124 - wicked, Wicked, WICKED!

A note of reminder would probably be in place here.  Red text are Bible portions; Deep blue are quotes from other writers;  Pink text is when I put words into the mouths of those talking; Black text is simply the things that I write.

Idols in the Temple

Not literally, but in a vision, Ezekiel is taken to Jerusalem and placed inside the city wall but outside the walls of the temple. There, right at the entrance to the temple of Jehovah, Ezekiel saw what many commentators think was an idol of Baal.  

1. It was the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 8:3.  This is exactly what Moses had warned against: You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, ... You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God.  Exodus 20:5.

They had also been warned what would happen to them if they did, They have moved Me to jealousy with a no-god. They have provoked Me to anger with their vanities. And I will move them to jealousy with a no-people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.  Deuteronomy 32:21.

2. But turn again, and you shall see greater abominations. Ezekiel 8:3.  First, he saw a hole in the wall. 8:7, no doubt this had been made by the invading Babylonian army.  There, in the rubble and dirt he saw every kind of creeping thing, As beetles and others, worshipped for gods: and hateful beast, unclean ones; not only oxen, but dogs and cats, and other impure creatures; for such were the gods of the Egyptians, from whom the Jews took their deities: Gill.  and all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 8:10

And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, (representative of the whole nation).  Jehovah asks Ezekiel: have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his image (idol) room?  For they are saying, Jehovah does not see us; Jehovah has forsaken the earth. 8:12.  They were worshipping idols in the dark so that Jehovah would not notice.

3. You turn again, and you shall see greater evils that they are doing ...  behold, women were sitting there, weeping for Tammuz. 8:13-14.  That doesn't sound so wicked, does it? These were the "women of the court" who should have been inside the sanctuary worshipping Jehovah, but they were at the northern gate In this part of the temple were the sacrifices offered; and therefore it was the greater abomination to commit idolatry where the Lord was more solemnly worshipped: near the place of sacrifice; and they were sitting there, where none but the kings of the house of Judah, and of the family of David, were allowed.

but, what was the greatest abomination, they were weeping for Tammuz.  They were not weeping because so many Jewish soldiers had been slaughtered by the Babylonians.  They were not weeping because some mothers, in order to survive, were forced to eat their own offspring.  they were weeping for Tammuz ... this was an image, which they heated inwardly, and its eyes were of lead; and these being melted with the heat, it seemed to weep; wherefore (the women) said, it asks for an offering: but not the idol, but the women, wept. Gill.  They wept because they had nothing left to bring as offerings to their god.

4. Turn yet again, and you shall see greater evils than these. And He brought me into the inner court of Jehovah's house, ... there were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah (they had turned their backs on Jehovah so that they could worship other gods) and their faces toward the east; and they bowed themselves eastward to the sun.  (Heathens turn East to worship, the Jews were to face West to worship; the temple was so situated that West was the default.) 

 And He said to me, Have you seen, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they do the hateful things which they do here? 

• For they have filled the land with violence and
• have turned to provoke Me to anger. 
• And lo, they put the branch to their nose. 8:15-17.  

This is an interesting statement with a variety of meanings being expressed: And lo, they put the branch to their nose. 8:17. 

• proverbial, for “they turn up the nose in scorn,” expressing their insolent security. Jamieson, Fausset, Brown.  As if, since they are living in Jerusalem nothing can harm them there, after all, it is Jehovah's chosen city.

• the words are differently interpreted by the Jewish commentators; who, ... think an ill smell is meant; arising either from their posteriors, their back being towards the temple;
• or from the incense which they offered up to their idols;
• or a laurel, or olive, or vine branch, which idolaters carried in their hands, and put to their nose, in honour of the idol they worshipped; 
• in like manner as they kissed their hand at the sight of the sun, ... and which the Jews did in imitation of the Heathen. Gill   

I will also deal with fury; My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.  8:18  

123 Ezekiel - The Condemning Prophet

Here is a Footnote

One hundred and twenty-three posts ago, this blog was started at Genesis 1:1 and we have now come to the fourth book on the fourth shelf, in the old section, of our imaginary library, namely Ezekiel.

For an idea of what this library looks like, I suggest:                                                            http://spaceshiptheology.blogspot.com/2014/10/38-old-testament-library.html  

and 

http://spaceshiptheology.blogspot.com/2014/10/39-new-testament-library.html

A Harsh Message

Ezekiel preached to the captive Israelites because he was among the captives by the river Chebar, close to the Euphrates River.  

