The Prophets
The Prophet Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath, c. 1630 by Cornelis van Peolenburch / https://www/nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.131041.html
God's Messengers
SOME HISTORY
Most biblical historians name Abraham as God’s first prophet. They site scripture in Genesis 20, in which Abimelech, king of Gerar had planned to take Sarah, the beautiful wife of Abraham, to be his wife. Now Abraham, because he feared for his life, told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, and indeed she was his half-sister.
God came to Abimelech in a dream, and told him he “was a dead man” if he touched Abraham’s wife.
Abimelech had not come near Sarah. He pleaded with God that both Abraham and Sarah had told him she was Abraham’s sister.
God commanded that Abimelech return Sarah to Abraham, for Abraham was a prophet.
Other biblical scholars name Enoch as the first prophet, citing:
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him (Jude 1:14-15).”
Note: Enoch did not die. He was “taken” (Genesis 5:24). The other man to escape death was Elijah who was taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11)
The Old Testament is filled with the acts and prophecies of God’s prophets — both named and unnamed. And there are warnings, too, of false prophets.
Elijah
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Elijah
Elijah (9th century B.C.E.), is considered to be one of the great prophets of the Abrahamic religions because he warned people against forgetting God’s commandments and advised the Israelites to repent of their polytheistic ways. The Bible also describes Elijah as a divinely-inspired wonder worker, and a forerunner of the coming messiah. It is believed that the prophet Elijah shall return to Earth prior to the millennial Day of the Lord (Second Coming of Christ), and many Jews expect Elijah to help restore their nation.
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Elijah
(Note: Elijah was not a writing prophet; no book of the Bible bears his name.)
ELIJAH’S PROPHECIES
Elijah’s prophecies are told in 1 Kings and 2 Kings. Elijah was God’s prophet during the reign of Israel’s King Ahab. Ahab had married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal who ruled Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel spread the worship of her Phoenician gods Baal and Asherah throughout Israel.
Elijah, known as the Tishbite of Gilead, met King Ahab and warned him, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my words.”
Elijah’s words to Ahab put him in danger, and God told him to flee, to hide himself by the brook Cherith that flows into the river Jordan. There, ravens brought Elijah bread and meat in morning and evening, and Elijah drank from the brook. When the rain stopped, and the brook dried up, the Lord told Elijah to go to Zarephath where a widow woman would sustain him.
The Woman; The Oil; The Child Brought Back To Life
Elijah met the woman who was gathering sticks so she could prepare the last handful of meal in her barrel, and use what little oil was left in a cruse. She and her son would eat it, and then they would die. Elijah asked her to first make a little cake for him, and then make them for her and her son. God, he told her, would see that “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” –1 Kings 17:14
Elijah, the widow woman, and her son ate for many days.
The woman’s son fell sick and died. Elijah carried the boy to his bed. He prayed unto the Lord.
And the Lord heard Elijah, “… and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.” –1 Kings 17:22
Elijah Mocks Ahab’s god Baal; God Sends Rain
God sent Elijah back to King Ahab with the message that the Lord would send rain upon the earth. Elijah found Obadiah and the king searching for water and grass to save horses and mules from the famine in Samaria (Israel’s capital city). Obadiah, who was head of Ahab’s house, feared the Lord, and when Jezebel had cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah saved a hundred of them by hiding them in a cave, and feeding them bread and water.
Elijah told Obadiah to tell King Ahab that Elijah awaited to see him.
When Elijah and Ahab met, Elijah told Ahab that he, Ahab, was the cause of Israel’s trouble because he had followed Baal. Elijah told Ahab to gather all Israel, and Baal’s 450 prophets to mount Carmel. When this was done, Elijah would show the people the true God of Israel.
Two stacks of wood were prepared for the sacrificing of two bullocks. Neither stack of wood was to be fired up. Baal’s 450 prophets were to call upon Baal to set the fire under the sacrifice to Baal. They called upon Baal’s name from morning to noon.
Elijah mocked them, “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleeps, and must be awaked.”
The prophets cried aloud. They cut themselves with knives and lancets. They bled. Evening came. Baal had not answered.
Elijah had to repair the altar of the Lord that had been broken by the prophets of Baal. He took 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of Jacob’s sons. He built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench about the altar. He cut the bullock in pieces and laid them on the wood. He called for four barrels filled with water, and the water was poured over sacrifice and wood. This was done three times. The trench also was filled with water.
Then, Elijah called to the Lord, saying, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”
The fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water in the trench.
The people saw. They fell on their faces. They said, “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.”
At Elijah’s instruction, the people took the prophets of Baal, and slew them.
The sound of abundant rain came. (See Kings 18:20-40)
When Ahab told Jezebel what Elijah had done. Jezebel sent a message to Elijah: she would see him dead “by tomorrow.”
Elijah went into the wilderness, and sat under a juniper tree. There, an angel touched him, and told him to eat and drink. Elijah looked, and there was a cake baked on coals and a cruise of water at his head. He ate and drank. The angel of the Lord came again, and told him to eat again, to prepare himself for a great journey to Horeb, the mount of God. The food he ate would last 40 days and nights. Elijah lodged in a cave there, and the word of the Lord came to him. Elijah was told to stand upon the mount before the Lord.
“And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood at the front of the cave.
A voice asked, What doest thou here, Elijah?
Elijah answered, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.” –1 Kings 19:14
Elijah Anoints Prophet; Kings
God sent Elijah to Damascus, where he was to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Elijah also was to anoint Elisha to be prophet. Jehu was to be anointed king over Israel.
The Lord told Elijah there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed to Baal.
Elijah found Elisha plowing. Elijah cast his mantle upon him.
Elijah Warns Ahab to Prepare for War
Syria’s king Benhadad, along with 32 other kings, waged war against Israel’s capital Samaria. In the fighting that followed, Israel was victorious. The Syrians fled. The Israelites pursued. Benhadad escaped. King Ahab’s army went out and slaughtered the Syrians.
The prophet told King Ahab that he should strengthen himself, that the king of Syria would attack again.
The Syrians came again, and again the Lord was with Ahab’s army. The children of Israel slew a hundred thousand footmen in one day. The rest of Benhadad’s fighters fled to the city of Aphek, where a wall fell upon 27,000 of the men that were left. Benhadad sought peace with Ahab, promising to restore the cities Benhadad’s father had taken from Ahab’s father. Ahab made a covenant with Benhadad and let him go free. (See 1 Kings 19)
Ahab Covets Vineyard
King Ahab fancied a vineyard owned by Naboth, who lived in Jezreel. The vineyard was located next to Ahab’s palace. Ahab made Naboth an offer for the vineyard, but Naboth said he couldn’t accept because the vineyard was an inheritance. Ahab told Jezebel of his desire for the vineyard, and Naboth’s refusal to part with it. Jezebel promised to give Ahab the vineyard. She wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sent them to the elders and nobles of Jezreel. The letters instructed the elders and nobles to proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. Two men would charge that Naboth had blasphemed God and the king. She ordered that Naboth be stoned to death.
Jezebel’s murderous plan was carried out, and she told Ahab that Naboth was dead and he should take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
God told Elijah to go to Ahab and tell him, “Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” –1 Kings 21:19
Elijah also spoke of Jezebel: “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.”
Ahab’s Death
Three years went by without war between Syria and Israel. In the third year, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, met with Ahab. They plotted to retake land in Gilead from the king of Syria.
Ahab asked his prophets if they should go into battle. They replied that the Lord would deliver Ramoth-gilead (a city of refuge east of Jordan) into the hand of the king. Judah’s king Jehoshaphat sought council from a prophet of the Lord. Although Ahab hated Micaiah for his prophesies against him, Ahab named Micaiah as a prophet of the Lord.
Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.”
Micaiah said he had seen the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven with him. The Lord asked, who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? A spirit came forth saying, “I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.”
Ahab had Micaiah put in prison.
Then Ahab, along with Judah’s king went to Ramothgilead. Ahab disguised himself and went into battle. An unnamed man drew his bow and smote Ahab. The wounded Ahab told the driver of his chariot to take him out of the host. Ahab died in his chariot and his blood ran out into the chariot. Ahab was buried in Samaria. His chariot was washed, and the dogs licked up his blood. (See 1 Kings 20-22)
Elijah’s Message to Ahaziah
Ahab’s son Ahaziah reigned in his stead. And he walked in the way of his father, and the way of his mother. He served and worshipped Baal.
Ahaziah fell through a lattice in his upper chamber and was sick. He sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub if he would recover.
An angel of the Lord told Elijah to meet the messengers and deliver God’s message to them. Ahaziah’s messengers returned to him saying:
“There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.” –2 King 1:6
Ahaziah asked of the man, and the messengers described him as a hairy man, with a girdle of leather about his loins. Ahaziah said the man was Elijah. Three times, Ahaziah sent a captain with 50 men to take Elijah. The first two times, fire came down from heaven and consumed the men. The third time, the captain fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded that he and his men be spared.
An angel of the Lord told Elijah to go with the captain, and Elijah went to face the king. Elijah told Ahaziah that since he had sent messengers to Baalzebub, and not the Lord, he would die. And Ahaziah died.
Whirlwind Takes Elijah to Heaven
Elijah and Elisha, whom Elijah had anointed, went to Bethel. The sons of the prophets that were at Bethel asked Elisha if he knew that the Lord would take Elijah away. Elisha said he knew, and told them to hold their peace.
Elijah said the Lord had sent him to Jordan. Elisha would not leave Elijah, and the two went and stood by Jordan. Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and the waters divided, and Elijah and Elisha went over on dry ground.
Elisha asked Elijah that he be given “a double portion” of Elijah’s spirit. Elijah said if Elisha saw him being taken, his plea would be answered.
“And it came to pass as they talked, “… there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” –2 Kings 2:11
Note: In the New Testament, when Jesus is transfigured, Elijah, along with Moses, appears with Jesus. Matthew 17:1-3 says: “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Elijah is taken up into Heaven as Elisha watches. / By Giuseppe Angeli – http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.41685.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5066180
Elisha
SOME HISTORY
Source: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Elisha
Elisha was a powerful prophet in the Kingdom of Israel during the mid-late ninth century B.C.E.. Known as the successor of Elijah the Tishbite, Elisha was an absolute opponent of Baal worship and one of the mightiest miracle workers in the Bible. He distinguished himself as a model disciple to his master Elijah. Then after inheriting the mantle of leadership, Elisha did even greater works than his master, healing the sick, raising the dead, parting the waters of the Jordan, and striking an entire army with blindness.
Elisha was also a major political actor. He consorted with kings and was instrumental in the defeat of armies and the lifting of sieges. His agents assassinated three kings, and he instituted a violent purge of the descendants of Israel’s King Ahab. After the ascension of Elisha’s candidate, Jehu, to the throne of Israel, Baal worship was strongly repressed for a time. On his deathbed, Elisha continued to prophesy, and at least one miracle was reported in association with his remains.
Source: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Elisha
Note: Elisha was not a writing prophet; no book of the Bible bears his name.
Elisha returned to Jericho after Elijah was taken up to heaven.
Smith’s Bible Dictionary describes him as “complete contrast to Elijah.” When Elijah, a Bedouin child of the desert, went into a city to deliver a message from God, he delivered it, and quickly returned to his desert. Elisha was more civilized, and dressed in the ordinary garment of an Israelite. Elisha’s hair was trimmed, while Elijah’s locks were disordered (2 Kings 2:12).
ELISHA’S PROPHECIES
In Jericho, the men of the city told Elisha the waters of the spring were bad, and the ground barren. Elisha told them to bring him a new cruse with salt in it. He cast the salt into the spring, and said, “Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land (2 Kings 2:19-21).
At Bethel, Elisha was mocked by children, who called him “bald head.” He cursed the children in the name of the Lord, and two she bears came out of the wood and mauled 42 of the children. (2 Kings 2: 23-24).
After the death of King Ahab, the king of Moab rebelled. Ahab’s successor, King Jehoram, called upon Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom to join him against Moab. As the three kings traveled in Edom, they found themselves without water. They called upon Elisha. At first, Elisha told the king of Israel that he should call upon the prophets of his father and mother. However, he called for a minstrel, and when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he said: “Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.” And it was so. (See 2 Kings 3)
A widow cried out to Elisha for help. She had been the wife of one of the prophets, and creditors were taking her two sons to be bondmen. Elisha asked what she had in her house. She said there was nothing left, “save a pot of oil.” Elisha told her to borrow vessels from her neighbors. The one pot of oil she had was used to fill all the borrowed vessels. Elisha told her to sell the oil, and pay the debt. (See 2 Kings 4: 1-7)
There was a woman of Shunem who offered Elisha bread to eat as he passed through her town. She told her husband that she perceived Elisha as a holy man of God, and since Elisha passed through their town often, they should make a small chamber for him. The chamber had a bed, a table, a stool and candlestick. One day when Elisha was resting there, he asked his servant Gehazi to call upon the Shunammite woman, and ask what could be done for her. Her answer to the servant was that she dwelled among her own people. Then Elisha asked Gehazi about the woman. Gehazi said the woman had no child and her husband was old. The Shunammite woman was asked to come to the chamber. As she stood at the chamber door, Elisha told her that she would embrace a son. A son was born to her, and when he was old enough, he went with his father to the reapers. The young man told his father that his head hurt, and he was taken to his mother who held him on her knees. He died. His mother took him and laid him on the bed of the man of God. She left to search for Elisha. She found him at mount Carmel. When Elisha arrived, the child was dead. Elisha prayed unto the Lord. “And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes (2 Kings 4:34-35).” He called for the Shunammite woman, and said to her: “Take up thy son.” —2 Kings 4:8-37 Later, Elisha warned the woman of a famine that was to last for seven years. He said she and her household should sojourn to another place. The woman lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years, then returned. She cried out to the king to restore her house and land. The king talked with Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, and as Gehazi was telling the king how the woman’s son had been restored to life, the woman came. The king talked to the woman, and he restored “all that was hers.” (See 2 Kings 8: 1-6)
Elisha traveled to Gilgal, where there was a dearth in the land. Sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he told his servant to set on the great pot and prepare pottage for them. One of the group went into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine. He gathered wild gourds and shred them into the pot of pottage. When the men were eating, they cried out to Elisha, “there is death in the pot.” Elisha called for meal and cast it into the pot. Then the pottage was safe to eat. (See 2 Kings 4:38-410)
A man from Baalshalisha, brought Elisha 20 loaves of barley and ears of corn. Elisha told the man, “Give unto the people, that they may eat.” His servant said, “What, should I set this before an hundred men?” Elisha said again, “Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.” The food was set before the people, and they ate, and there was food left, according to the word of the Lord. —2 Kings 4:42-44
There was a little Israelite maid who had been taken captive by the Syrians. She waited on the wife of Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria. Naaman was “a might man in valor.” He also was a leper. The little maid told her mistress of the prophet of God who could take away Naaman’s leprosy. The king of Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel, saying ”I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes, saying, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man doth sent unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?” Elisha heard that the king had rent his clothes, and sent word to the king that Naaman should come to him. Naaman came with his horses and chariot, and stood at Elisha’s door. Elisha sent a messenger who told Naaman to wash in Jordan seven times. This angered Naaman. “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?” Naaman’s servant came to him, saying: “My father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? So Naaman went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan: and his flesh was like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Naaman tried to give gifts to Elisha, but Elisha refused. Naaman departed. Elisha’s servant Gehazi, however, ran after Naaman, saying his master had sent him. Gehazi asked for a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. Naaman gave him two talents of silver and two changes of garments. When Gehazi went back to Elisha, the prophet admonished him. And Elisha said to him: “The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.” —2 Kings 5: 1-27
The sons of the prophets felt their abode crowded; it was decided a new dwelling should be built. While they were cutting down wood, the axe head being used by one of the men fell into the water. The man cried out that the axe head had been borrowed. Elisha asked where the axe head had fallen? When shown, Elisha cut down a stick, and cast it where the axe had fallen, and “the iron did swim.” The man put out his hand and took the axe head he had borrowed. —2 Kings 6:1-7
The king of Syria warred against Israel. In a planning session the king counseled his servants on the location of his camp. Elisha sent a warning that revealed the location of the camp to the king of Israel. The Syrian king was told by his servants that Elisha told “the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.” —2 Kings 6:12
The king of Syria sent a spy to find Elisha. When told Elisha was in Dothan, he sent a host of men and surrounded the city. Elisha prayed, and when the Syrians attacked, Elisha prayed to the Lord to smite them with blindness. Elisha led the blind troops to Samaria. There, the Lord opened their eyes. The king of Israel asked Elisha, “Shall I smite them?” Elisha instructed the king to set bread and water before them, and then let them return to their master.
At a time of great famine in Samaria, Benhadad, king of Syria, besieged it. A woman cried out to the king of Israel for help. The king asked the woman, “What aileth thee? She replied that another woman had said to her: “Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.” The woman said, “So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.” When the king heard the words of the woman, he rent his clothes, and the people saw he had sackcloth upon his flesh. The king sent a messenger to Elisha the son of Shaphat, and Elisha had a message for the king: “Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. This came about through the actions of four leprous men who were at the entering gate of Samaria. They decided they would die if they continued to sit at the gate, and because of the famine, they would die if they entered the city. They decided to go to the camp of the Syrians, and when they arrived, there was no man there. For the Lord caused a great noise of chariots, horses, and men. The Syrians thought the king of Israel had hired armies of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack them. The Syrians fled, leaving everything behind. The four lepers ate and drank their fill. They took silver and gold and raiment. Then they got word to the king of Israel that the Syrians had fled. The people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. And the other words of the Lord came true: “Behold, thou shall see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” For the people trode upon the king at the gate, and he died. —2 Kings 6 & 7
The Syrian king Benhadad became sick. He learned that Elisha was in Damascus, and sent Hazael to ask if he would recover. Elisha sent back the message: Thou mayest certainly recover; howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die. Elisha wept, and Hazel asked why. Elisha answered, “Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. Hazel said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? Elisha answered, The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. Hazael left Elisha. He returned to Benhadad, and told him the prophet said he would recover. The next day, Hazel took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on Benhadad’s face, so that he died: and Hazel reigned. —2 Kings 8:7-15
Elisha served as prophet of God for 60 years. He fell ill. Joash, then king of Israel, came and wept over his face. Elisha told him to take bow and arrows, and put his hand upon the bow. With the king’s hand upon the bow, Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands. Elisha told the king to open the east window and shoot. The king shot. Elisha said it was the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance from Syria. He then told the king to take arrows and smite the ground. The king smote three times. Elisha was wroth with Joash, telling him that he should have smitten five or six times, then he would have consumed Syria. Now, he said, there would be only three chances. —2 Kings 13:14-19
Elisha died, and was buried. Later, bands of Moabites invaded the land. And as a man was being buried, the ones burying him spied a band of men. They cast the man they were burying into the sepulcher of Elisha. When the man was let down, his body touched the bones of Elisha, and he revived, and stood upon his feet. —2 Kings 13:20-21
Isaiah
Some History
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Isaiah
Isaiah was the son of Amoz, not to be confused with the northern prophet Amos, whose oracles do seem to have influenced Isaiah considerably.
He exercised the functions of his prophetic office during the reigns of Uzziah (also called Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Uzziah reigned 52 years in the middle of the eighth century B.C.E. Isaiah must have begun his career a few years before Uzziah’s death, probably in the 740s. He lived at least until the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, who died in the 690s, and may have been contemporary for some years with King Manasseh. Thus Isaiah may have prophesied for the long period of 64 years or more.
Only a few historical details of Isaiah’s ministry can be gleaned from the prophecies and narratives of the book that bears his name. For example, he prophesied to King Ahaz of Judah that the northern alliance of Israel and Syria would not prevail against him (Isaiah 7-8). Nevertheless, God would surely punish Judah if it did not turn to God. The agent of God’s wrath was the rising power of the Assyria.
In 722 B.C.E., the northern kingdom of Israel was completely overrun and many of its citizens taken into exile in the Assyrian Empire. Later, Sennacharib of Assyria conquered nearly all of Judah, capturing all of its major towns except Jerusalem and exiling many Judeans as well. Thus, an important theme for Isaiah is the idea of a “remnant” of faithful believers who would endure the current trials and witness the day of redemption when a powerful Judean king of the Davidic lineage would lead them to victory. This king, later known as the Messiah, would unite Judah and Israel (also called Ephraim), and conquer the surrounding nations:
In that day the Root of Jesse [King David’s father] will stand as a banner for the peoples … He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, and Judah’s enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. (Isa. 11:10-14)
Isaiah warned strongly against relying on alliances with pagan nations, believing that Israel and Judah should rely only on God’s power, not treaties with surrounding countries. To dramatize the futility of Judah allying itself with Egypt against Assyria, Isaiah reports that he stripped and walked naked and barefoot for three years, declaring:
The king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame. (Isaiah 20).
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Isaiah
ISAIAH’S PROPHECIES
Isaiah’s message is above all, one of hope. It foretells a time when justice will prevail, when fear will be no more, when a child will be born, and will be called “Immanuel,” meaning God with us. Isaiah foretells of punishment for those who do evil, those who put gods made by human hands above the Lord God, the creator of all. Yet, there is a promise that there will always be those who love the Lord God, and His ways. And God will be with them.
Isaiah writes with passion:
Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.
Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
Daughter Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
like a city under siege.
Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the Lord.
I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow
Come now, let us settle the matter,
says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land;
but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
See how the faithful city
has become a prostitute!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!
Your silver has become dross,
your choice wine is diluted with water.
Your rulers are rebels,
partners with thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow’s case does not come before them.
Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes
and avenge myself on my enemies.
I will turn my hand against you;
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.
I will restore your leaders as in days of old,
your rulers as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called
the City of Righteousness,
the Faithful City.
Zion will be delivered with justice,
her penitent ones with righteousness.
But rebels and sinners will both be broken,
and those who forsake the Lord will perish.
You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
in which you have delighted;
you will be disgraced because of the gardens
that you have chosen.
You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
like a garden without water.
The mighty man will become tinder
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
with no one to quench the fire.”
—Isaiah 1:2-31
Isaiah foretells of the last days when the Lord’s house will be established, when many people will say, “Come ye, and let us go up into 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 … .”
“And he 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.” –Isaiah 2:4
The prophet calls upon the children of Jacob to walk in the light of the Lord.
Isaiah writes of the Messiah to come
“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.” —Isaiah 9:6
He writes of days to come, when a king will arise from among the descendants of David, son of Jesse: “…with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed;
their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”
–Isaiah 11:6-10
JeremiaH
SOME HISTORY
Source: Britannica / For the complete article, see: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet/Prophetic-vocation-and-message
Jeremiah was born in Anathoth, Judah, and died in Egypt. He grew up a priestly family in the village of Anathoth, a few miles northeast of Jerusalem.
The era in which Jeremiah lived was one of transition. The Assyrian empire that had been dominant for two centuries, declined and fell. Its capital, Nineveh, was captured in 612 by the Babylonians and Medes. Egypt had a brief period of resurgence (664–525) but did not prove strong enough to establish an empire. The new world power was the Neo-Babylonian empire, ruled by a Chaldean dynasty whose best known king was Nebuchadrezzar. Judah had been a vassal of Assyria and, when Assyria declined, asserted its independence for a short time. Subsequently Judah vacillated in its allegiance between Babylonia and Egypt and ultimately became a province of the Neo-Babylonian empire.
According to the Book of Jeremiah, he began his prophetic career in 627/626—the 13th year of King Josiah’s reign. It is told there that he responded to God’s call to prophesy by protesting “I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth,” but he received God’s assurance that he would put his own words into Jeremiah’s mouth and make him a “prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah’s early messages to the people were condemnations of them for their false worship and social injustice, with summons to repentance. He proclaimed the coming of a foe from the north, symbolized by a boiling pot facing from the north in one of his visions, that would cause great destruction. This foe has often been identified with the Scythians, nomads from southern Russia who supposedly descended into western Asia in the 7th century and attacked Palestine. Some scholars have identified the northern foe with the Medes, the Assyrians, or the Chaldeans (Babylonians); others have interpreted his message as vague eschatological predictions, not concerning a specific people.
In 621 King Josiah instituted far-reaching reforms based upon a book discovered in the Temple of Jerusalem in the course of building repairs, which was probably the Book of Deuteronomy or some part of it. Josiah’s reforms included the purification of worship from pagan practices, the centralization of all sacrificial rites in the Temple of Jerusalem, and perhaps an effort to establish social justice following principles of earlier prophets.
Early in the reign of king Jehoiakim, Jeremiah delivered his famous “Temple sermon,” of which there are two versions, one in Jeremiah 7:1–15 and the other in Jeremiah 26:1–24. He denounced the people for their dependence on the Temple for security and called on them to effect genuine ethical reform. He predicted that God would destroy the Temple of Jerusalem, as he had earlier destroyed that of Shiloh, if they continued in their present path. Jeremiah was immediately arrested and tried on a capital charge. He was acquitted but may have been forbidden to preach again in the Temple.
The reign of Jehoiakim was an active and difficult period in Jeremiah’s life. That king was very different from his father, the reforming Josiah, whom Jeremiah commended for doing justice and righteousness. Jeremiah denounced Jehoiakim harshly for his selfishness, materialism, and practice of social injustice.
Near the time of the Battle of Carchemish, in 605, when the Babylonians decisively defeated the Egyptians and the remnant of the Assyrians, Jeremiah delivered an oracle against Egypt. Realizing that this battle made a great difference in the world situation, Jeremiah soon dictated to his scribe, Baruch, a scroll containing all of the messages he had delivered to this time. The scroll was read by Baruch in the Temple. Subsequently it was read before King Jehoiakim, who cut it into pieces and burned it. Jeremiah went into hiding and dictated another scroll, with additions.
When Jehoiakim withheld tribute from the Babylonians (about 601), Jeremiah began to warn the Judaeans that they would be destroyed at the hands of those who had previously been their friends. When the king persisted in resisting Babylonia, Nebuchadrezzar sent an army to besiege Jerusalem. King Jehoiakim died before the siege began and was succeeded by his son, Jehoiachin, who surrendered the capital to the Babylonians on March 16, 597, and was taken to Babylonia with many of his subjects.
The Babylonians placed on the throne of Judah a king favorable to them, Zedekiah (597–586 BCE), who was more inclined to follow Jeremiah’s counsel than Jehoiakim had been but was weak and vacillating and whose court was torn by conflict between pro-Babylonian and pro-Egyptian parties. After paying Babylonia tribute for nearly 10 years, the king made an alliance with Egypt. A second time Nebuchadrezzar sent an army to Jerusalem, which he captured in August 586.
