The ancient prophecies/histories of the nations of the Middle East provide background to the conflicts there today. The same adversarial relationships describe Israel's neighbors and herself.
Ezek 12—Ezekiel is instructed about making God’s words relevant, and no more to be postponed
1 The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. [Compare Deut 29:4, Isa 6:10, Isa 29:10, Mark 8:14-21, Luke 8:10, Rom 11:8, Eph 4:18, 2 Thes 2:10-12]
The Lord instructs Ezekiel to communicate with the people using a sort of combination of object/symbolic/demonstration lessons . . . lessons that would SIT well, that is, they were Surprising, Interesting, and Troubling.
1. Ezekiel is to pack up during the day and move, in plain sight of all, with the hope the Israelites will take notice and consider
2. Next he is to remove his stuff in the people’s sight, as a person taken into captivity
3. He is to dig a hole in the wall and carry his stuff out through it
4. Further, he is to carry his stuff on his shoulders in the twilight, with his face covered, so he can’t see the ground; all this as a sign/symbol/representation to the Israelites
The next morning the Lord asks Ezekiel if the people didn’t ask him what he was up to. He is to explain that all this was essentially a visual parable of what is to happen to the prince/ruler, the people of Jerusalem, and the Israelites among them. They will be removed and brought into captivity. Their prince will bear his stuff on his shoulder and leave at twilight (an ignominious flight). They’ll dig through the wall for their escape, and the prince’s face will be covered so he can’t even see the ground before him. He will be taken as in a net or with snares/traps and brought to Babylon, but he’ll never see it, even though he’ll die there (Zedekiah fled when Jerusalem fell, but his pursuers caught up with him: he was blinded after they killed his sons before his eyes, and then taken captive to Babylon).
Continuing, the Lord says He will scatter all the king’s helpers to the winds, and his armies will be chased & killed by the sword. The people will acknowledge the Lord, and that He was behind all that happened to them, when they are scattered/dispersed among other nations. God will spare a few Israelite survivors of the wars, famine, and pestilence/disease, to testify of their abominations when they are carried away among the heathen. They will acknowledge their God.
Ezekiel is to eat and drink with quaking and trembling, and fear. It’s a representation of how the residents of Jerusalem and the land of Israel will do as their nation is destroyed because of their violent lifestyles.
The Lord asks, What’s this saying so prevalent in the land of Israel that Life goes on as usual, and all the dire prophecies fail to come about? He says to Ezekiel, Tell them “I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel . . .” the days are quickly coming when the prophecies will be fulfilled. There won’t be any more foolish “visions” and flattering false prophecies among the House of Israel.
“For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged [delayed]: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.”
While people are saying Ezekiel’s prophecies are a long way off in coming, the Lord says, None of My words are to be postponed any longer. All I [God] have said will be done.
(Ezek 17 is covered in part 2, the riddle or parable of the eagles & the cedars; it touches on king Zedekiah’s hopes for an Egyptian alliance which will cause his downfall before the Babylonian king.)
Ezek 19—a parable of lions, and a parable of a vine: the strong taken captive; no rulers left
A “lamentation for the princes of Israel” . . .
What is your mother? A lioness with cubs. One cub grew to a strong young lion, catching prey and devouring people. But the nations heard of him, caught him in a pit. and he was taken in chains to Egypt.
The lioness lost hope in that cub, and took another of her cubs to grow into a strong young lion. He learned to hunt prey, and devoured people. He laid waste to the cities, the palaces, and the land. The land was full of his roaring.
But then the nations all surrounded him on every side, and took him in a net and put him in a pit in chains. They brought him to the king of Babylon to be imprisoned. His voice would no more be heard in the mountains/hills of the land of Israel.
A second parable: thy mother is like a fruitful vine full of branches, planted by the waters. This vine had strong branches that bore rule. She was exalted in her multitude of lofty branches. But then she was plucked up in fury. She was thrown down, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered. They were consumed in fire. “ And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.” The fire of one of her branches has destroyed all her fruit. She is left without a strong branch to bear rule. This is the lamentation.
The first parable (of the lions) would appear to refer to the rule/leadership of Joseph who was taken into Egypt as a slave, yet he (and probably his line) essentially ruled the Children of Israel there. But the leadership/rule of the Children of Israel eventually passed to the tribe of Judah, King David’s line. Under the rule of Judah Israel prospered. But Israel’s jealous neighbors conspired to destroy him, and he was carried away to Babylon. Similarly, in the 2nd parable: Israel prospered like a well-watered (grape) vine by a stream or body of water. But she was pulled up, her branches broken and burned. She is left without an heir to her throne. (Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, saw his heirs killed before his eyes; other Jewish royalty had been imprisoned in Egypt and Babylon.)
Ezek 20—the Lord likens His future rescue of His people to what He did in the Exodus from Egypt
In the 7th year (presumably of captivity, that is, of Zedekiah’s reign—while Ezekiel and the first captives were already in Babylon), the elders of Israel come to the prophet Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord. But the Lord replies, “Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.” He then lists their history . . .
The language of this chapter is so beautiful and powerful, the following is a just poor summary:
The Lord made Himself known to Jacob/Israel’s posterity in Egypt, and brought them out of slavery. He told them to throw away the idols of Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses (a law of Justice and Mercy) to live by, including Sabbaths as a sign of the covenant between them and God. But they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, continuing to worship Egypt’s gods (“for their heart went after their idols”), despising His laws, and polluted His Sabbaths. Nevertheless, the Lord yet cared for them (that His name would not be profaned by the heathen nations, who knew He had rescued Israel from Egypt) and brought them into a land the Lord had chosen for them, a land “flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands”. See
https://www.gotquestions.org/Israel-milk-honey.html
https://www.penn.museum/sites/canaan/Climate%26Fauna.html
The Lord admonished Israel not to follow the idolatry of their fathers in Egypt, nor follow their old traditional codes of law, but to follow/keep His laws of Justice and to keep His Sabbaths holy. Still, they rebelled against/despised His laws and polluted His Sabbaths. He warned them of His anger, yet He held back for the sake of His reputation among the heathen. He left them to their abominations (including sacrificing their children in fire to idols).
“Thus saith the Lord God; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me . . .” for when He brought them into the Promised Land (by His hand they were able to settle there), they made every hill and all the large trees places of idolatry/idol worship. The Lord asks “Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?” Aren’t you still going on in those ways? Why should I [God] listen to/answer your inquiries [pleas for care & protection, good fortune—just as the Greeks would go to their oracles]?
And yet, the Lord promises after all that He will bring/gather His people out of captivity among the nations, as He did when He rescued them from Egypt. In the “wilderness of the people” He will plead with His people face to face to put away all their wicked ways and serve Him. In this wilderness/captivity He will purge the rebels and sinners from among them. “For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.” [Note the great work that Ezra and Nehemiah did among the people to bring them back to God, when He had brought them back {through Cyrus) to their land, Israel].
Then will the Lord accept their sacrifices, and they will honor Him with holiness of thought and behavior before the heathen. Israel will acknowledge and loathe themselves for the evils they [their fathers] committed. They will know the Lord is their God, and has dealt with them in mercy, despite what they as a people deserved.
Ezekiel is to prophesy against the forests south of him (as he was in Mesopotamia, Israel would be south of him), that the Lord would start a fire in those forests to devour all the trees, living or dead, Thus all people will know that the Lord was behind the destruction.
Ezekiel answers, Lord, they say I’m speaking in parables. [Implying either that he is not being direct and clear, or that his stories are like folktales.]
Ezek 36—the gathering of Israel (see also Ezek 28:24-26)
Because Israel’s neighbors considered the conquest of Israel their chance to encroach on Israel’s territory, the Lord says He will bring them to shame. Note that after the Assyrian conquest, Israel & Judah were once again one kingdom (as they had been in the days of King David), ruled by David’s lineage.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen . . .
8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come . . .
The Lord promises to prosper Israel. The cities will be repopulated. What had become wasteland will be rebuilt. “And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
Before, the House of Israel defiled their own land with their iniquities and idolatries (like an unclean, separated woman), so the Lord poured out His fury on them. He scattered them among the heathen. But then the Lord had pity on them, not for their own sakes (because they profaned/disrespected God’s name among the heathen), but for His own name’s sake. He will make His name holy/reverenced again. He promises to gather them out of all the nations where they are scattered and bring them back to their own land. He will cleanse them from their filthiness and idolatries (He speaks of clean water, as if in washing away their sins, like in baptism).
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes [what is legal and what is not] and ye shall keep my judgments [establishing innocence or guilt, and sentencing Laws], and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezek 25—vs Ammonites, Moab, Seir/Edom, Philistines
4 Behold, therefore I will deliver thee [Ammonites] to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
6 For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel . . .
11 And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
12 ¶ Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them . . .
14 . . . I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.
15 ¶ Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it [the land of Israel] for the old hatred . . . [remember the stories of Samson & Delila, David & Goliath, etc]
17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/ammonites-moabites-edomites-in-the-bible/ Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites
https://www.gotquestions.org/mount-Seir.html Mt Seir belonged to Edom
https://bibleatlas.org/mount_seir.htm map, scriptures, & Encyclopedia entries for Mt Seir/Bozrah
Ezek 35—prophecies vs Mt Seir (Edom) & Idumea
2 Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end . . .
The Lord chastises Edom for gleefully anticipating taking advantage of Israel’s troubles, thinking to take over the land of Israel. Edom will be destroyed and will know that God is the Lord. In the last verse of the chapter Idumea is included in the desolation. Likewise, Idumea is only hardly mentioned in Ezekiel 36 (verse 5) “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.” Idumea, like Edom, joyfully considers the conquest of Israel as a chance to take over the land.
https://www.biblestudy.org/meaning-names/idumea.html valuable info about Idumea & its history
Ezek 26-27—prophecies vs Tyre
In the 11th year (of the Jewish king Zedekiah, and the captivity of the first group carried/taken to Babylon) the Lord speaks to Ezekiel against Tyre. Tyre had a long history with Israel. The king of Tyre was friends with Kings David & Solomon of Judah. But by the time of the Babylonian conquest Tyre had an adversarial relationship to the land & people of Israel.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Tyre/ background info & history of Tyre, a wealthy Phoenician city
2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
3 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.
6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
7 ¶ For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
Chapter 27 is a lament for Tyre . . . speaking of her rich trade among the islands of the Mediterranean, as well of Egypt, Persia, Syria, Judah, and other lands of the Middle East. “Tyrus, O thou that art situate[d] at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.” This chapter is abundant with details about the products and trade goods of various ancient lands and peoples of the Middle East.
https://bibleatlas.org/tarshish.htm Tarshish, located in what is now Spain
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/27-13.htm Javan, Tubal, and Meshech (scroll down for commentary)
https://biblehub.com/topical/t/togarmah.htm Togarmah
https://bibleatlas.org/dedan.htm Dedan, in Arabia/Persian Gulf
Ezek 28—prophecies vs Tyre & Sidon
Prophesy against & lament for Tyre (Note the mention of Daniel)
2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
Tyre is described as a garden like Eden, with all sorts of precious stones: sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, gold. Finely crafted musical instruments: tabrets and pipes (tambourines or small drums, and flutes) that would be played for joyous occasions. But the prosperity of trade brought violence (no doubt robbery & theft).
Prophesy vs Zidon/Sidon (sister Phoenician city to Tyre)
22 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezek 29-32—prophecies vs Egypt
In the 10th year (of King Zedekiah in Judah, and the 1st group of Captives in Babylon, where Ezekiel was), the Lord gives a prophesy against Pharaoh and all Egypt:
3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
The kingdom of Judah had hoped for help from Egypt against Babylon, and Pharaoh didn’t come through. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.” The prophesy is that Syene to Ethiopia will be wasted & desolate for 40 years, perhaps other cities as well, but after 40 years the Lord will gather them from where they have been scattered and bring them back to their land, though they will not be so high and mighty. Pathros is a name for southern Egypt.
https://bibleatlas.org/syene.htm interesting info about Syene, including a Jewish colony there; click on the map to enlarge it.
In the 27th year the Lord tells Ezekiel that Nebuchadrezzar and his army’s wages for their service against Tyre, He will give them the land of Egypt and its spoil. All this to convince God’s people that He is Lord [when these prophecies come to pass].
Not only Egypt, but her allies to the south (Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, various mixed peoples, and Chub) will fall by the sword of the Babylonians. Zoan (in the Nile delta) and other cities will be burned and destroyed.
https://bibleatlas.org/lud.htm an explanagion of Lydia/Lud in Ezek 30:5
https://bibleatlas.org/memphis.htm about Noph (Memphis)
https://bibleatlas.org/dispersion.htm interesting info about the scattering of Israel over the centuries
https://bibleatlas.org/zoan.htm about Zoan (Tanis) in the Nile Delta
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/30-14.htm No is the city of Thebes
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/30-15.htm Sin is another city in the Nile Delta
In the 11th year the Lord says metaphorically that He has broken Pharaoh’s arm(s) and it (they) won’t be bound and healed in order to hold a sword. God will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. He will strengthen the king of Babylon and allow him to conquer Egypt. Even the Egyptians will recognize that God is Lord (Ruler, Master, the Superior Authority).
Two months later, in the 11th year, the Lord gives Ezekiel a parable about Assyria for Egypt to take heed: Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon (famous for exceptional trees). He was tall and thick with long branches. He grew in a well-watered place. The birds of the air made nests among his branches, and raised their young. In the shade of his branches all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young. The great nations lived in his shadow. The firs and the chestnut trees were nothing next to him. He was so beautiful that all the trees in the Garden of Eden envied him. But because he was so full of himself, God brought his downfall at the hand of a heathen [the Babylonian Empire], who would drive him out for his wickedness. “I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.” All of his allies will fall with him. (Compare the fall of Babylon: Rev 14:8, Rev 18, Isa 13:19, Isa 14, Isa 21:9, Isa 47:5) Egypt/Pharaoh’s egotism is like Assyria’s before his fall.
Near the end of the 12th year Ezekiel is to take up a lament/mourning for Pharaoh: You are like a young lion among the nations, a whale in the sea. You walked through their rivers and befouled them. But God will spread His net over you by the hands of many people. You’ll be brought up onto the land, tossed out in an open field where you will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. Your flesh will lay on the mountains, your blood will fill the valleys. Your blood will water the land where you used to swim, and the land and rivers will be full of you. God will blanket the heavens to darken the stars and moon, and cover the sun with a cloud [likely a description of the smoke of burning cities when Babylon conquers Egypt]. “Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall . . .”
A couple weeks later the Lord again tells Ezekiel to make a wailing for Egypt. Egypt will join other nations in hell, who were or would be conquered/destroyed by Babylon’s armies: Asshur (Assyria), Elam (Persia), Meshech, Tubal, Edom, and Zidon/Sidon (sister Phoenician city of Tyre).
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/32-26.htm regarding Meshech & Tubal, click back & forward for the other nations listed.
Category: Edom
Lamentations, Habakkuk, Obadiah
2 Kings 23:39-25:30 History recap/outline
--On the death of king Josiah, his 23 yr old son Jehoahaz is made king
After 3 mos Pharaoh-nechoh took him captive to Egypt, made Jerusalem tributary
--Pharaoh makes 25 yr old Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz king in Jerusalem
11 yr reign; Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes him tributary
After 3 years he rebels, Chaldees/Syrians/Moabites/Ammonites sent vs Judah
--at the death of Jehoiakim, his 18 yr old son Jehoiachin made king
(Babylon has taken all Egypt’s holdings from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates)
Reigned 3 mos, Nebuchadnezzar’s servants besiege Jerusalem
8th year of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim, the elites, the Temple & king’s treasures, & craftsmen:
10K carried away to Babylon.
https://biblehub.com/2_kings/24-12.htm
--21 yr old Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s uncle) is made king by Nebuchadnezzar
11 yr reign; rebels vs Nebuchadnezzar, 9th yr Jerusalem besieged by Babylonians
11th year no bread/famine, city broken up, Chaldees are surrounding the city
Zedekiah & soldiers flee, but he is captured, his army scattered
Zedekiah’s sons killed in front of him, then his eyes are put out; he is taken to Babylon
--The Temple, the king’s house, and all the great houses in Jerusalem are burned, the walls broken
The rest of the people in Jerusalem, and the fugitives that joined the Babylonians are carried
to Babylon. The poor are left to work the vineyards. Gedaliah is made governor.
A conspiracy kills Gedaliah, the people flee in fear to Egypt.
--37th year of captivity, Jehoiachin is released from prison & lives on the king of Babylon’s allowance
the rest of his life.
2 Chron 36 History recap/outline (there are a few differences to that above)
--the people make 23 yr old Jehoahaz king after Josiah’s death
Reigned 3 mos, king of Egypt takes him captive to Egypt; makes Jerusalem tributary
--king of Egypt makes Jehoahaz’ 25 yr old brother Jehoiakim king of Judah/Jerusalem
Reigned 11 yrs; Nebuchadnezzar carries him & the Temple treasures to Babylon
--8 yr old Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, reigns 3 mos; carried captive to Babylon
--Nebuchadnezzar makes 21 yr old Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s brother) king of Judah/Jerusalem
Reigned 11 years, wouldn’t humble himself before Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord
Rebelled vs his oath & vs Nebuchadnezzar
14 ¶ Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
Temple & king’s treasures, the king & princes taken captive to Babylon
The Temple & palaces in Jerusalem are burned, the walls broken down
--Those who weren’t killed were taken captive to Babylon & served there until Persia arose
Jeremiah’s prophecies fulfilled, the land enjoyed sabbaths, for 70 years
--1st year of Cyrus, king of Persia Jeremiah’s prophecies accomplished:
The Lord inspired Cyrus to proclaim that God had given him the kingdoms of the earth
And charged him to build God’s house in Jerusalem. Whoever of the Jews wish to, can go.
(it is most probable that someone presented Cyrus with God’s word/Jeremiah’s prophecies).
Lamentations, 5 chapters mourning the suffering of Judah & Jerusalem in the Babylonian conquest
Lam 1 The kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem as the capital, is likened to a bereft woman
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers [allies and idols] she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
4 The ways [streets/roads] of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. [Priests & virgins would be employed in celebrations/holy days.]
5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts [deer] that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
In such a way the Lamentations continue, personifying Judah/Jerusalem as a woman remembering what life was like for her before her desolation, which the Lord allowed to come upon her for her wickedness. “The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things . . .”, that is, her enemies have grabbed/looted all her treasures. “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”
17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. [There was just about nothing that was considered as disgusting to the ancients as a menstruous woman or her clothing.]
18 ¶ The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers [allies & idols], but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls. [They died in the famine associated with siege warfare.]
Judah/Jerusalem is put to shame and laments that there is no one to comfort her. All her enemies laugh at her troubles, and are glad for them. She retorts that they will be just like her, punished for their sins/transgressions.
Lam 2 The Lord has finally had enough, and brings the curses He promised via Moses in The Law
“How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool [Jerusalem] in the day of his anger!”
In grief/mourning the elders have put dust on their heads and dressed in sackcloth. Their innards are full of grief. Children cry for hunger in their mothers’ embrace. Instead of teaching the people to repent and avoid calamity, the prophets pretended to vain and foolish visions, that would cause the people to be banished from their homeland.
“The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn [that calls people to battle] of thine adversaries.” Each night was divided into “watches” (shifts) for the soldiers—and now they are full of prayers/petitions/pleadings with the Lord for the sake of starving children in the streets. Starving women become willing to eat their own infants (the unit of measure called a “span” is the widest that a hand can stretch out from tip of thumb to pinky, perhaps about 9”).
Lam 3 Lamenting all the Lord has done in consequence of wickedness, the prophet remembers that God is merciful and compassionate.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 ¶ It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
A man will put his face in the dust (in prayer), with the hope of God’s mercy. He puts up with physical abuse from those who accuse him, trusting that “the Lord will not cast [him] off for ever . . .”
32 But though he [God] cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Like a good parent, God doesn’t delight in punishing the bad deeds of His children, yet He knows He must hold them accountable, for their own sakes.
Jeremiah asks rhetorically of God’s all-powerfulness. Whatever He says, good or bad, will happen. And why should a man complain at being punished for his own sins. In suffering, God’s people ought to do some soul-searching and turn to the Lord, praying for His mercy/pardon/forgiveness. Jeremiah recalls his experience in prison, and how he called on the Lord for help. God listened to him then, so he calls on Him again to recompense his enemies.
Lam 4 A lament for the horrors of a besieged city.
“The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!” Gold lasts, pottery is temporary. Gold is precious, pottery is not.
Even mother whales give milk to their babies, yet women of God’s people have become as careless of their young as ostriches. Young children go hungry and thirsty in the besieged city. Those who used to eat all sorts of delicacies are now desolate. Those who used to dress so fine sit in poop. Sinful Sodom didn’t suffer this much, because it was destroyed quickly. The people of Jerusalem, who used to have every sign of health are now skin and bones. Those that were killed by the sword were better off than those dying of hunger, and women cook their own children to eat. No one would have believed that Jerusalem would be overrun so by its enemies.
The prophets and priests (who should be the epitome of Justice) shed the blood of just/good/righteous people. Thus the Lord caused that the conquering army gave the prophets and priests no special treatment (as they would be used to). People waited for help from another nation (Egypt) in vain. The conquerors hunt out and pursue those that flee to the mountains or wilderness, including the king (the Lord’s anointed), whom they thought would still be over them even in captivity.
Speaking ironically, Jeremiah invites Edom to be glad at Jerusalem’s destruction, because Edom will drink from the same cup and offer all she has to the conquerors. There will at last come an end to Zion’s punishment, and it will be Edom’s turn to be punished for her sins.