Almost a world full of books has been written about "The Spaceships of Ezekiel".  Since this is so, I will pass over that topic in Ezekiel 1,2,10, and a host of other references about this subject.  Anyone interested in my viewpoint concerning this topic is welcome to visit:
 http://spaceshiptheology.blogspot.com/2013/09/en-cast-ezekiel-reporter.html

The early chapters distinctly tell us that Ezekiel started prophesying before the destruction of Judah and that his warnings of doom were similar to Jeremiah's.  However, there is a notable difference; Jeremiah's message repeatedly was, repent, turn to Jehovah and save yourself. 

In Ezekiel the pleading for the Israelites to repent is almost absent, it is too late.  His theme is: And I will also deal with fury; My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them. 8:18.   Jerusalem will be destroyed in 586 BCE. 

Forgiveness is Still Possible

There is an almost modern Gospel song; Have You Counted The Cost which declares the same message.   The time will come when repentance will no longer be an option and after that, comes judgement at Jehovah's great white throne.

There's a line that is drawn by rejecting our Lord, 

Where the call of His Spirit is lost,
And you hurry along with the pleasure-mad throng - 

Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

Chorus:

Have you counted the cost, if your soul should be lost
Tho' you gain the whole world for your own?
Even now it may be that the line you have crossed,
Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

You may barter your hope of eternity's morn,
For a moment of joy at the most,
For the glitter of sin and the things it will win -
Have you counted, have you counted the cost? 

While the door of His mercy is open to you,
Ere the depth of His love you exhaust,
Won't you come and be healed, won't you whisper, I yield -
I have counted, I have counted the cost. [Chorus]

Ezekiel was the kind of preacher who used object lessons to portray his teachings.  In chapter 4 he took a tile and drew on it a picture of Jerusalem, and beside the tile, he set up a metal pan which represented the walls of Jerusalem.  Then Ezekiel enacted the siege by Babylon.

He also lay on his left side for 390 days; each day represented one year in which the Northern tribe of Israel sinned against Jehovah.  After that he lay on his right side for forty days;  again each day represented one year in which Judah, the Southern tribe, sinned.

In chapter 5 he cuts off his hair and his beard and divided all the hair into three parts.  One part he put into the middle of the city (the city which he had drawn on the tile).  This hair represented the Jews in the city, and Ezekiel set the hair on fire, on the tile, to show how the Jews huddled in the city walls would die.   Next, he scattered one-third of the hair into the air and taking a sword he symbolically slashed at the hair falling through the air to indicate how the fleeing Jews would die.

Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you multiplied (your sins) more than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in My Laws, ... nor have done according to the judgments of the nations all around you; therefore so says the Lord Jehovah; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will carry out judgments in your midst before the nations. 5:7-8.   

It is such a disgrace to the Church of Christ that so-called "Christian nations", in certain aspects, have lower moral standards than those people who do not even pretend to be Christians!  That is why the Lord says, I will do in you that which I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 5:9.

122. The Budding of the Fig Tree

Lamentations - a Book by Jeremiah

After the Babylonians had destroyed the city which they called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? Lamentations 2:15.  Jeremiah takes up this dirge: How alone sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow, once great among the nations, a noblewoman among the nations, but now has become a tribute-payer. She bitterly weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. 1:1-2.

About 1000 years before Judah's fall, Moses had written, And if you will not for all of this listen to Me, but will walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. Leviticus 26:27-29.  

As armies are wont to do, the Babylonian army had destroyed the crops, slaughtered the livestock, killed the men, raped the women.  Israel had now fallen on such desperate times that in order to find food, to survive, they needed to resort to cannibalism; Shall the women eat their fruit, children of tender care? 

But, Repent Now

Again Jeremiah urges the people to repent, to seek the Lord in prayer, perhaps it is not too late to save their lives and the lives of their children.  Arise, cry out in the night. At the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of Jehovah. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your children who are faint for hunger in the head of every street.  Lam 2:19  

Jeremiah, Isaiah and many other prophets had warned them to turn from their ungodly ways; they did not treat fellow humans with dignity and they did not turn from worshipping other gods; they refused to listen and obey.  

The people of North America are in no position to look down on them for this; we have done the same things.  And the same God still has the same standards He had then and should we expect a lesser punishment?

Israel is Reborn

The history of Israel always was turbulent. Hordes were killed in battles; masses became slaves or refugees in other countries.  In spite of those events, the Bible does not allow for the idea that the race of the Israelites will ever become extinct.  The prophets repeatedly promised that Jehovah will bring His children home again.  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their affliction. And they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says Jehovah, that your sons shall come again to their own border. Jeremiah 31:13-17. 

I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth; everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Isaiah 43:5.

I will cut a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them. Yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Ezekiel 37:26-28.

The modern re-creation of Israel happened on May 14, 1948.   David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel and U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel

In  answer to the disciple's question, what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world? Mat. 24:3.  Christ said, Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is still tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near. So you, likewise, when you see all these things, shall know that it (the return of Christ) is near, at the doors. Truly I say to you, This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled. Mat. 24:32.

