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 . . .”
Tag: destruction
Jeremiah part 4–various prophecies concerning the Israelites and other Middle Eastern nations
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian-w-scott/4621985308/
Compare Jer 27 (Babylon will conquer all)
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .” Jeremiah is to put on yokes (used for carrying burdens, or for animals used in plowing) and fetters. He is to send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Tyre, Zidon, and the Ammonites via the messengers they have sent to Zedekiah in Jerusalem, along with a message from God: I am the Creator of the earth and all the people and beasts upon it, and I give control of it to whomever I want. I have given all your lands and animals to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. All nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson. When their time is up, other nations and kings will conquer Babylon. Any nation that refuses to serve Babylon will be killed by the sword (war), famine, and pestilence/disease. So don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers who say it won’t be so. They are prophesying lies to you. But those nations willing to be tributary to Babylon will be able to remain in their own lands.
Jer 22 Jeremiah is sent to the king of Judah, calling for repentance & pronouncing consequences
3 Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
Though the king’s house is beautiful as Gilead (noted for healing balm) and Lebanon (noted for its cedars), it will become a wilderness and desolate. Passers by will ask one another, Why did God do this to this great city (Jerusalem)? The answer: “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.”
The Lord says not to weep for those who were killed, but for those that were carried captive, who would never see their native land again. Then he references Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah “which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more . . .” For a discussion of Shallum, see https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_chronicles/3-15.htm , which references 1 Chron 3:15, four sons of king Josiah.
The Lord tells the king,
13 ¶ Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar?...
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
The Lord extols the virtues of king Josiah: “did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord.”
Verses 18-19 & 24 specify Jehoiakim, who inherited his father Josiah’s throne. This once again calls into question who Shallum was. Could it have been another name for Jehoiakim? Could either this writer or the writer of 1 Chron 3:15 have confused the identities?
The Lord speaks again of Lebanon and its cedars in verses 20-23. The context seems to be idolatry committed there, as ancients used forested hills (“high places”) for idolatrous parties. Those false gods are often referred to as the lovers whom the wife (the Israelites) committed adultery with. The destruction of the land is often compared in simile or metaphor to the pains of childbirth.
Even if the king’s son was God’s signet ring, the symbol of His authority, he would still not save him from the disaster to come. The king will be given into the hands of his most feared enemy, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and his Chaldean warriors. He will be carried away captive, never to return to his birthplace. The king’s son Coniah is as despised as a broken idol or an unwanted piece of pottery. He and his children are to be cast out/taken away to die in a foreign land. The king and his son might as well be childless, as far as having heirs to the throne of Judah.
Jer 23 Woe to the pastors, the shepherds who should have cared for God’s flocks; yet God will gather and save them—the promise of a Messiah
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
5 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
One day, instead of looking back at the Exodus as proof of the existence, power, and mercy of God, people will speak of the gathering of the house of Israel from the north, and from all the countries of the diaspora.
9 ¶ Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
The Lord through His prophet Jeremiah pronounces the consequences to the false prophets (particularly the prophets of Baal in Samaria) and religious leaders: they will fall as if walking on slippery paths in the dark. “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” They will be fed with bitterness. The Lord warns the people not to listen to these prophets who speak from their own heart/interest, not the word of the Lord. They reassure the wicked that they will have peace and nothing ill will come to them. But the anger of the Lord will fall on the wicked like a whirlwind, and His anger will not die down until His purposes are fulfilled. In the last days people will perfectly understand.
I, the Lord, did not send those prophets, yet they went; I did not speak to them, and yet they prophesied. If they had stood in God’s counsel, and caused the people to hear His words, they would have turned the people from their evil ways. He asks, Am I a God only in the present? “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?”
The Lord rebukes the prophets that tell lies in His name, claiming to have dreamed dreams from the Lord. “. . . yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name [replacing it] for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream [from God], let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. ” (Maybe this was the Lord's word to Jeremiah.) False prophets are as useless as chaff compared to the nutrition of kernels of wheat.
God’s word is like a purifying fire, like a hammer that breaks ore in pieces. He is against prophets that steal their neighbor’s words (Jeremiah’s words), and that say, “The burden of the Lord . . .[as if God had given them the words to say].” He is against those that prophesy false dreams, and in telling those dreams, “cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” The Lord warns these false prophets/priests/people from pretending to speak for Him, who have perverted “the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.” “I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”
Jer 24 Jeremiah’s vision after Nebuchadrezzar took Jehoiakim’s son, princes, craftsmen captive
Jeremiah’s vision from the Lord: 2 baskets of figs in front of the Temple—one of very good figs, the other inedible. The Jews carried captive to the land of the Chaldeans are symbolized by the good figs. “For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” The inedible figs are symbolic of Zedekiah and those left in Jerusalem/Judah, and those that go to Egypt. “And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers." We may be surprised by who the Lord considers the good figs and the bad figs; we may be surprised by what God tells/counsels us to do. What may seem like a disaster may be what God wants us to do (and we know what He asks turns out to be best), and what we think will save us from disaster may prove our foolish insistence that we know better than Him.
Jer 25 The Lord through Jeremiah about the people of Judah, 4th year of Jehoiakim, 70 yrs in Babylon
Jeremiah tells all the people of Judah & Jerusalem: from the 13th year of king Josiah to this day (the 23rd year since) “I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.”
4 And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Because they have not listened, the Lord says He will bring “all the families of the north” and Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon (His servant—that is, he serves God’s purpose in this instance) against Judah and all the neighboring nations, and utterly destroy them. The joyous sounds of weddings, of grinding the harvest, and celebrations will no more be heard. The nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years.
At the end of 70 years the king of Babylon, his nation, and the Chaldeans will be punished for their iniquities with perpetual desolations. “For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.”
Jeremiah is to give the cup of destruction for the nations to drink: Jerusalem/Judah, Pharaoh/Egypt, the kings/people of Uz, the Philistines (including Azzah/Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod), Ashkelon (seaport just north of Gaza), Edom, Moab, the descendants of Ammon, Tyre & Sidon/Zidon, kings of Arabia including the city of Dedan, Tema (a city of the Ishmaelites), Buz (possibly people living near Edom), Zimri (possibly a city in the land inheritance of Simeon), Elam (land east of Babylonia), Medes (east of Babylonia), all the kings of the north (around Babylon), all the kingdoms of the [middle eastern] world, including “the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea”. And after all these have drunk from the cup of God’s wrath, Sheshach/Babylon will then be made to drink of it as well. All these will be destroyed in war. He says they will fall and rise no more, but He has promised that eventually the nation of Israel will return and rise again, so perhaps this is a hyperbolic, exclamatory punctuation to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, or refers only to the current kings of those nations. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Sheshach.html
Jeremiah likens the Lord to a roaring lion, which brings fear to all who hear. He likens the kings of the earth to shepherds, who certainly would fear to hear the roar of a lion. The shepherds will have no way to flee, nor any way to save their flocks (people). The peaceful pastures/lands will be destroyed. Like a lion leaving his den the Lord will come out to wreak destruction on the corrupted nations of the earth.
Jer 30 God promises to bring Israel & Judah back to the land He promised to their Founding Fathers
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
3 For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
The Lord recognizes the fear in the hearts of His people. Interestingly, He asks rhetorically if men give birth, so why are the they acting like women in the throes of labor? He acknowledges the troubled times, but promises that the Israelites will be brought out of it. The yoke of bondage/captivity will be broken off their necks, and they will serve God and the rightful heir of David the king, whom God will raise up.
10 ¶ Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
“All thy lovers [false allies and idolatries] have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.” But why cry about it? The injury seems incurable, a just injury for the nation’s wickedness.
