I wrote the following after seeing an article in the inter-net by the Prophecy Club. See the article at the bottom.. I suppose when threatened with extinction even the Moslems can face the truth. Apparently the Saudis fear Iran more than they hate Israel.
There are two Shebas and Dedans in the Bible which can be confusing. The first are in Genesis 10:6 and 7, great grandsons of Ham. One of the sons of Ham was Mizr which is the Arabic name for Egypt. In II Chronicles 9 we find a descendant
of Ham and of Sheba. She js the queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon. In Matthew 12:42 Jesus said that she was from the south. From this we can gather that much of the family went to Africa. We can here dispense with this Sheba and Dedan.
The other two (Sheba and Dedan) were grandsons of Abraham (Genesis 25:I-3).
To get the complete picture we need to begin in Genesis 16 where we see the first mention of Ishmael and the story of his mother Hagar. In verse 12 we see that Ishmael “shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren”. In Genesis 21:14 –21 is the story of Ishmael being sent away. Verse 21 tells us that he went to Paran. It is universally agreed that Ishmael is the father of the Arabs.
Now to establish the location of Paran. If you will look at any map it shows Paran to be in the Sinai desert. For this we have Biblical proof:
Amalek was a grandson of Esau=Genesis 36:10-12. He lived in Paran or Sinai. Amalek fought with Israel in Sinai or Paran=Genesis17:8. Again see Genesis 21:21. israel went SE (into Sinai) not NW, the shorter route; Exodus 13:17 and 18.
Sinai in time past was part of Arabia=Galatians 4:25.
Now a couple more things before I move on. In Genesis 1:12 we saw that Ishmael would dwell in the presence of all his brothers. Who were his brothers? Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died. Abraham had six sons with her. They would be Ishmael’s half brothers among whom he would dwell. Notice Genesis 25:17 and 18 where we see confirmed the prophecy of Genesis 16:12. It is also confirmed in Genesis 25:6. Abraham sent his sons to the East and they went to their brother Ishmael. In the verses already quoted, one of the brothers of Ishmael was Midian.
Now here I need to mention something about directions as far as Israel is concerned. For example although Babylon was east of Israel it wfrom. To the east was the desert which their armies could not cross, being on horses. This same thinking held in the case of as always spoken of as coming from the north. To the Israelite the direction had to do with where the armies came the desert although it was really more SE and south. To Israel (and of course to Abraham) the desert was east. More on that later.
In Genesis 37 we see the story of Joseph being sold into slavery. In verse 25 we read that the brothers see the Ishmaelites coming. Then they sell him to the Midianites. Remember Midian was a brother of Ishmael (Genesis 25:1and 2. From a ways off the brothers could see that they were of the tribe of Ishmael but as they came nearer they would see them to be of the family of Midian. Here again we see the fulfillment of Genesis 16:12.
The next passage to look at is Judges 6-8: the story of Gideon and the Midianites. There were not only Midianites but also the Amalekites=6:3. Remember that Amalek was a grandson of Esau. The descendants of Esau were Edomites which was right on the border of Arabia and I think absorbed into Arabia; Jeremiah 25:20-24. Uz was the land of which Edom was a part (Job 1:25 and Lamentations 4:21).
There is a bit more in Jeremiah 25:20-25. In verse 20 we read of the land of Uz, in 21 Edom and in 23 Dedan, one of the cities in Edom. In 24 there is the mention of Arabia with “all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert”.
Back to Judges. The Midianites were from the east and they had camels, a desert creature. When the Babylonians or Assyrians came they rode on horses. In 8:24 we again see the connection between Ishmael and Midian.
Now to Ezekiel 38. In verse 5 the first country named is Persia. In verse 8 are the details regarding Israel in the last days upon their return to the land of Israel:
Brought back from the sword=Israel became a nation in 1948, just three years after the holocaust.
In verse 8 we are also told it will happen in the latter years, they return to the mountains of Israel, they will have returned from many people (102 nations at this date), a land always waste (when Mark Twain was in Israel over a century ago, he saw nothing but waste land and a few wanderers), and thy will dwell safely and after living in places like Russia or the Arab lands they are now a free people.
It is certainly interesting that just now, at this time in history Israel should be threatened by Persia and join hands with Saudi Arabia. Speak of strange bedfellows. In verse 13 there are Sheba and Dedan working in hand with “Tarshish with all the young lions”. Which nation has the symbol of the lion? England. So who are the young lions? America, Canada and Australia. We need Saudi’s oil and with the world-wide recession they need us as a costumer. Is this the prey in verse 12? In Ezekiel’s day the area which was then Sheba and Dedan is now Saudi Arabia. From all we have seen in Scripture we know for a certainty that the descendants of Sheba and Dedan are in Saudi Arabia.
Let me quote from the article I mentioned:
Israel Air Force aircraft dropped off large quantities of military gear
at a Saudi Arabian military base last week in preparation for a
potential attack on Iran, a number of Iranian and Israeli news outlets
have reported.
The unconfirmed report, (note that it is unconfirmed. Nevertheless, the rest
of the article still stands) first published by the semi-official
news Agency Fars and the Islam Times, claimed that on June 18 and 19,
Israeli helicopters unloaded military equipment and built a base just
over five miles outside the northwestern city of Tabuk, the closest
Saudi city to Israel.
The claim follows a report two weeks ago in the London Times
Magazine that Saudi Arabia had given Israel permission to fly
through a narrow corridor of air space in northern Saudi Arabia
so as to shorten the flight time required for Israeli jets to reach Iran.