Lam 5 Jeremiah lists the things his people have suffered, and his belief in God, but ends on a sad note
Jeremiah tells the things his people have suffered, asking “Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach . . .” Strangers have taken their inheritances, the people are orphaned/fatherless (left without protectors/providers), their mothers widowed. Instead of gathering wood and bringing water from the well, they have to pay for both. They no longer have the benefits employees would, rather, they work like slaves. They’ve paid the Egyptians & Assyrians for help with the money that could have bought them food.
The people of Judah suffer for the wickedness of their fathers. Instead of being governed by people with the right to rule, they are ruled over by servants (of Nebuchadnezzar). No one is delivering them from their fate. They’ve suffered terrible famine. Their women, even young women, were raped. Princes were hanged by their hands. The elders/elderly were given no respect. Young men and children were set to work grinding grains and gathering wood (chores they would have thought beneath them). The elders no longer sit at the gates of the city (a sign of wealth/leisure and honor/importance), and the young men no longer party or dance to the music. All joy is ceased and turned to mourning. Instead of living like kings, they are full of woes, suffering because of their sins. Their hearts are faint, their eyes dim (vs bright with hope/energy/anticipation . . .) Their precious Zion is become a wilderness where foxes live. Jeremiah pleads,
19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
But then he laments, “thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth [angry] against us.”
Thus ends this set of Jeremiah's writing. It doesn't mean that it's the last he thought or wrote.
The Book of Habakkuk
“He spoke often of an imminent Babylonian invasion (Habakkuk 1:6; 2:1; 3:16), an event that occurred on a smaller scale in 605 BC before the total destruction of Judah’s capital city, Jerusalem, in 586 BC. The way Habakkuk described Judah indicates a low time in its history. If the dating is to remain close to the Babylonian invasion, Habakkuk likely prophesied in the first five years of Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598 BC) to a king who led his people into evil.” https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-minor-prophets/habakkuk
The book of Habakkuk has only 3 chapters. He bemoans the wickedness of his time, “Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.” He speaks of the rise of the Chaldeans (Babylonians). While their king thinks his god has given him his power, Habakkuk says that God is using him as a form of correction for His people. He uses fishing metaphors to capture the attention of his hearers/readers. As far as God’s character/nature, he says, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” In other words, though God is too pure to countenance evil, yet He postpones judgment/punishment (until the time is right). Habakkuk describes himself as a watchman on the tower. God tells him to write his vision, and when it is time, it’s truth will be revealed. The conqueror is greedy to expand his empire, but “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!”
Highlights: “the just shall live by his faith,” and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
The third chapter is a prayer/psalm, which some have thought indicates he could have been a Temple priest. (see reference cited above). In his psalm of praise Habakkuk refers to God’s hand in Israel’s history, especially in the Exodus. No matter what disasters occur, Habakkuk says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.”
The Book of Obadiah
The book of Obadiah is the shortest in the Old Testament, only 1 chapter. “The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom . . .” The time is unreferenced, except that the Edomites thought to profit by the calamities befallen the Jewish nation. The Lord through Obadiah promises that Zion/the House of Jacob will one day be delivered and re-possess their lands, and the kingdom of Esau/Edom will be destroyed. The rule of the enemies of the Jews will be overturned. Holiness will return to the Jewish nation.
Jeremiah part 4–various prophecies concerning the Israelites and other Middle Eastern nations
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian-w-scott/4621985308/
Compare Jer 27 (Babylon will conquer all)
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .” Jeremiah is to put on yokes (used for carrying burdens, or for animals used in plowing) and fetters. He is to send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Tyre, Zidon, and the Ammonites via the messengers they have sent to Zedekiah in Jerusalem, along with a message from God: I am the Creator of the earth and all the people and beasts upon it, and I give control of it to whomever I want. I have given all your lands and animals to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. All nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson. When their time is up, other nations and kings will conquer Babylon. Any nation that refuses to serve Babylon will be killed by the sword (war), famine, and pestilence/disease. So don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers who say it won’t be so. They are prophesying lies to you. But those nations willing to be tributary to Babylon will be able to remain in their own lands.
Jer 22 Jeremiah is sent to the king of Judah, calling for repentance & pronouncing consequences
3 Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
Though the king’s house is beautiful as Gilead (noted for healing balm) and Lebanon (noted for its cedars), it will become a wilderness and desolate. Passers by will ask one another, Why did God do this to this great city (Jerusalem)? The answer: “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.”
The Lord says not to weep for those who were killed, but for those that were carried captive, who would never see their native land again. Then he references Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah “which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more . . .” For a discussion of Shallum, see https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_chronicles/3-15.htm , which references 1 Chron 3:15, four sons of king Josiah.
The Lord tells the king,
13 ¶ Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar?...
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
The Lord extols the virtues of king Josiah: “did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord.”
Verses 18-19 & 24 specify Jehoiakim, who inherited his father Josiah’s throne. This once again calls into question who Shallum was. Could it have been another name for Jehoiakim? Could either this writer or the writer of 1 Chron 3:15 have confused the identities?
The Lord speaks again of Lebanon and its cedars in verses 20-23. The context seems to be idolatry committed there, as ancients used forested hills (“high places”) for idolatrous parties. Those false gods are often referred to as the lovers whom the wife (the Israelites) committed adultery with. The destruction of the land is often compared in simile or metaphor to the pains of childbirth.
Even if the king’s son was God’s signet ring, the symbol of His authority, he would still not save him from the disaster to come. The king will be given into the hands of his most feared enemy, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and his Chaldean warriors. He will be carried away captive, never to return to his birthplace. The king’s son Coniah is as despised as a broken idol or an unwanted piece of pottery. He and his children are to be cast out/taken away to die in a foreign land. The king and his son might as well be childless, as far as having heirs to the throne of Judah.
Jer 23 Woe to the pastors, the shepherds who should have cared for God’s flocks; yet God will gather and save them—the promise of a Messiah
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
5 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
One day, instead of looking back at the Exodus as proof of the existence, power, and mercy of God, people will speak of the gathering of the house of Israel from the north, and from all the countries of the diaspora.
9 ¶ Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
The Lord through His prophet Jeremiah pronounces the consequences to the false prophets (particularly the prophets of Baal in Samaria) and religious leaders: they will fall as if walking on slippery paths in the dark. “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” They will be fed with bitterness. The Lord warns the people not to listen to these prophets who speak from their own heart/interest, not the word of the Lord. They reassure the wicked that they will have peace and nothing ill will come to them. But the anger of the Lord will fall on the wicked like a whirlwind, and His anger will not die down until His purposes are fulfilled. In the last days people will perfectly understand.
I, the Lord, did not send those prophets, yet they went; I did not speak to them, and yet they prophesied. If they had stood in God’s counsel, and caused the people to hear His words, they would have turned the people from their evil ways. He asks, Am I a God only in the present? “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?”
The Lord rebukes the prophets that tell lies in His name, claiming to have dreamed dreams from the Lord. “. . . yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name [replacing it] for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream [from God], let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. ” (Maybe this was the Lord's word to Jeremiah.) False prophets are as useless as chaff compared to the nutrition of kernels of wheat.
God’s word is like a purifying fire, like a hammer that breaks ore in pieces. He is against prophets that steal their neighbor’s words (Jeremiah’s words), and that say, “The burden of the Lord . . .[as if God had given them the words to say].” He is against those that prophesy false dreams, and in telling those dreams, “cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” The Lord warns these false prophets/priests/people from pretending to speak for Him, who have perverted “the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.” “I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”
Jer 24 Jeremiah’s vision after Nebuchadrezzar took Jehoiakim’s son, princes, craftsmen captive
Jeremiah’s vision from the Lord: 2 baskets of figs in front of the Temple—one of very good figs, the other inedible. The Jews carried captive to the land of the Chaldeans are symbolized by the good figs. “For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” The inedible figs are symbolic of Zedekiah and those left in Jerusalem/Judah, and those that go to Egypt. “And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers." We may be surprised by who the Lord considers the good figs and the bad figs; we may be surprised by what God tells/counsels us to do. What may seem like a disaster may be what God wants us to do (and we know what He asks turns out to be best), and what we think will save us from disaster may prove our foolish insistence that we know better than Him.
Jer 25 The Lord through Jeremiah about the people of Judah, 4th year of Jehoiakim, 70 yrs in Babylon
Jeremiah tells all the people of Judah & Jerusalem: from the 13th year of king Josiah to this day (the 23rd year since) “I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.”
4 And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Because they have not listened, the Lord says He will bring “all the families of the north” and Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon (His servant—that is, he serves God’s purpose in this instance) against Judah and all the neighboring nations, and utterly destroy them. The joyous sounds of weddings, of grinding the harvest, and celebrations will no more be heard. The nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years.
At the end of 70 years the king of Babylon, his nation, and the Chaldeans will be punished for their iniquities with perpetual desolations. “For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.”
Jeremiah is to give the cup of destruction for the nations to drink: Jerusalem/Judah, Pharaoh/Egypt, the kings/people of Uz, the Philistines (including Azzah/Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod), Ashkelon (seaport just north of Gaza), Edom, Moab, the descendants of Ammon, Tyre & Sidon/Zidon, kings of Arabia including the city of Dedan, Tema (a city of the Ishmaelites), Buz (possibly people living near Edom), Zimri (possibly a city in the land inheritance of Simeon), Elam (land east of Babylonia), Medes (east of Babylonia), all the kings of the north (around Babylon), all the kingdoms of the [middle eastern] world, including “the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea”. And after all these have drunk from the cup of God’s wrath, Sheshach/Babylon will then be made to drink of it as well. All these will be destroyed in war. He says they will fall and rise no more, but He has promised that eventually the nation of Israel will return and rise again, so perhaps this is a hyperbolic, exclamatory punctuation to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, or refers only to the current kings of those nations. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Sheshach.html
Jeremiah likens the Lord to a roaring lion, which brings fear to all who hear. He likens the kings of the earth to shepherds, who certainly would fear to hear the roar of a lion. The shepherds will have no way to flee, nor any way to save their flocks (people). The peaceful pastures/lands will be destroyed. Like a lion leaving his den the Lord will come out to wreak destruction on the corrupted nations of the earth.
Jer 30 God promises to bring Israel & Judah back to the land He promised to their Founding Fathers
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
3 For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
The Lord recognizes the fear in the hearts of His people. Interestingly, He asks rhetorically if men give birth, so why are the they acting like women in the throes of labor? He acknowledges the troubled times, but promises that the Israelites will be brought out of it. The yoke of bondage/captivity will be broken off their necks, and they will serve God and the rightful heir of David the king, whom God will raise up.
10 ¶ Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
“All thy lovers [false allies and idolatries] have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.” But why cry about it? The injury seems incurable, a just injury for the nation’s wickedness.
16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Israel’s cities will be rebuilt, and “out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them . . . Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.”
And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Jer 31 God makes a new covenant with Israel & Judah; mention of Ramah, Justice, God in our hearts
“At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people . . . The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
The Lord uses the metaphor of a virgin dressed for a party with music and dancing. This is curious, because He has already accused the House of Israel of being metaphorically an adulterous wife. There’s more than one way to explain this, from translating issues to the miracle of God’s forgiveness. One option might be that the adulterous wife will have been put away (divorced), and her youthful daughter (those whom the Lord will gather from afar and return to the land of Israel) will once again be able to find joy, dancing and singing.
Then the Lord paints a picture of the returning Israelites: vineyards will be replanted and produce plentifully. The watchmen (prophets & leaders) of Israel will proclaim, Let’s arise and go to (worship) our God in Jerusalem (where the Temple is). “For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.” The Lord says He will bring His people from the North and the ends of the earth, and evinces the inclusivity of the gathering by specifying even the blind, the lame, and the pregnant (even those giving birth) . . . all who would find the travel difficult, and might have been left behind if God didn’t insist. It will be a huge gathering.
9 They shall come with weeping [for joy], and with supplications [gentle urging] will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn [Joseph’s son Ephraim inherited the right of firstborn when Jacob’s firstborn lost his birthright through sin].
10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he [Jacob/Israel].
The remnant of Israel will come to the hills of Jerusalem with “the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.” Young and old alike will dance for joy, and God will take away their sorrows. The people and the priests, who depend upon the people for their sustenance, will be satiated with the goodness/blessings of the Lord (implying the abundant fruitfulness of the land).
Here is found the much quoted scripture, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel [Rachel] weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” Ramah was a place about 5 mi north of Jerusalem (while Bethlehem was about 5 mi south of Jerusalem). Rachel gave birth to her last son Benjamin (Joseph’s only full brother) as the family was traveling to Bethlehem, and Rachel died there in childbirth. Rachel’s name for Bejamin was Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow”, but his father Jacob called him Benjamin. The place Ramah has other importance in the Old Testament story, but my interest here is mainly about Rachel’s symbolic lament. Ramah was part of the tribe of Benjamin’s land inheritance. Apparently either in the Assyrian or Babylonian conquest the place suffered particular destruction. It seems to have been an important defense site for the kingdom of Judah.
https://www.theholyscript.com/where-is-ramah-in-the-bible/ about Ramah
https://www.gotquestions.org/Ramah-in-the-Bible.html about Ramah
https://www.gotquestions.org/voice-heard-in-Ramah.html Ramah vs Bethlehem
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/2-18.htm Matt 2:18 vs Jer 31:15, Rachel’s death etc
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/31-15.htm scroll down to the commentaries
But then the Lord says, No longer weep, for they (Rachel’s/Israel’s) children/descendants will be brought back from the land of their enemies. Hope is restored. Symbolically, Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) had been bemoaning the Lord’s chastisement for his iniquity, and says he has repented. The Lord calls Ephraim his dear son, whom He still remembers and will have mercy for him. The Lord tells Israel to again set up the waymarks (road signs, so to speak), for they will use those roads to return to their cities.
The prophet says that the Lord has brought about something new: a woman encompassing a man. This would have reference to the usual way of considering men to be in charge of sex. In other words, human ideas of how things are or how they go will be tossed upside down. No doubt the expectation was that once you were carried away captive, you would never return (including your posterity). When the captives are brought back people will say, “The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.” The land and cities of Judah will once again support agriculture, both crops and flocks. The Lord will refresh the weary and worried.
After this happy dream Jeremiah awakens with sweet memories.
The Lord promises that the Israelites & Jews, and their animals, will bear plentiful offspring. Just as the Lord has seen to their destruction, He will see to their re-construction.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. [compare Ezek 18]
The Lord will make a new covenant with Israel & Judah, not the old one of the Exodus (which they broke, despite the Lord’s care for them).
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The Lord who made the sun to light the day, and the moon & stars to light the night, who causes the storms of the sea to roar, who marshals armies of angels, declares that His power over all those would cease sooner than His decree that Israel will never cease to exist as a nation. It’s just as impossible to measure the Universe or to understand the founding of the earth as for God to cast off Israel, despite all his culpability/guilt.
All the environs of Jerusalem will be holy, and never destroyed again. Though the Jews/Israelites returned from the Babylonian captivity, they were scattered again by Rome. So this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled entirely.
Jer 47 Woes to come to the Philistines, Tyre & Sidon; spoken before the Pharoah attacked Gaza
Babylon is likened to a flood inundating all the land. The noise of the horses’ hooves, the rumbling of chariot wheels will put such fear in the people that even fathers will flee without looking back for their children. Gaza & Ashkelon will be made bald (desolate). How long will they be in mourning? (One of the rituals of mourning was to cut oneself.) Poetically Jeremiah asks how long before the Lord’s sword (the king of Babylon) is put back in its scabbard. But it can’t be stilled because the Lord has given it a command against the kingdoms of the coast: the Philistines & the Phoenicians. These are at least in part the modern countries of Gaza and Lebanon.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philistine-people
https://www.britannica.com/place/Phoenicia
Jer 48 Woe to the Moabites
4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
7 ¶ For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh [the Moabite god] shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken.
9 Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.
10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
11 ¶ Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees [dregs, the bottom of the cup/barrel], and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity [before] . . .
The chapter mentions various Moabite cities, descriptions and metaphors of the calamities of being conquered, and condemnation for how the Moabites delighted over the ills that happened to Israel, making Israel the subject of their derision. “We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart . . . Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the Lord . . . Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives..” Yet Jeremiah still mourns over the destruction of Moab as one who cares about the suffering of others. And God promises that in the latter days He will rescue Moab from captivity.
Jer 49 Prophecies against Ammon, Edom, Syria, Kedar, Hazor, Elam (comp Obadiah & Jer 27)
Apparently the Ammonites decided to take advantage of Israelite troubles and fill the void, that is, take over territories the Israelites could not hold. But the Ammonites will have their own share of troubles/conquest. “Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.” Yet the Ammonites will also return from captivity one day.
When grapes ae harvested some are left on the vine. Thieves take their limit, but something is still left. “But I have made Esau [Edom] bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not [that is, he is annhilated].” Though proud guerillas fight from the hills & caves, they’ll be conquered. Still, the Lord invites the widows to put their trust in Him, and promises to watch over the fatherless.
Damascus, the Syrian capital, has/will become weak “and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad [this famous king of Syria became its symbol].
Kedar, an Arabian tribe descended from Ishmael the half brother of Isaac, will also be conquered. “Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.”
Counterpoint to Kedar in the south, the ancient Canaanite city of Hazor in the north would be overthrown by Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. “Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation [Babylon], that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. And their [Hazorite] camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons [some lizard species], and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.”
Jeremiah prophesies against Elam, Babylon’s neighbor, “I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them . . .” The Elamites will be scattered to the 4 winds and into every country. But eventually, they too will return to their lands.
Jer 50 God vs Babylon & Chaldea; Israelites will return to their land
1 The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel [a Babylonian idol] is confounded, Merodach [another god of Babylon] is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
And in those days the Israelites & Jews will go forth weeping for joy, seeking the Lord their God, returning to Zion/Jerusalem, saying, “Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”
God’s people have been lost sheep, and it’s their shepherds that caused them to go astray. All their adversaries justified themselves in doing them harm because they had sinned against the Lord (in whom Justice dwells and the hope of their fathers/ancestors).
But God will raise up an alliance from the north against Babylon. Note that the Persian/Medean empire (“an assembly of great nations”) was north of the Babylonian/Chaldean empire. And why would the Lord turn on Babylon, whom He had called his servant? Because they had grown fat and full of pride. War will come to Babylon, archers will shoot at her, her foundations & walls will be thrown down, her agriculture will fail because the peoples who were forced to work the land will flee to their own countries.
Israel was like a flock of sheep scattered by lions: first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians. Just as the Lord punished the Assyrian king, He will punish Babylonian king. Those who look for sin in Israel and Judah will not find it, for the Lord will pardon those who are left.
Merathaim is another word for Babylon, meaning “double bitterness” and “double rebellion”. Pekod is used to depict the Chaldeans, perhaps meaning “punishment”. Babylon is metaphorically called “the hammer of the whole earth”, but astonishingly, it will be broken. Babylon is caught in a snare by the Lord, in a sense of it’s own making, because it has contended with Him. No doubt this refers to the pride of the Babylonian/Chaldean empire. Babylon is to be recompensed, meaning that it’s not innocent: it will get what it deserves. “Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.” (Comp Isa 14:4-22, Isa 42:5-25, Rev 14:8) Verse 36 also mentions liars. Verse 38 speaks of Babylon/Chaldea being a land of graven images, and that “they are mad upon their idols.” That is, they go crazy with all kinds of idols and the veneration they give them.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
A brief outline of the history & fate of Babylon:
https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/babylon.htm
https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/where-was-babylon-and-what-happened-to-it.html
In light of the history of Babylon through the centuries, as outlined in the links above, the passage “many kings shall be raised up from the coasts [ends] of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea [that is, the noise of the battlefield], and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon” could refer to Alexander's empire with its one-time capital Babylon. One empire after another conquered Babylon until it became just an archaeological site. No doubt those who had been conquered and carried captive by the Babylonians were anxious to see it never again inhabited, and obliterated as Sodom & Gomorrah (which we are uncertain as to their exact location still), and probably they looked for the fulfillment of that prophecy in the relative short term. We, too, must recognize that God fulfills His word, but not necessarily on our timeline or in our expected timeframe.
Jer 51 the Lord continues against Babylon—prophesied in the 4th year of Zedekiah when he went to Babylon (on an errand to Nebuchadnezzar, presumably, before being taken captive in his 11th year)
At the end of this chapter it’s explained that this prophecy was sent with “a quiet prince” when he accompanied Zedekiah to Babylon in the 4th year of his reign. Jeremiah tells this prince that as he reads the prophecy when he gets there, he should exclaim Babylon’s downfall (presumably quietly, to himself), and then tie a rock to it and toss it into the Euphrates, likening it to the eventual destruction of that place. We might wonder why take all the trouble to write the prophecy in a book, send it with a guy to Babylon (a very dangerous thing to do), then toss it in the river. One theory: this quiet prince may have been commanded to be brought as a prisoner/hostage to “ensure” Zedekiah’s compliance to Babylonian demands/suzerainty. One might even speculate that he could have been a companion of the young Zedekiah (who was only in his 20s), or he could have been a disciple of Jeremiah. How discouraged he would be feeling! Jeremiah thus offers him some hope that this will not last forever. And maybe he could even share this hope with the previous captives who had been taken to Babylon under the reign of Jehoiachin, but the actual evidence was destroyed, so that they could not be charged (nor Jeremiah charged) with the damning document.