16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Israel’s cities will be rebuilt, and “out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them . . . Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.”
And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Jer 31 God makes a new covenant with Israel & Judah; mention of Ramah, Justice, God in our hearts
“At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people . . . The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
The Lord uses the metaphor of a virgin dressed for a party with music and dancing. This is curious, because He has already accused the House of Israel of being metaphorically an adulterous wife. There’s more than one way to explain this, from translating issues to the miracle of God’s forgiveness. One option might be that the adulterous wife will have been put away (divorced), and her youthful daughter (those whom the Lord will gather from afar and return to the land of Israel) will once again be able to find joy, dancing and singing.
Then the Lord paints a picture of the returning Israelites: vineyards will be replanted and produce plentifully. The watchmen (prophets & leaders) of Israel will proclaim, Let’s arise and go to (worship) our God in Jerusalem (where the Temple is). “For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.” The Lord says He will bring His people from the North and the ends of the earth, and evinces the inclusivity of the gathering by specifying even the blind, the lame, and the pregnant (even those giving birth) . . . all who would find the travel difficult, and might have been left behind if God didn’t insist. It will be a huge gathering.
9 They shall come with weeping [for joy], and with supplications [gentle urging] will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn [Joseph’s son Ephraim inherited the right of firstborn when Jacob’s firstborn lost his birthright through sin].
10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he [Jacob/Israel].
The remnant of Israel will come to the hills of Jerusalem with “the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.” Young and old alike will dance for joy, and God will take away their sorrows. The people and the priests, who depend upon the people for their sustenance, will be satiated with the goodness/blessings of the Lord (implying the abundant fruitfulness of the land).
Here is found the much quoted scripture, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel [Rachel] weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” Ramah was a place about 5 mi north of Jerusalem (while Bethlehem was about 5 mi south of Jerusalem). Rachel gave birth to her last son Benjamin (Joseph’s only full brother) as the family was traveling to Bethlehem, and Rachel died there in childbirth. Rachel’s name for Bejamin was Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow”, but his father Jacob called him Benjamin. The place Ramah has other importance in the Old Testament story, but my interest here is mainly about Rachel’s symbolic lament. Ramah was part of the tribe of Benjamin’s land inheritance. Apparently either in the Assyrian or Babylonian conquest the place suffered particular destruction. It seems to have been an important defense site for the kingdom of Judah.
https://www.theholyscript.com/where-is-ramah-in-the-bible/ about Ramah
https://www.gotquestions.org/Ramah-in-the-Bible.html about Ramah
https://www.gotquestions.org/voice-heard-in-Ramah.html Ramah vs Bethlehem
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/2-18.htm Matt 2:18 vs Jer 31:15, Rachel’s death etc
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/31-15.htm scroll down to the commentaries
But then the Lord says, No longer weep, for they (Rachel’s/Israel’s) children/descendants will be brought back from the land of their enemies. Hope is restored. Symbolically, Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) had been bemoaning the Lord’s chastisement for his iniquity, and says he has repented. The Lord calls Ephraim his dear son, whom He still remembers and will have mercy for him. The Lord tells Israel to again set up the waymarks (road signs, so to speak), for they will use those roads to return to their cities.
The prophet says that the Lord has brought about something new: a woman encompassing a man. This would have reference to the usual way of considering men to be in charge of sex. In other words, human ideas of how things are or how they go will be tossed upside down. No doubt the expectation was that once you were carried away captive, you would never return (including your posterity). When the captives are brought back people will say, “The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.” The land and cities of Judah will once again support agriculture, both crops and flocks. The Lord will refresh the weary and worried.
After this happy dream Jeremiah awakens with sweet memories.
The Lord promises that the Israelites & Jews, and their animals, will bear plentiful offspring. Just as the Lord has seen to their destruction, He will see to their re-construction.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. [compare Ezek 18]
The Lord will make a new covenant with Israel & Judah, not the old one of the Exodus (which they broke, despite the Lord’s care for them).
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The Lord who made the sun to light the day, and the moon & stars to light the night, who causes the storms of the sea to roar, who marshals armies of angels, declares that His power over all those would cease sooner than His decree that Israel will never cease to exist as a nation. It’s just as impossible to measure the Universe or to understand the founding of the earth as for God to cast off Israel, despite all his culpability/guilt.
All the environs of Jerusalem will be holy, and never destroyed again. Though the Jews/Israelites returned from the Babylonian captivity, they were scattered again by Rome. So this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled entirely.
Jer 47 Woes to come to the Philistines, Tyre & Sidon; spoken before the Pharoah attacked Gaza
Babylon is likened to a flood inundating all the land. The noise of the horses’ hooves, the rumbling of chariot wheels will put such fear in the people that even fathers will flee without looking back for their children. Gaza & Ashkelon will be made bald (desolate). How long will they be in mourning? (One of the rituals of mourning was to cut oneself.) Poetically Jeremiah asks how long before the Lord’s sword (the king of Babylon) is put back in its scabbard. But it can’t be stilled because the Lord has given it a command against the kingdoms of the coast: the Philistines & the Phoenicians. These are at least in part the modern countries of Gaza and Lebanon.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philistine-people
https://www.britannica.com/place/Phoenicia
Jer 48 Woe to the Moabites
4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
7 ¶ For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh [the Moabite god] shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken.
9 Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.
10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
11 ¶ Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees [dregs, the bottom of the cup/barrel], and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity [before] . . .
The chapter mentions various Moabite cities, descriptions and metaphors of the calamities of being conquered, and condemnation for how the Moabites delighted over the ills that happened to Israel, making Israel the subject of their derision. “We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart . . . Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the Lord . . . Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives..” Yet Jeremiah still mourns over the destruction of Moab as one who cares about the suffering of others. And God promises that in the latter days He will rescue Moab from captivity.
Jer 49 Prophecies against Ammon, Edom, Syria, Kedar, Hazor, Elam (comp Obadiah & Jer 27)
Apparently the Ammonites decided to take advantage of Israelite troubles and fill the void, that is, take over territories the Israelites could not hold. But the Ammonites will have their own share of troubles/conquest. “Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.” Yet the Ammonites will also return from captivity one day.
When grapes ae harvested some are left on the vine. Thieves take their limit, but something is still left. “But I have made Esau [Edom] bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not [that is, he is annhilated].” Though proud guerillas fight from the hills & caves, they’ll be conquered. Still, the Lord invites the widows to put their trust in Him, and promises to watch over the fatherless.
Damascus, the Syrian capital, has/will become weak “and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad [this famous king of Syria became its symbol].
Kedar, an Arabian tribe descended from Ishmael the half brother of Isaac, will also be conquered. “Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.”
Counterpoint to Kedar in the south, the ancient Canaanite city of Hazor in the north would be overthrown by Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. “Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation [Babylon], that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. And their [Hazorite] camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons [some lizard species], and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.”
Jeremiah prophesies against Elam, Babylon’s neighbor, “I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them . . .” The Elamites will be scattered to the 4 winds and into every country. But eventually, they too will return to their lands.
Jer 50 God vs Babylon & Chaldea; Israelites will return to their land
1 The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel [a Babylonian idol] is confounded, Merodach [another god of Babylon] is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
And in those days the Israelites & Jews will go forth weeping for joy, seeking the Lord their God, returning to Zion/Jerusalem, saying, “Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”
God’s people have been lost sheep, and it’s their shepherds that caused them to go astray. All their adversaries justified themselves in doing them harm because they had sinned against the Lord (in whom Justice dwells and the hope of their fathers/ancestors).
