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.
The ancient prophecies/histories of the nations of the Middle East provide background to the conflicts there today. The same adversarial relationships describe Israel's neighbors and herself.
Ezek 12—Ezekiel is instructed about making God’s words relevant, and no more to be postponed 1 The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. [Compare Deut 29:4, Isa 6:10, Isa 29:10, Mark 8:14-21, Luke 8:10, Rom 11:8, Eph 4:18, 2 Thes 2:10-12] The Lord instructs Ezekiel to communicate with the people using a sort of combination of object/symbolic/demonstration lessons . . . lessons that would SIT well, that is, they were Surprising, Interesting, and Troubling. 1. Ezekiel is to pack up during the day and move, in plain sight of all, with the hope the Israelites will take notice and consider 2. Next he is to remove his stuff in the people’s sight, as a person taken into captivity 3. He is to dig a hole in the wall and carry his stuff out through it 4. Further, he is to carry his stuff on his shoulders in the twilight, with his face covered, so he can’t see the ground; all this as a sign/symbol/representation to the Israelites The next morning the Lord asks Ezekiel if the people didn’t ask him what he was up to. He is to explain that all this was essentially a visual parable of what is to happen to the prince/ruler, the people of Jerusalem, and the Israelites among them. They will be removed and brought into captivity. Their prince will bear his stuff on his shoulder and leave at twilight (an ignominious flight). They’ll dig through the wall for their escape, and the prince’s face will be covered so he can’t even see the ground before him. He will be taken as in a net or with snares/traps and brought to Babylon, but he’ll never see it, even though he’ll die there (Zedekiah fled when Jerusalem fell, but his pursuers caught up with him: he was blinded after they killed his sons before his eyes, and then taken captive to Babylon). Continuing, the Lord says He will scatter all the king’s helpers to the winds, and his armies will be chased & killed by the sword. The people will acknowledge the Lord, and that He was behind all that happened to them, when they are scattered/dispersed among other nations. God will spare a few Israelite survivors of the wars, famine, and pestilence/disease, to testify of their abominations when they are carried away among the heathen. They will acknowledge their God. Ezekiel is to eat and drink with quaking and trembling, and fear. It’s a representation of how the residents of Jerusalem and the land of Israel will do as their nation is destroyed because of their violent lifestyles. The Lord asks, What’s this saying so prevalent in the land of Israel that Life goes on as usual, and all the dire prophecies fail to come about? He says to Ezekiel, Tell them “I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel . . .” the days are quickly coming when the prophecies will be fulfilled. There won’t be any more foolish “visions” and flattering false prophecies among the House of Israel. “For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged [delayed]: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.” While people are saying Ezekiel’s prophecies are a long way off in coming, the Lord says, None of My words are to be postponed any longer. All I [God] have said will be done.
(Ezek 17 is covered in part 2, the riddle or parable of the eagles & the cedars; it touches on king Zedekiah’s hopes for an Egyptian alliance which will cause his downfall before the Babylonian king.)
Ezek 19—a parable of lions, and a parable of a vine: the strong taken captive; no rulers left A “lamentation for the princes of Israel” . . . What is your mother? A lioness with cubs. One cub grew to a strong young lion, catching prey and devouring people. But the nations heard of him, caught him in a pit. and he was taken in chains to Egypt. The lioness lost hope in that cub, and took another of her cubs to grow into a strong young lion. He learned to hunt prey, and devoured people. He laid waste to the cities, the palaces, and the land. The land was full of his roaring. But then the nations all surrounded him on every side, and took him in a net and put him in a pit in chains. They brought him to the king of Babylon to be imprisoned. His voice would no more be heard in the mountains/hills of the land of Israel. A second parable: thy mother is like a fruitful vine full of branches, planted by the waters. This vine had strong branches that bore rule. She was exalted in her multitude of lofty branches. But then she was plucked up in fury. She was thrown down, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered. They were consumed in fire. “ And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.” The fire of one of her branches has destroyed all her fruit. She is left without a strong branch to bear rule. This is the lamentation. The first parable (of the lions) would appear to refer to the rule/leadership of Joseph who was taken into Egypt as a slave, yet he (and probably his line) essentially ruled the Children of Israel there. But the leadership/rule of the Children of Israel eventually passed to the tribe of Judah, King David’s line. Under the rule of Judah Israel prospered. But Israel’s jealous neighbors conspired to destroy him, and he was carried away to Babylon. Similarly, in the 2nd parable: Israel prospered like a well-watered (grape) vine by a stream or body of water. But she was pulled up, her branches broken and burned. She is left without an heir to her throne. (Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, saw his heirs killed before his eyes; other Jewish royalty had been imprisoned in Egypt and Babylon.)
Ezek 20—the Lord likens His future rescue of His people to what He did in the Exodus from Egypt In the 7th year (presumably of captivity, that is, of Zedekiah’s reign—while Ezekiel and the first captives were already in Babylon), the elders of Israel come to the prophet Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord. But the Lord replies, “Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.” He then lists their history . . . The language of this chapter is so beautiful and powerful, the following is a just poor summary: The Lord made Himself known to Jacob/Israel’s posterity in Egypt, and brought them out of slavery. He told them to throw away the idols of Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses (a law of Justice and Mercy) to live by, including Sabbaths as a sign of the covenant between them and God. But they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, continuing to worship Egypt’s gods (“for their heart went after their idols”), despising His laws, and polluted His Sabbaths. Nevertheless, the Lord yet cared for them (that His name would not be profaned by the heathen nations, who knew He had rescued Israel from Egypt) and brought them into a land the Lord had chosen for them, a land “flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands”. See https://www.gotquestions.org/Israel-milk-honey.html https://www.penn.museum/sites/canaan/Climate%26Fauna.html The Lord admonished Israel not to follow the idolatry of their fathers in Egypt, nor follow their old traditional codes of law, but to follow/keep His laws of Justice and to keep His Sabbaths holy. Still, they rebelled against/despised His laws and polluted His Sabbaths. He warned them of His anger, yet He held back for the sake of His reputation among the heathen. He left them to their abominations (including sacrificing their children in fire to idols). “Thus saith the Lord God; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me . . .” for when He brought them into the Promised Land (by His hand they were able to settle there), they made every hill and all the large trees places of idolatry/idol worship. The Lord asks “Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?” Aren’t you still going on in those ways? Why should I [God] listen to/answer your inquiries [pleas for care & protection, good fortune—just as the Greeks would go to their oracles]? And yet, the Lord promises after all that He will bring/gather His people out of captivity among the nations, as He did when He rescued them from Egypt. In the “wilderness of the people” He will plead with His people face to face to put away all their wicked ways and serve Him. In this wilderness/captivity He will purge the rebels and sinners from among them. “For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.” [Note the great work that Ezra and Nehemiah did among the people to bring them back to God, when He had brought them back {through Cyrus) to their land, Israel]. Then will the Lord accept their sacrifices, and they will honor Him with holiness of thought and behavior before the heathen. Israel will acknowledge and loathe themselves for the evils they [their fathers] committed. They will know the Lord is their God, and has dealt with them in mercy, despite what they as a people deserved. Ezekiel is to prophesy against the forests south of him (as he was in Mesopotamia, Israel would be south of him), that the Lord would start a fire in those forests to devour all the trees, living or dead, Thus all people will know that the Lord was behind the destruction. Ezekiel answers, Lord, they say I’m speaking in parables. [Implying either that he is not being direct and clear, or that his stories are like folktales.]
