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The People of the Prince that Shall Come: Who Are They?
by Rodrigo Silva
The Bible indicates that the
Antichrist will be of the people who destroyed the City
of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. In Daniel chapter
9 we read the following: ''24Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the most Holy.
25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the
Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two
weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
troublous times.
26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off,
but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end
thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war
desolations are determined.
27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and
in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he
shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that
determined shall be poured upon the desolate.'' (Daniel 9:27)
This is the famous prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. In this
prophecy the angel told Daniel that after 69 weeks of years (7
weeks + 62 weeks) the Messiah would be cut off. This was
fulfilled when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey exactly
173,880 days after March 14th, 445 BC when the commandment to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes in
Nehemiah 2. In the rest of verse 26 we read that the people of
the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Roman army under
general Titus Vespasian laid siege against Jerusalem destroying
the city and the Jewish Temple not leaving one stone upon
another as predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24:1-4. Many people
conclude that because the Romans fulfilled this prophecy, the
people of the prince (Antichrist) must be Europeans. Some even
say that he will be an Italian. Dr. Dave Reagan of Lamb and Lion Ministries writes:
''The Bible teaches that in the end times, right before the
return of Jesus, the greatest political leader in the history of
Mankind will emerge from Europe. . .It is much more
likely that he will rise out of the heartland of the old Roman
Empire and that he will be of Italian descent. This conclusion is based upon a statement in Daniel 9:26. In
that passage the Antichrist is referred to as "the prince who is
to come," and he is identified as being from the people who
"will destroy the city and the sanctuary." We know from history
that both Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple were destroyed by the
Romans in 70 A.D. Therefore, according to Daniel, the Antichrist
must be of Roman heritage.'' [1] Clearly Dr. Dave Reagan identifies the Antichrist as coming from
the heartland of the Roman empire (Rome) and that he will be of
Italian descent. This theory is not supported by the text
because Daniel says that the ''people'' not the government of
the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary. Although the Roman soldiers who participated in the
destruction of the temple were ''Roman citizens'' they were not
necessarily Europeans because the Roman legions that laid siege
against Jerusalem were stationed in the Middle East.
'' On 14 April 70, during Passover, Titus laid siege to
Jerusalem. To the northeast of the old city, on Mount Scopus,
the legions XII Fulminata (a new addition from Syria) and
XV Apollinaris shared a large camp; V Macedonica was camped at a
short distance. When X Fretensis arrived from Syria, it
occupied the Mount of Olives, in front of the Temple.'' [2] Two of the main legions that participated in the siege against
Jerusalem were legion XII Fulminata and legion X Fretensis and
both came from Syria. Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson write: ''For some reason, possibly due to the fact that the capital of
the Roman Empire was in Rome - and thus in Europe - many seem to
forget that the Roman Empire also included a vast portion of the
Middle East. Because most of the soldiers were recruited from
the provinces where their garrisons were located, the legions
that were stationed in the Middle East were also primarily Arab
and, most specifically, Syrian and Turkic'' [3] In writing about the destruction of the Temple, the historian
Tacitus states: ''Early in this year Titus Caesar, who had been selected by his
father to complete the subjugation of Judea . . He found in
Judea three legions, the 5th, the 10th, and the 15th, all old
troops of Vespasian' s. To these he added the 12th from Syria,
and some men belonging to the 18th and 3rd, whom had withdrawn
form Alexandria (Egypt). This force was accompanied by twenty
cohorts of allied troops and eight squadrons of cavalry, by the
two kings Agrippa and Sohemus, by the auxiliary forces of king
Antiochus, by a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews
with the usual hatred of neighbors, and lastly, by many persons
brought from the capital and form Italy by private hopes of
securing the yet unengaged affections of the Prince. With this
force Titus entered the enemy's territory, preserving strict
order on his march, reconnoitering every spot, and always ready
to give battle. At last encamped near Jerusalem.'' [4]
Josephus writes: ''Hereupon some of the deserters, having no other way, leaped
down from the wall immediately, while others of them went out of