But God will raise up an alliance from the north against Babylon. Note that the Persian/Medean empire (“an assembly of great nations”) was north of the Babylonian/Chaldean empire. And why would the Lord turn on Babylon, whom He had called his servant? Because they had grown fat and full of pride. War will come to Babylon, archers will shoot at her, her foundations & walls will be thrown down, her agriculture will fail because the peoples who were forced to work the land will flee to their own countries.
Israel was like a flock of sheep scattered by lions: first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians. Just as the Lord punished the Assyrian king, He will punish Babylonian king. Those who look for sin in Israel and Judah will not find it, for the Lord will pardon those who are left.
Merathaim is another word for Babylon, meaning “double bitterness” and “double rebellion”. Pekod is used to depict the Chaldeans, perhaps meaning “punishment”. Babylon is metaphorically called “the hammer of the whole earth”, but astonishingly, it will be broken. Babylon is caught in a snare by the Lord, in a sense of it’s own making, because it has contended with Him. No doubt this refers to the pride of the Babylonian/Chaldean empire. Babylon is to be recompensed, meaning that it’s not innocent: it will get what it deserves. “Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.” (Comp Isa 14:4-22, Isa 42:5-25, Rev 14:8) Verse 36 also mentions liars. Verse 38 speaks of Babylon/Chaldea being a land of graven images, and that “they are mad upon their idols.” That is, they go crazy with all kinds of idols and the veneration they give them.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
A brief outline of the history & fate of Babylon:
https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/babylon.htm
https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/where-was-babylon-and-what-happened-to-it.html
In light of the history of Babylon through the centuries, as outlined in the links above, the passage “many kings shall be raised up from the coasts [ends] of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea [that is, the noise of the battlefield], and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon” could refer to Alexander's empire with its one-time capital Babylon. One empire after another conquered Babylon until it became just an archaeological site. No doubt those who had been conquered and carried captive by the Babylonians were anxious to see it never again inhabited, and obliterated as Sodom & Gomorrah (which we are uncertain as to their exact location still), and probably they looked for the fulfillment of that prophecy in the relative short term. We, too, must recognize that God fulfills His word, but not necessarily on our timeline or in our expected timeframe.
Jer 51 the Lord continues against Babylon—prophesied in the 4th year of Zedekiah when he went to Babylon (on an errand to Nebuchadnezzar, presumably, before being taken captive in his 11th year)
At the end of this chapter it’s explained that this prophecy was sent with “a quiet prince” when he accompanied Zedekiah to Babylon in the 4th year of his reign. Jeremiah tells this prince that as he reads the prophecy when he gets there, he should exclaim Babylon’s downfall (presumably quietly, to himself), and then tie a rock to it and toss it into the Euphrates, likening it to the eventual destruction of that place. We might wonder why take all the trouble to write the prophecy in a book, send it with a guy to Babylon (a very dangerous thing to do), then toss it in the river. One theory: this quiet prince may have been commanded to be brought as a prisoner/hostage to “ensure” Zedekiah’s compliance to Babylonian demands/suzerainty. One might even speculate that he could have been a companion of the young Zedekiah (who was only in his 20s), or he could have been a disciple of Jeremiah. How discouraged he would be feeling! Jeremiah thus offers him some hope that this will not last forever. And maybe he could even share this hope with the previous captives who had been taken to Babylon under the reign of Jehoiachin, but the actual evidence was destroyed, so that they could not be charged (nor Jeremiah charged) with the damning document.
The conquerors of Babylon are likened to a powerful wind, even those that fan the fire of a furnace/smelting operation. When Babylon is attacked it seems her neighbors whom she had conquered will also rise up against her. This will signify to the Israelites that God has not forgotten them, despite that they had filled their land with sinning against Him. This will be their chance to flee Babylon.
Babylon had served as a golden cup from which the Lord had made the whole earth (the middle easterners would consider that as the middle east) to get “falling down drunk.” But now suddenly Babylon is fallen/destroyed, wounded such that she seeks a remedy for the pain and for her injury. Those who care for her will howl (mourn aloud) for her mortal wounds. They would have healed her, but it’s hopeless, so they go to their own countries with shrugging shoulders that she got what she deserved. Verse 11 foretells that it will be the Medes that will come against Babylon. One might be tempted to see in verse 13 the end of Alexander the Great in Babylon.
The power of the Lord is His wisdom & understanding, by which He created the earth and the heaven or atmosphere, the waters above (as clouds), the volcanic vapors & evaporated waters, the rain/lightning/weather. By comparison men are brutes, worshipping inert/impotent/passive/false gods of their own making.
“The portion of Jacob”, meaning God, is not like those false gods. He created all things. Jacob/Israel is the branch of His inheritance (He has made Israel His heir.) He is called “the Lord of hosts”, that is, He commands hosts/armies of angels. With God’s might He, or Israel/His people, can conquer all other nations and armies.
The Lord is against those conquerors that destroy all the earth. He will destroy them. He references the tendency of people to take the stones of a ruined city or building to build or rebuild, saying there won’t be anything left of Babylon to use for building/re-building. He references setting up a flag, blowing a trumpet to call together the armies of nations to war against Babylon. Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz were provinces in the ancient kingdom of Uratu, a particular adversary of Assyria, but also of the Babylonians. It’s an area in the present convergence of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. The Medes were also north of Babylon. From this chapter we get a view of the end of Babylon by competing countries/empires in which the soldiers were afraid to even come out of their holds. The passes were blocked, the reeds of the wetlands were burned. Babylon’s enemies overflow them like a flood (v. 42).
https://biblehub.com/topical/a/ashchenaz.htm
https://www.worldhistory.org/Urartu_Civilization/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6F2ZAlVOIc&ab_channel=HistorywithCy 10.5 min video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsI2EYwrD5A&ab_channel=Saelind 48 min video
Jeremiah speaks for a few verses as the embodiment of the Israelites, saying, “Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon [large lizard], he hath filled his belly with my delicates [organs], he hath cast me out. The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.” In response, the Lord promises to advocate for His people, to take vengeance for their sake, to cause drought in the land.
An interesting phrase is “like lambs to the slaughter”, see also Isa 51:40, Isa 53:7, Jer 11:19, Acts 8:32.
“My people, go ye out of the midst of her [Babylon], and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.” Another phrase or thought of interest: “go ye out of the midst” of wickedness, see Isa 6:9-12 (wicked Israel is removed from the land), Is 52:9-12 (Assyria), Jer 6:1 (Jerusalem, fleeing Babylonian destruction thereof), Jer 50:8 (Babylon & Chaldea), Ezek 7:4 (recompense for abominations), Ezek 14:8 (idolaters to be taken out of the midst of God’s people), Ezek 20:10 (Egypt at the Exodus), Micah 6:4 (out of Egypt), Lev 16:16 (atone for uncleanness among God’s people), Psalm 137 (by the rivers of Babylon Israelites wept),
“And lest your heart faint,” the Lord foretells of rumours of wars, violence in the land, leaders contending with each other, violence in the overthrow of wicked Babylon. But these are to be followed by singing in heaven and earth for the conquest of Babylon (symbolic epitome of evil). The Lord enjoins His people to remember Him and the holy city Jerusalem. Although the sanctuary has been defiled by strangers (causing shame to His people), the days will come that God will “do judgment”. No matter how high & mighty Babylon (the wicked) gets, the Lord will bring spoilers to her. Her leaders & rulers, drunken with (power and) lacking (fore-)sight will be put to bed forever by the Lord. Despite her impregnable appearance, she will be broken up and burned.