Ezek 36—the gathering of Israel (see also Ezek 28:24-26) Because Israel’s neighbors considered the conquest of Israel their chance to encroach on Israel’s territory, the Lord says He will bring them to shame. Note that after the Assyrian conquest, Israel & Judah were once again one kingdom (as they had been in the days of King David), ruled by David’s lineage.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen . . . 8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come . . . The Lord promises to prosper Israel. The cities will be repopulated. What had become wasteland will be rebuilt. “And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Before, the House of Israel defiled their own land with their iniquities and idolatries (like an unclean, separated woman), so the Lord poured out His fury on them. He scattered them among the heathen. But then the Lord had pity on them, not for their own sakes (because they profaned/disrespected God’s name among the heathen), but for His own name’s sake. He will make His name holy/reverenced again. He promises to gather them out of all the nations where they are scattered and bring them back to their own land. He will cleanse them from their filthiness and idolatries (He speaks of clean water, as if in washing away their sins, like in baptism).
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes [what is legal and what is not] and ye shall keep my judgments [establishing innocence or guilt, and sentencing Laws], and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezek 25—vs Ammonites, Moab, Seir/Edom, Philistines 4 Behold, therefore I will deliver thee [Ammonites] to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. 5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 6 For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel . . . 11 And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the Lord. 12 ¶ Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them . . . 14 . . . I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. 15 ¶ Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it [the land of Israel] for the old hatred . . . [remember the stories of Samson & Delila, David & Goliath, etc] 17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/ammonites-moabites-edomites-in-the-bible/ Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites https://www.gotquestions.org/mount-Seir.html Mt Seir belonged to Edom https://bibleatlas.org/mount_seir.htm map, scriptures, & Encyclopedia entries for Mt Seir/Bozrah
Ezek 35—prophecies vs Mt Seir (Edom) & Idumea 2 Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end . . . The Lord chastises Edom for gleefully anticipating taking advantage of Israel’s troubles, thinking to take over the land of Israel. Edom will be destroyed and will know that God is the Lord. In the last verse of the chapter Idumea is included in the desolation. Likewise, Idumea is only hardly mentioned in Ezekiel 36 (verse 5) “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.” Idumea, like Edom, joyfully considers the conquest of Israel as a chance to take over the land. https://www.biblestudy.org/meaning-names/idumea.html valuable info about Idumea & its history
Ezek 26-27—prophecies vs Tyre In the 11th year (of the Jewish king Zedekiah, and the captivity of the first group carried/taken to Babylon) the Lord speaks to Ezekiel against Tyre. Tyre had a long history with Israel. The king of Tyre was friends with Kings David & Solomon of Judah. But by the time of the Babylonian conquest Tyre had an adversarial relationship to the land & people of Israel. https://www.worldhistory.org/Tyre/ background info & history of Tyre, a wealthy Phoenician city
2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: 3 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. 4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. 5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. 6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7 ¶ For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. Chapter 27 is a lament for Tyre . . . speaking of her rich trade among the islands of the Mediterranean, as well of Egypt, Persia, Syria, Judah, and other lands of the Middle East. “Tyrus, O thou that art situate[d] at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.” This chapter is abundant with details about the products and trade goods of various ancient lands and peoples of the Middle East. https://bibleatlas.org/tarshish.htm Tarshish, located in what is now Spain https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/27-13.htm Javan, Tubal, and Meshech (scroll down for commentary) https://biblehub.com/topical/t/togarmah.htm Togarmah https://bibleatlas.org/dedan.htm Dedan, in Arabia/Persian Gulf
Ezek 28—prophecies vs Tyre & Sidon Prophesy against & lament for Tyre (Note the mention of Daniel) 2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: 3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: 4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: 5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: 6 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; 7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. Tyre is described as a garden like Eden, with all sorts of precious stones: sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, gold. Finely crafted musical instruments: tabrets and pipes (tambourines or small drums, and flutes) that would be played for joyous occasions. But the prosperity of trade brought violence (no doubt robbery & theft).
