Zion vs Rome

Genesis 25 21-34 "Jacob and Esau are born"

21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, since she was unable to have children. The Lord was moved by his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 But the boys pushed against each other inside of her, and she said, “If this is what it’s like, why did it happen to me?”[c]

So she went to ask the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb;
two different peoples will emerge from your body.
One people will be stronger than the other;
the older will serve the younger.”

24 When she reached the end of her pregnancy, she discovered that she had twins. 25 The first came out red all over, clothed with hair, and she named him Esau. 26 Immediately afterward, his brother came out gripping Esau’s heel, and she named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

Jacob acquires the oldest son’s rights
27 When the young men grew up, Esau became an outdoorsman who knew how to hunt, and Jacob became a quiet man who stayed at home. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was boiling stew, Esau came in from the field hungry 30 and said to Jacob, “I’m starving! Let me devour some of this red stuff.” That’s why his name is Edom.[d]

31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright[e] today.”

32 Esau said, “Since I’m going to die anyway, what good is my birthright to me?”

33 Jacob said, “Give me your word today.” And he did. He sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 So Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate, drank, got up, and left, showing just how little he thought of his birthright.

Genesis 27 33-47 "Jacob acquires his father’s blessing"

33 Isaac was so shocked that he trembled violently. He said, “Who was the hunter just here with game? He brought me food, and I ate all of it before you came. I blessed him, and he will stay blessed!”

34 When Esau heard what his father said, he let out a loud agonizing cry and wept bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me! Me too, my father!”

35 Isaac said, “Your brother has already come deceitfully and has taken your blessing.”

36 Esau said, “Isn’t this why he’s called Jacob? He’s taken me[b] twice now: he took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing.” He continued, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

37 Isaac replied to Esau, “I’ve already made him more powerful than you, and I’ve made all of his brothers his servants. I’ve made him strong with grain and wine. What can I do for you, my son?”

38 Esau said to his father, “Do you really have only one blessing, Father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.

39 His father Isaac responded and said to him,

“Now, you will make a home
far away from the olive groves of the earth,
far away from the showers of the sky above.
40 You will live by your sword;
you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,[c]
you will tear away his harness
from your neck.”

Jacob sent away for protection

41 Esau was furious at Jacob because his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, When the period of mourning for the death of my father is over, I will kill my brother.

42 Rebekah was told what her older son Esau was planning, so she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Esau your brother is planning revenge. He plans to kill you. 43 So now, my son, listen to me: Get up and escape to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 Live with him for a short while until your brother’s rage subsides, 45 until your brother’s anger at you goes away and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I suffer the loss of both of you on one day?”

46 Rebekah then said to Isaac, “I really loathe these Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women, like the women of this land, why should I go on living?”

Ezekiel 25:12 Against the neighboring nations
12 The Lord God proclaims: Edom acted with excessive force against the house of Judah. The Judeans were guilty, but Edom’s vengeance was excessive

2 Esdras 6:9

9 Esau represents the end of this age, and Jacob represents the beginning of the following

Joel 3 Judgment on the nations

3 Truly, in those days and in that time, I will bring back to Judah and Jerusalem those who were sent away. 2 I will gather all the nations, and I will bring them to the Jehoshaphat Valley. There I will enter into judgment with them in support of my people and my possession, Israel, which they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people. They have traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, which they drank down. 4 What are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, then in a flash I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads. 5 You have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. 7 But now I am calling them from the places where you have sold them, and I will repay you for your deeds. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters as a possession of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away; for the Lord has spoken.

Declaration of war
9 Announce this among the nations:
Prepare a holy war,
wake up the warriors;
let all the soldiers draw near,
let them come up!
10 Beat the iron tips of your plows into swords
and your pruning tools into spears;
let the weakling say, “I am mighty.”
11 Come quickly,
all you surrounding nations;
gather yourselves there;
bring your mighty ones, Lord.
12 Let the nations prepare themselves,
and come up to the Jehoshaphat Valley;
for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 Cut with the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go and crush grapes,
for the winepress is full.
The jars overflow with wine,
for their wickedness is great.
14 Crowd after crowd fills the valley of judgment,
for the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of judgment.
15 The sun and the moon are darkened;
the stars have ceased shining.

Salvation for God’s people
16 The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people,
a shelter for the people of Israel.
17 So you will know that I am the Lord your God,
settle down in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy,
and never again will strangers pass through it.
18 In that day
the mountains will drip sweet wine,
the hills will flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
will flow with water;
a spring will come forth from the Lord’s house
and water the Shittim Valley.
19 Egypt will become desolate
and Edom a desolate wilderness.
This is because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.
21 I will forgive their bloodguilt,
which I had not forgiven.
I will act on their account;
I will not pardon the guilty.

The Lord dwells in Zion..