(see Jer 52 under part 3 of the Book of Jeremiah)
Jeremiah–part 1, chapters 1-10
The book of Jeremiah has 52 chapters, and his book of Lamentations has 5–thus, it will take me a few posts to cover his writings. Part 1 covers Jeremiah 1-10. For background on Jeremiah, see
https://www.biblestudytools.com/jeremiah/ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-major-prophets/jeremiah https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/prophets/prophets-of-the-bible/jeremiah-the-prophet/
Jer 1 Jeremiah called in the 13th year of Josiah, serves through Zedekiah & the Babylonian captivity
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
I think there’s a strong indication that Jeremiah’s father was a counselor to young King Josiah, the priest spoken of in 2 Kings 22, and a part of the reformation of the kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah seems to have had a position/access to the king’s court. It’s possible that the priest Hilkiah “who was over the household” and “the chief priest” was the (or one of the) influence(s) that made an impact on young Josiah to turn him to God. Remember that the priests/Levites were sent to live among each of the tribes in order to be teachers and civil leaders among them long ago under Moses. King Josiah may have sent his right hand man, the priest Hilkiah, as an overseer in the land of Benjamin. Or, Hilkiah’s ancestors may have been assigned to the land of Benjamin, and his talents may have brought him to the notice of the court so that he might have been called into service there. See various references at
https://biblehub.com/topical/h/hilkiah.htm
Jeremiah served as prophet to the Kingdom of Judah for about 40 years, from the good years of King Josiah, through the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews. He lived beyond that, and continued to counsel those that were left, but they didn’t listen to him either—though he did have some good and loyal friends. It’s no wonder that he wrote Lamentations, after having seen the great reforms of King Josiah, and then the utter wickedness and destruction that followed.
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 ¶ But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
The verses above make clear that God had a plan for Jeremiah even before he was born. Jeremiah, as Moses and others before, was overwhelmed with the role God was calling him to play. When he says he is but a child, I don’t think that meant that he was literally a boy like Samuel, though he might have been in his late teens or early 20s (considering he was prophet to the nation/kings for 40 years). What he is expressing is that he doesn’t feel adequate (like Moses at his call) in his speaking abilities. But God reassures him, as He did Moses and Joshua, that He would give him the words to say, and back him up in his assignment. As we will see, that doesn’t mean Jeremiah didn’t have hard things to go through and to suffer, but God would deliver him in the end. Jeremiah would not only pull down the corrupt, he would also build or plant the basis of a better kingdom or kingdoms (consider what his words have meant for God’s true followers since his time, and even now).
In vision God shows Jeremiah an almond branch, probably opening its blossoms, as God says that it represents the quickening of His work. Then God shows him a boiling pot facing the north. God says that it represents bad things to come from the north (probably the pot was boiling over, representing the spread of the ills of conquest over all the Middle Eastern lands). The ruling/military families will come against Jerusalem and all the cities of the kingdom of Judah—and this because of their wickedness and idolatry. God sends Jeremiah out with the warning that if he shows fear, he’ll lose his gift of speaking effectively. God reaffirms His backing with the word picture of protecting Jeremiah like an impenetrable city of defense. He forewarns Jeremiah that he’ll face opposition, but reiterates that He will be with him and deliver him.
Jer 2—Israel has turned from the all powerful God to sticks and stones
God sends Jeremiah out with a message to Jerusalem. He reminds them of their sojourn in the wilderness during the Exodus. It’s a little different picture of Israel than the Torah (5 books of Moses) paints, but I suppose God is referring to the 2nd generation, who had learned to live the Law of Moses (the Law of God). But then God accuses the ancestors of Jeremiah’s contemporaries of turning their backs on Him (as if they had found some fault in Him). God pleads with them, and their descendants. He says that no other nation has switched gods (who aren’t true gods), and yet the Israelites have. It’s astonishing! Poetically, verbally visually, He says, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (note Jesus’ declaration about Living Waters: John 4:4-26, John 7:37-39)
Rhetorically God asks if Israel is a servant (instead of a son). That is, why should he be mistreated? (speaking of the difference between the way servants were treated, vs sons) But the nation of Israel has brought this on themselves. “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.”
God reminds them that He has saved them before, and they have promised not to misbehave (for example the covenants under Hezekiah and Josiah). But here they are again dirtying themselves, and the strongest cleaners can’t wash them clean. Like camels or donkeys they take off to do as they like. Only when they are experiencing their cycle can they be found. They’ve had a taste of infidelity, and they choose their lovers instead of God.
You call rocks and sticks your gods, every city has their own, yet they can’t save you in time of trouble. Why do you come to Me, when you have sinned against Me? You won’t learn from my corrections. You kill the prophets like lions kill those in their paths. You proudly claim to be powerful in and of yourselves, and see no reason to come unto Me. Rhetorically God asks, does a young girl or a bride forget her jewelry or pretty clothes? Yet you have forgotten Me for “days without number.” Your sins are obvious as the blood of the innocent on your clothes. You claim to be innocent, (but I know better). You’ll be ashamed of trying to make Egypt an ally, just as you were shamed in making Assyria an ally (remember when the Israelites invited Assyria into partisanship when Israel & Judah were adversaries, and a few year later when Assyria became a super power they came to rue the day). Your confidence in your policies will not turn out well . . . you’ll be arrested (that is, stopped) and walk forth with your hands on your head.
Jer 3—Israel has played the harlot
In the days of Josiah the king was this condemnation made by God through Jeremiah, early in his calling. Perhaps Jeremiah was an influence for good in the life of Josiah. Jeremiah began to prophesy in the 13th year of Josiah. 2 Chron 34:3 says in the 12th year of his reign he began to purge the land of idolatry. If Jeremiah was not the impetus of the purging, he was surely a supporter of it.
Jeremiah paints a clear picture of the adulterous idolatry of Israel in the form of a parable that they would understand. A divorced wife who had remarried (or, worse yet, not remarried, but involved herself with other man/men) would not be taken back by her 1st husband. That would pollute the man’s inheritance (or the nation’s lands). And yet, though Israel had played the harlot with many false gods, God invites, even pleads, that Israel return to Him and He will welcome the one who had strayed. Look at all the high places (places of idolatrous worship) and consider what false gods with whom Israel hasn’t been untrue! Like a harlot sitting by the road in the Arabian wilderness (where travelers far from home would be tempted), Israel has polluted the land (earned the land a bad rep, for instance). For this reason the rains have been kept back. And yet, Israel has refused to be ashamed of infidelity. (Remember the story of Elijah, for example, how even after his powerful demonstration of the true God over the false—the miraculous lighting of the altar and the bringing of rain after a 3 year drought—yet Elijah mourned in a cave that there was no one that was true to God).
Next the Lord refers to the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah as sisters. For all Israel’s adulteries God divorced Himself from her (“put her away”: the Assyrian captivity). And yet, her sister kingdom, Judah followed her example. “And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly [pretending], saith the Lord.” King Hezekiah, at the time of the Assyrian captivity, brought those that were left of Israel as well as his kingdom of Judah, to covenant with God, recommit themselves to Him. But Hezekiah’s son & heir Manasseh led the people into worse idolatry than ever.
Jeremiah is sent north to plead with the remnants of Israel to return to God and find His promise of mercy. “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” God promises to bless and prosper Israel. They will no longer look back to their history (being led by the ark of the covenant, as in the Exodus), but to Jerusalem for their leadership. The kingdoms of Israel and of Judah will be reunited, and the captives of Assyria will return to join them. Even Jeremiah is led to ask how this could all happen, but is answered that they will call God their father and not turn away from Him (with God all things are possible).