Prophesy vs Zidon/Sidon (sister Phoenician city to Tyre) 22 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. 23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezek 29-32—prophecies vs Egypt In the 10th year (of King Zedekiah in Judah, and the 1st group of Captives in Babylon, where Ezekiel was), the Lord gives a prophesy against Pharaoh and all Egypt:
3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. 6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
The kingdom of Judah had hoped for help from Egypt against Babylon, and Pharaoh didn’t come through. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.” The prophesy is that Syene to Ethiopia will be wasted & desolate for 40 years, perhaps other cities as well, but after 40 years the Lord will gather them from where they have been scattered and bring them back to their land, though they will not be so high and mighty. Pathros is a name for southern Egypt. https://bibleatlas.org/syene.htm interesting info about Syene, including a Jewish colony there; click on the map to enlarge it. In the 27th year the Lord tells Ezekiel that Nebuchadrezzar and his army’s wages for their service against Tyre, He will give them the land of Egypt and its spoil. All this to convince God’s people that He is Lord [when these prophecies come to pass]. Not only Egypt, but her allies to the south (Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, various mixed peoples, and Chub) will fall by the sword of the Babylonians. Zoan (in the Nile delta) and other cities will be burned and destroyed. https://bibleatlas.org/lud.htm an explanagion of Lydia/Lud in Ezek 30:5 https://bibleatlas.org/memphis.htm about Noph (Memphis) https://bibleatlas.org/dispersion.htm interesting info about the scattering of Israel over the centuries https://bibleatlas.org/zoan.htm about Zoan (Tanis) in the Nile Delta https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/30-14.htm No is the city of Thebes https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/30-15.htm Sin is another city in the Nile Delta In the 11th year the Lord says metaphorically that He has broken Pharaoh’s arm(s) and it (they) won’t be bound and healed in order to hold a sword. God will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. He will strengthen the king of Babylon and allow him to conquer Egypt. Even the Egyptians will recognize that God is Lord (Ruler, Master, the Superior Authority). Two months later, in the 11th year, the Lord gives Ezekiel a parable about Assyria for Egypt to take heed: Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon (famous for exceptional trees). He was tall and thick with long branches. He grew in a well-watered place. The birds of the air made nests among his branches, and raised their young. In the shade of his branches all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young. The great nations lived in his shadow. The firs and the chestnut trees were nothing next to him. He was so beautiful that all the trees in the Garden of Eden envied him. But because he was so full of himself, God brought his downfall at the hand of a heathen [the Babylonian Empire], who would drive him out for his wickedness. “I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.” All of his allies will fall with him. (Compare the fall of Babylon: Rev 14:8, Rev 18, Isa 13:19, Isa 14, Isa 21:9, Isa 47:5) Egypt/Pharaoh’s egotism is like Assyria’s before his fall. Near the end of the 12th year Ezekiel is to take up a lament/mourning for Pharaoh: You are like a young lion among the nations, a whale in the sea. You walked through their rivers and befouled them. But God will spread His net over you by the hands of many people. You’ll be brought up onto the land, tossed out in an open field where you will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. Your flesh will lay on the mountains, your blood will fill the valleys. Your blood will water the land where you used to swim, and the land and rivers will be full of you. God will blanket the heavens to darken the stars and moon, and cover the sun with a cloud [likely a description of the smoke of burning cities when Babylon conquers Egypt]. “Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall . . .” A couple weeks later the Lord again tells Ezekiel to make a wailing for Egypt. Egypt will join other nations in hell, who were or would be conquered/destroyed by Babylon’s armies: Asshur (Assyria), Elam (Persia), Meshech, Tubal, Edom, and Zidon/Sidon (sister Phoenician city of Tyre). https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/32-26.htm regarding Meshech & Tubal, click back & forward for the other nations listed.
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.
Isa 51—Look to your ancestry & history to find the goodness of God
Listen to me, you that are trying to find God and to be godly. Look at the examples of your ancestors (and if none of your biological ancestors were good, your spiritual ancestors), Abraham & Sarah (the rock and the quarry from which you are sculpted). I, the Lord, chose him alone for the promised lineage, and blessed him (and in him, you), and increased him (both in wealth and posterity, even though it looked like he wasn’t going to have any posterity). So when it looks like your land is barren and waste, be comforted that it will one day be like Eden, and full of joy and gladness, and grateful songs.
Listen to me (poetic repetition). I will make a law which will enlighten my people about Justice. My righteous judgements have already been decided, and I will save you. Those who wait on Me will trust Me. The heavens and the earth will vanish like smoke, but My salvation and righteousness are forever.
Listen to me (He reiterates), all who understand (and live) righteousness, those who keep Me in their hearts. Don’t be afraid of the condemnation/fault finding and ridicule of people. They will be destroyed like moth-eaten clothes. But My righteousness and salvation will last from one generation to the next.
Isaiah in poetic form calls on God to use His strong arm once again, as He did in the past. He refers to the Exodus, the crossing of the sea. So will God’s people (for whom He has paid the kidnapper’s ransom) return with singing back to Zion/Jerusalem/the Holy City—and there will be no more sorrow and mourning.
For a discussion of “Rahab” and the dragon, see
https://biblehub.com/isaiah/51-9.htm
The Lord responds that He is the one who provides comfort. Then why be afraid of mere mortals? Why forget that the Lord is our Maker, and the Creator of the heavens and the earth (see Gen 1-2)--and fear the oppressor every day as if he is ready and able to destroy? What will happen to the oppressive anger of those that threaten destruction? An exiled person in captivity hastily goes to work, hoping not to die imprisoned, and that his rations won’t be cut. But God divided the sea (in Creation and in the Exodus), which shows Him far more powerful than any mere human. He is called The Lord of Hosts (like millions). The Lord reassures Isaiah that He has put the words in his mouth. He is protecting him in the shadow of His hand. Along with planting the stars in the heavens, and laying the foundations of the earth, He says to Zion/Jerusalem/the Holy City, You are my people. That is, the God who is powerful enough to create the heavens and earth can certainly take care of His people.
Wake up, get up, Jerusalem. Isaiah writes poetically of drunkenness as if Jerusalem is suffering from the debilitating after-effects of overindulging in drink. They have drunk it to the dregs, the bottom of the cup, and wrung the last drops from the leather wine bags. The prostrating intoxicant is the Lord’s anger and the fear of it that has overwhelmed the people.
No one is left to lead Jerusalem, speaking of the city as a woman/mother, of all the sons she bore. None of her grown sons are left to help her in her old age/weakened state. Who will comfort her? Desolation has come by famine, destruction by the sword/warfare. Her sons have fainted in battle, and lie at the head of the streets (the center of the city). They thrash angrily and powerlessly as a bull caught in a net, filled with anger at the Lord and His rebuke.
So listen, you that are drunk from affliction rather than wine, this is what the Lord says (the one who pleads your cause), Look, I have taken the last of my fury against you (and your fears) out of your hand (trembling could have the triple meaning of fear, and of over exhaustion or overindulgence). You’ll never have to drink that again. Instead, I’ll give it to those who made you bow to the ground so they could walk on you. (A terrible prophesy against all those who have abused the Jews or any of God’s people).
Isa 52—How beautiful are those that leave evil and teach the love of God1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise , and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. [In other words, get up and dust yourself off, sit in a proper seat. Take off the chains, slavery to sin.]
3 For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought [nothing]; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
The Lord reminds the people of their sojourn in Egypt before the Exodus, and their howling subservience/captivity to Assyria. People have been speaking ill of Him, but they will know one day that He is the one speaking through Isaiah, His servant.