Early in Zedekiah’s reign, Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles in Babylonia, advising them not to expect to return immediately to their homeland, as false prophets were encouraging them to believe, but to settle peaceably in their place of exile and seek the welfare of their captors. When emissaries from surrounding states came to Judah in 594 to enlist Judah’s support in rebellion against Babylonia, Jeremiah put a yoke upon his neck and went around proclaiming that Judah and the surrounding states should submit to the yoke of Babylonia, for it was Yahweh who had given them into the hand of the king of Babylonia. Even to the time of the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s message remained the same: submit to the yoke of Babylonia.
When the siege of Jerusalem was temporarily lifted at the approach of an Egyptian force, Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of the tribe of Benjamin. He was arrested on a charge of desertion and placed in prison. Subsequently he was placed in an abandoned cistern, where he would have died had it not been for the prompt action of an Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-melech, who rescued the prophet with the king’s permission and put him in a less confining place. King Zedekiah summoned him from prison twice for secret interviews, and both times Jeremiah advised him to surrender to Babylonia.
When Jerusalem finally fell, Jeremiah was released from prison by the Babylonians and offered safe conduct to Babylonia, but he preferred to remain with his own people. So he was entrusted to Gedaliah, a Judaean from a prominent family whom the Babylonians appointed as governor of the province of Judah. The prophet continued to oppose those who wanted to rebel against Babylonia and promised the people a bright and joyful future.
After Gedaliah was assassinated, Jeremiah was taken against his will to Egypt by some of the Jews who feared reprisal from the Babylonians. Even in Egypt he continued to rebuke his fellow exiles. Jeremiah probably died about 570 BCE. According to a tradition that is preserved in extrabiblical sources, he was stoned to death by his fellow countrymen in Egypt.
Source: Britannica / For the complete article, see: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet/
JEREMIAH’S PROPHECIES
Jeremiah was, at first, an unwilling prophet of the Lord God. He writes: “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, “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 (Jeremiah 1:4-5).”
When Jeremiah heard those words, he protested that he was a child, and therefore, could not speak.
God’s plan, however, was for Jeremiah to go where God commanded, to speak what God commanded.
“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 (Jeremiah 1:9).’ ”
Jeremiah had to deliver the words of God that the kings, princes, and priests did not want to hear. Judah had turned away from God, and God, who had protected the children of Israel so many times in the past, would not defend them now. Judah was the target of enemy nations. The northern kingdom of Israel had joined with Babylon king Nebuchadrezzar, and were a threat to Judah. Now, Judah must face the consequences for sins of the past and present. Jeremiah delivers God’s messages: Turn from evil and God would be merciful; Turn not from evil and endure destruction and death.
Jeremiah, who was both priest and prophet, reminded the people of Jerusalem that the Lord had brought them into a land of plenty, but after they entered, they defiled His land and made His heritage an abomination. (Jeremiah 2)
Historical note: The spiritual condition of Judah was one of flagrant idol worship. King Ahaz, preceding his son Hezekiah long before Jeremiah in Isaiah’s day, had set up a system of sacrificing children to the god Molech in the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem (735 – 715 B.C.). Hezekiah led in reforms and clean-up (Isa. 36:7), but his son Manasseh continued to foster child sacrifice along with gross idolatry, which continued into Jeremiah’s time (7:31; 19:5; 32:35). Many also worshiped the “queen of heaven” (7:18; 44:19). Josiah’s reforms, reaching their apex (in 622 B.C.), forced a repressing of the worst practices outwardly, but the deadly sin flourished quickly again after a shallow revival. Religious insincerity, dishonesty, adultery, injustice, tyranny against the helpless, and slander prevailed as the norm not the exception. Politically momentous events occurred in Jeremiah’s day. Assyria saw its power wane gradually; its king Ashurbanipal died in 626 B.C. Assyria grew so feeble that in 612 B.C. her seemingly invincible capital, Nineveh, was destroyed (compare the book of Nahum). The Neo-Babylonian empire under Nabopolassar (625 – 605 B.C.), became dominant militarily with victories against Assyria (612 B.C.), Egypt (609 – 605 B.C.), and Israel in three phrases (605 B.C.), as in Daniel Chapter 1; (597 B.C.), as in 2 kings 24:10-16; and (586 B.C.), as in Jer. chapters 39, 40 and 52. Source: https://www.biblestudys.org/Bible%20Books/Jeremiah/Book%20of%20Jeremiah.html
God calls upon the children of Israel to acknowledge their iniquity:
“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 (Jeremiah 3:14-15).”
There was a dearth in the land, and the Lord told Jeremiah that he should not pray for the people.
“When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence,” said the Lord (Jeremiah 14:12) .
God also told Jeremiah that he should not take a wife, nor father children, because the sons and daughters born in the land would die of grievous deaths.
Jeremiah was told to neither lament nor bemoan the dead. The Lord had taken away his peace, his lovingkindness and mercies from the people.
Jeremiah was commanded by God to stand in the gate where the kings of Judah come and go, and he was to say the words of the Lord to the kings and people:
“Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers (Jeremiah 17:21).”
Their fathers obeyed not. But, the Lord said, if the people now honored the sabbath day, the city of Jerusalem would remain forever. And should they not hallow the sabbath day, the Lord would kindle a fire that would devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
In the valley of the son of Hinnom, Jeremiah prophetized that the Lord God would bring evil upon them because:
“… they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter (Jeremiah 19:4-6).”
Jeremiah left Tophet, and went to the court of the Lord’s house. He said the words of the Lord to the people, “Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words (Jeremiah 19: 15).”
Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied. He smote Jeremiah, and put him in stocks. The next day Pashur had Jeremiah brought from the stocks. Jeremiah prophesied that Judah would fall into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he, Pashur, along with all in his household, would be taken captive, and die in Babylon.
Later, King Zedekiah sent Pashur and Zephaniah to Jeremiah. The king, anxious about Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, wanted the Lord to intercede, to side with Judah, to defeat Nebuchadrezzar.
Jeremiah sent them back to King Zedekiah with the words:
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
“The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, And afterward, saith the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. (Jeremiah 21:4-10)”
Jeremiah then is told to go to the king of Judah and say: “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 (Jeremiah 22:3).”
Judah would be blessed by obeying the word of the Lord. If the words of the Lord are ignored, the house of Judah would become a desolation.
God said He would bring victory to Nebuchadrezzar, and the people of Judah would serve the king of Babylon, for 70 years. After the 70 years, God said He would punish the king of Babylon, and the nation of Babylon, for their iniquity.
Jeremiah repeatedly delivers the word of the Lord: Turn from evil; don’t seek other gods to worship.
God told Jeremiah to stand in the court of the Lord’s house — for the people worshipped both the Lord God, and other gods. Jeremiah was to tell then: “If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
And thou shalt say unto them, “Thus saith the Lord; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth (Jeremiah 26:4-6).”
His words caused the priests and prophets to seek his death. But after much discussion among the leaders, it was decided that Jeremiah would not be sentenced to death.
When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, he made captives of the elders, priests, prophets and people of prestige. They were taken to Babylon. Jeremiah sent a letter to them. The letter had words from the Lord, telling them to build houses, plant gardens, take wives, beget children. They were to seek the peace of the city. They also were cautioned to “Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord (Jeremiah 29:8-9).”
The Lord also said that after 70 years in Babylon, He would visit, perform His good word, and return them.
“And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: “and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive (Jeremiah 29:14).”
Jerusalem Besieged
In the 10th year of King Zedekiah of Judah, and the 18th year of Nebuchadrezzar, Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was shut up in prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.
For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the Lord: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper. (Jeremiah 32:3-5)
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
“Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin (Jeremiah 36:2-3).”
Jeremiah called upon the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah, to write the words the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. Then, Jeremiah commanded Baruch to read the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on the fasting day. Baruch also was to read the words of the Lord to the people of Judah. Jeremiah could not read the words himself because he was shut up in prison.
Jeremiah said it may be that the people, upon hearing, would return from their evil ways.
Upon learning of the reading of the words on the roll, the princes of Judah had Baruch read to them. When the princes heard the words they were afraid. They told Baruch that he and Jeremiah should hide. The princes left the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and then went to tell the king. The king sent for the roll, and Jedude read it. Before the reading was finished, the king cut the roll with the penknife and cast it into the fire burning on the hearth.
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not (Jeremiah 36: 27-31.”
Jeremiah took another roll, and gave it to Baruch who wrote all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
Historical note:
When the king of Egypt, Pharaoh-necho, invaded the land and deposed Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:33, 34; Jeremiah 22:10-12), he set Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar then conquered the land and Jehoiakim was taken prisoner and carried captive to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:6, 7).
Nebuchadnezzar reinstated Jehoiakim on his throne, but treated him as a vassal king. In the year after this, Jeremiah caused his prophecies to be read by Baruch in the court of the temple. Jehoiakim, hearing of this, had them also read in the royal palace before himself. The words displeased him, and taking the roll from the hands of Baruch he cut it in pieces and threw it into the fire (Jeremiah 36:23). During his disastrous reign there was a return to the old idolatry and corruption of the days of Manasseh.
After three years of subjection to Babylon, Jehoiakim withheld his tribute and threw off the yoke (2 Kings 24:1), hoping to make himself independent. Nebuchadnezzar sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, and Ammonites (2 Kings 24:2) to chastise his rebellious vassal. They cruelly harassed the whole country. The king came to a violent death, and his body having been thrown over the wall of Jerusalem, to convince the beseieging army that he was dead, after having been dragged away, was buried beyond the gates of Jerusalem “with the burial of an ass,” B.C. 599 (Jeremiah 22:18, 19; 36:30). His son Jehoiachin, who was only eight years old, was placed on the throne, and held it for 100 days.
Excerpts from Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Ezekiel
SOME HISTORY
Source: BibleHistory.com
https://bible-history.com/old-testament/bookofezekiel
Ezekiel was married to a beautiful woman who was “the desire of his eyes” and God told him his beloved wife was going to die on the very same day that Jerusalem was to be destroyed. He was commanded not to mourn his wife’s death. He was to prepare himself as God had prepared himself for the death of his beloved city (Ezekiel 24:15-22).
God spoke many prophecies through Ezekiel using words, parables, visions, and similitudes (strange things to point to something greater). Ezekiel also prophesied about the false shepherds in Jerusalem, and God said that he will be the true Shepherd Messiah and there will be a future outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a re-gathering of Israel in the land. Ezekiel also predicted the downfall of those nations that were hostile to Judah.
Ezekiel 16 is probably the most remarkable chapter concerning the love of God for his people in spite of their continuing idolatry.
“Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God. “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.” —Ezekiel 16:14-15
The prophet Ezekiel was taken captive during the time when the Babylonians began their captivity of Judah during the time of the reign of king Jehoichin, which was about 11 years before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. Ezekiel was one of the Jewish captives who was brought to the land of Babylon and settled on the banks of the river Chebar. While he was by this river and the “land of the Chaldeans” he had a prophetic vision and received his call to be a prophet to the people in exile. This all happened in the fourth month of the “fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity” (595 BC).
According to Jewish tradition Ezekiel was murdered in Babylon by a Jewish prince whom Ezekiel accused of idolatry, Ezekiel was supposedly buried on the banks of the Euphrates River.
Source: BibleHistory.com https://bible-history.com/old-testament/bookofezekiel
EZEKIEL’S PROPHECIES
"They shall know that I am the Lord."
THE WORDS ECHO THUNDEROUSLY THROUGHOUT THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL.
Ezekiel was both priest and prophet, and he would bring God’s messages to the Israelites, and to their enemy nations. He would deliver God’s warning that the evil they did would not go unpunished; they would suffer from the sword, from famine, from pestilence.
Ezekiel begins his writings with his first vision from God that comes in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. In this vision, he sees the majesty and power of God.
The Glory of God
In his vision, Ezekiel sees a whirlwind, and a great cloud filled with brilliant amber fire.
In the midst of the fire was the likeness of four living creatures having the likeness of a man with four faces — the face of man, face of a lion, face of an ox, and face of an eagle. They had four wings that were joined to one another, and under the wings were the hands of man. Their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
They went straight forward. Where the spirit went, they went. The creatures also appeared to have lights, like burning coals of fire that went up and down among them. The creatures ran, and returned like a flash of lighting.
Ezekiel also saw a wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, and their appearance and their work was as though there was a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
Ezekiel describes the creatures as having rings that were full of eyes, and the rings were so high that they were dreadful. Where the creatures went, the wheels went by them, and when the creatures lifted from the earth, the wheels lifted up. The spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
When the creatures went, Ezekiel heard the noise of their wings, “like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty.”
There was a firmament over their heads, and above the firmament was the likeness of a throne, and upon the throne was the likeness of a man. There was the appearance of fire around him. And Ezekiel said it was like the rainbow in the cloud in the day of rain.
And he beheld the glory of the Lord.
He fell upon his face, and heard a voice:
“Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.” (See Ezekiel 1:3; 2:1-5)
Idolatry In The Temple
In the sixth year of captivity, Ezekiel was sitting in his house with elders of Judah when the hand of God fell upon him. The hand took him by a lock of his hair, and the spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven. The vision took him to Jerusalem, to the north gate, to the seat of the image of jealousy (Ezekiel 8:5-12).
