Ezekiel part 4—Visions

Ezekiel & the Valley of Dry Bones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jeremiah part 4–various prophecies concerning the Israelites and other Middle Eastern nations

The prophet Jeremiah at the foot of the Colonna dell’Immacolata, at the end of the Piazza di spagna, Rome (1857). Photo by Ian Scott taken 2010
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)

The prophet Jeremiah prophesies the fall of Jerusalem to King Zedekiah by the Belgian artist Joseph Stallaert (1825-1903), in the public domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Stallaert_-_Der_Prophet_Jeremias_weissagt_dem_K%C3%B6nig_Zedekia_den_Untergang_Jerusalem.jpg

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)

Jeremiah–part 2, Jer 11-19

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt, 1630 https://www.rembrandtpaintings.com/jeremiah-lamenting-the-destruction-of-jerusalem.jsp

Jer 11—God offers a renewal of His covenant under the Law of Moses
     The Lord tells Jeremiah to go to the men (people) of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and offer/proclaim/remind them of His covenant to obey Him/His commandments—which if they did, they would be His people, He would be their God, and they would be given a land flowing with milk and honey:  symbolizing a prosperous land, producing abundant agriculture (animals & crops, the basis of any nation’s prosperity).  Otherwise, they will be cursed.  It is a reiteration of the Exodus covenant, which included a blessing and a cursing—the natural consequences of obeying the Law of God given through Moses, or the disobedience/rejection of God’s laws.  For what reason does God give commandments?  Because in His wisdom/intelligence and compassion, He knows and tells us what will bring us happiness, peace, and prosperity, and what will bring our downfall/destruction/misery.
     A couple notes:  Jeremiah is to speak to the men, because they had charge/responsibility of/for the nation and its people (including their families, wives and children).  In our culture we are more likely to speak of consequences rather than of curses, it’s a difference in our way of understanding life, the world, and even of God.  
     The people not only didn’t obey, didn’t listen, went after their own disparate goals, they conspired/agreed to do so.  They were the ones who broke the covenant/sacred contract, so God is not obligated to fulfill His promises to them.  He will allow bad/”evil” things to come, which they will not be able to escape (in olden times people considered anything bad as “evil”).  Where is God’s mercy?  God has worked with His people, been merciful to them, for hundreds of years—enough is enough.  It is not Merciful not to be Just.  A parent who is endlessly giving “2nd chances” (and 3rd, 4th, etc) is essentially an enabler, and isn’t doing his/her child any favors.  A good parent must set boundaries and stick by them.  Of course, mistakes can be made and repented of, if it is true repentance.  But to pretend to repent merely to get a reprieve isn’t really repentance.  Repentance means a change of heart, a change of behavior.  Of course, we are imperfect beings, and God has offered means to make atonement for those imperfections, as much then as now.  
     When God doesn’t help the people of Judah they will go to their false gods, who can’t help them.  Every city has had its favorite god, and Jerusalem has had altars to different gods in every street, and worse yet, to the particularly evil Baal (Jezebel’s god).  
     Again, God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people.  He’s not going to listen to their false pleas.  He likens them to an adulterous wife with many lovers, who rejoices in them.  He likens the nation to an olive tree that will be broken down and burned.  He was the one that planted the tree, and He will be the one who will take it out, because of their worship of Baal.
     Jeremiah speaks of his personal experience, in that God showed Him all this, and because he has spoken God’s word, they conspire to “sacrifice” him to their own devices (leading him like a lamb or bull to the slaughter).  They intend to cut him down like a tree, so that he will not be remembered (perhaps that he will have no descendants).  Jeremiah prays that God, who judges righteously, and tests every person’s heart (intentions, character, what one values and desires, as well as faithfulness to Him), will hear his cause, which he has laid out, and punish his adversaries for their wickedness—who tell him not to prophesy in the name of the Lord, or they will kill him.   God answers Jeremiah that He will indeed punish them, in particular the men of Anathoth.  Their young men will be killed in war, and their children will die from famine.  The men of Anathoth (Jeremiah’s hometown) will have no descendants.  
https://bibleatlas.org/anathoth.htm about Anathoth

Jer 12—God will punish Jeremiah’s kin for betraying him
     Jeremiah acknowledges God’s righteousness, and yet, he wonders why wicked people prosper, and treacherous ones are happy.  Perhaps we have all wondered, or felt that frustration.  Jeremiah says, You know me, you know my heart . . . “How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, [God isn’t going to punish us, in the end].”  It sounds like they were suffering a dearth/drought, and God was not revoking it.
     Jeremiah uses figurative words that perhaps would have been proverbial in his time, that if someone is weary from running along with footmen carrying a VIP’s litter how can they keep up with a horse-drawn carriage?  Likewise, if one trusts in the peace of the river (Jordan), what will one do during the season of flooding?  This seems to have some reference to the betrayal of Jeremiah by his kin, “though they speak fair words” they harbor ill for him.
     Jeremiah, and/or God, has turned his back on his people/kin.  They are like a lion roaring after him with threats of devouring him, so he renounces his inheritance (see the end of the previous chapter).  He likens his inheritance to a speckled bird, referring either to a small songbird (or possibly an imperfect specimen not suitable for a sacrifice unto the Lord, but the next sentence seems to make it about the former).  Other, presumably larger, birds fly about her menacingly.  Wild beasts come to devour her.
     Many pastors (who should be tending the flock or fields) have destroyed them, or have oppressed the people (pastors and flocks used as a metaphor, like today, for the religious leaders and their congregations).  These leaders don’t take it to heart when they despoil the people.  In consequence, the whole land from one end to the other will be spoiled/destroyed by conquest.  In another figure the Lord speaks of the leaders of the people sowing wheat (as they suppose to get rich thereby), but will reap thorns.  All their efforts will go for nought (nothing), and their revenues will be embarrassing.  This because the Lord is angry at them.  God will pluck His people out of their land, but He will again have compassion on them, and return them to their heritage/inheritance.  He is speaking, in particular, of the leaders/pastors of the people, who instead of teaching the people of God, have taught them of Baal.  If those leaders would turn to God, and turn the people to God, they will be prospered among the people.  If not, God will destroy the entire nation (God will allow the conquest of the nation, but it’s actually the people and their leaders who have destroyed the nation morally, which causes the material destruction of the nation.)
   