This chapter is so beautiful, it kills me not to quote essentially the whole thing. My summary can’t do it justice, but I’ll try to put it in terms more understandable to modern readers.
“How beautiful upon the mountains . . .” are the feet (representing the whole body) of those that teach the Gospel/Good Tidings of Salvation, that reassure the people that God reigns over all, especially His chosen. He likens the prophets to watchmen on a tower for defense against enemies, who will joyfully sing in harmony when the Lord frees His people. He invites all who have been wasted to join the joyous singing when they find comfort in the Lord. The Lord rolled up His sleeves, so to speak, before the whole world, so that they could see that Salvation came/comes through the God of Israel.
“Depart . . .” from unclean things, he says, likening it to the requirements of the Law of Moses (the Law God gave through Moses) for the priests that officiate in the Temple rites. When the people of the Lord leave/return from Babylon (symbol of sin’s captivity) they won’t have to escape in a hurry looking over their shoulder, because God will lead them away and “have their backs”.
Verses 13-15 refer to God’s servants, and the Messiah in particular. They’ll be wise, and honored. People are astonished that God’s chosen servants may be nothing to look at (or even ugly). Yet those who rule the nations (no matter how they exercise control/power) will finally have their eyes opened and have to consider what God is able to do.
Isa 53—One of the most beautiful chapters in all scripture, listen also to Handel’s “Messiah”
Who believes the prophets? Who recognizes the works of God? The Messiah will grow up like a tender plant out of dry ground. He won’t be handsome and impressive physically, people aren’t impressed to follow or look up to him. In fact, he’ll be despised and rejected. His life will be full of sorrow and grief; he’s not the kind of guy we’re attracted to, and we figured he was a nothing/loser. (Isaiah writes so powerfully that one would suspect he lived this kind of experience, or at least knew someone close to him that did.)
Speaking in prophetic tense (the future written in past tense, so positive that it will happen), Isaiah writes: He carried the weight of all our sorrows and griefs, and yet we figured it was because he was afflicted by God. He was wounded, he was beaten for our transgressions and iniquities. He suffered for the peace we had no right to enjoy (because of our wickedness). Yet by the lashes of the whip he took for our sake, we are healed/pardoned/let off the hook (as when a foe or a PIC demands that someone suffer the punishment for all, when something is amiss). We have all gone astray like sheep. We’ve all gone our own ways. And God has punished him for our bad behavior.
Again, in prophetic tense: the Messiah/Prophet was oppressed and afflicted, but didn’t make a noise about it. He was brought like a lamb to be slaughtered, or a sheep to be sheared, and didn’t make a sound (This metaphor seems different from what I know of sheep, who bleat about such things, but maybe it was different in Isaiah’s time/place). He was taken out of the prison to the executioner, without having been given a fair trial. Who’s going to speak up in his defense against the people of his time? Because God’s people were bad, he was wounded. He was buried with the rich & wicked although he was not deceitful nor violent.
Some important clarification is found at
https://biblehub.com/isaiah/53-9.htm
Yet it was part of God’s plan to have him beaten and grieved. When he is placed on the sacrificial altar for the wickedness of the people (as in the Temple rites of the time an unblemished animal was sacrificed as a sin offering), he will see his offspring (those that call him father of their souls). His life will be lengthened, and he will be blessed/prospered. God will see the agony of his soul and will be satisfied. The knowledge of this righteous servant will justify many, for he will bear their iniquities (he knows what it’s like to be human). And for all that he willingly bore for others (death and dishonor), he will be given the greatest of honors and rewards (Isaiah is using a metaphor of military heroes’ honors & rewards), and he will intercede for the guilty.
For a discussion about the Jewish view vs the Christian view of this chapter, see
https://www.learnreligions.com/isaiah-53-interpretations-4175126
Isa 54—"Sing O barren,” a song of hope for the hopeless
“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord . . .”
Once again, this is such a beautiful, poetic chapter that it’s hard not to just quote the whole thing. But it can be understood on more than one level: 1. with reference to barren women (note Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah . . . and every woman who weeps over infertility. In the broader culture of the times, a woman might be put away (divorced) for not providing an heir for her husband/tribe. 2. The House of Israel was often referred to in terms of a wife, and one that was separated/divorced from God. In either case, this chapter offers hope.
Israel is a small country, and sometimes has lost territory. But God promises that one day it will gain land, like a tent that is made larger to accommodate more people, a larger tribe. The nation/posterity of Israel will one day inherit cities the Gentiles (non-Israelites) once inhabited—whether ones they had conquered and taken over, or ones conquered and emptied by other nations/Empires (such as Assyria and Babylon, later other conquerors).
Those embarrassed by infertility will no longer bear that sorrow (whether they feel It only in themselves, or whether others make them to feel that way). The House of Israel will no longer feel the shame of being abandoned by God for her sins. In fact, all those who have felt the shame of youthful mistakes will no longer have to blush over them (remember Isa 1:18, though their sins be as scarlet, they shall be whitened). God will call Israel, and every sinner, back as a loving, forgiving husband. God may cast us off for a time (or, it may feel that way, but He is always willing to show mercy when we come to ourselves and return our hearts to Him), but He will embrace us once again. Things that seem as immovable as the mountains or hills would relocate before God would separate us from His kindness and the promises/covenants He has made.
“O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, . . .” God will adorn your lives as a home made beautiful with precious stones. “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.” Whether the nation of Israel or a woman suffering through a troubled life, God will eventually cause the children/posterity to be taught about Him, wherein they will find peace. Israel, and the woman saved by God, will be settled in righteousness and no longer be oppressed or in fear/terror from those who would torment them. Such is the great hope held out, not only for Israel, but for all who are abused.
People will gather against God’s chosen, but not by Him. Whoever conspires against His chosen will He cause to fall. God creates His own tools to destroy, and all those who think they can create the means to destroy His chosen will be condemned by His chosen. This seems a promise God made to Isaiah, and all His servants: you will be able to put in their places all those who try to destroy you. “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
Isa 55—Oh, every soul that thirsts or hungers, come to the waters . . .
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”
This is yet another chapter that is a beautiful and poetic entreaty to come to God to find the abundant life: come access precious refreshment for your spiritual hunger and thirst, for free! Why spend money for things that won’t satisfy? Listen and attend to me to find what is good in life. In a time and place where starvation is a reality, fatness is a sign of richness of life.
