Ezekiel part 4—Visions

Ezekiel & the Valley of Dry Bones

Ezek 1—vision of heaven, or God’s control center
     It’s the 31st year (of what? Possibly Ezekiel’s life), 5th year of the captivity of the Jewish king Jehoichin.  Ezekiel is among the captives settled by the river Chebar.  Ezekiel is a priest (tribe of Levi).
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/1-1.htm scroll down to the commentary regarding the year
https://www.biblestudy.org/meaning-names/chebar.html about Chebar
     
Elements of the vision:
1.	A whirlwind from the north, including a great cloud and a bright amber colored fire inside
2.	4 humanlike creatures come out of the fire, each has 4 faces and 4 wings; their feet like calves’ feet of burnished brass in color, their hands like humans.  They move only straight forward.
3.	The 4 faces of each:  a man and a lion on the right, an ox and an eagle on the left.  Each of the creatures is bright, apparently from the color of coals to that of a lamp, to lightning from one end to the other; the creatures move back and forth as a flash of lightning.
4.	A wheel/ring or wheels/rings the color of beryl (principally emerald or aquamarine gemstones), one wheel inside the other (like a wheel hub?), with eyes all around, accompanying each creature whenever it moves.  The spirit of each creature is in its wheels/rings.  It seems the wheels/rings fold up when they go, like airplane wheels.
5.	The sky is on their straight wings (the description sounds more and more like modern jets, the faces perhaps insignias, the eyes all around symbolic of guidance systems).  When they move the noise is like great waters or a large army, like the voice of the Almighty in speaking.
6.	Above the sky over the heads of the creatures is a throne the color of sapphire.  A being in the image/likeness of a man is on the throne.  This being is bright as an amber colored fire.  This is all overarched by a rainbow.  “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.”

     Chapters 2-3 follow, the calling of Ezekiel to be a prophet, a watchman to warn Israel of the past, present, and future.  See Ezekiel part 1, then parts 2 & 3.

Ezek 8-10 (compare Dan 7, Rev 4:7-9)
Ezek 8—Ezekiel is shown the abominable idol worship the Israelites have imported
“And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me . . .”
     Ezekiel sees a man whose lower part appears fiery with an upper body of amber colored brightness.  This man takes Ezekiel by a lock of hair with his hand and lifts him up between earth and heaven.  He brings him to see the north gate of Jerusalem.  Ezekiel sees the seat of the image that provoked God to jealousy, and he sees that the “glory of the God of Israel was there”, just like he had seen in his previous vision in the plain.
     Next this spirit/man (speaking in first person as God) has him look further to the north at the gate of the idolatrous altar, and the worshippers who commit abominations which offend God so that He leaves his sanctuary/Temple.  Ezekiel is brought to the door of the court (of the Temple) where he sees a hole in the wall.  He is told to dig in the wall, and sees a door.  He is bid to go in and witness the abominations committed in the place.   He sees idols in the form of all kinds of beasts and creeping things.   There 70 ancient Temple workers, led by Jaazaniah, with incense censers/vessels a-smoking thinking they can get away with worshipping in the dark, as if the Lord couldn’t see them, as if the Lord had forsaken the earth.  Ezekiel is shown even worse:  at the northern gate of the Temple sit women weeping for Tammuz.  Tammuz was a Mesopotamian (later Syrian & Phoenician) god associated with the seasons & fertility, whose worship involved mourning followed by “obscene revels”.
https://biblehub.com/topical/t/tammuz.htm 
     Even greater abominations are shown to Ezekiel.  In the inner court of the Temple (“the Lord’s house”) are 25 men worshipping the sun in the east.  “Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence . . .”  For all this the Lord is furious with the Israelites, and vows not to spare them, nor have pity when they cry out loudly to Him.  He refuses to hear them.

Ezek 9—Six “men” go through the city killing all those who don’t care what the city has become
     The vision continues:  6 men who have charge over Jerusalem are called to come forward with their destroying weapons.  One of these is clothed in linen and has a writer’s inkhorn with him.  These 6 stand before the brass altar.  The “glory of the God of Israel” leaves His angelic seat and comes before the 6 men.  He calls to the linen-clad writer and tells him to go all through the city and set a mark on the foreheads for the men that sigh & cry over the abominations done in the city.  The others are to follow him and kill everyone else (old & young, women & children), beginning at the Temple.  Compare the Passover story.  They are to defile the Temple by filling it with the bodies of the slain.  
     While all this killing is going on, Ezekiel is left and falls on his face crying, Lord, will you kill all the remaining Israelites in your fury?  He is answered:  The iniquity of the Israelites is so horrible, and the land is full of blood, the city full of perversity (because they say the Lord has left the earth and doesn’t see anything going on here), I will have no pity on them.  “I will recompense their way upon their head.”  
     The man in linen reports that he has done as commanded.

Ezek 10—compare this vision to that in chapter 1
     This is a very difficult chapter/vision, not unlike chapter 1.  We might speculate, but we don’t really know what Ezekiel saw.  Most probably we would have described it differently, but maybe not.

The elements of this chapter/vision:
1.	In the sky above the head of the cherubims (angels?) is something like a sapphire-colored throne. See chapter 1.
2.	The Being on this throne speaks to the man dressed in linen (of chapter 9):  Go between the “wheels”, under the cherub, and fill your hand with the coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them [the coals] over the city.  Ezekiel sees the linen-clad being go in to do so, and after acquiring the coals comes out.  See https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/10-2.htm “the wheelwork” might also be translated a whirlwind, which might be associated with the cloudy pillar as mentioned below.
3.	The cherubims (angels? Apparatuses?) are on the right side of the house (presumably the Temple).  When the man goes in, a cloud fills the inner court (compare the cloudy pillar that accompanied the Children of Israel in their Exodus from Egypt; this is symbolic of the presence of God).  The glory/brightness of the Lord goes up from the cherub (winged creature or the seat of God in the Holy of Holies of the Temple) and was positioned above the threshold of the house/Temple.  The entire Temple is filled with the cloud/the bright glory of the Lord.
4.	The sound of the cherubims’ wings is heard in the outer court of the Temple, as loud or penetrating as the voice of Almighty God.  
5.	Under the cherubim’s wings is something in the form/shape of a human hand.  Each of 4 cherubs/cherubim has an associated wheel.  The wheels are the color of beryl (emerald or aquamarine).  The 4 look alike, as if one wheel is inside another.  They move “upon their four sides” (directions?); like those described in chapter 1, they go straight in whatever direction they are headed.  Their whole bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels are full of eyes.  Each has 4 faces:  a cherub, a man, a lion, and an eagle (compare to chapter 1.  A cherub instead of an ox).  They are lifted up.  
6.	If the “creatures” (or apparatuses) of chapter 1 are jets, these sound as if they could be helicopters (maybe drones?).  How would an ancient person living 5-600 years before Christ describe such things as modern jets and helicopters, that seemed to be animated by their own spirits?  Their whirling blades hardly look solid; they might look similar to the color of a gem.  They have mechanisms to grab or to drop things from their underbellies.  The coals/embers of fire could refer to fuel/propulsion, but as it is dropped on the city, it could also represent modern bombs.  Again, the eyes could symbolize their guidance/detection systems.  They certainly cause a whirlwind of air.  The question is, are these visions metaphors of the ancient destruction of Jerusalem, or a future destruction, or both?  Are these creatures/cherubims strictly metaphoric, or did Ezekiel see tangible creatures/things?
7.	The glory/brightness of the Lord leaves the door of the Temple, and overarches the cherubims, which mount/raise themselves up, and come to the east gate of the Temple. 

Ezek 11—part of a vision described in Ezek 8-10, the wicked will be recompensed for their sins; the Lord promises to be with those who have been scattered, & gather them back to the land of Israel
     Ezekiel is taken by the Spirit to the east gate of the Temple and shown 25 men, including 2 particular princes of the people.  He is told they are the ones devising mischief and giving wicked counsel to the city.  The counsel of verse 3 is difficult to understand without more background than I have, so I refer in deference to the explanations given at the following link:
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/11-3.htm  
     So Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy against these men:  I, the Lord, know what you think.  You have filled the streets of the city with the slain/killed.  They are the flesh in the caldron (cooking pot).  You think you are protected from the sword within the walls of the city (the caldron), but I will bring the sword of war into the city.  I will bring you out of the city, where you will fall into the hands of your enemies to be killed, and you will know that I am the Lord.   You have not kept the Law of Moses, but have gone after the practices of the heathen nations around you [and that’s why you are in this predicament].
     When Ezekiel hears that one of the men he prophesied against has died, he falls face down and cries out with a loud voice, My God!  Are you going to kill off all of Israel?  But the Lord answers, The people of Jerusalem have said to all the rest of the House of Israel that I, the Lord, have given all the land of Israel to them, and I am only for them.  But though the Israelites are scattered among other countries, “yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.”  I, the Lord, will gather the Children of Israel from the countries where they have been scattered, and bring them back to the land of Israel.  They will cleanse the land from the abominations of idols, while those who have served those abominable idols will be recompensed for their sins.  
     Regarding those whom I will bring home to the land of Israel, “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
     The rest of the chapter is a bookend to the vision of chapters  8-10.