BibleTools.org identifies the image of jealousy as a pagan idol — https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/13233/Image-Jealousy.htm.
And the glory of God was there.
God commanded that he look northward, and see the great abominations committed there. The Lord brought Ezekiel to the door of the court. There was a hole in the wall, and Ezekiel was told to dig into the wall. After digging, he came to a door.
Ezekiel was told to go through the door.
“So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, “Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.’ ”
Ezekiel then was brought to another door, and there sat women weeping for Tammuz (a Phoenician deity slain by a wild boar. The mourning for Tammuz was celebrated in Babylonia by women).
Next Ezekiel was bought into the inner court of the Lord’s house. There, 25 men worshipped the sun god.
God asked, “Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.” (See Ezekiel 8:1-18)
Note: “Put the branch to their nose.” This supposedly was part of the ceremonies of the Persian sun-worshippers, who held before them a branch or bunch of date, pomegranate or tamarisk tree, or according to some of the Homa tree, probably that their breath might not contaminate the glory of the rising deity. Source:Cambridge Bible for Schools and College https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/8-17.htm
Jerusalem: The Infant God Saved
The Lord likened Jerusalem to an infant, born, polluted in its own blood, then cast out in an open field.
“Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord God.
“Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. 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? And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
“And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;) That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
“Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied therewith. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary. Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.” — Ezekiel 16:6-42
Jerusalem To Be Punished
The Lord said, “I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord:
That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God. (See Ezekiel, Chapters 15 & 16)
Two Eagles
God gave Ezekiel a parable to speak before the Israelites: A parable of two great eagles. The first eagle came to Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar. He cropped off the top of the cedar’s young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants, He took of the seed of the land, planted it in a fruitful field, placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. It grew, became a spreading vine of low stature; its branches turned toward him, its roots under him. It became a vine with branches; it shot forth sprigs.
There was another eagle. The vine bent her roots and branches toward him, that he might water it. It was planted in good soil, by great waters, that it might bear fruit, and be a goodly vine.
Ezekiel was instructed to say, “Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up its roots, cut off its fruit, that it wither?
Ezekiel was to tell the people the meaning of the parable: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took Jerusalem’s king and princes, and the mighty of the land to Babylon. The king of Babylon made a covenant with Jerusalem’s king. Jerusalem’s king rebelled, and sent ambassadors to Egypt to seek the aid of horses and men.
“As I live,” saith the Lord God, “surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons: Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.” Therefore thus saith the Lord God; “As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.”
God then said He would take of the highest branch of the high cedar, crop from the top of its young twigs a tender one, and plant it upon a high mountain, and it would bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it would dwell fowl of every wing.
“And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it.” (See Ezekiel, Chapter 17)
Each Responsible For Self; The One Who Sins Will Die
The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;
“He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.
“If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things, And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife, Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination, Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
“Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife, Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.
“As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
“Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?
When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
“But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
“But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
“Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
“When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
“Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
“Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
“Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” — Ezekiel 18:4-32
Lament For Israel’s Princes
Ezekiel is told to lament for the princes of Israel. The Lord likens their mother to a lioness who brought up one of her whelps that became a young lion that devoured men. The nations captured him and brought him to Egypt in chains.
Their mother took another of her whelps, and it too became a young lion that devoured men.
The nations set against him, spread their net over him; they put him in chains and brought him to the king of Babylon.
When her first whelp was lost, she took another, and made him a young lion.
“Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
“But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. (Ezekiel, Chapter 19)
The Valley of Dry Bones
Ezekiel writes the spirit of the Lord carried him and set him down in the valley that was full of bones, very dry bones.
And God asked, “ Son of man, can these bones live?”
And I answered, “O Lord God, thou knowest.”
He said unto me, “Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, ‘O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ ”
The Lord God unto these bones;
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
And I will lay sinews upon you,
And will bring up flesh upon you,
And cover you with skin,
And put breath in you,
And ye shall live;
And ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
— Ezekiel 37:4-6
Ezekiel prophesied as commanded. There was a noise, and a shaking, and the bones came together, and skin covered them. But there was no breath in them. God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind, and in the name of the Lord God to tell the winds to breathe upon the slain. Breath came, and an exceeding great army stood on its feet. The bones, said the Lord, are the whole house of Israel, whose people say hope is lost.
Ezekiel is tell them the words of the Lord God: “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.” —Ezekiel 37:12-14
God also had Ezekiel to take two sticks. On one he was to write “For Judah,” and on the other, “For Joseph.” The sticks were to be joined together, and become one. And when the Israelites asked the meaning of the joined sticks, Ezekiel would say:
Thus saith the Lord God; “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
“Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
“And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” —Ezekiel 37:19-28
The Prophesy Against Gog
In chapters 38 and 39, God calls upon Ezekiel to prophesy against Gog.
God says: “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” —Ezekiel 39:21-29
Note: According to BibleInfo.com Ezekiel seems to be talking about a force that was opposed to God and His people—an enemy who would fight against Israel only to be destroyed, by God. See: https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/gog-and-magog
Temple Area Restored
In the 25th year of captivity, visions from God brought Ezekiel to a very high mountain. There, at the gate of a city, he saw a man, who looked to be made of brass, holding a line of flax and a measuring reed.
The man measured the temple, its courts, chambers, and all its parts. When the measuring was complete, Ezekiel was brought to the east gate.
“And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
“And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
“Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.” —Ezekiel 43:2-12
God also spoke the ordinances of the altar.
Then Ezekiel was brought back to the east gate. And the gate was shut. The Lord told Ezekiel the gate should remain shut and no man should enter, because the Lord God of Israel had entered in by it.
Ezekiel was brought by the way of the north gate before the house. Ezekiel was to proclaim the words of the Lord:
“O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
“Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. And when they go forth into the utter (outer) court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.
“Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
“Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
“Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.
“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.
“And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God. And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.
“They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering: and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast (Ezekiel 44:6-31).
God also gave Ezekiel instructions regarding land for inheritance, for the sanctuary, the city, and the prince. Weights and measurements were to be just. Ordinances for sacrifices were given. The east gate of the inner court was to be shut for the six days of work, but open on the sabbath.
Vision Of The Holy Waters
God then brought Ezekiel to the door of the house, and waters flowed from under the threshold. And the waters became a river that flowed into the sea, and in the sea the waters would be healed.
“And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
“But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine (Ezekiel 47:9-12.”
The Lord also set the border for the land, and set the portions for the 12 tribes of Israel. A portion also was set for a city, and those that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.”
And God said, “The name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there.” —Ezekiel 48:3N
Daniel in lions’ den / Peter Paul Rubens / National Gallery of Art publication.
Daniel
SOME HISTORY
Source: Bible-History.com https://bible-history.com/old-testament/bookofdaniel
Daniel was among the Jewish captives who were brought to Babylon from Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar conquered the city (during the first attack in 607 BC). Daniel was still a youth but apparently of high status (Daniel 1:3). He was of such a high status that he was considered one of the wise men of the court of Babylon. He was quickly recognized in Babylon for his devotion to the one God Yahweh, and he refused to eat of the “dainties” which were brought to him by the king’s servants. He also became recognized as the interpreter of dreams (Daniel 1:8-16), because when King Nebuchadnezzar being disturbed by a dream asked his own wise men to interpret they could not. Daniel offered to give the king the interpretation and the King was very appreciative to Daniel, he was so impressed that he allowed Daniel to rise to a place of great prominence in Babylon. Later when Babylon fell to the Persians the Jews had new masters over them, and Daniel was quickly recognized as a very special man and he had favor with the king of Persia. This caused many of those in authority to scrutinize Daniel and to look for flaws in his character and they could not find any. They developed a plot which forced the King to have Daniel thrown in the lion’s den. The King recognized their treachery and hoped for Daniel’s deliverance, and when the Lord saved Daniel from the mouth of the lions Darius ordered his own leaders to be thrown into the lion’s den and they were torn in pieces.
Daniel Predicts New World Powers
Daniel is clearly seen as the Empire predicting prophet. He was an interpreter of dreams, and God revealed through his interpretations his plans for the kingdoms that would rise to power in world history. At that time Babylon was in power, and in fact a world governing Empire in the ancient world. But Daniel said that Babylon would be defeated by the Medes and the Persians who would become a world governing empire. Then Greece would come and dominate the world, and after Greece the Romans would become a world governing empire. Then Daniel predicted that way in the future a final world governing empire would rise that would be like Rome, but different in that it would consist of 10 kings, and then finally one king who would rise to power. This king would be a man referred to in the Bible as the antichrist. This would all take place in the final seven-year period known as the 70th week of Daniel. At its consummation the Lord will return, he will crush the enemy, and he will set up a kingdom, an everlasting kingdom, which will never be destroyed.
Source: Bible-History.com https://bible-history.com/old-testament/bookofdaniel
DANIEL’S PROPHECIES
Daniel was one of the captives, taken along with Judah’s king Jehoiakim, by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem, Judah’s capitol, in the third year of Judah’s king Jehoiakim’s reign.
Nebuchadnezzar had ordered that certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s family should be brought to Babylon. These were :
Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:4)
The children were well treated and well nourished for three years. Then, they were taken before the king.
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were among these children. Nebuchadnezzar’s chief eunuch in charge of the children changed their names. Daniel became Beltezhazzar; Hananiah became Shadrach; Mishael became Meshach; Azariah became Abednego.
Daniel appealed to the prince of the eunuchs, saying the king’s meat and wine would defile him. God had brought Daniel into the favor of the chief eunuch, who allowed a diet of pulse (vegetable food: mostly from pods) and water for a period of 10 days. At the end of ten days the four children’s countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children who ate the portion of the king’s meat. So they were allowed their diet of pulse and water.
Now God gave these four children knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
At the end of the three years, they were brought before Nebuchadnezzar, who communed with them; “and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.”
The king found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
The King’s Dreams
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams that troubled him. He called the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans before him. He told them he had a dream that troubled his spirit. The Chaldeans asked the king to tell his dream; then they would tell him the meaning. But Nebuchadnezzar did not remember his dream. He demanded that they tell him what he dreamed, and if they could not, he would cut them in pieces.
The Chaldeans told him that not a man upon the earth could tell him what he dreamed. Nebuchadnezzar was so angry he determined to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. This included Daniel and his fellows.
So Daniel asked to see the king. He would reveal the king’s dream and its meaning.
Daniel went to his house and communed with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were to seek the secret of the king’s dream through the mercies of God. And in a night vision, the secret was revealed to Daniel, who then blessed God.
Daniel went to Arioch captain of the king’s guard, and asked to see the king.
He said to Nebuchadnezzar: “… there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.”
Daniel revealed the king’s dream to the king. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw a great image. The image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, and his feet part iron, and part clay. A stone, cut without hands, smote the feet of iron and clay, and broke them into pieces. Then the iron, clay, brass, silver and gold of the image was broken into pieces and “became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
Daniel then gave Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of the dream:
“Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” —Daniel 2:31-45
Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him.
“Of a truth it is,” said Nebuchadnezzar, “that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.” —Daniel 2:47
Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel a ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
At Daniel’s request, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were given charge of the affairs of the province of Babylon. Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
The Golden Image And Fiery Furnace
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits (9 x 90 feet): he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. He sent for the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image. When they were gathered for the dedication, a herald cried aloud that when the music sounded, they were to fall down and worship the golden image. Anyone who failed to worship the image would be cast into a fiery furnace.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not worship the golden image, and they were reported to Nebuchadnezzar, who demanded they be brought before him. If they failed to worship the image, they would be cast into the burning furnace.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered the king,
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” –Daniel 3:16-18
Nebuchadnezzar — full of fury — commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were to be bound and cast fully clothed into the burning fiery furnace.
When Nebuchadnezzar later checked, he was astonished to see the three Israelites unbounded and walking unharmed in the midst of the fire. In addition to the three, Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth man, and he noted to those around him, “the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
He called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth. The princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar sent a message: “to the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.”
He shared the signs and wonders of “the high God.”
“How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” —Daniel 4:3
The King Dreams Again
Nebuchadnezzar told of a dream that left him afraid, and how none of the wise men could interpret his dream. But Daniel came before him and listened to him as he told of his dream:
“I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.
“I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” —Daniel 4:10-17
For an hour’s time, Daniel was in a daze, his thoughts troubling him.
Then he said, “My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies (Daniel 4:19).”
The tree that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream was himself, grown strong and great.
Daniel said, “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.”—Daniel 4:24-27
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
At the end of twelve months Nebuchadnezzar walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. He asked, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” —Daniel 4:30
And a voice from heaven said, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” —Daniel 4:31-32
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
And at the end of the days, he said: “I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” —Daniel 4:34-37
Nebuchadnezzar’s Son Becomes King; Sees Writing on the Wall
Belshazzar (son of Nebuchadnezzar and identified in Easton’s Bible Dictionary as the last of the kings of Babylon) made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
He commanded that the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, be brought in for serving the wine to the king, his princes, his wives, and his concubines. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
The king was so troubled that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. He cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. He promised wealth and honor to the one among them who could interpret the writing. None could tell him the meaning.
The queen came into the banquet house, and she told Belshazzar of Daniel.
Daniel was brought in. The king told him that if he could make known the interpretation of the writing, he would be made third ruler of the kingdom.
Daniel agreed to freely provide the interpretation.
