Ezek 4—Ezekiel is to portray the history of Israel’s wickedness, and the destruction of Jerusalem
The Lord has Ezekiel portray the siege of Jerusalem on a tile. He’s to build a fort and a mound against it, and a camp against it with battering rams. He’s to set an iron pan between him and the city to separate himself from the city, and the plight of its destruction.
Ezekiel is to lay on his left side for 390 days, symbolizing the years of the iniquity of the House of Israel, then he’s to lay on his right side 40 days, symbolizing suffering for the iniquity of the House of Judah. These appear to refer to the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah. From the days of Jeroboam, I don’t recall a righteous king of the northern kingdom. The kings of Judah seemed to alternate between good and evil. The kingdom of Judah lasted another 125 years after the northern kingdom was destroyed and carried away by the Assyrians, more or less. King David reigned 40 years, and Solomon reigned 40 years. If we subtract the 80 years of David & Solomon from the 464 of the kingdom of Judah, we have 384 years. But Solomon built temples for the idols of his foreign wives when he was old, so that might account for the discrepancy of about 6 years.
https://bible-history.com/old-testament/kings-israel Kings of Israel reigned 208 years, all evil
https://www.jewishhistory.org/review-of-the-judean-kings/ Judean Kings, abt 464 yrs, both good & evil
About the 40 years: Josiah reigned in righteousness 30 years, and righteous Hezekiah reigned 6 years before Assyria captured the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 18) . . . one might say they suffered for the wickedness of the unrighteous kings of both Israel & Judah. The other 4 years could refer to when wicked Manasseh returned repentant to his kingship in Judah. All this is speculation.
Through the 390 days Ezekiel is to eat 20 shekels’ weight (perhaps abt 10 oz) of bread made with wheat/barley/beans/lentils/millet/fitches (another type of grain). His water allowance was perhaps between 1-2 cups a day. His bread is to be prepared like a barley cake, baked over a fire made with human waste. This would be considered as defiled, and Ezekiel recoils from the idea, as he has kept the Law of Moses strictly all his life. The Lord relents and allows him to use cow “patties” as his fuel. All this is representative of the famine that the people of Jerusalem would suffer while besieged by Babylon for 30 months.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/4-10.htm
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/4-11.htm
https://bible-history.com/map-babylonian-captivity/timeline-of-events from 612 to 516 BC (in years)
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/antiquities-of-jews/babylon-destroys-jerusalem-temple.html re: Josephus’ account, and notes on the Babylonian attacks on the kingdom of Judah
Ezek 5—the Israelites will suffer for their sins: 1/3 die of famine & pestilence, 1/3 by the sword, 1/3 will be scattered
The Lord tells Ezekiel to shave his head and beard, an extreme cultural taboo for an Israelite. One third of the hair is to be burned, another third is to be cut to bits with a knife, and the last third is to be scattered in the wind. All this is to symbolize the burning of Jerusalem (at the end of the siege), death by the sword of many of the inhabitants, and the scattering/captivity of the rest.
The Lord accuses the inhabitants of Jerusalem of being worse than their neighboring countries, in that while their population has grown more than their neighbors, they have refused to keep the commandments and laws given through Moses. In fact, they have changed the Lord’s laws into wickedness worse than the other nations. In consequence, the Lord will treat them as never before or in future: fathers will eat their sons and sons will eat their fathers (no doubt because of the famine caused by war), those left after the war will be scattered in every direction. Because they have defiled the temple with abominations (idol worship), the Lord will show no pity. A third will die from pestilence and famine, another third will fall by the sword (in battle), and a third will be scattered to the winds and chased by the sword. Thus will they know that the Lord is in charge, and He will find comfort in executing Justice for their misdeeds. The Lord will see their nation wasted, and they will be seen as a reproach/taunt/instruction/astonishment to all their neighboring countries and those who see them.
Ezek 6—a prophecy of the destruction of the idols & worshippers, and the land of Israel; yet a remnant will be saved, captive among the nations, where they will come to know the Lord and be disgusted with themselves for their abominations.
Ezekiel prophecies to the mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys of Israel, that is, to the land of Israel, the destruction of the idols and those who worship them (generally in “high places”). “Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord.” (This is the only mention of Diblath in the Bible, an unknown place).
The House of Israel will be slain by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. “He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.” Yet the Lord will save a remnant of Israel, scattered captives among the nations, who will remember Him and loathe themselves for their sins and abominations.
Ezek 7—a reiteration of God’s recompense to the Israelites for their wickedness/abominations
This chapter is seems a poetic one; it doesn’t say anything new, but uses imagery to make the predictions more memorable. An end is come to the 4 corners/quarters of the land of Israel (all the land of the 2 kingdoms, Israel & Judah), the Lord will not have pity on the people, and they will know that it is the Lord that is doing this to them.
Ezekiel uses the image of dawn turning to day, and of a budding tree branch, describing wicked developments and violence in the land. None will express mourning (by wailing) for them. The buyer won’t rejoice in the bargains he finds, the seller won’t bemoan losing money on the deal (as in ordinary commerce): all will feel the wrath of God, and none of them will be able to return to, nor strengthen their financial position through their wickedness.
A trumpet is blown to call the soldiers to battle, but none are able to go (because God has wreaked havoc on them). Warfare is outside the city (any out there are killed by the sword) and famine & pestilence inside. Any who do manage to escape to the mountains will sound like Mourning Doves for their iniquities.
All will have feeble hands and be weak in the knees (see Heb 12:12, and the link below that speaks of paralysis: people will be paralyzed with fear). People will dress in sackcloth (as for mourning), and be in shame (baldness would be considered a state of shame for the people at that time & place).
https://biblehub.com/hebrews/12-12.htm
Gold and silver will be useless to save the people from starvation (because their riches were their stumbling blocks in iniquity, keeping them from turning to God). Their beautiful ornaments they used for idolatry/abominations, so God has taken them away from them and given them to their enemies as spoil (which enemies will pollute them with their own abominations). The conquering enemies will enter the inner recesses of the Temple (which were kept sacred, separate from other nations) and rob them and defile them.