Ezek 37-39 (Valley of Dry Bones, Gog & Magog, comp Rev 20:7-10)
Ezek 37—the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, and 2 books that will come together
     Ezekiel is carried away in vision to a valley full of very dry old bones.  The Lord asks him whether these bones could live.  Ezekiel knows there’s more to the question than he can answer, and says God knows.  The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones that God will cause them to breathe again and come to life.  God will flesh them out, give them sinews and skin.  Thus, they will know that He is the Lord (He is all-powerful and in charge).  
     So Ezekiel prophesies as he has been told, and with noise and shaking the bones of the skeletons come together, gain sinews, flesh, and skin.  The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy/command the winds (from the 4 directions) to breathe into the bodies the breath of life.  All this is done, and they stand as an “exceeding great army.”  
     The Lord explains that this resuscitated army represents the entire House of Israel, who consider themselves dried up old bones without hope.  Then the Lord says, “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.  And ye shall know that I am the Lord . . .”  He will bring them back to their own land, and they will know that what the Lord says, He does.  Metaphorically, the Israelites were buried in foreign lands, which seemed the death of them as a nation.
     
15 ¶ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

     The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considers these verses fulfilled, at least in part, by the Book of Mormon (written by descendants of Joseph) and the Bible (written by descendants of Judah) coming together as one witness for Jesus Christ.  
     The Lord instructs Ezekiel to explain to any Israelites who ask the meaning that these represent bringing together the Children of Israel from the lands where they have been dispersed, back to their homeland where they will be one nation, rather than two as they have been.   God will cleanse them from their sins, “so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.”  A descendant of King David’s lineage will rule them, “and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments [do Justice, behave justly] , and observe my statutes [God’s Laws], and do them.”  [compare John 10:16] 
     The Lord promises Israel that they will live forever in the land He gave to their ancestor Jacob, and makes an everlasting covenant of peace with them.  He will settle them, increase their population, and establish forever His Temple among them.  When the heathen [non-believers] see the Lord establish His Temple among them, they will know that it is He who has made them holy.
     It seems apparent that this final gathering of Israel is not yet complete, with everlasting peace and a Temple.  Of course, the peace He speaks of may be between Himself and them, or peace in their hearts despite adversity in their lives (see Luke 2:14 God grants His good will/disposition/inclination to men; and John 14:27 & John 16:33 God’s peace vs tribulations and troubles).   When the Samaritan woman (a descendant of the people resettled in Israel after the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon) asked Jesus whether people should worship where the Samaritans had built a temple (which had been destroyed) on Mt Gerizim, or in the Temple at Jerusalem, Jesus replied that, rather than in a Temple built of stone, “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.”  For info about the Samaritan place of worship, see 
https://www.compellingtruth.org/Mount-Gerizim.html 

Ezek 38-39—Gog of Magog, Meshech and Tubal:  apparently some future time
     Gog is spoken of as being from the land of Magog, and the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.  It appears that he has as allies Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, and Libya, Gomer & Togarmah (northern nations).  After the Israelites are gathered & returned to their land from being scattered, and are settled peacefully, this confederation of peoples will come against the nation of Israel, “Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.”  
     The thought of this invasion force is to  “go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates . . . take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.”  Sheba, Dedan, and the traders of Tarshish question the intention of the confederation, this huge & mighty army, who descends upon Israel and cover it like a cloud.
     The Lord has foretold from ancient times (more ancient than Ezekiel), by His servants the prophets of Israel this invading force against Israel.  Fear would infect all the inhabitants (even the animals) of the land.  No doubt such a massive army would scare off the creatures of the earth, as well as the humans.  But the Lord will unleash His fury, that the army will turn against itself (“every man’s sword shall be against his brother”), epidemics will rage, blood, flooding, hailstorms, fire & brimstone.  Thus the Lord will be recognized/acknowledged by many nations.  It sounds like only a sixth of the invaders will survive.
     Possibly this fire & brimstone could represent a volcanic eruption that not only rains down on the land of Magog, but on the carefree isles of the [prob Mediterranean] sea.  (Ezek 39:6)
     For 7 years the Israelites have no need to gather fuel for their fires/heat/energy from their fields and forests, they will burn their enemy’s implements of war.  The Israelites will spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them.  The stench will afflict all who pass by, so that the multitudes of Gog’s armies will be buried there.  (Valley of Hamon-Gog means The Valley of the multitudes of Gog)  It will take 7 months to bury them all.  Any travelers seeing bones will set up a sign so that all may be buried, and cleanse the land of them.   A city will rise from the burial.
     The Lord likens the destruction of the vast army as a sacrifice for the sake of the scavenging birds and animals.  The miraculous salvation of Israel will show them that they can put their trust in God, and He will take care of them “from that day forward.”  The unbelievers will realize that Israel went into captivity because the Lord turned from them as they had turned from Him.  But now He will have mercy on them, and be watchful of them, attentive to them, in order to keep His name holy.  After they have borne the shame for their iniquities, they will live in safety and without fear in their land.  They will know that God led them into captivity, and then out of it.   “Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.”
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/38-2.htm
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/39-1.htm
https://www.gotquestions.org/Meshech-and-Tubal.html
https://biblehub.com/topical/h/hamon-gog.htm 
https://biblehub.com/dictionary/h/hamonah.htm

Ezek 40-48 vision of a future Temple in Israel, see Rev 21, 22:1-7
1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither.
2 In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.
     Ezekiel sees a man measuring a City and its Temple in Israel.  He is to share what he sees to the House of Israel, I suppose to reassure them that the Lord has future plans for them that are beyond what they might have imagined.  One might compare the details of this future Temple to that of Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 5-8), and the Tabernacle tent they carried with them in the wilderness for 40 years (Exodus 25-31, 35-40), and settled it in Gilgal, then Shiloh a couple hundred years, back to Gilgal, etc.  See links below.
http://www.biblefellowshipunion.co.uk/2008/Jan_Feb/JourTabr.htm history of the Tabernacle
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-first-temple-solomon-s-temple about Solomon’s Temple
     But it’s not my purpose to detail the city & Temple of Ezekiel’s vision.  Perhaps at some point that will be important, but I think not at this point.  For those interested, see
https://biblehub.com/bsb/ezekiel/40.htm   Ezekiel 40, scroll down for info about the chapter
https://biblehub.com/bsb/ezekiel/41.htm chapter 41 . . . click to continue forward, if you want  
https://www.gotquestions.org/Ezekiel-temple.html a general discussion of this vision 
https://www.esv.org/resources/esv-global-study-bible/chart-26-temple-plan/ plan view drawing
https://www.esv.org/about/ abour ESV
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ezekiel/ Ezekiel from a Jewish perspective
https://books.google.com/books/about/Messiah_s_Coming_Temple.html?id=6Y0yVMRxpHgC 1997 book about Ezekiel’s envisioned Temple

To conclude:  Ezekiel's visions can be challenging to understand.  Perhaps they will become more clear as they are fulfilled.  But until then, let us take what we can understand from them and find meaning for them in our lives . . . That God has not abandoned the earth nor His people.  He knows all that's going on, and everyone will be recompensed for their choices.  He will help & protect those who choose Him, even through troubled times. Though the circumstances of the nation of Israel look hopeless, with enemies gathered against them round about, God will make them victorious.  Our own nation is full of sin & wickedness, for which we will be recompensed, but God will save the nation for His sake, and for the sake of those who rely on Him.  