Jer 13—Can a leopard change its spots?
     Prophets anciently often used theatrics to make their message powerful in the minds of the people.  The Lord instructs Jeremiah to dramatize the relationship between Himself and Israel by taking a piece of intimate clothing and burying it in the bank of the Euphrates River, later digging it up again, and showing how it has become worthless.  Likewise, Israel was close to the Lord:  “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”  'Girdle' is a term that could mean something like a loincloth.
     Using wine as a metaphor, Jeremiah speaks of Jerusalem as being so drunken that even fathers & sons will be slammed together in destruction.  Next is the warning that Israel should turn to God, rather than stumble around in the darkness looking for light, but finding the shadow of death.  “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.” [God weeps for our suffering, even (or moreso) when it is the consequence of our own bad behavior/choices.  He pleads with the king & queen to humble themselves before they are forcefully humbled, when armies from the north come and carry away their people captive like stolen flocks.  They’ll be hurting like a woman giving birth.  When you ask, Why? You can know that the greatness of your iniquities has uncovered you to shame.  
     Famous saying:  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?   If so, then even you that are accustomed to behaving badly can become good.   Jeremiah uses the metaphor of the stubble of a harvested field blown away in the wind to the wilderness, and the visualization of a person caught with their skirts up in an adulterous act.  Remember that in those days even men wore robes/skirts.

Jer 14—Jeremiah pleads to God vs a serious drought
     A description of famine due to drought:  
--the people mourn
--the wealthy send their young ones out of town into the countryside for water, but they find none
--the ground is parched for lack of rain
--farmers are embarrassed/ashamed by the failure of their crops
--domesticated animals leave their newborns to die in the field because there is no grass/feed for the females to produce milk to nourish their young
--donkeys sniff for water/grass from upon the hills, but there is none
     Jeremiah prays/pleads for mercy, though Israel has sinned.  “O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble . . .”, don’t just be a visitor or a sojourner that only stays for a night!  We are called by Your name, don’t leave us!   The Lord answers that the people have loved to stray from Him, and He will recompense them for their sins.  He tells Jeremiah once again not to pray for them.  He will not listen to their cries, nor take notice of their fasts and offerings.  They’ll be devastated by war, famine, and disease.
     Jeremiah replies that the prophets are promising the people peace and no famine.  The Lord disavows those prophets who speak lies in His name.   He denies that He has sent them; they are deceivers.  The Lord says that those who say there will be no war and famine will be consumed by war and famine.   Those that listen to them (eg rulers/leaders) will be tossed (dead) into the streets, and no one will bury them, not even their families.  The Lord enjoins Jeremiah to tell them, “Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach [as in the wall of a city breached/broken through in a siege], with a very grievous blow.”  If he goes into the country, he sees those killed in fighting, if he comes back into the city he sees people dying of famine.  The prophets and priests are to be carried away to a foreign land.  [A nation weakened by drought/famine would be easy prey for a marauding army, if they have their own supply line secure.]
     Jeremiah again pleads with the Lord:  Have You utterly rejected Judah?  Do you loathe Zion/Jerusalem?  Why have You hit us so hard that we can’t be healed?  We looked/hoped for peace, and there’s nothing good in sight.  We looked for healing and see only trouble.  “We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.  Do not abhor [hate] us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.”  Jeremiah is pleading with the Lord that for His own reputation He shouldn’t abandon His people.  Jeremiah continues, None of the foolish/false gods of the Gentiles can cause rain [remember the showdown between Elijah and wicked queen Jezebel’s priests].  Even nature is subject to the will of God in giving rain.  Jeremiah affirms “therefore we will wait upon thee . . .” for God is the Creator of all.  Jeremiah's we doesn't mean everyone.

Jer 15—the Lord to Jeremiah respecting the evils of King Manasseh and Jeremiah’s own cause
     The Lord says, Even if Moses or Samuel (the epitome of righteous leaders who had pull with God) pled for the nation, His mind wouldn’t change for the sake of the people.  If the people ask, Where shall we go?  Tell them those slated for death to death; those for the sword (death in battle) to the sword, those for famine to famine, those for captivity to captivity.  People will come to 4 ends:  death in battle (by the sword), or predators/scavengers—dogs, birds, or beasts (either from war or famine).  And they will be scattered to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of what king Manasseh did.  Jeremiah’s calling came during the reign of good King Josiah, who was after wicked King Manasseh.  But after Josiah the people returned to the wickedness of King Manasseh, led by their pastors/rulers.
     Who will have pity on Jerusalem, or bemoan her, or ask after her welfare?  The nation has forsaken the Lord, and He is weary of their pretenses to repentance.  God will destroy them and take away their posterity because they haven’t really changed their ways.  He will fan them in the gates of the land, perhaps a reference to the fan of a metallurgist getting the fire superheated to melting temperatures.  There will be more widows than the sand of the sea, and even women with as many as 7 sons will lose them all to the sword (warfare).  
     Jeremiah speaks of his anguish in being born as a controversial person.  Though he has neither lent nor borrowed, it seems like everyone curses him.  (Perhaps one reason God forbad Israelites to lend with interest to their fellow Israelites was because of the bad feelings that tend to ensue between borrowers and lenders—each cursing the other as being dishonest/robbers).  But the Lord promises good things for Jeremiah’s posterity, and that even his enemies will come to him in time of affliction.  
    Then the Lord returns to bad news for the nation of Judah, that it will be conquered, and its riches be despoiled, because of sin.  The people will be taken captive to a land they haven’t heard of.  He returns to the analogy of fire, as a symbol of His anger.
     Jeremiah pleads again for himself.  In that the Lord knows him, would He remember him, avenge him of his persecutors?  He pleads for the Lord’s longsuffering/mercy, that he be not carried away captive, because he has suffered reproaches for God’s sake.  Jeremiah internalized God’s word, “and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”  Jeremiah reminds the Lord that he did not join those who mocked Him or His ways/commandments, and was alone because of it.  He was indignant with those mockers.  He cries out, Why must I be wounded and in perpetual pain, without healing?  God, wilt Thou be a liar and like a dried up spring?
     The Lord responds, If you’ll come back to me, I will bring you back again [perhaps out of their clutches] to stand before me.  If you separate the good from the bad, you will be able to speak for me.  They can come to you, but don’t you go to them [perhaps God is speaking of the king’s court].  I will make you like a brass fence/wall, and though they fight against you, they will not prevail, “for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord…I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
     Possibly Jeremiah, in his efforts to persuade the powerful of his day, got caught up in their life.  Perhaps God was telling him to bring those who would listen into his circle, and not to return to those who would not listen.  They might come to him, but he was not to return to their company.  Eventually, when the end did come, Jeremiah was indeed saved from captivity, because he was known for his opposition to those in positions of power in the nation of Judah (Jer 39:11-18).