the city with stones, as if they would fight them; but thereupon
they fled away to the Romans. But here a worse fate accompanied
these than what they had found within the city; and they met
with a quicker despatch from the too great abundance they had
among the Romans, than they could have done from the famine
among the Jews; for when they came first to the Romans, they
were puffed up by the famine, and swelled like men in a dropsy;
after which they all on the sudden overfilled those bodies that
were before empty, and so burst asunder, excepting such only as
were skillful enough to restrain their appetites, and by degrees
took in their food into bodies unaccustomed thereto. Yet did
another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for
there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain
person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the
excrements of the Jews' bellies; for the deserters used to
swallow such pieces of gold, as we told you before, when they
came out, and for these did the seditious search them all; for
there was a great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch that as
much was now sold [in the Roman camp] for twelve Attic [drams],
as was sold before for twenty-five. But when this contrivance
was discovered in one instance, the fame of it filled their
several camps, that the deserters came to them full of gold. So
the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up
those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor
does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more
terrible than this, since in one night's time about two thousand
of these deserters were thus dissected.'' [5] Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson write: ''Indeed, the majority of the ''Roman'' soldiers that destroyed
Jerusalem were Arabs, Syrians and Turks. When we look at
the four Roman legions that were under Titus during the siege
against Jerusalem, we see that they were from the Eastern
portion of the Empire and were primarily from Syria or eastern
Turkey. Below ate the four legions that were under Titus during
the Jewish Roman war and the location that history records for
heir garrisons: Legion 10 Fretensis: Turkey, Syria Legion 15 Apollinaris: Syria Legion 12 Fulminata: Melitene: Eastern Turkey, Syria Legion 5 Macedonica: Moesia: Serbia, Bulgaria These four legions were all involved in the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple. The legion, in particular, that went
through the wall breach and set fire to the Temple was known as
X Fretensis or the tenth legion. It was this particular legion
that actually pulled down the entire Temple and made the Temple
Mount its new base. It should be pointed out that each legion
was composed of several smaller ''cohorts.'' Below is a list of
the actual cohorts that comprised the tenth legion and where
they originally came from:
A. Thracum: Syria (Syrians) B. IV Cohort Thracia: Bulgaria and Turkey (Turks) C. Syria Ulpia Patraeorum: Petra in Edom (Nabatean Arabs) D. IV Cohort Arabia (Arabs) Again, these were a mixture of Syrians, Turks and Arabs.
While the people who destroyed the temple were indeed Roman
citizens, they were not primarily Europeans or Italians, but
rather the peoples that lived in Syria and Eastern Turkey
during the first century. This verse is concerned with the
heritage and lineage of the people as restricted by the text
''people of the Prince'' and not their allegiance to Rome. This
is why the text is written in this way. It insists in this
connection. Once again, the Bible has led us to the same region.
In context, the ''people of the prince'' are simply the people
of the Antichrist; the Hebrew ''Am'' for people is persons,
members of one' s people, compatriots, countrymen, kinsman and
kindred. (Strong's 5971)
Even if we take the meaning of ''Am'' as '' nation'', how will
the construct of this verse with such meaning be logical? ''The
nation of the Antichrist'' that is entirely futuristic. How can
someone conclude that the Antichrist is Roman with this
interpretation? It proves nothing, since the nation of the
Antichrist would not be know for such a construct. The only
logical construction for the context ''Am'' is the ''kindred''
of Antichrist - his ancestors, his kinsman. The Antichrist will be from among the people who still live in
the Middle East - those who destroyed the city and the sanctuary
in Titus' time. This is the natural way to read the text,
especially since connecting to the people with the prince is
widely accepted.'' [6] As we have seen, the people of the Antichrist are not Europeans,
but Middle Eastern. All historical accounts point mainly to the
Syrians as the people of the Antichrist. Josephus writes:
''The greatest part of the Roman garrison was raised out of
Syria; and being thus related to the Syrian part, they were
ready to assist it. [7] It should be pointed out that the
Syrians of the first century are not the Syrians of modern times
who are Arabs of the modern Syrian Arab Republic [8]
Etymology
The name Syria derives from the ancient Greek name for
Syrians, Σύριοι Syrioi, which the Greeks applied without
distinction to various Assyrian people. Modern
scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to the cognate
Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, ultimately derived from the Akkadian
Aššur. The area designated by the word has changed over time.