In response to the bloody crimes and violence of the city(ies) of Jerusalem (Judah & Israel), the people will be taken in chains by the worst of the heathen, who will take possession of the Israelites’ houses. The pomp/pride of the powerful will cease, and their holy places will be defiled. Destruction will come, and despite their efforts to find peace/allies, there will be none. One mischief, one rumor (of bad news) will follow another. They’ll seek for help/vision/counsel from prophets, priests, and elders, but none will be able to give them good news. The king and his retinue will mourn and be de-solate (incapable of solace). People will be too troubled to know what to do. The Lord will give them what they deserve, and they will know that He is God.
Ezek 13—vs false prophets, both male & female
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
3 Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! . . .
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word . . .
10 ¶ Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace . . .
17 ¶ Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them . . .
22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel reproves the false prophets of Israel for not protecting the nation with Truth, like a hedge or a wall without gaps/holes. The false prophets will be excommunicated from Israel and deleted from their records. When this comes to pass all will recognize the supremacy of God. He likens them to wall builders whose work will be destroyed before it sets up. Whether the storm, winds, and hailstones are figurative or literal, I’m not sure, but the image is what is important: what false prophets build will be destroyed.
Likewise, I’m not sure what the pillows sewn to the armholes of women prophesying falsely, or how the kerchiefs figure, but the important message is that they will be punished for seducing Israel away from the true God. God will at last save His people from the wiles of these cons.
Ezek 14—when people ask for counsel or help from the Lord, He will answer them as they deserve
A group of elders comes to Ezekiel for counsel from the Lord. But the Lord accuses them of setting up idols in their hearts and iniquity before their faces, blocking them from communion with the Lord. The Lord asks, Why should I listen to their inquiries? The Lord will answer them as they deserve:
“Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations . . . [all those who separate themselves from God by setting up idols in his heart, and block themselves from seeing/believing/living for God] . . . I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
The Lord says He will destroy false prophets from among His people. “That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.”
When a nation sins against God, He will send famine upon them, and noisy carnivores (making people afraid to even pass through the land), or warfare, or pestilence/pandemic. Then though 3 of the greatest prophets were among them (Noah, Daniel, and Job), those 3 would only save their own souls, by their own righteousness. Such is a warning to Jerusalem.
And yet, there will be a remnant that will return, and they will be comforted after all the afflictions the Lord has caused them to suffer. They “shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.” In other words, they will come to recognize that God had reason for sending/allowing all these troubles.
Ezek 15—Jerusalem is likened to a woody vine that is useless but for burning as a fuel
The wood of a woody vine is worthless for building useful things. It is tossed in the fire for fuel and is burned. Before it was burned it was useless, and afterward even moreso. The Lord will give Jerusalem to be burned, because its people were just as useless as the woody vine. They will escape one fire to be devoured by another. He will make the land desolate because of their sins, “and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.”
Perhaps these words seem harsh, but how often have we seen people who do nothing worthwhile with their potential, but waste their lives and end up destroying themselves and sometimes they take others down with them. How frustrating it must be to God! It’s no use pretending that God doesn’t have emotions, as the scriptures speak of them often.
We have already seen how the Lord judges every individual for the choices s/he makes, and in the end, all will be made right. He offers His mercy to all, as all are given the chance to change/repent/be forgiven. Justice demands consequences for choices: good consequences for good choices (obedience and repentance—both implying humility), and dreadful consequences for disobedience and refusal to repent (both implying self-conceit, egotism, arrogance, insolence and a host of like traits).
Ezek 16—the Lord through Ezekiel likens Jerusalem’s history in terms of a child the Lord rescued and cared for, but she became an adulterous wife, even a whore
Jerusalem was a Jebusite/Amorite city in the land of Canaan. It would appear from the text that it allied itself with the ancient Hittites. Thus, Jerusalem is spoken of as having an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. See Judges 1:21, Deut 7:1, and 1 Chron 1:13-14, Gen 10:16 which list the various peoples living in Canaan before the Israelites.
https://biblehub.com/genesis/10-16.htm
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jerusalem-from-canaanite-city-to-israelite-capital
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/who-were-the-hittites/ note that not all academic or scientific theories turn out to be true
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hittites
Ezekiel writes that Jerusalem was not given the ordinary care that a newborn would get. The Lord saw her, took pity on her, raised her, and took her in a marriage covenant (note the reference to spreading His skirt over her, as Boaz did Ruth, a sign of taking a woman under his protection). He clothed and fed her richly (prospered Jerusalem). But then she/Jerusalem was enamored with her own beauty (prosperity), and played the harlot with anyone passing by (such as neighboring gods). She used her riches for idolatry. She even sacrificed her children to idols. “Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?” She has forgotten where she came from and who rescued her.
An alternate understanding is that Jerusalem here is used as a symbol of the Israelites or Jews, whom God rescued from Egyptian neglect & abuse.
Now Jerusalem has idols in every street. She prostitutes herself to all, including the Egyptians and/or their gods. The Lord has allowed the Philistines, who hate her, to take out their despite on Jerusalem. Jerusalem played the whore with the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, and still wasn’t satisfied. (Note that Israelite & Jewish kings had sought alliances with the Assyrians & Babylonians, and no doubt brought their gods back to their people).
And yet, the Lord says, Jerusalem was not like a harlot who takes money for her services, but like an adulterous wife, who gives her husband’s gifts to her lovers. Because of this, the Lord will gather all her lovers and bare/shame her before them all. He will treat her as a woman who breaks her wedding vows. Her lovers will break her down, strip her of her goods, leave her destitute. They will stone her and thrust her through with swords. They will burn her houses with fire. “Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God . . .” Only then will the Lord be quiet and no more angry.
The proverb “As is the mother, so is her daughter” will be used to describe Jerusalem. That is, Jerusalem is like her Hittite mother. She and her sisters, Samaria and Sodom are alike. Since Sodom was destroyed in Abraham’s era, this seems to be calling a city of Ezekiel’s time by that name (probably one that was known for the same indecent behavior as Sodom). Their daughters are probably reference to nearby suburban cities or villages that were settled by, or subject to, them. But Jerusalem is even worse than those cities. Samaria wasn’t guilty of half Jerusalem’s sins. Those cities felt justified in their behavior because of Jerusalem, and that merits even more the condemnation of Jerusalem.
This Sodom and her daughters were guilty of pride/haughtiness, abundance of food, idleness (remember the “Idle hands” proverb), and not caring for their poor, beside their abominable behavior. So the Lord had them carried away captive.