When Israel became a nation in 1948 many Evangelical Bible teachers got really excited about this prophecy.  They said that the "budding of the fig tree" represented the founding of the nation of Israel, and since Christ had said, This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled, Christ would return before 1982. 1948+33 years=1981.  If one accepts, as is commonly stated, that a generation is 33 years long.  

Well, that did not happen, so the Bible students needed to take another look at the "blueprint".  They then found that the word, "generation" does not mean only, "a specified length of time" but it can refer to the entire "race" of any given people; in this case the Jews.

In Mat_24:34 "this generation shall not pass (namely, the Jewish race, of which the generation in Christ's days was a sample in character); ... until all these things be fulfilled," a prophecy that the Jews shall be a distinct people still when He (Christ) shall come again. Fausset.

Christ had already warned us against setting dates for His return! But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father. Mat. 24:36.  How could so many Bible believing Christians have so completely missed that point?

121. The Cycle is Complete

The Southern Kingdom is Smitten

A voice was heard in Ramah; wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not. Jeremiah 31:15.  Jacob was the father of the people of Israel; Rachel was Jacob's first love, his favourite wife.  Rachel was also the mother of Benjamin, and Benjamin was the forefather of one of the two tribes of Southern Israel.  Therefore it is proper to say that it was Rachel, the mother of the Jewish people who wept because her children had been murdered by the Babylonians.

After Christ was born, King Herod murdered all the baby boys in Israel because he was afraid that the "baby, born to be king" would usurp his throne.  It was about that situation that Matthew quotes these words, A voice was heard in Ramah, (Ramah is a town close to Bethlehem, where Christ was born), wailing and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. Mat. 2:18.

Jeremiah In Prison

Jeremiah was falsely accused of trying to escape to the Chaldeans, as he had suggested the Israelites should do.  Because of that accusation, he was imprisoned.  When Jeremiah had entered into the house of the pit, and into the cells, (maximum security) then Jeremiah remained there many days. 37:16.  The king rescued him and sent him to the court of the prison, which was a much better prison.

Some leaders just could not be content with that situation, so they talked to the king again, saying that Jeremiah was discouraging the people from fighting the Babylonians and therefore should be put to death.  The king replied, Behold, he is in your hand. For the king cannot do a thing against you. And they took Jeremiah and ... they let Jeremiah down with ropes; the prison cell had no ladder or stairs, hence, no way of escape.  And there was no water in the pit, only mud. So Jeremiah sank into the mud. 38:6.   So Jeremiah sunk in the mire; up to the neck, as Josephus says. Gill.  However, the Bible does not say that.

After that, an Ethiopian servant got the king's permission to rescue Jeremiah from certain starvation in "that mud hole".  From then on Jeremiah was kept in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was captured. 38:28.

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah ... Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, came against Jerusalem. And they besieged it ... the city was broken up. 39:1-2.   So Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners (of the Babylonian army), sent, and ... took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison ... So he (Jeremiah) lived among the people. 39:13-14 


And the chief of the executioners took Jeremiah and said to him ... now, behold, I set you free today from the chains on your hand. ... Wherever it seems good and pleasing for you to go, go there. 40:2-4.  Jeremiah decided not to leave but to live with his own people.

After Babylon had destroyed Judah, the first time, some Jews returned from the countries to which they had fled for safety.   Later, when the Babylonian army returned to Judah, many of those Jews, who had returned, decided to flee to Egypt for safety.  Israel and Egypt were friends at that time.  

Jeremiah warned them against making that move.  O remnant of Judah. So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you surely set your faces to go into Egypt, and go to live there... you ... shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. 42:15+22.   

Yet the small number that escapes the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah. 44:28

But Johanan (the leader of the fleeing Jews) and all the commanders of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations (where they had been driven) to dwell in the land of Judah; men, and women, and children, and ... Jeremiah the prophet. ... So they came into the land of Egypt. 43:5-7.

A Look-Back

Back in 1446 BCE, with great fanfare and a mighty hand, the Israelites left Egypt.   Moses, a mighty man of God, whose name is still known throughout the world, was the leader of about 6,000,000 (by some estimates).  Mighty signs and miracles accompanied them on their way.  

• They invaded Canaan; 
• captured walled cities; 
• fought giants; 
• ate well and 
• turned their backs on Jehovah.  

Now circa 590 BCE, a small group of exiles, in opposition to Jehovah's distinct instructions, was trudging along led by Johanan, a man, virtually unheard of.  They were returning to Egypt, and according to Jeremiah, most of them would be killed there in battle.