Classically, Syria lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean
Sea, between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the
north, stretching inland to include Mesopotamia, and having an
uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes
as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and
Adiabene, "formerly known as Assyria". By Pliny's time,
however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number
of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent
from each other): Judaea, later renamed Palaestina in AD 135
(the region corresponding to modern day Palestine and Israel,
and Jordan) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to
Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria
(or "Hollow Syria") south of the Eleutheris river, and
Mesopotamia. [9] I writing about the Assyrian Identity in Hellenistic and Roman
Times, Simo Parpola, Helsinki says ''In the second century AD, two prominent writers from Roman
Syria, Lucian and Tatian, ostentatiously identify themselves
as Assyrians (Assúrios). This self-identification is
commonly misinterpreted to imply nothing more than that these
writers were ethnic Syrians (in the modern sense)
speaking Aramaic as their mother tongue (Millar 1993, 460). It
is perfectly clear from the contexts, however, that they were
specifically referring to their native identity and cultural
heritage, which they proudly and defiantly contrasted with
the Greek culture. That heritage was Assyrian. It is
worth emphasizing that while Assúrios in Roman times
could refer to an inhabitant of the Roman province of Syria,
it basically meant "Assyrian", nothing else. No
"Syria" in the modern sense existed in antiquity. In
Armenian, Parthian and Egyptian sources of the Roman period,
Roman Syria is consistently and unmistakably referred to as
"Assyria" (Asorik', 'swry'; 'Išr; see Frye 1992; Steiner
1993).'' [10] The above information shows that the Syrians of Roman times
were ''Assyrians'' in native identity and cultural
heritage.That is in total agreement with the Bible which should
be our final authority in identifying the people of the
Antichrist. The Antichrist is called the ''Assyrian'' in Isaiah
10:5, 14:25, 30:30-33, and Micah 5:5-6. The Syrians who
destroyed the Temple in 70 AD were Assyrians who lived in the
Syrian province of the Roman Empire during the first century
according to information presented above. The Syrians of today
are ethnically Arabs whereas the preserved Assyrian people who
for the most part live in Iraq, Syria and Turkey are not Arabs
ethnically. Some say that the Antichrist must be a Syrian because Antiochus
Epiphanes who was a type of the Antichrist was the ruler of
Syria and caused the abomination of desolation by erecting an
image to Zeus in the Jewish Temple around 167 BC. Although
Antiochus reigned the Syrian province of the Seleucid dynasty,
he was a Greek ruler, not Syrian. As a ruler he was best known
for his encouragement of Greek culture and institutions. [11] The prophets Isaiah and Micah used the Hebrew word ''Asshur'' to
refer to the Antichrist and it is defined as:
1) the second son of Shem, eponymous ancestor of the Assyrians 2) the people of Assyria
3) the nation, Assyria
4) the land, Assyria or Asshur [12]
This points to the Antichrist as being ethnically an Assyrian
who will come from the land of Assyria also known as the land of
Nimrod.
'And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus
shall he deliver [us] from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our
land, and when he treadeth within our borders.'' ( Micah 5:6)
Nimrod was the son of Cush, grandson of Ham, and great
grandson of Noah; a mighty hunter, he established an empire in
the area of Babylon and Assyria [13] According to Genesis 10, the empire established by Nimrod was in
the land of Shinar:
''And the beginning of his [Nimrod's] kingdom was Babel, and
Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that
land went forth Asshur (Assyria), and builded Nineveh . . .'' (
Genesis 10:10-11). The land of Shinar is defined as: Shinar = "country of two rivers"
1) the ancient name for the territory later known as Babylonia
or Chaldea [14]
Babylonia or Chaldea is the general area of modern day Iraq.
This suggests that the people of the Antichrist who destroyed
the city and the sanctuary who were labeled as ''Syrians''
during that time were originally from the region of Iraq, more
specifically, the Assyrian region located in northern Iraq.Today
they are referred to as an ''indigenous people'' [15] who are
working hard toward an independent Assyrian state in northern
Iraq. ''The Assyrian independence (also known as the Assyrian
Question) is a political movement and ideology that supports the
creation of an Assyrian homeland for the Aramaic-speaking
Christian Assyrian people in the Nineveh plains of Northern
Iraq. The issue of Assyrian independence has been brought up
many times throughout the course of history from the end of
World War I to the present-day Iraq War. The Assyrian-inhabited
area of Iraq is located in the Ninawa-Mosul region in Northern
Iraq where the biblical Assyrian capital of Nineveh was located.
This area is known as the "Assyrian Triangle." [16] Click the links below to read recent news articles related to
Assyrian independence
Netherlands Requests Assyrian Autonomous State in Iraq
Good News For Iraq’s Assyrian!
