SABBATH THOUGHT 2026-07-25—TEN NATIONS OF PSALM 83

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

Years ago, there was a teaching by the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) that the Assyrians settled into Germany after they were defeated in 612 and 609 BC by armies from the nations of Babylon and Median. The Babylonians were located in Mesopotamia, in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This is an area in modern-day south-central Iraq. Northeast of them were the Medes who resided in the mountainous region of northwest Iran. Situated to the north of the Babylonians and west of the Medes were the Assyrians. They were centered on the upper Tigris River valley of northern Mesopotamia, which is area in modern northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, and northeastern Syria today. The pinscher attack of the Babylonians and Medes defeated the Assyrians who supposedly migrated north into Germany. The problem with this theory, however, is that there is no historical or archaeological evidence the Assyrians went to Germany at all, much less en-masse.

The British Israelism movement began with Richard Brothers in 1794 and John Wilson in 1840. It was later promoted by Edward Hine who popularized the Anglo-Israelism connection in the 1870s and 1880s. However, he deviated from the ideas of Brothers and Wilson by adding the Assyrian ancestry of Germany. He was a bank clerk with no university education who died in 1891 but his work lived on, finding a significant proponent in Herbert Armstrong.

Herbert Armstrong was a member, and later minister, of the Church of God Seventh Day starting in 1927. In early 1934, he started his own church called the Radio Church of God. That was also the year that he began popularizing the British Israel movement in the Plain Truth magazine, which culminated in one of his most popular and influential books on the subject. Herbert Armstrong acquired most of his inspiration for British-Israelism from the work of Edward Hine whose book Forty-Seven Identifications of the British Nation With Lost Israel was published only 40 years earlier.

While I believe the nations of Europe and North America are largely the descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel, I have always had difficulty accepting that Germany was settled by Assyrians at any point in history because there a complete lack of historical and archaeological evidence. The reason this is notable is because it has influenced many, many prophetic views on the end-times Beast System. The idea that Germany is the modern nation of Assyria is the basis for the subsequent theories that the Beast System and Ten Nations will rise out of EUROPE and be the “King of the North” mentioned in Daniel 7:20, 24. If true, it would be a great irony that the greatest human enemy of God in the end times—the Beast and his alliance of Ten Kings—will come from the very nations that are the descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel who are the people of GOD. The Beast System is an evil empire that hates everything about God and His people. In this scenario, it will not only “war against the saints”[1] but will also destroy the very nations from which it originates. That makes no sense politically or economically because every nation and their armies are dependent upon those things. None of this is intended to disparage Herbert Armstrong; however, his teachings are not supported historically or archaeologically even though they continue to be preached by the COGs that came out of WCG.

Above all, there is no biblical evidence that the any of the nations of Europe will be part of a coalition with the Beast System. Given all the genealogical national histories contained in the Bible, it is surprising that there is not even an inference of European connections (except possibly Italy). The Ten Kings in Daniel and Revelation are never tied to any continent. However, the Bible does mention of a coalition of Ten Nations in the end-times:

PSALMS 83:5-8 For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You [God]: 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; 7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot [Moab and Ammon]. Selah

Here is the list of nations with a brief note of their lineage. Note that Philistia was not a particular people, but the inhabitants of five major cities Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath in the land of Philistia that was east of Jerusalem along the coast[2]:

1)     Edom (Esau)

2)      Ishmaelites (Ishmael)

3)     Moab (son of Lot)

4)      Hagrites (Abraham’s wife Hagar)

5)      Gebal (city of)

6)     Ammon (son of Lot)

7)      Amalek (grandson of Esau)

8)      Philistia (origin uncertain)

9)      Tyre (city of)

10)  Assyria (son of Shem)

This Ten Nation coalition is the ONLY one mentioned in the Bible aside from the Ten Tribes. They will be enemies of God and their hatred is focused on the destruction of all Twelve Tribes of Israel:

PSALMS 83:1-4 Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult [uproar]; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people [Israel], and consulted together against Your sheltered ones [saints?]. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel [all 12 tribes] may be remembered no more.”

Recent events have highlighted the serious threats of Muslims—believers in Islam—against Jews and all Christians. If the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are indeed descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel, then these verses describe the real threats that have been realized time and again by many modern Islamic nations to wipe them off the map. Who does not remember the 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings in the USA, the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia, the 2004 Madrid Train bombing in Spain, the 2015 Paris attacks in France, the 2016 Baghdad bombing in Iraq, the 2017 Mogadishu bombings in Somalia, and the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing in the UK?

If there is any indication in the Bible of an end-times coalition, it will be nations in the Middle East. Aside from modern Iran, there is one place in particular that has been a focus recently—Gaza located in Israel. The city of Gaza was originally under the Philistines in an area now referred to as the Gaza Strip in Israel. But why are the Philistines—or whomever are their descendants—still there? Did not God drive them out during the days of Joshua?

JUDGES 2:21-23 “I [the LORD] also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 “so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” 23 Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

JUDGES 3:1-4 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan 2 (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), 3 namely, five lords of the Philistines [of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath], all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

First on the list are the Philistines. They have had a presence along the coast of Israel ever since the days of Joshua, thus fulfilling prophecy. The Canaanites were a collection of seemingly independent tribes and city states including the Ammorites, Hittites, Jebusites, Hivites, Perizzites, and Girgashites.[3] The Ten Nations of Psalm 83 will exist in the end-times because there are prophetic punishments coming upon them. The rest of Psalm 83 was a pleading for God to destroy them:

PSALMS 83:9-18 Deal with them as with Midian, as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the Brook Kishon, 10 who perished at En Dor, who became as refuse on the earth. 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, 12 who said, “Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession.” 13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind! 14 As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, 15 so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. 16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O LORD. 17 Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish, 18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.

Zephaniah also mentions that God will not only punish Philistia but all nations along the coast of the land of Israel. This is certainly for the end-times:

ZEPHANIAH 2:4-7 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon desolate; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron [all towns in Philistia] shall be uprooted. 5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you; so there shall be no inhabitant.” 6 The seacoast shall be pastures, with shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks. 7 The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed their flocks there; in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the LORD their God will intervene for them, and return their captives.

Philistia will not be destroyed but a remnant will remain who will worship God:

ZECHARIAH 9:6-7 “A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I [the LORD] will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7 I will take away the blood from his mouth, and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.

Adding to the legitimacy of these Ten Nations of Psalm 83 being a possible coalition for the Ten Kings of the end-time Beast System is that three of them (bolded in the list above) are specifically mentioned in END-TIME prophecy as escaping from the King of the North:

DANIEL 11:40-41 “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 “He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.

While I will not claim to be more than a simple observer of biblical prophecies, I find it difficult to accept that the Beast System will arise out of Europe. There is no historical, archaeological, or even biblical evidence for it. Instead, the Ten Nations of Psalm 83 better reflect the actual regional political and religious events of today. Of course, all of my musings could be completely wrong especially since any coalition of Ten Nations involving Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Assyria is not yet evident. It is also difficult to tie them to any modern nation. Regardless, the Ten Nations of Psalm 83 are certainly an end-time confederacy to bear in mind when thinking about prophecy.

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com