Which Comes First, Isaiah 17 Or Ezekiel 38?

Q

I just read your Dec. 9 commentary update of the Annapolis Conference, and I am trying to put things in proper order, like a prophecy jigsaw puzzle if you will. Should not Isaiah 17 on the prophecy about Damascus be fulfilled before the war mentioned in Ezekiel38?

When will Israel be living in peace, as mentioned in Ezekiel 38, after the prophecy about Damascus or before? Or, will the destruction of Damascus and the Ezekiel war occur one after the other? Any thought of how the scenario will come to play?

A

Since no clear pre-conditions are given to help us determine the timing of Isaiah 17, we’re left to guess. Recently it has looked like Isaiah 17 would happen first, and Syria is not mentioned as part of the Moslem coalition in Ezekiel 38 giving support to that view.

But since the US has concluded that there’s no imminent threat from Iran, the Moslem world has been calling for unity. To that end Iran and Saudi Arabia seem be friends again, Egypt has reopened diplomatic relations with Iran, Hamas and Fatah have been advised to settle their differences, and they’ve all been trying to make friends with Syria. There’s a big realignment going on and we’ll have to wait a bit to see how it all shakes out.

The sad thing is that almost everyone believes that the US about face indicates a willingness to trade nukes in Iran for peace in Iraq. None of this is good for Israel, but that’s the way it has to go. As I see it, the US has to abandon Israel and lay off Iran to permit Ezekiel 38 to happen soon, and that appears to be what’s happening.