"I am not religious, but the correlation between ISIS and Amalek is clear and should be taken into account when considering modern events," Shamis said.
"What happened thousands of years ago is simply being played out again, a continuation of what already happened there historically."
Shai Ben Tekoa, former head broadcaster for Arutz Sheva, also suggested that ISIS is an "incarnation" of the Amalekites, who in the Bible are presented as enemies of the Jewish people.
"Like Amalek, they seek out gratuitous cruelty," Ben Tekoa said, referring to IS' beheadings, mass rape, slavery and torture of Christians and other minorities across the Middle East.
"The Bible is true, and its timeless brilliance is the best source for understanding the world today," he added.
Some megachurch leaders in the United States, such as Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries, have also suggested that IS is part of biblical prophecy.
Laurie said in December 2014 in his message "Israel, Iran, ISIS in Bible Prophecy," that the Gospel teaches that in the last days, world conflicts will get from bad to worse.
"The last day's events can be likened as I've said before to a lot of dominos stacked together ... so it's like a lot of dominos closely stacked together. There's a chain of events that are going to unfold in rapid succession beginning with the emergence of the antichrist and ending with the battle of Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ and once that first domino falls these things are going to happen like this," Laurie said at the time, positioning that IS and other terror groups are playing a part in that chain of events.
Others, such as Dr. Charles Dyer and Pastor Mark Tobey, authors of The ISIS Crisis: What You Really Need to Know, have suggested that even if IS isn't directly found in biblical prophecy, it is leading up to other factors that will bring about the End Times.
"ISIS might not survive, but later a far more powerful, and deadly, coalition will eclipse it. The prophet Ezekiel describes a time when that coalition will launch an attack against Israel. Another army will someday surge across the Middle East," the authors said, according to Charisma News in January 2015.
"They won't be carrying the black flags of ISIS, but their intent will be just as evil and destructive."