Yet one day, the Lord will bring back Jerusalem and her two sisters. He will make an everlasting covenant with Jerusalem and make her sister cities her daughters, though not of the covenant. That is, Jerusalem will reign over those other cities. Jerusalem will be properly humble, and the Lord will be pacified toward her.
Ezek 17—a riddle/parable: the eagles & the cedars
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs…
Then a 2nd similar eagle comes along. The vine [we might call it a low shrub] shot branches up toward him, hoping the eagle would water her. She was planted in good soil, with good access to water. Then the Lord asks a startling question: will He not pull up the shrub, cut off the fruit [did the branches become a grape vine? Another well-known product of Lebanese hills. He speaks of furrows and agricultural workers.] and let the leaves wither when the hot east wind off the desert comes?
What does the parable mean? Ezekiel is to tell the rebellious House of Israel: the King of Babylon is come to Jerusalem and takes the king and princes back with him to Babylon [represented by the eagle taking the top branches to his city, a city of trade]. The Babylonian king made a covenant, took an oath, of the heir (seed) and the powerful he had taken captive. The Babylonian king would keep these captives low, like vines or shrubbery, but he would allow them to live. However, the Jewish king sent ambassadors to Egypt to ally with him in rebelling against Babylon, breaking his oath.
The Lord declares that the king will die in Babylon, and Pharoah will not come with his armies to rescue the Israelites. The Lord takes the breaking of this oath personally, perhaps because the Jewish king made the oath using God’s name (taking the name of the Lord in vain). Again, the king is to be recompensed for his sins. The Lord uses the metaphors of a net and a snare, which are used in hunting, for capturing the king/kingdom of Judah. In Babylon the Lord will make His case against the Jewish king for his trespass against Him (probably by violating the oath he made in God’s name). And all those who flee against captivity will be killed by the sword, and scattered to the winds. The Lord has spoken it, so it will come to pass.
The Lord seems to be the 2nd eagle, who takes the highest branches from the cedar and plants it in a high/eminent mountain of the land of Israel. There it will bring forth more branches and bear fruit. It will be a goodly cedar, tall enough for all kinds of birds to live in its shadow. All the other trees of the orchard will know that it was the Lord that brought down (humbled) the high tree, and exalted (raised up) the low tree or shrub. He is the One that dried up the greeItn/living tree, and made the dry/dead tree to flourish. “I the Lord have spoken and have done it.” That is, the Lord does what He says.
About the Cedars of Lebanon (a species of pine, which would bear pine cones & nuts)
https://www.greenactitude.com/en/characteristics-and-properties-of-the-cedar-of-lebanon-a-legendary-tree
https://cedarscamps.org/inspiration/article/cedars-of-lebanon/
http://pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=254
Ezek 21—prophecies against Jerusalem/Israel
Ezekiel is to prophesy against Jerusalem (seat of the kingdom of Judah, and at this point, Israel, since the loss of the northern kingdom, “the 10 tribes”). The Lord says He will draw His sword and cut off both the righteous and the wicked. Now after many times saying that each person is judged by his own behavior, and receives the consequences for it, this may seem unreconcilable. Yet in life we know that good people sometimes suffer because of or along with the wicked. We know that children do at times suffer for the mistakes of their parents (remember the Lord warning the wicked that He would punish [or allow the consequences] down to the 3rd & 4th generation). God knows His own mind and purposes, of course, but I have two thoughts on the matter: 1) in the final Judgment, all will be put right, and each person will receive the recompense of their attitudes and behaviors, and 2) though we suffer from the mistakes, even ill treatment of others in this life, when we continue to trust in the Lord, He will help us through them, as he did David who became king of Israel after years of afflictions.
The Lord says He has drawn His sword from its sheath and it will not return any more. We know from other times the Lord has promised that He will quit His anger and deal with Israel in kindness. So this can’t be taken literally. It’s obviously meant to last until He decides enough is enough.
Ezekiel’s sighs in dismay at the things to come will cause people to inquire why he is sighing. His reply is to be that the coming disaster will cause “every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.”
Next, the metaphor of a sword being sharpened & polished is to signify the coming conquerors. This sword holds posterity (rods/branches in the family tree) in contempt. There’s no reason to make merry. A picture of the opposite is in the words: crying out, howling, terrified people. The sword will even enter the private rooms of the powerful. When the Lord claps His hands together (as one sees rulers in the movies giving emphasis/immediacy to their orders), either His fury will rest/calm itself, or His fury will rest upon whom He will.
Ezekiel prophesies (at the Lord’s behest) that the Babylonians will come in two routes to attack Jerusalem, beside the Ammonites. The Lord shows the Babylonian king using soothsayers/fortune tellers (who employ animal livers) to decide which way to go. On the one hand (choice) Babylonian armies would use battering rams against Jerusalem, and earthworks, and a fort. But they will consider that a false sign.
The day is come for the contemptuous wicked ruler in Jerusalem. He will lose his crown and diadem (symbols of his authority). He’ll lose his high place, and people considered of low birth will rule instead, until the Messiah, whose right it is to the throne of Israel.
Re: son of man/Son of Man (one could also research and compare when the scriptures speak of a son of a specific person)
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/21-19.htm uses the word ben for son, scroll down to the Hebrew
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/28-2.htm uses the word ben, scroll down to the Hebrew
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/33-12.htm uses the word ben, similarly Ezek 33:2, 44:5, 8:12, 37:16
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/43-7.htm uses the word ben, scroll down to the Hebrew
https://biblehub.com/matthew/24-30.htm uses the word Huiou, scroll down to the Greek
https://biblehub.com/mark/14-21.htm uses the word Huios, similarly Mark 8:38
https://biblehub.com/luke/9-26.htm uses the word Huios, scroll down to the Greek
https://biblehub.com/john/12-34.htm uses the word Huion, scroll down to the Greek
It is unclear to me in verses 28-32 whether the Lord is talking about the Ammonites in a similar vein as He has just spoken of the Babylonians as the wielders of the burnished/polished sword, or whether He is speaking of them eventually getting their own taste of Babylon’s sword. I think it’s ok to just let it rest, and perhaps at a future time it will become clear. The Lord has enjoined us to study the scriptures essentially on a daily basis all our lives, and that could become either boring or overwhelming if we understood everything all at once. I think it a sign of His genius that He has given us scriptures that require a lifelong study. We must have patience.