Ezekiel part 2—False Prophets, Wickedness, Destruction vs Repentance

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0_Venise,_%27Ezechiel%27_-_Bas_relief_en_marbre_-_Sta_Maria_Gloriosa_dei_Frari.JPG

Ezek 4—Ezekiel is to portray the history of Israel’s wickedness, and the destruction of Jerusalem
     The Lord has Ezekiel portray the siege of  Jerusalem on a tile.  He’s to build a fort and a mound against it, and a camp against it with battering rams.  He’s to set an iron pan between him and the city to separate himself from the city, and the plight of its destruction.
     Ezekiel is to lay on his left side for 390 days, symbolizing the years of the iniquity of the House of Israel, then he’s to lay on his right side 40 days, symbolizing suffering for the iniquity of the House of Judah.  These appear to refer to the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah.  From the days of Jeroboam, I don’t recall a righteous king of the northern kingdom.  The kings of Judah seemed to alternate between good and evil.  The kingdom of Judah lasted another 125 years after the northern kingdom was destroyed and carried away by the Assyrians, more or less.  King David reigned 40 years, and Solomon reigned 40 years.  If we subtract the 80 years of David & Solomon from the 464 of the kingdom of Judah, we have 384 years.  But Solomon built temples for the idols of his foreign wives when he was old, so that might account for the discrepancy of about 6 years.
https://bible-history.com/old-testament/kings-israel Kings of Israel reigned 208 years, all evil
https://www.jewishhistory.org/review-of-the-judean-kings/ Judean Kings, abt 464 yrs, both good & evil
     About the 40 years: Josiah reigned in righteousness 30 years, and righteous Hezekiah reigned 6 years before Assyria captured the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 18) . . . one might say they suffered for the wickedness of the unrighteous kings of both Israel & Judah.  The other 4 years could refer to when wicked Manasseh returned repentant to his kingship in Judah.  All this is speculation.
     Through the 390 days Ezekiel is to eat 20 shekels’ weight (perhaps abt 10 oz) of bread made with wheat/barley/beans/lentils/millet/fitches (another type of grain).   His water allowance was perhaps between 1-2 cups a day.  His bread is to be prepared like a barley cake, baked over a fire made with human waste.  This would be considered as defiled, and Ezekiel recoils from the idea, as he has kept the Law of Moses strictly all his life.  The Lord relents and allows him to use cow “patties” as his fuel.  All this is representative of the famine that the people of Jerusalem would suffer while besieged by Babylon for 30 months.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/4-10.htm 
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/4-11.htm 
https://bible-history.com/map-babylonian-captivity/timeline-of-events from 612 to 516 BC (in years)
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/antiquities-of-jews/babylon-destroys-jerusalem-temple.html re: Josephus’ account, and notes on the Babylonian attacks on the kingdom of Judah

Ezek 5—the Israelites will suffer for their sins:  1/3 die of famine & pestilence, 1/3 by the sword, 1/3 will be scattered
     The Lord tells Ezekiel to shave his head and beard, an extreme cultural taboo for an Israelite.  One third of the hair is to be burned, another third is to be cut to bits with a knife, and the last third is to be scattered in the wind.  All this is to symbolize the burning of Jerusalem (at the end of the siege), death by the sword of many of the inhabitants, and the scattering/captivity of the rest.  
     The Lord accuses the inhabitants of Jerusalem of being worse than their neighboring countries, in that while their population has grown more than their neighbors, they have refused to keep the commandments and laws given through Moses.  In fact, they have changed the Lord’s laws into wickedness worse than the other nations.  In consequence, the Lord will treat them as never before or in future:  fathers will eat their sons and sons will eat their fathers (no doubt because of the famine caused by war), those left after the war will be scattered in every direction.  Because they have defiled the temple with abominations (idol worship), the Lord will show no pity.  A third will die from pestilence and famine, another third will fall by the sword (in battle), and a third will be scattered to the winds and chased by the sword.  Thus will they know that the Lord is in charge, and He will find comfort in executing Justice for their misdeeds.  The Lord will see their nation wasted, and they will be seen as a reproach/taunt/instruction/astonishment to all their neighboring countries and those who see them.  

Ezek 6—a prophecy of the destruction of the idols & worshippers, and the land of Israel; yet a remnant will be saved, captive among the nations, where they will come to know the Lord and be disgusted with themselves for their abominations.
     Ezekiel prophecies to the mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys of Israel, that is, to the land of Israel, the destruction of the idols and those who worship them (generally in “high places”).    “Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.  So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord.”  (This is the only mention of Diblath in the Bible, an unknown place).
     The House of Israel will be slain by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.  “He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.”  Yet the Lord will save a remnant of Israel, scattered captives among the nations, who will remember Him and loathe themselves for their sins and abominations.

Ezek 7—a reiteration of God’s recompense to the Israelites for their wickedness/abominations
     This chapter is seems a poetic one; it doesn’t say anything new, but uses imagery to make the predictions more memorable.  An end is come to the 4 corners/quarters of the land of Israel (all the land of the 2 kingdoms, Israel & Judah), the Lord will not have pity on the people, and they will know that it is the Lord that is doing this to them.  
     Ezekiel uses the image of dawn turning to day, and of a budding tree branch, describing wicked developments and violence in the land.  None will express mourning (by wailing) for them.  The buyer won’t rejoice in the bargains he finds, the seller won’t bemoan losing money on the deal (as in ordinary commerce):  all will feel the wrath of God, and none of them will be able to return to, nor strengthen their financial position through their wickedness.    
     A trumpet is blown to call the soldiers to battle, but none are able to go (because God has wreaked havoc on them).  Warfare is outside the city (any out there are killed by the sword) and famine & pestilence inside.  Any who do manage to escape to the mountains will sound like Mourning Doves for their iniquities.  
     All will have feeble hands and be weak in the knees (see Heb 12:12, and the link below that speaks of paralysis:  people will be paralyzed with fear).   People will dress in sackcloth (as for mourning), and be in shame (baldness would be considered a state of shame for the people at that time & place).  
https://biblehub.com/hebrews/12-12.htm
     Gold and silver will be useless to save the people from starvation (because their riches were their stumbling blocks in iniquity, keeping them from turning to God).  Their beautiful ornaments they used for idolatry/abominations, so God has taken them away from them and given them to their enemies as spoil (which enemies will pollute them with their own abominations).  The conquering enemies will enter the inner recesses of the Temple (which were kept sacred, separate from other nations) and rob them and defile them.
     In response to the bloody crimes and violence of the city(ies) of Jerusalem (Judah & Israel), the people will be taken in chains by the worst of the heathen, who will take possession of the Israelites’ houses.  The pomp/pride of the powerful will cease, and their holy places will be defiled.  Destruction will come, and despite their efforts to find peace/allies, there will be none.  One mischief, one rumor (of bad news) will follow another.  They’ll seek for help/vision/counsel from prophets, priests, and elders, but none will be able to give them good news.  The king and his retinue will mourn and be de-solate (incapable of solace).  People will be too troubled to know what to do.  The Lord will give them what they deserve, and they will know that He is God.

Ezek 13—vs false prophets, both male & female
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
3 Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! . . .
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word . . .
10 ¶ Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace . . .
17 ¶ Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them . . . 
22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
     Ezekiel reproves the false prophets of Israel for not protecting the nation with Truth, like a hedge or a wall without gaps/holes.  The false prophets will be excommunicated from Israel and deleted from their records.  When this comes to pass all will recognize the supremacy of God.   He likens them to wall builders whose work will be destroyed before it sets up.  Whether the storm, winds, and hailstones are figurative or literal, I’m not sure, but the image is what is important:  what false prophets build will be destroyed.
     Likewise, I’m not sure what the pillows sewn to the armholes of women prophesying falsely, or how the kerchiefs figure, but the important message is that they will be punished for seducing Israel away from the true God.  God will at last save His people from the wiles of these cons.

Ezek 14—when people ask for counsel or help from the Lord, He will answer them as they deserve
     A group of elders comes to Ezekiel for counsel from the Lord.  But the Lord accuses them of setting up idols in their hearts and iniquity before their faces, blocking them from communion with the Lord.  The Lord asks, Why should I listen to their inquiries?  The Lord will answer them as they deserve:
     “Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations . . . [all those who separate themselves from God by setting up idols in his heart, and block themselves from seeing/believing/living for God] . . . I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
     The Lord says He will destroy false prophets from among His people.  “That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.”
     When a nation sins against God, He will send famine upon them, and noisy carnivores (making people afraid to even pass through the land), or warfare, or pestilence/pandemic.  Then though 3 of the greatest prophets were among them (Noah, Daniel, and Job), those 3 would only save their own souls, by their own righteousness.  Such is a warning to Jerusalem.
     And yet, there will be a remnant that will return, and they will be comforted after all the afflictions the Lord has caused them to suffer.  They “shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.”  In other words, they will come to recognize that God had reason for sending/allowing all these troubles.

Ezek 15—Jerusalem is likened to a woody vine that is useless but for burning as a fuel
     The wood of a woody vine is worthless for building useful things.  It is tossed in the fire for fuel and is burned.  Before it was burned it was useless, and afterward even moreso.  The Lord will give Jerusalem to be burned, because its people were just as useless as the woody vine.  They will escape one fire to be devoured by another.  He will make the land desolate because of their sins, “and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.”  
     Perhaps these words seem harsh, but how often have we seen people who do nothing worthwhile with their potential, but waste their lives and end up destroying themselves and sometimes they take others down with them.  How frustrating it must be to God!  It’s no use pretending that God doesn’t have emotions, as the scriptures speak of them often.  
     We have already seen how the Lord judges every individual for the choices s/he makes, and in the end, all will be made right.  He offers His mercy to all, as all are given the chance to change/repent/be forgiven.  Justice demands consequences for choices:  good consequences for good choices (obedience and repentance—both implying humility), and dreadful consequences for disobedience and refusal to repent (both implying self-conceit, egotism, arrogance, insolence and a host of like traits).

