PNW STAFF
When reports surfaced this month that Russia is training assault units on horseback to counter Ukraine's drones and land mines, prophecy-watchers couldn't help but pause. Horses galloping across the battlefields of Eastern Europe -- in the 21st century? It sounds more like a scene from the Book of Ezekiel than a modern war report.
And yet, here we are.
According to Russian military sources and footage verified by multiple outlets, commanders in the Donetsk region are forming horse-mounted assault teams. Two soldiers per horse -- one riding, one firing -- practicing under drone cover, training animals to stay calm amid explosions and gunfire. A Kremlin-linked blogger described them as a "modern horde," noting that horses "see well at night, need no roads, and can instinctively avoid mines."
It's not a return to romantic cavalry charges. It's desperation -- a low-tech answer to a high-tech nightmare. Drones hover overhead, minefields choke the ground, and mechanized units are easy prey. So Russia, the world's most sanctioned state, is resorting to tactics older than the tank.
But for students of Bible prophecy, one question rises like thunder: could this be a glimpse -- perhaps just a shadow -- of what the prophet Ezekiel foresaw nearly 2,600 years ago?
The Horsemen of the North
Ezekiel 38 paints a startling picture. A coalition led by "Gog of the land of Magog" comes from "the uttermost parts of the north" against the land of Israel. The invaders are described as "all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army."
For centuries, interpreters puzzled over those horses. Why would a modern invasion -- one involving a superpower like Russia -- use horsemen? Skeptics dismissed it as ancient imagery. Others said Ezekiel was using symbols -- describing tanks, trucks, or aircraft in language his audience could understand. Yet others argued the text should be taken literally -- that in some future scenario, the armies of the north might indeed revert to horses, whether by necessity or by the collapse of technology.
And now, curiously, Russia is reviving horse-mounted forces. Not in symbolic prophecy, but in the mud and mines of Ukraine.
Why Horses Make Sense Again
Analysts explain that the modern battlefield has changed. Drones have made noise, heat, and road dependency deadly. Horses, meanwhile, move silently, don't need fuel, and can traverse terrain tanks cannot. They leave no heat signature, and they can carry men or supplies where vehicles can't go.
If this tactic proves viable -- even for small units -- it could spread. A century ago, mechanization replaced the horse. But in the age of drones and cyberwarfare, the pendulum may swing back.
And so, when Ezekiel spoke of horsemen "from the north," was he merely describing what he knew -- or was he seeing exactly what we're now beginning to see again? Armies returning to primitive mobility because modern machinery has become a liability?
This brings us to one of the deepest questions in Bible prophecy: How do prophets describe what they see?
When Ezekiel, Daniel, or John the Apostle were shown visions of the future, they described things using their own vocabulary -- the language of the ancient world. But what happens when they're witnessing modern or even futuristic warfare?
Consider John's terrifying "locusts" in Revelation 9. He describes them as having "faces like men," "breastplates of iron," "wings sounding like chariots," and "tails like scorpions." To the modern ear, this reads almost like a field report on attack helicopters: armored, loud, guided by men, with missiles stinging from the rear. Were these literal demonic creatures? Or was John describing the technology of war using first-century words?
The same question surrounds Ezekiel's horses. Were they literal steeds -- or symbols of mechanized or even aerial forces? The Hebrew text gives no hint that "horses" are meant metaphorically. Yet the modern reader can't ignore the possibility that the prophet was describing something he had no words for -- or something that might return when high technology collapses.
2 comments:
Horses do leave a heat signature and in order for Ezekiel 38 to come to pass Russia must have been successful in defeating Ukraine and avoiding a nuclear exchange.
Dr. Andy Woods who abides by a literal hermeneutics has said "when the Bible says Jesus will return on a white horse, that means Jesus will return on a white horse". I believe the same applies to Ezekiel 38 regarding horses. One more sign we are close ✝️ Maranatha
Post a Comment