God in Exile: Jeremiah 51 – Ezekiel 15

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

Who are the true exiles in the history of Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem? Are they not those who were captured and sent away from the Promised Land to that far country? Among them were Daniel, Ezekiel, and two kings of Judah. Are these the true exiles?

What about those who were left behind in Jerusalem? According to Ezekiel they considered themselves the choice part while those in Babylon were the castaways. But God showed them that they were no choice part and they would not remain in Jerusalem.

“This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.” Ezekiel 11:11-12

Perhaps those left behind were the true exiles. They were certainly exiled from the presence of God and from the city they loved. Lamentations is a detailed and painful account of the suffering the people experienced when God withdrew his presence and his protection. In this reckoning, those left behind were the true exiles, while those carried away from Jerusalem were the fortunate ones who would be gathered up by God and returned to the land. Lamentations closes with a confession of God’s abandonment and honest doubt about whether he will return.

Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. Lamentations 5:20-22

But read the heart of lamentations, chapter 3, to see how this doubt is resolved.

There is one more exile in this week’s readings, and it is God himself. Lamentations shows the results of God’s self-imposed exile from Jerusalem, and Ezekiel vividly describes God’s departure as the prophet pulls back the curtain and shows the spiritual reality.

Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them…The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. Ezekiel 10:18-19, 11:23

Now we and Ezekiel know why the glory of the Lord appeared in the far country of Babylon at the beginning of Ezekiel’s book: God was in exile from his own Promised Land.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Jeremiah 51 – Ezekiel 15. Next week I will write about Ezekiel 16 – 33. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Jeremiah 51 – Ezekiel 15.

Surrender or Fight? Jeremiah 52

Therefore I have hope: Lamentations 3

The high cost of sin: Lamentations 5

A watchman must warn: Ezekiel 3

Have you seen this? Ezekiel 8

God protects the remnant: Ezekiel 9

People may lie: Ezekiel 13

Failings, then the Fall: II Kings 6 – 25

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

Few are the faithful men described in this week’s chapters from II Kings, and many are the failings which culminate in the fall of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The events which are covered begin around 850 BC in the days of the prophet Elisha, continue through the fall of Israel in 722 BC, and end with the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This history is important for providing context for the writings of the prophets, but it also shows again and again the failings of men and the faithful justice of God.

Israel never had a godly king, but there may have been none worse than Ahab. II Kings details how Jehu was anointed by God as king over Israel, and how he fulfilled prophecy by tracking down and killing the descendants of Ahab. Those descendants extended even into Judah through the marriage of Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, to King Jehoram of Judah. After Jehoram’s death and the death of his son,  King Ahaziah, Athaliah took control of Judah and killed all of the royal family she could find. One grandchild of Athaliah, Joash, was kept safe and hidden, however. He was made king at seven years of age in a coup that also saw the death of Athaliah. Jesus was descended from this King Joash, and so along with other unexpected ancestors like Rahab and Ruth we find the family of Ahab and Jezebel.

These chapters chronicle the rise and fall of nations. To begin with, Syria (also called Aram) with its capitol of Damascus, reigned as the world power that threatened God’s people.  In the days of King Jehu of Isreal, Syria captured all the lands east of the Jordan River. Later Syria fell to the Assyrians with their chief city of Nineveh. The Assyrians conquered Israel, took over most of Judah, and threatened to take over Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah (701 BC). God delivered Judah then, but the wickedness of Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, sealed the fate of the nation.

And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle… And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.” II Kings 21:10-15

During the days of Hezekiah he proudly and foolishly showed the treasures of his kingdom to a visiting delegation from the country of Babylon. That nation rose in power and defeated the Assyrians in 609 BC, setting the stage for Babylon’s domination of Judah. Judah became a vassal of Babylon in 605 BC, but after a revolt Jerusalem was besieged and captured in 597 BC. Subsequent revolts led to the destruction of the city in 586 BC.

And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen. II Kings 25:9-12

Thus God kept his word to execute judgment on his people if they failed to keep his covenant. But God was faithful in a double fashion. He kept his promise of judgment, but in grace he was faithful to redeem and restore his people after their discipline was accomplished.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered II Kings 6 – 25. Next week I will write about I Chronicles 1 – 17. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering II Kings 6- 25.