Jer 4—if the Jews would just turn to God, He would save them from the coming conquest from the North; a hint that God is preparing to create something out of the dust
God promises that if His people will just return to Him, destroy all the idolatrous worship, and swear their allegiance to Him, He will protect them from conquest & captivity. He uses the metaphor of farming: prepare the ground that has been left fallow, rather than plant amongst the weedy brambles. He uses the metaphor of circumcision to represent making their hearts tender/feeling toward God, lest they suffer God’s fury like a fire that can’t be quenched (because of their wicked behavior). God instructs His people to blow a trumpet in the land to gather the people into defensed cities, under the banner of Zion/Jerusalem/the kingdom of Judah. Like a lion, conquest is coming from the north, who will lay waste everything. God will allow such predations because He is angry with the wickedness of His people.
Jeremiah complains to God that surely He has deceived His people, promising peace, when like a powerful whirlwind destruction is coming. God pleads that Jerusalem wash herself from wickedness and rebellions against Him. It is her own doings that have brought all this on. Jeremiah voices his deep distress at the destruction and warfare to come. “For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish [foolish] children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
Interestingly, Jeremiah refers back to the state of the earth before Creation, “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” (a premonition of the creation of a new state of Israel/Judah). God details the utter destruction of the land through warfare. He says, No matter what you do to make yourself look attractive to potential “lovers” (allies), they will all despise you. Then Jeremiah uses the metaphor of the pains of a woman giving birth. Such causes one to ponder what is to be created, born, of this clearing away of the debris & deadness of the land—witness the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and the development of the Jewish state from there.
Jer 5—Israel’s pretensions: they have eyes & ears but don’t see or hear who God really is
A challenge: search high and low for someone that looks for the Truth and brings Justice. If any can be found, God will pardon the people. Their words say they believe, but their behavior belies their words. While God has offered correction, they have been incorrigible. Jeremiah believes that the people have been foolish because they have not been taught. He determines to go to the great men (rulers or elites) of the day, because they are educated. But he finds that they have broken away from the restrictions of the Law. Because of this, like a zoo of predators will destruction come upon the land.
How can they be pardoned? Their children swear by false gods. When God had prospered them, they were faithless to Him and assembled in crowds at the licentious places of idol worship. Like well-fed horses they have “neighed” after their neighbor’s wives.
Destruction is coming (yet not in total) for Israel’s treachery with God. They assure themselves that nothing bad will happen, so their prophets are just windbags. Jeremiah’s words, on the contrary, will be like fire devouring wood. An ancient nation speaking an unknown language will come, and like an open grave their arrows will devour the lives of Israelites. They will eat up the food of the land, and leave the cities impoverished.
When people ask, Why is God doing this to us? Jeremiah is to answer, “Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.” They have eyes to see, ears to hear, but neither see nor hear. “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter [2 rainy seasons, that water the crops], in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest . . . your sins have withholden good things from you.”
Wicked men lay in wait, setting traps and snares to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Like a cageful of birds, their holdings (business dealings) are full of deceit. In their own prosperity they don’t bring justice to the needy poor and the fatherless. The prophets lie, the priests rule through their riches. And the people like things the way they are. What will you do when the consequences follow? What a message for today!
Jer 6—the people will suffer the consequences of their hypocrisy & wickedness
“O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.” See Jeremiah 1:1, and the following explanations of the place mentioned here:
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/6-1.htm
https://www.bibleplaces.com/tekoa/
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/nehemiah/3-5.htm men of Tekoah
https://bibleatlas.org/beth-haccherem.htm map; Beth-hakkerem south of Jerusalem, Tekoa further south
Commentaries offer a better understanding of verses 2-3: “woman” is an insertion not in the Hebrew, and “comely” is often a reference to a pleasant pasture. That lovely pasture is going to be devoured by armies from the north. In verse 6 trees are hewn down, probably for siege engines. It’s a warning (v. 8), because Jerusalem has spouted/gushed wickedness (violence and plundering, no doubt to get gain, like gangster families) like a fountain or a geyser. As in a grape harvest, where the vines are gleaned clean, and the grapes gathered into baskets, Zion will be left fruitless.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/6-2.htm
Jeremiah asks, Who can I speak to and warn? Their ears are insensitive and they don’t listen. They don’t want to hear the Lord’s reproaches. Jeremiah feels angry at them. He’s tired of trying to be tactful & politically correct. He’s going to just lay it all out: not just soldiers, but husbands and wives, old people, everyone will be pillaged. Because everyone, rich or poor, powerful or powerless, is greedy of others’ goods, and even prophets and priests are dishonest/liars. They try to soothe people’s fears by saying there will be peace, but there will be no peace. They are shameless.
The Lord tells Jeremiah to remind the people of the old paths, the good way (the Law of Moses) in which they would find peace (compare Matt 11:28-30), but people are not interested in walking in those ways. The Lord set watchmen over the people to warn them of trouble, but they refused to listen.
References to watchmen: Isa 52, 56, 62; Ezek 33; Jer 31 & 51; 2 Kings 18:8 the watchmen on the tower were to warn their citizens of danger approaching; 1 Sam 16 Saul’s scouts(?) see the bold success of his son Jonathan & armor bearer, and the Israelite army is emboldened to fight for their nation & win).
So the Lord says He will bring the fruit (consequences) of their own thoughts upon them. He says, What’s the point of your fancy, expensive incense from Sheba (used in worship of those days)? All your offerings are worthless to Me [because of their hypocrisy]. Fathers, sons, neighbors, friends will all perish by the hands of conquerors from the north [Mesopotamia]. “They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea [because there are so many of them come shouting in battle]; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.” We’ve heard of their reputation, which strikes trembling fear, anguish, pains like a woman giving birth. Nobody dares go out to the fields or the roads. “O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.”
The Lord tells Jeremiah that he is set as a tower (like a watchtower, to give warning), and a fortress (a defense against destruction). Jeremiah is to know what they are like, and test them to see what they are truly made of. But God knows they are grievous rebels, companions of slanderers, hard as brass/iron, corrupters. Jeremiah, like a foundry worker tries to purify metal, yet the impurities/the wicked continue. The Lord will toss them out as silver that can’t be purified.
Jer 7—what God told Jeremiah to tell the people as they entered the Temple gate
The Lord tells Jeremiah to stand at the gate of the Temple and proclaim His word: Amend your ways and [God] will cause you to be able to continue living here. Don’t trust in lying promises that the Lord will not destroy this place because of His temple. Execute Justice in the court system. Don’t oppress foreigners, the fatherless, and the widow [those without protectors or recourse]. Don’t shed innocent blood. Don’t follow/worship other gods. Then [God] promises this land to you forever, as He did your ancestors.
But you trust in lies that can’t profit you. Do you think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, commit perjury and the like, burn incense to Baal and other gods you don’t know, and then come and stand here in the Temple thinking you can get away with all that? “Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?” (No doubt Jesus was referencing this when He said, “ye have made it a den of thieves.” Matt 21:13) Just go check on Shiloh, where God’s tabernacle was at first, and see what He did to it because of the wickedness of the northern kingdom of Israel. Because you have likewise polluted this Temple, while “I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not . . . ,” God will do the same here, where you trust you are safe because of the promises He made to your forebearers.
The Lord tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people, nor try to intercede for them. He refuses to hear. He asks Jeremiah, Do you see what they do in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? The kids gather wood, the fathers build a fire, and the women make bread/cakes for the “queen of heaven” (a false god), and they pour out drink offerings to other gods. Are they provoking Me, or causing confusion to their own faces?
The Lord says that when He brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt He didn’t ask for burnt offerings [at first], “But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” (Remember what Samuel said to Saul, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Sam 15:22. The burnt offerings were to keep reminding the people of God and their covenant with Him, they were not the ends, but the means. They didn’t listen, but walked in their own imaginations and ideas. They went backward instead of forward (instead of progressing to a higher law, they were given the Law of Moses, a schoolmaster, to bring them to God. See Gal 3:24 etc). “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.”