Ezek 22—Jerusalem has earned the mocking of herself by nations near and far through her sins, as listed
Jerusalem is called a bloody city for the abominations committed therein:
--idols are made and worshipped
--the princes/elite abuse their position to shed blood, disrespect parents, oppress foreigners (probably people of other nations who live/work in the city), vex the fatherless & widows (probably those who have lost their fathers/husbands in war)
--the people of the city despise what is holy and dishonor the Sabbaths
--people give information to those that shed blood (no doubt similar to snitches/informers to the Mafia), eating upon the mountains refers to idol worship, within the city are those that commit lewdness (could be in worship of idols, or through prostitution, which sometimes are the same)
--there is disregard for the laws of incest in the Law of Moses (the Law of God), such as having sexual relations with a father’s wife or his daughter (not necessarily one’s own mother or her daughter), pressing upon a menstruous woman to have sex (which would be a humiliation to her), committing adultery
--bribes are taken so that the innocent are killed
--interest is charged on debts (forbidden in the Law of Moses)
--ill-gotten gains come by extortion
--in all these things the people have forgotten the Lord and His laws
The Lord requires redress/reparations for these dishonest gains and the bloodshed. The Lord asks poignantly, “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.” The people will be scattered among the heathen nations, and Jerusalem will burn like a refiner’s fire.
Rain is given as an image of washing a land clean, but that will not be the case with Jerusalem when the Lord shows His indignation for her (her people’s) sins. Her prophets conspire to devour souls like lions, taking the wealth as their prey and making widows through their policies (possibly referring to corrupting justice and warfare). They pretend to speak for the Lord when He has not spoken through them. Jerusalem’s priests have violated the Law of Moses and disrespected the holy things (of the Temple). In this they have used God’s name in vain. The princes/elites behave like wolves coming in for the kill in order to prosper dishonestly. The people oppress and rob, vex the poor and needy, and mistreat foreigners that live/work among them (probably as low-income labor).
The Lord looked for someone who would turn away His indignation (recall when He said He would spare Sodom from destruction if there were only 10 good people living there). So similarly, the Lord will rain down His wrath upon Jerusalem in requital for the sins her people.
Ezek 23—the 2 Israelite kingdoms are likened to 2 promiscuous, whorish sisters
Samaria (capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, the “10 tribes”) and Jerusalem (capital of the kingdom of Judah, which included the tribe of Benjamin) are likened to 2 sisters that committed whoredoms even in their youth in Egypt.
Samaria played the harlot with her neighbor Assyria (made alliance with Assyria until it was too late). She was so impressed with the finery of Assyria, when Assyria was rising in power, and sought to benefit thereby (Assyria grew rich through trade and then it became a military power, plundering and causing others to pay tribute). Samaria took up the Assyrian gods, who seemed so beneficent, beside the gods of Egypt. So the Lord left her to her lovers, the gods/power of the Assyrians, who exposed and exploited her in conquest and despoil. They took her children captive and destroyed her in warfare. Her fall became famous.
Jerusalem saw all this, and yet became even more corrupt. She also was bedazzled with the wealth and power of Assyria’s neighbor, Babylon/Chaldea. She saw (or heard of) the walls of Babylon on which were depicted all the glories of their empire. She sent embassies to profit from an alliance. She adopted Babylonian gods, which God saw as committing whoredoms with idol worship. Her mind was alienated from God by them, so God alienated Himself from her. Jerusalem, like her sister Samaria, went right back to her behavior in Egypt, going after the idols of that land. It was like breeding donkeys to horses, producing either mules or hinnies (a more horse-like crossbreed).
https://www.helpfulhorsehints.com/hinny-vs-mule-facts/
As Samaria was conquered by Assyria, Jerusalem will likewise be taken by her “lovers”, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and Assyrians (meaning the nations of Mesopotamia). The engines/weapons of war were chariots, wagons, wheels, armies, and armor. The conquerors will cut off noses and ears, killing others. The sons & daughters will be taken captive, and the rest will be consumed when the cities are burned. They will take away their clothes and jewelry as booty. The memory of their sufferings in Egypt will be swallowed up in the afflictions of the Babylonian conquest. The admiration for the empires/kingdoms of Mesopotamia will change to hatred. The Lord will turn the people over to their enemies because Jerusalem/the kingdom of Judah behaved just as foolishly, as abominably as Samaria/the northern kingdom of Israel. It is likened to drinking of the same cup. As her sister was, so Jerusalem will be “laughed to scorn and had in derision . . .” The picture of a depressed drunk is conjured.
The 2 sister kingdoms committed adultery (vs their true husband, the Lord) with their idols, even sacrificing their children to their idols (for which any true husband/father would become incensed). And then in the same day people would come to God’s temple to worship, showing utter contempt/sacrilege toward the Lord’s Sabbaths. The Lord paints a vivid picture of a whore preparing for her lovers. But the righteous will judge her (the whorish wife) for what she is, and she will be dealt with as spoken in the Law (stoning, like when catapults are used in a siege, and other enactments of death). Thus will idolatries be cleansed/cleared away from the land.
All this will cause the people to know/acknowledge that the Lord God is in charge.
Ezek 24—9th year of Zedekiah Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem, parable of the pot, Ezekiel can’t mourn
Near the end of the 9th year (of Zedekiah’s reign in Jerusalem), the Lord tells Ezekiel to note the day as the one in which the king of Babylon decides to come against Jerusalem.
Here’s the parable: a pot of water is set over a fire, and meat & bones are added to it, as if making a stew. Bones are also added to the fire, to get it burning hot and boil the meat. Jerusalem is likened to such a pot wherein the cooked blood rises as scum to the top. The blood should have been poured out on the ground and covered with dirt. Instead, the blood is set on a rock out in plain sight for all to see, to their disgust. After the scummy water is poured out, the pot is to be set on the fire empty in order to burn it out (as one would burn out a Dutch oven over the fire to clean it). But the Lord will not purge the filthiness of Jerusalem until He causes His fury to come upon the city (in full). He affirms in the strongest terms that He will do it.
The Lord tells Ezekiel of the impending death of his wife, the desire of his eyes (that is, the love of his life). But he is not to mourn for her. This would have been truly counter to his culture as well as his feelings. He is not even to shed any tears for her, let alone any of the usual signs of mourning.
