Jeremiah (who was active between 626 and 586 B.C.) made this prophecy about the descendants of Jacob:
“These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah... ‘How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it... I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. I am with you and will save you,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 30:4-11).
Throughout their history in the Promised Land, the descendants of Jacob have struggled internally, with conflict between the various tribes. The article in the link below explains in great detail why there has been so little peace. It concludes:
“So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day” (1 Kings 12:19). The northern kingdom is called “Israel” (or sometimes “Ephraim”) in Scripture, and the southern kingdom is called “Judah.” From the divine viewpoint, the division was a judgment on not keeping God’s commands, specifically the commands prohibiting idolatry. From a human viewpoint, the division was the result of tribal discord and political unrest. The principle is that sin brings division (1 Corinthians 1:13, 11:18; James 4:1).” https://www.gotquestions.org/Israel-Northern-Southern-kingdoms.html
Conflict in the Middle East has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. Whether it was the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans, the nation of Israel has always been persecuted by its neighbours. Why is this? Basically, it is because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan.
It all goes back to Genesis 12:5-9 when the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Hebrew Scriptures say Isaac was to be the son of promise, through whom all he nations would be blessed. The Qur’an says it was Ishmael. The Qur’an teaches that it was Ishmael whom Abraham almost sacrificed to the Lord, not Isaac (see Genesis 22). This disagreement over who was the son of promise further contributes to today’s hostility in the Middle East.
However, God has promised a reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms:
“He will raise a banner for the nations / and gather the exiles of Israel; / he will assemble the scattered people of Judah / from the four quarters of the earth. / Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, / and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed; / Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, / nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim” (Isaiah 11:12-13).
The Protestant view is that when the Prince of Peace—Jesus Christ—reigns in His millennial kingdom, all hostility, jealousy, and conflict among the tribes will be put to rest.