Ezek 16—the Lord through Ezekiel likens Jerusalem’s history in terms of a child the Lord rescued and cared for, but she became an adulterous wife, even a whore
     Jerusalem was a Jebusite/Amorite city in the land of Canaan.  It would appear from the text that it allied itself with the ancient Hittites.  Thus, Jerusalem is spoken of as having an Amorite father and a Hittite mother.  See Judges 1:21, Deut 7:1, and 1 Chron 1:13-14, Gen 10:16 which list the various peoples living in Canaan before the Israelites.
https://biblehub.com/genesis/10-16.htm 
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jerusalem-from-canaanite-city-to-israelite-capital
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/who-were-the-hittites/  note that not all academic or scientific theories turn out to be true
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hittites 
     Ezekiel writes that Jerusalem was not given the ordinary care that a newborn would get.  The Lord saw her, took pity on her, raised her, and took her in a marriage covenant (note the reference to spreading His skirt over her, as Boaz did Ruth, a sign of taking a woman under his protection).  He clothed and fed her richly (prospered Jerusalem).    But then she/Jerusalem was enamored with her own beauty (prosperity), and played the harlot with anyone passing by (such as neighboring gods).  She used her riches for idolatry.  She even sacrificed her children to idols.  “Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?”  She has forgotten where she came from and who rescued her.  
     An alternate understanding is that Jerusalem here is used as a symbol of the Israelites or Jews, whom God rescued from Egyptian neglect & abuse.  
     Now Jerusalem has idols in every street.  She prostitutes herself to all, including the Egyptians and/or their gods.  The Lord has allowed the Philistines, who hate her, to take out their despite on Jerusalem.  Jerusalem played the whore with the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, and still wasn’t satisfied.  (Note that Israelite & Jewish kings had sought alliances with the Assyrians & Babylonians, and no doubt brought their gods back to their people). 
     And yet, the Lord says, Jerusalem was not like a harlot who takes money for her services, but like an adulterous wife, who gives her husband’s gifts to her lovers.  Because of this, the Lord will gather all her lovers and bare/shame her before them all.  He will treat her as a woman who breaks her wedding vows.  Her lovers will break her down, strip her of her goods, leave her destitute.  They will stone her and thrust her through with swords.  They will burn her houses with fire.  “Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God . . .”  Only then will the Lord be quiet and no more angry.
     The proverb “As is the mother, so is her daughter” will be used to describe Jerusalem.  That is, Jerusalem is like her Hittite mother.  She and her sisters, Samaria and Sodom are alike.  Since Sodom was destroyed in Abraham’s era, this seems to be calling a city of Ezekiel’s time by that name (probably one that was known for the same indecent behavior as Sodom).  Their daughters are probably reference to nearby suburban cities or villages that were settled by, or subject to, them.  But Jerusalem is even worse than those cities.  Samaria wasn’t guilty of half Jerusalem’s sins.  Those cities felt justified in their behavior because of Jerusalem, and that merits even more the condemnation of Jerusalem.
     This Sodom and her daughters were guilty of pride/haughtiness, abundance of food, idleness (remember the “Idle hands” proverb), and not caring for their poor, beside their abominable behavior.  So the Lord had them carried away captive.
     Yet one day, the Lord will bring back Jerusalem and her two sisters.  He will make an everlasting covenant with Jerusalem and make her sister cities her daughters, though not of the covenant.  That is, Jerusalem will reign over those other cities.  Jerusalem will be properly humble, and the Lord will be pacified toward her.

Ezek 17—a riddle/parable:  the eagles & the cedars
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs…
     Then a 2nd similar eagle comes along.  The vine [we might call it a low shrub] shot branches up toward him, hoping the eagle would water her.  She was planted in good soil, with good access to water.  Then the Lord asks a startling question:  will He not pull up the shrub, cut off the fruit [did the branches become a grape vine?  Another well-known product of Lebanese hills.  He speaks of furrows and agricultural workers.] and let the leaves wither when the hot east wind off the desert comes?  
     What does the parable mean?  Ezekiel is to tell the rebellious House of Israel:  the King of Babylon is come to Jerusalem and takes the king and princes back with him to Babylon [represented by the eagle taking the top branches to his city, a city of trade].  The Babylonian king made a covenant, took an oath, of the heir (seed) and the powerful he had taken captive.  The Babylonian king would keep these captives low, like vines or shrubbery, but he would allow them to live.  However, the Jewish king sent ambassadors to Egypt to ally with him in rebelling against Babylon, breaking his oath.  
     The Lord declares that the king will die in Babylon, and Pharoah will not come with his armies to rescue the Israelites.  The Lord takes the breaking of this oath personally, perhaps because the Jewish king made the oath using God’s name (taking the name of the Lord in vain).  Again, the king is to be recompensed for his sins.  The Lord uses the metaphors of a net and a snare, which are used in hunting, for capturing the king/kingdom of Judah.  In Babylon the Lord will make His case against the Jewish king for his trespass against Him (probably by violating the oath he made in God’s name).  And all those who flee against captivity will be killed by the sword, and scattered to the winds.  The Lord has spoken it, so it will come to pass.
     The Lord seems to be the 2nd eagle, who takes the highest branches from the cedar and plants it in a high/eminent mountain of the land of Israel.  There it will bring forth more branches and bear fruit.  It will be a goodly cedar, tall enough for all kinds of birds to live in its shadow.  All the other trees of the orchard will know that it was the Lord that brought down (humbled) the high tree, and exalted (raised up) the low tree or shrub.  He is the One that dried up the greeItn/living tree, and made the dry/dead tree to flourish.  “I the Lord have spoken and have done it.”  That is, the Lord does what He says.
About the Cedars of Lebanon (a species of pine, which would bear pine cones & nuts)
https://www.greenactitude.com/en/characteristics-and-properties-of-the-cedar-of-lebanon-a-legendary-tree 
https://cedarscamps.org/inspiration/article/cedars-of-lebanon/
http://pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=254 

Ezek 21—prophecies against Jerusalem/Israel
     Ezekiel is to prophesy against Jerusalem (seat of the kingdom of Judah, and at this point, Israel, since the loss of the northern kingdom, “the 10 tribes”).  The Lord says He will draw His sword and cut off both the righteous and the wicked.  Now after many times saying that each person is judged by his own behavior, and receives the consequences for it, this may seem unreconcilable.  Yet in life we know that good people sometimes suffer because of or along with the wicked.  We know that children do at times suffer for the mistakes of their parents (remember the Lord warning the wicked that He would punish [or allow the consequences] down to the 3rd & 4th generation).  God knows His own mind and purposes, of course, but I have two thoughts on the matter:  1)  in the final Judgment, all will be put right, and each person will receive the recompense of their attitudes and behaviors, and 2)  though we suffer from the mistakes, even ill treatment of others in this life, when we continue to trust in the Lord, He will help us through them, as he did David who became king of Israel after years of afflictions.  
     The Lord says He has drawn His sword from its sheath and it will not return any more.  We know from other times the Lord has promised that He will quit His anger and deal with Israel in kindness.  So this can’t be taken literally.  It’s obviously meant to last until He decides enough is enough.
    Ezekiel’s sighs in dismay at the things to come will cause people to inquire why he is sighing.  His reply is to be that the coming disaster will cause “every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.”
     Next, the metaphor of a sword being sharpened & polished is to signify the coming conquerors.  This sword holds posterity (rods/branches in the family tree) in contempt.  There’s no reason to make merry.  A picture of the opposite is in the words:  crying out, howling, terrified people.  The sword will even enter the private rooms of the powerful.  When the Lord claps His hands together (as one sees rulers in the movies giving emphasis/immediacy to their orders), either His fury will rest/calm itself, or His fury will rest upon whom He will.
     Ezekiel prophesies (at the Lord’s behest) that the Babylonians will come in two routes to attack Jerusalem, beside the Ammonites.  The Lord shows the Babylonian king using soothsayers/fortune tellers (who employ animal livers) to decide which way to go.  On the one hand (choice) Babylonian armies would use battering rams against Jerusalem, and earthworks, and a fort.  But they will consider that a false sign.  
     The day is come for the contemptuous wicked ruler in Jerusalem.  He will lose his crown and diadem (symbols of his authority).  He’ll lose his high place, and people considered of low birth will rule instead, until the Messiah, whose right it is to the throne of Israel.
     Re: son of man/Son of Man (one could also research and compare when the scriptures speak of a son of a specific person)
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/21-19.htm uses the word ben for son, scroll down to the Hebrew
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/28-2.htm uses the word ben, scroll down to the Hebrew
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/33-12.htm uses the word ben, similarly Ezek 33:2, 44:5, 8:12, 37:16
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/43-7.htm uses the word ben, scroll down to the Hebrew
https://biblehub.com/matthew/24-30.htm uses the word Huiou, scroll down to the Greek
https://biblehub.com/mark/14-21.htm uses the word Huios, similarly Mark 8:38
https://biblehub.com/luke/9-26.htm uses the word Huios, scroll down to the Greek
https://biblehub.com/john/12-34.htm uses the word Huion, scroll down to the Greek
     It is unclear to me in verses 28-32 whether the Lord is talking about the Ammonites in a similar vein as He has just spoken of the Babylonians as the wielders of the burnished/polished sword, or whether He is speaking of them eventually getting their own taste of Babylon’s sword.  I think it’s ok to just let it rest, and perhaps at a future time it will become clear.  The Lord has enjoined us to study the scriptures essentially on a daily basis all our lives, and that could become either boring or overwhelming if we understood everything all at once.  I think it a sign of His genius that He has given us scriptures that require a lifelong study.  We must have patience.