Jer 16—the Lord tells Jeremiah not to have a family in the wicked land, that is to be destroyed
     The Lord tells Jeremiah not to marry and have a family where he was, for they would die terrible deaths, unlamented and unburied.  They would be like excrement, killed by sword and famine, their bodies food for birds and beasts (scavengers).  The Lord tells Jeremiah not to mourn for the dead:  “for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercies.”  The Lord lists the cultural ways of mourning at the time, indicating there would be none left to do so.  The Lord tells Jeremiah not to go to feasts, including weddings, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth [merriment], and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”
     The Lord lets Jeremiah know ahead of time what people will say when he passes on what He tells him:  Why is the Lord pronouncing all this terrible stuff on us?  What have we done that’s so bad?  Jeremiah is to say, Because your forebearers have forsaken me for other gods, and not kept my law, and you have done worse than them.  Therefore, I [God] will throw you out of this land [the Land of Promise], to a land neither you nor your ancestors knew, and there you will have to serve their gods, and I won’t do you any favors.  
     One day, instead of saying, The God who brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt still lives, they’ll say “The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” 
     The Lord sees all the people’s wicked ways, and He promises to requite them double for their sins, because they have defiled the Promised Land, and filled it with “the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.”  No doubt the evidence of idol worship, including child sacrifice.
     Jeremiah replies, “O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction,” the Gentiles from the ends of the earth will say it’s because they inherited lies and foolishness [a false faith/religion].  But God counters rhetorically, Should a person make his own false gods?  They will know my power and what I do, and that I am [the True God].

Jer 17—Jeremiah’s teaching and prayer, particularly a re-emphasis on the Sabbath
     This chapter continues regarding the sins of the kingdom of Judah, and its consequences, as well as Jeremiah’s prayer for God’s help and grace, and God’s call for Jeremiah to stand at the gates of the city and reteach them about keeping the Sabbath holy.  But here are some other gems/highlights:

5 ¶ Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.  [deep roots provide water to the tree even through drought]
10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  [The Lord tests our mettle, not that He needs to know what we are made of, but that we need to know.]
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.  [presumably a partridge caught for food]
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Jer 18—God is like a potter, totally in charge, but He will change His intentions according to behavior
     The Lord sends Jeremiah to a potter’s shop, and likens Himself to the potter, in that He has total power over the pot.  And yet, even after He has pronounced bad things for a wicked nation, if they repent, He will change how He treats them.  Likewise, if He has promised good things to a nation, but that nation go bad, He will refuse to bless them.
     The Lord appeals to Judah & Jerusalem (and to every person) to return from their wicked ways.  They say, Our lot is hopeless, so we’re going to rely on our own devices.  Rhetorically the Lord asks whether it would make sense for a person to forsake a fresh spring in the mountain, implying that God’s people have forsaken the living waters that spring from Him.   Because they have turned from Him, causing people to whistle and shake their heads at His inheritance, the Lord will blow them away.  [As in previous instances, the Lord intends to wipe out the old inhabitants and start rebuilding afresh.  Examples:  the Flood, Abraham, Sodom & Gomorrah, the Canaanites, the Children of Israel wandering for 40 years in the desert until all the older generation had passed away . . . ] 
     Jeremiah recounts the opposition he has been facing, then prays to the Lord to witness what his enemies say and to remember that he prayed for them, that the Lord would turn away His anger from them [compare Matt 5:11 & 44].  Now he prays that as God has foretold, His will be done, in recompense for the way they have treated His prophet [not merely as a man, but as the mouthpiece of God].

Jer 19—with a pot as a teaching device/visual aid, Jeremiah is sent to prophesy destruction
     Jeremiah is to get a pot from the potter, take it and the elders of the people and priests, and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom.  There he is to prophesy desolation because of “the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal … Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.”   The famine in the siege to come will be so bad that people will eat their own children and friends.  Then to punctuate the point, Jeremiah is to break the earthenware bottle in front of his audience.  Refer back to Jeremiah 7.

Jeremiah–part 1, chapters 1-10

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld’s (1794-1872) depiction of the call of Jeremiah. Jeremiah sees an almond branch and a boiling pot during his commissioning. On the right, two women worship an idol. Public Domain.

The book of Jeremiah has 52 chapters, and his book of Lamentations has 5–thus, it will take me a few posts to cover his writings. Part 1 covers Jeremiah 1-10. For background on Jeremiah, see

https://www.biblestudytools.com/jeremiah/ 
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet
https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-major-prophets/jeremiah
https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/prophets/prophets-of-the-bible/jeremiah-the-prophet/ 

Jer 1 Jeremiah called in the 13th year of Josiah, serves through Zedekiah & the Babylonian captivity
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

     I think there’s a strong indication that Jeremiah’s father was a counselor to young King Josiah, the priest spoken of in 2 Kings 22, and a part of the reformation of the kingdom of Judah.  Jeremiah seems to have had a position/access to the king’s court.  It’s possible that the priest Hilkiah “who was over the household” and “the chief priest” was the (or one of the) influence(s) that made an impact on young Josiah to turn him to God.   Remember that the priests/Levites were sent to live among each of the tribes in order to be teachers and civil leaders among them long ago under Moses.  King Josiah may have sent his right hand man, the priest Hilkiah, as an overseer in the land of Benjamin.  Or, Hilkiah’s ancestors may have been assigned to the land of Benjamin, and his talents may have brought him to the notice of the court so that he might have been called into service there.   See various references at
https://biblehub.com/topical/h/hilkiah.htm 
     Jeremiah served as prophet to the Kingdom of Judah for about 40 years, from the good years of King Josiah, through the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews.  He lived beyond that, and continued to counsel those that were left, but they didn’t listen to him either—though he did have some good and loyal friends.  It’s no wonder that he wrote Lamentations, after having seen the great reforms of King Josiah, and then the utter wickedness and destruction that followed.  

4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 ¶ But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

     The verses above make clear that God had a plan for Jeremiah even before he was born.  Jeremiah, as Moses and others before, was overwhelmed with the role God was calling him to play.  When he says he is but a child, I don’t think that meant that he was literally a boy like Samuel, though he might have been in his late teens or early 20s (considering he was prophet to the nation/kings for 40 years).  What he is expressing is that he doesn’t feel adequate (like Moses at his call) in his speaking abilities.  But God reassures him, as He did Moses and Joshua, that He would give him the words to say, and back him up in his assignment.  As we will see, that doesn’t mean Jeremiah didn’t have hard things to go through and to suffer, but God would deliver him in the end.  Jeremiah would not only pull down the corrupt, he would also build or plant the basis of a better kingdom or kingdoms (consider what his words have meant for God’s true followers since his time, and even now).
     In vision God shows Jeremiah an almond branch, probably opening its blossoms, as God says that it represents the quickening of His work.  Then God shows him a boiling pot facing the north.  God says that it represents bad things to come from the north (probably the pot was boiling over, representing the spread of the ills of conquest over all the Middle Eastern lands).  The ruling/military families will come against Jerusalem and all the cities of the kingdom of Judah—and this because of their wickedness and idolatry.  God sends Jeremiah out with the warning that if he shows fear, he’ll lose his gift of speaking effectively.  God reaffirms His backing with the word picture of protecting Jeremiah like an impenetrable city of defense.  He forewarns Jeremiah that he’ll face opposition, but reiterates that He will be with him and deliver him.

