We are Exiled in Babylon

An analogy. Like the Jews of old, believers today are exiled in Babylon. They longed to go home, and so do we.

1. Because of the nation’s sin, the Babylonians came in and conquered Isra’el. Secular society has won the culture war.

2. The Babylonians were brutal. By the ninth day of the fourth month in 586 BC, the famine in Jerusalem had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. Then, about a month later, the City wall was broken through and what was left of the Jewish army fled. Nebuchadnezzar then killed hundreds of thousands with the sword in the Sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm (Jeremiah 39:1-2, 52:4-7a; Second Kings 25:1-2; Ezeki’el 24:1-2; Second Chronicles 36:17).

Then the City wall was broken through and all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, and Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 25:3). There were two generals/officials named Nergal-Sharezer. The first one is Nergal-Sharezer lord of Sin-Magir the Rabsaris. He came from the town of Samgar-Nebo, which was sometimes known in Babylonian literature as Sin-Magir. So, he was a mayor of a specific city in Babylonia and he also had the military title of Rabsaris. The second man was also known as Nergal-Sharezer. He is known in Babylonian writings as Neriglissar, the Rab-mag or chief of princes (it was not unusual for the Babylonians to have more than one name). He was married to the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and would later murder Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Evil-Murdock, and reign as king of Babylon from 559 BC to 556 BC.

The prophecies of Yirmeyahu were beginning to be fulfilled very quickly. When Zedekiah king of Judah and his soldiers saw the Babylonian dignitaries sitting in the Middle Gate, they realized that the City had fallen. Then the king, his family and the whole army fled at night and slipped through the gate between the two walls by way of the king’s garden near the Pool of Siloam. The royal family and a small group of ragtag soldiers were in the steep ravine near where Hinnom and Kidron Valleys unite. Climbing over the Mount of Olives they fled toward the Arabah, which is also known as the Jordan Valley in the area of Jericho (Jeremiah 39:3-4; 52:7b; Second Kings 25:4). Zedekiah tried to escape through an eighteen-mile long tunnel, but enemy soldiers who, while chasing a deer, saw him emerging captured him on the plains of Jericho.

Zedekiah was trying to get across the Jordan River at the very same location that Isra’el crossed over coming into Canaan (Joshua 3:1-17). Now Zedekiah, the last king of Isra’el was trying to escape the land of Canaan the same way! The king was without courage, resolve, or resource. He neither resists nor surrenders, but jumps ship in a disgraceful way. He abdicated his royal office and his royal responsibility, leaving the people in the lurch.

The king came very close to his goal of escaping, coming up short only a mile or two from the Jordan River. But the Babylonian army pursued Zedekiah and his little entourage, and overtook them on the plains of Jericho. All Zedekiah’s soldiers were separated from him and they scattered trying to save themselves (Second Kings 25:5). The Babylonian army captured Zedekiah and took him to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (his field headquarters) in the north at Hamath just south of Syria. There the Babylonian King waited while his generals conducted the sieges of Jerusalem and Tyre (Jeremiah 52:8-10 and 26-27; Lamentations 4:19-20; Second Kings 25:6, 20-21). In like manner Pharaoh-Necho after his victory over the Babylonians at Carchemish in 609 BC, returned to Riblah and summoned Jehoahaz from Jerusalem before him (Second Kings 23:33).

Therefore, the Jewish puppet king was captured after fleeing 25 miles from Jerusalem to Jericho, then he was taken another 25 miles back to Yerushalayim and then another 180 miles north to Riblah. This would have taken several days. One wonders the thoughts going through his mind being as he was transported in chains with his family. Did he fear the worst, or did he hold out hope that Nebuchadnezzar would be merciful towards him? What would happen to his family? What would happen to the nobles captured with him? He would soon find out. Those who were associated with Zedekiah were killed.

Jeremiah’s prophecy had been fulfilled to the letter. Zedekiah did not die by the sword (39:18), but he was disgraced. The Babylonian king pronounced judgment on him. He had the sons of Zedekiah killed before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. This would be the last thing Zedekiah would see as long as he lived. The thing he could never forget. Then the Nebuchadnezzar put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon, where he put the Jewish king in prison until the day of his death (Jeremiah 39:6-7, 52:8-11; Second Kings 25:7). The eyes’ being gouged out was a common form of punishment in ancient times. It is mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. The Septuagint text of 52:11 specifies that Zedekiah was put in the “house of milling” until the day of his death, that is, he did women’s work, which calls to mind Samson’s fate: Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison (Judges 16:21). The secular society is just a brutal.

3. The Babylonians destroyed the Temple and carried of the sacred furniture back to Babylon.

4. The Jews were allowed to participate in Babylonian society.

5. Babylonian law was not based on the Torah, but on the Code of Hammurabi.

6. But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not recognized or worshiped.

7. The Babylonians sacrificed their children to the god Anu.

8. The Jews longed to return to their homeland.

9. But Jeremiah told them: Yes, exile is traumatic and terrifying. Our sense of who we are is very much determined by the place we are in, the people we are with, and the laws that govern us. When that changes, violently and abruptly, who are we? The accustomed ways we have of finding our worth and sensing our significance vanishes. The first wave of emotion recedes and leaves us feeling worthless, meaningless. We don’t fit anywhere. No one cares what we think. No one needs us. We are extra baggage. We aren’t necessary.

How did these Jews in exile feel? How did they respond? If we imagine ourselves in a similar situation, remembering how we respond when we are forced to spend extended time with people we don’t like in a place we don’t like, we will not be far from the truth. It’s as if they were saying, “A terrible thing has happened to us. And it’s not fair! I know we weren’t perfect, but we were no worse than the rest of them. And here we end up in this Babylonian desert while our friends are carrying on life as usual in Jerusalem. Why us? We can’t understand the language; we don’t like the food; the manners of the Babylonians are boorish; the schools are substandard; there are no decent places to worship; the temples are polluted with immorality and everyone speaks with an accent. They complained bitterly about the terrible circumstances in which they were forced to live. They longed, achingly, for Jerusalem. In other words, they wallowed in self-pity.

This is what the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies, the God of Isra’el says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. You are not camping. Build houses and settle down (Jeremiah 29:4-5a). Make yourself at home. If all you do is sit around a pine for the time you get back to Jerusalem, your present lives will be neglected and empty. Your life right now is every bit as valuable as it will be when you get back to Jerusalem. Babylon is not your choice, but it’s your judgment. Dwell there. Plant gardens and eat what they produce (Jeremiah 29:5b). Become a productive member of society. Don’t expect others to do it for you. Get your hands into the Babylonian soil. Become knowledgeable about the Babylonian irrigation system. Acquire skill in cultivating fruits and vegetables in this soil and climate. Get some Babylonian recipes and cook them. Grow where you’re planted.

Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease (Jeremiah 29:6). Just as the Jews did not assimilate with the Egyptians in Egypt; they did not assimilate with the Babylonians in Babylon. To assimilate would be no more than to repeat the sins of Jerusalem in Babylon. No, this was not a command to intermarry with the Babylonians; on the contrary, it was to increase the Jewish population (Exodus 1:9-10).

Seek the shalom of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to ADONAI for [Babylon] because if it prospers, you too will prosper (29:7 CJB). Jeremiah’s letter was both a rebuke and a challenge. Don’t sit around feeling sorry for yourselves. Don’t have the attitude of a prisoner of war. Prisoners “do time.” They count the days until their release, days that are essentially empty. Don’t listen to the lying prophets feed you false hopes. You are not there accidently, victims of bad luck. I have sent you there deliberately and you will be in Babylon for a long time. Do not live your days morning for the good-old-days. Live your lives there, in Babylon, and live them fully. Do not put aside the prayer of Psalm 122:6: Pray for shalom in Yerushalayim! Learn a new prayer: Pray for shalom in Babylon! For in Babylon’s shalom you will find your shalom.

Living in exile forces a decision: Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself? It’s always easier to complain about problems than to live a life of dignity. Daily we face decisions on how we will respond to these exiled conditions. We can say, “I don’t like it. I want to be where I was ten years ago. How can you expect me to throw myself into what I don’t like . . . that would be sheer hypocrisy! What sense is there in taking risks and tiring myself out among people I don’t even like in a place where I have no future?

Or we can say, “I will do my best with what is here. Far more important than the climate of this place, the economics of this place, the neighbors of this place, is the God of this place. God is here with me. What I am experiencing right now is on ground that was created by Him and with people whom He loves. It is just as possible to live out the will of God here as any place else. I am full of fear. I don’t know my way around. I have much to learn. I’m not sure I can make it. Change is hard. Developing intimacy among strangers is always a risk. Building relationships in unfamiliar and hostile surroundings is difficult. But I can do it with God’s help.

When their time exile was over, the righteous of the TaNaKh, those of faith, returned home. However, not all the Jews did so. Most, in fact, chose to stay in Babylon.

Believers in America and around the world are now in Babylon. We have a choice. We long to return home. But we must remember daily that we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). As long as we are here on this earth, we are strangers in a foreign land. Aliens, temporary residents, just passing through (Hebrews 11:13; First Peter 2:11). For we have no permanent city; on the contrary, we seek the one to come (Hebrews 13:14).

We do not belong to this world – on the contrary, the Lord has picked us out of the world – therefore, the world hates us (John 15:19). Therefore, the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God’s will lives forever (First John 2:17).

So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our faith, let us continue to have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Also, through Him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so, let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory. But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope; and this hope does not let us down, because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:1-5).

We are to dwell here for now, and increase the believing population. Be in the world (Babylon), but not of the world (Babylon). Instead of worrying about what the future holds, we need to focus on Who controls the future.

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End Notes

1. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1985, page 1123.

2. The Jewish New Testament Commentary, by David Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc, Clarksville, Maryland, 1992, page 4.

3. Jeremiah and Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page283.

4. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980 pages 81-85.

5. Jeremiah, a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, pages 2-3.

6. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980 pages 71-72.

7. On War, by Carl von Clausewitz, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968, page 101. Initially published in 1932 under the title of Vom Kriege.

8. On War, by Carl von Clausewitz, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968, page 102. Initially published in 1932 under the title of Vom Kriege.

9. The Problem of War in the Old Testament, by Peter Craigie, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1976, pages 46-47.

10. Christian Theology, by Millard Erickson, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985, pages 627-630.

11. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, IVP Books, Downers Grove, IL, 1983, p 36.

12. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 22-23.

Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC

13. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 61-64.

14. Jeremiah a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 25-26.

15. The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts, 1965, page 70.

16. Jeremiah’s Call, by Ronald Youngblood, The BGC Standard Mag, May 1992, pgs 26-27.

17. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 37-38.

18. Grace for the Moment (In the Grip of Grace) Volume One, by Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 2000, page 219.

19. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 49.

20. Jeremiah’s Call, by Ronald Youngblood, The BGC Standard Mag, May 1992, pgs 28-29.

21. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, GA, 2002, page 49 and 51.

22. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 151.

23. Jeremiah, a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf and Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 21.

24. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, GA, 2002, pages 55-56.

25. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, Texas, 1977, pages 44-45.

26. Jeremiah 1-25, by Peter Craigie, Word Biblical Commentary, Dallas, TX, 1991, page 45.

27. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 61.

28. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 45.

29. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 162-163.

30. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 34.

31. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 62.

32. Jeremiah 1-20, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible: Doubleday, New York, New York, 1999, page 263.

33. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1132.

34. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, pages 280-281.

35. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 49.

36. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 67.

37. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 50.

38. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 67.

39. Matthew 1-7, by John MacArthur, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Il, 1985, page 484.

40. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, pg 65.

41. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 115-116.

42. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 180.

43. The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah/Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page 64.

44. Jeremiah 1-20, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible, New York, NY, 1999, page 290.

45. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 182.

46. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, GA, 2002, pages 76-77.

47. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 116.

48. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 44.

49. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 196-197.

50. Ibid, pages 200-201.

51. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 46.

52. The Wiersbe Bible Study Series: Jeremiah, by Warren Wiersbe, David Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2012, page 33.

53. Ibid, page 34.

54. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 89.

55. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, 50-51.

56. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 94.

57. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 52.

58. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 93.

59. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 64.

60. Jeremiah: A Fresh Reading, by William Holloway, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 58-60.

61. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 221-222.

62. Jeremiah 1-20, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible, New York, NY, 1999, page 349.

63. The Book of Jeremiah, J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, page 228.

64. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 58-59.

65. Difficult Passages in the New Testament, by Robert Stein, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1990, page 186.

66. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 71.

67. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 61.

68. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 107.

69. The Wiersbe Bible Study Series: Jeremiah, by Warren Wiersbe, David Cook Publishing, 2012, page 30.

70. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 108.

71. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 234.

72. Jeremiah: A Fresh Reading, by William Holloway, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 68.

73. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 110.

74. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 77.

75. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 66.

76. Jeremiah, A Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 71.

77. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, pages 297-298.

78. Our Daily Bread, edited by Tim Gustafson, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June/July/August 2014.

79. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thomson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 266-267.

80. The Wiersbe Bible Study Series, by Warren Wiersbe, David Cook Publishers, Colorado Springs, Co, 2012, page 37.

81. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 183.

82. The Character of Jeremiah, by Ronald Youngblood, Criswell Theological Review 5.2, 1991, pages 171-182.

83. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 349-350.

84. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 130.

85. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 97-98.

86. The Character of Jeremiah, by Ronald Youngblood, Criswell Theological Review 5.2, 1991, page 177.

87. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 131.

88. The Book of Jeremiah, S. R. Driver, Scribner’s, New York, New York, 1906, page 71.

89. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1980, pages 395-396.

90. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 17-19.

Jehoahaz Ruled For 3 Months in 609 BC

91. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 93.

92. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 306.

93. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 94.

94. Jeremiah 1-20, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible, New York, NY, 1999, page 551.

95. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 98.

96. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 316.

97. Jeremiah: A Fresh Reading, by William Holloway, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 87.

98. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 108.

99. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 319-321.

100. Our Daily Bread, edited by Tim Gustafson, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, March/April/May 2014.

101. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 102-103.

102. Jeremiah, A Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 105-106.

103. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 105-107.

104. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 335.

105. Ibid, pages 338-339.

106. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 184.

107. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 197.

108. The NIV Application Commentary on Jeremiah/Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan Grand Rapids, MI, 2002, page 207.

109. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 585.

110. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 287.

Jehoiakim Ruled For 11 Years from 609/608 to 598 BC

111. Jeremiah 1-20, by Jack Lundbom. The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, New York, 1999, page 106.

112. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 77-78.

113. The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas Kempis (translated by Ronald Knox and Michael Oakley), Sheed and Ward, New York, NY, 1959, pages 66-67.

114. Jeremiah a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 28-29.

115. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1139.

116. Our Daily Bread, edited by Tim Gustafson, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June-July-August, 2011.

117. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 66-68.

118. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 282-283.

119. Jeremiah a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 30-31.

120. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 68-69.

121. Difficult Passages in the New Testament, by Robert Stein, Baker, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1990, page 361.

122. The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah and Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page 100.

123. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 285-286.

124. Roman Catholicism, by Loraine Boettner, The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 1962, pages 141-142.

125. Why God is Not Mother, Christianity Today, by Elizabeth Achtemeier, August 16, 1993, pages 16-23.

126. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 286-287.

127. Roman Catholicism, by Loraine Bottner, The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 1962, pages 196-205.

128. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 289.

129. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 102.

130. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 282.

131. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 84.

132. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 99.

133. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 523.

134. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 219.

135. The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah/Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page 244.

136. The Wiersbe Bible Study Series: Jeremiah, by Warren Wiersbe, David Cook Publishers, Colorado Sprigs, Colorado, 2012, pages 57-58.

137. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 43.

138. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1147.

139. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, Texas, 1977, page 130.

140. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 218.

150. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 135-137.

151. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, pg 136.

152. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 229.

153. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 98.

154. Ibid, pages 101-102.

155. Ibid, pages 102-103.

156. Ibid, page 104.

157. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 105-106.

158. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 107-108.

159. The Character of Jeremiah, by Ronald Youngblood, Criswell Theological Review 5.2, 1991, page 179.

160. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 282.

161. Jeremiah: A Fresh Reading, by William Holloway, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 90.

162. The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah/Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page 171.

162. Grace for the Moment, Volume One (When Christ Comes), by Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 2000, page 233.

163. Our Daily Bread, edited by Tim Gustafson, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June/July/August 2014.

164. Christian Theology, by Millard Erickson, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985, pages 629-630.

165. Jeremiah: A Fresh Reading, by William Holloway, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 34.

166. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 98.

167. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 423-424.

168. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 285.

169. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 98-100.

170. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, pages 430-431.

171. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 265.

172. The Bible Has The Answer, by Henry Morris, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971, pages 210-212.

173. The Wiersbe Bible Study Series: Jeremiah, by Warren Wiersbe, David Cook Publishers, Colorado Sprigs, Colorado, 2012, pages 63-64.

174. The Lion and the Honeycomb, by R. P. B. Blackmur, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1955, pages 179-180.

175. Obadiah, Jonah and Micah, by David Baker, TOTC, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1988, page 137.

176. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page, 78-79.

177. Does God Change His Mind, by Robert Chisholm, Jr. Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 152, Dallas, Texas, October-December 1995, N608.

178. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page, 80-81.

179. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 171.

180. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 98.

181. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 173-174.

182. The Wiersbe Bible Study Series: Jeremiah, by Warren Wiersbe, David Cook Publishers, Colorado Sprigs, Colorado, 2012, pages 66-67.

183. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 91.

184. Ibid, pages 89-90.

185. The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah/Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page 190.

186. A Twentieth Century Testimony, by Malcolm Muggeridge, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 1978, page 72.

187. The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah/Lamentations, by Andrew Dearman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, page 193.

188. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, page 454.

189. Jeremiah a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 92.

190. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 456.

191. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 93.

192. Ibid, page 98.

193. Answers to Tough Questions, by Carl Laney, Wipf and Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 1997, page 132.

194. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 182.

195. Our Daily Bread, edited by Tim Gustafson, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, September-October-November, 2014.

196. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 183.

197. The Character of Jeremiah, by Ronald Youngblood, Criswell Theological Review 5.2, 1991, pages 181-182.

198. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 220.

199. Selected Letters 1896-1924, by Baron Friedrich von Hugel, edited by Bernard Holland, E. P. Dutton, New York, NY, 1933, pages 305 and 266.

200. The Shadow on the Steps, Time Measurement in Ancient Isra’el, by Miano, David, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, Georgia, 2010, pages 51-52.

201. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 111-114.

202. Ibid, pages 114-118.

203. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, pages 93-94.

204. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1162.

205. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 227-228.

206. Ibid, pages 227-228.

207. God in Search of Man, by Abraham Heschel, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, New York, 1955, page 244.

208. Jeremiah, A Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, page 64.

209. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 350.

210. Ibid, page 350.

211. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 129-130.

212. Jeremiah 37-52, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, New York, 2004, page 184.

213. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 424.

214. Chronicle of Chaldean Kings (626-556 BC) in the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1956, pages 67-69.

215. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1192.

216. Jeremiah 37-52, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, New York, 2004, pages 209-210.

217. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 430.

218. Barney Kasdan, Kehilat Ariel Messianic Synagogue Newsletter, Volume 31, Number 1, September/October 2014.

219. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Lee Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, IL, 1969, page 144.

220. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1195.

221. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, p 302.

222. Josephus, Flavius. The Antiquities of the Jews. Amazon, page 282.

223. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 614.

224. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 723.

225. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 349.

226. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 93.

227. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 459-460.

228. Daniel NIVAC, by Tremper Longman, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999, pages 73-74.

229. The LORD is King: The Message of Daniel, by Dale Davis, Bible Speaks Today, Inter-Varsity, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1979, page 27.

230. The Church to Come, by Walter Luthi, Hodder and Stoughton, London, England, 1939, page 29.

231. Daniel, by Tremper Longman, NIVAC, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999, pages 91-92.

232. The LORD is King: The Message of Daniel, by Dale Davis, Bible Speaks Today, Inter-Varsity, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1979, pages 44-45.

233. The LORD is King: The Message of Daniel, by Dale Davis, Bible Speaks Today, Inter-Varsity, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1979, pages 48-49.

234. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 135-136.

235. ”The Rechabites Reconsidered,” Journal of Biblical Literature 90, 1971, pgs 279-287.

236. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 138.

237. Ibid, page 139.

238. Ibid, page 141.

239. Ibid, pages 142-243.

240. Ibid, pages 143-144.

Jehoiachin Ruled For 3 Months in 598 BC

241. Arnold Fruchtenbaum tape series on Jeremiah. Tustin: Ariel Ministries, 1992.

242. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1146.

243. Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, page 140.

244. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 129-130.

Zedekiah Ruled For 11 Years from 598/597 to 586 BC

245. Jeremiah, a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, OR, page 107.

246. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 487.

247. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 190.

248. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 207.

249. Revelation 12-22, by John MacArthur, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2000, page 305.

250. The Revelation Record, by Henry Morris, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1983, pages 485-486.

251. Revelation 12-22, by John MacArthur, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2000, page 310.

252. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 17-II-C-4 (13:1-7).

253. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 17-II-C-4 (13:8-16).

254. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 17-II-C-4 (13:17-23).

255. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 499.

256. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1969, pg 77.

257. Our Daily Bread, edited by Tim Gustafson, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, March-April-May, 2011.

258. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, pages 351-352.

259. Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind, by Peter T. Forsyth, Independent Press Ltd, London, England, 1907, pages 178-179.

260. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 147-150.

261. Jeremiah, A Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 109-110.

262. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 151-153.

263. Ibid, pages 154-156.

264. Jeremiah, A Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2012, pages 121-122.

265. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 264-265.

266. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, Texas, 1977, pages 224-225.

267. Grace for the Moment, Volume One, (God Came Near) by Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 2000, page 245.

268. Tape Series on Jeremiah, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, Tustin, CA, 1992.

269. Jeremiah, a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, OR, page 107.

270. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 257.

271. Jeremiah, a Fresh Reading, by William Holladay, Wipf & Stock, Eugene, OR, page 107.

272. Ibid, page 107.

273. Ezekiel, by Peter Craigie, the Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1946, pages 10-11.

274. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary on Ezekiel, by Joseph Blenkinsopp, John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1990, page 21.

275. How It All Began, by Ronald Youngblood, Regal Books, Ventura, CA, 1980, page 30.

276. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 03-I-A (1:1-3) and 03-I-B (1:4-28a).

277. Ezekiel, by Peter Craigie, the Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1946, pages 13-14.

278. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary on Ezekiel, by Joseph Blenkinsopp, John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1990, page 23.

279. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 04-I-C (1:28b to 3:3).

280. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 397.

281. Exodus, Volume 2, by John Currid, Evangelical Press, Auburn, Mass, 2001, pages 37-39.

282. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 10-II-B-1 (8:1-5).

283. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1969, pg 50.

284. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary on Ezekiel, by Joseph Blenkinsopp, John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1990, page 55.

285. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1244.

286. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 10-II-B-2 (8:6-18).

287. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 25-II-D-1 (20:1-4).

288. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1969, pg 109.

289. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 25-II-D-1 (20:10-12).

290. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 25-II-D-1 (20:13-17).

291. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 25-II-D-1 (20:18-26).

292. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 25-II-D-1 (20:27-32).

293. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 26-II-D-2 (20:33-38).

294. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 26-II-D-2 (20:39-44).

295. Ezekiel, by Peter Craigie, The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1946, page 154.

296. Charles Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1969, page 117.

297. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 27-II-D-3 (20:45-49).

298. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 462-463.

299. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 293.

300. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 625.

301. Jeremiah tape series by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Tustin, CA, Ariel Ministries, 1982.

302. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 734.

303. Jeremiah tape series by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, Tustin, CA, 1992.

304. The Jewish New Testament Commentary, by David Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Clarksville, Maryland, 1992, page 186.

305. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1201.

306. Christian Theology, by Millard Erickson, Baker, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985, 275.

307. The Sovereignty of God, by Arthur W. Pink, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984, Chapter 1.

308. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 755.

309. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1202.

310. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 771.

311. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 486-487.

312. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1969, pg 137.

313. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 29-II-E (24:1-14).

314. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois , 1985, pages 1,274.

315. Ezekiel, by Peter Craig, The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1946, pages 182-183.

316. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 30-III-A (25:1-7).

317. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 31-III-B (25:8-11).

318. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 32-III-C (25:12-14).

319. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 33-III-D (25:15-17).

320. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, IL, 1969, pgs 145-146.

321. Church History, Eusebius, translated by Paul Maier, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1999, III.5.

322. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 163-164.

323. The Book of Jeremiah, by J. A. Thompson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980, pg 633.

324. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 161-162.

325. Bernhard Duhm, Das Buch Jeremia, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen, Germany, 1901, page 301. The text quoted follows the translation of J. P. Hyatt, Jeremiah, IB V, 1956, page 73.

326. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (29:1-7).

327. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (29:8-16).

328. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1985, page 1289.

329 The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, Illinois, 1969, page 176.

330. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (31:2-9).

331. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (31:10-18).

332. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, IL, 1969, pgs 180-181.

333. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1173.

334. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth & Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 459.

335. Ibid, page 460.

336. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, pages 171-172.

337. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 264.

338. Grace for the Moment, Volume One (He Still Moves Stones), by Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 2000, page 187.

339. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 307.

340. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 177-178.

341. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 97.

342. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 317-318.

343. Names of God, by Nathan Stone, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1944, 125-128.

344. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 324-325.

345. Ibid, page 330.

346. Ibid, page 360.

347. Run With The Horses, by Eugene Peterson, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1983, pages 165-166.

348. Jeremiah 1-20, by Jack Lundbom, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, New York, 1999, pages 225-226.

349. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 369.

350. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 309.

351. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 370.

352. Ibid, page 371.

353. Tape Series on Jeremiah, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum. Tustin: Ariel Ministries, 1992.

354. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, page 372.

355. Ibid, pages 372-373.

356. Chabad.org, Y’hudah Shurpin, April 14, 2015.

Gedaliah Ruled For 3 Months in 586 BC

357. Daniel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, 04-III.mp3 (Daniel 3:1-3).

358. War and Grace, by Don Stephens, Evangelical Press, Darlington, UK, 2005, page 59.

359. The Message of Daniel, The Bible Speaks Today, by Dale Davis, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2013, page 58.

360. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, p 266.

361. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 376-378.

362. Ibid, pages 383-384.

363. Ibid, page 384.

364. Ibid, pages 385-386.

365. Ibid, pages 391-392.

366. Ibid, pages 398-399.

367. Flavius Josephus, Iniquity of the Jews. Amazon

368. A Commentary on Jeremiah, by Walter Brueggemann, William Eerdmans Publishing Company, Gra1d Rapids, Michigan, 1998, pages 402-403.

369. Ibid, pages 407-408.

370. Commentary on Jeremiah, by Andrew Blackwood, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1977, p 275.

371. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 42-IV-F (37:1-14).

372. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 43-IV-G (37:15-28).

373. Charles Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel, Moody, Chicago, IL, 1969, pgs 164-165.

374. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 34-III-E (26:1-6).

375. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, Illinois, 1969, page 149.

376. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 34-III-E (26:7-14).

377. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 34-III-E (26:15-18).

378. Ezekiel, by Peter Craigie, the Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1946, pgs 195-196.

379. Ibid, page 202.

380. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 34-III-E (28:1-10).

381. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 34-III-E (28:1-13).

382. The Footsteps of the Messiah by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, Tustin, CA, 1982, pages 543-563.

383. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, IL, 1969, pgs 165-166.

384. Ezekiel, by Peter Craigie, Westminster John Knox Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1983, p 215.

385. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, Illinois, 1969, page 170.

386. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (29:17-20).

387. The Prophecy of Ezekiel, by Charles Feinberg, Moody, Chicago, Illinois, 1969, page 171.

388. Ibid, page 171.

389. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (32:1-10).

390. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (32:11-16).

391. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 36-III-G (32:17-32).

392. Ezekiel Interpretation, by Joseph Blenkinsopp, John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1990, page 193.

393. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 46-V-A (Introduction).

394. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 48-V-C (44:1 to 46:24).

395. Ezekiel, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, MP3bbs 47-V-b (43:8-27).

396. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1985, page 1,304.

397. Messiah’s Coming Temple, by John Schmitt and J. Carl Laney, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997, pages 21-22.

398. Jeremiah, by Theodore Laetsch, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1952, page 370.

399. Tape Series on Jeremiah, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, Tustin, CA, 1992.

400. Jeremiah, by Terence Fretheim, Smyth and Helwys Bible Company, Macon, Georgia, 2002, page 656.

401. www.bibleworldhistory.com/70Years.htm

402. www.bibleworldhistory.com/70Years.htm

403. Handbook of Biblical Chronology, by Jack Finegan, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1964, pages 85-86.

404. Ibid, page 92.

405. Jeremiah’s 70 Year Chronology, James D. Price Publications @jamesprice.com/prophecy.html

 

Glossary

Abba: an affectionate way to say Father, hence dear Father, or even Daddy, Papa.

Adar: the twelfth month of the Jewish biblical calendar.

Adonai: literally, my Lord, a word the TaNaKh uses to refer to God.

ADONAI: the Tetragrammaton, meaning the four-letter name of YHVH. Both ADONAI and Ha’Shem are substitute names for YHVH. ADONAI, however, is more of an affectionate name like daddy. Therefore, God does not have many names, He has only one name – YHVH (Yud Hay Vav Hay). All the other names in the Bible describe His characteristics and His attributes.

ADONAI Elohei-Tzva’ot: the LORD God of heaven’s angelic armies.

ADONAI Eloheinu: LORD our God.

ADONAI Nissi: the LORD my Banner.

ADONAI Shalom: the LORD of Peace.

ADONAI Tzidkenu: the LORD our Righteousness.

ADONAI-Tzva’ot: The LORD of heaven’s angelic armies.

Adversary, the: Satan, the devil, and the old dragon.

Amen: “It is true,” or “So be it,” or “May it become true.”

Ariel: lion of God, fireplace on God’s altar.

Aviv: the first month of the biblical year, corresponding to the modern Jewish month of Nisan.

Avraham: Abraham.

Azazel: a scapegoat or goat demon.

Ba’al: the chief male god of the Phoenicians and Canaanites. The word means lord or master.

Beit-Lechem: Bethlehem, birthplace of David and Yeshua, meaning house of bread.

B’rit Chadashah: The New Covenant, New Testament.

Diaspora, the Dispersion: the scattering of the Jewish people in exile. Today about 4.5 million Jews live in Isra’el, and between 9 and 13 million Jews live in the Diaspora.

El ‘Elyon: God Most High.

El Gibbor: Mighty God.

El Shaddai: God Almighty.

Far Eschatological Prophecy: end times prophecy.

Goyim: the Nations, non-Jews, Gentiles.

Ha’Shem: the Tetragrammaton, meaning the four-letter name of YHVH. Both ADONAI and Ha’Shem are substitute names for YHVH. While ADONAI is more of an affectionate name like daddy, while Ha’Shem is a more formal name like sir. Therefore, God does not have many names, He has only one name – YHVH (Yud Hay Vav Hay). All the other names in the Bible describe His characteristics and His attributes.

Kefa: Peter, Cephas.

The LORD: the Tetragrammaton, meaning the four-letter name of YHVH. ADONAI, Ha’Shem and the LORD are substitute names for YHVH. Therefore, God does not have many names, He has only one name – YHVH (Yud Hay Vav Hay). All the other names in the Bible describe His characteristics and His attributes.

Messiah: Christ, the Anointed One.

Midrash: allegorical interpretation or application of a text. The hearer is expected to understand that the maker of the midrash is not expounding the plain meaning of the text, but introducing his own ideas.

Mikveh: a bath o pool with a flow of fresh water; used in Orthodox Judaism to this day for ritual purification.

Mitzvah: literally command or commandment; more broadly, a general principle for living.

Moshe: Moses.

Near Historical Prophecy: a prophecy into the near historical future of the prophet. One of the tests of a prophet was to make a near historical prophecy . . . and if it came true then the people could trust his far eschatological prophecy as well. But if what a prophet proclaims in the name of ADONAI does not come true, that false prophet must be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:14-22). It may be that the prophet may still be alive when his prophecy is fulfilled, such as with Jeremiah, or it may be that the prophecy was fulfilled after his death, such as with Isaiah. But either way, the prophet was vindicated.

Negev: the south, the southern desert of Isar’el.

Nisan: the first month of the biblical year, the seventh month of the modern Jewish year in March-April.

Pesach: Passover. It is one of the three “pilgrim festivals” that all able bodied Jews were expected to celebrate before YHVH in Yerushalayim.

Rabbi Sha’ul: Apostle Paul

Righteous of the TaNaKh, the: Those who believed in, trusted in, had faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob before the resurrection of Yeshua Messiah.

Ruach ha-Kodesh: The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

Sukkot: Or the festival of Booths or Tabernacles, celebrating the forty years when the people of Isra’el lived in booths, tens, shacks, in the desert between Egypt and the land of Isra’el. It is one of the three “pilgrim festivals” that all able bodied Jews were expected to celebrate before YHVH in Yerushalayim.

Shavu’ot: Since the festival of Weeks comes seven weeks after Pesach it is also called Pentecost, from the Greek word for fifty because one counts fifty days after Passover. It is one of the three “pilgrim festivals” that all able bodied Jews were expected to celebrate before YHVH in Yerushalayim.

Sinai: the mountain in the desert between Egypt and the land of Isra’el.

Shuwb: turn, turning. The big idea of Jeremiah.

TaNaKh: The Hebrew word TaNaKh is an acronym, based on the letters T (for “Torah”), N (for “Nevi’im,” or the Prophets), and K (for “Ketuv’im,” or the Sacred Writings). It is the collection of the teachings of God to human beings in document form. This term is used instead of the phrase, “the Old Testament.”

Torah: literally, means teaching. It can be used for the five books of Moshe, or the whole TaNaKh (John 10:34). Uncapitalized, torah can be understood generally as a law or principle (Romans 7:21-8:2).

Tziyon: Zion, Mount Zion, was originally the City of David, south of the modern Old City of Yerushalayim. Later the name Tziyon came to refer metaphorically to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, or the people of Isra’el. The hill now called Mount Tziyon was given its name in the fourth century AD.

Yeshua: Jesus, and is a masculine form, and a word play on yeshu’ah (salvation).

Yerushalayim: Jerusalem.

Y’hudah: Judah.

YHVH: the Tetragrammaton, meaning the Name, the four-letter name of God. Therefore, God does not have many names, He has only one name – YHVH (Yud Hay Vav Hay). All the other names in the Bible describe His characteristics and His attributes.

Yirmeyahu: Jeremiah

Yisra’el: Isra’el.

Yochanan: John.

Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement.

Zion: the hill of Jerusalem on which the city of David was built. The word Zion is also used in a theological or spiritual sense in the Bible. In the TaNaKh Zion refers figuratively to Isra’el as the people of God (Isaiah 60:14). In the B’rit Chadashah, Zion refers to God’s spiritual Kingdom. We have not come to Mount Sinai, says the apostle, but to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). Kefa (Peter), quoting Isaiah 28:16 refers to Messiah as the Cornerstone of Zion, saying: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame (First Peter 2:6).

Spiritual Lessons from the Exile

During the seventy years of Babylonian imperial rule (to see link click Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule), the Israelites learned five valuable spiritual lessons.

1. Worship as a spiritual concept. Their Temple had been destroyed and they were in exile in Babylon. After a time they realized they were going to have to worship without the Temple. In the TaNaKh and throughout the monarchy, worship and the Temple went hand in hand. They were inseparable in the mind of the average Jew. If you wanted to worship ADONAI, you went to the Temple. Everyone agreed with that. During the period of the exile, however, the Israelites gradually began to understand the fact that worship was indeed a spiritual matter.to be done from the heart. But the exile did not last long enough for that concept to take root in their hearts and minds. Once Zerubbabel’s Temple was built they reverted back to the same belief (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ca – Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman).

2. Scripture was their unifying factor. Their city was gone; their Temple was gone. All their familiar surroundings were gone. What unified them? It had been Yerushalayim; it had been the Temple, the bronze altar and the sacrificial system. However, during the exile the Jews discovered that their single unifying factor was the TaNaKh. Consequently, they became “the people of the book” during the Babylonian captivity. They began to gather their sacred writings during the exile.

3. Idolatry was no longer an option. The main reason the southern kingdom of Judah was destroyed was because the people had fallen into idolatry. Certainly that is why the northern kingdom of Isra’el was destroyed (Second Kings 17:1-23). Those who lived in Judah were idolaters to the very end. When Jeremiah’s two baskets of figs (see Ei – Two Baskets of Figs) got to Babylon after the second deportation of exiles, the people saw the reality of idolatry. And for most of them, it made them sick to their stomachs. So they turned away from idolatry both during and after the seventy years of exile. It was no longer a serious option. The people learned that the God the Jews serve is the God of other nations. They learned ADONAI could be worshiped outside of the Promise Land. He can be worshiped anywhere; they don’t have to worship the gods of the Goyim, but can worship Him instead.

4. Isra’el had a missionary zeal. This lesson was learned from the previous one. Since God was the God of all nations, He has a claim upon those nations. It was, therefore, their mandate to share Messiah with other nations. It was about time! Back in Aram’s day, God taught that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him and his descendants (Genesis 12:3b). It took a while for them to realize just how that was to be done. But during the Babylonian captivity, the first stirrings of missionary zeal are seen in the hearts of the Jewish people. During the exile, you had the beginning of the “God-fearers” movement where the Jews would invite Gentiles to come to the synagogue.

5. They realized their need for a Meshiach. The word Meshiach simply means anointed one. The monarchy was finished as far as anyone knew. So all the hopes and dreams that had been pinned on David and his descendants became more spiritualized, and they were looking for an Anointed One who would come and lead them in a glorious future. In fact, during the exile, the concept of the Messiah was pushed into an arena beyond human history, to the messianic Kingdom. In any case, the Messiah was looked for during the years of exile.

Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule

There is a period of time that is often referred to as the “Babylonian Exile” or “Babylonian Captivity”.  This is said with Y’hudah being the frame of reference – in other words, the people of Judah are the people in exile or captivity.  A connection is then often made between this period of exile and the seventy years that is prophesied in the TaNaKh.  Having made this connection, people often have difficulty in reconciling the apparent prophecy where the exile would actually last for seventy years.⁴⁰¹

But no matter which of the three deportations you use (606 BC, 598 BC, or 586 BC), it’s not chronologically possible to establish a seventy-year exile for the Judeans who were taken into captivity during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. You either get 67, 59 or 47 years. As a result, many people have questioned the accuracy of Jeremiah’s prophecy about a seventy-year period during which Babylon would dominate Judah and hold Jews as captives in Babylon. But these questions are based on a mistaken belief that the captivity itself was supposed to last seventy years. To more fully understand the prophecy, it is necessary to look at four scriptures and examine to whom the prophecy actually refers.

1. Jeremiah 25:8-11 . . . Therefore, here is what the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies says: Because you haven’t paid attention to what I’ve been saying, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares ADONAI. “And I will bring them against this Land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and groom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. It is customary to refer to this period as an exile or the Babylonian captivity because much of it includes the time in which the Jews were in exile as captives. However, the text says the Jews would “serve,” not “be captives” or “go into exile.” Jeremiah prophesied that Judah and the surrounding nations would serve Babylon for seventy years. But, he does not say that the forced deportation of Jews from Judah would last seventy years. The captivity is something that grew out of Babylon’s domination of Judah and the whole region. The domination was supposed to span seventy years, but Jeremiah never said that the captivity itself would span seventy years.

2. Jeremiah 29:10 . . . This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10). It seems clear from the context in these two prophecies that the seventy years applies to Babylon itself, not to the period of time that the people of Judah are to spend in Babylon.  In Chapter 25 it says that the nations would serve Babylon for seventy years.   Once again in Chapter 29, Jeremiah makes the connection to Babylon by saying that seventy years are for Babylon.

3. Second Chronicles 36:20-23 . . . He [Nebuchadnezzar] carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of ADONAI spoken by Yirmeyahu. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of ADONAI spoken by Jeremiah, ADONAI moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ADONAI, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a Temple for him at Yerushalayim in Judah. Anyone of His people among you – may ADONAI his God be with him, and let him go up. At first glance, this text seems to imply that the desolation of Tziyon would last 70 years.  Read it again, and you will see that this is in fact not the case.  It states that now that Jerusalem has been destroyed, the land would lay desolate until the seventy-year prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled.  Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 B.C.  The seventy-year prophecy ended with Babylon’s fall in 539 BC, but Cyrus king of Persia did not issue his decree until 538 BC.  So Yerushalayim lay desolate from 586 to 538 BC . . . a total of 48 years.

4. Dani’el 9:1-3 . . . In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the kingdom [of the Chaldeans’] – in the first year of his reign, I, Dani’el, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of ADONAI given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to Adonai, God, and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. At first glance this passage also seems to indicate that Dani’el believed Jerusalem would lay desolate for 70 years.  But if this is the case, why is he so earnest in his prayer to God on behalf of his people.  This account comes in the first year of the reign of the Medes and Persians in 539/538 B.C.  At this point, Yerushalayim had lain desolate for only 48 years, so surely there would be another 22 years to go?  No, Daniel seems to understand that the seventy years was in fact over and that the exiled people of Judah should return to Jerusalem as God had promised.  This can only be the case if Dani’el understood the seventy years as referring to the length of time that Babylon would rule, and not to the desolation of Tziyon.  So like the writer of Chronicles, Dani’el understood that after the City was destroyed it would lay desolate for the remainder of the seventy-year period.  So Dani’el declared that the desolation of Jerusalem would last [the] seventy years.  Because the seventy year time period was coming to a close, he was asking ADONAI “How much longer do we need to wait?”  As it turns out, he had less than a year to wait until Cyrus, king of Persia, gave the decree allowing the people of Judah to return to the holy City of David, which they did in 536 BC.⁴⁰²

Some skeptics, however, object to the year 536 B.C. as the date of the Jews’ return from the Babylonian captivity. They do so on the grounds that Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC and that the Jews must have returned by at least 538 BC. But this overlooks the cultural practice among the Babylonians and Persians for dating regnal years of their kings. The word regnal comes from the Latin, regnum, meaning kingdom or rule. In the ancient Near East, the regnal year of a king was counted from the New Year’s day following the king’s ascension to the throne. This is different than the practice of western cultures, which skeptics erroneously ignore.

The system of reckoning that prevailed in Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, may be called the accession-year system. . . . In the accession-year system the portion of a year from the accession of the king to the end of the then current calendar year is only his ‘accession year’ (and for chronological purposes remains a part of the last numbered regnal year of his predecessor), and the new king’s regnal year begins only on the first day of the new calendar year after his accession.⁴⁰³

Among the Jews the practice was not consistent. Sometimes they followed the accession-year system and sometimes the non-accession system. Likewise, they sometimes followed the calendar year that began with the month of Nisan, and sometimes the calendar that began with the month Tishri.⁴⁰⁴ In part, the method used by Jewish historians depended on the system used by the nation that held political dominance over them at the time. It is very likely that Ezra, a prominent citizen of Persia, and under orders from the Persian king, used the accession-year system of the Persians.

Cyrus, king of Persia, conquered Babylon on October 16, 539 BC, and thus became king of the Medo-Persian Empire. However, the following regnal year was not until March 24, 538 BC. So his first regnal year extended from March 24, 538, to March 23, 537 BC. Sometime within that year, Cyrus issued the decree for the captive nations to return home (Second Chronicles 36:22). It is likely that the decree was issued late in the year, in January or February of 537 BC, because administrative duties would have occupied him the months immediately following the conquest of Babylon; less important details, like the affairs of foreign captives, would naturally be postponed. Taking into account the slow pace at which government business took place, the amount of time required to summons, assemble, and organize a large company of returnees, and the time for such a large group to travel the long distance from Babylon to Tziyon, it is reasonable to expect that the convoy did not arrive in Judah until some time in 536 BC. Approximately 49,000 returned.⁴⁰⁵

The decline of the Assyrian Kingdom began with the death of King Ashurbanipal who died in 627 BC. Various internal rebellions and civil wars then ensued; the result was a weakening of the country making Assyria vulnerable to outside attacks. This resulted in various captive territories refusing to pay tribute to the Assyrians.

In 612 BC, an alliance between the Meads and the Persians (Babylonians) resulted in a campaign that defeated the Assyrians. That same year the city of Nineveh fell and was destroyed. The Assyrians with their ally Egypt retreated to the northern Assyrian city of Harran, with the final defeat coming in 609 BC. Babylon was then able to consolidate the previous Assyrian empire under her control. The Babylonian empire extended from Persia on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west and from Assyria on the north to Egypt on the south. This included the land of Judah and her capital city of Jerusalem. Therefore, Babylonian imperial rule of Judah began in 609 BC (to see link click Bm – Jehoahaz Ruled For 3 Months in 609 BC) with Nebuchadnezzar’s military dominance of the holy land and ended in 539 BC with the defeat of Babylon by Cyrus the Great, for a total of seventy years.

In the Thirty-Seventh Year of the Exile,
Jehoiachin was Released from Prison
52: 28-34

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile, Jehoiachin was released from prison DIG: After building throughout the book to God’s judgment upon Isra’el and Judah, are you surprised by the way the book ends? Why or why not? Why do you think this happier note of Jehoiachin’s elevation follows Zedekiah’s rebellion and imprisonment? What does this say about YHVH’s mercy? As you review this book, which promises of ADONAI did Yirmeyahu live to see fulfilled? Which are still to come?

REFLECT: What happened as a result of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride? How long did his trial last? What was the end result? Does that surprise you? Why? Why not? What can you learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s experience? Did God discipline the Babylonian king for his good or his destruction? Has he done the same for you? Can you think of some examples? Which promises of the LORD have you seen fulfilled? Which are yet to come?

The Numbers of Deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar: Except for the first deportation, this data occurs nowhere else in the TaNaKh. Therefore, this is not a record of all the deportations of Jews, nor a total of all the Israelites deported by Nebuchadnezzar, but merely the number of deportations not recorded elsewhere.

The first deportation (605 BC): By the fall of 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem and took the first deportation of exiles (and some of the Temple articles) back to Babylon (Dani’el 1:1-7). The Babylonian king took “hostages” to assure continued loyalty. One of the most important “hostages” taken was a godly young man named Dani’el (to see link click Ca – Jehoiakim Ruled For 11 Years from 609/608 to 598 BC).

The second deportation (598 BC): In Nebuchadnezzar’s seventh year, a total of 3,032 Jews were carried into exile (52:28). In this case the year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was according to the Babylonian system of reckoning, which omitted the first partial year and began counting the regnal year from the New Year of 604 BC. This deportation took place three months after Jehoiakim’s mysterious death (see Du – Jehoiachin Ruled For 3 Months in 598 BC). Apparently placated by the rebel king’s death, Nebuchadnezzar merely deported his successor and brother Jehoiachin. Of the total deported, the king of Babylon carried all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans – a total of ten thousand. He took Jehoiachin, the king’s mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land captive to Babylon. In addition, Nebuchadnezzar deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war (Second Kings 24:14-16). Only the poorest people of the Land were left. The Babylonian king only wanted to teach Judah and other vassal nations a lesson.

The third deportation (586 BC): In Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth by Babylonian reckoning (the nineteenth year by Jewish reckoning in Second Kings 25:8) year 832 people from Jerusalem (52:29). This deportation probably consisted of the fugitives who had followed the LORD’s command by leaving Tziyon and going to the camp of the Babylonian army (38:2-4), and other captives whom Nebuchadnezzar sent off to Babylon when he withdrew temporarily from Yerushalayim to meet the challenge of Pharaoh Hophra and the Egyptian army (see Fm – Jeremiah in Prison). He destroyed Jerusalem and burnt the Temple to the ground.

The fourth deportation (581 BC): In his twenty-third year, Nebuchadnezzar took 745 Jews into exile; there were 4,600 people in all (52:30). Five years after the destruction of the Holy City (see Ga – The Fall of Jerusalem), and the same five years after Ishmael, his co-conspirators and hostages left for Egypt (see Gh – The Flight to Egypt), it is believed that Nebuzaradan, as the commander of the imperial guard, was sent back by Nebuchadnezzar as an act of reprisal against those who had killed Gedaliah (see Gg – Gedaliah Assassinated). It took a long time to get around to it, but it is generally believed that this was the reason for the fourth deportation.³⁹⁸

Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC. He had lived most of his life as an extremely prideful and arrogant man. But after his humbling experience living as an animal in the fields for seven years, the king of Babylon finally humbled himself and looked to YHVH. He ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. He acknowledged that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and renounced his sins (Dani’el 4:24-27 and 33).

Nebuchadnezzar raised his eyes toward heaven and his sanity was restored. Then the king praised the Most High, saying: I honor and glorify him who lives forever. For His reign is everlasting, His Kingdom endures through all generations. All who live on the earth are counted as nothing. He does what He wishes with the angelic army of heaven and with those living on the earth. No one can hold back His hand or ask Him, “What are You doing” (Dani’el 4:34-35)?

He changed his focus from himself to the one true God who deserved to be worshiped and praised. At that time his sanity was restored, his honor and splendor were returned to him for the glory of his kingdom. His advisors and nobles sought him out and he became even greater than he was before. Having been brought low, he said: Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are truth, and His ways just; and He can humble those who walk in pride (Dani’el 4:36-37). One could make the argument from these verses that Nebuchadnezzar came to personally know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We should notice that ADONAI brought Nebuchadnezzar low for his good, not for his destruction. It was far more important for the earthly king to know the one true heavenly God, and enter into God’s eternal Kingdom, than for him to live a carefree life on earth and die without knowing the one true God.

At times you will face difficult people or difficult situations in your life. When this happens, ask yourself this question, “Is God in control?” Of course He is. That doesn’t mean it will be easy and that is not to diminish anyone’s trials, but knowing ADONAI is in control and that He always wants what’s best for us, we can have true peace. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7 NLT).

The Release of Jehoiachin from Prison in 561 BC by Amil-Marduk: In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah (561/560 BC), in the year Evil-Marduk (or the Babylonian form of the name being Amil-Marduk, or man of Marduk). The Hebrew spelling turned out to be an insulting pun: ewil means fool, so to the Jews his name really meant the fool who worships Marduk. Nevertheless, he succeeded his father Nebuchadnezzar in 562 BC and became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar, or March 21^st, 561 BC, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. There is no reason given for Jehoiachin’s release. Perhaps it was part of a general amnesty proclaimed at the beginning of Amil-Marduk’s reign. This might have been because of Dani’el’s influence. The prophet had been living in Babylon for some time at this point.

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. Babylonian kings enjoyed capturing kings of various nations and then giving them a place at the royal table. It was a constant visible witness that the king of Babylon was the greatest of all kings. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death (Jer 52:31-34; 2 Kings 25:27-30). There is some archeological verification of these verses. Some jar handles have been found at the Ishtar Gate in Babylon that read, “Yaukim (Babylonian for Jehoiachin) king of Judah and his sons.” We know that Jehoiachin had five sons. Jehoiachin was never guilty of revolting against Babylon like his father Jehoiakim, so he was treated well. But, Zedekiah did revolt and had to witness the execution of all his sons before his eyes were gouged out. He died in a Babylonian prison.

It is interesting that YHVH cursed Jehoiachin in the past (22:24 and 28, 37:1), yet he was given mercy here. Just as Jeremiah’s prophecies of destruction had come true, so now his prophecies of future blessing were beginning. Jehoiachin’s favor gave hope to the exiles that God’s promised blessings and restoration would come.³⁹⁹

Amil-Marduk, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, ruled for two years and was assassinated by the priestly party, who brought about the accession of Nergal-Sharezer, his brother-in-law who ruled from 559 to 555. It was very ironic that Neriglissar (as he was commonly known) participated in the assassination of his brother-in-law the king, because his name meant, Oh god Nergal, preserve and defend the king.

In 539 BC Babylon fell at the hands of Cyrus the Great and the Israelites were able to return to Judah from Babylon (see the commentary on Isaiah Ia – The Deliverance by Cyrus the Great) so that they could reestablish their Temple worship (see Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). This seems to reinforce the great promise of ADONAI to David in Second Samuel 7:1-16 CJB.

After the king had been living in his palace a while and ADONAI had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to the Nathan the prophet, Here, I’m living in a cedar-wood palace; but the ark of God is kept in a tent!” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do everything that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”

But that same night the word of ADONAI came to Nathan and said, “Go and tell my servant David that this is what YHVH says: You are going to build Me a house to live in? Since the day I brought the people of Isra’el out of Egypt until today, I never lived in a house; rather, I traveled in a tabernacle. Everywhere I went with all the people of Isra’el, did I ever speak a word to any of the tribes of Isra’el, whom I ordered to shepherd my people Isra’el, asking: Why haven’t you built Me a cedar-wood home?”

Therefore say this to My servant David that this is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot says: I took you from the sheep-yards, from following the sheep, to make you chief over My people, over Isra’el. I have been with you wherever you went: I have destroyed all your enemies ahead of you; and I am making your reputation great, like the reputations of the greatest people on earth. I will assign a place to My people Isra’el; I will plant them there, so that they can live in their own place without being disturbed any more. The wicked will no longer oppress them, as they did at the beginning, and as they did from the time I ordered judges to be over My people Isra’el; instead, I will give you rest from all your enemies.