People question Ezekiel about not mourning his wife. He explains that the Lord has told him to tell them that the things they hold most dear (the Temple and their children) will be destroyed but they, like Ezekiel, will not be able to mourn them. Instead, they will be mourning their sins (and the sins of the nation). And when it comes to pass, they will know that the Lord knew/caused it to happen. When it happens and a person escapes to tell Ezekiel, then Ezekiel will be able to speak once again.
With what pathos we read, “in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters . . .”
Category: lies
Jeremiah part 4–various prophecies concerning the Israelites and other Middle Eastern nations
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian-w-scott/4621985308/
Compare Jer 27 (Babylon will conquer all)
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .” Jeremiah is to put on yokes (used for carrying burdens, or for animals used in plowing) and fetters. He is to send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Tyre, Zidon, and the Ammonites via the messengers they have sent to Zedekiah in Jerusalem, along with a message from God: I am the Creator of the earth and all the people and beasts upon it, and I give control of it to whomever I want. I have given all your lands and animals to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. All nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson. When their time is up, other nations and kings will conquer Babylon. Any nation that refuses to serve Babylon will be killed by the sword (war), famine, and pestilence/disease. So don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers who say it won’t be so. They are prophesying lies to you. But those nations willing to be tributary to Babylon will be able to remain in their own lands.
Jer 22 Jeremiah is sent to the king of Judah, calling for repentance & pronouncing consequences
3 Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
Though the king’s house is beautiful as Gilead (noted for healing balm) and Lebanon (noted for its cedars), it will become a wilderness and desolate. Passers by will ask one another, Why did God do this to this great city (Jerusalem)? The answer: “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.”
The Lord says not to weep for those who were killed, but for those that were carried captive, who would never see their native land again. Then he references Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah “which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more . . .” For a discussion of Shallum, see https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_chronicles/3-15.htm , which references 1 Chron 3:15, four sons of king Josiah.
The Lord tells the king,
13 ¶ Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar?...
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
The Lord extols the virtues of king Josiah: “did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord.”
Verses 18-19 & 24 specify Jehoiakim, who inherited his father Josiah’s throne. This once again calls into question who Shallum was. Could it have been another name for Jehoiakim? Could either this writer or the writer of 1 Chron 3:15 have confused the identities?
The Lord speaks again of Lebanon and its cedars in verses 20-23. The context seems to be idolatry committed there, as ancients used forested hills (“high places”) for idolatrous parties. Those false gods are often referred to as the lovers whom the wife (the Israelites) committed adultery with. The destruction of the land is often compared in simile or metaphor to the pains of childbirth.
Even if the king’s son was God’s signet ring, the symbol of His authority, he would still not save him from the disaster to come. The king will be given into the hands of his most feared enemy, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and his Chaldean warriors. He will be carried away captive, never to return to his birthplace. The king’s son Coniah is as despised as a broken idol or an unwanted piece of pottery. He and his children are to be cast out/taken away to die in a foreign land. The king and his son might as well be childless, as far as having heirs to the throne of Judah.
Jer 23 Woe to the pastors, the shepherds who should have cared for God’s flocks; yet God will gather and save them—the promise of a Messiah
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
5 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
One day, instead of looking back at the Exodus as proof of the existence, power, and mercy of God, people will speak of the gathering of the house of Israel from the north, and from all the countries of the diaspora.
9 ¶ Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
The Lord through His prophet Jeremiah pronounces the consequences to the false prophets (particularly the prophets of Baal in Samaria) and religious leaders: they will fall as if walking on slippery paths in the dark. “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” They will be fed with bitterness. The Lord warns the people not to listen to these prophets who speak from their own heart/interest, not the word of the Lord. They reassure the wicked that they will have peace and nothing ill will come to them. But the anger of the Lord will fall on the wicked like a whirlwind, and His anger will not die down until His purposes are fulfilled. In the last days people will perfectly understand.
I, the Lord, did not send those prophets, yet they went; I did not speak to them, and yet they prophesied. If they had stood in God’s counsel, and caused the people to hear His words, they would have turned the people from their evil ways. He asks, Am I a God only in the present? “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?”
The Lord rebukes the prophets that tell lies in His name, claiming to have dreamed dreams from the Lord. “. . . yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name [replacing it] for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream [from God], let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. ” (Maybe this was the Lord's word to Jeremiah.) False prophets are as useless as chaff compared to the nutrition of kernels of wheat.
God’s word is like a purifying fire, like a hammer that breaks ore in pieces. He is against prophets that steal their neighbor’s words (Jeremiah’s words), and that say, “The burden of the Lord . . .[as if God had given them the words to say].” He is against those that prophesy false dreams, and in telling those dreams, “cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” The Lord warns these false prophets/priests/people from pretending to speak for Him, who have perverted “the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.” “I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”
Jer 24 Jeremiah’s vision after Nebuchadrezzar took Jehoiakim’s son, princes, craftsmen captive
Jeremiah’s vision from the Lord: 2 baskets of figs in front of the Temple—one of very good figs, the other inedible. The Jews carried captive to the land of the Chaldeans are symbolized by the good figs. “For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” The inedible figs are symbolic of Zedekiah and those left in Jerusalem/Judah, and those that go to Egypt. “And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers." We may be surprised by who the Lord considers the good figs and the bad figs; we may be surprised by what God tells/counsels us to do. What may seem like a disaster may be what God wants us to do (and we know what He asks turns out to be best), and what we think will save us from disaster may prove our foolish insistence that we know better than Him.
Jer 25 The Lord through Jeremiah about the people of Judah, 4th year of Jehoiakim, 70 yrs in Babylon
Jeremiah tells all the people of Judah & Jerusalem: from the 13th year of king Josiah to this day (the 23rd year since) “I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.”
4 And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Because they have not listened, the Lord says He will bring “all the families of the north” and Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon (His servant—that is, he serves God’s purpose in this instance) against Judah and all the neighboring nations, and utterly destroy them. The joyous sounds of weddings, of grinding the harvest, and celebrations will no more be heard. The nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years.
At the end of 70 years the king of Babylon, his nation, and the Chaldeans will be punished for their iniquities with perpetual desolations. “For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.”