Jer 2—Israel has turned from the all powerful God to sticks and stones
     God sends Jeremiah out with a message to Jerusalem.  He reminds them of their sojourn in the wilderness during the Exodus.  It’s a little different picture of Israel than the Torah (5 books of Moses) paints, but I suppose God is referring to the 2nd generation, who had learned to live the Law of Moses (the Law of God).  But then God accuses the ancestors of Jeremiah’s contemporaries of turning their backs on Him (as if they had found some fault in Him).  God pleads with them, and their descendants.  He says that no other nation has switched gods (who aren’t true gods), and yet the Israelites have.  It’s astonishing!  Poetically, verbally visually, He says, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”  (note Jesus’ declaration about Living Waters:  John 4:4-26, John 7:37-39)
     Rhetorically God asks if Israel is a servant (instead of a son).  That is, why should he be mistreated? (speaking of the difference between the way servants were treated, vs sons)  But the nation of Israel has brought this on themselves.    “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.”
     God reminds them that He has saved them before, and they have promised not to misbehave (for example the covenants under Hezekiah and Josiah).  But here they are again dirtying themselves, and the strongest cleaners can’t wash them clean.  Like camels or donkeys they take off to do as they like.  Only when they are experiencing their cycle can they be found.  They’ve had a taste of infidelity, and they choose their lovers instead of God.
     You call rocks and sticks your gods, every city has their own, yet they can’t save you in time of trouble.  Why do you come to Me, when you have sinned against Me?  You won’t learn from my corrections.  You kill the prophets like lions kill those in their paths.  You proudly claim to be powerful in and of yourselves, and see no reason to come unto Me.  Rhetorically God asks, does a young girl or a bride forget her jewelry or pretty clothes?  Yet you have forgotten Me for “days without number.”  Your sins are obvious as the blood of the innocent on your clothes.  You claim to be innocent, (but I know better).  You’ll be ashamed of trying to make Egypt an ally, just as you were shamed in making Assyria an ally (remember when the Israelites invited Assyria into partisanship when Israel & Judah were adversaries, and a few year later when Assyria became a super power they came to rue the day).  Your confidence in your policies will not turn out well . . . you’ll be arrested (that is, stopped) and walk forth with your hands on your head.

Jer 3—Israel has played the harlot
     In the days of Josiah the king was this condemnation made by God through Jeremiah, early in his calling.  Perhaps Jeremiah was an influence for good in the life of Josiah.  Jeremiah began to prophesy in the 13th year of Josiah.  2 Chron 34:3 says in the 12th year of his reign he began to purge the land of idolatry.  If Jeremiah was not the impetus of the purging, he was surely a supporter of it.
     Jeremiah paints a clear picture of the adulterous idolatry of Israel in the form of a parable that they would understand.  A divorced wife who had remarried (or, worse yet, not remarried, but involved herself with other man/men) would not be taken back by her 1st husband.  That would pollute the man’s inheritance (or the nation’s lands).  And yet, though Israel had played the harlot with many false gods, God invites, even pleads, that Israel return to Him and He will welcome the one who had strayed.  Look at all the high places (places of idolatrous worship) and consider what false gods with whom Israel hasn’t been untrue!  Like a harlot sitting by the road in the Arabian wilderness (where travelers far from home would be tempted), Israel has polluted the land (earned the land a bad rep, for instance).  For this reason the rains have been kept back.  And yet, Israel has refused to be ashamed of infidelity.  (Remember the story of Elijah, for example, how even after his powerful  demonstration of the true God over the false—the miraculous lighting of the altar and the bringing of rain after a 3 year drought—yet Elijah mourned in a cave that there was no one that was true to God).  
     Next the Lord refers to the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah as sisters.  For all Israel’s adulteries God divorced Himself from her (“put her away”:  the Assyrian captivity).  And yet, her sister kingdom, Judah followed her example.  “And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly [pretending], saith the Lord.”  King Hezekiah, at the time of the Assyrian captivity, brought those that were left of Israel as well as his kingdom of Judah, to covenant with God, recommit themselves to Him.  But Hezekiah’s son & heir Manasseh led the people into worse idolatry than ever.
     Jeremiah is sent north to plead with the remnants of Israel to return to God and find His promise of mercy.  “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”  God promises to bless and prosper Israel.  They will no longer look back to their history (being led by the ark of the covenant, as in the Exodus), but to Jerusalem for their leadership.  The kingdoms of Israel and of Judah will be reunited, and the captives of Assyria will return to join them.  Even Jeremiah is led to ask how this could all happen, but is answered that they will call God their father and not turn away from Him (with God all things are possible).

Jer 4—if the Jews would just turn to God, He would save them from the coming conquest from the North; a hint that God is preparing to create something out of the dust
     God promises that if His people will just return to Him, destroy all the idolatrous worship, and swear their allegiance to Him, He will protect them from conquest & captivity.  He uses the metaphor of farming:  prepare the ground that has been left fallow, rather than plant amongst the weedy brambles.  He uses the metaphor of circumcision to represent making their hearts tender/feeling toward God, lest they suffer God’s fury like a fire that can’t be quenched (because of their wicked behavior).  God instructs His people to blow a trumpet in the land to gather the people into defensed cities, under the banner of Zion/Jerusalem/the kingdom of Judah.  Like a lion, conquest is coming from the north, who will lay waste everything.  God will allow such predations because He is angry with the wickedness of His people.
     Jeremiah complains to God that surely He has deceived His people, promising peace, when like a powerful whirlwind destruction is coming.  God pleads that Jerusalem wash herself from wickedness and rebellions against Him.  It is her own doings that have brought all this on.  Jeremiah voices his deep distress at the destruction and warfare to come.  “For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish [foolish] children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
     Interestingly, Jeremiah refers back to the state of the earth before Creation, “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.”  (a premonition of the creation of a new state of Israel/Judah).  God details the utter destruction of the land through warfare.  He says, No matter what you do to make yourself look attractive to potential “lovers” (allies), they will all despise you.  Then Jeremiah uses the metaphor of the pains of a woman giving birth.  Such causes one to ponder what is to be created, born, of this clearing away of the debris & deadness of the land—witness the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and the development of the Jewish state from there.