Moreover, ADONAI tells you that ADONAI will make you a house. When your days come to an end and you sleep with your ancestors, I will establish one of your descendants to succeed you, one of your own flesh and blood; and I will set up his kingdom. He will build a house for My name, and I will establish His royal throne forever. I will be a father for him, and he will be a son for me. If he does something wrong, I will punish him with a rod and blows, just as everyone gets punished; however, My grace will not leave him, as I took it away from Sha’ul, whom I removed from before you. Thus, your house and your kingdom will be made secure forever before you; your throne will be set up forever.

The destruction of Jerusalem and Judah was not an indication that history had somehow gotten beyond the LORD’s control. Isra’el’s God was the God of the nations. Moreover, that His wrath had been provoked by Isra’el’s own wickedness indicated that divine wrath is contingent and not an essential characteristic of YHVH. If there were no sin, there would be no wrath. So the Babylonian captivity would not be seen as Ha’Shem’s final word to the exiles. The future did not belong to the Babylonians . . . but to God.⁴⁰⁰

God Shows a Vision of the Messianic Temple
Ezeki’el Chapters 40-48

This far eschatological prophecy was given on April 28, 573 BC during the exile.
It would be fulfilled after the Great Tribulation, during the Messianic Kingdom.

In many ways these chapters may be considered the most important in the book of Ezeki’el. They assuredly form the climax and crowning experience in the life of the prophet. His book begins with a vision of the Sh’khinah glory (to see link click Es – Ezeki’el’s Call to Be a Prophet) and concludes with the same vision. This last section of Ezeki’el is separated from the earlier part of the book by an interval of twelve years (Ez 40:1-2).

Ezeki’el was once again transported in the spirit to Yerushalayim. Like Dante following Virgil’s footsteps, the prophet is led on a tour of the Messianic Temple that begins and ends at its eastern gate (to see a 3D video of the Messianic Temple click here). There he witnesses the return of the Sh’khinah glory that had left Solomon’s Temple shortly before its destruction in 586 BC. Ezeki’el is given detailed instructions for the Temple personnel, offerings, festivals, the prince and the allotment of land. Back at the eastern gate, he is shown a stream flowing from the Temple down to the Dead Sea, which waters and fertilizes the barren Judean wilderness (see the commentary on Isaiah Ge – Your Eyes Will See the King in His Beauty). The vision ends with a description of tribal territories and Zion.³⁹²

In the past these chapters have created some serious problems for Judaism. These chapters contain discrepancies and contradictions of the Five Books of Moshe, and use terms that do not occur elsewhere in the Torah. In reference to these difficulties, the rabbis of the Talmud (Men. 45a) remarked that only the prophet Elijah, who was to herald the final redemption of Isra’el, would be able to explain them satisfactorily. The Talmud (Shabbos 13b) relates that if it were not for Chananiah ben Chizkiyahu, the book of Ezeki’el would have been hidden away, for its words seem to contradict the Torah. What did he do? 300 barrels of oil for his lamp were taken into his chamber, where he sat until he resolved the contradictions. We know neither the problems with which he dealt, nor the solutions.

Therefore, it is obvious that Orthodox Judaism has had problems with the book of Ezeki’el because in these chapters dealing with the millrnnial system of sacrifices and the priesthood, clearly contradict a number of things stated in the Torah. And the root of the problem for Orthodox Judaism is twofold. First, Orthodox Judaism assumes that the Torah is to be eternal. And yet it is clear that if Ezeki’el’s statements were taken as true, they were violating the Torah. But the Torah was never intended to be eternal. Secondly, they were spiritually blinded to the messiahship of Yeshua. They did not realize that the Dispensation of the Torah (see the commentary on Exodus Da – The Dispensation of the Torah) had ended and the Dispensation of Grace had begun (see the commentary on Hebrews Bp – The Dispensation of Grace). So even though Orthodox Judaism has had problems with Ezeki’el and decided to accept it into the TaNaKh on the assumption that when Elijah comes he will explain these difficulties.

But this section has also presented certain problems for Amillennialists within the Church. The German theologian Carl Friedrich Keil (1807-1888), in the famous Keil and Delitzsch series wrote, “The prophets of the Old Testament do not merely predict the return of the Israelites to their own land and their everlasting abode in that land under the rule of the Messiah, but this prediction culminates in the promise that YHVH will establish His Temple in the midst of His redeemed people and dwell there with them and above them forever. And that all nations will come to the Sanctuary of the LORD upon Zion, year by year, to worship before the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. If then, if the Jews should ever again receive Palestine for its possession, even at or after its conversion to Christ, in accordance with the promise of God, the Temple, with its sacrificial worship, without necessity, will also be restored in Jerusalem. But if such a supposition is opposed to the teachings of Messiah and the Apostles and not to be understood literally, but spiritually or typically, it is an unjustifiable inconsistency to adhere to a literal interpretation of the prophecy concerning the return of Isra’el to the Land, when they believe in Jesus Christ.” Basically, he was saying that these chapters couldn’t be understood literally. To be fair, he wrote this book long before Isra’el became a state in 1948. He is criticizing those who do not believe in a literal return of Isra’el to the Land, but at the same time, does not believe in a literal interpretation of Ezeki’el 40-48. He says this is inconsistent and I agree. It was inconsistent for the premillennialists of that day to say that Isra’el would be literally restored to the Land but then spiritualize away Chapters 40-48. Just as the restoration passages are to be taken literally, so are these chapters concerning the sacrificial system in the Millennial Temple. Why would Ezeki’el give us such detailed measurements if his intent were not to take them in a literal way? Such detail was also given for the Tabernacle in the wilderness and Solomon’s Temple, both literal structures with spiritual truths. The spiritual truths, however, were based upon the literal construction. Unless we take these last nine chapters literally, they are rendered absolutely meaningless.

Only Dispensational Premillennialism has no problem with these verses. We accept Ezeki’el’s words literally; we take him seriously and anticipate these things being fulfilled. Just as we saw the First Coming prophecies fulfilled literally, we shall see the Second Coming prophecies fulfilled literally as well.³⁹³

Some of the most challenging verses in these chapters concern the millennial system of the priesthood and sacrifice. The priesthood will be restored (Ezeki’el 44:1-31). The prince, the resurrected King David (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom), will be an intermediary between the people and the priests. He will officiate over specific festival offerings of Isra’el (Ezeki’el 45:13-22).

The descendants of Phinehas: The Levitical priests, who are descendents of Phinehas (see the commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah Bh – Ezra Returns from Babylon: Ezra’s genealogy) down to Zadok, would be honored with a special ministry in the Messianic Temple (Ezekiel 40:46, 43:19, 44:15-39, and 48:11). They were the ones who guarded God’s Sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Him. In First Samuel 2:31-36 we read how YHVH through Samuel prophesied that the house of Eli was to be deposed and replaced by a faithful priest. That was finally fulfilled in First Kings 2:26-27. Then in Second Samuel 8:17 we read that Zadok became the high priest under King David and remained loyal to David after Absalom revolted (2 Samuel 15:24-29). Furthermore, Zadok was also loyal to Solomon (First Kings 1:8, 32-39, 2:26-27, 35) and the descendents of Zadok remained faithful during the days of Isra’el’s apostasy. As a result of their past faithfulness they will be given a superior role in the ministry of the Temple during the Kingdom. The Zadokites are to come near to minister before Me; they are to stand before Me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares Adonai ELOHIM (Ezeki’el 44:15-31).

Then in Ezeki’el 45:1-8 the Holy City is described. The prince, the resurrected King David, will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the City (see the commentary on Isaiah Ge – Your Eyes Will See the King in His Beauty). It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions (Ezeki’el 45:7).³⁹⁴

Without doubt, the most controversial issue concerning Ezeki’el 40-48 is the sacrificial system. King David will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the Israelites (Ezeki’el 45:17). Jewish believers ask, “Since the Messiah has already died for our sins, why would the sacrificial system be reinstituted during the Messianic Kingdom?” Four points should be noted.

First, during the dispensation of the Torah animal blood never took away sin (Hebrews 10:1-4) they merely covered sin. They pointed to a more complete sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb, Yeshua Meshiach, which would take away sin.

Secondly, Ezeki’el is not the only one who talks about a millennial system of sacrifice (Isaiah 56:5-7, 60: 7-13, 65:20-23; Jer 33:18-22; Zechariah 14:16-21). So these prophecies need to be taken literally because we have several prophets saying the same thing.

Thirdly, this is not a reinstitution of the sacrificial system in the dispensation of the Torah. While there are some similarities, there are simply too many differences, too many contradictions, with the Mosaic system. For example, in the Ezeki’el system there is no high priest and no ark of the Covenant (see the commentary on Isaiah Db – The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple). The dispensation of the Torah has come to an end because of the death of Messiah.

Fourthly, the Millennial sacrificial system is a memorial. During the dispensation of Grace (see above) believers are instructed to participate in a physical observance, or communion, in remembrance of the death of Messiah. But for Isra’el in the Kingdom there will be a different memorial: the sacrificial system in the Dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom will serve the same purpose as communion in the Dispensation of Grace. It will be the, do this in remembrance of Me, for Jewish believers.³⁹⁵

The Bible spends more time talking about this future Temple, than it does Solomon’s and Herod’s Temple combined. The only structure that comes close to space given the Millennial Temple is the Tabernacle. Why did Ezeki’el take so much space to describe the Messianic Temple, especially since it has never been built? Here are two reasons. First, the Temple was the visible symbol of God’s presence among His people. The prelude to ADONAI’s judgment was when the Sh’khinah glory left Solomon’s Temple in Yerushalayim (Ezeki’el 8-11). The climax to her restoration as a nation will come when the Sh’khinah glory reenters the millennial Temple in Jerusalem (Ezeki’el 43:1-5). Secondly, the Millennial Temple will become the visible reminder of Isra’el’s relationship to YHVH through His New Covenant (see Eo – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el). Since ADONAI gave detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle to accompany His inauguration of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 25-40), it is not unusual that He would also supply detailed plans for His new center of worship to accompany the implementation of the New Covenant. The Messianic Temple will be the focal point for the visible manifestation of Isra’el’s new relationship with her God (to see a longer video concerning the Messianic Temple click here).³⁹⁶

Why is the Messianic Temple important for us today?
Here are eight suggestions.

1. The Messianic Temple is important because it will be the dwelling place of God on earth. The One True God dwelt among His people in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:8) and in Solomon’s Temple (First Kings 6:13). And ADONAI promises once again to dwell among His people (Ezeki’el 43:7-9).

2. The Messianic Temple is important because of the truth it presents about the Person and the ministry of Yeshua Messiah. Just as with the Tabernacle in the wilderness (see the commentary on Exodus Eq – Christ in the Tabernacle), the articles within the millennial Temple and the Temple court present a picture of Christ as the light of the world (John 6:35), the bread of life (John 8:12), and a new way to God (Hebrews 10:20). In studying the Messianic Temple, we discover many redemptive analogies that help us understand and fully appreciate the truth of our salvation.

3. The Messianic Temple is important because of its place in Isra’el’s history . . . both past and future. The concept of the Temple is so important that archaeologists divide Isra’el’s history into two sections: The First Temple and Second Temple periods. Although the Second Temple was destroyed over two thousand years ago, religious Jews today still talk about rebuilding it, and the Jewish and Gentile believers of today look forward to the return of Yeshua Messiah and the institution of His one-thousand-year Kingdom on earth, which will include the Millennial Temple.

4. The Messianic Temple is important because of its place in the world’s future. Although most people do not realize it, Jerusalem is destined to become the future world capital: In the last days, the mountain of ADONAI’s house will be established as the highest mountain; it will be exalted above the hills. Many Gentiles will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of ADONAI, to the Temple of the God of Jacob (Zech 8:20-23). YHVH will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The Torah will go out from Tziyon, the word of ADONAI from Yerushalayim (Micah 4:1-2).

5. The Messianic Temple is important because one day it will replace the Dome of the Rock. There is only one place to build Isra’el’s future Temple, and that is on the site of its former Temple. Someday – probably at the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom – the news will reverberate around the world that the Dome of the Rock is being destroyed. That event will prepare the way for the rebuilding of the millennial Temple in fulfillment of prophecy.

6. The Messianic Temple is important because the counterfeit messiah, the antichrist, will build his own Tribulation Temple in an effort to steal God’s glory. During the Great Tribulation there will be a counterfeit Father (Satan), a counterfeit Son (the antichrist), a counterfeit resurrection (see the commentary on Revelation Dj – The Antichrist Seems to be Resurrected), a counterfeit Holy Spirit (see the commentary on Revelation Do – The Beast Out of the Earth: The False Prophet), and a counterfeit temple, the tribulation Temple (see the commentary on Revelation Bx – The Tribulation Temple). In the middle of the seven years of tribulation he will put an end to the daily burnt offering sacrifice and offering. And on the wings of the Tribulation Temple he will set up an abomination (Dani’el 9:27) that causes it to be spiritually deserted as far a God is concerned.

7. The Messianic Temple is important because believers will worship there during Messiah’s thousand-year reign on the earth. The prophet describes how the Zadokite priests will lead in worship in the Temple (see above). Jewish believers will worship there continually, and Gentile believers will send a delegation from their country once a year up to Jerusalem to worship King Messiah during Sukkot.

8. The Messianic Temple is important because it has the potential to encourage your spiritual life and motivate you in the service of the LORD. On many occasions, discouraged and weary believers have found that a study of the Temple brings a new enthusiasm and excitement about our part in YHVH’s plan for the ages.³⁹⁷

A Lament Over Pharaoh
Ezeki’el 32: 1-32

A lament over Pharaoh DIG: What animals join the list of metaphors for Egypt and Pharaoh? What will ADONAI do to Pharaoh (Ezeki’el 32:3-8)? How will the birds and beasts react? The moon and the stars? What is the ultimate destination of Pharaoh and his mighty army (Ezeki’el 32:18)? Who will share this fate? What had these other nations been like in their prime? Circumcision was thought to be rite of purification. Why would it be particularly shameful to be buried with the uncircumcised? With those who had been killed by the sword? Why would Pharaoh be consoled when he saw that his fate was the same as the great nations of the past (Ezeki’el 32:31)?

REFLECT: Did the reality of an afterlife motivate you in any way to believe in Yeshua as Messiah? Why or why not? Do your fear anything about dying? If so, why? What hope do you have about facing death? What hope does ADONAI want you to have? All of the world powers have eventually fallen. What might help a mighty nation to survive God’s judgment?

The prophecy was fulfilled in 571 BC

This concludes the section dealing with the judgment of the Gentile nations, and is dated about a-year-and-a-half after the fall of Yerushalayim. Isra’el could not see how futile her trust had been in Egypt, and the prophetic warnings against an alliance with that country had been completely vindicated. This realization lends color and force to Ezeki’el’s prophecy of Egypt’s destruction. Babylon would be used as the divine instrument for the execution of judgment upon her. Egypt’s calamity would strike terror into the hearts of many people who lamented over her calamity. The prophet himself pronounced a dirge over her humiliating end in sh’ol where she found other nations that suffered a similar fate. Ishma’el’s flight to Egypt would provide no escape for the assassination of Gedaliah. The long arm of Nebuchadnezzar would find them there.

Back in Yerushalayim, after each of the first three deportations, the pro-Egypt party was hard at work. They always seemed to think that if they could just align Judah with Egypt that they would be protected. This never materialized, but they kept trying. It was the pro-Egypt party that kept Zedekiah off balance for much of his reign. And it was the pro-Egypt party that was eventually responsible for taking Jeremiah and Baruch hostage and forcibly took them down to Egypt against their will after the assassination of Gedaliah.

Jeremiah’s sixth prophecy: In the twelfth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity, in the twelfth month of Adar, February-March 585 BC, on the first day, the word of ADONAI came to me: Son of man, rise a funeral lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, say to him: From a human perspective, you compared yourself to a lion among the nations. But from God’s perspective, you are more like a crocodile in the lakes. It will be the result of Ha’Shem’s perspective that Egypt will suffer her destruction. Thrashing about in your streams, you churn with your feet and muddy the waters (Ezeki’el 32:1-2). Egyptian ambition made her think of herself as a lion roaming proudly among the nations and intimidating them with terror, but in fact, she was like a crocodile whose domain is limited to the lakes. Egypt dreamt of far-flung conquests; but she should have restricted herself to her own back yard.

So here is what Adonai ELOHIM says:

The judgment of Pharaoh: With many nations assembled, I will spread My net over you, and they will haul you up in My dragnet. ADONAI has declared to put an end to the crocodile’s destructive ways by drawing him out of his natural habitat, and being very vulnerable, catching it in His dragnet. The many nations assembled are Babylon and her allies. Then I will throw you on the shore, hurl you into an open field, make all the birds in the air settle on you and let the animals of the whole earth eat their fill of you. Like a fish out of water dies, so Pharaoh, drawn out of his natural habitat in the Nile River, will also die. As the Egyptian warriors fall in battle with Pharaoh, YHVH will leave their flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with their rotten carcass. The destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptian belief system surrounding his deity will bring destruction upon the whole land of Egypt (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Bc – Pharaoh as god and upholder of Ma’at). The blood of the slain will be poured out upon the land and defiled. I will drench the land in which you swim with your blood, as far as the mountains; the waterways will be full of you (Ezeki’el 32:3-6 CJB).