“O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
“And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
“And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
“Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
“This is the interpretation of the thing:
MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” —Daniel 5:18-28
Belshazzar had Daniel clothed with scarlet, and a chain of gold was put about his neck. And the king proclaimed him the third ruler in the kingdom.
That night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.
Darius, Daniel, And The Lions’ Den
Darius set over the kingdom 120 princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents with Daniel as first. Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
The presidents and princes conspired against Daniel, but could find nothing. They went to the king and sought a royal statute prohibiting any petition of any God or man for 30 days. Penalty would be casting the violator into the den of lions. The king was exempted.
Darius signed the writing and the decree.
Daniel went into his house. With his windows open, and his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God.
Men who had set their trap for Daniel found him praying. They went to the king and reported Daniel. They reminded the king of the decree he signed. The king tried to spare Daniel, but when the sun set, he delivered him.
The men said unto the king, “Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.” —Daniel 6:15
Daniel, was brought in and cast into the den of lions.
The king said unto Daniel, “Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.” —Daniel 6:16
A stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet. Then the king went to his palace. He passed the night fasting.
The king arose early, and went in haste unto the den of lions. He cried out to Daniel: “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?” —Daniel 6:20
Daniel replied, “O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” —Daniel 6:21-22
The king then commanded that the men who had accused Daniel, be cast into the den of lions. Their children, and their wives also became prey of the lions. King Darius wrote to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; “Peace be multiplied unto you.”
He also decreed that in every dominion of the kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: “for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.” —Daniel 6:26
Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Note: Quotes from Daniel, Chapters 1-6 are from the King James Version of the Bible; Quotes from Chapters 7-12 are from New International Version
Daniel’s Dream Of Four Beasts
In the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign Daniel had a vision of the four winds of the earth churning up the sea. Four great beasts came up out of the sea.
The first was like a lion with the wings of an eagle. Its wings were torn off, and it stood on two feet like a human, and it had the mind of a human.
The second looked like a bear, and it had three ribs in its mouth. It was told, “Get up and eat your fill of flesh.” —Daniel 7:15 NIV
The third looked like a leopard. On its back were four wings like those of a bird. It had four heads, and was given authority to rule.
The fourth beast was terrifying and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. Then there was another horn, a little one, that came up among them. Three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like a human, and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
“As I looked,
thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.”
— Daniel 7:9-10 NIV
Daniel continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. He saw the beast slain, and its body thrown into the blazing fire. The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a time.
In his vision he saw one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days, and was led into his presence. He was given glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is everlasting, and his kingdom will never be destroyed.
Interpretation Of The Dream
Daniel was troubled by his dream, and he asked the meaning of it. He was told: the four great beasts represented four kings who would rise from the earth, but the holy people of the Most High would receive the kingdom and possess it for ever and ever.
Daniel asked about the fourth beast that was the most terrifying. The fourth beast, he learned, would subdue the three kings. He would speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change set times and laws. The holy people would be delivered into his hands periods of time. Then his power would be taken away.
“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’
“This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.” —Daniel 7:27-28 NIV
Daniel’s Vision Of Ram, Goat
Daniel’s next vision comes in the third year of Belshazzar’s reign. In the vision, he is beside the Ulai Canal in the citadel of Susa. He sees a ram with two long horns, one longer than the other. The ram charged toward the west, the north, and the south. No animal could stand against it. While Daniel’s mind focused on the ram, a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west. It charged the ram, shattering its two horns. The goat knocked the ram to the ground and trampled it. The goat became great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off. Four prominent horns grew in its place. Out of one of the horns came another that first was small, but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.
“It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.” —Daniel 8:10-12 NIV
Daniel heard a holy one speaking, and another holy asked how long it would take for the vision to be fulfilled? He was speaking of the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lord’s people.
He said to Daniel, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” —Daniel 8:14 NIV
Interpretation Of The Vision
In Daniel’s vision, he encounters the angel Gabriel. A man’s voice from the Ulai calls out, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.” —Daniel 8:16 NIV
Daniel is terrified, and falls prostrate. Gabriel touches him and raises him to his feet. He tells Daniel:
“I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power.
“In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
“The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.” —Daniel 8:19-26 NIV
Daniel writes that he lay exhausted for several days, then got up and went about the king’s business. He was appalled by the vision.
Daniel’s Prayer
In the first year Darius (a Mede by descent) ruled the Babylonian kingdom. Daniel recalls the Scriptures of the prophet Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. Daniel turned to God, pleading with him in prayer, in petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
He prayed:
“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
“All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
“Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name,” —Daniel 9:4-19 NIV
The Seventy “Sevens”
While Daniel was in prayer, Gabriel, the man he had seen in the earlier vision, came to him in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. Gabriel said to Daniel that as soon as he began to pray, a word went out, and he had come to him to explain the vision:
“Seventy ‘sevens’ (weeks of seven days) are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” —Daniel 9:24-27 NIV
Daniel’s Vision Of A Man
Cyrus, king of Persia, had conquered Babylon. In the third year of his reign, Daniel had a vision of a great war. Daniel had been in mourning for three weeks in which he ate no meat, nor drank wine.
In his vision he was standing on the bank of the great Tigris river. He looked up and before him was a man dressed in linen, wearing a belt of fine gold.
“His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” —Daniel 10:6 NIV
Although there were others with him, Daniel was the only one who saw the vision. Nonetheless, the others were overwhelmed with terror. They fled and hid themselves.
Daniel’s strength left him, and as he listened to the man in linen speak, he fell into a deep sleep.
A hand touched him and set him on hands and knees. The one in linen said to him: “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” —Daniel 10:12-14 NIV
Daniel was speechless. The one “who looked like a man (the one in linen) touched his lips and gave Daniel strength.
The one said that soon he would return to fight against the prince of Persia, that the prince of Greece would come.
“But first,” he said, “I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.)” —Daniel 10:21
The one continued,
“Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. After he has arisen, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.
“The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power. After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be betrayed, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her.
“One from her family line will arise to take her place. He will attack the forces of the king of the North and enter his fortress; he will fight against them and be victorious. He will also seize their gods, their metal images and their valuable articles of silver and gold and carry them off to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone. Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress.
“Then the king of the South will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North, who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated. When the army is carried off, the king of the South will be filled with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant. For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped.
“In those times many will rise against the king of the South. Those who are violent among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success. Then the king of the North will come and build up siege ramps and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. The invader will do as he pleases; no one will be able to stand against him. He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it. He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him. Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back on him. After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more.
“His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor. In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.
“He will be succeeded by a contemptible person who has not been given the honor of royalty. He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue. Then an overwhelming army will be swept away before him; both it and a prince of the covenant will be destroyed. After coming to an agreement with him, he will act deceitfully, and with only a few people he will rise to power. When the richest provinces feel secure, he will invade them and will achieve what neither his fathers nor his forefathers did. He will distribute plunder, loot and wealth among his followers. He will plot the overthrow of fortresses—but only for a time.
“With a large army he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South. The king of the South will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him. Those who eat from the king’s provisions will try to destroy him; his army will be swept away, and many will fall in battle. The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time. The king of the North will return to his own country with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant. He will take action against it and then return to his own country.
“At the appointed time he will invade the South again, but this time the outcome will be different from what it was before. Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose heart. Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy covenant. He will return and show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.
“His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
“Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
“The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.
“At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites in submission. But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” —Daniel 11:1-45, Daniel 12:1-4 NIV
Daniel saw two others, one on his side of the river bank, the other one on the opposite side. One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” —Daniel 12:6
The man in linen answered “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.” —Daniel 12:7 NIV
Daniel asked about the outcome of all that had been shown.
The man in linen said to him, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
“As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” —Daniel 12:9-12 NIV
Note: In the Old Testament Michael is mentioned by name only in Daniel. He is “one of the chief princes” (Daniel 10:13), the “prince” of Israel (Daniel 10:21), “the great prince” (Daniel 12:1); perhaps also “the prince of the host” (Daniel 8:11). In all these passages Michael appears as the heavenly patron and champion of Israel; as the watchful guardian of the people of God against all foes earthly or devilish.
Source: https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/M/michael.html
Hosea
SOME HISTORY
Source: World History Org. https://www.worldhistory.org/Hosea/
Hosea was active in the 8th century BCE and his ministry extended over 60 years, from King Jeroboam II (787-747 BCE) to King Hoseah (731-722 BCE).
In 722 BCE, the Assyrian Empire conquered and destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This was when ten of the twelve tribes of Israel were lost to history. In 587 BCE, the Babylonian Empire conquered and destroyed the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The prophets of Israel explained both disasters by claiming that the sins of the Israelites (specifically their idolatry) led God to punish them. However, they also offered a message of hope: sometime in the future, God would intervene once more in the final days (eschaton in Greek). At that time, he would restore Israel to its former glory and rectify all injustice. With no specific details in the Book of Hosea, it is nevertheless the consensus that his activity focused on the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
A dominant theme in the construction of ancient religious views was the necessity of fertility; fertility of people, crops, and herds. Thus, gods were always depicted as accompanied by goddesses (consorts), and human procreation became essential for survival. The prophets of Israel utilized allegory and metaphors of sexual intercourse, adultery, marriage, and divorce to critique these concepts where they claimed that the sin of idolatry led to sexual immorality. In the Jewish texts, the term meant illicit sexual unions, and most often referred to incest laws, the degree of kinship permitted in marriage (Leviticus 18).
Hosea charged the Northern Kingdom with theft, perjury, and idolatry that led to their sexual immorality. The sexual nuance is derived from the Canaanite Baals, and their consorts, Asherahs. Baal was sometimes depicted as a pillar on a mountaintop (symbolizing a potent phallus), but more commonly he was a bull because bulls were an ancient symbol of fertility and potency. When the Northern Kingdom separated from the South Kingdom of Judah, a temple was built at Bethel with a Baal in the image of a bull. Asherah was often depicted with exaggerated breasts as a symbol of potential nurturing.
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”
Hosea construed Israel’s unfaithfulness as committing adultery against God’s relationship with Israel; God was the bridegroom and Israel the bride. Gomer ran away and slept with another man (or men). The marriage symbolized the breakdown between God and his people because his people turned to other gods. All the children’s names are symbolic of this estrangement from God.
Even though Gomer committed adultery, when Hosea found that she had been sold into slavery to another man, he bought her back and took her in because he loved her. This reflects the other side of his message, that God’s love for Israel will ultimately forgive and restore the nation.
Source: World History Org. https://www.worldhistory.org/Hosea/
HOSEA’S PROPHECIES
God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a whore. Hosea marries Gomer.
Gomer gives birth to three children. The first, a boy, is named Jezreel; the second, a girl, is named Loruhamah; the third, a boy, is named Loammi. All three are named by God. All three names have significant meanings:
• Jezreel brought the promise of God’s vengeance upon king Jehu of Israel, and an ending to the kingdom of Israel.
• Loruhamah signified the end of God’s mercy upon the house of Israel.
• Loammi meant God no longer would be the God of Israel.
Yet, there is the promise that the children of Israel “will be as the sand of the sea that cannot be measured,” and in time to come it will be said, “Ye are the sons of the living God.” And Judah and Israel will be together under one leader.” —Hosea 1:10-11
In Hosea 2, the prophet urges an end to the whoredoms and adulteries for God will have no mercy for the children of whoredoms.
“For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.” —Hosea 2:5
She won’t find her lovers because God will fill her paths with thorns and take away the corn, the wine, the wool … . “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.” —Hosea 2:11-12
Faced with destitution, she will return to her husband.
The Lord tells Hosea to go, “love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod (priestly vestment), and without teraphim (idol): Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” —Hosea 3:1-5
God’s Charges Against Israel
In Hosea 4, the sins of the children of Israel separate them from God. Hosea writes that there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break their covenant with the Lord God, and separate themselves from Him.
“Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.” —Hosea 4:2-3
Hosea continues to define the sins of the people, and the consequences of their turning away from God.
In Hosea 5, the priests, the house of Israel, and the king are called to account. In Hosea 6, God reminds that he “desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (6:6).”
The Lord said Israel would cry unto him.
“Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.” —Hosea 8:3-4
Israel is likened to an empty vine; the people swore falsely in making their covenant.
“Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.” —Hosea 10:13-15
Hosea ends his writing with the plea, “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” —Hosea 14:1
Then will the Lord heal their backsliding.
“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.” —Hosea 14:9
Joel
SOME HISTORY
Source: Easy English Bible https://www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/joel-lbw.htm
Note: Smith’s Bible Dictionary puts Joel’s time in history at about B.C. 800. Joel prophesied in Judah in the reign of Uzziah.
Joel tells us his father’s name, but he says nothing about himself. Some students think that he wrote his book about 850 years before the birth of Jesus. Other students think that he wrote it about 330 years later than that. The really important thing is that Joel has a message from God.
Nearly all God’s people have forgotten to love God. And they have forgotten to obey him. So God allows bad things to happen. There is no rain (Joel 1:2). The plants do not grow well and insects come to eat them (Joel 1:4). And these things are only a beginning.
Joel tells the people to think about these bad things (Joel 1:2-13, 15-20). He tells the people to change their attitude to God (Joel 1:14; 2:12-17). He tells them that they should love God again, as they did before. And they should obey him again. If they do this, then God will do good things for them (Joel 2:18-20, 32). God will send his *Holy Spirit to them (Joel 2:28).