Jer 5—Israel’s pretensions:  they have eyes & ears but don’t see or hear who God really is
     A challenge:  search high and low for someone that looks for the Truth and brings Justice.  If any can be found, God will pardon the people.  Their words say they believe, but their behavior belies their words.  While God has offered correction, they have been incorrigible.  Jeremiah believes that the people have been foolish because they have not been taught.  He determines to go to the great men (rulers or elites) of the day, because they are educated.  But he finds that they have broken away from the restrictions of the Law.  Because of this, like a zoo of predators will destruction come upon the land.
     How can they be pardoned?  Their children swear by false gods.  When God had prospered them, they were faithless to Him and assembled in crowds at the licentious places of idol worship.  Like well-fed horses they have “neighed” after their neighbor’s wives.
     Destruction is coming (yet not in total) for Israel’s treachery with God.  They assure themselves that nothing bad will happen, so their prophets are just windbags.  Jeremiah’s words, on the contrary, will be like fire devouring wood.  An ancient nation speaking an unknown language will come, and like an open grave their arrows will devour the lives of Israelites.  They will eat up the food of the land, and leave the cities impoverished.  
     When people ask, Why is God doing this to us?  Jeremiah is to answer, “Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”  They have eyes to see, ears to hear, but neither see nor hear.  “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter [2 rainy seasons, that water the crops], in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest . . . your sins have withholden good things from you.”
     Wicked men lay in wait, setting traps and snares to enrich themselves at the expense of others.  Like a cageful of birds, their holdings (business dealings) are full of deceit.  In their own prosperity they don’t bring justice to the needy poor and the fatherless.  The prophets lie, the priests rule through their riches.  And the people like things the way they are.  What will you do when the consequences follow?  What a message for today!

Jer 6—the people will suffer the consequences of their hypocrisy & wickedness
     “O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.”  See Jeremiah 1:1, and the following explanations of the place mentioned here:
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/6-1.htm 
https://www.bibleplaces.com/tekoa/
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/nehemiah/3-5.htm men of Tekoah
https://bibleatlas.org/beth-haccherem.htm map; Beth-hakkerem south of Jerusalem, Tekoa further south
     Commentaries offer a better understanding of verses 2-3:  “woman” is an insertion not in the Hebrew, and “comely” is often a reference to a pleasant pasture.  That lovely pasture is going to be devoured by armies from the north.  In verse 6 trees are hewn down, probably for siege engines.  It’s a warning (v. 8), because Jerusalem has spouted/gushed wickedness (violence and plundering, no doubt to get gain, like gangster families) like a fountain or a geyser.  As in a grape harvest, where the vines are gleaned clean, and the grapes gathered into baskets, Zion will be left fruitless.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/6-2.htm
     Jeremiah asks, Who can I speak to and warn?  Their ears are insensitive and they don’t listen.  They don’t want to hear the Lord’s reproaches.  Jeremiah feels angry at them.  He’s tired of trying to be tactful & politically correct.  He’s going to just lay it all out:  not just soldiers, but husbands and wives, old people, everyone will be pillaged.  Because everyone, rich or poor, powerful or powerless, is greedy of others’ goods, and even prophets and priests are dishonest/liars.  They try to soothe people’s fears by saying there will be peace, but there will be no peace.  They are shameless.  
     The Lord tells Jeremiah to remind the people of the old paths, the good way (the Law of Moses) in which they would find peace (compare Matt 11:28-30), but people are not interested in walking in those ways.  The Lord set watchmen over the people to warn them of trouble, but they refused to listen.
References to watchmen:  Isa 52, 56, 62; Ezek 33; Jer 31 & 51; 2 Kings 18:8 the watchmen on the tower were to warn their citizens of danger approaching; 1 Sam 16 Saul’s scouts(?) see the bold success of his son Jonathan & armor bearer, and the Israelite army is emboldened to fight for their nation & win).
     So the Lord says He will bring the fruit (consequences) of their own thoughts upon them.  He says, What’s the point of your fancy, expensive incense from Sheba (used in worship of those days)?  All your offerings are worthless to Me [because of their hypocrisy].  Fathers, sons, neighbors, friends will all perish by the hands of conquerors from the north [Mesopotamia].  “They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea [because there are so many of them come shouting in battle]; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.”  We’ve heard of their reputation, which strikes trembling fear, anguish, pains like a woman giving birth.  Nobody dares go out to the fields or the roads.  “O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.”
     The Lord tells Jeremiah that he is set as a tower (like a watchtower, to give warning), and a fortress (a defense against destruction).  Jeremiah is to know what they are like, and test them to see what they are truly made of.  But God knows they are grievous rebels, companions of slanderers, hard as brass/iron, corrupters.  Jeremiah, like a foundry worker tries to purify metal, yet the impurities/the wicked continue.  The Lord will toss them out as silver that can’t be purified.

Jer 7—what God told Jeremiah to tell the people as they entered the Temple gate
     The Lord tells Jeremiah to stand at the gate of the Temple and proclaim His word:  Amend your ways and [God] will cause you to be able to continue living here.  Don’t trust in lying promises that the Lord will not destroy this place because of His temple.  Execute Justice in the court system.  Don’t oppress foreigners, the fatherless, and the widow [those without protectors or recourse].  Don’t shed innocent blood.  Don’t follow/worship other gods.  Then [God] promises this land to you forever, as He did your ancestors.
     But you trust in lies that can’t profit you.  Do you think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, commit perjury and the like, burn incense to Baal and other gods you don’t know, and then come and stand here in the Temple thinking you can get away with all that?  “Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?” (No doubt Jesus was referencing this when He said, “ye have made it a den of thieves.”  Matt 21:13)  Just go check on Shiloh, where God’s tabernacle was at first, and see what He did to it because of the wickedness of the northern kingdom of Israel.   Because you have likewise polluted this Temple, while “I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not . . . ,” God will do the same here, where you trust you are safe because of the promises He made to your forebearers.  
     The Lord tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people, nor try to intercede for them.  He refuses to hear.  He asks Jeremiah, Do you see what they do in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah?  The kids gather wood, the fathers build a fire, and the women make bread/cakes for the “queen of heaven” (a false god), and they pour out drink offerings to other gods.  Are they provoking Me, or causing confusion to their own faces?
     The Lord says that when He brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt He didn’t ask for burnt offerings [at first], “But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”  (Remember what Samuel said to Saul, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Sam 15:22.  The burnt offerings were to keep reminding the people of God and their covenant with Him, they were not the ends, but the means.  They didn’t listen, but walked in their own imaginations and ideas.  They went backward instead of forward (instead of progressing to a higher law, they were given the Law of Moses, a schoolmaster, to bring them to God.  See Gal 3:24 etc).  “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.”
     The Lord tells Jeremiah to tell the people all these things (at the Temple gate, as they enter to “worship”), but He says they will not listen.  Jeremiah can call to them, but they won’t answer him.  The Lord says, “But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.”  Jeremiah writes of mourning and lamenting ritual of cutting off one’s hair, because the people of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah have done such evil, even polluting the Temple, and sacrificing their children in Tophet, in the valley of the son of Hinnom.  One day that place will be called the valley of slaughter.  They will run out of place to bury people, and the corpses will be eaten by beasts and birds.  There will no longer be happy songs and glad voices of brides and grooms in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah:  the land will be desolate.