The conquerors of Babylon are likened to a powerful wind, even those that fan the fire of a furnace/smelting operation. When Babylon is attacked it seems her neighbors whom she had conquered will also rise up against her. This will signify to the Israelites that God has not forgotten them, despite that they had filled their land with sinning against Him. This will be their chance to flee Babylon.
Babylon had served as a golden cup from which the Lord had made the whole earth (the middle easterners would consider that as the middle east) to get “falling down drunk.” But now suddenly Babylon is fallen/destroyed, wounded such that she seeks a remedy for the pain and for her injury. Those who care for her will howl (mourn aloud) for her mortal wounds. They would have healed her, but it’s hopeless, so they go to their own countries with shrugging shoulders that she got what she deserved. Verse 11 foretells that it will be the Medes that will come against Babylon. One might be tempted to see in verse 13 the end of Alexander the Great in Babylon.
The power of the Lord is His wisdom & understanding, by which He created the earth and the heaven or atmosphere, the waters above (as clouds), the volcanic vapors & evaporated waters, the rain/lightning/weather. By comparison men are brutes, worshipping inert/impotent/passive/false gods of their own making.
“The portion of Jacob”, meaning God, is not like those false gods. He created all things. Jacob/Israel is the branch of His inheritance (He has made Israel His heir.) He is called “the Lord of hosts”, that is, He commands hosts/armies of angels. With God’s might He, or Israel/His people, can conquer all other nations and armies.
The Lord is against those conquerors that destroy all the earth. He will destroy them. He references the tendency of people to take the stones of a ruined city or building to build or rebuild, saying there won’t be anything left of Babylon to use for building/re-building. He references setting up a flag, blowing a trumpet to call together the armies of nations to war against Babylon. Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz were provinces in the ancient kingdom of Uratu, a particular adversary of Assyria, but also of the Babylonians. It’s an area in the present convergence of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. The Medes were also north of Babylon. From this chapter we get a view of the end of Babylon by competing countries/empires in which the soldiers were afraid to even come out of their holds. The passes were blocked, the reeds of the wetlands were burned. Babylon’s enemies overflow them like a flood (v. 42).
https://biblehub.com/topical/a/ashchenaz.htm
https://www.worldhistory.org/Urartu_Civilization/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6F2ZAlVOIc&ab_channel=HistorywithCy 10.5 min video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsI2EYwrD5A&ab_channel=Saelind 48 min video
Jeremiah speaks for a few verses as the embodiment of the Israelites, saying, “Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon [large lizard], he hath filled his belly with my delicates [organs], he hath cast me out. The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.” In response, the Lord promises to advocate for His people, to take vengeance for their sake, to cause drought in the land.
An interesting phrase is “like lambs to the slaughter”, see also Isa 51:40, Isa 53:7, Jer 11:19, Acts 8:32.
“My people, go ye out of the midst of her [Babylon], and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.” Another phrase or thought of interest: “go ye out of the midst” of wickedness, see Isa 6:9-12 (wicked Israel is removed from the land), Is 52:9-12 (Assyria), Jer 6:1 (Jerusalem, fleeing Babylonian destruction thereof), Jer 50:8 (Babylon & Chaldea), Ezek 7:4 (recompense for abominations), Ezek 14:8 (idolaters to be taken out of the midst of God’s people), Ezek 20:10 (Egypt at the Exodus), Micah 6:4 (out of Egypt), Lev 16:16 (atone for uncleanness among God’s people), Psalm 137 (by the rivers of Babylon Israelites wept),
“And lest your heart faint,” the Lord foretells of rumours of wars, violence in the land, leaders contending with each other, violence in the overthrow of wicked Babylon. But these are to be followed by singing in heaven and earth for the conquest of Babylon (symbolic epitome of evil). The Lord enjoins His people to remember Him and the holy city Jerusalem. Although the sanctuary has been defiled by strangers (causing shame to His people), the days will come that God will “do judgment”. No matter how high & mighty Babylon (the wicked) gets, the Lord will bring spoilers to her. Her leaders & rulers, drunken with (power and) lacking (fore-)sight will be put to bed forever by the Lord. Despite her impregnable appearance, she will be broken up and burned.
(see Jer 52 under part 3 of the Book of Jeremiah)
Jeremiah part 3–history chapters, roughly Jer 26-46 (comp 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chron 36)
2 Kings 24 & 2 Chron 36:5-13 background
Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, had been made a tributary king of Judah by the Egyptian Pharaoh (2 Kings 23:31-37). Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, makes Jehoiakim his tributary. After 3 years Jehoiakim rebels. A consortium of the Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites, and the people of Ammon come against the kingdom of Judah (probably under orders from Nebuchadnezzar). Jehoiakim is succeeded by his 18 yr old son Jehoiachin. (2 Chron 36:9 says Jehoiachin was only 8 years old)
Babylon has conquered Egypt, now Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem. In the 8th year of Jehoiachin’s reign the Babylonians take him, his household, princes, and officers to Babylon, along with the treasures pillaged from the king’s house and the Temple. Ten thousand captives, including the best of the army and the craftsmen, are carried away leaving only the poorest people. The king of Babylon makes Zedekiah king of Judah at age 21.
After some years, Zedekiah rebels, and near the end of his 10th year as king Nebuchadnezzar comes and lays another siege against Jerusalem, as described in 2 Kings 25 & 2 Chron 36:17-20.
From the days of Jehoiakim on, Jeremiah is in and out of prison, accused of treason.
Note: I have tried to put the following chapters in some sort of chronological order, but have managed, no doubt, very imperfectly.
Jer 26 Jeremiah is tried & acquitted under the reign of Jehoiakim
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord . . .” The Lord tells Jeremiah to stand in the court of the Temple, and if the people will listen and repent, He will change his intended punishments for their sins. If not, the Temple will be destroyed just as Shiloh was (the site of the Tabernacle before the Temple was built). The Lord reminds them He has continually sent prophets, but they refused to listen.
The priests, prophets, and everyone has heard Jeremiah preaching in the Temple. They all threaten him with death. The princes come from the king’s house to inquire what’s happening. The priests and prophets say, “This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.”
Jeremiah defends himself by saying that the Lord has sent him, “Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.”
The princes and the people tell the priests & prophets that Jeremiah isn’t worthy of death, because he has spoken in the Lord’s name. The elders bring up the example of the prophet Micah in the reign of Hezekiah that had prophesied Zion/Jerusalem would be plowed like a field, tossed up in heaps—that is, destroyed. Did Hezekiah and the people put him to death? No, Hezekiah took Micah’s words to heart and went to the Lord to plead for the nation. The Lord was willing to change what would occur. If we kill Jeremiah we might jeopardize our souls.
Another prophet, Urijah, also prophesies against Jerusalem and the nation, just as Jeremiah had done. When Jehoiakim and his princes and powerful men hear him, Jehoiakim looks for an opportunity to have him put to death. Urijah flees to Egypt, but Jehoiakim sends men to Egypt and they bring him back to be killed. They toss his body into a common grave.
One guy, Ahikam, saves Jeremiah from that fate.
Jer 35 in the days of Jehoiakim (son of king Josiah) Jeremiah contrasts the obedience of one lineage (possibly of priests) vs the disobedience of the nation of Judah
“The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah . . .”
The following is such a good summary of this chapter, I have nothing further to add. May we be as faithful as the Rechabites.
https://bibleask.org/who-were-the-rechabites-in-the-bible/
https://www.gotquestions.org/Rechabites.html
In the last verse of this chapter the Lord promises that because of the faithfulness of the Rechabites there will never lack a man of the descendants of Jonadab “to stand before” the Lord forever. I take that phrase to mean serving in the office of a priest.
Jer 45 The Lord’s promise to Baruch, 4th year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah
Baruch was feeling low, “Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” The Lord sends Jeremiah to tell Baruch, I will destroy this land that I built & planted. Do you want great things for yourself [such as land and its wealth]? Don’t seek those things, because the land will be destroyed. But I will save your life, no matter where you go. (Later Baruch would be taken, along with Jeremiah, by the leaders of the remnant of the Jews, to Egypt).
Jer 46 in the 4th yr of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah prophesies the eventual conquest of Egypt
Pharaoh-necho of Egypt is at the river Euphrates, feeling pretty full of himself. “Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.” Amongst his army are Ethiopians and Libyans (skilled in hand-to-hand battle), and Lydians (skilled archers). Jeremiah prophesies their defeat, which will cause a lasting Egyptian military weakness. Pharoah is beaten by , king of Babylon. Jeremiah goes on to prophesy that eventually Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, will come even to Egypt and conquer it.
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord. [After being conquered, Egypt will once again rise as a nation.]
But the Lord promises the Children of Israel that they will one day be gathered again to live in the land of Israel.
27 ¶ But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Jer 36 Baruch writes for Jeremiah in Jehoiakim’s 4th yr as king; Jeremiah is in prison at the time
“And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .” Jeremiah is to write the words of the Lord on a scroll in the possibility that the house of Judah (either the kingly lineage or the nation of Judah) will hear all the prophecies of trouble ahead, and will choose to repent and be forgiven. Jeremiah calls on Baruch to act as his scribe, since Jeremiah is in prison. Baruch writes for him, and Jeremiah sends him to read it in the Temple on an official day of fasting that had been called for all the people of the cities of Judah to come. Perhaps this has given rise to the hope that the people might be willing to listen. Baruch is faithful to the task (though it must have been a dangerous thing to do). This is evidence that God has given men free will to choose their own path, but must live with the consequences. People always have the possibility to choose good, and the Lord gives them the benefit of that possibility as He warns them of the consequences and holds out the opportunity to be forgiven if they repent/change their ways & come to Him in truth.
One of the Temple officials goes to the king’s house to tell the princes all Baruch has read in the Temple. They call for Baruch to bring the scroll to them. He does so, perhaps with great hopes. They tell him to read the scroll to them, which he does. They are filled with fear, and tell Baruch to take Jeremiah and hide. They then hide the scroll, but tell the king all it said. The king sends for the scroll and has it read to him and all the princes. The king cuts up the scroll and tosses it in the fire (it was winter and there was a fire going in the hearth). Only three have the courage to protest, but the king doesn’t listen. The scriptures specifically mention that no one tore their clothes in anguish at the blasphemy of burning God’s word. The king sends officers to take Jeremiah and Baruch, “but the Lord hid them.”
The Lord tells Jeremiah to rewrite the words of the scroll. He is to tell king Jehoiakim that because he burnt the warning words of the Lord (that the king of Babylon would come and destroy the land of Judah), the king will not have an heir to sit on the throne, and his own dead body will be tossed out into the elements. The king and his posterity, and his servants, will be punished for their iniquities. All the trouble prophesied against the kingdom will be fulfilled. So Jeremiah and Baruch do as the Lord has told them, and even more prophetic words are added by the Lord to the 2nd scroll.
Jer 27 Jeremiah tells both Jehoiakim and Zedekiah that they must accept Babylonian rule or be destroyed
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .” Jeremiah is to put on yokes (used for carrying burdens, or for animals used in plowing) and fetters. He is to send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Tyre, Zidon, and the Ammonites via the messengers they have sent to Zedekiah in Jerusalem, along with a message from God: I am the Creator of the earth and all the people and beasts upon it, and I give control of it to whomever I want. I have given all your lands and animals to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. All nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson. When their time is up, other nations and kings will conquer Babylon. Any nation that refuses to serve Babylon will be killed by the sword (war), famine, and pestilence/disease. So don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers who say it won’t be so. They are prophesying lies to you. But those nations willing to be tributary to Babylon will be able to remain in their own lands.
Likewise, Jeremiah tells Zedekiah the same thing when he is made king. He tells the priests and people not to listen to prophets who are pretending to be sent by the Lord, that the treasures of the Temple will shortly be brought back from Babylon (maybe they have some emissaries working toward/negotiating for that end?). If they really ae prophets of the Lord, let them intercede with the Him that whatever treasures are left in the Temple and the king’s house should not be taken as well to Babylon (as they were under Jehoiakim’s son, along with the captives). And yet, they will be carried away to Babylon, and remain there until the Lord brings them back again (when Babylon’s ascendancy it broken).
Jer 29 Jeremiah sends a letter to those carried away into Babylon under Jehoiachin
After Nebuchadnezzar carried away the “best” of the kingdom of Judah (in the reign of Jehoiachin) as captives into Babylon, Jeremiah sends a letter to their elders. He tells them to settle for the long run: build houses, plant gardens, take wives and have families (so your population can continue to grow) where you are. Seek the peace of the city where you are—in other words, don’t foment rebellion. In the peace of that city you will find peace. Don’t listen to any who pretend to be prophets that say anything different, for “I have not sent them, saith the Lord.”
10 ¶ For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
The Lord tells them not to look to the king (Zedekiah) and the remnant still in Jerusalem and the land around it, because they will yet be destroyed by sword (war), famine, and pestilence (disease). They will also be conquered and carried away captive, because they have not listened to the prophets I have sent to them. They have committed villany, adultery, lied in God’s name. Don’t listen to the false prophets who prophesy lies in the name of God. Zedekiah and the false prophet of his time, named Ahab (remember wicked king Ahab at the time of Elijah!), will be killed before your eyes, and roasted with fire.
Shemaiah sends a letter from Babylon to the people left in Jerusalem attacking Jeremiah for sending his letter to the captives in Babylon telling them to settle down for a long captivity. He says Jeremiah ought to be arrested and put in prison.
Shemaiah’s letter is read to Jeremiah. “Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie: Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord; because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord.”
Jer 20 Jeremiah is arrested by a Temple authority
Pashur, a governor of the Temple, hears of Jeremiah’s prophesies. He whacks Jeremiah and locks him up next to the Temple (in the high gate of Benjamin, Jeremiah’s tribe(. Next day he brings him out, presumably for “questioning”, and Jeremiah says his name is not Pashur, but an all-around terror, “For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it . . .”
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/20-1.htm explanation of who Pashur was
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/20-2.htm Pashur arrests Jeremiah, explanation
https://biblehub.com/topical/m/magor-missabib.htm Magor-missabib
“ . . . and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Jeremiah pours out his heart to God. He feels like he’s been ill-used by the Lord, because people make fun of him constantly. He has spoken God’s word, but it’s got him nothing but trouble. So he thought he’d just quit speaking in God’s name, but His word was like a fire in him, until he couldn’t hold back from speaking. Even his old friends conspire to report on him if he says (or if they can entrap him into saying) anything they don’t want people to hear, in order to destroy him.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/20-10.htm
But then Jeremiah takes heart, remembering that the Lord is behind him. All his persecutors will stumble into shame (or, be found out for what they are), which won’t ever be forgotten. “But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.” That is, Jeremiah has laid his case before God. He knows that the Lord tests the righteous to prove what’s in their heart and what they are made of. “Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.”
And yet Jeremiah struggles. He alternates between praising God and cursing the day he was born.
Jer 21 Zedekiah sends to Jeremiah for a message of hope, and Jeremiah prophesies destruction
King Zedekiah sends the priests Pashur (see Jer 20) and Zephaniah to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord (or, to try to get him to intercede on behalf of the nation). Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has his armies and his allies the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem, capital of the kingdom of Judah. But Jeremiah only has bad news to send back—that the city will be taken, and that those who survive the siege, the fighting, the famine, the pestilence will be killed by the conquerors. The Lord will hand them over to their enemies, who will have no pity nor mercy on them.
Jeremiah tells them, “Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.” The way of life is to leave the city and surrender. Those that remain in the city will die. As for the king, if he doesn’t execute justice against the oppressor, he will find God’s justice executed on him for his ill deeds. This seems in reference to Jeremiah’s own case of unjust treatment by his enemies.
(Jer 22-25 to be covered in Jeremiah part 4 to come; Jer 26 & 27 above)
Jer 28 the false prophet Hananiah speaks in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
Hananiah, son of Azur the prophet, speaks to Jeremiah in the Temple, in front of the priests and people. Hananiah says, “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” [Perhaps Hananiah has spies or allies in Babylon that pass on the rumors there?]
Jeremiah responds in front of everyone basically, that plenty of prophets in the past have likewise made such claims against other countries and kingdoms. Whose words come to pass, those are the ones who were in truth sent by God.
Hananiah takes the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and breaks it. (ref Jer 27) He says in such a way the Lord will break the yoke of Babylon from all the nations he’s conquered within 2 years. Jeremiah leaves.
The Lord sends Jeremiah to confront Hananiah and tell him, “Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.” Jeremiah says to Hananiah, as well, “Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.”
Hananiah dies the same year.
Jer 37 Jeremiah imprisoned in a dungeon, then the court of prison early in Zedekiah’s reign
Following Nebuchadrezzer/Nebuchadnezzer’s carrying away Jehoiakim & all to Babylon (but the nation of Judah still wouldn’t listen to Jeremiah), Pharoah’s army from Egypt comes to help Jerusalem vs the Chaldeans (who leave). Zedekiah sends Jeremiah to pray for his people. But the Lord tells Jeremiah to tell the king that the Pharaoh’s army will leave and the Chaldeans will return, take Jerusalem, and burn it with fire. Don’t kid yourselves, thinking the Chaldean’s will leave. They won’t. And even if you could beat the Chaldeans so that only their wounded were left, they would come and burn the city.
When the Chaldeans leave the siege of Jerusalem at the coming of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah leaves Jerusalem to go back to his people, the tribe of Benjamin. But just as he is at the gate of his hometown, he is taken back to Jerusalem under a charge of treason, accused of being an ally of the Chaldeans, because of what he prophesied. Jeremiah denies the accusation, but he is imprisoned in a dungeon nevertheless.
After Jeremiah has been imprisoned a long time, Zedekiah brings him secretly to his own house and asks if there’s any word from the Lord. Jeremiah says, Yes, you will be delivered into the hand of Babylon’s king. Then Jeremiah asks the king, What’s my crime, for which I’ve been put in prison? Where are those “prophets” who told you the king of Babylon wouldn’t come against you? (essentially, I told you the truth, so why have you put me in prison?) Jeremiah petitions the king not to send him back to prison, lest he die there. Zedekiah makes Jeremiah’s imprisonment less harsh, has him put in less austere confinement, and orders that he be given bread from the bakers until it is all gone. And that’s where Jeremiah stays. One would think that after all these warnings that the king would follow Jeremiah's (the Lord's) counsel. But it seems evident to me that Zedekiah was weak and intimidated by the princes/elders of the people.
(Jer 29 above; 30-31 to be covered in part 4, ch 32 below; Jer 35-36 in the days of Jehoiakim above; 37 early in Zedekiah’s reign)
Jer 32 Jeremiah imprisoned in the 10th year of Zedekiah, while Jerusalem is under siege; destruction is reiterated, but then a return to the Land of Promise in the future—a beautiful chapter
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.”
Jeremiah has been prophesying impolitic predictions that Jerusalem will be conquered by Babylon and King Zedekiah will be taken to Babylon.
The Lord tells Jeremiah that his cousin will come to him in prison and offer to sell him some of his land inheritance in Anathoth (in the land of the tribe of Benjamin), as is his right by the laws of inheritance. (Remember from the Law of Moses and the Book of Ruth that the nearest of kin had first right to buy an inheritance for sale). When this happens, Jeremiah knows he wasn’t just dreaming it up himself. He has the means to buy it, and does (17 silver shekels, apparently a small sum; see commentary linked below) The transaction is lawfully witnessed by Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe/ally/friend. Jeremiah tells Baruch to put these evidences in a earthenware pot/jar and bury it for long term safe keeping, because God has promised that His people will one day return to possess the land.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/32-9.htm
Jeremiah then prays and praises God as the powerful Creator of all, and “there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them . . . Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings . . .”
There is a seeming inconsistency in these words, that God recompenses the iniquities of the fathers on their posterity, but He gives everyone according to his own behavior. We see this in our society/culture: children and even generations suffer the consequences of their parents’ poor choices, such as alcoholism, law breaking, abuse. The opposite is true as well, children and posterity benefit from the wise choices and good lives of their parents. And yet in our court/Justice system people are tried for their own crimes, not for their parents’ or any others’. It’s a difficult reconciliation of this life. We trust, however, that all will be made right in the end—Judgment Day. Otherwise, it would be too difficult to live, it has seemed to me.
Jeremiah continues, referencing God bringing the Children of Israel out of Egypt, “with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey . . .” And yet the people didn’t obey God’s voice (through the prophets), nor the Law of Moses (the Law of God). Thus, God has brought the consequences down on the people. God had promised them that if they would honor their parents (implying that they would honor their parents’ teachings: the parents were enjoined/obligated to teach the Law of Moses to their children), they would live long on the land. Such is the natural rise and fall of every nation/culture/civilization, when they live faithfully by just laws they prosper over time, and when they are corrupt they eventually weaken themselves and fall.
Jeremiah puts it to the Lord that he knows his nation is to be destroyed, how can it rise again (the buried evidence of the sale of the land contract testifies)? The Lord replies, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”
The Lord reiterates the destructions that will come upon the city, including the burning of it by the Chaldeans in recompense for the inhabitants burning incense & making offerings to Baal on their rooftops. They have provoked Him, turned their backs on Him, despite that “I taught them [via the prophets], rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.” They have defiled the Temple with their false gods, they have sacrificed their children by fire unto Baal/Molech. The city will be given to the sword, famine, and pestilence.
And yet, He promises to gather them again from the lands they have been scattered, and brought back to live in safety in the Land of Promise. The desolate land will be inhabited, as God has promised. Lands will once again be bought and sold, and life return to normal.
38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
Jer 33 while Jeremiah was still in prison the Lord calls for repentance, offering forgiveness—He seems to be speaking of the future when the people return from the Babylonian captivity
“Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison . . .” The lord says “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not . . . Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.”