The mourning for Pharaoh: There will be two different groups that would be mourning. The first group is the heavens. When I extinguish you (as seen in verses 3-6), figuratively, I will cover the sky and make its stars black; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. The rabbis teach that Egypt is compared to a great fire, that when extinguished, sends up a cloud of smoke obscuring the sky. All the shining lights in the sky I will darken above you; I will spread darkness over your land, says Adonai ELOHIM. Secondly, the nations mourn. I will anger many peoples when I bring the news of your destroyed ones in among the nations, into countries you have not known. Just as many nations were affected when Assyria fell, so will many nations be affected when Egypt falls. I will make many people aghast at you; their kings will shudder in horror over you when I brandish My sword, Babylon, before them. On the day of your downfall they will tremble continuously, each will tremble continuously for their own life (Ezeki’el 32:7-10 CJB).³⁸⁹

Babylon’s role in Egypt’s fall: For Adonai ELOHIM says this:

The army of Babylon will destroy Pharaoh and his army. The sword of the king of Babylon will come against Pharaoh. With the swords of the warriors I will cause your hordes to fall. Babylon was the most barbarous of nations, and she would shatter the glory of Egypt – all its hordes will be destroyed (Ezeki’el 32:11-12 CJB).

A far eschatological prophecy against Egypt: I will destroy all her cattle beside her plentiful waters. No human foot will trouble them again, nor the hoof of any animal. During the Messianic Kingdom, Egypt will be completely desolate for the first forty years (see the commentary on Revelation Fk – Gentiles in the Messianic Kingdom). Then, as a result of no human habitation for forty years, I will make their water clear and cause their streams to flow like oil, says Adonai ELOHIM. When the land of Egypt is humanly abandoned, a land stripped of all that filled it; when I strike all those who live there; they will know that I am ADONAI (Ezeki’el 32:13-15 CJB).

This is the lament that they will rise; as the lament is seen in verse 2, like bookends, so it is repeated here. The emphasis is the nature of the prophecy against Egypt. The daughters, the professional mourners of the nations, will use it to mourn; they will chant it for Egypt and all its troubles, says Adonai ELOHIM (Ezk 32:11-16).³⁹⁰

Jeremiah’s seventh prophecy – Pharaoh and his followers descend into sh’ol: Fourteen days later, in the twelfth year of 585 BC, in the twelfth month of Adar, on the fifteenth day, the word of ADONAI came to Ezeki’el again, adding more information to his prophecy (Ezeki’el 32:17 CJB):

Son of man, wail for the multitudes of Egypt; send them with the daughters of mighty nations down to the underworld, with those who had already descended to the pit. In the shadowy existence that continued after death in the subterranean regions, the Gentile nations are pictured as preserving and continuing their national identity. Are you more beautiful than the others? No, but you think you are, especially Assyria (see Fq – Pharaoh as a Felled Cedar of Lebanon). And just as Assyria had descended into sh’ol, Egypt would go down to sh’ol, lie with the uncircumcised dead! Even if you think you are superior to other nations, you will not escape their fate! The Egyptians will fall among those killed by the sword; she is given to the sword; pull her down with her hordes. The prophet was addressing the nations (see verses 22-30 below) already in sh’ol, exhorting them to drag Egypt down into their midst. From the depths of sh’ol the mightiest warriors will speak of Egypt with her allies. They went down; they lie still, the uncircumcised, killed by the sword (Ezeki’el 32:17-21 CJB). The leaders of the nations already in sh’ol are represented as speaking about Pharaoh and his allies as they appeared in their midst, referring to them in the third person:

Assyria in sh’ol: Assyria is there with her hordes; their graves are all around them, all of them slain, killed by the sword. Their graves are in the deepest parts of the pit, her hordes are all around her grave, all of the slain, killed by the sword, those who terrorized the land of the living (Ezeki’el 32:22-23 CJB). The Egyptian dead are lying around the Assyrian dead. His dead warriors surround the king. This describes the complete disappearance from the land of the living that they had terrorized.

Elam in sh’ol: Once a mighty power, Elam became subordinated to Assyria (see Eh – A Message Concerning Elam). But the prophet refers to the time when she was great and powerful. Elam is there, with her hordes around her grave, all of them slain, killed by the sword, descended, even more degrading, uncircumcised to the underworld, those who terrorized the land of the living; they bear their shame together with those who descended to the pit. Elam, because of her ruthless tyranny, rests in shame with the other nations that played a similar role. They have given her a bed among the slain with her hordes; her graves are all around them, all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword, because they terrorized the land of the living; they bear their shame with those who descended to the pit; they are put among those who were slain (Ezeki’el 32:24-25 CJB).

Meshek-Tubal and their followers in sh’ol: They will meet with a more humiliating end than the other nations. Meshek-Tubal with her horde is there, her graves are all around them, all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword, because they terrorized the land of the living. They do not lie with the other fallen warriors of the uncircumcised who descended to sh’ol with their weapons of war, their swords laid under their heads in death, and their crimes upon their bones. The other fallen warriors descend into sh’ol with their weapons of war, but Meshek and Tubal lie among them stripped of their arms (see the commentary on Revelation Bi – Set Your Face Against Gog, of the land of Magog, the Chief Prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal). But you will lie broken, with no weapons of war, among the uncircumcised, with those who were killed by the sword (Ezeki’el 32:26-28 CJB).

Edom, the Princes of the North and the Sidonians in sh’ol: There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who, despite all their power, are laid with those who were killed by the sword, with the uncircumcised, with those who descended to the pit. There are all the princes of the north/Lebanon in general, all of them, and focuses on one particular Lebanese city of Tzidon, who descended with the slain, ashamed of all the terror they caused when they were in power; but now they lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, bearing their shame with those who descended to the pit (Ezk 32:29-30 CJB).

Pharaoh’s Doom: After talking about all of these nations that had preceded Egypt down to sh’ol, the seventh and last prophecy against Egypt and Pharaoh comes to an end. Pharaoh will see all the other nations that had preceded him down into sh’ol, and he will be comforted about his hordes, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, says Adonai ELOHIM. In Ezeki’el 31:16, the fallen nations found comfort from Egypt’s demise; but here Egypt finds consolation in the sight of others having shared in her doom. Ultimately it is God’s might that prevails in the world. For I have put My terror in the land of the living. It was ADONAI who brought Egypt into power. But just as YHVH brought Egypt to power, God will also be the One to bring Egypt down to sh’ol. And just as the other nations suffered the degradation of lying among the uncircumcised, Pharaoh will also lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes (Ezeki’el 32:31-32 CJB).³⁹¹

In reading this chapter, one cannot fail to be impressed with the seriousness of the awful eternal end of all nations/persons who let pride rule their lives instead of bowing their knee to YHVH and to the Jewish Messiah whom He sent. YHVH has graciously given people a choice to accept the sacrifice YHVH planned for the sins of the world. Yeshua Meshiach offered the sacrifice, but the blood can only be applied to those who choose to repent, turning away from their prideful sins and turning in love to Yeshua as their Lord and Savior. As ADONAI says: Just as Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sins, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:27-28).

I Am Going to Give Egypt
to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon
Ezeki’el 29: 17-21

I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon DIG: Earlier in this commentary ADONAI depicted Tyre as a ship. How does He depict Egypt? Why is it appropriate? For what two things does God punish Pharaoh? How reliable was Egypt as a military ally (Second Kings 18:19-21)? How will ELOHIM punish Egypt? When will God re-gather her? How does this compare with the fate of Ammon (Ezeki’el 25:7)? Tyre (Ezeki’el 26:14)? Or Isra’el (20:36-38)? Why might the horn in Ezeki’el 29:21 symbolize power (First Samuel 2:1 and Psalm 92:10)?

REFLECT: Does God work in your life without you knowing it? On hindsight, when do you recall this happening? How does YHVH reveal His actions and plans to you? How can you better understand and fit in with His purposes? Is it good to rely on others or is it wiser to be as independent as possible? How would you define: (a) Dependence? (b) Independence? (c) Inter-dependence? Do you think Nebuchadnezzar attacked Egypt, and later Tyre, out of a conscious obedience to God? How do you see that playing out in the world today?

The prophecy was fulfilled in Nisan, 571 BC

The outcome of this conflict is silent, but the passage reveals that the conquest of Egypt was literally carried out by Nebuchadnezzar. Although reference is made to the Babylonian emperor, the prophecy is, in fact, addressed to Egypt and in substance it’s related intimately to the prophet’s earlier prophecy addressed to Tyre (Ezeki’el 26:1 to 28:19).³⁸⁴

Ezeki’el’s fifth near historical prophecy against Egypt came on the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, the word of ADONAI came to me (Ezeki’el 29:17). This near historical prophecy was fulfilled in 571 BC sixteen years after it had been given in 587 BC. Many years earlier he described Egypt’s coming judgment, and now the prophet indicates exactly who would bring the judgment.

Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Eq – The Timeline for Tyre). Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre (Ezeki’el 29:18). The thirteen-year siege against Tyre had not been materially successful. The army, wearing helmets and carrying materials for the siege, had no reward for their arduous labors. The Tyrians were able to send off their wealth, according to the statement of Jerome, out of the reach of the Babylonian army. Without the booty he could not pay his army, so he turned to Egypt to take its wealth. Nebuchadnezzar was thus unconsciously the instrument of God against Egypt.³⁸⁵

Therefore, this is what Adonai ELOHIM says: I am going to give Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the spoils of Egypt and he will carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land as pay for his army. Not only was the wealth of Egypt taken, but the Egyptians themselves were taken as slaves back to Babylon. These were the wages for his army. I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for Me by destroying Tyre, declares Adonai ELOHIM (Ezeki’el 29:19-20). God will use pagan kings and leaders, as well as the Adversary and his demons, to fulfill His goals and desires.

It is true that Nebuchadnezzar imposed a stunning and devastating defeat on Egypt at the battle of Carchemish. Although he did not occupy the entire nation of Egypt, his victory over Egypt at Carchemish made him the major power in the region, and Egypt was subject to him through tribute. Then, much later in 568 BC Nebuchadnezzar did in fact actually invade Egypt proper. A fragmentary historical document indicates that Nebuchadnezzar actually campaigned in Egypt himself, subjugating parts of the country during the rule of Amasis. Naturally, during this campaign, Nebuchadnezzar took massive amounts of treasure, as prophesied by Ezeki’el.³⁸⁶

When that day comes I will cause a horn to grow, for power to return to the house of Isra’el. Here Ezeki’el is using the well-known figure of the budding forth of a horn, in short, the ancient glory of a nation would come back to life. With the fall of Egypt, the affairs of Isra’el would rise again. And I will enable you [Ezeki’el] to open your mouth among them. The ceremonial muteness of Ezeki’el will end. This was promised in Ezeki’el 24:26-27 and will finally be fulfilled in Ezeki’el 33:22. Then they will know that I am ADONAI (Ezeki’el 29:21 CJB).³⁸⁷

Egypt’s failure to live up to the hopes of Isra’el is what we all feel when we try to “help God out” either physically or spiritually. Our efforts to please ADONAI are doomed to failure because, no matter how alluring, they will all turn out to be just a [broken] walking stick, a mockery instead of a support. Only one sure foundation exists through the ages; it is the rock of ages. All other ground is quicksand – Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the rock eternal (Isaiah 26:4).³⁸⁸

A Prophecy Against Tzidon
Ezeki’el 28: 20-26

A prophecy against Tzidon DIG: What is God going to do to Tzidon? What were Isra’el’s neighbors doing to be considered briers and sharp thorns? What is the LORD going to do for Isra’el? Why? What does YHVH mean when He says both Tzidon and Isra’el will know that He is ADONAI? Will they know Him in the same way?

REFLECT: There seems to be two ways of knowing YHVH: by His mercy or His wrath. Why do you think some know the merciful ADONAI and others only know the wrathful Ha’Shem? Which have you experienced? When? How?

The prophecy was given in 585 BC during the exile in Babylon

In conclusion, Ezeki’el turns to Tzidon, which lay about twenty miles to the north of Tyre, and pronounces her doom. The city-state was probably the oldest Phoenician town, Tyre being a colony. Both were the remnants of Canaanite’s who didn’t have one country but separated into city-states, with each having its own king. At some point in time Tyre surpassed Tzidon in power and wealth; therefore, Tzidon seems to have been a vassal of Tyre at this time. By the execution of judgment upon the pagan nations for their sins, and the fulfillment of His promise to restore Isra’el to her rightful place, God’s holy name will be lifted up throughout the world.

The near historical destruction of Tzidon: The word of ADONAI came to me, “Human being, turn your face toward Tzidon, and prophesy against it. Say that Adonai ELOHIM says: I am against you, Tzidon; but I will be glorified in you. As a result of Ha’Shem’s judgment against Tzidon, He will indeed be glorified. They will know that I am ADONAI, once I execute judgments in her and show My holiness in her (Ezeki’el 28:20-22 CJB). By imposing punishment to the guilty, God’s universal sovereignty is vindicated as well as His attribute of justice.

For I will send plagues into her, and blood will flow in her streets; attacked from all sides by the sword, the wounded will fall within her (to see link click Ae – The Problem of Holy War in the TaNaKh). Then they will know that I am ADONAI (Ezeki’el 28:23 CJB). The downfall of Tzidon will not be a random act but the decree of God.

The house of Isra’el will no longer have a briar pricking away at them, no longer will any of its contemptuous neighbors be a thorn to pain them like Jezebel who was a Phoenician woman from Tzidon (First Kings 16:31-32). By marrying Ahab, she brought her Tzidonian worship of the god Ba’al into the land of Isra’el causing great corruption of faith. So great was the corruption that God said to Elijah that out of hundreds of thousands of Jews a mere seven thousand did not bend their knee to Ba’al (First Kings 19:18). Then they will know that I am Adonai ELOHIM (Ezeki’el 28:20-24 CJB). Tzidon, that was then in power would fall, and Isra’el, that was in exile would rise again. Isra’el will continue to exist, but Tzidon will not.

The far eschatological restoration of Isra’el: Adonai ELOHIM says: Once I have gathered the house of Isra’el from the Gentile nations among whom they are scattered, once I have shown My holiness in them as the Gentiles [Goyim] watch. Not only will the final possession of the Land occur at the time of Isra’el’s final regathering, but also occur at the time of her national regeneration (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ). Only at that time will YHVH be set apart by His dealings with Isra’el among the Gentile nations. Then they will live in their own Land, which I gave to My servant Jacob (Ezeki’el 28:25). At no time in Jewish history have the Israelites possessed all of the Promised Land. That will not happen until there is a national regathering and regeneration. All will recognize God’s holiness when He fulfills His promise to restore Isra’el.

They will have security when they live in the Land, building houses and planting vineyards; yes, they will live in safety, once I have executed judgments against all their contemptuous neighbors. Security will come only after the final judgment of the Gentile nations, especially those bordering Isra’el. That is why these verses are inserted between the sixth and seventh Gentile nations, the seventh being Egypt. The final judgment will come during the Great Tribulation. Jewish security will come as a result of the Messianic Kingdom. Then they will know that I am ADONAI their God (Ezeki’el 28:26 CJB). This often repeated phrase is not a formula. The prophet’s idea is that YHVH does all, brings all calamities, causes all catastrophes and guides the fortunes of Isra’el in the sight of the Gentile nations, with one great design in view – to make Himself, the true and only God, known to all mankind.

A Prophecy Against the King of Tyre
Ezeki’el 28: 1-19

A prophecy against the king of Tyre DIG: Did the king really think he was wiser than Dani’el, or was this Ezeki’el mocking the claim of the ruler? Do you think other countries admired the king’s great skill in trading? Did such skill help or hurt him? In what exaggerated terms does Ezeki’el describe the king’s character, adornment, location and role (Ezeki’el 28:13-15)? Who does the king remind you of? How does the lament describe his sin? Do you think the king mattered to ADONAI?

REFLECT: Why do you think YHVH hates pride so much? Why is he so zealous of His role as the only God in the universe? Do you ever “play god” in your words, actions or attitudes? Who in your life would be the ones to know? Have you asked them about your “pride status?” Who sits on the throne of your heart? Has the issue been decided or is there sometimes a struggle for power? Are there some areas in which your surrender is less than complete?

The prophecy was given in 585 BC during the exile in Babylon

This is the conclusion of the three chapters directed against Tyre. Here the guilt and punishment of Tyre are laid at the door of the king of Tyre who is regarded as the embodiment of the people. The root cause of Tyre’s collapse was her pride and reliance on her abundant wealth. Her vast wealth, which she attributed exclusively to her own genius, was her only purpose in life. God had no place in their lives; self-glorification and self-sufficiency reigned supreme. Such arrogance always leads to destruction. In a striking prophecy, Ezeki’el describes the fall of the king of Tyre and his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, repeating his message that the multitude of his sins would eventually consume him.

Up to this point Ezeki’el has dealt with Tyre as a unit, as a city that became extremely wealthy and powerful because of its economic control of the sea-lane traffic. But now, in verses 1-10, the prophet now focuses his attention upon that one individual in Tyre that was largely responsible for making Tyre that great city that it was. That was the human ruler of Tyre that Ezeki’el addresses as the prince of Tyre.

The judgment of the prince of Tyre: The word of ADONAI came to Ezeki’el, saying: Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre. Now although the rest of the world considered this man the king of Tyre, yet Ezeki’el is inspired by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh to give this man a lesser title: not that of king, but that of prince (Hebrew: nagid). This human prince, Ithoba’al II, is to be distinguished from the real king of Tyre that Ezeki’el will be dealing with in verses 11-19. Because, as we shall see, the real power behind that throne does not really lie in the visible person sitting on that throne, but to an invisible being that is the true power behind the throne. Therefore, the discussion of the prince of Tyre in verses 1-10 is merely a prelude to the discussion of the real king of Tyre in verses 11-19. So for now we need to remember this one main point: from a human perspective, Ithoba’al II is referred to as the king of Tyre; but in reality, he is no king, only a prince (Ezeki’el 28:1-2a).

Tell the prince of Tyre that Adonai ELOHIM says: Because you are so proud. Riches and power so fed his pride that he claimed to be God, which was his greatest sin. This is a very important point as to why the prince of Tyre is a prelude to the king of Tyre, because the problem of the prince of Tyre is exactly the same as that of the king of Tyre. And what did this pride lead to? Ithoba’al made a claim about himself, saying: I am a god. He claimed to be deity and have divine authority: I sit on the throne of God, in the midst of the sea. The throne of God referred to was coastal Tyre itself, which he considered to be a divine throne, and the control of the sea-lane traffic of the Mediterranean. Yet, the truth is just the opposite. ADONAI said: You are just a man, not God, even though you think you are wise as a god (Ezeki’el 28:2b). And his humanity will be proven by the ensuing verses.