Jer 8—things will get so bad that people would rather die than live
     Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord, predicts that the bones of the kings, princes, priests, prophets (all of Judah), and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves and spread before the altars of the sun, moon, and other gods the people have served/worshipped to show the bones disrespect.  “And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.”  Presumably the conquerors are the “they” that would do the disrespecting, and the inhabitants of Judah & Jerusalem are ”they” that will wish they were dead.
     And will the people then return to God and acknowledge their wrongs, asking/exclaiming to  themselves, “What have I done?”  No, they continue in their deceipt and refuse to come back to God.  Though the creatures of the earth instinctively know their seasons, God’s people don’t recognize His judgments.  How can they say they are wise and keep the Law of the Lord, and yet they are ashamed of Him, His words, and His ways.  
     Therefore, their wives and lands will be given to others (conquerors).  Everyone from the least to the most powerful is covetous, the prophets and priests are dishonest.  They try to soothe people by claiming “Peace…when there is no peace.”  Are they ashamed of their abominations [such as sacrificing their children to false gods]?  No.  For that, their grape & fig harvests will be consumed [by the conquerors, or by Nature].  Why do we just sit here?  We ought to get into (hide in) the walled cities and sit in silence for God has given us over to the consequences of our sins.  We hoped for peace, and for health, but nothing came but troubles.  We heard only the sounds of war horses as they advanced from the north, and the land is devoured by the conquerors.  Like snakes and cockatrices [mythical or uncertain creatures], they won’t be charmed, but bite you.  (“charmed, or charming” now has such a mild meaning, like a charming personality.  But think in terms of snake charmers who don’t succeed, and get bit by a poisonous snake!)
     Verses 18 to the end seem to be the lament of Jeremiah for his people, and their conquest by armies from a far away land.  Where is God?  They have provoked Him to anger with their idolatry (so He wants nothing to do with them).  “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved . . . Is there no balm [medicine] in Gilead [a proverbial place of healing]; is there no physician there?  Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?”

Jer 9—Jeremiah, and the Lord, lament for the wickedness of the people
     “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”  Jeremiah wishes he had a lodge to stay, away from his iniquitous people, whose lying tongues are like bows (shooting deadly arrows), and they go from one evil to the next.  Even brothers and neighbors can’t be trusted.  They are all deceptive, speaking peacefully with their tongues, but in their hearts are setting traps for their neighbors.   
     God claims vengeance on the people for their iniquities.  But God’s vengeance is not the same as human vengeance.  God requires Justice (even while He sorrows for the people), while humans just want to delight in making people suffer.  God weeps for the destruction of the land.  “Who is the wise man, that may understand this?”  The destruction of the land is a consequence of the people forsaking God’s laws.  Not only the land will be destroyed, the people will be scattered among unbelieving nations.  The women are invited to mourn for the land and the people.  Not only Judah, but Egypt, Edom, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all that dwell in the region will be conquered for their iniquities.

23 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
     
Jer 10—worshipping idols made by men is ludicrous; God is the true & living God, all powerful, Creator
     “Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel . . .”  Don’t fall for horoscopes, nor images made of wood & covered with silver or gold.  They can’t speak or move on their own, nor can they do either good or evil.  They are just foolish and vain.  Compare contemporary veneration of crystals and the like.
     In contrast, the Lord has true power.  He is the true God, everlasting and living.  He created the heavens and earth, and He can destroy all.  He has not only the power, but the intelligence/wisdom as the Creator, who formed all.
     Yet the Lord laments, and is grieved for the destruction of His people.  Reference is made to the tabernacle of Exodus.  Jeremiah humbly pleads for God’s correction for himself, but not to be destroyed.  He pleads that those who have destroyed God’s people, and who have not believed in Him, be the objects of His anger.

Josiah, his antecedents and heirs, and the prophet Zephaniah

King Josiah alarmed as he hears the Torah found in the Temple when he had it restored

     Hezekiah's son and heir Manasseh undid all his reforms, and his grandson continued in that.  The nation of Judah seemed hopelessly lost in utter wickedness.  Then Josiah is made king at only 8 years of age.  He turns his heart to God, purges the kingdom of idolatry, renovates the Temple.  The Torah is found therein, and when it is read to him, he is so affected by it that he becomes even more determined to right all the wrongs his predecessors have committed.  There was never a king like him!  And then his heirs bring ruin, and the kingdom is destroyed and taken captive by Babylon.

Manasseh--heir of Hezekiah,  2 Kings 21:1-18, 2 Chron 33:1-20
“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.”
     It seems amazing that after all the good that his father Hezekiah did, Manasseh could go so wrong!  Was he rebelling like a Bishop’s son?  Was he influenced by bad friends?  Was he an admirer of the wealth & power of Assyrian kings who reigned in Nineveh, or was he turned by the bribery of Assyrian spies or infiltrators as indicated in Nahum 3?  He was only 12, so no doubt he was led by counselors.  Did they turn him bad, or did he go bad when he came of age?
     Manasseh’s crimes:
1.	Abominations of the heathens/Amorites whom the Lord cast out before Israel
2.	Built up the high places for idolatrous worship his father had destroyed
3.	Reared up altars and a grove for Baal (plural Baalim), like Ahab, king of Israel, who had married Jezebel--such an adversary to Elijah the Prophet
4.	Worshipped all the host of heaven (all kinds of false gods), and served them
5.	Built altars for all the host of heaven in the Lord’s Temple
6.	Made his son/children pass through the fire (burnt him in sacrifice to a false god)
7.	Used sorcery
8.	Directly rebelled against the instructions of the Lord to Kings David & Solomon, and Moses
9.	Led his people astray (“seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.” And/or coerced them through his power.)  It’s one thing to do evil, far worse to seduce/persuade/coerce others to do evil.
10.	Filled Jerusalem “from one end to another” with the shedding of innocent blood (probably sacrificing children to idols, but could just as well be killing like the mafia for profit, or both).
     The Lord sends prophets to warn about the consequences of Manasseh’s evils.  Yet He allows Manasseh a good long reign, so no doubt people failed to take the Lord seriously.  The Lord warns that Jerusalem (capital of the kingdom of Judah) will suffer the fate of Samaria (capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, that had been conquered & carried away captive by the Assyrians).  They’ll be wiped out like a dirty dish is wiped clean and turned upside down to dry.  All the accumulated rebellions since the Exodus from Egypt will come to a reckoning.  
     2 Chron 33:11-19 says that the Assyrians came and took Manasseh in chains back to Babylon (under Assyrian rule at the time, it seems).  Through his afflictions Manasseh humbles himself, repents, and prays for forgiveness.  The Lord has mercy on him and Manasseh is reinstated on his throne in Jerusalem.  He recognizes the hand of the Lord, rebuilds Jerusalem’s walls and reinforces all the walled cities of Judah with soldiers.  He tries to rectify his atrocities by cleaning the idols out of the Temple, repairing the altar, and renewing the worship of God there.  He commands his people to serve the Lord God of Israel.  The people still sacrificed in the high places (hills outside Jerusalem), but at least it was in worship of the Lord only.  