Spiritual warfare: 2 Kings 6

Unfinished business: 2 Kings 9-11

Pride before the fall: 2 Kings 14

The end of Israel: 2 Kings 17

Even the good suffer: 2 Kings 19

The power of prayer … and a lost opportunity: 2 Kings 20

After so many failings, the fall of Jerusalem: 2 Kings 23-25

Image by Michael Kotter on Flickr, CC by-nc-sa 2.0

God in Exile: Jeremiah 51 – Ezekiel 15

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

Who are the true exiles in the history of Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem? Are they not those who were captured and sent away from the Promised Land to that far country? Among them were Daniel, Ezekiel, and two kings of Judah. Are these the true exiles?

What about those who were left behind in Jerusalem? According to Ezekiel they considered themselves the choice part while those in Babylon were the castaways. But God showed them that they were no choice part and they would not remain in Jerusalem.

“This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.” Ezekiel 11:11-12

Perhaps those left behind were the true exiles. They were certainly exiled from the presence of God and from the city they loved. Lamentations is a detailed and painful account of the suffering the people experienced when God withdrew his presence and his protection. In this reckoning, those left behind were the true exiles, while those carried away from Jerusalem were the fortunate ones who would be gathered up by God and returned to the land. Lamentations closes with a confession of God’s abandonment and honest doubt about whether he will return.

Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. Lamentations 5:20-22

But read the heart of lamentations, chapter 3, to see how this doubt is resolved.

There is one more exile in this week’s readings, and it is God himself. Lamentations shows the results of God’s self-imposed exile from Jerusalem, and Ezekiel vividly describes God’s departure as the prophet pulls back the curtain and shows the spiritual reality.

Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them…The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. Ezekiel 10:18-19, 11:23

Now we and Ezekiel know why the glory of the Lord appeared in the far country of Babylon at the beginning of Ezekiel’s book: God was in exile from his own Promised Land.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered Jeremiah 51 – Ezekiel 15. Next week I will write about Ezekiel 16 – 33. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering Jeremiah 51 – Ezekiel 15.

Surrender or Fight? Jeremiah 52

Therefore I have hope: Lamentations 3

The high cost of sin: Lamentations 5

A watchman must warn: Ezekiel 3

Have you seen this? Ezekiel 8

God protects the remnant: Ezekiel 9

People may lie: Ezekiel 13

Failings, then the Fall: II Kings 6 – 25

 

You can find a one-year Bible reading plan here.

Few are the faithful men described in this week’s chapters from II Kings, and many are the failings which culminate in the fall of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The events which are covered begin around 850 BC in the days of the prophet Elisha, continue through the fall of Israel in 722 BC, and end with the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This history is important for providing context for the writings of the prophets, but it also shows again and again the failings of men and the faithful justice of God.

Israel never had a godly king, but there may have been none worse than Ahab. II Kings details how Jehu was anointed by God as king over Israel, and how he fulfilled prophecy by tracking down and killing the descendants of Ahab. Those descendants extended even into Judah through the marriage of Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, to King Jehoram of Judah. After Jehoram’s death and the death of his son,  King Ahaziah, Athaliah took control of Judah and killed all of the royal family she could find. One grandchild of Athaliah, Joash, was kept safe and hidden, however. He was made king at seven years of age in a coup that also saw the death of Athaliah. Jesus was descended from this King Joash, and so along with other unexpected ancestors like Rahab and Ruth we find the family of Ahab and Jezebel.

These chapters chronicle the rise and fall of nations. To begin with, Syria (also called Aram) with its capitol of Damascus, reigned as the world power that threatened God’s people.  In the days of King Jehu of Isreal, Syria captured all the lands east of the Jordan River. Later Syria fell to the Assyrians with their chief city of Nineveh. The Assyrians conquered Israel, took over most of Judah, and threatened to take over Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah (701 BC). God delivered Judah then, but the wickedness of Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, sealed the fate of the nation.

And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle… And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.” II Kings 21:10-15

During the days of Hezekiah he proudly and foolishly showed the treasures of his kingdom to a visiting delegation from the country of Babylon. That nation rose in power and defeated the Assyrians in 609 BC, setting the stage for Babylon’s domination of Judah. Judah became a vassal of Babylon in 605 BC, but after a revolt Jerusalem was besieged and captured in 597 BC. Subsequent revolts led to the destruction of the city in 586 BC.

