Could the “Kings of the East” one day include a vast robot army?
By Chaim Malespin
For generations, a robot army belonged to science fiction. That era is ending.
We already have robotic dogs integrated into military exercises, unmanned systems performing reconnaissance and strike related missions, humanoid robots appearing alongside police, autonomous systems operating across modern battlefields, and governments openly researching humanoid machines for future combat.
My conclusion is simple. In short, the robotic battlefield has already begun.
The question is no longer whether robots will participate in war. The questions are how autonomous they will become, how cheaply they can be mass produced, how many can be fielded, and what happens when artificial intelligence allows enormous numbers of machines to operate cooperatively.
If you want to understand where a robot army would come from, China is the single most important country to watch.
In May 2024, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense confirmed that during the China Cambodia Golden Dragon exercise, different types of drones and robot dogs conducted battlefield reconnaissance, low altitude real time guidance and targeted strike tasks. They participated in urban hostage rescue scenarios, mountainous operations and maritime anti hijacking exercises.
This was not a robotics exhibition. Rather, it was military training.
And the trend has continued. Chinese military media later reported that robot dogs had been integrated directly into indoor assault procedures during a reconnaissance drill by the Chinese People’s Armed Police.
The transition is also visible in civilian security. In February 2025, humanoid PM01 robots appeared publicly in Shenzhen wearing police equipment and patrolling alongside human police officers.
Then came an even more significant development.
Reuters recently reported that Chinese military researchers are actively examining humanoid robots for reconnaissance, logistics, hazardous battlefield missions and possible urban combat roles. One National University of Defense Technology study modelled small teams of combat robots clearing enemy held buildings alongside troops. Analysts quoted in the same reporting suggested armed humanoids could become practical within five to ten years. Chinese manufacturers also accounted for roughly ninety five percent of global humanoid robot shipments last year, although serious technical limitations remain, particularly in reliability, power consumption and autonomous decision making.
So I believe full military integration is only a matter of time. In other words, the robot army is not a fantasy. It is an engineering roadmap.
To be clear, it would not necessarily be an army consisting entirely of human shaped robots. That picture is far too narrow.
The future robot army could consist of:
One human commander could potentially oversee many machines, while autonomous systems communicate directly with one another.
And this brings me back to Revelation.
Revelation gives an extraordinary number:
“The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.”
Revelation 9:16
Twice ten thousand times ten thousand. That is exactly where the figure of 200 million comes from.
Then, separately, Revelation 16:12 describes the Euphrates being prepared for “the kings from the East.”
We must be precise here. Revelation does not say “China.” It does not say “robots.” And Scripture does not explicitly tell us that the 200 million force of Revelation 9 and the kings from the East of Revelation 16 are the same army.
But I believe we should ask whether modern technology is beginning to make something previously considered logistically impossible suddenly imaginable.
Think about 200 million human soldiers. They need enormous quantities of food. Water. Housing. Medical care. Transportation. Training. Sanitation. Command structures. Sleep. Morale.
Now imagine a future force in which one “soldier” might weigh forty kilograms and come off an automated production line.
It does not eat. It does not sleep. Fear never touches it. Such a machine can potentially communicate instantly with other machines. Moreover, it can fly, crawl, drive, swim or walk. Its software can be updated simultaneously across huge numbers of units.
Suddenly, numbers that once seemed impossible deserve another look.
Again, that does not prove Revelation is describing robots. But it certainly changes what is technologically conceivable.
There is another dimension I personally watch.
Revelation 16 specifically mentions the Euphrates in connection with preparing the way for the kings from the East.
When I look at the modern geography, I consider the possibility of a future eastern coalition pushing westward toward the Middle East and ultimately toward Israel. One conceivable route would bring forces toward or through the region of Turkey and Syria before approaching Israel.
That route is my own geopolitical and prophetic interpretation. Revelation itself does not say, “They will march through Turkey and Syria.”
But put a map in front of you. Look eastward across Eurasia. Look at the Euphrates basin. Then find Turkey and Syria. Finally, look at Israel.
Then overlay the rapid growth of autonomous warfare and the emerging robot army.
For that reason, I believe Israel should think about that scenario before it ever becomes reality.
Israel is hardly standing still while a robot army takes shape elsewhere.
Yaron Sarig, who heads the artificial intelligence and autonomy portfolio at the Israel Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense Research and Development, described the recent conflict as the first robotics war.
He said Israel had already deployed tens of thousands of autonomous systems across the battlefield, from drone swarms to agile ground robotics, and that Israel intends to significantly expand its robotic capabilities on land, in the air and at sea.
That statement matters enormously.
We are no longer discussing a hypothetical robotic battlefield decades from now. On the contrary, parts of it already exist.
My concern is what happens when today’s tens of thousands become tomorrow’s millions.
There is also a fascinating image from history.
More than two thousand years ago, China constructed the Terracotta Army for Qin Shi Huang: thousands of clay warriors representing an enormous military force associated with the emperor’s burial complex.
Completely separately, Jewish folklore developed the idea of the golem, an artificial being traditionally associated with earth or clay and animated to fulfill a particular purpose, sometimes as a protector.