Amon—inherits the kingdom of Judah from his father Manasseh, 2 Kings 21:19-26, 2 Chron 33:20-25
“Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.”
     Amon follows in his father’s wicked footsteps.  But his servants conspire and kill him in his own house.  The people of the land kill the conspirators and make Amon’s son Josiah king.

Josiah--2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chron 34-36 
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

Josiah
Age 8—becomes king
    +18 yrs—(Josiah age 26; 2 Chron 34 says he was only 16 when he turned to the Lord, and 20 when he 
began to purge Judah & Jerusalem from idolatry, 26 when he had the Temple repaired with 
monies gathered by the Levites from the remnant of Israel after the Assyrian captivity) Josiah 
sends his scribe to Hilkiah the High Priest to give the silver people have offered at the Temple 
door to those in charge to have the Temple repaired (no reckoning/oversight was made because 
they were honest)
--Hilkiah finds the Torah in the Temple and sends it to King Josiah; when Josiah hears his scribe 
     	read the book, he rends/tears his clothes in anguish:
	“Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words 
of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because 
our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which 
is written concerning us.”
--Hilkiah & a set of envoys go to Huldah the prophetess (wife of the grandson of a court 
attendant, who lives in the court complex at Jerusalem).  She affirms the prophecies of ill for 
Jerusalem for the sins of the people, but because King Josiah is humble and tender-hearted he 
will die in peace before the destruction prophesied.
--King Josiah gathers all the elders of the people, then brings them, the priests & prophets, and 
the people (small and great) to the Temple and reads the words of the Torah/Covenant to them.  
First he covenants to live the Law of God, then the people in turn covenant likewise.
--King Josiah cleans out all the false gods & vessels of their worship from the Temple and has 
them burned at Kidron, the ashes taken to Bethel.  He puts down all the priests of false worship.  
He breaks down the houses of the sodomites next to the Temple (a hint of the kind of idol 
worship that had gone on).  He defiles all the places of idol worship throughout Judah, including 
where people had sacrificed their children in the fire to Molech.  He clears away the horses & 
chariots offered to the sun god, and stamps to dust the idolatrous altars King Ahaz & Manasseh 
had made in the Temple.  He defiles with bones the high places King Solomon had built to 
Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, for his foreign wives.  Likewise he destroys the places of false 
worship King Jeroboam had long ago created when he separated the northern tribes of Israel 
from the kingdom of Judah, and all the houses of false worship in Samaria and their priests.  He 
purges the idols from the cities of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, & Naphtali as well.
--King Josiah calls a great Passover celebration, the greatest since the days of the Judges
--King Josiah puts away all the sorcerers and their like
--"And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and 
with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose 
there any like him.”
Age 39—King Josiah is killed in battle at Megiddo when the Egyptian Pharoah goes against Assyria, even 
to the river Euphrates (more details 2 Chron 35:20-27, including Jeremiah’s lament for him)  Perhaps he should not have involved his people in a fight that would embroil them in the conflict of the contemporary superpowers, Egypt & Assyria.  Let them fight their own battles.

The Book of Zephaniah
     “The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.”
     The book of Zephaniah is only 3 chapters long.  It is full of dire warnings of the destruction of Judah & Jerusalem, and their neighbors of the Near East. Maybe his prophecies had some effect on Josiah’s reforms.  In chapter 3 hope is held out, Zeph 3:9-20
     
13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
14 ¶ Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
15 The Lord hath taken away thy judgments [the calamities brought on by thier wickedness], he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

Josiah’s heirs--2 Kings 23:30-24:16, 2 Chron 36:1-10
     Josiah’s 23 year old wicked son Jehoahaz is anointed by the people as his successor.  He only reigns 3 months when Pharaoh-hechoh  imprisons him in Egypt (where he eventually dies), installs his likewise wicked 25 year old brother Eliakim (whom he renames Jehoiakim) as a puppet king, and forces Judah to pay a heavy tribute.  Jehoiakim reigns 11 years.  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, carries him and the treasures of Temple, “all” of Jerusalem (the princes, military, craftsmen:  10,000 people) to Babylon, leaving only the poorest people in the land.  Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin, only 8 years old, then evilly reigns for 3 months (no doubt with wicked influencers), before he is also carried away captive into Babylon with more treasures from the Temple.  King Nebuchadnezzar makes his brother Mattaniah (renamed Zedekiah), age 21, king in his place.

Isaiah–part 2, chapters 11-35

Though this lovely image is the popular remembrance of Isaiah’s prophecy of a Messianic Age, it’s not quite accurate to the text. Still, I think it portrays well enough the message of peace prophesied to come. https://static.wixstatic.com/media/515f93_24c3a265927b4a91b8b2f1397540dcb3~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720%2Ch_357%2Cal_c%2Cq_80/file.jpg

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

Jonás predicando al pueblo de Nínive by the Spanish artist Andrea Vaccaro  (1604–1670), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

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.

Hezekiah–king of Judah

Hezekiah spreads the Assyrian letter before the Lord, illustration from The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The story of Hezekiah is told in
2 Kings 18-20
2 Chron 29-32
Isa 36-39

Hosea 1:1 served God as prophet during the reigns of Uzziah/Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah
Isaiah 1:1 served God as prophet during the reigns of Uzziah/Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah
Micah 1:1 served God as prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah

2 Kings 18—Hezekiah becomes king of Judah
1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. [That is, he was faithful to God, didn’t fall for or bow to other gods.]
4 ¶ He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.  [1 Chron 31:1 says the people cut down the groves etc; it may be that they did so under the direction of Hezekiah, for surely he didn’t personally do it all.]
5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
6 For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.
7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

2 Chron 29—right away Hezekiah begins to turn his people back to God
     Hezekiah began in the 1st year of his reign to repair the Temple and to reinstitute Temple worship, the consecration & duties of the Temple priests and Levites, and to get his people back on track following the Law of Moses. He organized the priesthood as set up by King David (see 2 Chron 31).  Remember that the Assyrian Empire is threatening to conquer the entire Middle East.  Hezekiah’s own father, as well as the Israelite king, had invited Assyria’s meddling in their disputes.

2 Chron 29:11 Hezekiah to the priests & Levites 
“My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him . . .”

2 Kings 18:9-12—Shalmaneser king of Assyria conquers & takes Israel captive
     In the 4th year of Hezekiah’s reign, the 7th year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria comes and besieges Samaria, and after 3 years conquers it.  He carries the 10 Tribes of Israel from the northern kingdom of Israel away captive.  

