Isaiah 41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Let's look a couple verses before:
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
"All they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed"? So I guess the Greeks and Romans were ashamed - ashamed that they beat the heck out of Israel after this prophecy was made. Maybe they were ashamed by how easily they beat them. Even the bizarre Christian rationalization that this somehow means that the nations ceased to exist makes no sense. Christians will actually say that Rome, Greece, Persia and Babylon stopped existing after they attacked Israel. Well every empire has a life expectancy but the civilizations are all still alive. (Italy, Greece, Iran and Iraq.) They are not the same nations that they were 2500 years ago but neither is Israel!
Verdict: "Duh Prophecy" gushing reassurances, failed prophecy and no details!
Amos 9:11, 13 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
Let's look back just one verse: "Amos 9:10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us." This is just one verse before the prophecy and yet I have no clue how a Christian can claim that this part of the prophecy was fulfilled.
Verdict: Another "Duh Prophecy", reassurances and no real details packaged with a failed prophecy.
Exekiel 36:11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
This "prophecy" which is the diametric opposite of Deuteronomy 28 promises another utopian Israel. The whole chapter simply sounds like a pile of idyllic reassurances, the sort of thing you tell someone who's just experienced a calamity. There are no details, no time table and no new borders mentioned. There is nothing here that someone wouldn't say to the people of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Verdict "Duh Prophecy", just a pile of reassurances with no details or time table.
Isaiah 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry and springs of water. 19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: 20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Verdict: "Duh Prophecy" reassurances along with a prophecy that fails to happen.
Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit
If this is literal than if fails because israel is hardly the world's fruit breadbasket. If it's figurative than it is impossible to measure. The prophecy is thoroughly worthless. Now, when does this prophecy occur? According to Isaiah 27:1 this occurs after Jehovah slays the great sea-serpent, Leviathan. Leviathan is a mythological, Hebrew sea dragon who will one day be slain by Jehovah and his meat will be fed to the faithful. This hasn't happened yet so the prophecy in Isaiah 27 should still be considered a future event.
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Extra-Canonical Information on Leviathan
2 Esdras 6:49 "Then you kept in existence two living creatures;l the one you called Behemothm and the name of the other Leviathan. 50And you separated one from the other, for the seventh part where the water had been gathered together could not hold them both. 51And you gave Behemothn one of the parts that had been dried up on the third day, to live in it, where there are a thousand mountains; 52but to Leviathan you gave the seventh part, the watery part; and you have kept them to be eaten by whom you wish, and when you wish.
1 Enoch 60:7-8 'And that day will two monsters be parted, one monster, a female named Leviathan in order to dwell in the abyss of the ocean over the fountains of water; and (the other), a male called Behemoth, which holds his chest in an invisible desert whose name is Dundayin, east of the garden of Eden.'
The Rabbinical tradition has somewhat alleviated the fear of Behemoth by prophesying an end for the beast. He is described as the deadly enemy of Leviathan, and on the Day of Judgement, 'Behemoth will slay, and be slain by a gigantic whale.
There is another religious hymn recited on the festival of Shauvot (celebrating the giving of the Torah), known as Akdamut, wherein it says: "...The sport with the Leviathan and the ox [Behemoth]...When they will interlock with one another and engage in combat, with his horns the Behemoth will gore with strength, the fish [Leviathan] will leap to meet him with his fins, with power. Their Creator will approach them with his mighty sword [and slay them both]." Thus, "from the beautiful skin of the Leviathan, God will construct canopies to shelter the righteous, who will eat the meat of the Behemoth [ox] and the Leviathan amid great joy and merriment, at a huge banquit that will be given for them." Some rabbinical commentators say these accounts are allegorical. (Artscroll siddur, p. 719).
Verdict: "Grand DUH". The prophecy can mean anything and is prefaced by a failed or future prophecy.
Micah 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Well that sounds about right - problem is, this prophecy FRAGMENT is pulled out of a much larger prophecy that is certainly unfulfilled. You can't just cherry pick verses that fit the present out of a prophecy that, for the most part, is unfulfilled. Let's read some more of the prophecy:
Micah 4:3 And he (God) shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Maybe the nations are beating their swords into plowshares because Scud Missiles are more effective. No really, this part of the prophecy certainly hasn't happened so the entire prophecy needs to be set aside as either a future or failed prophecy.
Verdict: Prophecy Fragment - (Selective Prophecy); just one part of a large prophecy that for the most part fails.
Ezekiel 29:15 "It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations.
I am absolutely shocked that the author has included this verse since Ezekiel 29 is famous for being a failed prophecy.