The Lord again uses King David as an example of a righteous leader, and the covenant God has made with Israel. Allies they never knew will come running to join with them because of the Lord.
“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near,” the Lord invites the wicked to repent and return to Him, with the promise of forgiveness.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” While humans may hold grudges, the Lord is above all that. He uses the simile of rain and snow falling and watering the earth and the seeds of the sower, feeding the hungry. (compare Matt 5:45) Instead of weeds, trees will grow--as a sign of God’s everlasting promise.
“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands [for happiness].”
Isa 56—Those who are righteous and keep God’s commandments will have a place in His Kingdom
“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.”
The Lord mentions in particular keeping the Sabbath and not doing evil (respecting God and fellow beings) in order to be blessed. No matter if a person is a foreigner (non-Israelite) or a eunuch (a servant prevented from fathering children, which was so important to people of the past and many today), those who obey His covenant (most especially His Sabbaths) will live and be remembered forever in God’s house. They will be gathered to His Holy House (the Temple or His heavenly residence) and their offerings will be accepted. It seems apparent that the Lord through Isaiah was comforting specific people of Isaiah’s time (a/some foreigner(s), a/some eunuch(s)), but His promises are extended to all who come to Him at any time & place.
The Lord likens the people who should be watching over His people to watchdogs too lazy to rouse themselves and bark a warning of danger. They are greedy shepherds out for their own gain. They foolishly party on, thinking they can continue more and more without consequences.
Isa 57—Woe to those who follow wicked ways, peace to the humble & contrite who trust in Him
“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come,” that is, nobody cares when good people are lost. They don’t consider that God will protect them from the bad things to come.
But woe to the children of whores, adulterers, workers of sorcery/witchcraft/the black arts, who speak evil or mock the Righteous and worship idols, even to the killing/sacrificing of children. The Lord accuses them of adultery against Him in their idolatry. They have invited/enticed allies from near and far, high (eg the king) and low, and not trusted in the Lord. The Lord asks who made them afraid, so that they lied without taking it to heart. He let it go in the old days, but even their good behavior will not profit them. He leaves them to the protection of their false gods, while He will bless those who put their trust in Him, and they will inherit the Holy Land.
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
God says that He will not forever be angry, or people would give up hope. He punished Israel for covetousness and pride. But He will heal Israel, comfort and restore him/her. Yet, “the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”
It is apparent that God recognizes that children raised by the wicked become wicked (they most often live the lives they are accustomed to, the ironic inversion of the admonition to train up a child and he will not depart from his upbringing). Yet those that repent will be healed and forgiven.
Isa 58—Fasting and the Sabbath
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” They make a show of being religious and caring about God and what He wants, but it’s a hollow pretense.
They say, Why should we fast? God takes no notice (we still suffer troubles).
God does take notice: He sees that while fasting you take your own pleasure, making others work. You use the fast day for strife and debate. You hit people with your wickedness. This is not the way to fast.
“Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? [Make an outward show of fasting/sorrowing] wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?”
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” Free the people from their heavy burdens (eg financial & physical overwork). Stop speaking foolishness. Have compassion on the poor and afflicted.
Here are the promises: health & vitality, a righteous rep, the Lord will have your back. When you call on the Lord, He’ll answer. Your career will rise and shine like the noonday sun. God will guide you constantly, and you will live a life of abundance. You will heal and repair the lands of your inheritance.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Isa 59—It’s not God who is responsible for your troubles, but your own bad choices.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
You’ve got blood on your hands, lies on your lips, perversity on your tongue, mischief on your mind, the Lord complains. The Lord likens them to spiders and snakes (conventions of evil conniving). But they can’t weave a web to hide/clothe their wickedness.
Nobody calls for Justice. They stay in the dark, away from the light. They grope in the dark like blind men or zombies. They know nothing of peace. They roar like angry bears, and coo like mournful doves.
Cross reference verse 17 with Eph 6:11-24, the whole armor of God. God will come with His recompense to everyone who is an enemy to Him. The Lord will raise His flag that it be seen from the west to the east. He will come as a Redeemer of those who turn away from their transgressions. The Lord promises that His covenant, His Spirit will remain with His servant (who speaks His word) and the descendants of His servant forever.
Isa 60—Arise, shine (compare Handel’s “Messiah”)
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.”
So many peoples/nations will come to the aid of Israel that Israel will be awestruck. They will bring back the dispersed/diaspora, as well as wealth to Israel. Allies will come to rebuild Israel. Even former enemies/antagonists will acknowledge Israel’s right to rule, that Jerusalem is “The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” Those nations that are against Israel will perish/be destroyed. Though Israel has been hated, God will make her “an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.” Then Israel will know that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel is Israel’s Savior and Redeemer. Israel will be prospered and will be freed from war. The light of the sun & moon will be darkened by the light, the glory of Israel’s God. Mourning will end. The people of Israel will be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, and though a small nation, it will be powerful. The Lord will bring it to pass in His time.
Isa 61—The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: Messianic words1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
When Jesus read these words in his hometown, Nazareth’s, synagogue, and said that he was the embodiment of this prophecy, an incident ensued where he was about to be thrown over a cliff. See Luke 4:16-30. It was a Messianic message, which some would interpret in a political way: the day of vengeance of God must surely be the freeing of Israel/the Jews from all foreign rule. That’s what they were looking for. But Jesus spoke of freeing people from spiritual bondage and mourning. One might extend the meaning of these verses to those captive/imprisoned to sins/addictions, debt, and human cruelty & greed.
The Lord through Isaiah promises that the land of Israel will be healed and repaired. That foreigners will be their servants (perhaps “employees”, in today’s terms). The remnant of Israel, known to us as the Jews, will be considered the teachers about God (which the Bible became, Judeo-Christian values became the saviors of civilization). Israel will be nourished by the riches of the Gentiles (non-Jews). Israel's shame/embarrassment/dishonor will be replaced by twice the honor & everlasting joy.
The Lord says that He loves judgement (Justice), hates robbery (especially as an hypocritical/ironic offering). He will see that His people do His work in honesty, and He will make an eternal covenant/promise with them. Israel’s posterity will be acknowledged as the Lord’s chosen/blessed.