9 ¶ And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
10 Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.
12 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
The Lord promises that as sure as day and night continue, so will His promises be fulfilled.
15 ¶ In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.
17 ¶ For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
Jer 34 Jerusalem is yet under siege by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah calls for a proclamation of liberty
The Lord sends Jeremiah with dire warnings of destruction, but holds out hope for a reprieve, if only Zedekiah will Proclaim Liberty to those in servitude. So Zedekiah, the princes, and the people make a covenant to set their Jewish servants free (proclaiming a Jubilee, as in the Law of Moses). And they do so! But then they have second thoughts, and press them back into service.
The Lord sends Jeremiah to rebuke the people, reminding them that in the Law of Moses, after 6 years of service, Hebrew servants were to be freed in the 7th year. But their ancestors failed to live the Law, and they have also broken their Temple covenant to live that law. So will the Lord return them to the sword, and famine, and pestilence, and scattering among all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be given into the hands of their enemies, and become carrion for the scavenging birds and beasts.
It appears that Nebuchadnezzar had drawn back from the siege, and perhaps that is when Zedekiah and the wealthy went back on their word and repressed their servants.
(see above for Jer 35-36 in the days of Jehoiakim; 37 early in Zedekiah’s reign)
Jer 38 Jeremiah, in the muck & mire, is rescued by an Ethiopian Eunuch; counsel to Zedekiah
A group of princes, hearing Jeremiah’s prophecies that all who remain in the city Jerusalem will die by the sword, famine, and pestilence (but those that join the Chaldeans will survive), petition the king to put Jeremiah to death, because he is weakening the will of the defenders of the city. Zedekiah gives them leave to do as they like. It is clear that Zedekiah feels intimidated by the princes of the people, who may be his seniors in age and power. So they take Jeremiah from the less austere part of the prison he has been kept in, and toss him in the dungeon: “and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.”
An Ethiopian Eunuch of the king’s household (who was not just a nobody servant) goes to the king and speaks up for Jeremiah: he will die there, as there is no bread left in the city. The king gives the man permission to take 30 soldiers and rescue Jeremiah. They take a bunch of old yucky rags and a cord to pull Jeremiah up from the pit. They lower the cord and toss in the rags, telling Jeremiah to put the rags in his armpits so the cords won’t cut into him while they pull him up. Jeremiah does so, and they pull him up. He then stays in the less austere confinement of the court of the prison.
Zedekiah, still only in his 30s or so, sends again for Jeremiah, this time to the inner chambers of the Temple. He says, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the truth, not hiding anything from me. Jeremiah says, If I tell you, you’ll surely put me to death, and you won’t follow any counsel I give anyway. The king swears (secretly) that he won’t have Jeremiah put to death, nor put into the hands of his enemies. So Jeremiah tells the king, If you put yourself in the hands of the Babylonians you will live and the city won’t be burned. But if you don’t, they will take the city and you will not escape them. Zedekiah replies, But what about the Jews that have already gone over to the Chaldeans? They will take me before the Chaldeans and ridicule me (implying that they will encourage the king’s demise). But Jeremiah promises him that if the king does what he says, he will be ok. If the king doesn’t follow his counsel, Jeremiah tells him that all the women and children left of his household, as well as himself, will be taken to Babylon and he, the king, will have caused Jerusalem to be burned.
Zedekiah says, Don’t let anyone know what you’ve told me, and you won’t die. If the princes hear about your coming and talking to me and try to get you to tell them all (promising they won’t kill you if you do), tell them you presented your petition not to be returned to prison. As the king predicted, the princes send for Jeremiah, and Jeremiah tells them what the king had advised. They don’t press him any further, and Jeremiah is left to live in the court of the prison until Jerusalem is taken.
Jer 39, 52 Jerusalem is captured, the nobles & heirs are killed, Jeremiah & the Ethiopian are spared
1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. [about a year and a half of siege; life became desperate for the besieged]
Jerusalem is captured by the Babylonian army. Zedekiah and his army flee by night, but the Chaldeans catch up with them in the plains of Jericho. They take Zedekiah and entourage to the Babylonian king who has Zedekiah’s sons/heirs and all the nobles killed right in front of him. Then he has Zedekiah’s eyes put out and takes him in chains to Babylon. The Chaldeans burn the city and break down the walls of Jerusalem. All but the poorest people of Judah are carried away captive to Babylon. Those poor are given fields and vineyard in the land.
Nebuchadrezzar, the Babylonian king, orders that Jeremiah be set free from his prison and taken to his home. While he was in prison, the Lord had told Jeremiah to tell his Ethiopian friend/protector that despite the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord would deliver him from his enemies “For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.”
Jeremiah 52 just gives more details of the destruction of Jerusalem. It also mentions that Jehoiachin was taken from prison in Babylon and the Babylonian king elevated him among other captured kings there, feeding and clothing him with honor the rest of his life. This was no doubt meant to be another slap in the face for Zedekiah. It’s a clue as to the relative wealth of the rulers of these kingdoms and empires, the number of people they fed, clothed, and housed; not only their personal household (numerous wives, concubines, children) and attendants, as well as princes and bureaucracies, but the rivals and foreigners they wanted to keep tabs on.
Jer 40 Jeremiah is freed, Gedaliah made governor over remnant in Judah
“Nebuzar-adan the [Babylonian] captain of the guard [while at] Ramah, when he had taken [Jeremiah] being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon . . . took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place . . . I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go . . . So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.”
Gedaliah had been made governor over those left in Judah. Jeremiah goes to live among those people. The Jews left in Judah are augmented by Jews that had been living in the countries of Moab, Edom, among the Ammonites and other countries, who came back to Judah to live under Gedaliah. They were able to gather a good harvest from the land. A plot to kill the governor is alleged, but he doesn’t put any stock in it.
Jer 41 Governor Gedaliah is assassinated, but the conspiracy is overpowered
It turns out that the conspiracy to assassinate Governor Gedaliah was real. He and his guard (both Jewish & Chaldean) are killed on the sly. When 80 men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria come to make an offering to the Lord at Mizpah where Gedaliah’s court was, the assassins come out to meet them and bring them into the city, where they kill them also—except 10 who offer a bribe. The leader of the assassins, named Ishmael, takes the court and people of Mizpah captive and heads over to the Ammonites. A man named Johanan leads a force after them, and the captives manage to join him. Ishmael and 8 of his followers escape to the Ammonites. Johanan leads the captives he’s freed to a place near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt for fear of reprisals for Ishmael’s killing of Chaldeans.
Jer 42 The Jews that are left consult Jeremiah and ask for his blessing in fleeing to Egypt
Johanan and his followers come to Jeremiah and ask for his blessing. They promise that whatever the Lord says to do, whether to stay or to go into exile in Egypt. Jeremiah promises to tell them whatever the Lord says to do.
After 10 days Jeremiah returns to them with the Lord’s answer: they should stay in the land of Judah, and the Lord will bless them. He will deliver them from the hand of the king of Babylon, that is, cause him to have mercy on them, so they can remain in peace. But if they refuse the voice of the Lord and go to Egypt anyway (thinking they will be spared from war and hunger), they will find the war, famine, and pestilence they were trying to flee. They will die, never to see their homeland again. The Lord has seen the deception of their hearts in promising to do whatever the Lord counsels.
Jer 43 The leaders of the remnant of Judah go to Egypt, taking Jeremiah & Baruch with them
After having promised Jeremiah that they would do whatever the Lord said, whether to stay in the land of Judah or to go to Egypt, the leaders accuse Jeremiah of lying, and being influenced by the scribe Baruch (who had previously written for Jeremiah, see Jer 36) in order to turn them in to the Chaldeans. They take Jeremiah and Baruch along with all the remnant of Judah and move to Egypt.
The Lord tells Jeremiah to hide large stones in the clay of a brickkiln (or pavement) by the entry of one of) Pharoah’s houses (that in Tahpanhes), in front of the men of Judah, and to prophesy that Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, will come, conquer, and burn Egypt and her gods with fire.
https://bibleatlas.org/full/tahpanhes.htm Tahpanhes: city in the Nile delta of Egypt, on the caravan route
Jer 44 Jeremiah vs the Jews in Egypt: they worship the gods of Egypt, despite Jeremiah’s warnings
“The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying . . .” You’ve seen all that Judah & Jerusalem have suffered because of their wickedness, though I sent prophets from early in the day to plead with them not to turn to abominations, but they wouldn’t listen. So why are you committing the same evil? You burn incense to the gods of Egypt; have you forgotten the wickedness of the women/wives in Judah, and what it cost you? The destruction of your nation and land. “They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.”
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.
But in this large gathering the men, who knew their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and the women themselves, tell Jeremiah, As for what you have to say to us in the name of the Lord, we’ll do whatever we want, “to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”
In a classic case of people seeing the same facts and coming to different (even opposite) conclusions, Jeremiah sees the worship of false gods as the cause of the destruction of Judah, while the women (with their men’s backing) see all their troubles brought on by failing to worship gods other than God. This points to the importance of educating women in the truth, and the influence women have on not only their children but their men.
Jeremiah then prophesies that because of their idolatrous worship He will see they are punished for their unfaithfulness to Him, “Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.” [Possibly Jeremiah & Baruch were among those that made it back to Judah, where Jeremiah had a pot buried with a land deed in it? Jeremiah was known by the Babylonians as counselling Judah and the other nations to submit to Babylonian rule. He had been saved from captivity in Babylon before, so it would be consistent for him to be saved again.]
29 ¶ And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
30 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.
(see above for Jeremiah 45 & 46, under the reign of Jehoiakim)
Isaiah–part 2, chapters 11-35
Isa 11—a Savior descendant of Jesse (King David’s father) & a Messianic age
A branch will shoot forth from the trunk of Jesse (the idea is restated as a poetic device).
2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
A Messianic age of peace will be ushered in. (Poetic parallelisms paint an ideal of peace).
Wolf dwells with lamb
Leopard lies down with kid (goat)
Fatted calf & young lion
A child will lead them
Cow & bear feed together, lion will eat grains like an ox (note zoo & pet foods are plant based)
A nursing infant will play on the hole of the asp
A toddler will put his hand on the home of a cockatrice (fabled serpent)
And yet none of these will be hurt in God’s country, for the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, like the oceans cover most of the earth.
The Messiah will stand like a banner, and the people of the world will seek him, and in him find glorious rest (respite from violence). In that era the Lord will recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros (upper Egypt), Cush (south of Egypt), Elam (Iran), Shinar (Babylon/Southern Mesopotamia), Hamath (a Syrian city), and the islands of the [Mediterranean=in the midst of the lands] sea . . . from every corner of the earth (note the description of the earth as having 4 corners is meant as a language device, not a literal belief about the shape of the earth—the ancients were just as capable as we, perhaps even moreso, of metaphoric thinking. We still reference the cardinal directions of earth as north, south, east, and west: 4). The adversarial relationship between the kingdoms led by the tribes of Ephraim & Judah will be allayed, and they will work together against their enemies. It appears that Egypt will be wiped out and the Nile delta will be dried up. The Children of Israel will make a highway from Assyria back to their land, as they made when they arrived from Egypt in the Exodus.
Isa 12—Israel will praise God for saving the nation from annihilation
1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
Isa 13-14—a prophetic burden, bad news for Babylon
With what powerful poetic language the Lord through Isaiah paints a picture! The Lord calls His holy & mighty ones against Babylon with a banner & a voice from a far country, and they are as a multitude upon the mountains. All will be faint with fear, the sky will be darkened (probably from the smoke of burning cities). So many men will be killed those left will be a precious “commodity”. Everyone will flee to their own lands (no doubt people from many lands served in the seat of Babylon as soldiers, courtiers, and bureaucrats). Men, women, and children will die horrible deaths. Babylon will be overthrown as completely as Sodom & Gomorrah, and left uninhabited from one generation to the next, except for wild beasts and nomads who will camp there.
About the Medes:
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/medes-and-media
A message for us as well as them:
“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to [embrace] the house of Jacob.”
In the year King Ahaz of Judah died came this prophecy:
The allies of the Jews will bring them back to their land, and the captors of the Jews will become their captives, “and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve”.
A proverb vs Babylon: How hath the oppressor ceased (been stopped)! The wealthy city is gone! The Lord has broken the rule of the oppressor who thrashed/clobbered and ruled the nations in anger (harshness). Now the whole earth is at peace and quiet, and sings in relief. Isaiah uses the metaphor of trees glad that the clearer of forests is gone and none is come to replace him. He uses the picture of Hell being disturbed, making way for Babylon among all the kings there. They taunt him that he is no better than they: you thought you were so great, like a god. Is this the guy who made other nations tremble with fear, destroyed them and made them all like wilderness? They ask in derision. Other kings have been buried honorably, but you will be disrespected, your heirs killed.
Verse 25 suddenly inserts Assyria instead of Babylon. This could be a parallelism, likening the two to each other, or a combining of the two as nations of Mesopotamia, or a different “chapter”. The siege of the Assyrian army is the one that departed from Jerusalem, and Assyrian warfare was even more brutal than that of Babylon. Note in verse 24 that what the Lord intends or proposes to do He will accomplish.
But the Lord warns the nations of Palestine not to get too cocky, because evil/bad news is yet to come: famine and the sword (warfare). The poor will have food and safety because they are the only ones left after the people considered more important (the wealthy & skilled) are taken captive, only the poor are left. The smoke coming from the north refers to the aggression of conquerors from the north (who would, no doubt, burn city after city, causing smoke). When the corrupt leaders of the Jews (or any nation) are gone, the poor of God’s people will be able to trust in the Zion that the Lord has founded.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [the most honored seating]:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High [God].
More info about these verses at https://biblehub.com/isaiah/14-12.htm
Isa 15 & 16—dire prophecies about Moab
Isa 17—fateful prophecy for Damascus (Syria), & a few comments toward the posterity of Jacob/Israel
Isa 18—prophecy of woe for a land beyond Ethiopia, as well as Jerusalem
Isa 19 & 20—prophecy of bad news for Egypt, followed by conversion to the Lord
Isa 21—Elam & Media vs Babylon, which will fall (a prophet is described as a watchman)
Isa 22—Isaiah mourns for Jerusalem (famous quote: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die)
And a particular prophecy of the fall of one man (the treasurer) and the rise of his successor
Isa 23—vs Tyre & Zidon (they may flee to Tarshish/Spain or Chittim/perhaps Cyprus). Tyre & Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, wealthy from shipping and trade, establishing trading colonies all around the Mediterranean. For more info, see https://phoenician.org/phoenician_history/ click links
Isa 24—it seems to Isaiah that the Lord has laid waste to the whole earth (prophetic tense, as if the future has already happened), “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” “The pit” would be a place for prisoners.
Isa 25—Isaiah praises God so beautifully (read the chapter!), foretells good for Jerusalem
6 ¶ And in this mountain [Zion] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations . . .
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 ¶ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isa 26—A song to be sung in the future: God brings Justice for the poor & the upright
Trust in the Lord, Isaiah pleads. He will bring down the proud and the oppressors. (Comp. Mary's faith in and praise for God in Luke 1:50-55) The poor & needy will walk over the high & mighty. “Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” Even when the wicked are shone favors, they still continue in their ways, and don’t learn any better. Isaiah continues the theme of a woman in childbirth, the pain that must be endured before the joy.
Isa 27—The Lord will save Israel from her enemies, and one day Israel will worship the Lord again
The Lord will punish the sea serpent Leviathan. See https://biblehub.com/isaiah/27-1.htm
The Lord will care for & tend Israel like a cherished vineyard. The briars & thorny brush are nothing to the Lord, who will burn them.
Has the Lord been as hard on Israel as upon her enemies? (A rhetorical question). The bad part of the Lord’s “vineyard” will be purged by the rough metaphorical (prob hot, dry) windstorms from the east. By that foreign invasion will the altars, groves, and idolatrous images be destroyed. The cities will be destroyed such that cattle will feed in them. The Lord will not show mercy on those ignorant/foolish worshippers of idols. The Lord will yet call the Children of Israel from Assyria and from Egypt, and they will worship the Lord on the Temple mount in Jerusalem.
Isa 28—woe to Ephraim, and the drunken partiers of both the northern & southern kingdoms
Quotable verse: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little . . . But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;” in the context of the people refusing to believe what is in store for them: “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge [invading armies] shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves”. The Lord through Isaiah makes a promise: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste [be on the run].” Isaiah uses the metaphors of building, a small bed, and farming for God’s Judgment/Justice and Wisdom.
Isa 29—woe to Ariel, the city of David (Jerusalem)
Quotable verse: “And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust” foretelling the destruction of God’s people, and all that’s left is their voice from the grave (the books left behind).
Interesting for readers of the Book of Mormon is the prophecy “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire” which was written about the destructions in America at the time of Christ’s death. And the verses following about a sealed book that the educated could not read, and the uneducated felt inadequate to read. The verses about the hypocrisy of the religious and a marvelous work to come forth is oft quoted regarding the foundation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as those about the conspirators who work in the shadows to try to destroy God’s work. One day the spiritually deaf and blind will be enlightened, the poor & meek will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel .
Those who fight against God’s people will one day be like a dream that passes away, yet leaves one hungering. “It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.” The ferocious will become nothing, those who scorn God will be destroyed, those that watch for opportunities to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others will be cut down. Those who try to entrap warning voices by twisting their words against them, as well as corrupting Justice for something worthless is so reminiscent of Jesus’ experience, as well as the prophets before Him, and pretty well the warning voices of any age. But the time will come when the God who saved Abraham will take away the shame and fear that has been thrust upon the posterity of Jacob/Israel. Those who recognize God’s hand in it will hold Him in holy awe. “They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”
Isa 30-31—woe to those who rely on Egypt as an ally, without consulting the Lord
Woe to those who think they can get away with their sins by allying themselves with Egypt (vs the Assyrians & later the Babylonians), rather than repenting. Egypt sees no profit in helping them out, and will be ashamed of attempts to do so.
Isaiah’s prophecies are to be written in books so that those from the future can witness the truth of his words and warnings. The children of Israel are like rebellious, lying children. “Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: [get out of the way and stop talking about God].” Because you despise God’s word, and trust in oppressing others and depend on your own perversity, you’ll be destroyed like a besieged city whose walls are breached, or a pot burst in the fire and broken into such small pieces that it is useless. You could be saved by returning to God, but you refuse. You figure you can get out of town quick, and so you will have to, and all that will be left of you will be your empty ineffective call to arms (metaphorically a flag or beacon).
But the Lord will wait patiently and will have mercy “for the Lord is a God of [righteous] judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” Those who dwell in Jerusalem will weep no more. When you cry to Him, He will hear and answer. Though now your lives are filled with adversity and affliction, at long last those that teach righteousness and the way to walk therein will no more be relegated to a corner. You will cast off idolatries like a menstruous cloth (In the days before women’s products, they had to more or less diaper themselves. These cloths would be extremely detested.) And then the Lord will send rain for your crops, and bless your grounds. Your animals used in agriculture will be well fed. Your mountains and hills will be well watered with rivers and streams (when once the conquerors are done). The lights in the sky will seem brighter when the Lord heals the breaches in your walls and the wounds you carry. The Lord will take retribution on Assyria, and you will again sing and pipe with the gladness of a holy feast.
The Egyptians are mere mortals, and their horses (military might) are as well. The Lord is all powerful. He is like a lion against shepherds, fearless in fighting for Jerusalem. He is as invulnerable to capture as birds that fly away, and He will deliver Jerusalem from captivity. Turn back to God, from whom you have revolted, and when you throw away your idols He will cause the downfall of Assyria.
Isa 32—A Righteous King to come and warnings of destruction to careless women before then
1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
2 And a man [the Messiah] shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest [troubles]; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal [generous], nor the churl said to be bountiful [generous].
6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right . . .
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places . . .”
Isa 33—A prophecy of faith and hope, despite difficulties
Prophecies of good alternate with prophecies of war in this chapter. I’ll collect the bad & the good separate.
Woe to those who treat others cruelly when they have not been treated that way. As silkworms (caterpillars) are gathered, the best of the booty will be plucked & carried off. The plundering will be like locusts attacking, mowing down the crops. The toughest & bravest soldiers will cry out in fear/pain, the ambassadors seeking peace will weep bitterly for the impossibility of success. The highways will be empty, with no travel for trade or pleasure. The covenant between God and Israel is broken, and He despises their cities and pays no attention to their calls for help.
Lebanon, known for its timber, will be ashamed of its baldness. Sharon, known for fruitfulness will be like a wilderness. Bashan & Carmel, hill country known for their vineyards (I think) will be left without their vines. Like chaff and the stubble left after harvest, like lime in the making of cement, and thorny brush, the wicked will be burned. Listen, far and wide, to what the Lord has done, and acknowledge his power. Sinners are suddenly afraid, and hypocrites surprised: who will survive the burning? . . .
The wicked will be terrified. His accountants (scribes) & receivers of goods, and storage towers are gone.
“O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble . . . And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.” Once the old is destroyed, people will once again look up to the Lord.
Who will survive the metaphoric (and real wartime) burning of the wicked? Only those who walk and speak (conduct their lives) uprightly: those who despise oppressing others for gain, that wave away bribes, that refuse to listen to plans for prospering through killing, and close their eyes to the temptations of ill-gotten gains (reminds one of mafia tactics). Those are the ones who will find protection and defense from God (rocks would be used as ammunition, bread and water essential staples in wartime and siege). These are the ones who will see that future king coming in beauty, and the peaceful land over which he reigns. They won’t see those fierce, conquering warriors of foreign speech they can’t understand.
