As for global news, developments in the Middle East increasingly remind us of the Bible’s prophecies about the end times, especially near the Strait of Hormuz. This past week, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) reported that nearly 2,000 vessels and about 23,000 crew members are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf.
That is an enormous number of ships and people waiting to pass through the very narrow Strait of Hormuz, which is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point. Yet the shipping lanes are only about 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide in each direction, with a small buffer zone between them. One can only imagine the massive bottleneck this creates. As we have noted before, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical chokepoints. In fact, we can already feel its effects here in rising fuel costs, higher food prices, and growing military tensions.
But these major developments remind us of significant Bible prophecies about the last days. The Bible speaks of what it calls the Ships of Tarshish, vessels that, since the days of Solomon nearly 3,000 years ago, have been used to transport goods from distant lands to the western world.
What is especially remarkable is that the Ships of Tarshish reappear in end-times prophecies alongside nations in the very region we now know as the Gulf countries. These prophecies also portray the Ships of Tarshish as playing a significant role during the Day of the Lord and the future seven-year Tribulation period. Could there be a connection to the hundreds of ships we now see gathered in the Persian Gulf? Or perhaps what we are witnessing today is not yet the fulfillment itself, but rather a warning, a harbinger of the events the prophets foresaw thousands of years ago.
Before we examine these prophecies more closely, bear with me for a moment, because we first need to understand the background of the name Tarshish, which is fascinating in its own right. Tarshish is one of the most enigmatic names in the Bible.
Originally, Tarshish was the grandson of Japheth, one of Noah’s three sons, from whom many of the peoples of Europe and parts of Asia are traditionally believed to descend. Over time, the name Tarshish became associated with a precious gemstone as well as with a people, a region, or a city. However, to this day, no one can identify with certainty either the exact gemstone referred to or the precise location of the city or region called Tarshish.
Some believe it is the city of Tartessus in Spain, where Jonah fled. Others believe it is Paul’s city, Tarsus, in modern-day Turkey, while still others consider it the city of Tharros on the Italian island of Sardinia. This suggests that these ships were all from the Western world. Interestingly, some believe the term became associated with ships that carried raw materials from distant parts of the world to Western markets.
The name Tarshish may even be linked to the Akkadian root meaning “to heat” or “to melt,” from which the word tarsisu, meaning “refinery” or “smelting place,” derives. These ships transported raw materials for refining, including metals and even grain for bread.
In this sense, the imagery fits remarkably well with the hundreds of modern vessels that today transport raw materials such as oil and gas from the Gulf region to the Western world. Over time, the Ships of Tarshish became a symbol of the world economy and international commerce, and, remarkably, they reappear in passages dealing with the end times. One of these passages is the account of the war of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38, where Persia, modern-day Iran, is named as disturbing the flow of these ships.
In verse 13, we suddenly hear the voices of two Gulf-region nations and the merchants of Tarshish protesting the impending invasion. We read in the Book of Ezekiel 38:13:“Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?”
Dedan is often associated with modern Saudi Arabia and perhaps the smaller Gulf nations along the coast, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. As for Sheba, the name has historically been connected with Yemen and even Ethiopia. But what is especially intriguing is the presence of the merchants of Tarshish alongside these Gulf nations, who raise their voices in protest against this gathering of nations, including Iran and Russia, which are mentioned as Mesheck and Tubal, and others.
Could we be witnessing today a warning of what is soon to come upon the world through the war of Gog and Magog, a war many rabbis believed would be the final great conflict before the coming of the Messiah? In biblical prophecy, this war precedes Armageddon, and the two events appear very close to one another within that future seven-year period.
But the Ships of Tarshish also appear in other end-time prophecies; they are described as victims of the final war at Armageddon. In Psalm 48:7, the Ships of Tarshish are shattered by the east wind, in a context pointing to God’s final intervention in history. These great merchant ships, which represented commercial might, would now be shattered, pointing to God’s dealing with human pride and earthly powers. In Isaiah 2, they also appear during the Day of the Lord, in the Tribulation times.
But here is yet another side to these ships of Tarshish. In Psalm 72:10 and Isaiah 66:19, we find them at the dawn of the Messianic Kingdom, the Millennium, carrying Jewish people back to the land of Israel from the nations of the world, and bearing gifts from the nations to Israel.
In fact, we hear of many ships in the end-times, in the Book of Revelation 18, just before the return of the Messiah. Revelation 18 describes the collapse of the world’s economic and political systems and Babylon’s fall. There, like in the prophecy of the war of Gog and Magog, we read about “the merchants of the earth who became rich” (Revelation 18:3). These merchants occupy a central place in the chapter and are mentioned four times.
But notice that the Greek word for “merchant” is emporos, a term for one who travels by ship for trade. It is related to the word gómos, which refers to the ship’s cargo. Thus, the language clearly points to maritime commerce and international trade across the seas. These ships appear to be part of the same large commercial system.
But there is one more remarkable prophecy to add to this one. We have seen that, originally in Genesis, Tarshish was a grandson of Japhet, and he had a brother named Kittim. In the Scriptures, we also hear of the Ships of Kittim, which are associated with the end times. While those of Tarshish are associated with the economy, the ships of Kittim appear in more geopolitical and military contexts.
The Ships of Kittim are first mentioned in the Book of Numbers 24:17, within Balaam’s prophecy, the same prophecy that speaks of the coming Messiah as the “Star out of Jacob,” the One who will ultimately establish His kingdom on the earth.
It is within this prophetic context that the Ships of Kittim appear, and the prophecy speaks of naval battles. These Ships are mentioned again in the Book of Daniel 11, where another great naval confrontation is described between the Antichrist and opposing maritime powers.
Today, as we witness the growing presence of more than 100 warships and the military tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, one cannot help but wonder whether these developments are foreshadowing even greater naval conflicts yet to come, conflicts that are also reflected in the prophecies of Revelation.
Taken together, the prophecies concerning the Ships of Tarshish and the Ships of Kittim paint a striking picture of commerce and military power, centered on the very place where Bible prophecies indicate they will, in the end, gather, which is the Gulf region. The parallels with what we are witnessing today are difficult to ignore and, again, may serve as a solemn warning of what is yet to come.
Click here for the Video: Israel and the Nations – The Ships of Tarshish and the Strait of Hormuz