2 Chron 30--Hezekiah sends out an invitation to all the Israelites that are left to come celebrate Passover in Jerusalem
6 So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

     Many of the Israelites just laugh at Hezekiah, but then many others come from among Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun.  “Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.  And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.  And they arose and took away the altars [to other gods] that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense [for other gods] took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.”
     Many of the Israelites were not ritually clean for the Passover, “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one [that] prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord [a God of Mercy] hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.  And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord.”  Hezekiah praises the Levites for teaching “the good knowledge of the Lord.”
     This Passover celebration comes at no small cost to king Hezekiah and his princes:  Hezekiah donates 1000 bulls & 7000 sheep, and his princes donate 1000 bulls & 10,000 sheep.  It’s such a great event that the people keep the feast for another 7 days “with gladness.” “So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.”  The priests pronounce a blessing on the people, “and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.”

2 Chron 31—the people are turned to God, Hezekiah is blessed
     The people are so inspired by this amazing Passover, and probably with the encouragement of Hezekiah, that “all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.”  The people abundantly support the priests with their offerings, as set forth in the Law of Moses.  The priestly genealogies are updated and they sanctify themselves.  

20 ¶ And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God.
21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

2 Kings 18, 2 Chron 32, Isaiah 36—Sennacherib King of Assyria attacks Judah, even to the walls of Jerusalem

2 Kings 18—14th year of Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria conquers much of Judah (Isa 36:1)
13 ¶ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

2 Chron 32—Hezekiah decides, with his princes & mighty men, to put up a defense vs Assyria
(see also 2 Kings 18 and Isaiah 36)
     Sennacherib has camped against the fenced cities of Judah, “and thought to win them for himself.”  Apparently he is successful.  But when Hezekiah sees he proposes to take Jerusalem as well, Hezekiah consults with his princes and military, and they decide to put up a fight.  The princes & military throw their support behind Hezekiah as he stops the fountains/brooks outside the city so that the opposing army would have no water (mention of bringing the water into the city via a conduit 2 Kings 20:20).  He repairs and strengthens the city walls and towers.  He builds up his arsenal of darts and shields.  He gathers the people inside the city walls and organizes them under captains.  He encourages his people:

7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:
8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

     The Assyrian king is busy fighting against Lachish, and sends two top military leaders with a huge army against Jerusalem.  An ambassage come out to meet the Assyrian leaders.  The Assyrians say, What does Hezekiah think he’s doing, to rebel against Assyria?  Does he think he can rely on an alliance with Egypt?  Egypt is like a broken reed.  Does he try to convince you to trust in your God?  He’s destroyed all the places of worship but in Jerusalem (obviously the Assyrians don’t recognize any difference between the idolatrous gods and the God of Israel).  Have any of the other nations’ gods saved them?  

 “Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall”  2 Kings 18:26.  But that's exactly the Assyrian plan, “they cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city”  2 Chron 32:18.  And the Assyrians continue  insulting God and telling the people not to trust that Hezekiah can deliver them from defeat, nor the depths of starvation, being reduce to eating their own dung and drinking their own piss.  They offer the people a deal:  if they’ll agree to Assyrian terms they can go to their own properties, eat their own grapes & figs, drink from their own cisterns of water—that is, until they are carried away captive to another land, not unlike their own, with plenty of bread and wine, olives and honey.  The people make no answer to the Assyrians, as Hezekiah has commanded, but the ambassage comes back to report to Hezekiah, their clothes rent/torn with extremely troubled hearts.

2 Kings 19:1 & Isa 37:1 “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.”

     Hezekiah sends his ambassage in sackcloth & ashes to the prophet Isaiah.  Maybe God will hear the reproaches of the Assyrian king and come to our aid, he hopes.  

2 Chron 32:20 “And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.”

2 Kings 19 (Isa 37:6-7)
6 ¶ And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

     With others wars going on, the Assyrian military or leaders go to help their ruler.  It seems like they return after that, and in a letter they reaffirm that no other gods have saved their people from Assyrian might.  Hezekiah spreads the letter before the Lord in the Temple, praying for help.  “O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.”  Isaiah sends a reply from the Lord to Hezekiah, answering the king of Assyria, “The virgin the daughter of Zion [that is, the kingdom of Judah—under which, once again, all that’s left of the House of Israel are ruled] hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee . . . Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel . . . Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, [images of cattle and horses, subservient to others] and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.”
     A sign is given that the people would eat of volunteer crops 2 years, and the third they would plant and reap their own foods.  God makes a promise, “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.  By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.”   That night God sends an angel to destroy the Assyrian army—185,000  die.  Sennacherib returns to Ninevah.  As he’s worshipping in the temple of his god, 2 of his sons kill him and flee, his other son inherits the Empire.  
     
2 Chron 32
22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
23 And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. [People love a winner, and it appears that Hezekiah has saved them all from Assyria's rule.]

2 Kings 20 (2 Chron 32:24, Isa 38:1-6)—Hezekiah’s sickness, promised 15 more years
     Assyria assails the kingdom of Judah in Hezekiah’s 14th year.  Hezekiah’s reign is 29 years.  So if he’s promised to live 15 more years, apparently this critical illness (a horrible boil) occurs during the Assyrian siege.

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.
6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

   Hezekiah’s mourning in his sickness is written in Isa 38:9-20.
   Hezekiah asks for a sign, and Isaiah asks, Do you want the shadow of the sun to go forward 10 degrees, or backward?  Hezekiah chooses the latter, Isaiah prays that it be so, and it was so.  (Interesting note, it was shown on the sundial of the previous king, Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz).  The king of Babylon sends letters and a gift to Hezekiah, on hearing that he is returned to health (2 Kings 20:12, Isaiah 39:1), which will become a snare to him.

2 Chron 32 (2 Kings 20:12-19, Isaiah 39:1-8)—Hezekiah foolishly shows off
27 ¶ And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;
28 Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.
29 Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. [Remember, he lived 15 years after his sickness, he's been plied with gifts from other nations, and possibly it was after the Assyrian war that he was victorious over Philistine cities, 2 Kings 18:8]

     Ambassadors from Babylon come to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery, and he gets carried away with showing off all he has.  He shows them everything.  Isaiah asks Hezekiah who the men were and what they had to say.  Hezekiah answers him, to which Isaiah asks what he showed them.  Hezekiah says, Everything!  Isaiah rebukes him for his foolishness and tells him that as a consequence all he has, including what he has inherited from his fathers/ancestors, will be carried away to Babylon.  His heirs will be taken away to serve as eunuchs in the palace of Babylon, cutting off his lineage as successors to his crown.  Since he can’t do anything about it now, Hezekiah seems to take the pronouncement rather philosophically.  “Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.”  Isa 39:8

2 Chron 32:32-33, Kings 20:20-21—death of Hezekiah 
     (2 Kings 20:20 mentions the conduit & pool to bring water into the city)
32 ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.