"Ezekial 29:10-12 prophesied a victory by Nebuchadnezzar against the Egyptians. In 568 BCE Nebuchadrezzar tried to conquer Egypt and Egypt survived with no apparent damage. Aahmes ruled for another generation over a prosperous Egypt and lived to see Nebuchadrezzar die. No Egyptians were scattered or dispersed." From Infidels.org. Now let's read this failed prophecy.
Ezekiel 29:9 "The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, 'The Nile is mine, and I have made {it,}' 10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol {to} Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia.
The land of Egypt was not made desolate. This is a failed prophecy.
Ezekiel 29:11 "A man's foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.
Egypt has never been uninhabited. This is a failed prophecy.
Ezekiel 29:12 "So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands." 13 'For thus says the Lord GOD, "At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14 "I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom.
Never happened. Failed prophecy. Ezekiel 29:15 "It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations.
On his site the author has conveniently substituted ... for "It will be the lowest of the kingdoms" - because I think it can be successfully argued that Egypt is doing a lot better than Assyria and suffering a lot less problems than Babylon (Iraq) and Persia (Iran). Isn't it funny that in order to prove prophetic fulfillment, a Christian will actually cherry-pick part of a verse out of a chapter-long prophecy fails miserably?
Verdict: Prophecy Fragment - (Selective Prophecy); just one part of a large prophecy that for the most part fails.
Zechariah 8:7 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; 8 and I will bring them {back} and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.' .
We're here again?!?! Come on, how many feel-good, reassurance prophecies about the re-establishment of Israel do we have to muddle through? The Israelis were desperate for the re-establishment of Israel so, of course their prophets would be reassuring them of this inevitablity. Of course, Israel would re-establish Israel! Prophesying that New Orleans would be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina makes no one a real prophet when it is rebuilt. Now, let's look at the beginning of this prophecy:
Zechariah 8:3 3 "Thus says the LORD, 'I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts {will be called} the Holy Mountain.'
Oh, Jehovah moved into Jerusalem recently? Funny, I didn't see the heavenly moving vans. Doesn't this mean that Christianity is wrong? I certainly wouldn't be moving back in with the people who killed my kid. Shouldn't Jehovah be moving into Rome or Utah or Canterbury or Georgia or something? Well if Jehovah is currently "dwelling in the midst of Jerusalem" then maybe he could take a little time out and actually talk to the three major religions thereby set everything straight. That would sure save a lot of lives, wouldn't it? Does anyone call Jerusalem the "City of Truth"? I think "Keep-your-head-down-and-carry-a-pistol" would be a better title.
Verdict: Duh Prophecy - just some reassurances with no details, timetable or border changes.
Isaiah 51:3 Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.
Didn't we cover this... I mean like #14 above! Let's reiterate... the scripture does not say that Israel will use advanced irrigation techniques created by infidel scientists; it says that GOD, THE LORD, will make the deserts like Eden. Jehovah had no more to do with the irrigation systems of Israel than he had to do with hospitals or universities! A determined culture made it back to their homeland and irrigated it - that's ALL!
BAKKE COMMENTS:
I don't think that this one even qualifies as a "Duh". If we remember
what Eden was supposed to be like, it's extremely clear that Israel is
certainly nothing comparable to a lush, green, and peaceful "paradise"
where both Man and beast roam freely without fear. According to the
CIA World Fact Book, only 16.39% of Israel consists of arable land
with an additional 4.17% being permanent crop land. This means that
almost 80% of modern-day Israel is mountains, desert or other
decidedly non-Eden territory.
Verdict: "Duh Prophecy" a generic reassurance that doesn't come to pass - Jehovah did nothing.
Isaiah 43:5 "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. 6 "I will say to the north, 'Give {them} up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold {them} back.' Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
I am so sick of reading "Israel is re-established" prophecies!!! How many more are we going to pile onto the heap? The re-establishment of Israel along with the return of the Isrealis to their homeland is a common theme among feel-good, reassurance prophecies! If you want to impress a skeptic show me something specific and detailed not more generic, happiness predictions! Okay - gee if a determined culture manages to re-establish their homeland - do you think that maybe they'll repopulate it... DUH!
Now let's read a couple verses back in this magical prophecy!
Isaiah 43:3 "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. 4 "Since you are precious in My sight, {Since} you are honored and I love you, I will give {other} men in your place and {other} peoples in exchange for your life.
What?!?! How is Egypt given up as a ransom along with Cush and Seba (African countries)? If I remember correctly it was six million Jews who were massacred just prior to the establishment of Israel - not Egyptians, Cushites or Sebans! Anyway - the chapter is just a big pile of gushing, orgasmic fantasy with tons of symbolism and absolutely no details! Stuff like this... " 20 The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people.
Verdict: "Duh Prophecy". If a determined culture is going to re-establish their country than they're going to repopulate it... DUH!