The Lord tells Jeremiah to tell the people all these things (at the Temple gate, as they enter to “worship”), but He says they will not listen. Jeremiah can call to them, but they won’t answer him. The Lord says, “But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.” Jeremiah writes of mourning and lamenting ritual of cutting off one’s hair, because the people of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah have done such evil, even polluting the Temple, and sacrificing their children in Tophet, in the valley of the son of Hinnom. One day that place will be called the valley of slaughter. They will run out of place to bury people, and the corpses will be eaten by beasts and birds. There will no longer be happy songs and glad voices of brides and grooms in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah: the land will be desolate.
Jer 8—things will get so bad that people would rather die than live
Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord, predicts that the bones of the kings, princes, priests, prophets (all of Judah), and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves and spread before the altars of the sun, moon, and other gods the people have served/worshipped to show the bones disrespect. “And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.” Presumably the conquerors are the “they” that would do the disrespecting, and the inhabitants of Judah & Jerusalem are ”they” that will wish they were dead.
And will the people then return to God and acknowledge their wrongs, asking/exclaiming to themselves, “What have I done?” No, they continue in their deceipt and refuse to come back to God. Though the creatures of the earth instinctively know their seasons, God’s people don’t recognize His judgments. How can they say they are wise and keep the Law of the Lord, and yet they are ashamed of Him, His words, and His ways.
Therefore, their wives and lands will be given to others (conquerors). Everyone from the least to the most powerful is covetous, the prophets and priests are dishonest. They try to soothe people by claiming “Peace…when there is no peace.” Are they ashamed of their abominations [such as sacrificing their children to false gods]? No. For that, their grape & fig harvests will be consumed [by the conquerors, or by Nature]. Why do we just sit here? We ought to get into (hide in) the walled cities and sit in silence for God has given us over to the consequences of our sins. We hoped for peace, and for health, but nothing came but troubles. We heard only the sounds of war horses as they advanced from the north, and the land is devoured by the conquerors. Like snakes and cockatrices [mythical or uncertain creatures], they won’t be charmed, but bite you. (“charmed, or charming” now has such a mild meaning, like a charming personality. But think in terms of snake charmers who don’t succeed, and get bit by a poisonous snake!)
Verses 18 to the end seem to be the lament of Jeremiah for his people, and their conquest by armies from a far away land. Where is God? They have provoked Him to anger with their idolatry (so He wants nothing to do with them). “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved . . . Is there no balm [medicine] in Gilead [a proverbial place of healing]; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?”
Jer 9—Jeremiah, and the Lord, lament for the wickedness of the people
“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah wishes he had a lodge to stay, away from his iniquitous people, whose lying tongues are like bows (shooting deadly arrows), and they go from one evil to the next. Even brothers and neighbors can’t be trusted. They are all deceptive, speaking peacefully with their tongues, but in their hearts are setting traps for their neighbors.
God claims vengeance on the people for their iniquities. But God’s vengeance is not the same as human vengeance. God requires Justice (even while He sorrows for the people), while humans just want to delight in making people suffer. God weeps for the destruction of the land. “Who is the wise man, that may understand this?” The destruction of the land is a consequence of the people forsaking God’s laws. Not only the land will be destroyed, the people will be scattered among unbelieving nations. The women are invited to mourn for the land and the people. Not only Judah, but Egypt, Edom, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all that dwell in the region will be conquered for their iniquities.
23 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
Jer 10—worshipping idols made by men is ludicrous; God is the true & living God, all powerful, Creator
“Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel . . .” Don’t fall for horoscopes, nor images made of wood & covered with silver or gold. They can’t speak or move on their own, nor can they do either good or evil. They are just foolish and vain. Compare contemporary veneration of crystals and the like.
In contrast, the Lord has true power. He is the true God, everlasting and living. He created the heavens and earth, and He can destroy all. He has not only the power, but the intelligence/wisdom as the Creator, who formed all.
Yet the Lord laments, and is grieved for the destruction of His people. Reference is made to the tabernacle of Exodus. Jeremiah humbly pleads for God’s correction for himself, but not to be destroyed. He pleads that those who have destroyed God’s people, and who have not believed in Him, be the objects of His anger.
The Book of Nahum–prophecy against Nineveh, capital of Assyria
Nahum 1—" The burden of Nineveh [Assyria]. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.”
“God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”
Is God jealous & vengeful? We don’t consider jealousy and vindictiveness good, so how could God be the ultimate Good if that’s His character? Some have translated the Hebrew as “avenging”, which gives a different connotation in today’s language. Commentators have used “jealous” in terms of a protective spouse/relative. The idea is that God provides consequences for actions, those of our enemies as well as ourselves, and he doesn’t just wimp out in carrying them through. He is firm in His resolve and keeps His word. Note that v. 3 says He is slow to anger as well as great in power. He doesn’t act by whim or arbitrariness. He does get angry over injustice and cruelty (Assyrian warfare was known for its cruelty). If one in authority doesn’t punish wickedness, s/he can hardly be called Just. Offering Mercy & Forgiveness is Just only when it is justified by repentance, and Justice requires Mercy for the truly penitent (because we are all human, and none of us is free from sin, only through an everlasting Atonement God promised from the beginning). Again and again God offered forgiveness and mercy to those who would turn or return to Him from their evil/wicked ways. See
https://biblehub.com/nahum/1-2.htm scroll to the bottom for Hebrew text & translations
This chapter emphasizes God’s power, and the key is in v. 13—God promises that He will break the yoke of Assyria (and all the wicked) from off Israel (and all God’s chosen: those that choose Him). Because He is all-powerful, He can and will do it, they could be assured of that then, and we can be assured of that now.
“Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.” Compare Isa 52:7 and Romans 10:15 (Paul quotes Isaiah).
Nahum 2—still regarding Nineveh/Assyria
The chapter begins in descriptions of war: the dashed children, munitions, strong warriors, emptied cities, destroyed vineyards, bloodied shields & men, flames of torches to set cities on fire, trees cut down (for seige engines), chariots racing through the streets, the wounded stumbling and others running for life or to defend the walls. The gates let in a river of attackers, and the palace is destroyed. Captives taken (especially women). Nineveh has been a well-watered city from ancient times, but her defenders will flee. The officers call to their men to stand and fight, but the soldiers run without looking back. The conquering army pillages the spoils of the city. The city is left empty but for the fearful and trembling, sorrowful remnants. Nineveh’s symbols were lions, but where is their fierceness & strength now? The old and the young of the city were protected and fed, but no longer. (Interestingly, in every documentary I’ve seen it is the female lions that do the hunting and providing of food, the alpha male was given first choice of the meat. It was his duty to protect the pride, though.) The Lord will destroy Nineveh.
Nahum 3—Nineveh’s destruction decreed because of her wickedness
Nineveh’s wickedness: lies, robbery, oppression (noise of the whip), wealthy apparently killing people and riding over their corpses with disdain or no notice, whoredoms, witchcraft, bribing people to sell their nations out. The merchants are as numerous as the stars; they are like cankerworms that consume the fruit (the trade goods) and then fly away. The ruling and military classes are numerous as locusts, a pestilence that the lower/working classes must support, but they disappear when it’s time for them to do their jobs.
