Messianic rabbi and Religious Right activist Jonathan Cahn continues to make the rounds promoting his new book, “The Paradigm: The Ancient Blueprint That Holds the Mystery of Our Times,” which claims to reveal how various recent and current events were foretold thousands of years ago in the Bible.
For the last three days, Cahn has been pitching his nonsense on James Dobson’s radio program, asserting today that the Bible even foretold of the death of Osama bin Laden and how it would occur.
Cahn believes that bin Laden was a contemporary version of Ben-Hadad, an ancient king of Aram mentioned in the books of 1 & 2 Kings, based on the fact that they have similar sounding names. As Cahn sees it, the death of Ben-Hadad as told in 2 Kings 8 was “the paradigm” of the death of bin Laden in 2011.
“This is going to sound crazy, but the paradigm actually reveals what would happen [to bin Laden],” Cahn said. “In the paradigm, the guy who brings destruction on the land—in this case, Bin Laden; in the ancient case he was named Ben-Hadad—he is confined to his quarters, he can’t leave, basically, his quarters, so he uses messengers. Well, that is exactly what happened to Bin Laden, he couldn’t leave, he had to do that.”
“When he lies on his bed, an assassination will begin,” Cahn continued. “The paradigm says the nemesis will be assassinated—when he lies on his bed, the assassins draw near. Well, Osama bin Laden was lying on his bed in Pakistan when Navy SEAL assassins came near to the compound. And then, in the paradigm, the nemesis will be executed in his bedroom. Well, what happened to Osama bin Laden? He was literally killed in his own bedroom.”
For what it is worth, the passage from 2 Kings on the death of Ben-Hadad hardly mirrors the death of bin Laden, as Ben-Hadad was murdered by his own deputy so that he could become king:
Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,” he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep.
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.
“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”
Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?”
“The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.
Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.