Ezek 22—Jerusalem has earned the mocking of herself by nations near and far through her sins, as listed
     Jerusalem is called a bloody city for the abominations committed therein:
--idols are made and worshipped
--the princes/elite abuse their position to shed blood, disrespect parents, oppress foreigners (probably people of other nations who live/work in the city), vex the fatherless & widows (probably those who have lost their fathers/husbands in war)
--the people of the city despise what is holy and dishonor the Sabbaths
--people give information to those that shed blood (no doubt similar to snitches/informers to the Mafia), eating upon the mountains refers to idol worship, within the city are those that commit lewdness (could be in worship of idols, or through prostitution, which sometimes are the same)
--there is disregard for the laws of incest in the Law of Moses (the Law of God), such as having sexual relations with a father’s wife or his daughter (not necessarily one’s own mother or her daughter), pressing upon a menstruous woman to have sex (which would be a humiliation to her), committing adultery
--bribes are taken so that the innocent are killed
--interest is charged on debts (forbidden in the Law of Moses)
--ill-gotten gains come by extortion
--in all these things the people have forgotten the Lord and His laws

     The Lord requires redress/reparations for these dishonest gains and the bloodshed.  The Lord asks poignantly, “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.”  The people will be scattered among the heathen nations, and Jerusalem will burn like a refiner’s fire.  
     Rain is given as an image of washing a land clean, but that will not be the case with Jerusalem when the Lord shows His indignation for her (her people’s) sins.  Her prophets conspire to devour souls like lions, taking the wealth as their prey and making widows through their policies (possibly referring to corrupting justice and warfare). They pretend to speak for the Lord when He has not spoken through them.   Jerusalem’s priests have violated the Law of Moses and disrespected the holy things (of the Temple).  In this they have used God’s name in vain.  The princes/elites behave like wolves coming in for the kill in order to prosper dishonestly.  The people oppress and rob, vex the poor and needy, and mistreat foreigners that live/work among them (probably as low-income labor).
     The Lord looked for someone who would turn away His indignation (recall when He said He would spare Sodom from destruction if there were only 10 good people living there).  So similarly, the Lord will rain down His wrath upon Jerusalem in requital for the sins her people.

Ezek 23—the 2 Israelite kingdoms are likened to 2 promiscuous, whorish sisters
     Samaria (capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, the “10 tribes”) and Jerusalem (capital of the kingdom of Judah, which included the tribe of Benjamin) are likened to 2 sisters that committed whoredoms even in their youth in Egypt.  
     Samaria played the harlot with her neighbor Assyria (made alliance with Assyria until it was too late).  She was so impressed with the finery of Assyria, when Assyria was rising in power, and sought to benefit thereby (Assyria grew rich through trade and then it became a military power, plundering and causing others to pay tribute).   Samaria took up the Assyrian gods, who seemed so beneficent, beside the gods of Egypt.  So the Lord left her to her lovers, the gods/power of the Assyrians, who exposed and exploited her in conquest and despoil.  They took her children captive and destroyed her in warfare.  Her fall became famous.  
     Jerusalem saw all this, and yet became even more corrupt.  She also was bedazzled with the wealth and power of Assyria’s neighbor, Babylon/Chaldea.  She saw (or heard of) the walls of Babylon on which were depicted all the glories of their empire.  She sent embassies to profit from an alliance.  She adopted Babylonian gods, which God saw as committing whoredoms with idol worship.  Her mind was alienated from God by them, so God alienated Himself from her.  Jerusalem, like her sister Samaria, went right back to her behavior in Egypt, going after the idols of that land.  It was like breeding donkeys to horses, producing either mules or hinnies (a more horse-like crossbreed).
https://www.helpfulhorsehints.com/hinny-vs-mule-facts/ 
     As Samaria was conquered by Assyria, Jerusalem will likewise be taken by her “lovers”, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and Assyrians (meaning the nations of Mesopotamia).  The engines/weapons of war were chariots, wagons, wheels, armies, and armor.  The conquerors will cut off noses and ears, killing others.  The sons & daughters will be taken captive, and the rest will be consumed when the cities are burned.  They will take away their clothes and jewelry as booty.  The memory of their sufferings in Egypt will be swallowed up in the afflictions of the Babylonian conquest.  The admiration for the empires/kingdoms of Mesopotamia will change to hatred.  The Lord will turn the people over to their enemies because Jerusalem/the kingdom of Judah behaved just as foolishly, as abominably as Samaria/the northern kingdom of Israel.  It is likened to drinking of the same cup.  As her sister was, so Jerusalem will be “laughed to scorn and had in derision . . .”  The picture of a depressed drunk is conjured.
     The 2 sister kingdoms committed adultery (vs their true husband, the Lord) with their idols, even sacrificing their children to their idols (for which any true husband/father would become incensed).  And then in the same day people would come to God’s temple to worship, showing utter contempt/sacrilege toward the Lord’s Sabbaths.  The Lord paints a vivid picture of a whore preparing for her lovers.  But the righteous will judge her (the whorish wife) for what she is, and she will be dealt with as spoken in the Law (stoning, like when catapults are used in a siege, and other enactments of death).  Thus will idolatries be cleansed/cleared away from the land. 
     All this will cause the people to know/acknowledge that the Lord God is in charge.

Ezek 24—9th year of Zedekiah Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem, parable of the pot, Ezekiel can’t mourn 
     Near the end of the 9th year (of Zedekiah’s reign in Jerusalem), the Lord tells Ezekiel to note the day as the one in which the king of Babylon decides to come against Jerusalem.  
      Here’s the parable:  a pot of water is set over a fire, and meat & bones are added to it, as if making a stew.  Bones are also added to the fire, to get it burning hot and boil the meat.  Jerusalem is likened to such a pot wherein the cooked blood rises as scum to the top.  The blood should have been poured out on the ground and covered with dirt.  Instead, the blood is set on a rock out in plain sight for all to see, to their disgust.  After the scummy water is poured out, the pot is to be set on the fire empty in order to burn it out (as one would burn out a Dutch oven over the fire to clean it).  But the Lord will not purge the filthiness of Jerusalem until He causes His fury to come upon the city (in full).  He affirms in the strongest terms that He will do it.  
     The Lord tells Ezekiel of the impending death of his wife, the desire of his eyes (that is, the love of his life).  But he is not to mourn for her.  This would have been truly counter to his culture as well as his feelings.  He is not even to shed any tears for her, let alone any of the usual signs of mourning.  
     People question Ezekiel about not mourning his wife.  He explains that the Lord has told him to tell them that the things they hold most dear (the Temple and their children) will be destroyed but they, like Ezekiel, will not be able to mourn them.  Instead, they will be mourning their sins (and the sins of the nation).  And when it comes to pass, they will know that the Lord knew/caused it to happen.  When it happens and a person escapes to tell Ezekiel, then Ezekiel will be able to speak once again.
     With what pathos we read, “in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters . . .”

Israel & Judah leading to the Assyrian Captivity

Joelholdsworth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

     This is a pivotal time in the history of the House of Israel.  It’s the beginning of the end for the northern kingdom of Israel.  It includes some of the most powerful prophets of the Old Testament:  Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Job.  Some of the better kings reigned in the southern kingdom of Judah, and one of the worst.  Ok, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” can be said of almost any time in the history of humankind, but powerful things were happening to Abraham’s seed, and the nations of what we call the Middle East as the Assyrian Empire rose to power.  
     It is also a difficult time to reconcile the relative dates of the kings of Israel and Judah.  I tried with a year by year chart.  It’s possible some of the gaps were periods of turmoil when no one was powerful enough to claim kingship in Israel

2 Kings 14:23-29—Jeroboam II, king of Israel
23 ¶ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.
     This 2nd Jeroboam followed the example of the first Jeroboam, who set up golden calves in 2 places of worship for the northern kingdom of Israel, lest they be drawn back into the fold of the Davidic line of kings in Judah.  Yet God worked through Jeroboam and helped him gain back some territory, and some victories over the kingdom of Judah (recovered the Syrian capital of Damascus to his rule).
     And here we hear of Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet—see the Book of Jonah 1:1.  Hosea was prophet during at least part of Jeroboam’s reign, as well as Amos.  See Hosea 1:1, and Amos 1:1.  Note the mention of an earthquake.  It must have been a noteworthy occurrence.  References to the darkening of the skies (the sun, moon, and stars) occur in Job 3:9, Job 9:7, Amos 8:9, Isa 13:10, Joel 2:10, Joel 2:31, Joel 3:15, Ezek 32:7-8, beside the references in the New Testament:  Matt 24:29, Mark 13:24, Luke 21:25 (Luke 23:45 mentions an earthquake and obscuring of the sun at the death of Jesus), Acts 2:20, Rev 6:12.  There’s a reference way back in Eccl 12:2 about the sun and moon darkened, which might have been influenced by a previous occurrence (the plagues of Exodus were not forgotten in all those hundreds of years, for example).  See https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Darkening-Sun-Moon-And-Stars 

2 Kings 15:1-7 and 2 Chron 26:1-22—Azariah/Uzziah, king of Judah
     Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah (son of Amoz) were all prophets during the reign of Azariah, variously called Uzziah.  