The rabbis teach that this king was Hiram, the same Hiram that was a friend of King David. The same Hiram who sold the cedars of Lebanon to Solomon, so Solomon could build the Temple. According to rabbinical legend, Hiram lived for centuries and was still living after the fall of Isra’el in the days of Jeremiah, Ezeki’el and Dani’el. And where he was righteous in the days of David and Solomon, because he lived for so long he thought he was immortal. Hence, his claims of deity brought about his death. Consequently, in Jewish legend he was Hiram, but in actual history he was Ithoba’al II.

Then Ezeki’el describes the wisdom of the prince. First, the prophet compared the prince of Tyre with Dani’el. You are indeed wiser than Dani’el. At the time Ezeki’el was writing this passage Dani’el was living. Ezeki’el lived outside the city of Babylon and Dani’el lived inside the city of Babylon, and it was clear that Daniel’s wisdom had become well known at that time (Dani’el 1:19-20, 2:48, 5:11 and 14). Yet, in spite of Dani’el’s tremendous wisdom, the great wisdom that had become renowned throughout the ancient world, the wisdom of the prince of Tyre was superior. No secret is hidden from you (Ezeki’el 28:3 ESV). This refers to the ability to reveal secrets and solve mysteries. We know Daniel had that ability (Dani’el 2:47, 4:9, 5:12 and 16), but the prince of Tyre’s ability to reveal secrets and solve mysteries was even greater than Dani’el’s.

By your wisdom and discernment you have acquired wealth, you have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries. By your great skill in trafficking back and forth with your merchant fleet, you have increased your wealth. The Hebrew word used here for wealth, can also mean power, and of course power usually comes with wealth. But whereas Dani’el used his wisdom to glorify YHVH, the prince of Tyre used his wisdom to glorify himself. And it is because of your wealth that you have become so proud (Ezeki’el 28:4-5 CJB), which led him to believe in his own deity and full divine authority.

Therefore, because of your self-deification, Adonai ELOHIM says: Because you think that you are a god, I will bring foreigners against you, the most barbarous of the nations (Ezeki’el 30:11, 31:12, 32:12; Habakkuk 1:6-8), or Babylon, to draw their swords against your fine wisdom and defile your splendor (Ezeki’el 28:6-7 CJB). His wisdom did serve him for a while. It did help him to withstand a thirteen-year siege by king Nebuchadnezzar, yet eventually his wisdom failed him. The Babylonians would come and destroy the material wealth that he worshiped, and had acquired by his wisdom. The prince of Tyre’s wisdom was also used to beautify coastal Tyre. But when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed coastal Tyre, its splendor would end and so would its prince.

God is eternal, but the king of Tyre would meet a violent death. They will lower you into Sh’ol to die a violent death surrounded by the sea (Ezeki’el 28:8 CJB). In the Hebrew text, the word death here is in the intensive plural, signifying a very violent death (Isaiah 53:9; Jeremiah 16:4), possibly a lengthy period of torture. He will die in the place of his supposed power, where he proclaimed himself to be a god, surrounded by the sea. Though his kingdom had a very strong maritime presence, and was in a very strong strategical position, it would be no protection for him. His humanity will be clearly seen. Will you still say, “I am a god,” to them who are about to kill you? You are a man, not a god, in the hands of those who defile you (Ezeki’el 28:9 CJB). In his pride and his power, he declared himself to be a god because there was no one to challenge him. But now as the Babylonians had broken through the walls of coastal Tyre, would he continue to say he is a god? No! His own death would defile his own supposed deity. You will die the deaths of the uncircumcised Babylonians, at the hands of foreigners. Ha’Shem guaranteed it. For I have spoken, says Adonai ELOHIM (Ezeki’el 28:9-10 CJB).³⁸⁰

A lamentation for the king of Tyre: The word of ADONAI came to me saying: Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre, and tell him that Adonai ELOHIM says (Ezeki’el 28:11-12a NLT). So the real king of Tyre was not the visible Ithoba’al II sitting on the throne, but the invisible being that once fell for the same reason, a pride that led to a self-declaration of deity (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Dp – How You Have Fallen From Heaven, O Morning Star). This invisible being is the one we now call Beelzebub, the great dragon, the enemy of souls or Satan. The tempter, who controlled the prince of Tyre, was the real king of Tyre. Even though Lucifer had fallen, the LORD took no joy in it; hence, He called for a lamentation. So the following verses are the words of the dirge.

Before your fall from heaven, you had the seal of perfection. YHVH did not create Satan as some prime minister of evil. As with all God’s creation, Lucifer was a perfectly created being – one of the crowning achievements in the LORD’s angelic realm. You were full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, in fact, the wisest and most beautiful creature of all created beings (Ezeki’el 28:12b-13).³⁸¹

Arnold Fruchtenbaum describes the six abodes of Satan in his classic book The Footsteps of the Messiah. The first two abodes are in the historical past, the third abode is Satan’s present state and the last three abodes are in the future.

The first abode, the throne of God. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. In the celestial sphere, there are three orders or ranks of beings. The lowest in rank is the angels, over whom is Michael the Archangel. Above the angels are the seraphim, noted for having six wings (Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4). The highest rank of created beings are the cherubim (see Er – Ezeki’el’s First Vision), and at some point in eternity past God made Lucifer the Arch-Cherub and evaluated him over the other cherubs. At that point, Lucifer was the highest of all created beings, not only in wisdom and beauty, but also in power and authority. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. You were on the holy mount of God (the holy throne of God); you walked among the fiery stones (Ezeki’el 28:14-15). When YHVH created Lucifer, he was perfect in all his ways, meaning his actions were as perfect as his being. So Satan’s fall cannot be blamed on God.

The second abode, the garden of God: Satan was given an exalted place: You were in Eden, the garden of God. Eden was the epitome of God’s beautiful Creation on earth. Lucifer’s beauty matched Eden. Every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl, your pendants and jewels were made of gold, prepared the day you were created (Ezeki’el 28:13).

The problem of the prince of Tyre centuries later was the same problem of the king of Tyre centuries earlier. Looking at his wisdom, beauty, power and authority, and meditating on these things, ultimately, while Satan was in his second abode that wickedness found him, one day, there it was, and his fall took place. Through your many sins and widespread trafficking, you were filled with violence. The word trafficking is the same word used of the human prince of Tyre in 28:5. For the prince of Tyre it meant going from port to port gathering wealth. But for the king of Tyre, Satan, it meant going from angel to angel slandering YHVH in order to win their allegiance. Eventually, the devil convinced one-third of all the angles that God was wrong (Revelation 12:4). In that way the deceiver became the father of lies (John 8:44). So I drove you in disgrace from the throne of God. He lost the high position of his first abode, and the perfect cherub then became the disgraced cherub. He was no longer the guardian of God’s Throne. And I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones, the mineral garden. This refers to the loss of his position in the second abode. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor (Ezeki’el 28:16-17a).

You have desecrated your sanctuaries. The word for sanctuary means holy place. Your sanctuaries were the holy places of heaven and refer to corruption in heaven. The fact that it says your sanctuaries means Satan’s sanctuaries, and shows that Lucifer did have a priestly function in heaven. As the high priest, he led the worship in heaven in the heavenly sanctuaries before his fall. So when he sinned he desecrated the sanctuaries in heaven. This is the reason Hebrews 9:23-26 states that the heavens themselves needed cleansing by the blood of the Messiah. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. At one time, this fire was a mark of Satan’s glory. But the fire that once glorified Lucifer will now be used to punish him. At one time the fiery stones beautified him, but now fire will be used to punish him. The principle is that sin always carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction, and it will destroy the one performing this sin unless there is repentance and confession. All who know you among the nations will be horrified. You are an object of terror, and you will cease to exist as the destroyer of souls on earth (Ezeki’el 28:18-19).

The third abode, the heavenly realms: Today, Satan is dwelling in his third abode, the heavenly realms. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:1-2 and Ephesians 6:12).

The fourth abode, the earth: So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings (Ezeki’el 28:17b). In the middle of the Great Tribulation, Satan will be cast out of his third abode into his fourth abode (see the commentary on Revelation Di – There Was War in Heaven, and Satan Was Hurled Down to the Earth), and so will be confined to the earth for the remainder of the Seventieth Week of Dani’el (Dani’el 9:27). He will remain in his fourth abode for a total of three-and-a-half-years. His program during that time will be an attempt to destroy the Jews once and for all (Rev 6, 13-17). The deceiver will attempt to do this by means of the antichrist and the false prophet (Rev 13).

The fifth abode, the abyss: Satan will be confined to the abyss during the thousand years of the Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Revelation Fb – He Seized the Dragon, or Satan, and Bound Him for a Thousand Years). As a result of this confinement, sin and death in the Kingdom will be greatly reduced, but not eliminated. Satan’s imprisonment and the reign of Messiah will fulfill Jesus’ calling to exercise authority over the earth (Hebrews 2:5-9).

The sixth abode, the lake of fire: Suffice it to say that the lake of fire will serve as Satan’s sixth and final abode, where he will remain for all eternity along with the other fallen angels and unredeemed humanity (see the commentary on Revelation Fm – Satan Will Be Released from His Prison and Will Go Out to Deceive the Nations). As a result of Satan’s being thrown into the sixth abode, two major effects of Satan’s fall will be removed: death (First Corinthians 15:24-26) and the seas (Revelation 21:1).³⁸²

Pride is seen here as the destroying sin. It was devastating to the glories given to Satan when he was yet the anointed cherub. Is there not a warning here for us also? There must be a recognition that all privilege and opportunity carry with them great obligation. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He might have mercy on them all (Romans 11:32). If you have received that mercy, then ADONAI expects that through the mercy shown to you, the Gospel may be carried in love and gratitude to the lost.³⁸³

A Lament Over the Ruin of Tyre
Ezeki’el 27: 1-36

A lement over the ruin of Tyre DIG: To what is Tyre likened in this poem (Ezeki’el 27:4-9)? Do you find the image fitting? What parts of it are mentioned? From where did the supplies come from? What words reveal the elegance of its construction? Where did this ship travel? Can you find the limits of its trade in each direction on a map? What were some of the goods it exchanged? Do you think Tyre had good reasons to be proud? What will happen to this great luxury ship (Ezeki’el 27:25-36)? What will cause the accident? What will happen to the ship and crew? What different groups will hear of the mishap (Ezeki’el 27:30-36)? Who is most upset at her demise? Why?

REFLECT: Is it wrong to feel pride in your accomplishments or attributes? What’s wrong with a realistic appraisal? Do you find a lot of “humility” rings falsely? Who would be upset if you were “broke?” Friends? Family? Church members? Members of your messianic synagogue? Creditors? Would anyone even know? What is the mood of this lament: (a) Joy over a fallen foe? (b) Regret over something lovely that has been destroyed? (c) Sorrow over a people crushed? What does this lament tell you about God’s feelings? About God’s regard for beauty? If you were writing a lament for your city, what items might appear in the verses? Would people in other nations lament the destruction of your country? Who might not?

The prophecy was given in 585 BC during the exile in Babylon

In this chapter Ezeki’el pictures Tyre as a magnificent ship constructed from the best material, furnished with the choicest equipment and manned by the most skillful sailors. He then describes in graphic imagery, and in a remarkably detailed style, the various types of merchandise that made up the ship’s cargo. Sailing proudly on the high seas, it was overtaken by a storm and was shipwrecked. Everything on board was lost. The disaster caused intense anxiety among the neighboring cities, seamen, merchants and kings as they lamented over the catastrophe.

The Glory of Tyre: The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, take up a lament concerning Tyre. Say to Tyre, ‘you are situated at the gateway to the sea; because the city-state of Tyre was located in a very strategic spot that made it easily defensible. You are the merchant of peoples on many coasts, or the entrance of commerce and economy, trading with many countries around the Mediterranean Sea,‘ this is what Adonai ELOHIM says’ (Ezeki’el 27:1-3a).” She was the Wall Street of the ancient world.

You say, Tyre, “I am perfect in beauty” Ezeki’el 28:12b God says the same thing about Satan. The same description is made of Jerusalem in Lamentations 2:15, and shows that it was Tyre’s desire to take the preeminence away from Tziyon now that the City of David was destroyed. Your domain, commerce, was on the high seas. Your builders brought your beauty to perfection (Ezeki’el 27:3b-4). She was the center of commerce and economy. Built on a rocky island, Tyre was the Venice of antiquity. Hence, the simile of a ship was most appropriately applied to her. Unlike a small boat that has to cling to the shore, the ship, to which Tyre is likened, sails over the high seas.

First, Ezeki’el points out how well the symbolic ship of state was built. Your builders made all your boards from pine trees on Mount Hermon. This timber was also used for building the Temple (First Kings 5:24). They took cedar trees from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Lebanon was famous for its cedars. Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; of cypress wood from the coasts of Cyprus they made your deck, adorned with ivory. Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail and served as your banner; your awnings were of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah (Ezeki’el 27:5-7).

Men of Tzidon and Arvad were your oarsmen; your skilled men, Tyre, were aboard as your sailors. Veteran craftsmen of Byblos were on board as shipmates to caulk your seams. All the ships of the sea and their sailors came alongside to trade for your wares (Ezeki’el 27:8-9).

Men of Persia, Lydia and Put served as mercenary soldiers in your army. They hung their shields and helmets on your walls, bringing you splendor. It was the practice in ancient time to hang weapons on towers and fortresses. And the native guard, the men of Arvad and Helek guarded your walls on every side; men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields around your walls; making your beauty perfect (Ezeki’el 27:10-11).

The Commerce of Tyre: Tarshish of Spain did business with you because of the quantity and variety of your resources; they exchanged silver, iron, tin and lead for your goods. Greece, Tubal and Meshek did business with you; they traded slaves and articles of copper for your wares. Men of Beth Togarmah exchanged chariot horses and mules for your merchandise. The men of Rhodes traded with you, and many coastlands were your customers; they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony. Syria did business with you because of your many products; they exchanged turquoise, purple fabric, embroidered work, fine linen, coral and rubies for your merchandise. Judah and Isra’el traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith, millet, honey, olive oil and resin for healing. Damascus did business with you because of your many products and great wealth of goods. They offered wine from Helbon, wool from Zahar and casks of wine from Izal in exchange for your wares; wrought iron, cassia and calamus. Dedan traded in saddle blankets with you. Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers; they did business with you in lambs, rams and goats. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; for your merchandise they exchanged the finest of all kinds of spices and precious stones, and gold. Harran, Kanneh and Eden and merchants of Sheba, Ashur and Kilmad traded with you. In your marketplace they traded with you beautiful garments, blue fabric, embroidered work and multicolored rugs with cords twisted and tightly knotted. The ships of Tarshish, a technical term, a brand name for the ships of Tyre, serve as carriers for your wares. Her merchant navy made her the envy of the ancient world. You are filled with heavy cargo as you sail the sea (Ezeki’el 27:12-25). Tyre was made rich at the expense of Judah’s fall, just exactly as she had hoped (Ezeki’el 26:2). Tyre was the center of commerce before the fall of Jerusalem; however, afterwards her influence became even greater. But what initially looked like a victory over Zion will ultimately cause her collapse.

The Doom of Tyre: The figure of the mighty and overladen ship, proudly venturing out into the waters that were to be her ruin, is the most striking example in the Bible of the thought familiar to Jews and Gentiles alike – the pride that prepares the way for its own downfall. Your oarsmen take you out into stormy waters, to the high seas. But the east wind will break you to pieces far out at sea. The fact that the east wind probably means that Ezeki’el points to the destruction of coastal Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar because the king of Babylon came from the east. Alexander the Great would eventually come from the west. Your wealth, merchandise and wares, your mariners, sailors and shipwright, your merchants and all your soldiers, and everyone else on board will sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your shipwreck (Ezeki’el 27:26-27). Earlier in this chapter, these were the people who helped build this great ship-of-state, but now they inadvertently brought her into stormy waters that brought about her destruction. Both crew and cargo will be completely lost in the shipwreck.

The shorelands, the cities around coastal Tyre that depended upon her for their economic welfare, will quake with terror when your sailors cry out. All who handle the oars will abandon their ships; the mariners and all the sailors will stand on the shore. They will raise their voice and cry bitterly over you; they will sprinkle dust on their heads and roll in ashes. They would be in deep, deep mourning over Tyre’s ruin. They will shave their heads because of you and will put on sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and with bitter mourning. As they wail and mourn over you, they will take up a lament concerning you: “Who was ever silenced like Tyre, surrounded by the sea” (Ezeki’el 27:28-32).

Then Ezeki’el states the results of Tyre’s fall. When your merchandise went out on the seas, you satisfied many nations; with your great wealth and your wares you enriched the kings of the earth. Not only did Tyre become wealthy, but she made other nations wealthy as well. But now you are shattered by the sea in the depths of the waters; your wares and all your company have gone down with you. Therefore, Tyre sank because of the great weight of her wealth, and the east wind of Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon wanted what she had. Her success ultimately caused her doom (Ezeki’el 27:33-34).

What were the reactions to her fall? All who live in the coastlands, the coastal city-states along the Mediterranean with which Tyre did business, are appalled at you; their kings shudder with horror and their faces are distorted with fear. They dreaded that a similar fate would overtake them. The merchants among the nations hiss at you, expressing amazement and dismay; you have come to a horrible end and you will cease to exist as the center of world commerce (Ezeki’el 27:35-36). Once again, with powerful poetry, the prophet announces the end of the island empire’s era.

