"Four Fingers" - Morsi Supporters

“Four Fingers” – Morsi Supporters

Isaiah 19:1 (NASB) 1  The oracle concerning Egypt. … 11 The princes of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”? 12 Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the LORD of hosts Has purposed against Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of Memphis are deluded; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray. 14 The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

History speaks for itself sometimes. See if the timeline below of recent historical events in Egypt fulfills one of the conditions of Isaiah 19’s prophecy of the fall of Egypt:

  • On February 11, 2011, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (1981 – 2011) was forced to “waive” his presidential powers and transfer them to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.  Mubarak’s departure was in response to the developments in the Muslim world popularly known as Arab Spring.1 (Read more) (Read more)
  • On April 13, 2011, Mubarak was ordered to stand trial on charges of negligence for not giving orders to stop the killing of peaceful protestors during the revolution that ousted him as president (Arab Spring).
  • On June 2, 2012, Mubarak was found innocent of most of the charges against him; however, he was guilty of complicity in the murder of some of the demonstrators who took part in the wave of protests that began on January 25, 2011. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.(Read more)  Mubarak has since appealed his case; and he has now been released under house arrest pending another trial.
  • On June 30, 2012, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Muhammad Morsi was elected president of Egypt in what has been described as the first democratic election in the history of Egypt. The following November, 2012, Morsi granted himself unlimited powers to “protect” the nation from the Mubarak-era power structure which remained in place following his election. He also gave himself the power to legislate without judicial oversight. Egyptians erupted over his actions (except, of course, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, and other Islamist groups). (Read more)
    • On December 8, 2012, Morsi rescinded his own actions, but mass protests had already begun and intensified in the following days. (Read more)
  • On November 30, 2012, the Islamist controlled Egyptian legislature (also elected in free elections by the same populace that rioted against Hosni Mubarak and then elected Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammad Morsi) approved a sharia-based constitution to replace Egypt’s secular constitution. The constitution was ratified by the Egyptian people in mid-December, 2012, with over 10 million votes cast in its favor (nearly 2/3 of the total votes cast), and a 33% voter turnout.
  • Prior to the one-year anniversary of Muhammad Morsi’s election, a group having no standing in political circles and unknown to existing leadership, and naming itself, “Tamarod” (literally, “rebellion” in Arabic), circulated a petition via social media calling for early elections and the removal of Muhammad Morsi as president of Egypt.  The Tamarod movement was founded on April 28, 2013 by five activists, including its official spokesman Mahmoud Badr, a 28 year-old journalist and broadcast media specialist.  The group established a goal of 15 million signatures by June 30, 2013 calling for Morsi’s resignation and early elections. The goal was surpassed with over 22 million signatures. The movement launched the June/July 2013 Egyptian protests, which culminated in the 2013 Egyptian coup of Muhammad Morsi.2 (Read more)
  • On July 3, 2013, the armed forces chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced that the constitution had been “suspended provisionally” and that Muhammad Morsi had been “unseated.” (Read more)  The actions of General al-Sisi were described by many to be the result of a military coup; by others as an act to restore democracy to Egyptian people. (Read more)
    • Quoting a reflection on the state of Egypt after Morsi’s election is this statement by Muhammad El-Baradei, a leader of the rebellion against Morsi:
      • “All of Egypt should go down tomorrow to say that we want to go back again to the ballot box,” ElBaradei said in his recorded message sent to reporters. “We gave (Morsi) a driving license but he couldn’t drive the car.” He added: “We all feel the country is collapsing, not because the president is from the Brotherhood … But because the ruling system has failed completely.”
  • On October 9, 2013, the United States announced that it would withhold $250 million of its $1.5billion aid to Egypt citing United States law prohibiting aid to any country wherein a coup has taken place.
  • Gallup Polls dated August, 2013 reflect that in the months preceding Morsi’s ouster, Egyptians described their lives as “suffering” by an increased margin of 9%;
  • On September 23, 2013, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was disbanded by a court and its assets seized, in the toughest attempt for nearly half a century by the authorities to drive the Islamist organisation out of public life.  Banned by government officials for nearly 85 years, the “Brotherhood and any institution branching out of it or receiving financial support from it” was ruled illegal. (Read more)
  • Ahead of Muhammad Morsi’s trial, thousands who supported Morsi marched in street protests across the country. (Read more) Four pointed fingers and the open palm became the sign for Morsi supporters. “R4bia“is a reference to the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque, the Cairo site of a pro-Brotherhood sit-in that was violently broken up by Egyptian security forces, resulting in the deaths of scores of Morsi supporters. (Read more)
    • Security forces and Islamist protesters clashed around the country Sunday, leaving 51 killed, as a national holiday celebrating the military turned to mayhem. Crowds from Egypt’s two rival camps — supporters of the ousted Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, and backers of the military that deposed him — poured into the streets and turned on each other.”  (CNN reporting, October 7, 2013)
  • On November 4, 2013, Muhammad Morsi and 14 of his supporters and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood began trial on charges of inciting the murder of protesters to his continued presidency. Morsi rejected the court’s authority. Witnesses in the courtroom said that Mr. Morsi declared, “This trial is illegitimate,” and said he was still Egypt’s lawful president. The trial was the first public appearance of Morsi since his ouster on July 3, 2013.  The trial was delayed because Morsi refused to clothe himself in prison uniform.
    • The trial of Muhammad Morsi was the second trial of a president of Egypt in less than three years, and of consecutive individuals holding the office of president. The charges for both men were nearly identical — the failure to protect those who opposed their presidency.

What does this have to do with Bible prophecy? In Isaiah 19:11, the statement is made: “The princes of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.” The revolving door in Egypt’s leadership is a reflection of the worsening of the plight of the people and the nation as a whole. None of the leaders has been able to solve the problems. The Gallup pole cited above is evidence of this fact as the “suffering” of Egyptians, from their perspective, has increased. Evidence of this conclusion is also found in the statement by El-Baradei above quoted, “We gave (Morsi) a driving license but he couldn’t drive the car. …We all feel the country is collapsing, not because the president is from the Brotherhood … But because the ruling system has failed completely.”  This is the same state of mind of the people of Egypt in Isaiah 19.  But it does not end there. The leadership in Isaiah 19 defiantly denies the charge of the people. In the text, the leaders reply, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings.” In other words, “how dare you question my leadership. I am legitimate and I have my ancestry to prove it.” How similar is Muhammad Morsi’s statement before the court established to try him (just as it had Mubarak): “Witnesses in the courtroom said that Mr. Morsi declared, “ “I am Egypt’s legitimate president. I refuse to be tried by this court.”

Who is the victim of the absence of leadership? The people – for the Lord has brought the sin of the leaders upon the people:

Isaiah 19:14 (NASB) 14  The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

Isaiah 19 is being fulfilled before our eyes. This is only one of many conditions included in the prophecy, each of which is being fulfilled in the modern-day.

Jesus come quickly.

Blessings.

Jack

  1. The Arab Spring is a term for the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests (both non-violent and violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab world that began on 18 December 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArabSpring. [↩]
  2. The Tamarod campaign has strongly supported the military’s toppling of Morsi, the military transition government, the security force raids that involved the killing of hundreds of Brotherhood members and the jailing of thousands of rank and file. Mahmoud Badr and Mohamed Abdel Aziz, cofounders of Tamarod, have been appointed to the post-coup fifty-member committee redrafting Egypt’s Constitution.  The appointment of Tamarod’s youthful co-founders reflects the power of the young and the social media in impacting the direction of Egypt and her leaders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarod [↩]

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