The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes

As if ultimate uninhabitable desolation from a flood and resulting parched desert wasn't enough, Iraq must first suffer a humiliating military defeat at the hands of the "kings of the Medes" (Jer 51:28) -- "Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the LORD... 'Surely I will fill you with a population like locusts, and they will cry out with shouts of victory over you'" (Jer 51:11, 14).

If the Iraqis are the "Chaldeans", by perspective of presently living in the region aligning with ancient Babylon, who then are the "Medes"? They would be those modern people living in the region aligning with ancient Media -- none other than modern day Kurdistan, and its people, the Kurds. In fact, according to Prof. Mehrdad R. Izady of Cambridge, "Medes are claimed regularly by the Kurds and pronounced by others to be the ancestors of them." As the professor notes, "what little remains today of the old Medians and the name 'Mede,' is found densely concentrated in southeastern Kurdistan -- the site of the rise and twilight of the Medes. In fact there are still some Kurdish tribes and clans who carry the evolved forms of the name 'Mede.'"

While the professor does not believe it "matters" that "Kurds along with a few others can make this claim" to be descended from the Medes, it does matter from the standpoint of the prophecy of Jeremiah. It means the Kurds, who were gassed by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, will be "destroyers (who) come to (Babylon) from the north... For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, and her mighty men will be captured, their bows shattered; for the LORD God is a God of recompense, he will fully repay" (Jer 51:48, 56).

So significant is this military triumph by the Kurds over the Iraqis that the entire prophecy begins with the proclamation, "Declare and proclaim among the nations... Babylon has been captured... For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror... Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!" (Jer 50:2-3). "Against the land of Merathaim, go up against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Slay and utterly destroy them... The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction." (Jer 50:21-22).

This war between Iraq and the Kurds is repeated: "Lift up a signal in the land, blow a trumpet among the nations!... Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her... Consecrate (these) nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion." (Jer 51:27-28).

These three designations of the Kurds reflect the three main factions of the people of Kurdistan -- the Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian populations. See this map of Kurdistan from the Kurdish National Congress of North America:



Next post, I'll look at who are filling the shoes of the kings of the Medes even at this present moment; it may be surprising to some to discover the current President of the new Iraqi government is none other than Jalal Talabani -- "Uncle" Jalal to the Kurds -- the founder and Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan!