Egypt at the time of the end

In Daniel chapter 11 we have some amazing details given to us about the state of Egypt in the time period just before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth.

In Daniel 11 we have depicted before us the history of two key territories down through time. An area to the north of Israel ruled over by a succession of foreign powers termed in the prophecy “The King of the North” and the same in the south called “the King of the South”.

The prophecy begins in the time of the Greeks under Alexander the Great and depicts the state of these two power bases to the north and south down through time.

Verses 40-45 are of most significance to us as these verses are to do with “the time of the end”. They have not yet been fulfilled. Within this time period we read of how the “King of the North” sweeps down through Turkey, through Israel into Egypt. We here read of the details of Egypt at this time in verses 42-43:

"He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt” Daniel 11:42-43

The word “pleasant” is the hebrew “chemdah” which means “desirable”. This is telling us that an invading force, from the North will not only invade Egypt but will control her economy and desirable precious commodities.

A companion prophecy to this is found in Isaiah 19 which speaks of a cruel lord invading Egypt. Again, this is a future event because many parts have not yet been fulfilled. For example in verse 19 it talks of an alter being made in Egypt to Yahweh, the God of Israel which has not yet occurred.

As Bible students we believe from our understanding of the scriptures that we are indeed living in the time leading up to this invasion from the North. We read in other prophecies of this that this is the time when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to establish God’s Kingdom (for example Ezekiel 38 and Zechariah 14 as well as Daniel 12). Therefore we would expect Egypt to have “desirable” things in the time period leading up to, and obviously during this great invasion form the North. If we are indeed living at the cusp of this time then we should be able to begin to see Egypt’s commodities in the light of the prophecy - as being treasures and precious. So does Egypt have such things?

New gas find in Egypt

On the 30th of August this year an Italian company called Eni announced that it had found one of the world's largest natural gas fields off Egypt's coast.

In an article entitled "Italy's Eni discovers huge gas field off Egyptian coast” the BBC reported:
"The company said the area was 1,450m (4,757 feet) beneath the surface and covered 100 sq km (39 sq miles).
It could hold as much as 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, or 5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Eni said.
The company says that the Zohr field "could become one of the world's largest natural-gas finds" and help meet Egypt's gas needs for decades.
"This historic discovery will be able to transform the energy scenario of Egypt," said Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Eni.” 

According to one report this week this has slightly concerned Israeli officials whose strategy for exporting their gas may have to be reconsidered as part of it was based on the idea of exporting gas to Egypt. This will now no longer be necessary.

The recently discovered Zohr field though is not the only precious gas field Eni has found. Back in January it found another one called “Noras”.

On Wednesday 9th of September this week Egypt's Daily News ran an article entitled "Eni to add 300 cubit meters of gas daily from Noras field by year-end”. It seems then that the most desirable commodity of gas will soon become part of the precious things of Egypt.

Gold Production on the increase

Another amazing thing is the recent news that Egypt's gold mining industry is booming. The following is a quote from an article from Mineweb, a web-based international mining publication focusing on mining investment and finance. We have taken it from an article entitled "Centamin upping gold production guidance again” dated 12th August 2015.

"London-listed Centamin (CEY), which many felt took a huge risk in developing and operating Egypt’s first modern gold mining operation that it brought on stream six years ago, continues to impress. Recently released 2nd quarter (Q2) figures showed decent gold output and costs control, which kept it's cash flow positive despite lower received gold prices. Centamin’s sole operation at the moment is its Sukari Mine near Egypt’s Red Sea coast, about 700 km south of Cairo. Sukari sits on the Arabian-Nubian Shield, which runs through Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Saudi Arabia and hosts a number of other gold mining operations, although no others in Egypt. Sukari has a significant reserve and resource base and the company reckons there is further exploration potential on the 160km2 tenement area surrounding the mine. It is the only operating gold mine in Egypt and Centamin believes the country has significant mining potential, although no other company as yet seems to have ventured to develop this.”

Is this then another sign of the times? Another desirable previous commodity which might interest the King of the North down. The bottom line is this: there is gold in Egypt to be controlled as we would expect by Bible prophecy.

Signs of the times

So then as we witness yet another piece of the prophetic jigsaw puzzle come into play let us remember that God is in control of human affairs. Indeed as we read in Daniel 4:17 "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men”. Almighty God has mapped out a plan and a purpose for the nations of this earth and has condescended to reveal some of the detail of this plan to those who would read and believe His inspired word. These revelations have been preserved for thousands of years until this point where we can now see elements of them coming to pass just as we would expect.

We are living in the “time of the end” just before the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Let us then follow the advice which was given to the Corinthian ecclesia: "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.” Watch with us and join us again, next week God willing, at www.bibleinthenews.com.