2 Chron 26
3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem…
4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did.
5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah [not the same as the writer of the Book of Zechariah], who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
     Uzziah’s father Amaziah had turned away from God at the end of his reign (2 Chron 25:27-28), and had been killed by a conspiracy.  “Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king [in place] of his father Amaziah.”
     The “high places” were still a pernicious problem, where people went on worshipping.  
     Uzziah reconquered/restored Eloth on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom, where Solomon had a navy (1 Kings 9:26, 2 Chron 8:17).  He warred successfully against the Philistines and took the city of Gath, built cities around Ashdod after he broke its walls.  God helped him against the Philistines and the Arabians.  The Ammonites were tributary to him.  He had a reputation for strength all the way to Egypt.    He rebuilt and fortified Jerusalem, and set engines of war on the walls.  He built towers and dug wells in the desert to accommodate his extensive herds in the lowland plains.  He loved grape agriculture, and had vineyards in the mountains (hill countries) and around Mt Carmel.  His army officers numbered 2600, and his army was 307,500 fighting men strong, well-armed with armor, bows, and slings.  But all this power went to his head.

16 ¶ But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

     Azariah the priest [could this be a source of the confusion over the name of Uzziah?] along with 80 priests (“valiant men”—probably meaning they were Temple soldiers) confronted him.  The sons of Aaron were consecrated to burn incense in God’s house, they reminded him.  Uzziah was angry.  While he was angry there in the Temple, leprosy arose on his forehead.  The priests forced him out, and he was just as anxious to take his leave.  He was a leper the rest of his days, had to live in a separate house, and his son Jotham reigned the last 4 years of his life, as co-regent.  When he died, he was buried in a field with other kings, but not in the royal burial place, because he was a leper.  (2 Kings 15:30 speaks of the 20th year of Jotham, son of Uzziah/Azariah, while the other citations say he was king 16 years).

2 Kings 15:8-31—a series of short reigning kings in Israel (the longest 20 years); Assyria flexes its muscles.
     Meanwhile, in the 38th year of king Uzziah/Azariah in Judah, Jeroboam (the second)’s son Zachariah’s reign only lasted 6 months when he was killed by the conspirator Shallum.  This fulfilled the prophecy made to Jehu that only 4 generations of his line would rule Israel.  Shallum claims the kingship, but is only in power for a month before he is killed by Menahem, who takes his place.  Menahem wreaks vengeance on the city of Tirzah because it wasn’t open to him, conquers it, and rips up the pregnant women.  Not a nice guy.  Menahem’s rule lasts 10 years.  Pul, king of Assyria, comes against him, whom he buys off with the money of his wealthy citizens.  
     Menahem’s son Pekahiah only reigns 2 evil years when his captain/military leader Pekah conspires against him, kills him, and takes over the kingdom in the last year of Azariah/Uzziah’s rule in Judah.  Pekah reigns for 20 years.  As we shall see, he allies with the Syrian king against Judah.  During his reign Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, carries a good part of his kingdom away captive.  Hoshea conspires against him, but he will lose the rest of the rest of the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria, as described below.

2 Kings 15:30, 32-38 and 2 Chron 27:1-9  Jotham reigns in Judah
     As mentioned above, 2 Kings 15:30 speaks of the 20th year of Jotham, yet every other reference says that he ruled Judah for 16 years.  I take this to mean that the first 4 years of his reign he was co-regent with his father Azariah/Uzziah, who had leprosy.  

2 Chron 27
1 Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly [still sacrificing in the high places].

     Jotham also has his building projects:  at the Temple, as well as more cities, castles, and towers in the mountains/hills and forests of Judah.  These are perilous times.  Assyria is a rising superpower.  The Ammonites try to rebel against Jotham, but are put back under tribute.  Verse 7 speaks of wars, as though there were other battles to fight.  2 Kings 15:37 says, “In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah [king of Israel].”  But, “Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.”  One wonders at his early death, at the age of 41.  Though the scriptures don’t say what he died of, could it have been death in battle?

2 Kings 16:1-20 and 2 Chron 28:1-27—Ahaz the wicked son of good king Jotham reigns in Judah
     Ahaz is only 20 years old when he begins his 16 year reign of terror & trouble, in the 17th year of the Israelite king Pekah.  Hosea is still active as a prophet.  Isaiah seems to have succeeded Amos (Isa 1:1 says he is son of Amoz) since the time of Uzziah/Amaziah, king of Judah.  Jonah was mentioned in the reign of Jeroboam II, probably before Assyria became quite so high and mighty, because Ninevah repented, but there's no mention of him now.
     
2 Chron 28:1-4
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: [David is still considered the epitome of a righteous king].
2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

     So, God did not back up Ahaz.  The Syrian king Rezin carries away “a great multitude” of captives, retakes the city of Elath.    Israel’s king Pekah kills 120,000 Jewish soldiers in one day, carries away 200,000 women and children, and booty to  boot.  They kill 1-2 of king Ahaz’s sons and the senior cabinet member(s).  See also Isa 7.

     But a prophet named Obed (seemingly living in Samaria, Israel’s capital) confronts the Israelite army as they arrive at Samaria with all their booty and captives, and they heed his words—one of the few good anecdotes from the northern kingdom of Israel:
 
2 Chron 28
9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.
10 And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?
11 Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.
12 Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum [remember Shallum who had conspired and killed Jeroboam (the second)’s son Zachariah—they were probably a military family], and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war,
13 And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the Lord already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.
14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation.
15 And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

     Even the Edomites came and carry away captives from the previously strong kingdom of Judah, and the Philistines invade the southern cities of Judah.  
     So, Ahaz sends to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria for help.  He gifts him the treasures of the Temple, his own house, and the princes of the people.  The king of Assyria conquers the king of Syria, Rezin, and takes away the people of Damascus as captives.  King Ahaz meets the Assyrian king in Damascus and admires the altar there, sends the pattern of it to Urijah the priest, who has it built for him in Jerusalem.  When Ahaz returns, he offers sacrifices on it.  He moves the brass altar from the Temple, alters the brass “sea”, and orders how the sacrifices are to be done.  Urijah accommodates his wishes.  Ahaz makes a gift of the holy fixtures of the Temple of God to the king of Assyria.

2 Chron 28:21 says that the king of Assyria didn’t help Ahaz.  And in the verses following, it says, “And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.  For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.  And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.  And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.”

     When he dies, they bury him in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

2 Kings 17:1-41—Hoshea is king of Israel, Shalmaneser King of Assyria takes Israel captive and replaces the inhabitants of Samaria with other people, who worship their own gods, as well as the Lord God
     “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samari over Israel nine years.”  He wasn’t a good guy, but not as bad as those before him.  Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, comes against him, and he buys him off, becoming tributary to Assyria.  But he sends messengers to So, king of Egypt, looking for an alliance.  He quits paying tribute to Assyria, so Shalmaneser besieges Samaria 3 awful years.  “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”
     Verses 7-23 recounts all the wickedness of the kingdom of Israel over the years, and Judah as well—even sacrificing their own children to false gods.
     “And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.”  At first these newcomers don’t think anything of the Lord God of Israel, but after trouble with lions in the land, they figure they need to learn about the God of the land, and ask the Assyrian king for help.  He sends priests of God back to them to teach them about Him in Beth-el.  They continue to honor their own gods, but make allowance for the God of Israel.  “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. . . So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.”       
     Thus, the beginning of the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, and the end of the 10 tribes as a recognizable group—see Hosea 9:17 (the kingdom of Israel is also called “Ephraim”:  the first  Jeroboam who split the 10 tribes away from Rehoboam (son of Solomon and king of Judah) was from the tribe of Ephraim.  There was a rivalry between Judah and Ephraim for hundreds of years).  
     The Assyrians conquered not just the Israelites, but all the nations around them (see Isa 15-16 Moab, Isa 19-20 Egypt, Isa 23 Tyre; Amos 1 the house of Hazael/Damascus is Syria, Gaza/Ashdod/Ashkelon/Ekron are Philistine cities, Tyrus is Tyre, and then there are the nations of Edom and Ammon).  They came right to the gates of Jerusalem under king Hezekiah, but Hezekiah was a good man (despite his father), and God saved His people from the Assyrians.  What was left of Israel was reunited under the lineage of David once again.  More about Hezekiah next post.

