It is written:
Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ “. (Ezekiel 38:13)
Throughout Ezekiel 38-39, we read of some nations that are apparently hesitant to enter into the conflict between Gog and Israel. Let’s look at each of them. The first ones mentioned are “Sheba” and “Dedan,” or “Dan.” These are identified further in Scripture:
1 Chronicles 1:32-Now the sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine, were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan were Sheba and Dedan.
These seem to encompass the peoples of Saudi Arabia:
“Sheba and Dedan are ancient cities on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Midian fathered the Midianites. Josephus connects Nebaioth with the Nabataeans….“The Arab peoples mainly occupy the countries of Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.” (Ken Johnson, Ancient Post-Flood History by Ken Johnson, 3883-3906 (Kindle Edition)
Then, we read of “Tarshish and her merchants, and her young lions.”
What does this mean?
Actually, there is some evidence that this may reference America!
Tarshish itself was a city located in Spain, which was far to the west from Israel.
Hitchcock explains:
“The specific nations that question Gogs actions are identified as “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish.” Sheba and Dedan are not difficult to identify. These are the ancient names for the land we know today as Saudi Arabia. Tarshish, on the other hand, is not so simple to identify. But the majority of scholars believe that Tarshish is ancient Tartessus in the present-day nation of Spain. Both Brown-Driver-Briggs and the Hebrew scholar Gesenius support this view. Tarshish was a wealthy, flourishing colony of the Phoenicians. It exported silver, iron, tin, and lead (see Jeremiah 10: 9; Ezekiel 27: 12, 25)….Where was Tarshish in Ezekiel’s day? It was at the extreme west of the known world, in Spain. When God commanded Jonah to go preach to Nineveh (about five hundred miles northeast of Israel), Jonah headed to Tarshish instead—about as far in the other direction as he could go (see Jonah 1: 1-3). Tarshish is associated in Scripture with the West: “The western kings of Tarshish and the islands will bring him tribute” (Psalm 72: 10, NLT)….The young lions of Tarshish could be a reference to the colonies that emerged from Europe—including the United States. If this is true, then the young lions of Tarshish could be the United States in the last days. If so, she will join with her European and Saudi allies to lodge a formal protest against the Russian-Islamic aggressors.” (Mark Hitchcock, Is America In Bible Prophecy, (395-404 (Kindle Edition); Multinomah Books)
Archaeological excavations make a connection between Tarshish and America:
“That ancient Old World Semitic civilizations built a large temple observatory complex in ancient America indicates that they were colonizing, not merely exploring, ancient America. Radiocarbon dating tests showing this facility was in use during the 2nd millennium B.C. confirms that this Semitic colony was present in North America at the time King David was importing prodigious amounts of copper ore for the building of God’s Temple. The presence of a large Semitic settlement in North America during King David’s reign confirms the likelihood that King David’s Israel (with its huge copper smelting facility at Ezion-geber) was the consignee for the many millions of pounds of copper ores which “vanished” from the ancient Lake Superior copper mines. The ships of Tarshish (referred to in Ezekiel 27: 25 and Jonah 1: 3) were also regular callers in the New World, and inscriptions and tablets of their involvement in colonizing ancient America was preserved in Rhode Island, Ohio, and West Virginia. 21…Fell notes that the Tartessian inscriptions in ancient America are a “dialectal variant of Phoenician,” 22 confirming that these early American visitors were also Semites from the Mediterranean area.” (Steven M. Collins, The ‘Lost” Ten Tribes Of Israel…Found!, 1012-1021 (Kindle Edition); Boring, Oregon; CPA Books)
Therefore, some believe that these “hesitant” nations primarily refer to Saudi Arabia, America, Spain, and England.
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