And as we perceive the shipwrecks of life, they should never be a source of ridicule or delight. Nor should they evoke self-confidence or arrogance. For in all of life’s experiences, there are storms that are greater than our capacity to survive. Recognizing and lamenting over tragedy should keep us in touch with our own vulnerability, and as a result, we can learn that faith in ADONAI alone, and in the Jewish Messiah whom he sent can still the violent raging of the sea in our own lives (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ff – Jesus Calms the Storm).³⁷⁹

A Prophecy Against Tyre
Ezeki’el 26: 1-21

A prophecy against Tyre DIG: Tyre was about one hundred miles north of Jerusalem. How would Tyre prosper from Israel’s destruction? How was Tyre’s response like those of the nations back in Chapter 25? What will Tyre’s punishment be? Who will inflict it? How long will it take? Will it be complete? If God knows disaster is coming, what’s the point of warning Tyre? Why not just let it happen? The coastlands were the countries and islands of the Mediterranean Sea that Tyre engaged in trade. Why will they be so “shaken up?”

REFLECT: Is ADONAI “going overboard” in punishing those who rejoice in Israel’s demise so harshly? What does this say about God’s commitment to Isra’el? What does this chapter do to the ancient belief that gods only have power within territorial borders? Was YHVH “washed up” when Isra’el was destroyed? Do you rejoice or lament over the current political situation in this country? In Isra’el? Is the LORD working out a plan or wringing His hands?

The prophecy was given February 3, 585 BC during the exile in Babylon

The sin and destruction of Tyre: On the first day in the eleventh month of the twelfth year of Jehoiakim’s exile. The Masoretic Text (the traditional Hebrew text) does not have month of the twelfth. Therefore, it reads eleventh year, which dates from April 23, 587 BC to April 13, 586 BC. If this is the correct text, the prophecy must date from the end of that year, in the eleventh (February 13, 586 BC) or the twelfth month (March 15, 586 BC). But there is a problem with these dates: This prophecy describes Tyre’s gloating over the destruction of Jerusalem (verse 2), yet Yerushalayim did not fall until July/August on the ninth of Av (to see link click Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC) several months after the date given here for Tyre’s celebration of the fact that Tziyon is ruined. To solve the problem, I and many other interpreters believe that the reading of the original Hebrew text was: On the first day of the eleventh month of the twelfth year and that the words month of the twelfth must have been inadvertently omitted by a copyist somewhere along the line of history (Ezeki’el 26:1 CJB).

The word of ADONAI came to me, saying: Son of man, since Tyre has said against Yerushalayim, “Ha! She is shattered, the gateway of the people’s. Now that she is ruined her riches will be mine” (Ezeki’el 26:2 CJB). Jerusalem, which had attracted merchants from many countries, was no more. So Tyre thought that Judah’s trade would then be diverted to them. Their selfish satisfaction over Tziyon’s tragedy, and their desire to benefit from it financially, ultimately brought about their own ruin.

Therefore, Adonai ELOHIM says:

Look, Tyre! I am against you. Her destruction will come by means of invasion. Just as the sea churns up its waves, I will churn up many nations against you (Ezeki’el 26:3 CJB). Tyre was both a coastal city as well as an island city. All through these chapters Ezeki’el seems to hear the waves beating upon the doomed city. And indeed, after this prophecy many nations did invade Tyre: Babylon, Persia, Greece, the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Seleucids of Syria and Rome.

They will destroy the walls of Tyre and they will demolish her towers. For thirteen years Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the coastal part of the city and destroyed it in 572 BC. The island Tyre was built after the destruction of coastal Tyre and it fell in 332 BC. I will scrape its soil from her and reduce her to bare rock (Ezeki’el 26:4 CJB). Alexander the Great uniquely fulfilled this part of the prophecy when he used the rubble of the coastal city destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar to build a causeway out to island Tyre and obliterate it (see the commentary on Isaiah Eq – The Timeline for Tyre). After the destruction of Tyre by her invaders, all traces of her former glory were swept away as by a tidal wave. What was once a magnificent city had the appearance of a bare rock.

Tyre became a place for fishing, not for living. It was built upon an island or rock, hence her name Tsor, meaning rock. With the sea all around her, she will be a place for drying fishnets. And she would become a plunder for the nations. Instead of taking plunder, she would be plundered. The fishermen will find the dry, rocky island a suitable place for drying their nets. I have spoken, says Adonai ELOHIM. Her daughters on the mainland will be put to death with the sword. Her daughters were the towns and villages on the mainland of which Tyre was the capital. Not her alone, but the population of all the Phoenician cities would perish. Then they will know that I am ADONAI (Ezeki’el 26:5-6 CJB).³⁷⁴

The means of Tyre’s punishment: For here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: I will bring upon Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. His name was spelled Nebuchadrezzar instead of the usual form because Ezeki’el evidently wanted to approximate the Babylonian spelling that has been found on bricks unearthed by archaeologists. The Babylonian Nabu-kudurri-usur means Nabu protect my boundary.³⁷⁵ In verses 14, 29-21 the beginning of the end for the influential metropolis was set forth. At the time the citizens of Tyre were in open revolt against Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar was designated king of kings who had dominion over many vassal kings (Dani’el 2:37; Ezra 7:12). The invader is seen coming from the north, which was the direction of invasions from Babylon into Syria-Palestine, at that time Nebuchadrezzar was at Riblah on the Orontes (Second Kings 25:21; Jeremiah 52:9). He came with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great and powerful army (Ezeki’el 26:7 CJB).

The Babylonian military operations against coastal Tyre are described in chronological order and give the usual method followed in the siege of a city. The first to suffer were her daughters on the mainland, meaning the towns and villages on the mainland of which Tyre was capital, will be put to death with the sword. He will build siege-towers against you, he will build a ramp against you and raise a screen of shields against you. Then came the attack on the island city. He will pound your walls with his battering rams and break down your towers with his axes (Ezeki’el 26:8-9 CJB). This siege of coastal Tyre took thirteen years for the Babylonians to achieve.

Then Ezeki’el goes on to describe the actual destruction of coastal Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. His horses are so many that their dust will cover you. The thunder of cavalry, wagons and chariots will shake your walls, as he enters your gates, like men storming a city through a breach. With the hoofs of his horses he will trample your streets. He will put your people to the sword and pull down your two strong pillars, which Herodotus tells us were built in honor or their national deity Melkarth (Ezeki’el 26:10-11 CJB). The national deity that the people of Tyre would have trusted for their security would be destroyed and toppled to the ground like so much rubble.

But Ha’Shem would also use other nations, over a long period of time, to bring an end to Tyre. They will seize your wealth, loot your wares, break down your walls, destroy your fine houses; then they will throw the rubble of the demolished buildings, your stones and timber and even your dust into the sea. Nebuchadnezzar razed coastal Tyre in 572 BC, and two hundred and forty years later Alexander the Great finally destroyed island Tyre by using much of that rubble to build a causeway to reach her shores. Then Ezeki’el describes two key results. First, I will put an end to your singing; the sound of your lyres will be heard no more. Secondly, I will reduce you to bare rock, you will be a place for drying fish nets, you will never be built again (see timeline above), for I, ADONAI, have spoken, says Adonai ELOHIM (Ezeki’el 26:12-14 CJB).³⁷⁶

The effect of Tyre’s doom upon the Gentile nations: To Tyre Adonai ELOHIM says: How the coastlands, the coastal city-states along the Mediterranean with which Tyre did business, will shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter takes place in you (Ezeki’el 26:15 CJB)! The prophet pictures the crash of the city’s downfall and the agonized moaning of the injured as being audible to the neighboring city-states. Tyre was the lifeline to their wealth. They traded with Tyre and were the wholesalers in the economic system that Tyre had created. When Tyre’s wealth was shattered, their wealth was also shattered.

Then all the princes of the sea, or the chief merchants in the city-states above (Isaiah 23:8), will step down from their thrones, or go into mourning (Jonah 3:6), they will put aside their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, trembling all the time, appalled at your condition (Ezeki’el 26:16 CJB).

Then they will raise this lament for you: “How you have been destroyed, you who were peopled from the seas, city so renowned, once so strong at sea (Tyre was the most powerful of the coastal city-states), you and your inhabitants who used to spread terror over all [the mainland’s] inhabitants! It was beyond their comprehension how Tyre, the mighty city, had fallen. It seemed impossible to them. Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your downfall, and the islands in the sea are in shock at your end” (Ezeki’el 26:16-18 CJB).³⁷⁷

Tyre’s descent to sh’ol: For here is what Adonai ELOHIM says:

When I make you a ruined city from Alexander the Great’s conquest in 332 BC, like other uninhabited cities. Ezeki’el then ends his inspired poem with some symbolic language. When I bring the deep sea over you, and its mighty waters cover you. Then Ezeki’el changes the imagery slightly. Instead of descending into the ocean depths, Tyre would be brought down with those who descend to sh’ol, the pit, to the people of long ago, and make you live in underworld places like those who were ruined long ago, with those who descend to the pit, never able to return to the land of the living. The scene is like that of a naval funeral, where the body of the deceased is dropped into the ocean after the funeral words have been spoken. But here the entire island is dropped into the oceans depths, never again to see the light of this world. People would long for her, but she would never again be found (Ezeki’el 26:19-21). Consequently, with powerful poetry, the prophet announces the end of the island empire’s era.

In a penetrating manner, the prophet brings home to us the temporal nature of mankind’s most enduring symbols. Tyre, it seemed, had always been there. Its location made it impregnable. For generations of sailors along the Mediterranean coastline, Tyre had been a familiar and welcome sight. It was a port of call, a place of refuge, a market of goods, and a permanent place. But nothing in this world is permanent, and no city lives forever. The leaders of the city-states that traded with Tyre might well have trembled at her funeral, for in it, they saw the writing on the wall for themselves. For everyone, either wealthy ancients or the poor of today, there is something more permanent in life than the alluring cities of this world. Is was Adonai ELOHIM that declared Tyre’s fate, and the same sovereign God is the only One who offers a permanent and enduring City (see the commentary on Revelation Fs – The Eternal New Jerusalem).³⁷⁸

The Sin and Judgment of Tyre and Tzidon
Ezeki’el 26:1 to 28:26

585 BC during the exile in Babylon

The prophecies concerning Tyre and Tzidon cover Chapters 26-28. Ezeki’el treated Tyre more extensively than did any other prophet, which emphasizes how important it was from God’s point of view. Tyre was an ancient city of the Phoenicians, appearing for the first time in the Bible in Joshua 19:29. It was a great commercial city in the time of the prophets and was prosperous in the time of the Romans as well, even up to Jerome’s day, to the latter part of the fourth century and beginning the fifth. The city was actually composed of two parts, one on the mainland and the other on a rocky island about a half-mile from the coast. The Saracens destroyed Tyre and Tzidon during the Middle Ages, today both are located in Lebanon only twelve miles north of the Israeli-Lebanon border.

During the reigns of David and Solomon Tyre exercised a great influence on the commercial and political, and even religious life of Isra’el. Hiram, king of Tyre, was a devoted friend of David (Second Samuel 5:11), who helped him and Solomon in their building operations (First Kings 5:1-12; First Chronicles 14:1; Second Chronicles 2:3 and 11). Though Tyre and Isra’el were friendly in the reigns of David and Solomon, they drifted apart later. Tyrians sold Jews as slaves to the Greeks and Edomites (Joel 3:4-8; Amos 1:9-10). Tzidon was twenty miles north of Tyre and was probably the parent city. Because from Tzidon had come wicked influences and unspeakable misery from Baal worship, she was likened to a prickling brier and a hurting thorn in the side of Isra’el. The predictions set forth in these chapters have been fulfilled with unmistakable literalness³⁷³ (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Er – Wail, You Ships of Tarshish; Your Fortress is Destroyed).

Tyre had, in fact, forfeited her right of existence by her excessive commercialism. Her lust for material gain knew no bounds, and her wealth produced in the population a sense of pride and arrogance that resulted in a complete disregard for human suffering. The demoralization of Tyre was clearly seen by her malicious joy over the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years, but it would be Alexander the Great, 254 years after Zion had fallen, who would finally destroy Tyre forever (see the commentary on Isaiah Eq – The Timeline for Tyre).

The Valley of Dry Bones
Ezeki’el 37: 1-28

The valley of dry bones DIG: Hebrew uses the word ruach for wind, breath and spirit. How are these three words related (Ezeki’el 37:5, 9 and 14)? What are the two steps in raising these dead (Ezeki’el 37:7-8 and 10)? Why not do it all at once? How were the exiles feeling (Ezeki’el 37:11)? What is God telling them about the future of Isra’el? The people of Isra’el split into the northern Kingdom and southern Kingdom after the death of Solomon (First Kings 12:1-33). What is the point of Ezeki’el’s stick lesson? Who will be king of the united and holy nation? When will that happen? How long will his reign last?

REFLECT: What brings you hope in a hopeless situation? When have you felt your dry bones come to life? Has ADONAI raised you from the dead? When and how did it happen? Is the Spirit of God living inside of you? Are you sure?

This far eschatological prophecy was made sometime after 586 BC
during the exile in Babylon

The prophecy of Isra’el’s regeneration is illustrated in the most graphic manner by a vision concerning the rebirth of the nation. The prophet finds himself in a valley full of scattered bones. Under the life-giving effect of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, the bones knit together and are covered with ligaments, flesh and skin. Ultimately the breath of life is infused into them and they will stand as one nation. A more inspiring message could not have been communicated to the despairing exiles to revive their national will to live.

The far eschatological prophecy of the dry bones: The hand of ADONAI was upon me. These words are always the mark and the sign of a prophetic vision (Ezeki’el 1:3, 3:14 and 22, 8:1, 33:22, 40:1). The Spirit took hold of the prophet and he spoke as if in a trance although he remained in control. And what was different about this particular vision was that Ezeki’el was transported to receive special revelation. He carried me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley where Ezeki’el saw the Sh’khinah glory of YHVH (Ezeki’el 3:22), and in that vision the prophet was also transported by the hand of ADONAI. But now he sees something he didn’t see then; this valley was full of dry human bones (Ezeki’el 37:1 CJB). And exactly what these bones represent is explained in verse 12. This passage is not dealing with a physical resurrection of the dead (for that see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Fd – The Resurrection of the Righteous of the TaNaKh), but rather, it is merely symbolic of Isra’el’s restoration.

There are seven different aspects of this vision:

First, what we have in these verses is not a picture of death, but a picture of dispersion.

Secondly, the bones represent both the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah, not merely the righteous of the TaNaKh as verse 11 will make quite clear.

Thirdly, if this was a physical resurrection, how could these bones be speaking to each other if they represent the dead? It is clear that these bones are not to be taken literally as dead people, but rather, they represent the dried up hopes of the whole house of Isra’el.

Fourthly, Isra’el is pictured as dry and dead among the Gentile nations in verses 12-14. This death is pictured as spiritual death and not physical death.

Fifthly, nowhere else in the Bible is it ever taught that physical resurrection will occur in different stages. But, that is exactly what we see in this passage. Wherever the Bible describes a physical resurrection, it happens instantaneously, not in stages. Yet Isra’el’s restoration will come in five specific stages (Ezeki’el 36:24-28). And what we see in the valley of dry bones is merely a vision of these same five stages in a more symbolic state.

Sixthly, we should note that the Bible does not teach a general resurrection. It clearly makes a distinction between the resurrection of the righteous (see the commentary on Revelation Ff – Blessed and Holy are those Who Have Part in the First Resurrection) and another resurrection of the wicked (see the commentary on Revelation Fn – The Second Resurrection) separated by a thousand years. But in this passage they are all resurrected at the same time.

Lastly, the context of this chapter emphasizes the symbolic. No one questions that the two sticks of wood are symbolic of the two houses of Isra’el. Ezeki’el himself makes that statement. The symbol of dry bones is seen in verses 1-14 and the symbol of two sticks is seen in verses 15-20, therefore the context of Chapter 37 is symbolism.

Ezeki’el was told to walk around the whole area in order to survey the situation very carefully. He had me pass by all around them – there were very many bones lying in the valley, and they were so dry! The flesh was gone, showing how hopeless the nation’s’ situation was. The rabbis teach that the matter of contracting ritual defilement did not arise with Ezeki’el, since the experience was not real, but only a vision. The LORD asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered Him, “Adonai ELOHIM! Only you know that!” It was, and is, beyond human power to make dry bones live. Only the LORD, if He desires, can do it. Then He said to me: Prophesy over these bones! Ezeki’el said to them: Dry bones! Hear what YHVH has to say! Adonai ELOHIM says to you: I will make My breath [ruach] enter you, and you will live. That is a divine promise. They will live only through the power of God. I will attach ligaments to you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin and put My breath [ruach] in you. The result will be that the nation becomes spiritually alive. You will live, and you will know that I am ADONAI’ (Ezeki’el 37:2-6 CJB).” There will be stages to the restoration. The first regathering in unbelief in preparation for the judgment of the Great Tribulation will be followed later by the worldwide regathering in faith in preparation for the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom. In symbolic form, both worldwide regatherings are blended together.

The fulfillment of the prophecy: This prophecy will be fulfilled in two stages. So I prophesied as ordered. And while I was prophesying, in the first stage, there was a noise, a rattling sound; it was the bones coming together, each bone in its proper place. As I watched, ligaments grew on them, flesh appeared and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them (Ezeki’el 37:7-8 CJB). This pictures Isra’el’s worldwide regathering in unbelief. May 14, 1948, after World War II and the holocaust, the state of Isra’el was created in unbelief in preparation for the judgment of the Great Tribulation.

Then next, is the second stage, God said to Ezeki’el, “Prophesy to the breath [ruach]! Prophesy, son of man! Say to the breath [ruach] that Adonai ELOHIM says: Come from the four winds [ruach], breath [ruach]; and breathe [ruach] on these slain so that they can live.” So I prophesied as ordered, and breath [ruach] came into them, and they were spiritually alive! They figuratively stood up on their feet, a huge army (Ezeki’el 37:9-10 CJB). Ruach can be translated as wind, spirit and breath. So Isra’el will be regenerated (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ). Therefore, the second stage symbolizes the second worldwide regathering of the nation of Isra’el in faith, and all Isra’el will be saved (Romans 11:26a), in preparation for the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.

