Jonathan Cahn - The Harbinger Companion with Study Guide

Caiaphas was of the House of Annas. Interestingly, the rabbis in the Talmud have this to say of the House of Annas: “Woe to the family of Annas! Woe to the serpentlike hisses” (Pes 57a). 1The implication is of the serpent-like sounds, whispers, of plots, deception, and conspiracy.

King Solomon: The dedicator

Hebrew: Shlomo , meaning “peaceful”

King Solomon appears in The Harbinger as the king who oversaw the dedication on the Temple Mount. The son of King David, Solomon reigned over the united kingdom of Israel at the height of its power and prosperity and in an era of unprecedented peace. He was famed for both his wisdom and affluence. It was Solomon who built the Temple of Jerusalem. Solomon began his reign not only with great wisdom but also with great devotion to God and His ways. But as time went on, his heart began to turn away from this devotion and to other gods. Solomon’s apostasy resulted in the united kingdom of Israel being divided in the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). Solomon is regarded as the traditional author of the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

Jesus: The Messiah

Hebrew: Yeshua , meaning “God is salvation”

The central figure of The Harbinger is ultimately Yeshua (Jesus) as the book leads up to the chapter entitled “Eternity.” The Harbinger presents the issue of judgment. But that issue ultimately leads up to the answer. The answer is presented in the name Yeshua or, in English, Jesus.

Yeshua/Jesus is the center of the New Testament. Taking into account the prophecies of Messiah, He is the center of Scripture itself. He remains the center of human history. The calendar divides around His birth, every year of every date being identified by the distance in which it stands from the nativity.

Twenty centuries after His birth, He remains the center of controversy, the center of debate. Time has not diminished His influence. He remains the most influential, history-changing, world-changing, and life-changing person in human history.

The same One who happens to be the central figure of human history also happens to be the One who fulfills the words of the Hebrew prophets concerning the Messiah.

That He has become all this—not by power, not by riches, not by position, and not by the sword, but by a life of love culminating with His death on a crucifixion stake—is something that defies all the laws of the very history of which He is the center.

He asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” That remains the issue. His name means “‘Salvation.” But whether He is our salvation depends on how we answer that ultimate question.

Chapter 15

EXPLORING the BIBLICAL WORLD

Uncovering The Harbinger’ s Ancient Backdrop

THE POWER THAT carried out the invasion of Israel, the backdrop of Isaiah 9:10 and the harbingers, and that would end up causing Israel’s destruction was the Assyrian Empire.

The Assyrian kingdom was centered on the Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and named after its first capital city, Ashur. Beginning in the tenth century BC, Assyria began its ascension to world power, conquering the kingdoms of Egypt, Babylonia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Persia, to name a few. For three centuries the Assyrians controlled the entire Fertile Crescent, from Egypt to the Persian Gulf.

The Assyrians are credited with inventing the 24-hour day, the 60-minute hour, the 60-second minute, the 360-degree circle, the 360-day year divided up into 12 months, and making great strides in the study of astronomy.

At the same time they were among the most cruel and feared people ever to walk the sands of the Middle East. The Assyrian state was largely devoted to maintaining its military power and dominance over Mesopotamia. They invented such siege machines as the battering ram and mobile towers.

The Assyrians are famous for one other contribution to world history—terrorism—defined as the strategic use of terror to accomplish a political aim. Under the Assyrians entire populations of besieged towns would be massacred. Skin would be nailed to city walls, outside of which would stand mountains of human heads. The Assyrians would mutilate their victims and put them on display so that none would be foolish enough to rise up against their rule. So effective was Assyrian terror that entire cities and regions would surrender to their armies without a fight.

So the shadow or threat of Assyria, which loomed in the background of the Israel of Isaiah’s day, was especially menacing. The prospect of having the Assyrian army come to one’s walls, as happened to the city of Samaria, was almost unbearably fearful.

In 722 BC the Assyrian Empire wiped the northern kingdom of Israel off the face of the map. But the prophets of Israel foretold the Assyrian Empire’s ultimate destruction. Their end would come in 612 BC after the Medes to the east and the Babylonians from the south would rise up against them and, likewise, wipe their kingdom off the face of the earth, so thoroughly that passersby would be hard pressed to identify the empire that once thrived in the site that was now nothing but ruins.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel:

The Nation Under Judgment

Israel, also known as the northern kingdom and Samaria, is the backdrop of Isaiah 9:10. It was to this kingdom that the Nine Harbingers appear. It was this kingdom that defied God’s warnings in 732 BC, and this kingdom that, in 722 BC was wiped off the face of the earth.

The northern kingdom of Israel was formed out of the division of the united kingdom under Solomon. Upon Solomon’s death in the tenth century BC, the ten tribes to the north refused to accept the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Instead they followed the usurper Jeroboam, who founded the northern kingdom. Later on, Samaria was made the capital city. The people of the northern kingdom vacillated between the worship of God and the worship of the Phoenician Baal. Under the reign of such rulers as Ahab and Jezebel, those who were faithful to God were persecuted, including the prophet Elijah.

The Kingdom’s End in 722 BC

Over time the northern kingdom fell further and further away from God and His ways, increasingly resembling the pagan nations that surrounded it. As the nation continued its spiritual and cultural decline, the power and influence of the Assyrian Kingdom continued to rise. The Israelite king Pekah decided to make a stand against Assyrian domination and called on the southern kingdom to join him. When King Ahaz of Judah refused, Pekah attacked Jerusalem. Ahaz sent word to Tiglath Pileser III, king of Assyria, to help him. With that, Assyria invaded the northern kingdom. This is the invasion on the land in 732 BC that sets the ancient backdrop of The Harbinger . It was in response to this calamity that the people and leaders of Israel uttered the defiant vow of Isaiah 9:10. They vowed to rise up stronger than before. It was this spirit that would ultimately lead to the nation’s destruction.

King Pekah was deposed. Though his replacement, Hoshea, began his reign in submission to Assyria, soon he grew confident enough to attempt a rebellion. Around the year 727 BC he ceased the annual payment of tribute to the Assyrian king and sent messengers to Egypt to form an anti-Assyrian alliance. In 724 BC the new king of Assyria, Shalmaneser V, marched into the northern kingdom and threw King Hoshea in chains. Shalmaneser laid siege to Israel’s capital city of Samaria but was forced to return to Nineveh. Sargon, his younger brother, was left in command of the army. Two years later Shalmaneser died. Sargon, now king, pressed the siege. In 722 BC the city of Samaria fell to the invaders. The city was burned to the ground, and the survivors were removed from the land.