Joel then tells the people about a special day that is coming. He calls that day ‘the Day of the Lord’ (Joel 3:14). On that day, great things will happen (Joel 2:28-32). God will punish his people’s enemies (Joel 3:1-21). Then God will give peace to his people again (Joel 3:16, 20).
Source: Easy English Bible https://www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/joel-lbw.htm
Note: Smith’s Bible Dictionary puts Joel’s time in history at about B.C. 800. Joel prophesied in Judah in the reign of Uzziah.
JOEL’S PROPHECIES
The prophet Joel delivers a message from God:
“Give ear to this, you old men, and take note, you people of the land. Has this ever been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to another generation.
What the worm did not make a meal of, has been taken by the locust; and what the locust did not take, has been food for the plant-worm; and what the plant-worm did not take, has been food for the field-fly.
Come out of your sleep, you who are overcome with wine, and give yourselves to weeping; give cries of sorrow, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it has been cut off from your mouths.
For a nation has come up over my land, strong and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the back teeth of a great lion.
By him my vine is made waste and my fig-tree broken: he has taken all its fruit and sent it down to the earth; its branches are made white.
Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.
The meal offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s servants, are sorrowing.
The fields are wasted, the land has become dry; for the grain is wasted, the new wine is kept back, the oil is poor.
The farmers are shamed, the workers in the vine-gardens give cries of grief, for the wheat and the barley; for the produce of the fields has come to destruction.
The vine has become dry and the fig-tree is feeble; the pomegranate and the palm-tree and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dry: because joy has gone from the sons of men.
Put haircloth round you and give yourselves to sorrow, you priests; give cries of grief, you servants of the altar: come in, and, clothed in haircloth, let the night go past, you servants of my God: for the meal offering and the drink offering have been kept back from the house of your God.
Let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting, let the old men, even all the people of the land, come together to the house of the Lord your God, crying out to the Lord.
Sorrow for the day! for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Ruler of all it will come.
Is not food cut off before our eyes? joy and delight from the house of our God?
The grains have become small and dry under the spade; the store-houses are made waste, the grain-stores are broken down; for the grain is dry and dead.
What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen (Joel 1:2-18).
Joel warns the people that “the day of the Lord is at hand,” and destruction would come from the Almighty. The corn is withered, he writes, and the cattle have no pasture because fire had burned both pastures and trees.
He calls for the blowing of the trumpet, the sounding of alarm.
“A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.” —Joel 2:2
The Lord calls upon the people, “turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, not your garments, 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.” —Joel 2:12-13
The priests should weep, and call upon the Lord to spare the people. And the Lord would answer, “Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate … .”—Joel 2:19-20
Retribution
The days and time will come, said the Lord, when I let the fate of Judah and Jerusalem be changed:
I will get together all the nations, and make them come down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and there I will take up with them the cause of my people and of my heritage Israel, whom they have sent wandering among the nations, and of my land which has been parted by them. And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.
And further, what are you to me, O Tyre and Zidon and all the circle of Philistia? will you give me back any payment? and if you do, quickly and suddenly I will send it back on your head,
For you have taken my silver and my gold, putting in the houses of your gods my beautiful and pleasing things.
And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have given for a price to the sons of the Greeks, to send them far away from their land:
See, I will have them moved from the place where you have sent them, and will let what you have done come back on your head;
I will give your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah for a price, and they will give them for a price to the men of Sheba, a nation far off: for the Lord has said it.
Give this out among the nations; make ready for war: get the strong men awake; let all the men of war come near, let them come up.
Get your plough-blades hammered into swords, and your vine-knives into spears: let the feeble say, I am strong.
Come quickly, all you nations round about, and get yourselves together there: make your strong ones come down, O Lord.
Let the nations be awake, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there I will be seated as judge of all the nations round about.
Put in the blade, for the grain is ready: come, get you down, for the wine-crusher is full, the vessels are overflowing; for great is their evil-doing.
Masses on masses in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining.
And the Lord will be thundering from Zion, and his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will be shaking: but the Lord will be a breastplate for his people and a strong place for the children of Israel.
And you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem will be holy, and no strange person will ever again go through her.
And it will come about in that day that the mountains will be dropping sweet wine, and the hills will be flowing with milk, and all the streams of Judah will be flowing with water; and a fountain will come out from the house of the Lord, watering the valley of acacia-trees.
Egypt will be a waste and Edom a land of destruction, because of the evil done to the children of Judah, because they have let blood be drained out in their land without cause.
But Judah will be peopled for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
And I will send punishment for their blood, for which punishment has not been sent, for the Lord is living in Zion.” —Joel 3:1-21
Amos
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encylopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/amos_(prophet)
Amos prophesied in the days of Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.E.) of Israel, while Uzziah (792-740 B.C.E.) was king of Judah.
Under Jeroboam II, the Kingdom of Israel enjoyed a substantial period of peace and security marked by artistic and commercial development. Samaria, its capital, boasted of beautiful and substantial buildings of hewn stone and ivory decorations rather than brick. Abundance, comfort and luxury so abounded that northern Kingdom of Israel had attained a prosperity unprecedented since the time of Solomon.
However, the division between rich and poor increased and social corruption and the oppression of the poor and helpless were common.
Source: New World Encylopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/amos_(prophet)
AMOS’ PROPHECIES
The prophet Amos was among the herdsmen of Tekoa during the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam (Jeroboam II, son of Joash), king of Israel. He writes of what he saw two years before the earthquake.
“The Lord will roar from Zion,” he said, “… and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” —Amos 1:2
The words, “For three transgressions, and for four,” are used repeatedly by the Lord in reference to Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel. The nations would be punished by the Lord because of their wickedness. Punishment would be by fire, by war. Kings would go into captivity.
Judah would be punished also because of the people’s lies and their failure to keep the Lord’s commandments.
Of Israel, the Lord God says,
“… (T)hey sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.”
There was the charge that “…a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name.” —Amos 2:6-7
The Lord God recounts the days the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, and how He had led them through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite.
“And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.” —Amos 2:11-12
“Listen,” the Lord says to the children of Israel:
“O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” —Amos 3:1-2
The punishment would include withholding rain, causing hunger and thirst. Disease and destruction would come.
“For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins.” says the Lord: “they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.” —Amos 5:12-13
The people are urged to “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: as so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.” —Amos 5:14
Amos writes of wailing in the streets, and darkness of day.
God says,
“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts.” —Amos 5:21-27
Amos continues: For those who live the life of ease, “that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches … that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, … they will be the first to go captive.” (See Amos 6)
As the Lord showed Amos what the future beheld for the children of Israel, Amos pleaded for mercy, and the Lord relented in the severity of His chastisement.
Yet punishment would come. A plumbline would be set. The high places of Isaac would become desolate; the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste. Israel’s king Jeroboam would die by the sword, and Israel led away captive.
Amaziah the priest sent word to Jeroboam that Amos had conspired against him. Then Amaziah told Amos to flee to Judah, and prophesy no more in Israel.
Amos said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.” —Amos 7:14-17
Amos writes that the Lord God showed him a basket of summer fruit, then said:
The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.” —Amos 9:2-14
Amos writes a continuation of God’s wrath and its ending with the restoration of His chosen: The Children of Israel.
I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said,
“Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.
Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” — Amos 9:1-15
Obadiah
SOME HISTORY
Source: Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-Obadiah
The Book of Obadiah, with only one chapter consisting of 21 verses, is the shortest of all Old Testament books and purports to be a record of “the vision of Obadiah.” Nothing is known of the prophet except for his name, which means “servant of Yahweh.”
In the book, Edom, a long-time enemy of Israel, is castigated for its refusal to help Israel repel foreigners who invaded and conquered Jerusalem. To many scholars this reference suggests a date of composition after the Babylonian conquest of 586 BC. Others, noting the anti-Edomite sentiments in II Kings 8:20–22, consider a date as early as the 9th century BC also probable.
Source: Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-Obadiah
OBADIAH’S PROPHECIES
Obadiah writes: Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom (We have heard a report from the Lord, And a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying, “Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle”):
“Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
You shall be greatly despised.
The pride of your heart has deceived you,
You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
Whose habitation is high;
You who say in your heart,
‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
Though you ascend as high as the eagle,
And though you set your nest among the stars,
From there I will bring you down,” says the Lord.
“If thieves had come to you, If robbers by night—Oh, how you will be cut off!—
Would they not have stolen till they had enough?
If grape-gatherers had come to you,
Would they not have left some gleanings?
“Oh, how Esau shall be searched out!
How his hidden treasures shall be sought after!
All the men in your confederacy
Shall force you to the border;
The men at peace with you
Shall deceive you and prevail against you.
Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you.
No one is aware of it.
“Will I not in that day,” says the Lord,
“Even destroy the wise men from Edom,
And understanding from the mountains of Esau?
Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed,
To the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau
May be cut off by slaughter.
Edom Mistreated His Brother
“For violence against your brother Jacob,
Shame shall cover you,
And you shall be cut off forever.
In the day that you stood on the other side
— In the day that strangers carried captive his forces,
When foreigners entered his gates
And cast lots for Jerusalem—
Even you were as one of them.
“But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother
In the day of his captivity;
Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah
In the day of their destruction;
Nor should you have spoken proudly
In the day of distress.
You should not have entered the gate of My people
In the day of their calamity.
Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction
In the day of their calamity,
Nor laid hands on their substance
In the day of their calamity.
You should not have stood at the crossroads
To cut off those among them who escaped;
Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained
In the day of distress.
“For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near;
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.
For as you drank on My holy mountain,
So shall all the nations drink continually;
Yes, they shall drink, and swallow,
And they shall be as though they had never been.
Israel’s Final Triumph
“But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,
And there shall be holiness;
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau shall be stubble;
They shall kindle them and devour them,
And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,”
For the Lord has spoken.
The South shall possess the mountains of Esau,
And the Lowland shall possess Philistia.
They shall possess the fields of Ephraim
And the fields of Samaria.
Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
And the captives of this host of the children of Israel
Shall possess the land of the Canaanites
As far as Zarephath.
The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
Shall possess the cities of the South.
Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion
To judge the mountains of Esau,
And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”
— Obadiah 1-21 / New King James Version
Jonah
SOME HISTORY
Source: International Standard Bible https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/J/jonah.html
Jonah was the son of Amittai, of Gath-hepher (2Kings 14:25). He was a prophet and servant of Yahweh, and predicted the restoration of the land of Israel to its ancient boundaries through the efforts of Jeroboam II. The prophet lived and labored either in the early part of the reign of Jeroboam (790-750 BC), or during the preceding generation. He may with great probability be placed at 800-780 BC. His early ministry must have made him popular in Israel; for he prophesied of victory and expansion of territory. His native village of Gath-hepher was located in the territory of Zebulun (Jos 19:13).
According to the book bearing his name, Jonah received a command to preach to Nineveh; but he fled in the opposite direction to escape from the task of proclaiming Yahweh’s message to the great heathen city. He was arrested by a storm, and at his own request was hurled into the sea, where he was swallowed by a great fish, remaining alive in the belly of the fish for three days. When on his release from the body of the fish the command to go to Nineveh was renewed, Jonah obeyed and announced the overthrow of the wicked city. When the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of the prophet, God repented of the evil He had threatened to bring upon them. Jonah was grieved that the oppressing city should be spared, and waited in the vicinity to see what would be the final outcome. An intense patriot, Jonah wished for the destruction of the people that threatened to swallow up Israel. He thought that Yahweh was too merciful to the heathen oppressors. By the lesson of the gourd (Jonah, Chapter 4) he was taught the value of the heathen in the sight of Yahweh.
Source: International Standard Bible https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/J/jonah.html
JONAH’S PROPHECIES
Oh! Jonah!
How the skeptics delight in debunking the story of Jonah and the Whale! Do they not know that God can take a great fish and make a submarine?
God told Jonah to go to Nineveh (the renown capital city of Assyria). He was to cry out against it, for there was great wickedness in it.
Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh.
So Jonah ran away from God. He went to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and boarded the ship.
But Jonah could not run away from God. There was a violent storm; the ship was in danger of breaking apart and sinking. The mariners were afraid and began to lighten the ship. The shipmaster found Jonah fast asleep. The shipmaster woke him, and asked him to call upon his God to save them.
It was decided they would cast lots so as to discover the one who had brought evil to them. The lot fell upon Jonah. Jonah told them to cast him into the sea, and the sea would be calm. The men made a last effort to get the ship to land, but the storm was too strong for them. So they took Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased its raging.
“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” —Jonah 1:17
“The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.”
Jonah 2:5-6
Comment: Note that Jonah writes of being “down to the bottoms of the mountains” of the sea. Back in the days of Jonah, who knew the anatomy of the ocean; who knew of the mighty sea’s mighty mountains? No human could go that deep and survive! God, however, knows every detail of his creation, and has power over all.
According to National Geographic, Scientists began mapping the ocean floor in the 1920s, using sonar technology that showed an ocean floor with huge mountains, deep canyons, steep cliffs, and wide plains.
See: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/all-about-the-ocean/
Jonah Prays
Jonah remembered the Lord, and he prayed. God spoke to the fish, and the fish spewed Jonah upon dry land.
God again told Jonah to go to Nineveh, and preach the word of the Lord. This time, Jonah obeyed.
In the city, Jonah cried to the people that their city would be overthrown in 40 days. The people believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth. When word came to the king of Nineveh, he took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. The king proclaimed a fast for both man and beast, and said “ … let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” —Jonah 3:8-9
God saw their works, that they had turned from their evil ways, and disaster was withheld from them.