Look at Zion/Jerusalem, and see a peaceful place to live and worship, that will not be destroyed by war. The Lord will make His people like a place with broad rivers and streams, where no war ships (which were powered by oars in those days) come. The tackling of the metaphorical or real war ships is made ineffectual, and they don’t capture their prey. “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.” Though His people seem lame, they will win the war. They will no longer feel sick (weak, despondent), the inhabitants of God’s country will be forgiven their iniquities.
Isa 34—The Lord’s warning to all nations
Bozrah is the name of an Edomite city, as well as a city of Moab (descendants of Lot). Idumea was also an area controlled by Edom (descendants of Esau). See https://bibleatlas.org/idumea.htm
For info about unicorns mentioned in the Bible, see https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-unicorn.html Cormorants are various species of aquatic birds. All these refer to the lands of Israel’s enemies becoming wilderness (similar to a wildlife reserve in our day). While satyrs in Roman mythology were half man half goat, Isaiah was probably referring to a rough haired wild goat. See https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/satyr.html
Although these verses refer specifically to Edom, they may be considered a cautionary tale to all who fight against Zion, the Lord’s people.
Isa 35—Good things are promised to God’s country & people
The desert will blossom as a rose. (Regarding Lebanon, Carmel, & Sharon, see Isa 33 above).
Weak hands and feeble knees will be strengthened (metaphorically, physically)
The fearful of heart can be strong, unfearing. Know that God will save you.
The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped (those who couldn’t see or hear God’s Truth will come to understand).
The lame will leap like a deer, those unable to speak will sing.
The wilderness, the desert will be well-watered.
An holy highway will be built, and those who travel it, even if fools, will not err.
No predators will haunt that holy highway, the redeemed of Israel will walk it safely.
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
The Books of Jonah, Amos, & Hosea
I should have created this post before Hezekiah, the previous post. These prophets shed light on the period of time before the Assyrian invasion & capture of the Northern Kingdom. Note how similar to our contemporary culture were their sins. Likewise, God will yet extend His mercy and blessings for us if we turn to Him. If not, we destroy ourselves.
Three prophets mentioned as prophesying during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel, have their own books in the Old Testament: Jonah, Amos, and Hosea. Jonah is only mentioned in the reign of Jeroboam II, and it makes sense that he was sent to Nineveh before the height of the Assyrian glory, as they were still humble enough to repent. There’s an interesting reference to an earthquake while Amos was prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II, and Amos also prophesied during the reign of Uzziah/Azariah, king of Judah. The longest living of the three was Hosea who, like Isaiah, was active during the reigns of the Jewish kings Uzziah/Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. They would see the northern kingdom of Israel taken captive and carried away by the Assyrian Empire, probably only a little over 100 years after the prophet Elisha died during the reign of king Joash of Israel (see 2 Kings 13)—not to be confused with his contemporary king Joash of Judah.
The Book of Jonah (see reference to Jonah under King Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14:25)
Most of us are pretty familiar with the story of Jonah. The Lord calls him to go call Ninevah (the Assyrian capital) to repentance. Jonah heads instead to the Israeli seaport of Joppa (35 mi northwest of Jerusalem), to take ship to the Phoenician seaport of Tarshish (on the Spanish coast). There are more interesting sites about Nineveh if you contribute or disable your ad blocker.
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq
• https://www.science20.com/the_conversation/nineveh_when_the_capital_of_assyria_was_the_most_dazzling_city_in_the_world-256377
• https://www.bibleplaces.com/joppa/
• https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Joppa
• https://bibleatlas.org/tarshish.htm
• https://www.gotquestions.org/Jonah-Tarshish-Nineveh.html
A terrible storm comes up on the Mediterranean Sea as they are sailing toward Tarshish, threatening shipwreck. All the sailors take to calling on their various gods for help. They toss the cargo, hoping to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah is fast asleep below deck. The shipmaster comes and says, “What do you think you’re doing?! Start calling on your God (just one of many, to them) to save us!
The crew decide to cast lots to find out who is responsible for the calamity. Remember that anciently people believed the gods responded to queries through the casting of lots, and that’s not to say that God didn’t answer them in a way they could relate to. The lot falls on Jonah. They start questioning Jonah about his occupation and roots, and who is to blame for their bad fortune. Jonah replies that he is a Hebrew, and his God is Ruler over Heaven and is the Creator. He explains that he’s on the run from God. The men are scared stiff. They ask him what to do. He tells them to toss him overboard. They try to row the ship to land, but at last they cry for forgiveness from God for what they are about to do, and toss him into the sea. The storm calms, and they all sacrifice in thanks and make vows.
“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” This fish is usually depicted as a whale, and the writers of the text may not have differentiated between whales and fish as we do. But apparently there are some possible candidates. Remember that the Lord had prepared the creature, so it wasn’t necessarily just any ordinary species or specimen thereof, and some sort of air supply might also have be swallowed.
• https://armstronginstitute.org/315-what-was-the-great-fish-that-swallowed-jonah
Jonah prays to be released from his unpleasant prison (perhaps when he comes to). A poetic version of the plea is recorded in chapter 2.
The Lord reminds Jonah of his mission, and Jonah goes. Nineveh is so huge it apparently takes 3 days to get through it. Probably big traffic troubles, beside the size of the city. Jonah gets a third of the way into the city and predicts its overthrow in 40 days. In a time of various nations vying for predominance, that seems plausible to the inhabitants. They proclaim a fast, put on sackcloth (a sign of great sorrow, humility, or humiliation—likely worn for mourning and/or slavery). The rulers don’t exclude themselves from their edicts. Even the king is in sackcloth & ashes, while he and the nobles proclaim the fast for humans and animals, likewise in sackcloth & ashes, repenting, crying to God—just in case God is willing to grant them mercy.
We have already discussed whether God repents in the way that humans must . . . It is obvious that He changed His decree. To repent is to change.
Jonah is thinking about his own rep (what he said didn’t happen), and no doubt his own feelings toward this superpower potential enemy or threat to his own nation. He complains/explains that this was the reason he headed for Tarshish. He wants to die.
God says, Is this a good thing to be angry about?
Jonah goes out of the city and builds a little shelter to see what will happen. God’s going to teach him something, and causes a gourd vine to grow up and shade him. Jonah’s glad for that. But then God has a worm invade the gourd vine, and then a strong [hot from the desert] east wind to wither the vine. Jonah faints from the sun [or sunstroke?] and wishes to die.
God says, Is this a good reason to be angry? Jonah says, It’s a good enough reason to be angry to death [probably expecting God to strike him down]. God says, You’re feeling sorry about the gourd, which you did nothing to cause to grow, but shouldn’t I feel sorrow over the loss of Nineveh, with more than 120,000 innocents, beside animals?
The Book of Amos—a shepherd called to be a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel
Amos 1:1 “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”
Such an intriguing mention! It appears that the reigns of Uzziah & Jeroboam (the second) overlapped for 27 years. Sometime during those years was an earthquake of note, it would seem. Here’s an interesting article about evidence of an earthquake in that time with a cross reference to Zech 14:5 “ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah . . .”
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-find-evidence-8th-century-bc-earthquake-described-old-testament-180978385/
Amos 1
Punishments for Damascus (Syrians), and Gaza (Philistines), Tyre (“a major Phoenician seaport from about 2000 BCE through the Roman period” https://www.britannica.com/place/Tyre ), Edom (descendants of Esau, Jacob/Israel’s brother), and Ammon (descendants of Lot). Each of them had transgressed against Judah. The “brotherly covenant” (alliance) between Tyre and Judah was enacted by David & Solomon with Hyrum of Tyre. Edom’s fault in barbarity is noted in that they ripped up pregnant women in Gilead just to enlarge their holdings.
• https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/ammonites-moabites-edomites-in-the-bible/
Amos 2
Punishments are in store for Moab (descendants of Lot), Judah (“because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked”), and Israel (“because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name . . .” as well as worshipping false gods). After God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt and cared for them 40 years in the wilderness, gave them the land of the Amorites (giants like the cedars), they have become so wicked the Lord is angry and leaves them to be conquered. He complains, I’ve raised up prophets (to teach you, warn you, bless you). But you’ve given wine to the Nazarites (vs their vow of abstinence), and tried to silence the prophets. You’ve treated me like a cart under a heavy load. So things will get so bad that even the strong & courageous will flee, taking nothing.
Amos 3
The Lord continues His complaint against the House of Israel: you were my chosen people out of all the families of the earth! And I will punish you for your wickedness. We can’t walk together because we don’t agree. Lions don’t roar for nothing (implying that God has reason for roaring against the Children of Israel). Birds aren’t snared if no snare is set (implying that God has set a snare against the Israelites). Trumpets (of war) will blow, city residents will be afraid. When bad things happen to a city, the Lord is behind it. But surely, “the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” That is, He warns of His punishments. He has roared out His complaints, and shouldn’t everyone pay attention? He has spoken, all I can do is to prophesy as He speaks, Amos says.
Tell the rulers of the Philistines and Egypt to come to Samaria (the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel), and witness the violence and robbery even in the palace. As a shepherd saves whatever he can from the mouth of the lion (even just the legs of the sheep or a piece of an ear), only a small remnant of the people will be saved from the conquerors. The altars (golden calves Jeroboam set up) of Bethel will be destroyed, the winter & summer palaces, the ivory palaces will be destroyed.
Amos 4
Continuing His complaint of the oppression of the poor in Samaria (capitol of the northern kingdom of Israel) the Lord says they’ll be like fish caught on hooks. Their city walls will be breached. They have brought their sacrifices and offerings to the false worship in Gilgal (where Jeroboam had set up a golden calf, beside that at Bethel).
Clean teeth are an indication of having no food to eat.
Despite warnings of famine and drought, city by city (people of one city had to go to another to find food and water), the Israelites still didn’t return to God. Despite blights and diseases, pestilences like Egypt suffered (during the Exodus), wars that killed the young men and horses, the destruction of cities (as Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed), the Israelites still didn’t return to God. So, prepare to meet your God (at the bar of Judgment), the Creator and Ruler of the earth, who has an army of angels at His command. Yet He deigns to let mankind know what He’s thinking.
Amos 5
The Lord pleads with the House of Israel to return to Him, to quit worshipping false gods at Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba, lest destruction break out like a fire and cities of 1000 are left 100, and cities of 100 are left with 10. (The house of Joseph refers to the rival kingdom of Israel that Jeroboam set up, vs the kingdom of Judah). God is ruler over the stars above and the earth & sea beneath. He can strengthen even the conquered to attack a fortress.
The Israelites hate those that call them to repentance, and who speak Truth and Righteousness. They walk all over the poor, taking all they have. The oppressors have built expensive homes and planted vineyards, but they won’t be able to enjoy them. They have persecuted the just, taken bribes, ignored the rights of the poor. The “prudent” keep their lips shut, lest they suffer as well. The Lord implores, “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph [leader of the northern kingdom of Israel].”
But because they refuse to repent, there will be wailing and mourning. They that yearn for the coming of the Lord will find that a day of darkness, not light. It’s like a man running from a lion and is met by a bear, or when he reaches the safety of his home he’s bit by a snake (like Jonah, you can't escape God). God hates their religious observances because of their hypocrisy. Rather He wants righteous judgments. They have worshipped false gods, and they will be taken captive, God promises.
Amos 6
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion . . . ! [the kingdom of Judah]” And those “that trust in the mountain of Samaria . . .” [the northern kingdom of Israel].
Calneh—one of 4 cities founded by Nimrod (Gen 10:10), along with Babel, Erech, and Accad, that is, Babylonia
Hamath—a Syrian city straddling the Orontes River, surrounded by hills
Gath—a major Philistine city
Take a look at these impressive cities, Amos says. Are they any better than you? (Implying they have been conquered, and so will you be). You sit around ignoring the dangerous situation, while you practice violence on others. You lie on ivory beds, eat lambs and calves, chant to the music, drink bowls of wine, anoint yourselves as the rich, but don’t care about the troubles in your land [the land of Joseph, that is, the northern kingdom of Israel].
As a result, you’ll be first to go into captivity. The Lord hates all your [self-centered, corrupted] palaces. The houses of both the rich and poor will be destroyed, not defended by their own relatives. You’ve boasted in yourself, and you are nothing. You’ve taken justice away from judging and turned it to bitterness. God will raise up a nation to conquer you.
Amos 7
The Lord showed me a vision of a plague of grasshoppers eating up the fields of grain, and I pled for the sake of Jacob/Israel. He said that wouldn’t happen.
The Lord showed me a vision of fire consuming the land, and I pled for Jacob/Israel—how would the nation recover such a thing? He relented that possibility.
The Lord showed me a vision of Him standing on a wall with a plumbline [an instrument for measuring]. He said that would be the limit of His protection from the sword. The descendants of Isaac (of Jacob/Israel and Esau/Edom), the holy places of Israel, the kingdom of Jeroboam (the norther kngdom of Israel) will fall.
Bethel was the rival place of worship Jeroboam I had set up to keep his people from going to Jerusalem of Judah to worship, and maybe be drawn back into the kingdom of Judah. It was still the place of that idol worship (of a calf), along with Gilgal, in the time of Jeroboam II. The priest of Bethel, named Amaziah, sends word to Jeroboam II accusing Amos of conspiracy and speaking against his own country. Amaziah says Amos prophesies your death by the sword and that your kingdom will be carried away captive.
Amaziah tells Amos he’d better flee to the land of Judah, and not prophesy against Bethel any more (the king’s chapel and court). Amos replies, I wasn’t a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I was merely a shepherd when God called me to prophesy to His people Israel. So listen to what God says to you: You say not to prophesy against Israel and the descendants of Isaac (Edom & Israel). Here’s what will happen to you: your wife will be a harlot in the city, your children will fall by the sword, your land will be divided among others, and you will die in a desecrated land, while Israel is carried away captive.
Amos 8
The Lord showed me in vision a basket of summer fruit. It was a symbol of the consumption of Israel. God is done with protecting them. The songs of worship in the temple will become the howling of misery and death. Then the dead will be removed in silence.
Listen, you that oppress the poor and needy . . . You can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so you can get back to commerce, with corrupted measuring apparatus. You take advantage of the poor and take all they have in return for the worst of the wheat. God has sworn that He will not forget your evil, and your land will be conquered like a flood in Egypt overtakes all the land. The sun will go down at noon and darkness will take over the clear day.
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
Those that swear by the false gods of Samaria (at Bethel, Gilgal/Dan, and Beersheba) will fall and never rise again.
Amos 9
Amos says, I saw in vision the Lord standing on the altar. He told me to hit the doorway hard enough to shake it, and cut them all. He said he would kill them all [presumably the worshippers], even those that try to escape. Those that try to dig their way to safety, or climb to the heights, will all be taken. Those that try to hide at the top of Mt Carmel, or even if they could hide at the bottom of the sea—the Lord would send a monster to eat them. Though they go into captivity of their enemies, they will still be killed by the sword. The Lord will see that they suffer bad things, not good.
It is the Lord that makes the land melt as if by fire. Sorrows will rise like an Egyptian flood drowning all in its path. The Lord has power over all the earth and sea. Israel is like the Ethiopians . . . He brought Israel out of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete), and the Syrians from Kir (an Assyrian city—see also 2 Kings 16:9, Amos 1:5, Isa 22:6). “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.” The house of Israel will be scattered throughout all nations. The sinners who think nothing bad will happen will die by the sword.
The Lord promises, One day I will bring back my people, and bless their land with abundance, and rebuilding of the cities and ruins. They will never be taken from their land again. [Though the Jews returned under Cyrus and following, they were yet carried away captive again, under the Romans. So this had yet to be fulfilled after the completion of the Biblical texts.]
The Book of Hosea—written before the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel
Hosea 1:1 The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Hosea’s calling from God began with the command to take a whore as a wife, and her children, as a strong statement that Israel had behaved as a whore in her relationship to God. His calling began under the king Jeroboam II of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Hosea’s whorish wife bears him a son the Lord says to name Jezreel, a sign that the Lord would avenge Jezreel upon the house of Jehu (king of Israel). Next a daughter is born, the Lord says to name Lo-ruhamah “for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.” The kingdom of Israel would be carried away captive by Assyria, and though Assyria threatened even the capital city Jerusalem, the Lord saved the kingdom of Judah under Hezekiah.
Hosea’s wife bears a second son, “Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.” But the Lord offers a promise for the future, “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” The kingdoms of Judah and Israel would be united under one ruler. After the Assyrian captivity this was essentially true, and this prophecy would, like others, be fulfilled more than once. (Note Jesus’ self-defense when accused of blasphemy in John 10:24-42; see also Psalm 82:6, and https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Believers-As-Sons-Of-God ).
Hosea 2
Using the names of Hosea’s children, Ammi (that is, “my people”) and Ruhamah (“having obtained mercy’) the Lord pleads with Israel (symbolized by Hosea’s whorish wife), to put away their whoredoms & adulteries (that is, their worship of idols/false gods), or they will suffer being stripped of resources and rain. They will appeal to these false gods/idols (whom they credit with their prosperity), but they don’t save Israel. Then they decide to go back to the Lord for help (whom they had not recognized as the Giver of their blessings), but He will leave them to their embarrassment and their hollow religious holidays & observances.
Yet He holds out hope for a future time of blessings. Israel (symbolized as a wife) will yet call the Lord Ishi (“my husband”) instead of Baali (“my master”). Note the root of the word Baal (false god) and Baalim (false gods). Instead of worshipping Baalim, they will return to the Lord. And when they do, the Lord will bless (increase) the animals of the land, and take away wars. “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.” The Lord will listen to the prayers of Israel, and Israel will listen to the Lord. The Lord will once again call Israel His people, and Israel will once again call the Lord their God.
Hosea 3
The Lord tells Hosea to take an adulteress as a wife as a symbol of the Lord making a covenant with Israel (who love other gods for the drunken parties involved in their worship). Hosea pays a bride price of 15 pieces of silver and about ¾ bushel (or about 45 lbs) of barley. He tells her she must be faithful to him, and he will be faithful to her. Israel will go a long time without rulers and statehood, but will in the end return to the Lord and the Davidic lineage of kings (the kingdom of Judah). Again, after the Assyrian captivity the remnant of Israel were left to Jewish leadership.
Hosea 4
1 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
6 ¶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
Beside all the corruption and crime, Israel worships idols. Consequently, their wives will commit adultery, their daughters fornication, because the men are committing such in the worship of idols (which involved engaging with harlots). The Lord warns Judah not to join in that worship (centered in Gilgal and Bethel). Ephraim is another name for the northern kingdom of Israel, because their first king (Jeroboam) was from the tribe of Ephraim. They will one day be ashamed of their sacrifices to false gods.
Hosea 5
Hosea decries the wickedness of both the kingdoms of Israel & Judah, and foretells their punishment/consequences. Mizpeh (“watchtower” or “lookout”) was the place at which Laban & Jacob agreed not to cross the line against each other (Gen 31:49). Tabor was a mountain in the Jezreel valley (6 mi east of Nazareth, 11 mi sw of the Sea of Galilee. It’s only 2000’ above sea level, but looks taller because the valley of Jezreel is flat. https://www.gotquestions.org/Mount-Tabor.html The kings of Israel have not kept the truce of Mizpeh, and have entrapped/exploited the bounty of the harvest of Jezreel. They have been bloody rulers, despite the Lord’s rebuke. They refuse to limit their actions, nor turn to the Lord. They are proud of what they’ve done. They will fall in their wickedness, and so will the kingdom of Judah. When they seek the Lord, they won’t find Him. Their children are strangers to the Lord (haven’t been taught about Him). The cornet and trumpet announce battle. The possessions of both Israel & Judah will be spoiled, as if a moth got in the closet, or rottenness in the pantry (frig in modern terms). Israel sent to Assyria for help, but Assyria couldn’t fix the problems. Note the reference to lions, symbols of Assyrian kings.
“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”
Hosea 6
Hosea pleads for Israel to return to the Lord. “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” In other words, whatever good they do is fleeting.
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Compare what Samuel said to King Saul (“to obey is better than sacrifice” 1 Sam 15:22 ) and Jesus in Mat 9:13 & 12:7.
The Lord likens the behavior of Israel to treachery/betrayal/treason . . . as in violating the covenants made in Moses’ time between God and the Children of Israel. Robbers ambush people for gain, and the priests murder the faith of people by committing lewdness. The kingdom of Israel is defiled, and Judah will benefit from an increase in population when the Lord brings His people out of captivity.
About Gilead:
https://www.gotquestions.org/land-of-Gilead.html
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/gilead/
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Gilead
Hosea 7
Hosea uses an oven metaphor to talk about the corrupt princes of the kingdom of Israel. They have degraded their king with lies, ill-gotten gains, wine, scorning righteousness, evil plans & preparations . . . a cake/bread not turned would burn on one side and not be done on the other. The kingdom of Israel doesn’t see itself for what it is. They foolishly turn to Egypt and Assyria, instead of the Lord. They behave like a silly dove, and they’ll be caught in the Lord’s net for it.
“Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.” They howl in misery for their troubles from their beds rather than turn their hearts to the Lord; they gather to eat and drink and (encourage one another to) rebel against the Lord. Despite the help the Lord has given them in battle, they think up ways to foment insurrection against Him. Egypt (whom they had sought for help) will just ridicule them.
Hosea 8
The Lord, through Hosea complains of Israel/Ephraim’s worship of idols, and the calves set up by Jeroboam. He proclaims the consequential Assyrian captivity. A trumpet signals the battle, an eagle swoops in and seizes its prey.