Of course, I am not saying the two traditions came from one another. Even so, the symbolism is remarkable. Artificial protectors formed from the earth.
Genesis describes Adam:
וַיִיצֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה
“And יהוה Elohim formed man from the dust of the ground.”
Genesis 2:7
For the ancient world, the material was clay. For our generation, the new clay is metal, carbon fiber, silicon, processors, sensors, batteries and artificial intelligence.
Humanity is once again creating things in its own image.
If hostile nations eventually possess an enormous robot army, Israel cannot wait until those systems are approaching our borders before beginning to develop the answer.
I call that answer, symbolically, the Israeli Golem.
Not one huge robot wandering around like something from a bad science fiction movie. An entire autonomous defensive ecosystem.
It must be able to operate on land, in the air, at sea, and eventually across all three environments seamlessly.
It could include aerial interceptors, ground robotics, amphibious platforms, autonomous reconnaissance systems, unmanned engineering equipment, counter drone systems and machine to machine coordination.
Future Israeli defense may require robots specifically designed to defeat hostile robots while keeping Israeli soldiers farther from danger.
Israel has already declared that robotic capabilities will expand substantially across land, air and sea. The challenge now is staying ahead of an adversary that could someday manufacture autonomous systems at tremendous scale.
A robot army will never fight alone. Future warfare will increasingly involve several layers operating together:
The purpose is not to remove humans from moral responsibility for warfare. Quite the opposite.
The more powerful autonomous systems become, the more seriously nations must address human control, accountability and the laws of armed conflict. Those ethical and legal questions are already part of the international debate surrounding military humanoids.
But technologically, Israel must assume that hostile machines will become faster, cheaper and more numerous.
There is another enormous vulnerability in a robotic world. Electromagnetic pulse.
The more civilization depends upon electronics, the more important electromagnetic resilience becomes.
An EMP can potentially disrupt or permanently damage electronic components and larger electrical systems, depending on the type of event, the exposure and the protection involved. The United States government treats EMP resilience as a critical infrastructure concern.
Imagine a battlefield filled with autonomous robots, drones, sensors, communications equipment and artificial intelligence. Now imagine suddenly disrupting the electronics upon which all of those systems depend.
As a result, this creates another dimension of future warfare.
I am not proposing that civilians create EMP weapons. That would be absurdly dangerous. Instead, I am talking about surviving one.
This is where preparedness becomes extremely practical.
There are purpose built EMP protected enclosures and Faraday type containers designed to shield critical electronics from electromagnetic energy. Homeland Security guidance specifically identifies small shielded cabinets or enclosures, commonly called Faraday cages, as one approach to EMP protection.
For household preparedness, I believe we should develop tested protective cases where families can preserve essential backup electronics such as:
Above all, the key is that these devices are stored inside a properly engineered electromagnetic shield.
Some preparedness systems may place such protected containers in underground or otherwise protected storage for additional physical security. But simply burying an ordinary metal box does not automatically make it EMP protected. The critical element is verified electromagnetic shielding and proper enclosure design.
So the concept I believe Israel should examine is very straightforward. A standardized, tested electromagnetic protection container for every family that wants one.
Put essential backup electronics inside it. Seal it. Keep it protected and accessible. And if a particular system is engineered for underground protected storage, install it according to that tested design.
The purpose would be simple. If the normal electronic environment suddenly collapses, families still have access to critical communications and information afterward.
Not panic. Resilience.
At the national level, this becomes much larger. Protected military communications. Hardened electronics. Redundant command systems. Protected power. Resilient robotic platforms. Shielded critical infrastructure.
The official guidance itself emphasizes protecting systems end to end, because the failure of even one critical component can disrupt an entire system.
That principle becomes extremely important in a robot army. A brilliant autonomous machine that cannot function after electromagnetic disruption is not much of a future weapon.
The Israeli Golem must therefore be intelligent, autonomous where appropriate, networked, hardened, redundant and survivable.
Look at the timeline.
And Chinese industry is producing humanoid robots on a scale unmatched anywhere else, even though the technology still faces significant limitations.
Where will the robot army be in five years? In ten? In twenty?
That is why I believe we need to think now.
200 million. Revelation 9:16.
I keep returning to that number. Not because I can prove exactly how Revelation will unfold. But because technology is changing the boundaries of what humanity can physically produce and deploy.
The future soldier can fly. It can travel underwater. Land presents no obstacle either. It can operate day and night. Furthermore, it can communicate with thousands of other machines. Above all, it can be manufactured rather than born.
And eventually, enormous armies may contain vastly more machines than human beings.
So watch China. Watch artificial intelligence and autonomous warfare. Then keep your eyes on the Euphrates, the changing Middle East, Turkey and Syria. Above all, watch Israel.
The ancient Terracotta Army was made from clay. The Jewish golem was imagined as an artificial protector. The machines of our generation are being formed from metal and code.
Israel must make sure that if a future robot army ever moves toward us, our answer has already been built.
The future battlefield is not beginning someday. In fact, it has already begun. And the appropriate response is not fear. If you want to keep walking through these things with us, read more of our writing on Israel and the nations and on the hope of Israel and the Kingdom of Elohim.
Watch. Discern. Prepare.