The Lord’s consequences for Nineveh: the wickedness of the city will be exposed, and the city will be shamed. Nobody will bemoan the destruction of Nineveh. Like Egypt & Ethiopia were conquered, so will Nineveh/Assyria. Her strongholds/forts/strong cities will be consumed like ripe figs when the tree is shaken. The inhabitants of the cities will be as weak as women (untrained for warfare), and the defenses of the land will be like open gates. Despite preparations for siege (storing water, fortifying the walls, etc), the cities will be burned, destroyed as cankerworms destroy plants. The shepherds slumber (in death), the nobles lie in the dust (dead). The rest of the people are scattered, and no one can gather and organize them against the attackers. There will be no healing of the Assyrian Empire, and all who hear about her destruction will clap in approval, for they have all suffered from Assyrian wickedness continuously.
With Nahum’s seeming detailed knowledge of the wickedness of Nineveh, one might suspect/speculate he might have been one of the Israelites who had been carried away captive by the Assyrians. Some historical background of the city:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq
https://www.worldhistory.org/nineveh/ includes a 2.5 min video re-creation of the ancient city
https://scripturescript.wordpress.com/2023/04/06/the-books-of-jonah-amos-hosea/ book of Jonah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pa54hWROpQ&ab_channel=TED-Ed 5 min video about Assyria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpAphcaVJIs&ab_channel=FallofCivilizations 3 hour video about Assyria
Isaiah–part 1
https://www.biblestudytools.com/isaiah/ for background, summary, NIV version of the Book of Isaiah
“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”
Isa 1—the Lord’s complaint & plea
“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”
The language of this chapter, like much of Isaiah’s writing, is so striking that it begs to be read in full. I will try here to summarize without destroying it.
Isaiah invokes images from parenting, husbandry, healthcare, history (Sodom & Gomorrah), textiles, harlotry, metallurgical refining. He references the oaks & gardens wherein they have committed idolatry. Some of my favorite verses:
“Why should ye be stricken any more? . . . [Why keep suffering? What’s the point of your religious observances? Don’t bother me with them, I’m sick of them, I won’t pay any attention to them.] . . .
16 ¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge [bring justice to] the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet [think in terms of the stain caused by red Jello], they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts [bribes], and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless [don’t bring justice to the orphaned], neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment [Justice], and her converts with righteousness.
Isa 2—about Judah & Jerusalem, the future mountain of Lord’s house vs current wickedness & pride
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. [Note how Judeo-Christian teachings & morality have spread from the Jews to the world.]
4 And he [God] shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. [They will stop spending their resources on war and destructive doings, and turn them to positive, productive pursuits.]
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
The Lord has withdrawn His help & blessings from the descendants of Jacob/Israel because they seek fulfillment in the false philosophies, pretenders to prophecy, and partnering with pagan nations. Israel is wealthy and full of expensive vehicles. They worship their own works. They are arrogant. But they will be humbled and seek to hide from the Lord and his judgments. A description & message for US today. “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low . . . In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Quit relying on human means, for of what use are they?
3—The Lord has withdrawn His help because of the oppressions in Jerusalem & Judah
This chapter is another beautifully expressed word of the Lord. I will try to summarize it, but I hope all will read it as it is in the Bible.
The Lord takes away the stores of food and water that a besieged city would rely on, as well as the leaders, both military and civil. Instead, they’ll be ruled by the young and/or inept without wisdom. The people will oppress (take advantage of) one another. The traditional order of society will be upended. Then relatives will come to the most solidly based of their kin and try to get them/him to take the leadership role, but he/they refuse that responsibility because it would be such a heavy burden. In many cultures a tribal leader is responsible for the well-being of the tribe/extended family in every way—see that they have food, financial support, safety, etc. “For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.”
Instead of men taking responsible, leadership roles (in the family, in the nation), “children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” Sounds like the nightly news in our nation today!
The Lord pleads (Heb. contends) and judges the people: the elders (traditional leaders of a certain standing and age) and those born to leadership roles, instead of caring for the welfare of the people, have taken advantage of the poor and powerless for their own benefit. “What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.”
Additionally, women are haughty, walking that certain provocative walk in their showy apparel. The day will come that their hair (a symbol of beauty) will be replaced with sores, and their private parts will also be affected (not all translations include that last part, see https://biblehub.com/isaiah/3-17.htm ). All their fancy dress, jewelry, and perfumes will be taken away, and their beauty will be replaced with mere lust.
The men of Judah & Jerusalem will fall in battle, and Judah/Jerusalem will be left emotionally as well as physically desolate.
Isa 4—those left after the war will become righteous, and the Lord will protect them
Because of the shortage of men (killed in war), 7 women will offer to be self-supporting, if they can just have the name (come under the social protection/standing) of one man. Those that escape the terrible consequences of war will prosper, and the land healed. Those that are left will turn their lives to holiness (living righteous lives). The Lord will have cleansed the wicked from His people. Isaiah refers back to the time of the Exodus when the Lord led and defended Israel with a cloud by day and fire by night. The Tabernacle was symbolic of a shelter from intense weather (troubles).
5—A song of the vineyard, Woe to the wicked, & captivity comes through lack of knowledge of the Lord
1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Consequentially, the vineyard is to be destroyed. Isaiah pronounces woe to those who monopolize real estate: their lands will be unproductive. Woe to partiers who spend their days drunk, feasting to the tune of music (only the wealthy could afford to have musicians at their parties), ignoring the Lord. Hell will gorge itself on the proud, the wealthy & powerful will be humbled. Woe to those who promote wickedness, and taunt Let the Lord show Himself and we’ll believe Him. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Woe to those who think they are wise/prudent. Woe to those who corrupt justice for bribes. The Lord is angry, and letting them be destroyed like a wildfire in a field.
But the Lord promises that when Israel is cleansed and He is appreciated for his Justice and Holiness, Righteousness the wasted land will once again support flocks of sheep. The Lord will metaphorically raise a invitational banner and whistle (hiss) to the world (as a dog owner whistles for a pet to come), and the nations of the world will come quickly. Their transportation will be so rapid that people won’t have to sleep—indicating jet flight. The weapons he depicts might be symbols of modern warfare, described as best an ancient could portray a vision of the future, modern life: the speed, the noise, the smoke of battles.
This chapter is so beautifully written it’s a shame not to read it directly. Here’s one of many favorite verses: “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.” As Jesus said, the Truth makes us free. People are hungry and thirsting for Truth and Righteousness.
6—the year of King Uzziah’s death Isaiah sees a vision, and is called by the Lord, “Whom shall I send?”
In his vision, Isaiah sees the Lord in His heavenly Temple with symbolically winged seraphim/angels at His throne. Isaiah recognizes his own unworthiness, and that of his people. One of the seraphim symbolically refines him with a live coal from the fire on the sacrificial altar. He hears the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and Isaiah volunteers himself. The Lord tells him to go tell the people that they hear but don’t understand, they see but don’t apprehend. Their hearts are fat (full of self-gratification, instead of lean and strong; the Hebrew means “calloused”), their ears deaf (Hebrew), their eyes closed. In other words, Isaiah’s teachings will be commonly known but people will quit listening to him. The way this is put is only a manner of speaking. It’s not Isaiah who will make their hearts calloused, and so forth, but the people themselves. The Lord is letting Isaiah know in advance that his contemporaries will ignore the truths he brings, rather than see, hear, understand in their hearts, and convert their lives to be healed (as individual souls and as a nation). This understanding and conversion won’t happen until after the nation is destroyed, the people carried away captive, and only a tenth of them return. (Note the change in the people under leadership of Ezra & Nehemiah).