Jeremiah is to give the cup of destruction for the nations to drink: Jerusalem/Judah, Pharaoh/Egypt, the kings/people of Uz, the Philistines (including Azzah/Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod), Ashkelon (seaport just north of Gaza), Edom, Moab, the descendants of Ammon, Tyre & Sidon/Zidon, kings of Arabia including the city of Dedan, Tema (a city of the Ishmaelites), Buz (possibly people living near Edom), Zimri (possibly a city in the land inheritance of Simeon), Elam (land east of Babylonia), Medes (east of Babylonia), all the kings of the north (around Babylon), all the kingdoms of the [middle eastern] world, including “the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea”. And after all these have drunk from the cup of God’s wrath, Sheshach/Babylon will then be made to drink of it as well. All these will be destroyed in war. He says they will fall and rise no more, but He has promised that eventually the nation of Israel will return and rise again, so perhaps this is a hyperbolic, exclamatory punctuation to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, or refers only to the current kings of those nations. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Sheshach.html
Jeremiah likens the Lord to a roaring lion, which brings fear to all who hear. He likens the kings of the earth to shepherds, who certainly would fear to hear the roar of a lion. The shepherds will have no way to flee, nor any way to save their flocks (people). The peaceful pastures/lands will be destroyed. Like a lion leaving his den the Lord will come out to wreak destruction on the corrupted nations of the earth.
Jer 30 God promises to bring Israel & Judah back to the land He promised to their Founding Fathers
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
3 For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
The Lord recognizes the fear in the hearts of His people. Interestingly, He asks rhetorically if men give birth, so why are the they acting like women in the throes of labor? He acknowledges the troubled times, but promises that the Israelites will be brought out of it. The yoke of bondage/captivity will be broken off their necks, and they will serve God and the rightful heir of David the king, whom God will raise up.
10 ¶ Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
“All thy lovers [false allies and idolatries] have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.” But why cry about it? The injury seems incurable, a just injury for the nation’s wickedness.
16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Israel’s cities will be rebuilt, and “out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them . . . Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.”
And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Jer 31 God makes a new covenant with Israel & Judah; mention of Ramah, Justice, God in our hearts
“At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people . . . The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
The Lord uses the metaphor of a virgin dressed for a party with music and dancing. This is curious, because He has already accused the House of Israel of being metaphorically an adulterous wife. There’s more than one way to explain this, from translating issues to the miracle of God’s forgiveness. One option might be that the adulterous wife will have been put away (divorced), and her youthful daughter (those whom the Lord will gather from afar and return to the land of Israel) will once again be able to find joy, dancing and singing.
Then the Lord paints a picture of the returning Israelites: vineyards will be replanted and produce plentifully. The watchmen (prophets & leaders) of Israel will proclaim, Let’s arise and go to (worship) our God in Jerusalem (where the Temple is). “For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.” The Lord says He will bring His people from the North and the ends of the earth, and evinces the inclusivity of the gathering by specifying even the blind, the lame, and the pregnant (even those giving birth) . . . all who would find the travel difficult, and might have been left behind if God didn’t insist. It will be a huge gathering.
9 They shall come with weeping [for joy], and with supplications [gentle urging] will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn [Joseph’s son Ephraim inherited the right of firstborn when Jacob’s firstborn lost his birthright through sin].
10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he [Jacob/Israel].
The remnant of Israel will come to the hills of Jerusalem with “the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.” Young and old alike will dance for joy, and God will take away their sorrows. The people and the priests, who depend upon the people for their sustenance, will be satiated with the goodness/blessings of the Lord (implying the abundant fruitfulness of the land).
Here is found the much quoted scripture, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel [Rachel] weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” Ramah was a place about 5 mi north of Jerusalem (while Bethlehem was about 5 mi south of Jerusalem). Rachel gave birth to her last son Benjamin (Joseph’s only full brother) as the family was traveling to Bethlehem, and Rachel died there in childbirth. Rachel’s name for Bejamin was Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow”, but his father Jacob called him Benjamin. The place Ramah has other importance in the Old Testament story, but my interest here is mainly about Rachel’s symbolic lament. Ramah was part of the tribe of Benjamin’s land inheritance. Apparently either in the Assyrian or Babylonian conquest the place suffered particular destruction. It seems to have been an important defense site for the kingdom of Judah.
https://www.theholyscript.com/where-is-ramah-in-the-bible/ about Ramah
https://www.gotquestions.org/Ramah-in-the-Bible.html about Ramah
https://www.gotquestions.org/voice-heard-in-Ramah.html Ramah vs Bethlehem
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/2-18.htm Matt 2:18 vs Jer 31:15, Rachel’s death etc
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/31-15.htm scroll down to the commentaries
But then the Lord says, No longer weep, for they (Rachel’s/Israel’s) children/descendants will be brought back from the land of their enemies. Hope is restored. Symbolically, Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) had been bemoaning the Lord’s chastisement for his iniquity, and says he has repented. The Lord calls Ephraim his dear son, whom He still remembers and will have mercy for him. The Lord tells Israel to again set up the waymarks (road signs, so to speak), for they will use those roads to return to their cities.
The prophet says that the Lord has brought about something new: a woman encompassing a man. This would have reference to the usual way of considering men to be in charge of sex. In other words, human ideas of how things are or how they go will be tossed upside down. No doubt the expectation was that once you were carried away captive, you would never return (including your posterity). When the captives are brought back people will say, “The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.” The land and cities of Judah will once again support agriculture, both crops and flocks. The Lord will refresh the weary and worried.
After this happy dream Jeremiah awakens with sweet memories.
The Lord promises that the Israelites & Jews, and their animals, will bear plentiful offspring. Just as the Lord has seen to their destruction, He will see to their re-construction.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. [compare Ezek 18]
The Lord will make a new covenant with Israel & Judah, not the old one of the Exodus (which they broke, despite the Lord’s care for them).
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The Lord who made the sun to light the day, and the moon & stars to light the night, who causes the storms of the sea to roar, who marshals armies of angels, declares that His power over all those would cease sooner than His decree that Israel will never cease to exist as a nation. It’s just as impossible to measure the Universe or to understand the founding of the earth as for God to cast off Israel, despite all his culpability/guilt.