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”
Hosea 9
Because of Israel’s infidelity with other gods, and their other sins, their feast days will be full of sorrow rather than joy. Either symbolically or actually, they will return to their Egyptian bondage. The corruption of Gibeah refers to the incident In Judges 19-21 when the men of the town not only behaved like the men of Sodom (Gen 19: instead of offering the culturally expected hospitality, demanded to be given the traveler for their sexual pleasure), they brutalized the man’s concubine all night to death. The kingdom of Israel will pay for their sins.
The prophet (symbolized as a watchman) and the spiritual man are considered fools or madmen, and hated for catching Israel in their sins. The Lord had cherished Israel like grapes found in the wilderness, or a newly producing fig tree. But Israel went after the worship of the Moabite god (Baal) worshipped at Peor (reference to what happened as the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land under Joshua). As a result, Israel’s glory will abandon her. When the Lord ceases to be a Protector of Israel their children will be destroyed. Like Tyre, Israel was planted in an advantageous place, but Israel’s children will be murdered. Instead of reproductive fertility, they’ll have miscarriages and lack of lactating breasts. Gilgal was one of the locations for the worship of the calves that Jeroboam set up.
“My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.”
Hosea 10
The more Israel prospered the more idols were set up. The Lord will destroy all those. They figured if their king was removed because of their unbelief (they had lost the Lord’s protection, so the king was removed by foreign powers), what could any king do to them? They have made contracts they didn’t intend to honor. Judgment will come upon them. Weeds growing up in the field are pesky, but a hemlock having taken root in a field could become indestructible. Such would be their fate.
The calves of Beth-aven refers to one of the places of false (calf-god) worship set up by Jeroboam. Whereas it was prosperous, it will be impoverished, shamed, destroyed. Samaria, as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, will see her king disappear as easily as foam on water. The place of calf-worship will be destroyed such that thorny weeds will overtake it. The destruction will be so bad the people will wish they could be buried under mountains.
Once again Gibeah is referenced (see Hosea 9), when the tribes of Israel all came and destroyed the city of Gibeah for the wickedness of its men.
Hosea invokes the metaphor of cattle obediently/dutifully working the land and in the harvest to implore “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” Instead of that, Israel has cultivated wickedness. Israel has trusted her own judgment and her armies rather than God.
About Shalman, see https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shalman.htm
Hosea 11
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
The Lord rescued the Children of Israel from bondage in Israel. He brought the child Jesus back from a sojourn in Egypt when his family fled Herod’s murderous rampage against anyone who might be a competitor to him or his family. God calls/rescues us, His children, from bondage to modern idolatries.
But the Children of Israel turned to idol (Baalim) worship. The Lord had a prophet anoint a king (Jeroboam) from the tribe of Ephraim to lead the northern kingdom of Israel, but they (led by king Jeroboam) didn’t acknowledge His help. God was like the owner of a horse or other beast of burden leading his animal lovingly, and releasing it from its bridle to feed (“The word ‘meat,’ when our English version was made, meant food in general; or if any particular kind was designated, it referred to meal, flour or grain.” https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/smiths-bible-dictionary/meat.html ).
Israel won’t return to bondage in Egypt, but be captive of Assyria, because they would not return to the Lord. War will continue on Israel’s cities and consume them, devour them, because of their unrighteous decisions. They were called to come to the most High, but they were unwilling to praise Him or consider Him as exalted.
As a loving Father, the Lord laments, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.” Admah & Zeboiim were 2 cities near Sodom & Gomorrah, and were destroyed with them. But, “I am God, and not man”, He says. He feels sorrow, but doesn’t have to repent in the same way that humans do. In these verses He says He won’t punish Israel (as He has already said He would), but in context, that would be if Israel returned to Him. If they would return to Him, He would be in their midst (not enter the cities, implying in battle). If they would walk in the ways of the Lord, He would protect them like a lion against enemies from the west (or anywhere). Israel’s enemies would tremble like birds in Egypt and Assyria. He would settle them in their homes in safety. But in contradiction to that vision of what could be, Ephraim/Israel is full of lies and deceits. As of yet, Judah is ruled by the God-fearing and faithful as the holy men/women of old.
Hosea 12
Ephraim/Israel, instead of seeking things substantial, gulps the wind. Everyday he increases lies and destruction (of the truth, or his own land). They try to make alliances with Assyria and Egypt, implying that these alliances will be as insubstantial as wind, or will lead to the destruction of their land.
The Lord is not satisfied with behavior of the Jews either, and will punish all of Jacob/Israel in recompense of their choices. He refers to the birth of Jacob & Esau, when Jacob took Esau by the heel. Jacob was strengthened by God. Jacob struggled with an angel and won. Jacob sought and found the Lord in Bethel. The Lord spoke to Israel (the nation through the man). The Lord keeps Israel in His memory. So, Hosea implores Israel, “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and [righteous] judgment, and wait on thy God continually.”
But the Israelites are like a deceitful merchant with false balances (means of measure), who loves oppressing/stepping on others to succeed. Ephraim/Israel boasts that he’s become wealthy with all he’s done, and no one calls him out or holds him to judgment/accountability for his crimes. The Lord reminds them that He brought them out of Israel. That the Lord will make the Israelites live in booths might be either that their houses are destroyed, or that they will begin to celebrate the feasts/Holy Days that the Lord called for. The Lord has spoken to Israel through prophets, visions, and symbolisms. Yet the people sacrifice vainly everywhere—as ubiquitously as piles of rocks in a field (anyone who has farmed in a rocky region will recognize this picture). About Gilead, see https://www.compellingtruth.org/land-of-Gilead.html
Hosea returns to references of Jacob’s life, when Jacob fled to his uncle Laban (who lived in land ruled by Syria), and worked as a shepherd for him to earn the bride price of a wife. Remember that the Lord had covenanted to be with Jacob. By the prophet Moses the Lord brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and took care of them. But Ephraim/Israel provoked the Lord “most bitterly”, and will receive the consequences of that.
Hosea 13
When Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, was yet insecure, he managed to become king. But he offended the Lord by turning the people to idols. An now the Israelites worship more and more idols, which are made by craftsmen. Jeroboam set up the worship of calves, wherein either physically or metaphorically people would kiss them. Therefore, Israel will disperse like a morning cloud, or the early dew. They’ll be like chaff blowing in the wind or whirlwind, or as ephemeral as smoke.
But eventually Israel will recognize that the Lord is the only God, the only savior. He took care of them in the wilderness, the desert. He gave them pasture (see Psalm 23), fed them, lifted up their hearts. And yet they have forgotten all He did for them. Like a lion or a leopard watches its prey, the Lord has His eye on Israel, and will attack them as furiously as a mother bear whose cubs have been killed or taken away.
“O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.”
The Lord offers to be Israel’s king. Can anyone else save them? He gave them a king when they asked (under Samuel the prophet, and later Jeroboam was anointed king over the northern tribes), and took away the king(s) when he was angry with them (eg Saul and other kings through their history). He offers to bind up (as a wound) their iniquities and cover their sins. But because of their rebellion against the Lord, they will be hurting as a woman in birth. The Israelites are like a foolish son, who hangs around in the birthing room.
The Lord offers to pay off their debt (in that they are worthy of destruction), and save them from destruction (death & the grave). The Lord will not change His mind, if they will just return to Him.
But despite such a bounteous land they have enjoyed, it will be as if an east wind (off the desert) brings drought & famine, dries up the springs, and the crops are all spoiled. In this case, that the wind comes from the east can be metaphorical as well as physical, the “wind” from the east meaning also Assyria. All the beautiful containers full of treasures (agricultural or financial wealth) will be spoiled/despoiled. Samaria (the capital city, representing the northern kingdom of Israel), will be ruined, because she rebelled against God. They will fall by the sword, their children dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped up. (Such barbarity causes us to shudder for them even to this day).
Hosea 14—a plea and promises for Israel to return to the Lord
1 O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. [Remember the promises of Moses if they repent.]
3 Asshur [Assyria] shall not save us; we will not ride [in pride] upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee [God] the fatherless findeth mercy.
4 ¶ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon [known for its cedars].
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn [grain], and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I [God] have heard him [Israel], and observed him: I am like a green fir tree [which offers great shade and wood products, symbolizes strength and wealth]. From me is thy fruit [or nuts] found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Israel & Judah leading to the Assyrian Captivity
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.
Elisha and his Contemporaries
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_life,_letters_and_work_of_Frederic_Leighton_(1906)_(14594884999).jpg
Elisha (background: 1 Kings 19-2 Kings 13)
Elisha was anointed Elijah’s companion after Elijah’s extreme despondency over the wickedness of Israel, and his cave experience where God taught him through the still small voice. (1 Kings 19) Elisha succeeded Elijah in 2 Kings 2.
2 Kings 2
After Elisha returns to Jericho, the men of the city say, This city is in a pleasant location, but the waters are bad, so the ground is a waste. Elisha says, Bring me a container of salt. He tosses the salt into the local spring and promises there won’t be any more death or barren land. The waters were healed ever after.
As Elisha went from there to Beth-el, some kids came out of a town and were making fun of him for his baldness. He turns to look at them, and curses them in the name of God. Two female bears come from the wood and mangle 42 of them.
From there Elisha went to Mt Carmel (where Elijah had rebuilt God’s altar and had the showdown with the priests of Baal), then he back to Samaria, capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel.
2 Kings 3
Jehoram the son of Ahab began his reign over the kingdom of Israel in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Jehoram’s reign lasted 12 years. He was a bad guy, but not as bad as his parents, Ahab & Jezebel. He gets rid of the image of Baal his father had put up. Still, Jehoram follows in the sins of Jeroboam (worshipping a golden calf set up in 2 places).
Once Ahab has died, the Moabite king Mesha rebels from Israel’s subjection (which has costed 100,000 lambs, 100,000 rams, and the wool thereof). Jehoram sends to Jehoshaphat requesting a joint operation. Jehoshaphat says, I’m all in.
They pass through Edom, and gather that army, but after 7 days’ journey they have no access to water. The king of Israel laments that they’ll all perish. The king of Judah says let’s inquire of a prophet of God. One of Jehoram’s servants says, Here’s Elisha, who was Elijah’s caretaker. They go to him.
Elisha responds to Jehoram, What do you want? Go ask your parents’ prophets. Jehoram says, This is God’s doing, to bring we three kings to defeat by the hand of Moab. Elisha replies, If it weren’t for Jehoshaphat I’d ignore you. Bring a musician here. As the musician performs, Elisha is inspired to give them instructions to fill the valley with ditches. He tells them, You won’t see any wind or rain, and yet the valley will be filled with water for yourselves and animals. And that’s nothing to the Lord, he will make you victorious over the Moabites, cutting down every fenced/walled city, every good tree, blocking up all their wells, and ruining every good piece of land with stones. Next morning during the meat offering/sacrifice water comes from Edom and fills the area.
The Moabites come to the fight with all that could wear armor. When they rise with the morning, they see the water red as blood from the reflection of the sun. They figure their adversaries have fallen out amongst themselves and wiped each other out, so they head for the booty. When the Moabites reach the Israelite camp, the Israelites rise up and come off victors, chasing them through their land, beating down the cities, ruining the good land (every man tossing a stone on it), blocking the wells, cutting down the good trees.
The king of Moab sees he’s hopelessly lost and he takes 700 of his men to try to get to the king of Edom, but can’t manage it. He takes his eldest son and heir, and offers him as a sacrifice on the city wall. Israel’s allies are disgusted and return home.
Chapter 4
A widow of one of the sons of the prophets comes to Elisha saying, My husband is dead, and you know he was a good man. But the creditor is come to take our 2 sons and sell them into slavery to pay the debt.
Elisha says, What do you want me to do? What do you have left in the house? She replies, I haven’t got anything but a pot of oil. Elisha then tells her to go to her neighbors and borrow a bunch of empty pots. When she gets home she is to close the doors and pour the oil she has into all of them. She does as told, and when the last vessel/container is full, that’s the end of the oil. She goes to Elisha and tells him, and he tells her to sell the oil, pay her debts, and live with her sons on the rest of the income.
One day when Elisha passes through Shunem (near Jezreel), a woman of some worth insists that he stop and eat. So whenever he passes that way, he eats at her home. She tells her husband that this guy who keeps coming by is a holy man of God, and they should make up a room for him. That way he’ll always have a place to stop. (No doubt she is thinking that he will be a blessing to them).
Elisha has a servant named Gehazi, and he tells him one time as they are staying there, to go to the woman. As she stands before him, he asks her what she’d like as a return for her kindnesses. A good word to the king or his top military man? She replies that she’s living with her own people. But Gehazi tells Elisha that she has no children, and her husband is old.
Elisha has her come to his door and promises that in about a year she will have a son. She says, Please, O man of God, don’t give me false hope, But it happens just as Elisha had promised.
One day the boy goes out to his father while the reapers are at work. The text doesn’t give the details, but for some reason the child cries out to his father about his head—whether he got cut with the tools of reaping or what. The father has the servants carry him home to his mother. She holds him on her lap ‘til noon, when he dies. She takes him up to Elisha’s room and lays the child on Elisha’s bed, goes out and shuts the door.
The woman goes to her husband asking for a young man and an ass to go see the man of God, then she’ll return. Her husband asks, Why today? It’s not a holy day. She says, All is going to be ok.
She gets on the saddled ass and tells the servant to drive the animal as fast as possible, not slacking up for her sake unless she says so. They go to Mt Carmel, and when Elisha sees her afar off, he sends Gehazi to meet her quickly and ask if all is well with herself, her husband, and her son. She responds to Gehazi that everything is fine, but when she reaches Elisha she catches him by the feet. Gehazi is about to push her away, but Elisha says to leave her alone, because she is so upset, and “the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.”
When she can speak, the woman says, Did I ask you for a son? Didn’t I say not to deceive me? Elisha sends Gehazi with his staff, tells him not to stop to greet or be greeted by anyone, and lay the staff on the child’s face. The mother says to Elisha with a vow, I won’t leave you.
So Elisha goes with her, Gehazi going on ahead and laying the staff on the child’s face. The child doesn’t seem to respond, and Gehazi goes back to tell Elisha so. When Elisha arrives he shuts the door on himself and the child and prays. He lays on the child, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. The child’s flesh warms. He goes down into the main house and walks to and fro, then goes back up to check on the child. Elisha repeats his efforts, the child sneezes 7 times (was it the field dust that had afflicted the child?), then opens his eyes.
Elisha sends Gehazi to call for the woman, and Elisha tells her to take her son. She falls at Elisha’s feet in thanks, then takes back her son.
Elisha comes to Gilgal, and there’s a famine. The sons of the prophets are sitting before him. He has his servant Gehazi set on a great pot to make pottage for them. One goes to gather herbs (or vegetables) and finds a wild gourd vine. He brings a lap full of the gourds, which are shredded into the pot unbeknownst to the others.
When the sons of the prophets are served, they cry out that the pot of pottage is deadly, they can’t eat it. Elisha asks for some meal (milled grain), which he tosses into the pot. He then has the people served, and there is no longer any problem in it.
A man comes bringing bread from his firstfruits/harvest: 20 barley loaves, and full ears of grain still in the husk. Elisha says to set it before the people. The man says, What, can this feed 100 men? Elisha reiterates his instruction with the promise that God has said they would all eat and there would be leftovers. (Reminds one of Jesus feeding the 5000).
2 Kings 5
This is the well-known story of Naaman, the Syrian general who was a leper, but a good and honorable man, a valiant man. His wife’s little captive Israelite servant girl was a believer in God, as well as the goodness of her master. She wishes her master could go to the prophet in Samaria and be healed.
The general is told of her words, and he gets permission from the Syrian king to go, carrying a letter to give to the Israelite king. Naaman takes 10 talents of silver, 6000 pieces of gold, and 10 sets of clothes. He brings the letter to the king of Israel, who is distraught. He figures the Syrian king is just seeking a quarrel as a pretext to invade--and maybe the Syrian king is hoping for that.
Elisha hears about the king tearing his clothes in dismay. He sends the king a message that he should send Naaman to him, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.
Naaman comes with all his retinue to Elisha’s door. Elisha sends a message to him to wash in the Jordan river 7 times, and he’ll be made clean. Naaman leaves angrily. He reasons, The guy should have come out to me, called on his God, hit his hand on the leprosy. Aren’t the 2 rivers of Damascus (capital of Syria) better than all the waters of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be clean?
But Naaman’s servants come to him respectfully, saying, If he had asked you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, if you do this simple thing? Naaman is humble enough, or wise enough to listen to them, follows Elisha’s instructions, and comes out with skin clean as a little child. He takes all his retinue back to Elisha, saying,
“Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore I pray thee, take a blessing [gratuity] of thy servant.” Elisha refuses to take any gift. Naaman asks then for 2 mule-loads of Israelite soil to take back home on which he will sacrifice to God alone. Yet he asks pardon that when he is required to attend his king in worship of the Syrian god of wind, rain, and storm, God will not be angry. Elisha sends him away in peace.
When Naaman is gone just a little way, Elisha’s servant Gehazi is determined to get something from the rich guy. When Naaman sees Gehazi running after him, he gets down out of his chariot and asks if everything is ok. Gehazi lies and says that 2 sons of the prophets have just shown up, and would Naaman give a silver talent and two sets of clothes for them. Naaman generously gives 2 talents along with the changes of clothes. He sends them with 2 of his servants to carry them. When they come to the tower (of the town?), Gehazi takes the gifts from them and puts them away in the house, then lets the servants go.
Elisha asks Gehazi where he’s been. Gehazi again lies, saying he hasn’t gone anywhere. Elisha reproves him for taking gifts: “Is it a time to receive . . .? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed fore ever.” Gehazi leaves as a leper.
2 Kings 6
The sons of the prophets come to Elisha saying, This dwelling is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan (a source of wood) and each bring home a beam to make a bigger place to live. Elisha says, Go ahead. One of them asks that Elisha accompany them, and he agrees to go with them.
But while they are cutting down wood, one of the axe heads falls into the water. Oh no! The man cries out, it was borrowed! An axe head would be rather expensive in those days, and these men are poor.
Elisha asks to be shown where it fell. He cuts down a stick and tosses it in the spot, “and the iron did swim.” The man retrieves it.
The king of Syria decides to make a war with Israel after all. He proposes a plan and place from which to attack. Elisha sends a message to the king about where the Syrians will come. Three times, it seems, Elisha thus saves his nation. The Syrian king deduces that he’s got a leak, a traitor, amongst his top military command or counselors. One of his servants says that Elisha the prophet must be telling the Israelite king, even things that he speaks in the privacy of his own bedroom.
So the Syrian king sends someone to spy out where Elisha is. They find out he’s in Dothan (where hundreds of years earlier Joseph’s brothers were grazing their flocks, and when he came to check on them they tossed him in a pit, threatening to kill him, but then sell him into slavery instead—about Dothan, see https://www.gotquestions.org/Dothan-in-the-Bible.html ). A Syrian army, including chariots, is sent to Dothan, and encircles the city by night.
When Elisha’s servant rises early next morning he sees the situation and asks Elisha, What shall we do? Elisha’s classic answer is “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Elisha prays that God will open the young man’s eyes. The servant sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire to protect Elisha. Elisha then prays that the opposing army be smitten with blindness, and it is done. Possibly their blindness was in not being able to recognize Elisha.
Elisha tells his opponents that he will lead them to the guy they are seeking, but he takes them to Samaria (Israelite capital). When they are inside the city Elisha prays God that their eyes be opened, which He does. The Israelite king asks Elisha if he should kill them. Elisha says, No, would you do that if you had captured them in battle? Sit them down to bread and water, and send them home. One wonders if Naaman is among them. Israel’s king provides well for his captives and sends them home. Perhaps it was only the officers, because how could thousands fit in the city and be fed? But maybe . . .
After that, the Syrians leave Israel alone.
Yet, king Ben-hadad in the next breath gathers all his armies and besieges Samaria such that the famine was so bad that the head of an ass is selling for 80 pieces of silver, and even a quarter of a cab (bulb?) of “dove’s dung” sells for 5 pieces of silver. Explanations/commentary at
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Doves-Dung
And https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_kings/6-25.htm
And https://www.bibliaplus.org/en/dictionaries/4/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/doves-dung
The king of Israel, walking along the wall, is accosted by a woman asking for help. He says to her, “If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?” He sarcastically asks if she wants help out of the barnfloor or the winepress (this during a famine). Then he asks what’s her problem. She explains that she and another woman had agreed that they would kill and eat her son first, then the other woman’s son. They boiled and ate her son, but the other woman hid her son.
When the king hears that, he tears his clothes, and it is seen that he wears sackcloth against his skin, rough underwear! He vows to take Elisha’s head (obviously blaming Elisha for the whole trouble). He sends a messenger for him.
Elisha is sitting with the elders in his house, and before the messenger arrives he announces, “See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head?” He bids them shut the door and not let the messenger nor his master behind him in. While he’s still talking the messenger arrives, and Elisha says, “Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
2 Kings 7
Elisha then speaks, “Hear ye the word of the Lord . . .” by this time tomorrow a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and 2 measures of barley for shekel at the gate of Samaria. This is astounding, considering the exorbitant price for the worst food today. One of the nobles that the king leans on replies sarcastically, How could such a thing happen, even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven? Elisha affirms, you will see it with your eyes, but won’t get to eat it.