Kings of Israel & Judah–Jeroboam & Rehoboam and following

Jeroboam ruled the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom–Rehoboam ruled the kingdom of Judah

Background--who was Jeroboam?
1 Kings 11:26-40
28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
29 And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem   
     
Since Solomon was unfaithful to God and led the people to idolatry, God sent the prophet Ahijah to anoint Jeroboam king over 10 of the 12 tribes after Solomon’s death.  Jeroboam was promised, 

38 And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.   
40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 

1 Kings 11--Rehoboam--King of Judah
43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 12 (compare 2 Chron 10-11:4)--Rehoboam loses most of his kingdom
     Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be confirmed king.  Jeroboam has returned from exile in Egypt.  He and the rest of Israel speak to Rehoboam:

4 Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.
5 And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed.

     Solomon’s great building projects (including places of worship for the gods of his many foreign wives) and immense household, it made a heavy burden for his people.

     Rehoboam consults his father’s counsellors, doesn’t like their conservative, wise advice.  He then consults his  companions, who are just as spoiled as he, who tell him what he wants to hear.  

13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

    So 10 of the tribes choose Jeroboam as king, and only Judah & Benjamin remain under Rehoboam as king.  Remember that the Levites were spread among all 12 of the tribes, without a separate land inheritance of their own.  
     Rehoboam is determined to take back the other tribes by force, and raises 180,000 warriors to fight for them.  But “Shemaiah the man of God” tells the king and his people not to go against the other tribes.  Whether the king wanted to wage the war anyway, the people have all heard the word, and most likely would not support him in it.

1 Kings 12:25-33--Jeroboam, king of Israel (the northern kingdom)

25 ¶ Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. 

     But Jeroboam is a man of the world.  He figures if his subjects are continually going to Jerusalem to worship, they’ll eventually return their allegiance to the house of David.  He consults with his counsellors, and then sets up a calf in Beth-el, and one in Dan, and tells the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem:  behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt . . . And [he] made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.”  He sets up rival feast days so people couldn’t worship as politically correct as well as try to stay loyal to God.   He kicks the Levites out, who flee to the kingdom of Judah. (2 Chron 11:13-17)

2 Chron 11:5-23--the priests & Levites, refugees from Israel, the northern kingdom, in exile in the kingdom of Judah)
     Cities Rehoboam built for defense are listed, as well as his wives & children.  Like David, he makes the son of his favorite wife his heir.  

23 And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he desired many wives. 

13 ¶ And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts.
14 For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the Lord:
15 And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.
16 And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers.
17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.

1 Kings 14:21-31 (2 Chron 12 more info)--Rehoboam leads his people in wickedness
     Rehoboam began to reign when he was 41, and his reign lasted 17 years.  After 3 years serving the Lord, Rehoboam feels safe in his power, and he leads his people in wickedness.  During his 5th year Shishak the Egyptian Pharaoh attacked Jerusalem and pillaged the Temple and the palace.  

22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.
23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

“And [Rehoboam] did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.”  2 Chron 12:14

Prophets at the time of Rehoboam:  Shemaiah and Iddo the Seer.  2 Chron 12:15

30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 15:1-11 (2 Chron 13 Abijam = Abijah)--king of Judah after Rehoboam
     Abijam reigns 3 years, following in his father’s footsteps, his wickedness, according to 1 Kings 15.  His reign began in Jeroboam’s 18th year.  More details about the continuing wars between him and Jeroboam in 2 Chron 13.  It’s a little difficult to reconcile 1 Kings 15:1-3 with 2 Chron 13, which makes him sound like a true believer.

8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.
9 ¶ And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. 
11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. 

1 Kings 13--Jeroboam & the man of God
     God sends a man of God from Judah to the altar in Bethel, where Jeroboam was ready to burn incense.

2 And [the man of God] cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

     Jeroboam tells the man of God to pray for his hand to be healed, which he does, and the hand is healed.  The king invites him back to his place for refreshments and a reward.  The man of God says, “If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:   For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.”  And the man is wise enough to go home a different way.

     Unfortunately, the sons of an old prophet in Bethel told their father what the man of God had done, and he told them to saddle up an ass for him.   He meets the man of God on his way and invites him back to his place, explaining he’s also a prophet, and says God has sent an angel to bring him back (which was a lie).  The man of God relents and goes with him.  At supper the word of the Lord comes to the prophet who had lied, and he tells the man of God that because he didn’t obey what God had instructed, he wouldn’t be buried with his fathers.  When the man left he was attacked by a lion.  When the old prophet hears of it, he brings the body back and buries it in his own sepulchre with the instructions that he was to be buried beside him when he died.

1 Kings 14:1-20--Jeroboam's heirs
    Jeroboam’s son falls sick, so he sends his wife with a gift to Shiloh to the prophet Ahijah, who had anointed him king, to find out what would happen to the boy.    God tells the elderly Ahijah, who can no longer see, to expect her to come pretending to be someone else.  Ahijah calls her bluff and prophesies the destruction of Jeroboam’s line.  As soon as she returns the son will die.  All Israel will mourn for him, because of all his posterity, “in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.”  He even prophesies the eventual captivity of Israel.

20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 15--Nadab & Baasha, more wicked kings in Israel
     Nadab’s wicked reign began in the 2nd year of King Asa of Judah.  He only reigned 2 years.  In Asa’s 3rd year Baasha (the son of Ahijah of the tribe of Issachar)  killed Nadab while in a siege of a Philistine city.  
     Baasha took over the kingdom of Israel, and killed all Jeroboam’s posterity.  

32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years.
34 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

1 Kings 16—wicked king after king in Israel
     Baasha’s son Elah followed him in his wicked rule, in the 26th year of Asa’s reign.  Elah’s reign only lasted 2 years.  Zimri, the captain of half his chariots conspired, and killed him while he was drunk.  
     Zimri, as king, killed the rest of Baasha’s posterity.  But Zimri’s reign only lasted 7 days, because when the Israelite army heard of Zimri’s conspiracy, they made Omri, their general king.  Once again they were besieging that same Philistine city, under Baasha.  They left the siege and attacked the city where Zimri was.  When Zimri saw the city was taken, he burned the king’s house upon himself and died.  
     The Israelites then were divided, but Omri’s forces won.  
     Omri reigned 12 years.  He built Samaria.  

25 ¶ But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. 

     But things were about to get worse, for when Omri died, his son Ahab inherited the kingdom, in the 38th year of Asa King of Judah.  More about Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah, and Jehoshaphat in the next post.

2 Chron 14-16 (and 1 Kings 15:9-24)--Asa king of Judah, more refugees flee to him from Israel
     Asa had 10 years of peace.

2 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God:
3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:
4 And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.
6 ¶ And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest.
7 Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. 

9 ¶ And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.
10 Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
11 And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
12 So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

     At Gerar Asa and his army overtook the Ethiopians, achieved a victory, and collected all kinds of booty to take back home.
     The Spirit of God moves a prophet to meet Asa to remind him and his people “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you . . . Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak:  for your work shall be rewarded.”

8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
13 That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.
16 ¶ And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
18 ¶ And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
19 And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

     Then in the 36th year of Asa, king Baasha of Israel began to build Ramah to set up a blockade of the kingdom of Judah.  Asa gathers all the treasures from the Temple and his own house to get the Syrian king at Damascus to renew an alliance between Syria and himself that had existed in their parents’ time, and undo the alliance between Syria and Baasha.  It works, and when Baasha finds himself beset by Syria, he leaves off building Ramah.  Asa has his people recover the stones of Ramah and he uses them to build 2 other cities.
     Hanani the seer comes to Asa and rebukes him for relying on Syria for help instead of God, reminding him that God had given him victory over the Ethiopians.  He says, “Herein thou hast done foolishly:  therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.”  Asa becomes angry at the seer and puts him in prison.  “And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.”

12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. 

Asa dies in the 41st year of his reign.

Proverbs

    The introduction, Proverbs 1:1, says that these are the Proverbs of Solomon.  Yet my latest reaction was that they sound more like David (having learned something of life, some perhaps through sad experience, some perhaps through seeing the follies of others) teaching his son Solomon . . . the instruction about relationships with women, in particular.  David, of course, also had several wives, at least some were political marriages.  But Solomon had a lot of wives, many of them no doubt political, and they became his downfall in respect to God, at the end.  Of course these Proverbs may have been written early in his reign when he was more wise than at the end.  Ecclesiastes sounds more like the older man/King Solomon.

Intro to the Proverb--their Purpose:  Proverbs 1:1-6
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

Interesting to note: 
Prov 25:1 "These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out."
Prov 30 (verse 1) "The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal"
Prov 31 (verse 1) "The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him."
Commentaries about Lemuel at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/proverbs/31-1.htm 

Jesus obviously knew the Proverbs well, and referenced them, such as Prov 25:7 "For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen."

Following is an incomplete categorization of the Proverbs.