All the environs of Jerusalem will be holy, and never destroyed again. Though the Jews/Israelites returned from the Babylonian captivity, they were scattered again by Rome. So this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled entirely.
Jer 47 Woes to come to the Philistines, Tyre & Sidon; spoken before the Pharoah attacked Gaza
Babylon is likened to a flood inundating all the land. The noise of the horses’ hooves, the rumbling of chariot wheels will put such fear in the people that even fathers will flee without looking back for their children. Gaza & Ashkelon will be made bald (desolate). How long will they be in mourning? (One of the rituals of mourning was to cut oneself.) Poetically Jeremiah asks how long before the Lord’s sword (the king of Babylon) is put back in its scabbard. But it can’t be stilled because the Lord has given it a command against the kingdoms of the coast: the Philistines & the Phoenicians. These are at least in part the modern countries of Gaza and Lebanon.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philistine-people
https://www.britannica.com/place/Phoenicia
Jer 48 Woe to the Moabites
4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
7 ¶ For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh [the Moabite god] shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken.
9 Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.
10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
11 ¶ Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees [dregs, the bottom of the cup/barrel], and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity [before] . . .
The chapter mentions various Moabite cities, descriptions and metaphors of the calamities of being conquered, and condemnation for how the Moabites delighted over the ills that happened to Israel, making Israel the subject of their derision. “We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart . . . Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the Lord . . . Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives..” Yet Jeremiah still mourns over the destruction of Moab as one who cares about the suffering of others. And God promises that in the latter days He will rescue Moab from captivity.
Jer 49 Prophecies against Ammon, Edom, Syria, Kedar, Hazor, Elam (comp Obadiah & Jer 27)
Apparently the Ammonites decided to take advantage of Israelite troubles and fill the void, that is, take over territories the Israelites could not hold. But the Ammonites will have their own share of troubles/conquest. “Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.” Yet the Ammonites will also return from captivity one day.
When grapes ae harvested some are left on the vine. Thieves take their limit, but something is still left. “But I have made Esau [Edom] bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not [that is, he is annhilated].” Though proud guerillas fight from the hills & caves, they’ll be conquered. Still, the Lord invites the widows to put their trust in Him, and promises to watch over the fatherless.
Damascus, the Syrian capital, has/will become weak “and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad [this famous king of Syria became its symbol].
Kedar, an Arabian tribe descended from Ishmael the half brother of Isaac, will also be conquered. “Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.”
Counterpoint to Kedar in the south, the ancient Canaanite city of Hazor in the north would be overthrown by Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. “Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation [Babylon], that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. And their [Hazorite] camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons [some lizard species], and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.”
Jeremiah prophesies against Elam, Babylon’s neighbor, “I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them . . .” The Elamites will be scattered to the 4 winds and into every country. But eventually, they too will return to their lands.
Jer 50 God vs Babylon & Chaldea; Israelites will return to their land
1 The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel [a Babylonian idol] is confounded, Merodach [another god of Babylon] is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
And in those days the Israelites & Jews will go forth weeping for joy, seeking the Lord their God, returning to Zion/Jerusalem, saying, “Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”
God’s people have been lost sheep, and it’s their shepherds that caused them to go astray. All their adversaries justified themselves in doing them harm because they had sinned against the Lord (in whom Justice dwells and the hope of their fathers/ancestors).
But God will raise up an alliance from the north against Babylon. Note that the Persian/Medean empire (“an assembly of great nations”) was north of the Babylonian/Chaldean empire. And why would the Lord turn on Babylon, whom He had called his servant? Because they had grown fat and full of pride. War will come to Babylon, archers will shoot at her, her foundations & walls will be thrown down, her agriculture will fail because the peoples who were forced to work the land will flee to their own countries.
Israel was like a flock of sheep scattered by lions: first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians. Just as the Lord punished the Assyrian king, He will punish Babylonian king. Those who look for sin in Israel and Judah will not find it, for the Lord will pardon those who are left.
Merathaim is another word for Babylon, meaning “double bitterness” and “double rebellion”. Pekod is used to depict the Chaldeans, perhaps meaning “punishment”. Babylon is metaphorically called “the hammer of the whole earth”, but astonishingly, it will be broken. Babylon is caught in a snare by the Lord, in a sense of it’s own making, because it has contended with Him. No doubt this refers to the pride of the Babylonian/Chaldean empire. Babylon is to be recompensed, meaning that it’s not innocent: it will get what it deserves. “Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.” (Comp Isa 14:4-22, Isa 42:5-25, Rev 14:8) Verse 36 also mentions liars. Verse 38 speaks of Babylon/Chaldea being a land of graven images, and that “they are mad upon their idols.” That is, they go crazy with all kinds of idols and the veneration they give them.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
A brief outline of the history & fate of Babylon:
https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/babylon.htm
https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/where-was-babylon-and-what-happened-to-it.html
In light of the history of Babylon through the centuries, as outlined in the links above, the passage “many kings shall be raised up from the coasts [ends] of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea [that is, the noise of the battlefield], and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon” could refer to Alexander's empire with its one-time capital Babylon. One empire after another conquered Babylon until it became just an archaeological site. No doubt those who had been conquered and carried captive by the Babylonians were anxious to see it never again inhabited, and obliterated as Sodom & Gomorrah (which we are uncertain as to their exact location still), and probably they looked for the fulfillment of that prophecy in the relative short term. We, too, must recognize that God fulfills His word, but not necessarily on our timeline or in our expected timeframe.
Jer 51 the Lord continues against Babylon—prophesied in the 4th year of Zedekiah when he went to Babylon (on an errand to Nebuchadnezzar, presumably, before being taken captive in his 11th year)
At the end of this chapter it’s explained that this prophecy was sent with “a quiet prince” when he accompanied Zedekiah to Babylon in the 4th year of his reign. Jeremiah tells this prince that as he reads the prophecy when he gets there, he should exclaim Babylon’s downfall (presumably quietly, to himself), and then tie a rock to it and toss it into the Euphrates, likening it to the eventual destruction of that place. We might wonder why take all the trouble to write the prophecy in a book, send it with a guy to Babylon (a very dangerous thing to do), then toss it in the river. One theory: this quiet prince may have been commanded to be brought as a prisoner/hostage to “ensure” Zedekiah’s compliance to Babylonian demands/suzerainty. One might even speculate that he could have been a companion of the young Zedekiah (who was only in his 20s), or he could have been a disciple of Jeremiah. How discouraged he would be feeling! Jeremiah thus offers him some hope that this will not last forever. And maybe he could even share this hope with the previous captives who had been taken to Babylon under the reign of Jehoiachin, but the actual evidence was destroyed, so that they could not be charged (nor Jeremiah charged) with the damning document.