One could chuckle at how this occurred (since we are far from the desperation of the situation). Four lepers sit at the city gate. They reason, Why should we sit here ‘til we die? If we go into the city, we’ll die of the famine there. If we stay here we’ll die. Let’s go to the Syrian army, and if they don’t kill us, we’ll live. If they kill us, we’ll die just as we would here anyway. At twilight they go to the edge of the Syrian camp, but no one is there! God had made the Syrian army hear a noise that sounded like a huge army with chariots and horses. They assumed the king of Israel had hired mercenaries from the Hittites and Egyptians, so they left everything and skidaddled!
The lepers help themselves to eat and drink and hide a bunch of booty. But then they consider, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.” They call the city porter and let him know. Word gets to the king’s house.
The king thinks it’s a trick the Syrians have played to draw them out of the city so they can ambush them and get into the city. One of his servants suggests sending the 5 last horses left in the city to go see. The king sends 2 chariot horses to check out the situation. They follow the fleeing army all the way to the Jordan River, and all along the way are clothes and vessels the Syrian army has left in their hurry to get away. The messengers return, the people go out and spoil the Syrian encampment, and the prophecy is fulfilled.
The king had put the doubting/sarcastic noble in charge of keeping order at the gate, but he was trampled by the people desperate to get food.
2 Kings 8
Elisha warns the woman whose son he had healed of an impending 7 year famine. She goes to live amongst the Philistines for those 7 years. When she returns, she has to petition the king for her house & land to be restored to her. It happens that the king was just then listening to Gehazi, who was servant to Elisha, retell (at the king’s request) some of the things Elisha has done, including raising the woman’s dead son. The king orders her lands, and even the income of them while she was gone, to be restored to her.
Elisha comes to Damascus, the Syrian capital. King Ben-hadad is sick, and when he hears of Elisha being in town, he sends Hazael with a gift requiring 40 camels to carry it all—the best of Syria—asking if he will live. Elisha tells him to tell the king he will recover, and yet he will die. He prophecies that Hazael will reign in his place and commit horrendous atrocities. Hazael denies that he’s that kind of guy.
Hazael returns to Ben-hadad and gives him the news that he’ll recover, but then next day he soaks a thick cloth with water and uses it to smother Ben-hadad, becoming his successor.
Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram begins his reign in Judah in the 5th year of Ahaz’s son Jehoram in Israel. He is 32, and reigns 8 years. His wife is Ahab’s (or Omri’s) daughter Athaliah, and he carries on just like his wife’s family.
Edom revolts from the rule of Judah, and sets up their own king. Jehoram gives them battle, but is unsuccessful. Libnah likewise revolts.
When Jehoram of Judah dies, his son 22 year old Ahaziah is made king of Judah, in the 12th year of the Israelite king Jehoram, son of Ahab. Ahaziah, son of Athaliah, only lasts a year. Ahaziah had allied with the Israelite king Jehoram against Hazael king of Syria. Jehoram is wounded and returns to Jezreel to heal, Ahaziah goes to see him.
2 Chron 22
Ahaziah age 42 (note discrepancy of his age), last remaining son of Jehoram is made king in Judah. His mother was Athaliah, daughter of Omri. She influences him to follow the example of wicked king Ahab of Israel. He only lasts 1 year. He joins Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of Israel in a war against Hazael, king of Syria. Jehoram is wounded and returns to Jezreel to heal. Ahaziah goes to see him, and he and his ministers are killed, along with Jehoram of Israel and all the house of Ahab, by Jehu.
2 Kings 9
Elisha calls one of the children of the prophets to go secretly anoint Jehu (son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi) next king of Israel, then to quickly flee. Jehu is sitting in counsel with other military leaders, and excuses himself. He is not only anointed next king, but tasked with destroying all the posterity of Ahab, as well as Jezebel. When the man flees, Jehu returns to his fellow officers. They ask him what’s up. He says he’s been anointed king of Israel and they all immediately proclaim Jehu king, but keep word from reaching Jehoram of Israel recovering in Jezreel.
The watchman on the tower of Jezreel sends word of the coming army of Jehu to Jehoram the king of Israel. The king sends a messenger out to ask if they come in peace. Jehu says, You’d better get in line and join us. The watchman sends word that the messenger hasn’t returned. The king sends another, and the same happens. And the watchman says, “… the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.”
So the kings of Israel and Judah (who was visiting the king of Israel) meet Jehu and his men in the old field of Naboth (whose land Jezebel conspired to get for her husband Ahab). Jehoram asks Jehu if he comes in peace, and Jehu replies there will be no peace because of the whoredoms and witchcrafts of Jezebel.
Jehoram flees with a warning to Ahaziah. Jehu draws a bow and shoots Jehoram so that it exits through his heart. He orders the king tossed off into Naboth’s field, as had been prophesied.
Ahaziah also tries to flee, but he is wounded on his way and dies in Megiddo. His body is taken back to Jerusalem for burial.
Jezebel hears tidings of all this, and paints her face and has her hair done up. She sees Jehu entering the gate and calls to him, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?” In other words, Zimri killed his king and didn’t die in peace, do you expect any different? Jehu looks up and asks who is on his side. Two or three of Jezebel’s eunuch servants toss her out the window at the behest of Jehu. Her blood splatters on the wall and on the horses, and Jehu rides his horse over her corpse.
While Jehu is eating and drinking inside afterward, he says, Despite herself, she was, after all, a king’s daughter. Go bury her. But they only found her skull and the feet and palms of her hands. Jehu rehearses Elijah’s prophetic words that her carcass would be eaten by the dogs. Thus she could never have a burial spot by which to be remembered.
2 Kings 10
Jehu sends to the guardians of Ahab’s 70 sons, and the rulers and elders of Samaria & Jezreel that they enthrone the most likely of candidates as next king and defend him with their horses, chariots, armor, and the city defenses. But they are all in fear, knowing he has just bested 2 kings (Israel and Judah). They all surrender to Jehu. He sends them a second letter asking for the sons’ heads. They send them to him in baskets. He has them put in heaps at the city gate.
Next morn, Jehu says, Yes, I conspired against my master, but who killed all these? They know of course that they are complicit. Jehu cites the prophecies of the Lord through Elijah about the house of Ahab. Then he kills all the relatives, counselors, and priests of Ahab.
On his way back to Samaria, capital city of Israel, he meets the brethren (either blood brothers, or the elders of Judah) of Ahaziah, king of Judah. They are going to greet the children of the king and queen (Ahab & Jezebel’s posterity, I suppose, thinking among them is the heir to the throne of Israel, with whom they intend to renew an alliance). Jehu says to take them alive, and then he has them all killed—42 men.
Jehu consolidates his power, then says “Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.” He calls together all the prophets of Baal for a grand sacrifice. Any who don’t come are to be executed. A proclamation is sent throughout Israel, and the house of Baal is full to the brim. He has the priestly clothing brought out for them. He has a search made that only prophets of Baal are there, none of God’s. It’s all been a ruse, for now he sets 80 men on guard around the house, and orders them to kill every one of them when the offerings are over. They bring out the images of Baal and burn them, break down the house of Baal, and destroyed it all. “Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.”
But Jehu yet worships the golden calves Jeroboam had set up in Beth-el and Dan.
God rewards Jehu’s destruction of Baal worship allowing his lineage on the Israelite throne for 4 generations. “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.” I suppose, like Jeroboam, he felt it politically expedient to keep his people from any loyalty to the worship of God in Jerusalem.
32 ¶ In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel . . .”
Jehu is succeeded after 28 years by his son Jehoahaz
2 Kings 13
It was in the 23rd year of Joash, son of Azariah, king of Judah, that Jehu began to reign in Samaria, capitol of Israel. He reigns 17 years. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days.” Apparently this Ben-hadad was the grandson of Ben-hadad, the father of Hazael. (Something seems off here, didn't Jehu begin his reign when Athaliah did? Maybe he wasn't able to consolidate his power until some years later?)
2 Chron 22
When Athaliah, mother of Ahaziah, hears of his death, she kills all the royals and takes power. But one of the daughters of Ahaziah saves Joash from “among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah . . . And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.
2 Chron 23
Jehoiada the priest strengthens his position, gets the military behind him, and the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the elders of the people, and before all the people announces Joash age 7 as king. He arms the Levites and makes them constant guards of Joash, whom he keeps in the Temple—allowing only the Levites & priests into the Temple.
2 Kings 11
In the 7th year the priest Jehoida brings about the overthrow of Athaliah, and has Joash, the son of Ahaziah, crowned king. Athaliah hears all the noise, and comes to the Temple to see what’s going on, as the trumpets blare and the people clap for joy. She tears her clothes and cries, Treason!
Jehoida has her taken out of the Temple and killed (not to profane the sacred ground).
17 ¶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people; between the king also and the people.
18 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.
Jehoida has the military bring Joash/Jehoash, age 7, brought to the king’s house, and “all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet”.
2 Chron 23
The people destroy the house of Baal and his altars and images, kill the priest of Baal. Jehoiada reinstitutes the priestly offices that King David had set for the Temple worship, as written in the Law of Moses “with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David.”
Jehoiada has all the military, nobles, governors, and the people accompany Joash to the throne. “And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.”
2 Kings 12
“And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.”
Joash/Jehoash orders a collection be made for repairing the Temple, but after 3 years the Temple has not been repaired. Joash confronts Jehoida, and they set a chest with a hole at the door of the Temple (perhaps the previous effort wasn’t successful). When much had been collected in this way the king’s scribe and the high priest count the money and hire the work to be done: carpenters, builders, masons, stone hewers, stone and timber. The construction workers are so honest and faithful that they are not audited.
The Syrian King Hazael has conquered Gath and is headed for Jerusalem. But Joash/Jehoash buys him off with the sacred treasures 3 generations of his ancestors had dedicated to the Temple, as well as the treasures of his own house.
2 Chron 24
“And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” He reigned from age 7, for 40 years. He decides to repair the Temple, so orders the Levites & priests to go out among all the cities of Judah to gather funds. They delay, so he confronts Jehoiada, and they set up a chest at the gate of the Temple with a proclamation for all to bring funds required by the Law of Moses. The people joyfully respond, and work gets done.
But when Jehoiada dies at age 130 years old, The princes come and convince Joash to let them return to serving other gods. God sends prophets to warn them, but they ignore them. Jehoiada’s son rebukes them, but they stone him by order of the king in the Temple.
God sends Syria against Jerusalem, and with a small force they defeat Judah’s great army.
Joash is killed by conspiracy in his sickbed. He is buried in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
2 Kings 13
Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, beseeches God for his kingdom’s sake, and God helps them out, but only 10 chariots, 50 horsemen, and 10,000 foot soldiers are left. And Israel continues “the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.”
Jehoahaz of Israel is succeeded by his son Joash in the 37th year of Joash king of Judah. He reigns 16 years. . It’s no wonder that the names of kings become confusing . . . The kings of Israel and Judah are all interrelated and named after each other, beside differences in spelling the same man’s name.
Joash/Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, is a mere side note in this chapter, only that he continued the worship of the golden calves, and that he warred against Amaziah, king of Judah.
2 Chron 25
Amaziah age 25, son of Joash, succeeds him. He reigns in Judah 29 years. “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.”
Amaziah puts the conspirators who had killed his father to death, but not their children, as written in the Law of Moses: “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.”
Amaziah gathers an army of 300,000 good men of war from Judah, and then hires 100,000 mercenaries from Israel/Ephraim for 100 silver talents. A man of God comes to him and encourages him to battle, but not to include the mercenaries. The king says, But I’ve already paid! The man of God says, Don’t worry, “The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.”
So Amaziah sends the mercenaries home, and they are angry about it. Amaziah is victorious against Edom (killing 20,000 in total), but the mercenaries hit several cities of Judah, kill 3000, and take “much spoil.”
Unfortunately, Amaziah brings back the gods of Edom and worships them. God is not happy about this, and sends a prophet, who says, Why would you worship these gods who couldn’t even save their own people from you? The king says, Hold your peace, why should you be killed? The prophet leaves him with one last word, “I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.”
Under advisement, Amaziah decides to make war with Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel. He sends an invitation to the Israelite king, who replies with a metaphor that the thistle said to the cedar, Give your daughter to my son as wife, but a wild beast stomped the thistle to nothing. You think you’re so great for your victory over Edom, but let that suffice. Why stir up your own trouble?
Amaziah disregards the warning, and he and the king of Israel meet for battle. Judah is defeated, the Israelite king brings Amaziah back to Jerusalem, breaks a great breach in the wall, takes all the treasures out of the Temple and the king’s house, as well as hostages, and returns to Samaria, his capital.
Amaziah outlives the Israelite king 15 years, but a conspiracy had developed from the time he turned away from God, and at last he has to flee to Lachish. He was followed and killed, brought back to Jerusalem to be buried.
2 Kings 13
Elisha falls sick. Joash, king of Israel comes to see him, weeping for him. How different from Ahab & Jezebel vs Elijah, Elisha’s predecessor! Elisha tells the king to take a bow and put Elisha’s hands on the king’s hands (as a blessing). Then Elisha has the king shoot an arrow out the window, and prophecies the deliverance of Israel from Syria. Elisha says to take the other arrows and hit the ground with them. The king hits the ground 3 times, but Elisha angrily rebukes him for not doing it 5-6 times, wherein Syria would have been destroyed. Since it was only 3, Israel will only be victorious 3 times against Syria. Joash/Jehoash would be able to recover the Israelite cities that the Syrians had taken.
Elisha dies of his sickness and is buried.
At the beginning of a new year the Moabites invade. A little anecdote is told of a man being buried when they see the invading force. They toss his body into Elisha’s sepulchre (and run, no doubt), whereupon the man is revived.
Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah, and Jehoshaphat
Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah, and Jehoshaphat lived contemporaneously. Jehoshaphat became king of Judah in the 4th year of Ahab’s reign over Israel. Jehoshaphat was 35 and reigned 25 years. Ahab was killed before Jehoshaphat died, so part of Jehoshaphat’s reign was during Ahab’s sons’ reigns. Elijah outlived them both. The link below is a chronology of the Old Testament, but Old Testament dates are by no means without differences of opinion.
https://biblehub.com/timeline/old.htm
1 Kings 17—Elijah vs Ahab & the drought/famine
Elijah the Tishbite (of Gilead, east of the Jordan River) comes to Ahab and makes a serious pronouncement to Ahab, invoking God’s authority: there will be no rain, nor even dew, until Elijah says so. This is not going to endear him to Ahab.
God tells Elijah to hide out at the brook Cherith, on the east side of the Jordan River valley. There he will have water from the brook and be fed by ravens. A documentary I saw years ago showed that ravens would drop the bones of an animal that has been killed from high in flight so that on hitting the ground they would be broken open and reveal the nutrition inside.
But eventually that brook dries up, and God sends Elijah to Zarephath, belonging to Zidon/Sidon (a Phoenician city on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea). We don’t have any background on this woman, except that she is a widow, had a son & household (of which she was mistress), and Elijah encountered her at the gate of the city gathering sticks for her kitchen fire. We might speculate whether or not she was an Israelite living in exile during the famine (as Naomi had done), whether she was some relative of Elijah’s, or whether she might have been a type of innkeeper (if her house was at the city gate, though we don’t know if that was the case, that’s just where Elijah met her). We find in this chapter that Elijah lived in her loft.
God has told Elijah that He has commanded that widow to take care of him. That doesn’t mean necessarily that God spoke to her (though He may have), she may have got the message from Elijah, and in fact the command may have been God’s decree spoken or ordained in heaven.
Elijah, by whatever means, recognizes who to call to. He asks her for a drink. No doubt he’s very thirsty from the road/travel. As she’s going for that he calls to her again and asks for a little bread. She protests that she doesn’t have any (bread was made in a flat shape similar to a modern pancake—though not with the same leavening agent). She’s got only a handful of flour and a little oil, for which she is gathering 2 sticks to make a fire for their last meal before starving to death. It may be that she was exaggerating a bit (surely she’d need more than 2 sticks for a fire to cook on) to excuse herself from taking on another mouth to feed, but because she had been willing to get him a drink, and after all agrees to Elijah’s request (believing his promise), we are inclined to believe that she and her son/household really were in dire straights due to the famine/drought.
Elijah tells her not to fear, and tests her faith with the request to feed him first. This would not go over well in today’s society, and probably wouldn’t have been popular then either. But Elijah makes a promise in God’s name that she’ll never run out of flour/meal or oil until God sends rain. She does as he says, and is rewarded in that her whole household never runs out of food. Now this could mean that a miracle similar to turning water to wine or feeding 5000 with a few fish and loaves of bread occurred, or nearly as miraculous in that they were perhaps always able to procure what they needed to live during such destitute, desperate times.
But another test comes, in that the widow’s son becomes so desperately ill that he stops breathing. She’s not shy in her reproach of both Elijah and herself. Whatever her sin was, small or great, she’s afraid she’s being punished for it. Elijah says, Give me the boy. He carries him up to his own loft room, puts him on his own bed and prays for him, and for her. Three times he stretches out on the boy, pleading for God to restore him. He may have felt that the warmth of his body, or the weight of it, would bring back the boy’s breath—God willing. And God was willing. Now the woman is sure that Elijah really is a man of God, who speaks God’s word.
1 Kings 18—Elijah vs Ahab & the priests of Baal, a showdown
Many days later (the 3rd year of drought—no small emergency at any time, but especially in an agrarian society), God sends Elijah to Ahab, with the promise of rain to come. Elijah was a man of extraordinary courage/faith. He would be persona non grata with Ahab, who was not known for gentleness.
Ahab has a steward over his house named Obadiah, a God-fearing man. He had ventured his own position and life to save 100 prophets of God from Queen Jezebel, hiding them in a couple caves and feeding them. Ahab sends this steward out searching everywhere for some place that has enough water to grow feed for Ahab’s horses & mules. Ahab goes one way, Obadiah goes the other way.
Elijah meets Obadiah, who guesses who he is. Elijah confirms his identity, and Obadiah pays him respect. But then Elijah asks an hard thing of Obadiah. It’s one thing to do something secretly, but Elijah is asking him to go face to face with Ahab. Is Elijah setting him up to be put to death? Ahab has been searching high and low for Elijah, making every kingdom/nation swear that Elijah is not among them (and the implication is that if they found him they had better turn him over). You can almost hear the man’s anxious answer: And now you’re asking me to go tell Ahab where you are? As soon as I do, the Spirit of the Lord will whisk you away somewhere, so that when I bring Ahab he’ll kill me. And yet I have been true to God since I was young! Haven’t you heard that I saved 100 of God’s prophets from Jezebel and took care of them?
Elijah promises with an oath on God that he will show himself to Ahab the very day, and Obadiah goes to get the king. “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Elijah answers, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house…” Because they have led Israel astray to worship Baalim.
Elijah tells Ahab to bring the 450 prophets of Baal as well as the 400 prophets of the groves (places of worship in the woods) to Mt Carmel. All these eat at Jezebel’s table (a hefty tax burden on the people). So they all come for a showdown.
21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
The challenge is set: the 450 prophets of Baal will have a bull to sacrifice, and Elijah will have a bull to sacrifice. Each bull will be cut in pieces and laid on the wood without fire. Each will call on their deities, and whichever answers with fire will be proof of who is the true God. Everybody says, Fair enough.
Elijah sits by while the prophets of Baal call on him all morning. No response. They leap on the altar, cut themselves “till the blood gushed out”. Elijah makes fun of them . . . “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”
Evening comes. Elijah calls the people over. He repairs God’s altar that has been broken down, either on purpose or through neglect. He takes 12 stones, for the 12 tribes of Israel, and builds an altar in God’s name. He digs (or has dug) a trench around the altar large enough to hold 2 measures of seed (what measure is not explained). He puts the wood on the altar, and the cut up beef. He has them pour 4 barrels of water over the meat and the wood. A 2nd and a third time he has them drench the meat and fuel. The trench is full of the run-off. Elijah prays that God will hear his plea, show the people that He is God, and that Elijah speaks for him. He prays that the people’s hearts will be brought back to worship the true God.
Fire falls and consumes not only the meat sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, the dust, and the trench full of water. The people fall on their faces in worship and acknowledgement that “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God,” perhaps a well-known phrase they recite.
Elijah has the people take the prophets of Baal, nor let any escape. Elijah takes them down to the brook Kishon, and kills them (or has them killed).
Elijah tells Ahab to start feasting/celebrating because it’s going to rain in abundance. Ahab does so, and Elijah climbs to the top of Mt Carmel. He drops to the ground with his face between his knees. He sends his servant to look for clouds toward the Mediterranean, only a few miles away. Nothing. Seven times he sends him, and at last a little cloud rises from the sea, the size of a man’s hand. Elijah tells him to go tell Ahab to get down off the mountain before he is stopped by the rain. Meanwhile the sky becomes black with clouds, wind, and rain. Ahab goes to Jezreel. Elijah beats him there and meets him at the entrance.
1 Kings 19—Elijah vs Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah flees for his life, despondent in a cave
Ahab tells the whole story to Jezebel, who had not made the effort to go. Jezebel is incensed for the killing of her prophets, and sends a threat to Elijah that she means to do the same to him by the same time the next day. Elijah flees for his life all the way down to Beer-sheba, south in Judah.
Elijah is discouraged to death. He leaves his servant in Beer-sheba, and travels a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sits under a juniper tree and asks God to take his life. He says he’s no better than his ancestors. He falls asleep, and an angel wakes him with a touch, saying, “Arise and eat.” There is a cake/bread on the coals and a cruse of water. He eats and drinks and lies down again.