And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen. II Kings 25:9-12

Thus God kept his word to execute judgment on his people if they failed to keep his covenant. But God was faithful in a double fashion. He kept his promise of judgment, but in grace he was faithful to redeem and restore his people after their discipline was accomplished.

About this blog

During 2020 I plan to post weekly writings covering the material you would read during each week as you proceed from Genesis to Revelation in one year. And so for this week I have covered II Kings 6 – 25. Next week I will write about I Chronicles 1 – 17. I hope you will continue along with me. You can find daily posts about these chapters archived here on the Bible in a Year blog. For your convenience here are the previous posts covering II Kings 6- 25.

Spiritual warfare: 2 Kings 6

Unfinished business: 2 Kings 9-11

Pride before the fall: 2 Kings 14

The end of Israel: 2 Kings 17

Even the good suffer: 2 Kings 19

The power of prayer … and a lost opportunity: 2 Kings 20

After so many failings, the fall of Jerusalem: 2 Kings 23-25

 

Image by Michael Kotter on Flickr, CC by-nc-sa 2.0

Adultery and anger: Ezekiel 23

Today’s reading: Ezekiel 23-24.

The heart of the moral wrong of adultery is that a covenant, a sacred commitment, has been broken. The one-flesh union which set this relationship apart from all others has been torn asunder by one of the spouses and by a third party that has now entered into the oneness of the relationship. Dennis P. Hollinger, The Meaning of Sex

Let’s take the sin of adultery one level deeper. The heart of its wrongness lies in its betrayal of a covenant with God. Marriage for Christians reflects our marriage to God. When we break covenant with our spouse, we also break covenant with God. The hurt and loss which adultery cause personally are magnified at the spiritual level (see my post from Proverbs for more about the human aspect of adultery).

Now take the betrayal of adultery to the corporate or national level, and you have the situation in Israel and Judah in the years before Jerusalem’s fall. The LORD found Israel as an abandoned baby and raised her to beautiful womanhood (see Ezekiel 16). He had carried her through the desert out of her bondage in Egypt. He pledged himself to her in perpetual marriage only to see her reject him and commit adultery through her idolatry with all the surrounding nations. After centuries of forbearance his self-professed “jealous anger” could no longer be withheld. Israel, and then Judah, felt the full blast of his fury.

Then confront them with their detestable practices, for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them. They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. Ezekiel 23:36-39

Ezekiel’s message from the LORD contains some of the harshest words in the Old Testament. Noses and ears will be cut off, sons and daughters will fall to the sword, and those who are left will be consumed by fire. This must be one place where Jehovah earned his “God of wrath” reputation. Yet his wrath was justified:

• The nation had broken covenant with him
• rejected all his efforts at reconciliation
• committed adultery by prostituting herself with every idol
• and defiled the temple by practicing despicable, unholy actions there

God hates adultery, whether committed at a personal level in marriage or in our relationship with him. His anger was so great that he could not hold back judgment despite his love and affection for Israel. Ezekiel closes out his writings on the destruction of Jerusalem by giving a living sermon on the limits of affection. His wife dies suddenly and God tells him not to mourn publicly, though she was the delight of his eyes. When the exiles ask him why he isn’t mourning, he tells them that God is destroying Jerusalem as they speak, and they are not to mourn though the city was “the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection.” God could not mourn for Jerusalem because of its wickedness. He wants the exiles to experience that same emotion, to face up to their own share of shame, and begin the process of loving the LORD rather than his house.

They should not have mourned the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple because it was deserved and it was clearly announced long ahead of time. In contrast, the death of Ezekiel’s wife was neither deserved nor announced long ahead – yet he was commanded to not mourn. It was much more true that Israel should not mourn the conquest of Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple. – David Guzik

Image by stuant63 on Flickr, CC by-nc 2.0

Surrender or Fight? Jeremiah 52

Today’s reading: Jeremiah 51-52.

“I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.” Sitting Bull

We idolize those warriors who fight to the finish and never give up. We call them heroes, though sometimes they are dead heroes. Is it always best to fight, or are there times when it is wiser to surrender?