The conquerors of Babylon are likened to a powerful wind, even those that fan the fire of a furnace/smelting operation. When Babylon is attacked it seems her neighbors whom she had conquered will also rise up against her. This will signify to the Israelites that God has not forgotten them, despite that they had filled their land with sinning against Him. This will be their chance to flee Babylon.
Babylon had served as a golden cup from which the Lord had made the whole earth (the middle easterners would consider that as the middle east) to get “falling down drunk.” But now suddenly Babylon is fallen/destroyed, wounded such that she seeks a remedy for the pain and for her injury. Those who care for her will howl (mourn aloud) for her mortal wounds. They would have healed her, but it’s hopeless, so they go to their own countries with shrugging shoulders that she got what she deserved. Verse 11 foretells that it will be the Medes that will come against Babylon. One might be tempted to see in verse 13 the end of Alexander the Great in Babylon.
The power of the Lord is His wisdom & understanding, by which He created the earth and the heaven or atmosphere, the waters above (as clouds), the volcanic vapors & evaporated waters, the rain/lightning/weather. By comparison men are brutes, worshipping inert/impotent/passive/false gods of their own making.
“The portion of Jacob”, meaning God, is not like those false gods. He created all things. Jacob/Israel is the branch of His inheritance (He has made Israel His heir.) He is called “the Lord of hosts”, that is, He commands hosts/armies of angels. With God’s might He, or Israel/His people, can conquer all other nations and armies.
The Lord is against those conquerors that destroy all the earth. He will destroy them. He references the tendency of people to take the stones of a ruined city or building to build or rebuild, saying there won’t be anything left of Babylon to use for building/re-building. He references setting up a flag, blowing a trumpet to call together the armies of nations to war against Babylon. Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz were provinces in the ancient kingdom of Uratu, a particular adversary of Assyria, but also of the Babylonians. It’s an area in the present convergence of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. The Medes were also north of Babylon. From this chapter we get a view of the end of Babylon by competing countries/empires in which the soldiers were afraid to even come out of their holds. The passes were blocked, the reeds of the wetlands were burned. Babylon’s enemies overflow them like a flood (v. 42).
https://biblehub.com/topical/a/ashchenaz.htm
https://www.worldhistory.org/Urartu_Civilization/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6F2ZAlVOIc&ab_channel=HistorywithCy 10.5 min video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsI2EYwrD5A&ab_channel=Saelind 48 min video
Jeremiah speaks for a few verses as the embodiment of the Israelites, saying, “Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon [large lizard], he hath filled his belly with my delicates [organs], he hath cast me out. The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.” In response, the Lord promises to advocate for His people, to take vengeance for their sake, to cause drought in the land.
An interesting phrase is “like lambs to the slaughter”, see also Isa 51:40, Isa 53:7, Jer 11:19, Acts 8:32.
“My people, go ye out of the midst of her [Babylon], and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.” Another phrase or thought of interest: “go ye out of the midst” of wickedness, see Isa 6:9-12 (wicked Israel is removed from the land), Is 52:9-12 (Assyria), Jer 6:1 (Jerusalem, fleeing Babylonian destruction thereof), Jer 50:8 (Babylon & Chaldea), Ezek 7:4 (recompense for abominations), Ezek 14:8 (idolaters to be taken out of the midst of God’s people), Ezek 20:10 (Egypt at the Exodus), Micah 6:4 (out of Egypt), Lev 16:16 (atone for uncleanness among God’s people), Psalm 137 (by the rivers of Babylon Israelites wept),
“And lest your heart faint,” the Lord foretells of rumours of wars, violence in the land, leaders contending with each other, violence in the overthrow of wicked Babylon. But these are to be followed by singing in heaven and earth for the conquest of Babylon (symbolic epitome of evil). The Lord enjoins His people to remember Him and the holy city Jerusalem. Although the sanctuary has been defiled by strangers (causing shame to His people), the days will come that God will “do judgment”. No matter how high & mighty Babylon (the wicked) gets, the Lord will bring spoilers to her. Her leaders & rulers, drunken with (power and) lacking (fore-)sight will be put to bed forever by the Lord. Despite her impregnable appearance, she will be broken up and burned.
(see Jer 52 under part 3 of the Book of Jeremiah)
The Books of Micah & Joel
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
Beth-ezel—“adjoining house”, unknown place; see https://bibleatlas.org/beth-ezel.htm
Maroth—“bitterness”, or “grief”, not far from Jerusalem “mentioned in connection with the invasion of the Assyrian army” https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/maroth/
Lachish—an ancient Canaanite, then Israelite, city in the lowlands of Judea
Zion—can refer to the city of Jerusalem, or the land of Judah, or the whole nation of Israel. https://www.gotquestions.org/Zion.html
Moresheth-gath—“possession of Gath”, Micah’s home https://bibleatlas.org/moresheth-gath.htm
Achzib—“falsehood” or “disappointment”, one of 2 places see https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/achzib.html
Mareshah—“crest of a hill”, city of lowland Judah, fortified by Rehoboam to protect Jerusalem https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Mareshah
Adullam—“justice of the people”, https://www.biblestudy.org/meaning-names/adullam.html
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.)
An interesting, perhaps more understandable, reworking of this chapter is https://biblehub.com/bsb/micah/2.htm
Micah 3
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:
https://biblehub.com/micah/5-1.htm
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.
About the Sabeans, see
https://biblehub.com/topical/s/sabeans.htm
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12969-sabeans
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].
Various ideas about “the valley of Shittim”:
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/joel/3-18.htm
https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13593-shittim
Compare:
Joel 3:10 to Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3—plowshares to swords vs swords to plowshares
Joel 3:15 to Amos 5:18, 20 and Isa 13:10—the day of the Lord will be dark (also Joel 2:2, 10, 31)
Joel 3:16 to Amos 1:2—the Lord will roar
Joel 3:18 to Amos 9:13—mountains dripping with wine
scripturescript 
