Iyyar 12 – And the hand of our God was upon us

May 9, 2025

02 – Iyyar, Ahava, Ezra, Jeremiah, Jerusalem, Revelation

Iyyar 12, 5785; from sunset May 9, 2025, to sunset May 10, 2025

(The twelfth day of the second month)

This is the name “Ezra” (עֶזְרָא) the Scribe as seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls; written by a scribe over two thousand years ago.

Do you remember Ezra? One month ago, on the 12^th day of Nisan, the Bible told us that he and over 1,400 men along with their wives and little ones left Ahava and began their nearly 900-mile journey back to Jerusalem. We promised to check in with them once in a while as they make their way back home.

Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road. – Ezra 8:31 (NKJ)

They probably travelled along the Euphrates River to Aleppo and then down the fertile Beqaa Valley into northern Israel, past the Golan Heights and the Galilee, and on down to Jerusalem. Their journey would take them through parts of what is known as the fertile crescent; a crescent-shaped area from the northern Persian Gulf extending northward along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers reaching to the Mediterranean Sea and then curving south, hugging the coastal regions down towards central Israel.

At the one-month mark of their four-month journey, the returnees are probably about half-way to Aleppo. Our featured image is of the Euphrates River as it appears today in northeastern Syria.

The Euphrates River is mentioned some 21 times in the Bible. It is one of the rivers flowing through Eden (Genesis 2:14). God listed the Euphrates as the northernmost boundary in His promise to the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7, 11:24; Joshua 1:4). David extended his kingdom up to Hamath, near the Euphrates (2 Samuel 8:3; 1 Chronicles 18:3).

The river is mentioned 8 times in the book of Jeremiah, who was sent there by the LORD in chapter 13 to hide a sash and later dig it up – ruined – a metaphor for how the LORD will ruin the great pride of Judah. In chapter 46, the LORD declares to Jeremiah that He will one day take revenge on His enemies.

For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates. – Jeremiah 46:10 (NKJ)

Jeremiah is then commanded to write in a book all of the evil that will come down upon Babylon; and give that book to Seraiah who is to throw it into the Euphrates after he’s read it.

This brings us to the book of Revelation. In chapter 9, it tells us there are four angels stationed at the Euphrates, waiting for the day and the hour for which they have been prepared – to kill a third of mankind. A few chapters later, the Euphrates is mentioned again…

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. – Revelation 16:12 (NKJ)

Interestingly enough, when we looked up the Euphrates on Wikipedia, we found a prediction made by the Iraqi Ministry of Water.

In 2021, the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources reported that the Euphrates river could dry out by 2040 due to climate change and droughts.¹

To read all of our posts about Ezra, please click on the image above.