Isaiah then rejoices in the Lord and His goodness to him, and that He will cause righteousness to spring up as buds and a garden.
Isa 62—For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace
“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” The watchmen are the prophets, who will keep preaching, teaching, reaching out, for Israel’s sake, until the people are known for their righteousness. The land of Israel will no longer be called forsaken of the Lord. The land will be like a jewel, a crown, like a bride in whom the husband rejoices. The Lord promises that then the products of the land and the labor of the people will no longer be consumed by Israel’s enemies. Metaphorically a highway will be built for the return of the posterity of Israel, as if signaled to rally ‘round a flag (a standard is a banner or flag). Isaiah prophesies to the end of this world, that Israel’s Salvation/Redeemer is coming to reward those on the Lord’s side, “the holy people.”
Isa 63—the Lord will come clothed in red, it will be a day of vengeance
“I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.”
Since there was no one to join Him, the Lord Himself will bring vengeance in His anger on the wicked and powerful.
7 ¶ I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
10 ¶ But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
Yet where is the God of the Exodus from Egypt? Look down from Heaven with mercy. Even though Abraham and Jacob/Israel passed away (died) before they could know us, the Lord is still our Father, our Redeemer. Isaiah asks why the Lord has made the people err and harden their hearts against reverencing Him. I have previously discussed whether it is the Lord that hardens our hearts , or we ourselves. It was the way of speaking that the ancients had in acknowledging God’s omnipotence. Nothing happens without His permission. But the Old Testament testifies constantly that we can and do choose what we do and become. Otherwise, why would the Lord plead for us to do right, keep the covenants He has made with us, and turn away from evil? Isaiah pleads with the Lord to return the land of Israel to the people of Israel. Those who have taken it away were never His people.
Isa 64--Isaiah’s lament: If only God, you would come!
“Oh that thou wouldest rend [rip open] the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence . . .” The description of destruction that follows can be somewhat unnerving to contemplate (things melting and boiling from fire) in real life, especially if it was worldwide. We expect the old earth to pass away and a new heaven & earth to follow (see Isa 65:17) . . . we hope we’ll be caught up to meet the Lord before that. But another way to look at this would be a more localized (or at least not a global) event or chain of events, perhaps like a volcanic or meteoric event. In either case, the nations would be trembling in fear. Those destructions can do away with evil nations. Compare that to the following . . .
“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth [angry]; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.” In other words, though the Lord is angry when we behave wickedly, yet when we turn to Him, we will be saved. That is what is implied here.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.” Perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but the point is that none of us is without sin, or the need for Grace/Pardon.
“But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth [angry] very sore [greatly], O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.” While a pot doesn’t have a choice in what It becomes, we do. We may choose iniquity or not. In the context of all God has said about choosing who we serve, the behaviors and attitudes we choose to indulge in, and that we should repent and return to Him, we can’t believe that what Isaiah is saying here is that we have no free will. We are just pleading that God will have mercy on us in our human characteristics and fallibility, because those are God-given. God has not made us infallible or perfect, in His purpose and Plan. Believing that God is the ultimate Good, we have to trust that He has good reason for doing what He does. So often we “learn by the things [we] suffer.”
Isaiah implores the Lord to see the destruction that has made His land/cities desolate/wilderness, the holy house/Temple burned, with the implication of healing them, having mercy on them/His people. He pleads for an end to the afflictions with a question posed in both the positive and the negative—Will You have mercy on us, or will You continue to afflict us so horribly?
Isa 65—God has spread His hands wide constantly while His people refuse His help, yet God foretells a Millennial future happiness
“I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts . . .” Ironically, the Lord is sought by those who were not His people (v. 1, that is, the Gentiles), while His people turn away from Him. He describes their idolatrous worship and their smug attitude of being holier than God. Their posture and behaviors are as obnoxious as smoke in the nostrils all day long. The Lord will serve them right for their and their fathers’ iniquities.
As the old saying goes, Don’t destroy a cluster of grapes because it will be a blessing (will be made wine, which blesses the house), so the Lord will not destroy all. He will save some: His land, and His “elect [chosen] shall inherit it and [those who serve Him] shall dwell there.” Sheep shall there safely graze (comp Zeph 3:13 “they will graze peacefully like sheep”).
The Lord then returns to His accusations against those that forsake Him. He will allow them to be slaughtered, “because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.”
God will take care of His servants, while those who rejected Him will go hungry. His servants will be joyous, and those who don’t serve Him will be ashamed, cry with sorrowful hearts, howl in misery. Israel will be cursed, and His servants called by another name. But the troubled times of the past will be forgotten (even by God), and people will bless themselves and swear by the God of Truth.
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” God will make Jerusalem a cause of Joy, “and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” No more will an infant only a few days old die. A man will live to be 100 years old (but a 100 year old sinner will be accursed). People will build and enjoy the fruits of their labor, no one will take them away: “and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” The Lord will be quick to answer their prayers, even before they ask and while they are yet speaking.
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”
Isa 66—The Lord wants contrite spirits who reverence His word. He will recompense the wicked. A new Israel will be born, A New Heaven and Earth will be brought forth
“Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Compare Ps 34:18, Ps 51:17, Matt 5:3) In other words, the Lord reigns in Heaven: how pathetic compared to that is a house built for Him by humans. What does humankind have to offer Him? This is what He looks for and appreciates: those with a poor/humble and contrite spirit, who reverence His word.
The Lord lists a group of things considered abominable, and they are those who choose their own ways instead of His. He will leave them to their own delusions & fears, because when He called none of them answered. When He spoke they didn’t hear. They did evil and chose things that God didn’t like.
The Lord encourages those who give heed to His word, and are hated by their brethren/cast out for God’s sake. The Lord will be glorified, and fulfill His words, while the wicked will be ashamed. (comp Matt 5:11-12). The voice of the Lord speaks from His Temple, and He brings recompense on His enemies. Meanwhile He uses the metaphor of a woman giving birth to describe the future birth of His nation, coming before even the pains thereof. He poses the rhetorical question of whether He would bring on the birth pangs and not let the birth happen. “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn [at present] for her . . .” The Lord continues the theme with the newborn suckling and the joy all feel at the birth. The Lord promises “peace . . . like a river.”