Jonah was angry that his message from the Lord was received in Nineveh. The Lord’s warning was ignored in his own country.
Jonah prayed that the Lord take his life, that it would be better for him to die than to live.
The Lord asked Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?”
Jonah went out of the city and sat on its east side. He made himself a booth and sat under it. He decided to see what would become of the city.
God prepared a gourd, and it came up over Jonah, giving him shade for his head. Jonah was glad the gourd was there. Then God sent a worm, and the next day, the worm attacked the gourd, causing it to wither. Then God sent a vehement east wind; the sun beat upon Jonah’s head. Jonah fainted. Again, he wished himself dead.
“And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?’
And Jonah said, “I do well to be angry, even unto death.”
Then said the Lord, “Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” —Jonah 4:10-11
Micah
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Micah,_Book_of
Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham (742–735 B.C.E.), Ahaz (735–715 B.C.E.), and Hezekiah (715–687 B.C.E.)
Historically, King Jotham built on the success of his father Uzziah and maintained a considerably prosperous reign. Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria, meanwhile, increased in power, thriving long into the reign of Jotham’s son Ahaz. Facing an invasion from the combined forces of Israel and Syria, King Ahaz became Tiglath-Pileser’s vassal. After visiting the Assyrian king in Damascus, Ahaz remodeled the Temple of Jerusalem after the pattern of the Temple of Asshur in Damascus and was accused by the prophets of tolerating idolatry. His son Hezekiah came into power around 716, rebelled against Assyria (2 Kings 18), and instituted a strict Yahwistic religious reform.
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Micah,_Book_of
MICAH’S PROPHECIES
Micah begins his writing with God’s words concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Both, says the Lord, will be punished for their transgressions.
“I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard … And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.” —Micah 1:6-6
Of Jerusalem, Micah writes, “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.” —Michah 3:11
Therefore, Zion would be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem would become heaps.
There was a look to the future, however, that in the last days the house of the Lord would be established and exalted. And many would come 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 the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” —Micah 4:2
Of Bethlehem, Micah writes: “But thou, Bethlehem 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.” —Micah 5:2
Micah then returns to present time. The Lord has a controversy with his people. The people are reminded that the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt, and Moses and Aaron, and Miriam were sent to guide them. The children of the Lord, however, turned to wicked ways. They deceived with deceitful weights. The rich were full of violence. The people spoke lies.
Therefore, God’s justice would be done.
“Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.” —Micah 6:15
Micah continues: “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.” —Micah 7:2
The list of transgressions goes on: “For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” —Micah 7:6
Micah prophesies that the land will become desolate.
Micah ends his writing with the message that God will have compassion.
Of the Lord, he says, “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” —Micah 7:20
Nahum
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nahum,_Book_of
Little is known of Nahum. He calls himself an Elkochite. His book likely was written prior to the actual fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C.E. Earlier, God had spared Nineveh after sending Jonah to warn of its destruction if it did not repent. For a time, Nineveh did repent, and was spared.
After the Assyrian king Sennacherib had withdrawn from Jerusalem in 701 and had received King Hezekiah’s oath of allegiance, Assyrian rule was firmly established. Judah paid a considerable tribute to Nineveh. In the Temple at Jerusalem the altar to the god of the super-power, the god of Assyria, stood in the centre of the forecourt. Under the title ‘Lord’, Baal (the Judeans were spared from having to use his proper name, Assur), he received regular sacrifices, as did the army of the heavens, the stars, on which the Assyrians laid great stress. The altar to Yahweh did, it is true, stand next to the Assyrian one, but it was pushed to one side, no longer in the central position.
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nahum,_Book_of
NAHUM’S PROPHECIES
Nahum, who defines himself as the Elkoshite, writes of his vision from God:
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.
“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”— Nahum 1:2-3
“The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.”— Nahum 1:7-8
Of Nineveh, Nahum writes, “And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.” —Nahum 1:14
Nahum continues:
Behold, I am against thee, said the Lord of hosts.— Nahum 2:5
She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.— Nahum 2:10
Nahum ends his prophecy with the promise the great city would be devoured by fire, killed by sword.
“Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? — Nahum 3:18-19
Note: Nineveh was the city of Nimrod (son of Cush; grandson of Ham), who had settled in Assyria. The city occupied a central position on the great highway between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, thus uniting the East and the West. Wealth flowed into it, and it became the greatest of ancient cities. About 633 B.C. Nineveh was attacked by the Medes, and about 625 B.C. the Medes were joined by the Babylonians and Susianians. The city fell and was razed to the ground. “After having ruled for more than 600 years with hideous tyranny and violence, from the Caucasus and the Caspian to the Persian Gulf, and from beyond the Tigris to Asia Minor and Egypt, it vanished like a dream.” See Nahum 2:6-11, and Isaiah 10:5-19.
Source: King James Bible Dictionary http://www.kingjamesbibledictionary.com/Dictionary/Nineveh
Note: The events of Nimrod’s life are recorded in Genesis 10:8. He was a Cushite; he established an empire in Shinar (the classical Babylonia) the chief towns being Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh; and that he extended this empire northward along the course of the Tigris over Assyria, where he founded a second group of capitals, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen.
Source: King James Bible Dictionary http://kingjamesbibledictionary.com/Dictionary/nimrod i
Habakkuk
SOME HISTORY
Source: Jewish Encyclopedia /Emil G. Hirsch https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6976-habakkuk-book-of
The Book or Habakkuk is one of the twelve minor prophetical books. It readily falls into two parts: The first part is a “massa” (a condemnatory prophecy). But contrary to the usage in other prophetical books, it is not stated against what people the prophecy is spoken. As it now stands in the Masoretic text, the first part is in the form of a dialogue. Chapter1:2-4 laments the prevailing moral corruption, which God does not seem to heed; part 5-11 contains the divine announcement of an impending judgment through the Chaldeans; part 12-17 gives the prophet’s complaint of the excessive pride and cruelty of the enemy. In chapter 2 God admonishes Habakkuk not to judge hastily that evil is triumphant, but to remain confident.
Five “woes,” the contents of the “mashal” or “taunting proverb” (5-6), phrased by the very people oppressed by the conqueror, are enumerated (6, 9, 12, 13, 19). Chapter 3 is a psalm reciting various theophanies, describing God’s warlike power, which bends earth, mountains, and rivers to His purposes—yea, even sun and moon, in behalf of His people. The song concludes with a declaration that though the blessings of nature shall fail in days of dearth, the singer will rejoice in the Lord (17-19).
The book abounds in striking expressions and rare words, e.g., the description of the invasion of the Chaldeans; of God as having “eyes too pure to behold evil;” of “men as fishes of the sea:” of the worship of the fisherman’s implements; of “the stone that crieth out:” of the folly of idolatry. Chapter 3 especially is rich in striking similes.
The author departs from the usual method of the Prophets. In their addresses the nation is central; in Habakkuk’s it is God and His government of the world. He attempts to unravel the meaning of God’s tolerance of tyranny and wrong. In his questions Habakkuk voices doubts to God, though not against God (G. A. Smith, “The Twelve Prophets).”
Source: Jewish Encyclopedia /Emil G. Hirsch https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6976-habakkuk-book-of
HABAKKUK’S PROPHECIES
Habakkuk could be writing of today’s times.
People speak of dysfunctional families, the moral decay of society, the injustices that abound. And yes, there is truth to such charges. There is another truth also: most who complain do little to make things right. They point their fingers at others, and they think not of the part they play in the way their world is. They may say this is the worst the world has ever been. They are wrong in claiming such. Throughout history, there have been times of great decline, great evil done by men to one another. Throughout history, there have been times when people have closed their eyes, their ears, their minds; they have turned away from the goodness, the justice of God, and followed after their own lusts.
In the time of the prophet Habakkuk of the Old Testament, life was exceedingly woeful, and full of evil and misery.
And so Habakkuk cried:
“O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.”
The Lord answered Habakkuk with words that raise both fear and comfort:
“For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.
“They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.” —Habakkuk 1:6-11
Habakukk praises God:
“Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
“And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
“Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?” —Habakkuk 1:12-17
God then tells Habakukk to write upon tables the vision he will be given. The vision, God says, is for an appointed time.
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
“Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
“Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
“Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
“Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
“Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
“For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
“Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
“But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” —Habakkuk 2:4-20
Habakkuk, the prophet upon Shigionoth, ends his writing with a prayer;
“O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
“God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
“Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
“He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
“I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
“Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
“Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
“The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
“The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
“Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
“Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
“Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
“Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
“When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
“The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.” — Habakkuk, chapter 3
Zephaniah
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Zephaniah,_Book_of
Zephaniah was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, who lived during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 B.C.E.).
Some scholars believe that the picture of Jerusalem that Zephaniah provides indicates that he was active prior to the king’s well-publicized religious reforms (2 Kings 23), as these reforms would have ostensibly put an end to the idolatrous practices that caused the prophet such consternation. These reforms took place in 622 B.C.E.
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Zephaniah,_Book_of
ZEPHANIAH’S PROPHECIES
Zephaniah brings the Lord’s warning to Judah in the days of King Josiah. Destruction would be total, and fall upon man and beast, the birds of heaven, the fishes of the sea.
“I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” said the Lord, “and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham; And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him.” —Zephaniah 1:4-6
Punishment also would come to the princes, the king’s children, the merchants of silver, the drinkers of the dredges of wine. “Their goods shall become a booty, the houses a desolation,” said the Lord.
“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” —Zephaniah 1:18
Then, there is a message of hope. Before the day of destruction, before the day of the Lord’s anger, there is a call to the meek.
“Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” —Zephaniah 2:3
When the Lord’s anger comes, it would fall upon Gaza, Ashkelon, the land of the Philistines, and more.
The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.” —Zephaniah 2:11-13
After the Lord’s wrath has been spent, He will turn to the people a pure language, “that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” —Zephaniah 3:9
The words of the Lord continue:
“In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
“I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
“The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
“Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
“At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.” —Zephaniah 3:11-20
Haggai
SOME HISTORY
Source: Bible History.com https://www.bible-history.com/old-testament/bookofhaggai.html
Haggai’s time of writing is put at 520 BC, 18 years after the king of Persia allowed them to return to rebuild the Temple.
Samaritans from the north had caused all the work in the Temple to come to a halt. Sixteen years had gone by and people were more interested in working on their houses than rebuilding the Temple. The prophet Haggai encouraged God’s people to finish rebuilding the Temple that Zerubbabel had started. Under Zerubbabel, the foundation of the temple was set. Then work on the temple was halted for some 15 years.
Source: Bible History.com https://www.bible-history.com/old-testament/bookofhaggai.html
HAGGAI’S PROPHECIES
Haggai delivers a message from God to the governor of Judah and the high priest. The Jews in exile had been allowed to return for the purpose of rebuilding the Lord’s Temple. Instead, they had built their own houses. It wasn’t the right time to rebuild the Lord’s house, they had told themselves.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, said Haggai,
“Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes… .
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.”–Haggai 1:5-11
“And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.” –Haggai 1:14-15
God told Haggai to inquire of the governor, the high priest and the people, as to who among them had seen the house of the Lord in her first glory? How do they see it now?
The Lord’s words to the leaders and the people were to “be strong” and “work,” for the Lord would be with them.
“According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
“The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” –Haggai 2:5-9
The Clean; The Unclean
Haggai is told to ask the priests to define the clean, and the unclean. Then he said God found the people unclean, as was every work of their hands, and every offering they gave.
“And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord: Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.” –Haggai 2:15-16
God then told Haggai to speak to the governor, saying:
“I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
“In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.” –Haggai 2:21-23
Note: Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin of Judah 1 Chronicles 3:17) and therefore a descendant of David. Born in Babylon during the exile of Judeans, Zerubbabel migrated to Judah after King Cyrus II allowed the banished tribe to return to their home to restore the temple. The prophet Haggai identifies Zerubbabel as the head of Judah after the exile.
Zerubbabel was the head of the tribe of Judah at the time of the return from the Babylonian captivity in the first year of Cyrus. According to the story of Zerubbabel in the Scriptures: In the first year of Cyrus he was living at Babylon, and was the recognized prince of Judah in the captivity, what in later times was called “the prince of the captivity,” or “the prince.” On the issuing of Cyrus’ decree, he immediately availed himself of it, and placed himself at the head of those of his countrymen “whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.” It is probable that he was in the king of Babylon’s service, both from receiving a Chaldee name Sheshbazzar, like Daniel and the three children, and from the fact that he was appointed by the Persian king to the office of governor of Judea.
On arriving at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel’s great work, which he set about instantly, was the rebuilding of the temple. In the second month of the second year of the return, the foundation was set with all the magnificence which could be commanded. The efforts of the Samaritans were successful in putting a stop to the work during the seven remaining years of the reign of Cyrus and through the eight years of Cambyses and Smerdis. Nor does Zerubbabel seem quite completely innocent for this long delay.
Source: Bible Study Tools https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/zerubbabel-in-the-bible.html
Zechariah
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Zechariah,_Book_of
Most scholars put the date of Zechariah’s writings at 520-518 B.C.E.
Zechariah’s ministry took place during the reign of Darius the Great (Zechariah 1:1) and was contemporary with Haggai. After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E., many Jews had been exiled to Babylon and during his time had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the Temple of Yahweh there. Earlier, the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah had written both prior to the fall of Jerusalem and during the period of exile. Scholars believe that Ezekiel, with his blending of priestly ceremony and prophetic vision, heavily influenced the writing of Zechariah 1-8.