Again, the angel of God wakes him, saying, “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great [arduous] for thee.” Elijah gets up and eats, and it gives him enough strength for 40 days and nights until he gets to Mt Horeb, “the Mountain of God”. Forty days and nights may be an idiom meaning many, but to travel from Beer-sheba to Mt Horeb was still a considerable trek. (Mt Horeb/Sinai was where the 10 commandments were given, exact location uncertain).
https://bibleatlas.org/mount_horeb.htm
Elijah finds a cave on the mountain in which to stay. God asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replies sorrowfully, “I have been so anxious for Thee, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and killed thy prophets . . . I’m the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well." God tells Elijah to stand on the mount before Him . . .
“And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
When Elijah hears God’s voice, he wraps his face in his cloak (lest he see God and be destroyed) and goes to the cave entrance. The Voice again asks him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah repeats himself . . . he’s done all he can, and the people just won’t listen, and they are after his life. God sends him back up to the wilderness of Damascus, where he is to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha as his own successor (Elijah would serve as mentor to Elisha for some while before succeeding him). God says that whoever escapes death by Hazael, will be killed by Jehu, and whoever escapes Jehu will be killed by Elisha (presumably He speaks of the heirs/armies of Ahab).
And yet, says God, I have still 7000 men in Israel who are still true to me: they have not bowed the knee, nor kissed the image of Baal. Have the people forgotten the showdown so soon? Are they so stubborn? Or are they merely trying to get along in the world, and choose the most politically correct actions/expediencies?
Elijah leaves and finds Elisha plowing with 12 pair of oxen—others are each plowing with a team, and he is plowing with the 12th. It appears that Elisha is from a wealthy family. Elijah tosses his cloak on Elisha. Elisha runs to catch up with him and asks leave to say goodbye to his parents. Elijah replies indifferently, “Go back, what have I done to you?” Elisha goes back and makes a sacrifice of his team of oxen, feeding the people as would be culturally correct. Then he gets up and follows Elijah, and becomes his servant/caregiver.
1 Kings 20—Ahab vs Ben-hadad of Syria
King Ben-hadad of Syria and 32 allied kings (perhaps city-states) besiege Samaria, the capital of Ahab’s Israelite kingdom. The Syrian king sends a message to Ahab boasting/demanding that all Ahab’s silver, gold, wives, children, and all his best goods are his. Ahab acquiesces. Hadad sends messengers again saying the next day his people will come and search Ahab’s residence and take away whatever they like. Ahab feels pushed too far, and calls the elders of Israel, saying that Hadad is looking for any excuse to keep expanding his demands. The elders tell him not to consent to Hadad’s demands. So Ahab replies that he will comply with the first demands, but no more.
Ben-hadad vows that he will beat Samaria to dust. Ahab replies, “ Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.” In other words, don’t boast as if you have already accomplished the deed. Hadad gets the message while drinking, and orders the armies to set for battle.
An unnamed prophet comes to Ahab and says that despite the huge armies set for battle against him, God will give Ahab the victory, and he will know who is truly God. Obviously Ahab is greatly influenced by his pagan wife Jezebel. Ahab inquires about how to meet the attack. He’s got 232 princes leading 7000 warriors, with himself at the head. They go out to battle at noon. Ben-hadad and his allied leaders have been drinking themselves drunk in their pavilion/tent, operational command. Word comes of the little army come out of the city for its defense. He says to take them alive (presumably the princes), whether they’ve come out as a peace embassage or for war.
Amazingly, the little Israelite army puts the Syrians to flight. Ben-hadad escapes, but it’s a great slaughter.
A prophet, probably the same unnamed man, tells Ahab to ready his forces for the next season of war, expecting Ben-hadad will return. Hadad’s counsellors say, Our defeat came because their gods are gods of the hills. We should fight them on the plain, and we’ll best them. Replace the army you’ve lost man for man, horse for horse, chariot for chariot—which would require no paltry sum.
So when the season of fighting returns, Ben-hadad numbers his men and comes against Israel again. The Israelites look like 2 little flocks of kid goats or sheep, while the Syrian army fills the country.
An unnamed man of God (perhaps the same unnamed prophet?) tells Ahab that because the Syrians think God is only a God of the hills and not of the valleys, God will deliver the Syrians to Ahab, and again, he will know that God is God of all.
For 7 days the armies face one another, and on the 7th day they meet in battle. The Israelites again beat the Syrians: 100,000 footmen killed in one day. The Syrians flee to the city of Aphek where a wall falls upon 27,000 more. Ben-hadad escapes into the inner city. His counsellors suggest that he humble himself (the king and his cabinet put on sackcloth and a rope around their heads/necks—symbolizing the submission/slavery of the vanquished) and throw themselves on the mercy of the Israelite king.
Ahab accepts Ben-hadad into his chariot, calls him a brother. Ben-hadad says he’ll return the cities his father took from Ahab’s father, and allow privileges in his capital (Damascus), as his father had done in Samaria. Ahab agrees and sends him away. As ever, wealthy and powerful leaders feel more kinship with one another than with their people—no matter what price the people have to pay for their rulers to be buddies.
One of the sons of the prophet tells his compatriot to hit him, which he refuses. So the man says that because he refused to obey the voice of the Lord, he will be killed by a lion as soon as he leaves. So it happens. The son of the prophet approaches another with the same request that he hit him. His request is granted, and he is wounded. The wounded man (disguised with ashes on his face) meets Ahab. He tells the king a little story about dereliction of duty, and Ahab quickly passes judgment. The prophet cleans his face from the ashes and Ahab recognizes that he is one of the prophets. The prophet tells Ahab that because he let Ben-hadad go, his own life and people are set for destruction. Ahab returns to Samaria “heavy and displeased”.
A note about Ben-hadad. It seems he was the same king of Syria that Jehoshaphat’s father Asa had enticed to break alliance with Israel against Judah. Ben-hadad would die during Elisha’s calling as prophet to Israel (see 2 Kings 8:7-15). Remember that in the previous chapter (1 Kings 19), God had sent Elijah to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha as his own successor. Just as it had been when David was anointed successor to Saul by Samuel, it didn’t happen right away, but it happened.
1 Kings 21—Ahab & Jezebel take what they want
King Ahab covets his neighbor Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel. This must be another royal residence, as it is north of Samaria, the capital city of the kings of Israel after they split from Judah under Jereboam. Ahab offers a trade or to buy it. But Naboth doesn’t want to sell his ancestral home. Ahab is despondent. Jezebel sees his distress (he’s not eating). She says, Are you king or not? Hang tight, I’ll get it for you. She writes letters in Ahab’s name and seals them with his seal, to the elders & nobles of the city demanding a fast and a charge of blasphemy against Naboth. She hires false witnesses, Naboth is found guilty of blasphemy against God and the king, and is executed (stoned). Now whether the judges didn’t know about the suborned testimonies, or whether they found it politically expedient not to know, the injustice is carried through. Jezebel tells Ahab to take Naboth’s vineyard (no heirs, or were they too afraid to object?).
https://bibleatlas.org/jezreel.htm atlas entry about Jezreel
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/22/bb/c9/22bbc9ff89c166b9a2f80c0907b0bcfc.jpg map
God sends Elijah to Ahab with this tidy message, “Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? . . . Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” Ahab’s reply: “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” Elijah shoots back, “I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord,” and gives him the consequences of his badness: Ahab’s posterity will be wiped out (those that die in the city will be eaten by the dogs, those outside the city will be eaten by the birds; both carrion eaters), and Jezebel’s carcass will be eaten by the dogs of Jezreel.
25 ¶ But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
26 And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.
1 Kings 22—Ahab & Jehoshaphat vs the Syrians
Three years of peace pass between Syria & Israel. But in the 3rd year King Jehoshaphat of Judah has come to visit Ahab, obviously to effect an alliance. Ahab wants Jehoshaphat to help him recover Ramoth in Gilead from Syria. Jehoshaphat says ok, but he is not certain whether they’ll have God’s blessing in the endeavor (we will see next the kind of man/king he is). Ahab gathers 400 prophets to inquire, and they all give the go-ahead. Jehoshaphat is still uncertain, and asks if there’s not another prophet, one of God’s prophets. Perhaps he detects the character of those 400.
8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.
The messenger warns Micaiah about political expediency: you’d better agree with the others. Micaiah replies that he’ll only say what God tells him. He goes with the messenger to Ahab, and says the words Ahab wants to hear, but Ahab knows he’s just saying the words . . .
16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?
17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.
18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
Micaiah says God has sent a lying spirit to Ahab’s prophets to convince him to go to Ramoth-gilead in battle where he’ll be killed. One of the false prophets, a man named Zedekiah, walks up and slaps Micaiah on the cheek, saying with a sneer, “Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?” To which Micaiah replies that on the day he tries to hide (from the enemy), he’ll find the answer to his mocking question.
Ahab has Micaiah tossed in prison on a measly diet of bread and water until he returns alive. Micaiah says, if you come back alive, God hasn’t spoken by me. Where was Elijah at this time? Obviously Ahab & Jezebel would be making his life a misery, and God didn’t call on him to take the heat this time.
Ahab & Jehoshaphat decide to go to battle. Ahab disguises himself, but has Jeshoshaphat wear his royal apparel—a decoy. Syria’s king tells his 32 chariot captains not to bother with anyone but Ahab. They go after the regally dressed Jehoshaphat, who calls out, so they know he’s not Ahab. They turn away. Just by chance an arrow hits Ahab. He barely lasts the day of battle, and dies in the evening, his blood running out of his chariot. At sundown the battle is called for the night, and Ahab is taken back to his capital city Samaria and buried. When his chariot is washed out, true to the prophecy, dogs lick up his blood. For the fulfillment of Elijah’s prophecies about Ahab’s wife & posterity (1 Kings 21) see 2 Kings 9-10.
39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
The rest of this chapter tells briefly about Jehoshaphat, as well as Ahab’s wicked son and successor (who only lasted 2 years), but Chronicles gives a more complete story about Jehoshaphat.
2 Chron 17-20 Jehoshaphat (cross reference 1 Kings 22:41-50)
2 Chron 17—Jehoshaphat succeeds his father Asa as king of Judah
Jehoshaphat succeeds his father, good/mostly good King Asa. He fortifies his land against Ahab, king of Israel.
3 And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim [plural of Baal];
4 But sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.
5 Therefore the Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.
6 And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.
Not only Jehoshaphat honors God, he sends out teachers with “the law of the Lord” (the Torah, the Law of Moses) to teach all the people. God honors Jehoshaphat, and gives him peace (“the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat”) and prosperity (tribute & gifts). Jehoshaphat builds castles (military defenses) and cities of store (strategic reserves of food and such). It may seem that Judah alone (plus the tribe of Benjamin, and others who had fled as refugees of Israel) was at a major disadvantage against the 10 tribes of the kingdom of Israel. But this chapter says Jehoshaphat had 1.16 million fighting men in his various walled cities (including 200,000 bowmen from the tribe of Benjamin).
2 Chron 18—reiteration of the battle in which Ahab was killed
“Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance,” but he decides to make an unholy alliance with wicked King Ahab of Israel. This chapter recounts the fatal (for Ahab) battle at Ramoth-gilead, told in 1 Kings 22 (see above).
2 Chron 19—Jehoshaphat’s righteous ways (but one fault)
When Jehoshaphat returns in peace to Jerusalem, the seer Jehu rebukes him for allying himself with Ahab, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.” But he also acknowledges Jehoshaphat’s goodness: “Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.” As mentioned above, he has also sought to bring his people back to God, by sending teachers of the Law throughout his land. He sets up judges in the cities, and admonishes them to be honest and God-fearing, not accepting bribes or favoring the powerful, but judging as God would. In Jerusalem he sets up the Levites & priests, and the tribal leaders as judges in all controversies, not only for his people, but for any religious pilgrims (for Jewish holy days): “Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart . . . Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.”
2 Chron 20 and 2 Kings 3—Jehoshaphat relies on God, leads his people to trust in God
An alliance of Moabites, Ammonites, and others come to attack Jehoshaphat’s kingdom. “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” (Wouldn’t it be interesting if our leaders called a fast before engaging in any wars?!) The people gather in Jerusalem from all the cities of the kingdom to seek God and His help. Jehoshaphat comes to the Temple and offers a public prayer (wouldn’t this also be interesting, if our leaders led us in prayer asking for God’s help?!) His prayer is worth reading, 2 Chron 20:6-12. “And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.”
The Spirit of the Lord comes upon one of the Levites, and he speaks for God, saying, “Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” He gives them the strategy, but says they will not even have to fight—God will make them victorious. The king and all his people bow to worship God, and the Levite singers stand up to praise God “with a loud voice on high.”
Next day King Jehoshaphat encourages his men with “Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” He sets up singers to go ahead of the army, praising God. God causes the foes to ambush one another. Jehoshaphat and his men take the booty off the dead . . . it seems at least the officers/commanders liked to dress richly for battle. There’s so much it takes 3 days to gather it all.
Jehoshaphat and his men return to Jerusalem joyous, victorious, praising God with psalteries, harps, and trumpets all the way to the Temple. All the neighboring kingdoms are in the fear of God, and Jehoshaphat’s kingdom is in peace. The king had reigned since he was 35, and reigned 25 years.
2 Chron 20:35-37 says that Jehoshaphat allied with Ahab’s son/successor Ahaziah on a trading mission to Tarshish (remember where Paul of the New Testament was from?), but God caused the ships to be wrecked. 1 Kings 22:48-49 sounds like Jehoshaphat refused the joint venture with Ahab’s son. Some accounts don’t seem to match, but differences in detail don't destroy the truths of the Bible.
2 Kings 3 also records that Jehoshaphat agreed to ally himself/his kingdom to Ahab’s other son Jehoram (who succeed his brother Ahaziah to the throne of Israel) as he tries to reclaim the vassalage of Moab. When they run out of water after 7 days, Jehoshaphat asks that they inquire of a prophet of God. They find Elisha (Elijah’s successor), and he says if it wasn’t for Jehoshaphat, he would ignore them. Elisha asks for a minstrel/musician, and then he is inspired to tell them to fill the valley with ditches, and without wind or rain, the ditches will be filled with water for their animals. He also promises them victory over the Moabites. The Moabites see the water and think it’s blood, so they come to grab the booty. The armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom rise up and win the battle, pursue them, destroy their cities, wells, and trees. When the king of Moab sees it’s useless, he offers his son as a burnt offering on the city wall, which disgusts Israel’s allies, and they all leave.
Jehoshaphat’s fault in allying with the wicked kings of Israel brought their wickedness to take over his kingdom, as his eldest son, heir to the throne, marries the wicked daughter of Ahab & Jezebel. More about that next post.
2 Kings 1—Elijah vs Ahab’s son/successor
Elijah has outlived both Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Ahab’s son/heir Ahaziah falls through the lattice of his upper room and is injured. Perhaps a disease sets in (like infection). He sends for word from the false god of Ekron, Baal-zebub (those familiar with the New Testament will recognize this name as becoming synonymous with the Devil) whether he will live or die. God sends Elijah to intercept the messengers and reprove the king for inquiring of the false god, and telling him he’ll never leave his bed alive.
And here we have a picture of Elijah. He is described as “an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins.”
The king recognizes Elijah from the description. He sends a captain with 50 men to get Elijah. The Captain calls to Elijah, “Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.” Elijah smartly replies, “If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.” The king sends another captain with 50, who calls on Elijah to come down quickly. He and his men suffer the same. A third captain, goes up the hill and falls to his knees before Elijah and pleads with him not to let the same fate befall him and his men.
God sends an angel to tell Elijah not to be afraid of the captain, but to go with him to the king. Elijah goes and delivers his message directly to the king, which happened.
Now a certain Jehoram becomes king in Israel, because Ahab’s son/heir didn’t have a son. Jehoshaphat’s son & heir is also named Jehoram. Jehoram of Israel begins his reign in the 2nd year of Jehoram of Judah.
2 Kings 2—the mantle of Elijah passes to Elisha
Elijah and Elisha go to Gilgal, and Elijah tells Elisha to wait there, as God has called him to go to Beth-el. Elisha insists on accompanying him. The sons of the prophets there ask Elisha if he realizes the Elijah will be taken from him that day. He says, Yes, let it be.
Elijah again tells Elisha to wait for him while he has been sent by God to Jericho. Elisha again insists on going with him. The sons of the prophet in Jericho likewise ask Elisha if he realizes Elijah will be taken from him. And Elisha answers as he did before.
Elijah says God has sent him to Jordan, and bids Elisha to wait for him. But again, Elisha continues with him. 50 of the sons of the prophets go to watch from afar. Elijah hits the water with his cloak, and it divides so the 2 men walk across on dry ground (an important motif for the children of Israel, proving the calling of these 2 prophets). Elijah then asks Elisha what favor he’d like before he leaves him. Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit to be on him. Elijah says that’s a hard thing to promise, but if Elisha sees him when he is taken away, it will be so. They walk on, talking as they go. A chariot and horses of fire appear between them, and Elijah is taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.
12 ¶ And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
The sons of the prophets offer 50 strong men to go with Elisha to see if God has dropped Elijah off somewhere. He tells them not to bother, but they keep bothering him, so at last he says, OK, go ahead. They search for Elijah 3 days and return. Elisha says, What did I tell you?
The Book of Psalms
An excellent choice for daily devotionals, the Book of Psalms has nearly enough for a half a year (note that Psalm 119 has 22 parts), and one could read them over and over. Rather than comment about each one by one, I have organized them below, with some helpful explanations. Not all the psalms were written by King David: some were written by others and some have no specified author.
Psalms specific to events in David's life:
59 Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.
52 A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite told Saul, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.
56 Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
34 A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed
"The title says Abimelech rather than Achish because Abimelech was the traditional dynastic name title for Philistine
kings (see Genesis 20, 21:22-34 and 26)."
see https://jaymack.net/ay-david-pretended-to-be-insane-before-abimelech-psalm-34-1-22/
54 A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?
57 Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.
142 Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.
63 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
18 A Psalm of David . . . that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul
30 A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David
51 A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.
60 After battles with Mesopotamians & their allies, when Joab returned, and smote 12,000 of Edom in the valley of salt
3 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son
72, 127 For Solomon, David's successor as King of Israel
General Psalms
17, 86 Prayers of David
145 David’s Psalm of praise.
38, 70 Psalms of David, to bring to remembrance
15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 35, 37, 101, 103, 108, 110, 138, 141, 143, 144 simply labeled "A Psalm of David"
11, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 31, 36, 40, 41, 64, 65, 68, 109, 139 "to the Chief Musician", no doubt for setting to music
Author not specified
1, 2, 10, 33, 43, 66, 71, 91, 93-99, 104-107, 111-118, 135-137, 146-150
92 (for the Sabbath), 100 (of praise), 102 (prayer of the afflicted)
Labeled as "Songs of Degrees", perhaps sung while traveling
see https://biblehub.com/topical/s/songs_of_degrees.htm
120-134 (attributed to David: 122, 124, 131, 133; for Solomon 127)
Psalm 119--verses written by the Hebrew alphabet
for more info, scroll to the bottom of https://biblehub.com/psalms/119.htm
Other people mentioned in the labels
--Jeduthun: music master under King David, Psalms 39, 62, 77
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/jeduthun/
--Korah was a Levite, cousin of Moses, the "sons of Korah" would be his descendants;
Psalms 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 84, 85, 87, 88
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korahites
--Asaph was a Levite, leader of King David's choir; Psalms 50, 73-83
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/asaph/
--Heman the Ezrahite, a sage of the time, https://jewish_bio.en-academic.com/1303/Heman_the_Ezrahite Psalm 88
--Ethan the Ezrahite, a wise man https://bibleportal.com/articles/who-was-ethan-the-ezrahite-in-the-bible Psalm 89
--Moses the man of God wrote a prayer, Psalm 90 . . . someone must have kept it over all those years, as well as other songs of Moses & his sister Miriam recorded in Exodus 15 & Deuteronomy 32 (Deut 31:30 labels it)
Other terms in the labels of the Psalms have to do with the instruments, purposes, and tunes
--Neginoth: Psalms 4, 6, 54, 55, 61 (Neginah singular), 67, 76 Neginoth=songs accompanied by stringed instruments;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/neginoth/
-- Nehiloth: Psalm 5 songs accompanied by flutes/wind instruments;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/nehiloth/
--Higgaion: Psalm 7 Shiggaion, an ode; https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/shiggaion/
only mention of Cush the Benjaminite;
see https://ebible.com/questions/20306-who-was-cush-and-what-had-he-done-to-david-psalm-7-title
--Gittith: Psalms 8, 81, 84 a stringed instrument, perhaps a harp;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/gittith/
--Muth-labben: Psalm 9 unknown reference;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/muth-labben/
-- Sheminith: Psalm 12 possibly a certain type of air;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sheminith/
--Michtam: Psalms 16, 56, 57, 60 possibly "precious",
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/michtam/
--Aijeleth Shahar: Psalm 22 alluding to the dawn, perhaps referring to the style, a particular instrument, or other
allusion; see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/aijeleth-shahar/
--Maschil: Psalms 32, 42, 44, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142 a wisdom/instructive song
--Mahalath: Psalm 53 perhaps to be played on a lute or lyre;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/mahalath/
--Jonath-elem-rechokim: Psalm 56, perhaps a well known tune;
see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/jonath-elem-rechokim/
--Al-taschith: Psalms 57-59, 75 see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/al-tas
--Shoshannim: Psalms 45, 69, 80 see https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shoshannim.htm
and https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7802.htm title of a popular song
--Alamoth: Psalm 46 to be sung by sopranos; see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/alamoth/
--Mahalath Leannoth: Psalm 88 see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/mahalath-leannoth-maschil/
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