Obadiah 1 - Edom falls

1 The vision of Obadiah.
The Lord God proclaims concerning Edom:
We have heard a message from the Lord—
a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
2 Look now, I will make you of little importance among the nations;
you will be totally despised.
3 Your proud heart has tricked you—
you who live in the cracks of the rock,
whose dwelling is high above.
You who say in your heart,
“Who will bring me down to the ground?”
4 Though you soar like the eagle,
though your nest is set among the stars,
I will bring you down from there,
says the Lord.

Edom is robbed
5 If thieves approach you,
if robbers by night—how you’ve been devastated!—
wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted?
If those who gather grapes came to you,
wouldn’t they leave some grapes?
6 How Esau has been looted,
his treasures taken away!
7 All those who were your allies
have driven you to the border.
Those who were on your side tricked you
and triumphed over you.
They are setting your own bread as a trap under you,[a]
but you don’t see it coming.
8 Won’t I on that day, says the Lord,
destroy the wise from Edom
and understanding from Mount Esau?
9 Your warriors will be shattered, Teman,
and everyone from Mount Esau will be eliminated.

Edom’s misdeeds
10 Because of the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame will cover you,
and you will be destroyed forever.
11 You stood nearby,
strangers carried off his wealth,
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem;
you too were like one of them.
12 But you should have taken no pleasure over your brother
on the day of his misery;
you shouldn’t have rejoiced over the people of Judah
on the day of their devastation;
you shouldn’t have bragged
on their day of hardship.
13 You shouldn’t have entered the gate of my people
on the day of their defeat;
you shouldn’t have even looked on his suffering
on the day of his disaster;
you shouldn’t have stolen his possessions
on the day of his distress.
14 You shouldn’t have waited on the roads
to destroy his escapees;
you shouldn’t have handed over his survivors
on the day of defeat.
15 The day of the Lord is near
against all the nations.
As you have done, so it will be done to you;
your actions will make you suffer!
16 Just as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
so will all the nations around you drink;
they will drink and swallow quickly,
and they will be like they’ve never been before.

Edom’s punishers
17 But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape,
and it will be holy;
and the house of Jacob will drive out those who drove them out.
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire,
the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau straw;
they will burn them up completely,
and there will be no one left of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
19 Those of the arid southern plain will possess Mount Esau,
and those of the western foothills, the land of the Philistines;
they will possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 Those who remain of the Israelites
will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath;
and those left from Jerusalem and who are now living in Sepharad
will possess the cities of the arid southern plain.
21 The deliverers will go up to Mount Zion
to rule Mount Esau,
and the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Malachi 1
1 A pronouncement. The Lord’s word to Israel through Malachi.[a]

Love of Jacob
2 I have loved you, says the Lord;
but you say, “How have you loved us?”
Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?
says the Lord.
I loved Jacob, 3 but I rejected Esau.
I turned Esau’s mountains into desolation,
his inheritance into a wilderness for jackals.
4 Edom may say, “We are beaten down, but we will rebuild the ruins”;
but the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
They may build, but I will tear them down.
They will call themselves a wicked territory,
the people against whom the Lord rages forever.
5 Your eyes will see it and you will say,
“May the Lord be great beyond the borders of Israel.”

Revelation 12 1:18 A woman, her child, and the dragon

12 Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant, and she cried out because she was in labor, in pain from giving birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: it was a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of heaven’s stars and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her. There she will be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

Michael and the dragon
7 Then there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they did not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 So the great dragon was thrown down. The old snake, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth; and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,

“Now the salvation and power and kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ have come.
The accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them day and night before our God,
has been thrown down.
11 They gained the victory over him on account of the blood of the Lamb
and the word of their witness.
Love for their own lives didn’t make them afraid to die.
12 Therefore, rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them.
But oh! The horror for the earth and sea!
The devil has come down to you with great rage,
for he knows that he only has a short time.”

The dragon pursues the woman
13 When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he chased the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she could fly to her place in the desert. There she would be taken care of—out of the snake’s reach—for a time and times and half a time. 15 Then from his mouth the snake poured a river of water after the woman so that the river would sweep her away. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was furious with the woman, and he went off to make war on the rest of her children, on those who keep God’s commandments and hold firmly to the witness of Jesus.

The beast from the sea
18 Then the dragon stood on the seashore,

Revelation 17:1-6 Babylon and the beast

17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls spoke with me. “Come,” he said, “I will show you the judgment upon the great prostitute, who is seated on deep waters. 2 The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on earth have become drunk with the wine of her whoring.”

3 Then he brought me in a Spirit-inspired trance to a desert. There I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names. It had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing, and she glittered with gold and jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup full of the vile and impure things that came from her activity as a prostitute. 5 A name—a mystery—was written on her forehead: “Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and the vile things of the earth.” 6 I saw that the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and the blood of Jesus’ witnesses. I was completely stunned when I saw her.