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Zechariah,_Book_of
ZECHARIAH’S PROPHECIES
Zechariah delivers God’s words to the Jewish people in Jerusalem and cities of Judah:
“Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.” —Zechariah 1:3-6
The prophet writes of his visions.
- Zechariah has a vision of a man riding a red horse, and there were red horses, speckled, and white, behind him. When Zechariah questioned the man, he said, “These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth (Zechariah 1:10).” The man is revealed as an angel. And those who walked “to and fro” reported that the earth was at rest. The angel called to the Lord, and asked how long would he not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that had been under punishment for 70 years? The Lord answered the angel with comfortable words. The angel told Zechariah to cry out, saying, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it (Zechariah 1:14-16).” The prophet also was told the Lord would comfort Zion and yet choose Jerusalem.
- Zechariah then saw four horns. The angel said they were the horns that scattered Judah.
- Zechariah then saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. The man said he was to measure Jerusalem. The man (an angel) met with another angel. This angel was to say that Jerusalem would be “as towns without walls.” The Lord would be as a wall of fire around her, and be the glory in the midst of her.
- Zechariah next saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire (Zechariah 3:2)?” Joshua, who had been clothed with filthy garments, was given clean garments, and a fair mitre was set upon his head. And the angel of the Lord spoke the Lord’s words to Joshua: “If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by (Zechariah 3:7).” Joshua also was told the Lord would bring forth his servant “the BRANCH.” There would be a stone. The Lord would engrave the stone. And the Lord would remove the iniquity of the land in one day. “In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree (Zechariah 3:10).”
- The angel came and Zechariah was wakened “as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.” The angel asked Zechariah what he saw. Zechariah looked. He saw a candlestick of gold, with a bowl atop, and seven lamps with seven pipes. Two olive trees were beside the candlestick, one on the left; one on the right. Zechariah asked their meaning. The angel said, “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit (Zechariah 4:6).” The Lord said the hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, and his hands would finish it. Zechariah also was told the seven lamps were the eyes of the Lord, “which run to and fro through the whole earth.” The two olive trees represented the “two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth (Zechariah 4:14).”
- Zechariah has a vision of a flying roll. This, he is told, represents the curse that covers the whole earth: “for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof (Zechariah 5: 3-4).”
- Zechariah then beheld a woman sitting in the midst of an ephah of lead (ephah is a dry measure equal to about a bushel). The angel said, “This is wickedness.” The lead weight was cast in the mouth, and two women appeared with wind in their wings that were like the wings of a stork. They lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. The ephah was to be taken to the land of Shinar, and a house built to establish the woman’s base. (Zechariah 5)
- Zechariah had a vision of four chariots coming from between two mountains of brass. The first chariot was powered by red horses; the second by black horses; the third by white horses, and the fourth by grisled and bay horses. The angel told Zechariah the four were the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord. The black horses go to the north; and the white follow. The grisled go to the south; the bay walked to and fro the earth. And those in the north quieted the spirit of the Lord. The Lord said, “Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest: And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord. And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. (Zechariah 6:10-15).”
In the fourth year of king Darius, Zechariah is told by God to go to the priests and ask if he should weep in the fifth month, separating himself, as he had done in past years. Then he was to say to the people and the priests:
“When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?
“And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.” —Zechariah 7:5-14
The Lord then acknowledged his jealousy and fury, and said:
“I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.” –Zechariah 8:3-8
The Lord also said his people should speak the truth to his neighbour, and execute the judgment of truth and peace. They were not to imagine evil in their hearts against their neighbours.
The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months, were to be feasts of joy and gladness.
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”–Zechariah 8:18-23
Zechariah writes that the Lord would gather all nations against Jerusalem:
“… and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
“And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
“In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and see the therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.” –Zechariah 14:2-2
Malachi
SOME HISTORY
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Malachi,_Book_of
The Book of Malachi is believed to be written in the mid fifth century B.C.E..
Nothing is known of the prophet’s personal life. The book calls upon the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile to repent, to be faithful. Malachi is particularly concerned with the purity of the sacrifices offered by the Levite priests, promising the coming of a messenger from God who will cleanse the practices of priesthood and the Temple of Jerusalem. The book also preaches strongly against divorce and failing to tithe properly. Malachi foretells of the return of the prophet Elijah before the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.”
Source: New World Encyclopedia https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Malachi,_Book_of
MALACHI’S PROPHECIES
Malachi begins with the Lord’s words: “I have loved you.”
Israel questioned God’s love by pointing out that Jacob and Esau were twin brothers.
The Lord affirmed that he loved Jacob and hated Esau (founder of Edom, whose inhabitants were called Edomites, who worshipped multiple gods).
The Lord said, “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts.
“Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” –Malachi 1:6-14
God called upon the priests to give glory unto his name. He spoke of his covenant with Levi. “The law of truth was in his mount, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
“But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
“Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.” – Malachi 2:6-12
God also warned men against being unfaithful to their wives. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.” –Malachi 2:15
A messenger will be sent, says the Lord, and he shall prepare the way before me. This messenger would purify the sons of Levi, and the offering of Judah and Jerusalem would be pleasant unto the Lord. And the Lord would be a witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers, the false swearers, against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless, and those who turn aside the stranger, and fear not the Lord.
God accuses the priests of robbing him, of robbing the nation.
Then the Lord says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” –Malachi 3:10-12
The Lord continues:
“Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” –Malachi 3:14-18
There is a warning from the Lord that the day will come, and the proud and the wicked will be burned, leaving “neither root nor branch.”
For those who fear the Lord, the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings.
“Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments,” said the Lord.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” –Malachi 4:4-5
And the Old Testament ends.
Comment
Glimpses of God
Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me … .” Isaiah 1:2
Every mother, every father, who has lovingly raised a child, and watched that child go wrong, knows the pain of those words.
The Lord God had kept His children safe. He loved His children. He had taken care of their daily needs. He had given His children good instructions so they would live a decent and honorable life. Yet, they turned away from Him, from His proven ways. They chose to “break the rules,” to seek a life they thought would be more pleasurable, more rewarding for them. And when the rules that are made to secure justice for all are broken, the innocent suffer. And those who cause the innocent to suffer, will themselves suffer.
The evil done by the children of Israel was such that it aroused God’s anger. Their worship of false gods included sacrifice by burning their own children. Their sins toward one another included murder. They lied, they stole, they cheated. They wallowed in adultery; They glorified fornification. Their priests were often corrupt. There was no justice for the poor. (See Hosea 4, and Jeremiah 7 and 9)
Yet, God continued to sent prophets to plead with the children, that they return to the righteous ways God had directed for them.
Isaiah pleaded:
“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”— Isaiah 1:17
“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”— Isaiah 55:6-8
Through God’s prophets, many miracles were bestowed upon the children of Israel. Among them:
- In a contest between Baal’s prophets, the power of God prevailed.
- After the children of Israel were taken captive to Babylon, the prophet Daniel was thrown into a lions’ den, but the lions harmed him not. His three friends were thrust into a fiery furnace; the flame did not singe a hair upon them.
Through God’s prophets, miracles also were bestowed on ordinary people in great distress:
- Elijah brought a widow’s son back to life. God also had kept this widow and child alive during a time of famine. The woman’s meal barrel and cruse of oil were never empty.
- Elisha told a barren woman she would have a child. Years later, the child died, and Elisha brought the woman’s son back to life and into the arms of his mother.
- In days of scarcity, Elijah ordered that 20 loaves of barley and corn be given to a crowd of hungry people. It would prove enough for them, and there would be food left over.
- God determined that His prophet Elijah should not die. God took him to heaven in a chariot of fire, wrapped in the wings of a whirlwind.
- God added 15 years to the life of king Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:4-6).
- God saved his disobedient prophet Jonah from the depth of the ocean by sending a great fish to take him to the bottom of the sea, where Jonah beheld great mountains and mysteries. Realizing the power of God, Jonah went to Nineveh, where he delivered God’s warning, and Nineveh was spared for a time.
Many, many times, God gave the children of Israel victory over their enemies, with great numbers of the enemy slain. One such victory, however, had a surprise ending. The story is found in 2 Kings. Chapter 6:
Syria and Israel were at war. The king of Syria met in secret with his officers to pick a place for their camp. A man of God alerted Israel, and Israel stayed from the reach of the Syrian troops. The Syrian king thought one of his men had betrayed him, but one of the king’s servants told him that the prophet Elisha had warned the king of Israel. What the king of Syria said in his bedchamber, the servant said, Elisha passed on to Israel. The Syrian king sent a spy, and the spy reported that Elisha was in Dothan. Syria’s king had his troops surround the city. Elisha’s servant was alarmed, but Elisha told him not to fear. Elisha prayed, and the Lord opened the eyes of the young servant, and the young man saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Elisha prayed, asking God to: “Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And the Syrian troops were suddenly blind. Elisha told the blind troops to follow him, and he would lead them “to the man whom ye seek.” Elisha led them to Samaria. Once there, Elisha asked the Lord to open the eyes of the men, and the men saw they were in Samaria. The king of Israel asked Elisha if he should smite the Syrians, but Elisha answered “No.”
Instead, the prophet told the king to “set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.” A great provision was prepared for them: “and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” No one died. And an enemy was no longer a threat.
At times, the children of Israel — who had split their united nation into the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah —heeded the prophets. When threatened by enemy attack, they sought the Lord’s help.
Then, they again turned away from their God who had blessed them exceedingly.
God had given them freedom from the bondage of Egypt.
God had led them to a land of promise.
God gave them rules to live by. God’s rules were based on love — love for Him, and love for one another.
God gave them judges to see that justice prevailed among them. When the “children” wanted a king, He gave them a king. When the first king didn’t work out for them, He gave them another — David. Through David, Israel grew strong. Through David’s successor and son Solomon, Israel grew prosperous. Solomon built a temple that was to be the House of the Lord. Now, God, “who had heaven as his throne, and the earth as His footstool (Isaiah 66:1),” never sought for Himself a great temple. He was content that His earthly dwelling be a tent. However, the Lord allowed the children their temple. He even designed it Himself. But Solomon, who built the temple to the glory of the One and Only God of Israel, took many wives who worshipped other gods, and Solomon gifted his wives with places of worship for their other gods. Worship of these other gods — made by man, and made of wood, of stone, of brass, of gold — included public sexual acts, animal sacrifices, and even the sacrifice of children.
This, the Lord God would not tolerate. God’s prophets warned the people, and pleaded that they return to the Lord. But they would not listen.
Even Solomon’s temple was used for their idol worship. Sacrifices were still made to the Lord, but the Lord hated their meaningless rituals.
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? the Lord said. “I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats (Isaiah 1:11).”
The children ignored the words of the Lord. They kept not God’s commandments against adultery, murder, theft, lying, cheating. They cared not for the widows, the orphans, the poor among them.
In times of great distress, some of their kings would listen to God’s prophets. And God would be merciful and save them. When danger passed, their Lord God was forgotten again. The people returned to their other gods, gods without power; gods who remained as they were made: pieces of wood, pieces of stone; pieces of brass or gold that could not speak, could not move; gods that had to be carried about. And the people worshipped the sun, moon and stars, and not the Lord God who created them.
God’s prophets continually confronted the children of Israel about their evildoing, and warned them that the Lord would turn away from them if they continued in their idolatry, and evil toward one another.
The children would not listen. They turned away from God.
God turned from them.
Historical Note: In 722 BCE the northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians and the population deported as per Assyrian military policy. Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians in 598-582 BCE and the most influential citizens of the region taken to Babylon.
The Persians, following their conquest of the Babylonian Empire, returned the Israelites to their homeland in 538 BCE and held the region as part of their empire until it fell to Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE). Following Alexander’s death, the region was held by Ptolemy I (king of Egypt, head of dynasty that included Cleopatra), and then the Seleucid (Greek) Empire until 168 BCE when the Israelites revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees who established the Hasmonaean (Jewish) Dynasty. The region was taken by Rome in 63 BCE and the people’s resentment against foreign occupation resulted in periods of more or less unrest until the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132-136 CE in which the Jews were defeated, Jerusalem destroyed.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/israel/
GOD KEEPS HIS WORD
God was true to His word. And great was the punishment of the children of Israel who violated the covenant they had made with the Lord God.
Yet, despite their sins, their evil ways, their rejection of Him, God loved the children of Israel. And in time, God promised to restore them, making them one nation again. He would be their God. And through the children of Israel, the chosen people of the Lord, salvation would come to all the world.
Disclosures / Sources
Disclosure: Glimpses Of God is a personal website that shares thoughts about God, and His Word as provided through Bible Scripture. In an effort to help understand God’s Word, this writer has included historical background information from various sources. In addition to quoting and summarizing many parts of the Old and New Testaments, this writer has included personal thoughts and comments.
Source: The King James Version of the Bible was primarily used for this site. When other sites were used, site links are provided.
Most of the links in this site require cut and paste to access them. However, because the King James Version was used extensively, a direct link is provided here: King James Bible: https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org
An audio version of the King James Bible may be found at: https://audiobible.com/bible/Bible.html
Please read the Bible for yourself. There is a lot of misinformation about what it says, what it means — some unintentional, some intentional. I pray that what I write is true to God’s Word.