Isaiah 17:5
5 And it shall be as when the harvestman [qatsiyr] gathereth ['acaph] the corn
[qamah], and reapeth [qatsar] the ears [shibbol] with his
arm [zarowa`]; and it shall be as he that
gathereth [laqat] ears [shibbol] in the valley [`emeq] of
Rephaim [rapha']. KJV-Interlinear
5 It will be even like the reaper
gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like
one gleaning ears of grain In the valley of Rephaim. NASB
This verse describes a
great harvest of people, not grain.
Using the symbolism of harvesting crops, combined with the word for
giants, ‘Rephaim,’ Isaiah describes the worst of the worst periods of time in
all of Jewish history.
The next verse
describes those who will remain and why they will remain.
At harvest time, the
people walk through the fields and gather in the bulk of the grain from that
field and take it away from the field.
The reference to the
valley of the Rephaim, or valley of giants, has references in 2 Sam 5:18,22;
23:13; 1 Chron 11:15; 14:9.
These describe great
victories for David when he fought the Philistines and won a great battle. Two battles
in fact. Both identifying valleys to the
north, west and south of Jerusalem.
And so will be the
battle against the Jewish peoples, but this will not be a collection of
captives, but a great slaughter. One
greater than ever before recorded in history.
We have already studied
in Revelation, the warning given by John, when the temple is dedicated in the
middle of the Tribulation, and the abomination of abominations occurs, which is
to say that the anti-christ will declare himself as God, and John warns that,
that is the last sign to get out and get out right now.
Any who do not leave
the city or the country, or any who hesitate in leaving, will lose their
lives. And so it will be in those final
days of history, that there will be a great slaughter of the Jews.
With his arm, is a
phrase that describes a typical harvester who carries the corn in one arm as he
swings the harvesting scythe with the other, thus continuing the harvest.
The harvest of the Jews
will be easy and leisurely and systematic.
Shooting fish in a barrel as the saying goes. Which in fact, will be the most horrendous
and brutal applications of genocide ever in history.