See https://biblehub.com/isaiah/6-10.htm
Isa 7 Isaiah’s (the Lord’s) message to Ahaz when the kings of Israel & Syria threatened
“And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.” (King Ahaz: 2 Kings 16:1-20, 2 Chron 28:1-27)
The kingdom of Judah is shaking with fear like windblown leaves. The Lord sends Isaiah and his son to King Ahaz to calm his fears. “Don’t worry about these two enemies who are plotting to set up a puppet king in your place. It’s not going to happen. And within 65 years the kingdom of Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) will be wiped out. Just ask for a whatever sign you want to prove this is God talking.”
Ahaz won’t ask for a sign, in what appears an appreciation for God: “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.” But Isaiah’s reply sheds a different light on the heart of Ahaz. “Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?” It’s bad enough to weary Isaiah, it’s worse to weary the Lord.
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
Verse 14 is quoted in the context of the Messiah, meaning Jesus Christ. There can be more than one fulfillment of a prophecy. But the following verses seem clear that this is a prophecy of the coming Assyrian conquest (see v. 17). In this case I don’t think the virgin birth means a miraculous conception, only that the young woman was a virgin before conceiving, that is, it’s her firstborn child.
I think a better word for “hiss” would be “whistle”, as a dog owner whistles for his pet to come (see v. 18). The Lord will summon Egypt (symbolized by a fly, harking back to the Exodus experience—the flood cycle of the Nile as well as the wet conditions of the delta no doubt bred flies), and likewise He will summon Assyria (symbolized by a bee). The Assyrian conquest is likened to a man being shaved entirely (Assyria the razor) . . . which would be seen not only as utter conquest, but also as a great shaming (remember the case of King David’s emissaries who were disrespected by shaving). The Lord through Isaiah speaks of a man with a cow and two sheep (a poor farmer) with plenty of milk, eating butter & honey (symbols of plenty). In other words, the wealthy will be killed and carried away, leaving the poor to prosper. The huge vineyards will be destroyed and will be full of weeds. Those that are left in the land after the invasion (armies with bows & arrows) will dig out the weedy brush (briers & thorns) to pasture their animals on the hills. A mattock being a digging tool.
Isa 8—Isaiah has two scribes write his testimony & prophecies; alliance with God vs nations
The Lord instructs Isaiah to get a large scroll and write. So he gets two good men to record the Lord’s words, Uriah the priest and Zechariah. Isaiah fathers a child with a prophetess (perhaps alluding to the virgin in the preceding chapter). Before the child learns to speak, both Damascus (the Syrian capital) and Samaria (the northern Israelite capital) will be conquered by Assyria. The conquest is likened to a flooding river, alluding to Assyria of Mesopotamia . . . a land between the Tigris & Euphrates. Assyria will reach even to the neck of Judah, the gates of Jerusalem. Like a bird of prey glides on huge wings, so Assyria will overshadow the land.
The alliances the nations try to forge to protect themselves from the Assyrian conquest will be broken up. Only God can save His people. The Lord powerfully impresses upon Isaiah that he should not go along with all those who say Judah should ally itself with other nations. Rather, Judah should turn to God as their Savior. Don’t be afraid of conquering armies, instead “fear” the Lord. For those who listen and turn to Him, He will be a sanctuary. Unfortunately, for the preponderance of both Israel & Judah, He is a stone to stumble over and to be affronted by. (Note Isaiah’s poetic parallelism in the stone and the rock). To the majority of the people of Jerusalem God is like a trap in which they are snared. It’s both a sorrow and a warning to us today, that they were faithless & foolish, and let us not be so.
Like the binding up of a scroll so it doesn’t unroll, so let the testimony of God and His law be bound in the hearts of those who study God’s law and follow it/Him. Isaiah promises he will look to the Lord and wait for Him as a defense, while the rest of the descendants of Jacob can’t see Him at work. Isaiah and his children symbolize what God is up to. When people say, Get advice from various soothsayers, shouldn’t people go to God for advice, and for the living to hear from the dead? The dead “speak” to us through the scriptures: the Law and the Testimony. Anyone who says differently is not enlightened.
Isaiah prophesies of the coming troubles, people wandering hungry and angry at their king and their God. Truly dark days. See https://biblehub.com/isaiah/8-21.htm (scroll to the bottom for the Hebrew & translation).
Isa 9—Ahaz is king of Judah, Pekah king of Israel, Rezin king of Syria, and Philistines invaded—see 2 Kings 16:1-20 and 2 Chron 28:1-27)
This is a difficult chapter with problematic verses. We can only take what we can from it, and trust that at some point we will come to understand. Verse 1 refers to trouble brought to northern Israel by Ben-Hadad of Syria (1 kings 15:20), and then Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria (2 Kings 15:29). Whether it means the coming afflictions will be worse (not so lightly vexed as before), or whether that darkness will be dispelled is hard to tell. It is apparent that scholars have wrestled with verse 3 as well. But the verses that follow offer hope for the future. For commentary and translation help see
https://biblehub.com/isaiah/9-1.htm verse 1
https://biblehub.com/isaiah/9-3.htm verse 3
https://biblehub.com/isaiah/9-4.htm verse 4
https://biblehub.com/isaiah/9-5.htm verse 5
Consider these pairings in light of the Hebrew poetic device of chiasmus
v 1 dimness, affliction (war)
v 19 land is darkened through wrath of the Lord
v 2-3 light shines & joy
v 6-7 promise of Hope—a Messiah
v 5 battles heretofore are full of confusion, noise, garments rolled in blood, but in future burning/fire
v 18-19 wickedness burns like fire, people as fuel for fire
vs 20-21 the afflictions of war
Between those verses:
Verses 8-12 Israel thinks to rebuild, but the Syrians on one side, the Philistines on the other will devour them/their resources
Verses 13-17 people refuse to repent, so the Lord will not have mercy on them
Taken as a whole, it seems to me that the message of this chapter is that though Israel had been afflicted before, it will be even worse now. The Lord speaks of the pride, the refusal to repent, the lying leaders, the hypocrisy, the evil doings, the foolish wisdom of Israel. Manasseh & Ephraim (Manasseh east of the Jordan River & Sea of Galilee, Ephraim on the west side, both belonging to the Israelite kingdom) against Judah. See Isa 7 and following.
Favorite verses:
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 10—woe to unrighteous (who will you turn to?), and Assyria’s pride & punishment
Woe to those lawmakers that write grievous laws. “To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!” Who are you going to turn to for help when troubles come? (i.e. war, particularly the Assyrian invasion) Where will you hide your wealth/treasures?
The Lord will send Assyria as a punitive rod against Israel, an hypocritical nation. Of course, Assyria thinks it’s through his own might and wisdom that he conquers all these nations. He compares the cities and gods he has already conquered to those he intends likewise to crush. But when the Lord is done with punishing His people and surrounding nations, he will punish the pride of Assyria.
13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people [changed the national boundaries], and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing [as a hen would try to protect her offspring], or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh [uses] it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. [as if a tool boasts in itself, rather than recognizing that it is nothing without the person using it]
After Assyria has been punished, a remnant of Israel (the House of Jacob), those that have escaped Assyria (perhaps by fleeing to Jerusalem) will quit relying on their enemy, and rely instead on “the Lord, the Holy One of Israel” with integrity. Remember that it was a king of Israel that invited Assyria into his foreign policy. Although Israel was numerous before its conquest, there will yet be a remnant that will return.
The Lord enjoins Jerusalem (Zion) not to be afraid of Assyria. He refers to when the Children of Israel were oppressed by Egypt but the Lord broke that yoke off them, and the victory the Lord gave Gideon against the Midianites. There’s a list of the cities Assyria has conquered, but he’ll be stopped at Nob, shaking his fist (threatening) Jerusalem. Then the Lord will cut him down like a forest is clear cut.
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 