The Lord consoles those that care for Zion that He will retaliate against those who have been against His servants and His Laws. He will consider not only their behavior, but their thoughts. (comp Prov 23:7, Matt 5:27-28). The Lord says He will gather people from all nations and send those that escape His anger to tell the Gentile nations of God’s glory/power. They will bring scattered Israel back to Jerusalem, who will make an acceptable offering to the Lord (and choose new priests). In this new Heaven and earth everyone will worship God. (The last verse is a yucky ending for those that have transgressed against God).
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah. Joel’s lifetime is uncertain, and there are various opinions about when he lived, but his message sounds very much like Isaiah to me, and his mention of the scattering and gathering of Israel & Judah makes it seem likely that he lived in that time period. Joel’s name means “Yahweh/the Lord is God”. It is said that Joel was an accomplished writer, which indicates that he was an educated man, like Isaiah. (The Twelve Minor Prophets translated from Hebrew with commentary by Ebenezer Henderson, pp 90-91 https://archive.org/details/bookoftwelvemino1845hend )
Micah 1
The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Micah directs his prophecy to everyone, all the world. The Lord God has His eye on what’s going on. When He comes to the earth the mountains will melt like wax and flow down like water. Though this chapter speaks about the sins of Israel & Judah, it’s a caution to everyone everywhere that God is powerful and knows what’s happening, implying that you can’t get away with wickedness.
Micah accuses the 2 capitals of Israel and Judah, Samaria & Jerusalem, for being idolatrous, and in the Lord’s name, prophesies the consequences: the destruction of them and their idols, people & places of idolatrous worship. Micah speaks of his mourning for the two nations, making wailing and mournful sounds like dragons & owls (literally jackals and ostriches, because their vocalizations sound sorrowful). The kingdom of Judah will be injured incurably as Assyria comes even to the gate of Jerusalem. About the mournful noise, see https://biblehub.com/commentaries/micah/1-8.htm
Micah names cities/towns in the Philistine plain, making wordplay of their names. Assyria would conquer towns all around Jerusalem, including these.
Gath—well-known Philistine city (from which Goliath came)
Aphrah—unknown city, meaning of the name is “house of dust”, symbol of destruction
Saphir—“fair”, a village in a mountainous area
Zaanan—“to go forth”, verbal word play on an unknown place
Cutting of the hair would be another symbol of mourning.
Micah 2
1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
The picture is of a wealthy, powerful person making plans, even before getting up in the morning, finding ways to defraud others of their fields and homes, their inherited properties. Remember that in the Law of Moses (the Law of God given through Moses) family & tribal land inheritances were carefully protected and honored. The Lord promises to recompense them for their attitude & behavior. They will lament their situation when the Lord takes away what they have taken. They tell people (like Micah) not to prophesy against them, but how will that change what the Lord does? (In Amos we are told that the Lord always warns of what He will do ahead of time, yet people don’t want to hear that.)
Micah rhetorically asks the leaders of the House of Israel if they shouldn’t recognize what is right, then he uses some really graphic metaphors for those who “hate the good, and love the evil”—that is, they oppress the people. As a result, he says, the Lord will not hear their cries in their time of trouble.
He decries the (false) prophets that lead the people astray, calling for Peace, while warring against God. Those prophets will lose their vision, and their minds will be darkened. They will be embarrassed because God will not answer them.
Meanwhile, Micah says the Lord has empowered him to tell the transgressions of the House of Israel. He speaks to the leaders of that House “that abhor judgment, and pervert all [justice]”. The leaders, priests, teachers, and prophets work for bribes. Yet they then ironically boast that nothing bad can happen to them because the Lord is with them. Consequently, Zion/Jerusalem will be plowed under, heaped upon with disaster.
Micah 4—a positive promise for the future of the House of Israel
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. [Jerusalem is built on hills, Judah is a hill country.]
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob [the Temple]; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 ¶ And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.
6 In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth [stops or walks haltingly], and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted [that is, Zion/the House of Israel];
7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
In that future time Israel will be ruled again from the strengthened Jerusalem. Right now Israel is in pain, but out of that pain (in Mesopotamia), Israel will be born again, redeemed/bought from her enemies. Right now Israel is being defiled by many nations. But they don’t know God’s plan: they will be like harvested grains threshed/thrashed in preparation for the mill/grinding. He continues that metaphor, comparing Israel/Jerusalem to an ox that would be used to trample the grain in order to separate the grain from the stalks (many people/nations of the earth).
Micah 5—promised future of the remnant of the House of Israel
Don’t be discouraged if this chapter is hard to understand. We aren’t living in those times, so some references will be obscure. It’s not always clear in this chapter who is the subject, who is the object of the prophecy. Ponder, pray for inspiration, get what you can from this chapter, and trust at some point it will all become clear—either in this life or the next. The following might be helpful:
Though the then present Jerusalem must gather its troops for the siege, in future a ruler would come forth from Bethlehem (the birthplace of King David, thus this would be a descendant of his, a rightful heir of the kingdom). It seems as though God has given up on Israel until that time. As a woman suffers in birth, yet this rule will be the birth of the redeemed, the return of the children of Israel.
The timeframe of this prophecy was when Assyria was the great foe. Israel is promised that one day they will conquer invading Assyrians (now Iraq, and parts of Iran, Kuwait, Syria & Turkey), and other Gentile nations. These nations to this day wish to destroy/wipe out Israel. Though the children of Israel will be scattered among many nations, the Lord promises that one day their enemies’ instruments of and resources for war, as well as the soothsayers, idols, and groves (places where idols were worshipped) will be destroyed from those nations.
My favorite verses:
2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. [NT reference to Jesus Christ]
4 ¶ And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
Micah 6
The Lord calls for the earth to hear his complaint against Israel. He invites Israel to answer how He has mistreated them. He reminds them of His hand in the Exodus . . . Micah says, What good are sacrifices and burnt offerings, no matter how impressive? Here’s what the Lord wants:
8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The Lord speaks as the rod (punishment), and those that are wise will recognize His voice. The wicked still have abominations in their houses. No matter how small, they can’t be considered pure unless they are measured with corrupted scales. The rich get their riches through violence, and lies, and deceit.
So the Lord (the rod of punishment) will make you pay with being smitten, and the consequences of your sins will be desolation. You’ll find no satisfaction in your efforts, which the Lord will overthrow. You follow the follies of Omri and Ahab (two well-known wicked, idolatrous kings of Israel), and for that you will be destroyed and despised.