Today’s devotional is a tale of two kings. First, there is Zedekiah, Judah’s final king. Jeremiah counseled him to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, but he fought to the end. When defeat was certain he still didn’t give up, but tried to run.

…the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death. Jeremiah 52:8-11

Zedekiah didn’t suffer alone. Nebuchadnezzar also killed the chief priest, the next priest in rank, the doorkeepers, the officer in charge of the fighting men, seven royal advisers, the officer in charge of conscripting people, and sixty of his assistants.

Then there is King Jehoiachin. He was king of Judah just before Zedekiah, eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem. He served only three months before he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar’s army. He lived in obscurity in a Babylonian prison for thirty-seven years, but then his fortune changed.

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. Jeremiah 52:31-33

After so much emphasis on the disasters that engulfed Jerusalem and its people, it seems a little odd for Jeremiah’s book to end with this account of a forgotten prisoner. It sets up a contrast, however, between those who fight and those who surrender – those who fight God’s discipline and those who surrender to his will. The distinction doesn’t have anything to do with Babylon, who was only God’s agent. It has everything to do with how a person responds to God’s declaration of their sin. Zedekiah and Jehoiachin were both sinful men, but Zedekiah resisted God’s judgment totally. It appears that Jehoiachin accepted it.

God calls us to account for our sins by his word, by his spirit, and sometimes by our friends. If we’re wise we feel the conviction of our error and repent. Many don’t repent, however, and face the hard consequences of a life opposed to God’s will. It’s a prison of our own making, full of deprivation and self-torture. We hold the key to the prison door – it’s called grace. When we surrender to God’s will and turn away from our sin the prison door falls open.

When Zedekiah asked for Jeremiah’s advice, he told the king, “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.” In the end the king was too afraid to surrender his control and trust God. You and I should learn by his example and not make the same mistake.

It seems ironic that here (Jericho), at the very spot where Israel first set foot on the Promised Land, the last of the Davidic kings was captured and his monarchy shattered. Here, where Israel experienced her first victory as the walls of Jericho fell before unarmed men who trusted God, was the scene of her last defeat. -Dilday

After so many failings, the fall of Jerusalem: 2 Kings 23-25

Today’s reading: 2 Kings 23-25.

Not even a great king, Josiah, could atone for all the failings of the Israelites. Eighteen years into his reign of thirty-one years, workers in the temple discovered the book of the Mosaic law. How many years had it been lost, unread, and unheeded? Josiah ordered the observance of the Passover, and the writer says no Passover celebration like it had been held since the time of the judges (six hundred years earlier). Josiah also removed all the idolatrous practices in the land of Judah. It’s a long list:

• From the temple itself, he removed articles devoted to the worship of Baal, Asherah, and the starry hosts, including an Asherah pole.
• He did away with the pagan priests who burned incense on the high places, and desecrated all the high places.
• He threw the male shrine prostitutes out of the temple.
• He destroyed the altar to Molech in the Hinnom Valley outside Jerusalem, where child sacrifices had been common.
• He destroyed the pagan shrines at the city gates.
• He destroyed pagan altars that Manasseh and other kings of Judah had set up in the temple. He destroyed the altar at Bethel that Jeroboam had established to worship the golden calf, and the pagan shrines that Solomon had built to the east of Jerusalem to honor Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molech.
• He removed the statues of chariots and horses, dedicated to the sun, from the temple.

The reforms of Josiah failed to save Judah and Jerusalem from God’s coming wrath. It wasn’t so much a case of too little/too late as much as the legal failure of the people of Israel to abide by the terms of the covenant they established with God when first entering the Promised Land. The list of abuses noted above makes it clear how far the nation had transgressed. God also said repeatedly that the excesses of Manasseh were so great that he could not overlook them.

Some twelve years after Josiah’s death the Babylonians captured Jerusalem, plundered the city, carried off its king, and set up a puppet ruler on the throne. Eleven years later Jerusalem and the temple were completely destroyed after the puppet king revolted against Babylon. The year was 587/586 BC. It had been 800 years since Israel had entered the Promised Land.

Image by Michael Kotter on Flickr, CC by-nc-sa 2.0