Proverbs about wisdom/knowledge
Proverbs 1:7-9, 20-33
Proverbs 2:1-11
Proverbs 3:13-24, 35
Proverbs 4:5-13
Proverbs 5:1-2
Proverbs 7:4-5
Proverbs 9:1-12
Proverbs 10:1, 5, 8, 13-14, 19, 23, 31
Proverbs 11:2, 9, 12, 14-15, 29-30
Proverbs 12:1, 8, 15-16, 23
Proverbs 13:1, 7-8, 10, 15-16, 18, 20, 23
Proverbs 14:1, 3, 6-9, 15-18, 24, 33, 35
Proverbs 15:2, 5, 7, 12, 14, 20-22, 24, 31-33
Proverbs 16:14, 16, 20-23
Proverbs 17:2, 10, 24, 27-28
Proverbs 18:1, 4, 15
Proverbs 19:2, 8, 20-21, 25, 27
Proverbs 20:5, 15, 18, 26
Proverbs 21:11-12, 20, 22, 30
Proverbs 22:3, 17-21
Proverbs 23:12, 15, 19, 23-24
Proverbs 24:3-7, 13-14, 23
Proverbs 27:11-12
Proverbs 28:2, 5, 7, 26
Proverbs 29:3, 8
Proverbs 30:2-4, 18-19, 24-28

Proverbs about sin/corruption
Proverbs 1:10-19
Proverbs 2:12-19, 22 (both men & women will lead one astray)
Proverbs 4:14-17, 19
Proverbs 5:3-14, 20-23 be wary of a wicked woman
Proverbs 6:6-19, 24-35 laziness, frowardness, 7 abominations, whorish woman, adultery
Proverbs 7:6-27 dangers of a wanton woman
Proverbs 9:13-18 foolish wanton woman
Proverbs 10:1-32 contrasting righteous/wicked, wise/foolish
Proverbs 11:7, 22
Proverbs 11 (much of the chapter contrasting the consequences of the righteous & unrighteous)
Proverbs 12 (contrasting the righteous/wise to the wicked/foolish)
Proverbs 13  continues as above
Proverbs 14  continues the same
Proverbs 15   ditto
Proverbs 16  similarly...
Proverbs 16:27-30  froward, violent, divisive
Proverbs 17:4-5, 11, 13, 15, 20, 23, 26
Proverbs 18:3, 5, 12
Proverbs 19:2, 5, 9, 28-29
Proverbs 20:10, 21, 23, 25
Proverbs 21:4, 6-8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 24, 26-29
Proverbs 22:5, 8, 10, 14, 16, 22-25
Proverbs 23:6-8, 17, 26-28, 33
Proverbs 24:1-2, 8-9, 15, 24
Proverbs 25:18
Proverbs 26:23-28
Proverbs 28:1, 17-19
Proverbs 29:5-7, 10, 16
Proverbs 30:20

Proverbs about human nature
Prov 17:16-17
Prov 18:23
Prov 19:4, 6-7
Prov 20:6, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 24, 29
Prov 21:2
Prov 27:1-8, 20-21
Prov 28:11-14
Prov 29:1, 19-27
Prov 30:10-16, 21-23
Prov 30:32-33

Proverbs about fools, being lazy, pleasure seeking, drunkenness, greed, materialism
Prov 17:7, 10, 12, 16, 18, 21, 24-25, 28 fools
Prov 18:2, 6-7, 13 fools
Prov 18:9 laziness
Prov 19:1, 3, 10, 29 fools
Prov 19:15, 24 laziness
Prov 20:1 drunkenness
Prov 20:3 fools
Prov 20:4, 13 laziness
Prov 21:17, 20, 25  laziness, pleasure seeking, fools
Prov 22:13 laziness
Prov 23:1-5 pleasure/riches seeking
Prov 23:9 fools
Prov 23:20-21, 29-35 pleasure seeking, drunkenness
Prov 24:30-34
Prov 26:1-12 fools, 13-16 slothful
Prov 27:3, 22
Prov 28:20, 22
Prov 29:9, 11

Proverbs about Righteousness
Proverbs 2:20-21Walk in good & righteous paths
Proverbs 3:1-12  Keep commandments, Trust in the Lord and honor Him (even with substance)
Proverbs 3:25-34 Treat others right; benefits to those who do right
Proverbs 4:1-4, 20-27  Don't forget the instruction of a wise/caring parent
Proverbs 5:15-19 be faithful to the wife of your youth (Perhaps Solomon had a wife of his youth before the Egyptian princess & 
     further entanglements with women; perhaps he had learned some of his wisdom the hard way)
Proverbs 6:1-5, 20-23 be careful of financial entanglements, remember parents' teachings
Proverbs 7:1-3 remember parent's instructions/warnings
Proverbs 10:1-32 contrasting righteous/wicked, wise/foolish
Proverbs 11 (much of the chapter contrasting the consequences of the righteous & unrighteous)
Proverbs 12 (contrasting the righteous/wise to the wicked/foolish)
Proverbs 13  continues as above
Proverbs 14  continues the same
Proverbs 15     ditto
Proverbs 16     similarly...
Proverbs 17:7 honesty
Proverbs 18:10, 12, 20, 22
Proverbs 19:1, 16-17, 23
Proverbs 20:7, 22
Proverbs 20:30 Justice
Proverbs 21:3, 5, 8, 15, 21, 26
Proverbs 22:1 reputation
Proverbs 22:4, 9, 11, 19, 28-29
Proverbs 23:10-11, 16-18
Proverbs 24:16-22, 27-29
Proverbs 25:16, 26-28
Proverbs 27:23-27
Proverbs 28:1, 17-19
Proverbs 29:5-7, 10
Proverbs 30:5-9
Prov 31:10-31 a virtuous woman

Proverbs about home/family/parenting
Prov 17:1-2, 6, 21, 25
Prov 19:13-14, 18, 26
Prov 20:20
Prov 21:9, 19
Prov 22:6, 15
Prov 23:13-14, 22-26
Prov 25:24
Prov 28:7, 24
Prov 29:3, 15, 17
Prov 30:11, 17, 23
Prov 31:10-31 a virtuous woman

Proverbs about social interactions
Prov 17:1, 8, 9, 14, 17, 19, 22, 27, 28
Prov 18:8, 16-19, 21, 23-24
Prov 19:4, 6-7, 11-12, 19, 22
Prov 20:2-3, 16, 19
Prov 21:14, 23
Prov 24:24-26
Prov 25:8-25
Prov 26:17-22
Prov 27:5-10, 14-19
Prov 28:3-10, 21-28
Prov 30:32-33
 
Proverbs about the nature of God
Prov 17:3, 15
Prov 20:12, 24, 27
Prov 21:2, 12, 31
Prov 22:2, 12, 22-23
Prov 23:10-11
Prov 24:11-12, 17-18
Prov 25:2, 21-22
Prov 29:13
Prov 30:5

Proverbs referencing rulers
Prov 17:7
Prov 19:6, 12
Prov 20:2, 8, 26, 28
Prov 21:1
Prov 22:11
Prov 25:2-7, 15
Prov 28:2, 15-16
Prov 29:2, 4, 12, 14
Prov 30:29-
Prov 31:3-9

Misc Proverbs
Prov 18:11, 14  strength
Prov 24:10 strength
Prov 22:7, 26-27 finances


What are the main themes of Proverbs?
Wisdom vs Foolishness
Righteousness:  obeys commandments/heeds parents, does good to others, is honest/truthful, works hard, speaks wisely/kindly, a virtuous woman, humility, merciful, compassionate, prudent, uplifts others, faithful/loyal, a peacemaker
Wickedness:  tempts others to evil, deceitful/lying, takes advantage or ill treats others, angry/quick-tempered, an adulterous/enticing/seductive woman, seeks the fall/riches of others by entrapment/corruption/misuse of power, pride, cruel, premeditated evil, lazy/pleasure seeking/drunken, a scorner, envious, oppressive, causes shame on self/parents/nation, stirs up trouble, greedy
Consequences of choices
God takes care of the righteous, the poor & the oppressed

Some additional highlights:
Prov 13:12  Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Prov 15:1  A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Prov 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Prov 15:4  A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
Prov 15:8-9  The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
  The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
Prov 15:11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? (God knows all)
Prov 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Prov 15:17  Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
Prov 15:23  A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
Prov 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.
Prov 16:24  Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Prov 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.  (luck/chance happen, by God's will)
Prov 17:1  Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
Prov 17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
Prov 17:10  A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
Prov 17:15  He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.
Prov 17:17  A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Prov 18:8  The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Prov 18:21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue
Prov 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Prov 20:1  Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Prov 20:3  It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.
Prov 21:3  To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Prov 21:30  There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.
Prov 22:1  A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches
Prov 22:2  The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.
Prov 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Prov 23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he
Prov 24:1  Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
Prov 24:3  Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established
Prov 24:17  Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth
Prov 24:28  Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
Prov 24:29  Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me
Proverbs 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.