Micah 7—although Israel will suffer for its wickedness, yet someday God will pardon and bless
1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
You can hear the depths of Micah’s mourning! He feels like a man looking forward to the grape harvest and there is nothing there. There’s nobody good left. Everyone is watching for the chance to profit from the losses of even their own kin. They are into it with both hands. The Leaders and the Judges all expect bribes. The powerful says what he wants and it’s handed to him in gift-wrapping. Even the best of them is like a thorny-bush. But the day will come when they’ll have to pay the piper.
You can’t trust a friend or a mentor, nor your own wife. Sons defraud their fathers, daughters are against their mothers . . . “a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.”
Micah says the only one he can trust is God: “Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” Don’t gloat over me when I fall, because I’ll rise again: “when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” I’ve made mistakes, and will bear God’s displeasure, until He comes to my help like a righteous judge. Then those who said, “Where is the Lord thy God?” (that is, Why isn’t this God you have so much faith in helping you?) will have their faces covered in mud. (Micah puts this in terms of a woman, so that one could wonder if his wife said such words to him. And the consequences are not merely to have mud in the face, but to be trampled into it). In the day of judgment, building plans will be vacated. The Assyrians will come and make the land desolate as a result of the wickedness of the people.
Despite the punishments, one day the Lord will miraculously save Israel as He did when He brought them out of bondage in Egypt. Nations will be amazed, left speechless and afraid. They will crawl like worms, slither away like snakes.
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Joel 1—a vivid picture of the destruction of the land
Listen, old men. Neither you nor your fathers have seen anything like this. You’ll be telling it to your children, who will tell their children, and the story will be passed down another generation. Joel then describes the destruction of the land in vivid word pictures:
Like insects, what one destroyer leaves, another comes along to destroy. Partiers are left to weep for the loss of their wine. A nation like a fiercely toothed lion is come. The vineyards are made bare, the bark stripped from the fig tree. Mourn like a young widow. The priests mourn for the loss of their job (offering sacrifices in the Temple). The land mourns for the fields laid waste, the grain gone, the wine stores dried up, the [olive] oil gone. The farmers are ashamed of their poor wheat and barley harvest, the workers in the vineyards howl [for lack or work]. The grape vines are dried up, the fig trees weakened (or neglected), the pomegranate, the palm, the apple, and the rest are withered, “because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” It seems none have enthusiasm for their work/agriculture—perhaps it seems hopeless/worthless.
“Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord . . .” because the day of judgment has come. There’s no joy in Temple worship. Seeds rot in the fields, barns are empty and broken down because the grain is withered. The farm animals groan and are confused, the sheep are desolate [perhaps uncared for]. Fire has consumed the cultivated fields, all the orchards, and the unfenced pasturelands. The rivers are dried up.
Compare:
Joel 1:15 to Isa 13:6—the day of the Lord is at hand
Joel 2—three parts: utter destruction from an invading army; plea for repentance; God’s merciful deliverance and blessings if the people repent
Joel describes the terror of the imminent invasion: trumpets sound the alarm, everyone is trembling in fear. It’s a dark day when the powerful army comes, such as never was nor ever will be for generations. A place that was like the Garden of Eden will be scorched earth, a desolate wilderness. None will escape. Like the noise of an all-consuming fire, like horses and chariots on the mountain tops will they come. They’ll run like mighty warriors, climb the walls of the cities, march forward without breaking ranks. Like an army of tanks and trucks, the ground will quake at the coming of their armies. Smoke from the fires will darken the sun, moon, and stars. The Lord brings this army in judgment on the House of Israel for their sins.
But (the Lord through Micah pleads), turn to the Lord “with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your [clothes, as in a sign of distress or mourning], and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil [that is, will change your fate]. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; [bring] a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?” Blow a trumpet [poetic parallel, for the trumpet now is not in sounding the alarm for war, but . . . ] calling everyone to a fast, a solemn gathering, a sanctifying. Gather everyone, even the nursing baby and the bride & bridegroom (from their wedding or honeymoon). Let the priests weep and plead for the people: (Oh, God,) don’t give excuse for their enemies to reproach them with “Where is your God?”
Then the Lord will take pity on His people. He will prosper you. He will take away your embarrassments among the non-believers. He will drive away the invader/destroyer (in this case Assyria). You won’t have to fear, you’ll rejoice and be glad “for the Lord will do great things” for you. Domesticated animals and plants won’t have to fear destruction and neglect either. The Lord will send rain in season and moderation. The stores of food will be full and overflowing. The Lord will make up for the years of pestilence.
26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
Compare:
Joel 2:28 to Isa 32:15 & Isa 44:3—outpouring of God’s Spirit
Joel 2:28-32 is quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:17-21
Joel 3—promises for the return of the Jews, and their conquest of their enemies
When the Lord brings the Jews back from captivity there is to be a showdown in the valley of Jehoshaphat (next to Jerusalem; see https://bibleatlas.org/valley_of_jehoshaphat.htm ). They had scattered the House of Israel among the nations. They had sold the boys into prostitution (note verse 6 mention of Grecians), and sold the girls for the price of wine. The Lord calls out Tyre & Sidon, and all the neighbors of Palestine for pillaging the gold & silver from Judah to adorn the temples of their idols. The Lord promises to return their actions upon their own heads. The Jews will sell their children to the Sabeans afar off. They are called to war, such that they remake their tools of agriculture into tools of warfare. They must prepare their psyches for war. Poetically, war is likened to a harvest. The valley becomes the valley of decision (who will come off victorious). It appears the fires of war will darken the skies, blotting out the sun, moon, and stars. The Lord will roar from Zion/Jerusalem, shake the heavens & earth, and give hope and strength to His people, the children of Israel. Then Israel will know the Lord dwells/abides with them in Zion, His holy mountain. Jerusalem will then be holy, without foreigners.
The mountains are spoken of as dropping down new wine, indicating vineyards, and the hills flowing with milk, indicating lactating herds. A fountain/stream will water a dry wadi from the Temple mount. Egypt and Edom will be desolate for their “violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.” Judah & Jerusalem will abide from generation to generation, and the Lord will cleanse them [possibly cleansing their blood means they will become pure-blooded, vs mixed race . . . as Moses had commanded the people not to marry with non-believers, idol worshippers of the time, who would turn their hearts away from God].
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