Assyrians Need Own Area in Iraq, Swedish Mayor Tells US Congress
European Union Foresees Bigger Future Role in Iraq with specific
concern for the ''Assyrian Minority''
We have mentioned in our articles that the Antichrist will be a
Muslim Assyrian. How can that be since the Assyrians today are
orthodox Christians? Below is some information I found on the
Internet. Whether it is true or false, I do not know, but I will
include it for the sake of our subject. ''The Assyrian people
have been subject to Islamisation since the 7th century Muslim
conquests. Some of them have been fully Arabized, while a small
number retains elements of Assyrian ethnic identity:"A small
minority of the Assyrians, around 1%, has converted to Islam,
but remains Assyrian in culture and language...The flag of the
Muslim Assyrian minority is a vertical tricolor of violet,
yellow and green, bearing a white crescent moon and five-pointed
star on the upper hoist. Arabic-speaking Muslims known as Mhalmoye or Mhallami from the
Tur Abdin region may originally have been converted from Syriac
Orthodoxy to Islam during the sixteenth century. (cf. Hamshenis,
Greek Muslims, Pomaks, Torbesh, Gorani). Culture from their
pre-Islamic period survived, such as the appearance of the cross
otherwise considered to be a decoration based on a flower.A
Swedish Assyrian web site names four other ethnic groups whom it
considers as "Assyrian Muslims": the Barzani Kurds and the
Tagrit, Tayy and Shammar tribal confederations.'' [17] Flag of the Assyrian Muslim Minority. Notice the Islamic
crescent and star Could it be that this Muslim Assyrian Minority will be the
people where the Antichrist will rise from? That will only be
answered when the time of the appearance of the man of sin
arrives. It has been recently reported that the Christian
Assyrians of Iraq are about to face extinction: '' Thousands of Christians fleeing persecution in other parts of
Iraq have returned since 2004 to ancestral lands in the Nineveh
Plain, just north and east of Mosul. While they have escaped the
Islamic militias who slaughtered family members and burned down
their houses and churches in Baghdad and Mosul, now they face a
new battle. Today's enemies are poverty, joblessness, and
despair. Jamal Dinha, mayor of Bartella, a large Christian
village east of Mosul, painted a dire picture of the life these
persecuted Christians now face in this Kurdish-controlled safe
haven. . .The plight of these Assyrian / Chaldean Christians
has been aggravated by the collapse of any central government
authority in the Nineveh province, to which they officially
belong, and by the actions of the Kurdish Regional Government
(KRG), which is seeking to annex this fertile land where
Christians have lived for two thousand years because it is
believed to contain rich oil resources. . ."As Christians are
driven out of the Nineveh plain, this place will become a great
museum of churches and cemeteries. And ultimately, the churches
will end up as mosques. The Christian community in Iraq is on
the verge of extinction." [18] Could it be that the heavy persecution of Christian Assyrians in
Iraq caused by Islamic militias will cause many Assyrians to
give up orthodox Christianity and embrace Islam as their new
religion in order to be preserved as an ethnic group? Only time
will tell. Conclusion The people of the prince that shall come (Antichrist) who
destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in 70 AD
were not Europeans as many conclude based on Daniel 9:26, but
Middle Eastern Syrians of the Roman legions 10 Fretensis and 15
Apollinaris that were garrisoned in the Roman province of Syria.
These Roman Syrians were ethnically known as ''Assyrians'' in
native identity and cultural heritage. They have been preserved
throughout history and live today in the Nineveh plains of
Northern Iraq near the modern city of Mosul. They are the people
of the coming Antichrist who is referred to in the Bible as the
''Assyrian'' and '' the king of Assyria '' (Isaiah 10:5,12,24 ;
14:25; 30:30-33; 31:8 and Micah 5:5-6)
God Bless You!
Rodrigo Silva
07/25/08 End Notes [1]
http://www.bibleprophecyinthenews.com/PZ_Insider_Report_02-18-08_1_.pdf [2]
http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/jwar04.html [3] Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson, God' s War on Terror,
2008 Top Executine Media, page 350 [4] Tacitus, The History New Ed book 5.1 Editor:Moses Hadas,
Translators: Alfred Church, William Brodribb (Modern Library;
New York,2003) [5] Josephus, book 5.13.4
http://www.searchgodsword.org/his/bc/wfj/war/view.cgi?book=5&chapter=13 [6] ibid 3, page 351-353 [7] Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 2.13.7 [8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria [9] ibid 8 [10]
http://www.aina.org/articles/assyrianidentity.pdf [11]
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/28380/Antiochus-IV-Epiphanes [12]
http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H0804&t=kjv [13]
http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H05248&t=kjv [14]
http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H08152&t=kjv [15]
http://www.nineveh.com/Who%20Are%20We/Index.htm [16]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_independence [17]
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Muslim+Assyrians [18]
http://www.aina.org/news/20080425041302.htm
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