The meaning of the vision: Then He said to me, “Son of man! These bones are the whole house of Isra’el; both the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah, spiritually destroyed, desolate and dead. But these bones are not the literal bones of dead Jews, but rather, they are symbolic, representing the national return of the whole house of Isra’el. And what are they complaining about? They are saying: Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone, and we are completely cut off. They had lost hope because they had no homeland. The fact that they are able to communicate with each other in this dried up state proves that this passage is not dealing with individual regeneration but national restoration. Then YHVH responds to Isra’el loss of hope with a promise.

Therefore, prophesy; say to the dry bones that Adonai ELOHIM says: My people! I will open your graves symbolically, and make you get up out of them, and I will bring you into the land of Isra’el. This completes the first regathering in unbelief in preparation for the judgment of the Great Tribulation. Then you will know that I am ADONAI – when I have opened your graves and made you get up out of your graves, my people! I will put My Spirit [Ruach Ha’Kodesh] in you; and you will be alive. Then I will place you in your own Land; and you will know that I, ADONAI, have spoken, and that I have done it, says ADONAI (Ezeki’el 37:12-14 CJB). This completes the second regathering in faith in preparation for the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.

The people of Isra’el today are in much the same situation as Isra’el during the time of Ezeki’el, except that a portion of the people has returned to the Land. The root cause of Israel’s exile, the northern kingdom (Ephraim) in 722 BC and the southern kingdom (Judah) in 586 BC, was rebellion, sin, transgression, and defilement (First Kings 11:9–13; Second Kings 17:1–23), in short the consequences of disobedience to the covenant (Second Kings 17:7–17, Ezeki’el 39:23–24; Leviticus 26:14–39; Deuteronomy 28:15–68). As a whole Isra’el today continues in covenant disloyalty, and remains in the Land only because of the grace of ADONAI and the faithfulness to His covenant. Yet, there is hope. In the second half of the chapter, Ezeki’el prophesies the reunion of the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah that will be ruled by one king of the house of David during the Messianic Kingdom.³⁷¹

The united and holy nation during the Messianic Kingdom: The prophecy of national regeneration, as symbolized in the vision of the dry bones, is followed by the symbolic action of the reunion of the two Kingdoms. The word of ADONAI came to me saying: You, son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, “Belonging to Judah and the tribe of Benjamin forming the southern Kingdom.” Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, “Belonging to Joseph (that is to Ephraim) and the other nine tribes forming the northern Kingdom.” Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand (Ezeki’el 37:15-17). This caused the people to ask certain questions.

Then the prophet was to explain to the exiles the meaning of the symbol while holding the two sticks in his hand. We can see that there was a change of attitude on the part of the people. He was no longer being made fun of or ignored, but taken quite seriously. So when he performs a symbolic act the people are quick to ask what it means. When your people ask you what all this means, tell them that Adonai ELOHIM says this: I am going to take the stick of Joseph – which is in Ephraim’s hand – and of the other nine Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in My hand. Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on (Ezeki’el 37:18-20). The northern tribe of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah will become one nation again.

And say to them that Adonai ELOHIM says: I will take the Israelites out of the [Gentile] nations where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them back into their own Land. I will make them one nation in the Land, on the mountains of Isra’el (Jeremiah 3:18). There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms (First Chronicles 17:21). However, any physical restoration must be accompanied by spiritual restoration for it to be lasting. Otherwise, the people will continually endure judgment for covenant disloyalty. In order for permanent restoration to occur, the divided nations must be unified and together restored to their land, and additionally their relationship with YHVH must be restored. This can only be done through circumcision of the heart as expounded in Ezeki’el 11:19–20. In Ezeki’el 36:24–32, Ha’Shem promises to cleanse Isra’el and to give them a heart of flesh and to place His Ruach in them, causing them to walk in obedience. He states that He will save them from their uncleanness and they will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all the places where they have been living and sinning, and I will cleanse them. Never again will Isra’el be divided as a nation or separated from their ADONAI, for they will be His people, and He will be their God (Ezeki’el 37:21-23).

King David during the Messianic Kingdom: My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom). He will guide Isra’el and he will feed Isra’el. Never again will Isra’el have a shepherd who will lead them astray. They will follow my rulings and keep and observe My regulations. The purified and restored Isra’el will never again be uprooted from their soil, but they will live in the Land that ADONAI gave to His servant Jacob, the Land where their ancestors lived. They and their children will live there forever and David, YHVH’s servant, will be their prince throughout the Messianic Kingdom. From the viewpoint of Isra’el, David is their king; but from the viewpoint of Christ, David is His prince (Ezeki’el 37:24-25).

Ezeki’el concludes his prophecy describing the messianic Temple. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant and the basis for the new messianic Temple (see Ep – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el). I will establish them in the Land and increase their numbers, and I will put My Holy Place among them for a thousand years (see the commentary on Isaiah Db – The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple). My dwelling place will be like a canopy over Isra’el (Isaiah 4:5-6). And the result will be, I will be their God, and they will be My people. Then the [Gentile] nations will know that I am ADONAI, who sets Isra’el apart as holy, when My Holy Place is with them for the duration of the Messianic Kingdom (Ezeki’el 37:26-28). The prophet will have much more to say about the millennial Temple in Chapters 40-48.³⁷²

Jeremiah’s Final Words to the Judeans in Egypt
44:1-30 and 51:64b

Jeremiah’s final words to the Judeans in Egypt DIG: What does Jeremiah try to explain (44:2-6)? What have the Jews in Egypt done (44:7-10)? Does this shock you in light of all Judah had suffered? Why were they honoring Ishtar or the Queen of Heaven? What must their opinion of ADONAI be? What does God promise in return (44:11-14)? What is the significance of the few fugitives? What was ADONAI saying? Why do you think this story of apostasy keeps playing over and over, with only the names or places changing? What prophecy does Jeremiah make as a sign (44:29-30)? This chapter gives us the end of Jeremiah’s story, as we know it. Was his forty-five years of prophecy a failure? How would you determine if a prophet was “successful?”

REFLECT: How can people hear God’s word, see God’s power and yet still miss the point of the message? When has that happened to you? What did you learn? How did you finally get the point? Would you say your ministry has been a success or a failure so far? On what basis? Looking at the shape the world is in today, would you say the LORD has been a success?

586 BC after the fall of Yerushalayim

Indictment and Announcement of Judgment: This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews shortly arriving in Lower Egypt – in Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis – and in Upper Egypt. This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins because of the evil they have done. They aroused My anger by burning incense to and worshiping other gods (to see link click Eu – Idolatry in the Temple) that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever knew (44:1-3). God understands spiritual adultery! That is why adultery is an exception in the divorce issue (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dj – You Have Heard It Was Said: Do Not Commit Adultery). ADONAI does not hold us to a higher standard than He Himself uses.

Persistently I sent My servants the prophets, over a long period of time, who said: Do not do this detestable thing that I hate! But the Israelites did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn (shuwb) from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods because they did not listen (44:4-5). They were without excuse because they did receive prophetic warning. The prophets said, “Do not worship these idols.” Nonetheless the Israelites proved over and over and over again to be disobedient to God’s messengers. Hence verses 2-6 are built around very conventional themes, arranged in chiastic fashion:

A YHVH works destruction because of Isra’el’s sin (verse 2)

B Isra’el disobeys and does evil (verse 3)

C YHVH sends prophets to rescue Isra’el (verse 4)

B Isra’el refuses to listen and does evil (verse 5)

A YHVH works destruction because of Isra’el’s sin (verse 6)

The prophets constitute God’s “second effort” to save, but to no avail. This argument in verses 2-6 is a reflection on the past. It is not an assault on Yerushalayim, but reflects on a judgment that has already been fulfilled and that was well known among the Jews in Egypt.

Hence, My fierce anger was poured out; it raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins they are today (44:6). This is a quick review of the past. In essence, YHVH is telling them they have not changed from this horrible spiritual condition back in the land of Judah. This deprived condition brought about the judgment they were experiencing at that time. If you can’t be sorry for something you did when you are actually experiencing the pain of your own actions then you’ll never be sorry for it!

Therefore is a conclusion of the argument that was spelled out in 44:1-6. Meaning that because of their past sins, Judah and Jerusalem were devastated. It was as if ADONAI was saying, “If you recognize that it was your terrible sin that caused the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, why would you want to continue in these very same sins now that you are in the land of Egypt suffering the consequences of your wickedness?”

Therefore, The LORD of heaven’s’ angelic armies, the God of Isra’el, says this: Why are you committing this great sin against yourselves? The result can only be to cut you off from Judah – men, women, children and babies – so that none of you remain (see Ae – The Problem of Holy War in the TaNaKh). Special emphasis is placed on the wives, whom Jeremiah has largely ignored until now (44:7).

Yirmeyahu insists that the fall of Yerushalayim came about because the Israelites worshiped other gods, and that a similar disaster will come upon those from Y’hudah who have settled in Egypt. For you continue provoking Me with the [idols] products of your own hands, offering to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live as aliens. It will lead only to your destruction and becoming an object of curses and reproaches among all the nation of the earth (44:7-8 CJB). The Egyptian community of Jews is indeed doing evil.

Have you forgotten the wicked deeds of your ancestors, your own wicked deeds, and the wicked deeds of your wives who instigated them to idol worship, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed My Torah and decrees I set before you and your ancestors (44:9-10 CJB). In effect, this community of Jews in Egypt had learned nothing and had refused to change, thus rejecting the Torah.

Therefore, this is the declaration of judgment: This is what the LORD of heaven’s’ angelic armies, the God of Isra’el, says: I am determined to bring disaster on you and to destroy all of Judah living in the land of Egypt. For that community there would no longer be any options, no choices, no alternatives, and no escape. I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine. They left Judah because they were afraid of dying by the sword, but by the sword they will die. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine. They will become a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach. I will punish those who live in Egypt with the sword, famine and plague, just as I punished Jerusalem. None of the remnant of Judah who has gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, to which they long to return and live; non will return except a few fugitives (44:11-14). There will only be a remnant of the remnant, survivors who are not of any value like figure in Amos 3:12.

The People, However, Were Defiant: Jeremiah used this large official gathering to deliver his final words. Then all the men who knew their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present – a large gathering – and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt (44:15). And like Adam, stood by passively as their wives lead them down the road to destruction (see the commentary on Genesis Ba – The Woman Saw the Fruit of the Tree and Ate It) They were entrenched, resistant, arrogant, and would rather choose death over the prophetic word of God.

The women said to Jeremiah, “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of ADONAI! We will certainly do everything we said we would. Then the women made a vow: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors (see Cd – They Knead Dough and Make Cakes for the Queen of Heaven), our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm” (44:16-17). They thought it worked for them in the past so they thought it would work for them now (this is really selective memory).

“But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine” (44:18). They were assuming that the past material blessings before the Babylonian captivity came from the Queen of Heaven and not from God! The women said that all their problems began when they stopped worshipping her. Now they were determined to start again. The point seems irrefutable. It is the argument that every religion seeks to make, that a god is judged by the gifts that are given. The women were denying what Jeremiah was saying. Yirmeyahu said their current sad state of affairs was a direct result of their disobedience to YHVH. But they insisted that wasn’t true. They knew what was right, not God’s prophet! On its own terms, the argument seemed unanswerable.

The practice of the wives was in full knowledge and consent of their passed husbands. Does that sound a little like Adam and Eve? The helper leading and the leader helping (see the commentary on Genesis Lv – I Do Not Permit a Woman to Teach or Have Authority Over a Man, She Must Be Silent). This usually leads to trouble. This worship was quite popular with the women in particular and the Jewish wives made vows to her. The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her” (44:19)? Under the TaNaKh, husbands could release their wives from foolish vows (Numbers 30:6-16). So when the husbands heard their wives make vows to the Queen of Heaven, they had the authority to annul them. But they chose not to do it. That meant that the husbands consented to the sin and did not protect their wives.

Jeremiah’s Final Sermon: Nevertheless, Jeremiah would answer. His answer does not engage the argument just offered, for one cannot challenge an argument made from an assumption. Instead, perhaps wisely, perhaps of necessity, the prophet ignores the assertion of the women and simply restates his own prophetic argument. Theoretically, he accepts the analysis of the women (see 44:18), but turns the argument on its head and draws an antithetical conclusion. The incense burned to the queen of heaven did indeed matter, just as the women had said. The burned incense, however, was not the cause of their well-being. Before the fall of Jerusalem and Judah it was ADONAI in His longsuffering who was responsible for them having plenty of food, being well off and suffering no harm. The worship of this other god was the trigger that brought disaster to their doors. Consequently there was indeed a blessing and a curse; the disagreement was over which deity can bless and which deity would surely curse.³⁶⁹

YHVH is longsuffering, but there comes a time when He must punish. This is the very thing that the wives did not understand. Then Jeremiah clinched his argument when he said to all the people; both men and women (but primarily the women), who were answering him, “Did not ADONAI remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? Sin had been accumulating during the previous generations until the point was reached when punishment was demanded. The fact that it had not come sooner while they were actually guilty of practicing sorcery was only due to the mercy of ADONAI, not the protection of the Queen of Heaven. When the LORD could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. Because you have burned incense to other gods and have sinned against ADONAI and have not obeyed Him or followed His Torah or listened to the message of His prophets, regulations and instructions . . . therefore, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see” (44:20-23).

Then Yirmeyahu sarcastically acknowledged that the resolve of the Egyptian community was unshakable when he said to all the people, especially the women, “Hear the word of ADONAI, all you people of Judah in Egypt. This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, “We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.” Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows! But hear the word of the LORD, “I swear by My great name,” says Ha’Shem, “that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke My name or swear, ‘As ADONAI, God, lives’ because they will perish (44:24-26). The tone of this concession by the prophet is not unlike his concession to Hańaniah, when Jeremiah finally recognized that his argument was futile (28:6). Consequently, Yirmeyahu abandoned the Egyptian community to its own deathly choice, and will protest no longer.

After Jeremiah disassociated himself from the Jewish community, YHVH determined to do the same thing. For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed (44:27 CJB). Then ADONAI completely withdrew Himself from the Jews in Egypt. Thus God was not absent from that community, far worse; He was alive and attentive to work a terrible destiny for them. If they would change, He would have relented (18:8), but, alas, they would not.

Those who escape the sword and return (shuwb) to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant who came to live in Egypt, they will know whose word will stand – Mine or those women who make vows to the Queen of Heaven (44:28). Even though Jeremiah’s argument for the worship of YHVH and not the Queen of Heaven is more compelling than his opponents, they are at a stalemate. Each side operates from premises that the other side either cannot see or cannot afford to concede. Therefore, God will provide the Egyptian Jews with a sign.

This will be the sign of authentication to you that I will punish you in this place, declares the LORD, so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand. When you see the overthrow of Pharaoh Hophra you will know that it foreshadows your own doom. This is what ADONAI says: I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt (known as Apries in the Greek writings) into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him (44:29-30).

In 588 BC Hophra dispatched a military force to Jerusalem to protect it from Babylonian forces sent by Nebuchadnezzar. His forces were quickly defeated and the Babylonians destroyed Tziyon following an eighteen-month siege in 586 BC. His unsuccessful attempt to intervene in the politics of Judah was followed by a mutiny of soldiers from the strategically important Aswan garrison, which protected access up and down the Nile.

While the mutiny was contained, Hophra later attempted to protect Libya from incursions by Greek invaders but his efforts here backfired spectacularly as the Greeks battered his forces. When the defeated army returned home, a civil war broke out between the indigenous Egyptian army troops and foreign mercenaries in the Egyptian army. At this time of crisis, the Egyptians turned in support towards a victorious general, Amasis II who had led Egyptian forces in a highly successful invasion of Nubia in 592 BC under Pharaoh Psamtik II, Hophra’s father. Amasis quickly declared himself pharaoh in 570 BC and Hophra fled Egypt and sought refuge in another foreign country. When Hophra marched back to Egypt in 567 BC with the aid of a Babylonian army to reclaim the throne of Egypt, he was likely killed in battle with Amasis’ forces.

Jeremiah, then, was last heard from in Egypt where he presumably died.

The words of Jeremiah end here (51:64b). So ends our knowledge of Jeremiah’s earthly career. If previous calculations are correct, that his call came about 627 BC and that the flight to Egypt was about 581 BC, then the prophet could look back on more than forty years of seeming failure. He committed his cause to the future; posterity has vindicated him. The Queen of Heaven fills the pages of history books, but she does not live in the hearts of the faithful. And modern history-in-the-making forces upon us the grim truth that the nations of the world must live by the principles of Jeremiah . . . or perish.³⁷⁰

Nebuchadnezzar
Will Burn Down the Temples of the gods of Egypt
Jeremiah’s Tenth Symbolic Action
43: 1-13

Nebuchadnezzar will burn down the Temples of the gods of Egypt DIG: Why do you think the remnant did not listen to Jeremiah even after he had proved himself as a true prophet for over forty years? Were their actions surprising after all their seemingly sincere promises? Or could you tell that their minds were already made up? How so? Why would they accuse Baruch of manipulating Jeremiah? What do they think the Babylonians will do to them? Why might they suspect Yirmeyahu and Baruch are not afraid? What do you think Jeremiah’s and Baruch’s attitude was when Johanan took them captive on his faithless journey to Egypt? What was Egypt’s relationship with Babylon (Jeremiah 37:5; Second Kings 24:7)? How would Nebuchadnezzar interpret a flight to Egypt? What message did God give Jeremiah at the Egyptian border and why?

REFLECT: When in doubt about someone’s intentions, do you assume the best or the worst? Are you naturally trusting or skeptical? Has anyone ever doubted your integrity, as they did Jeremiah’s? Why? Do you prefer to “call the shots” in work situations? What do you find objectionable about “submitting” to someone? When was the last time you deliberately surrendered control? What happened? Have you ever obeyed ADONAI at a time when all your gut instincts said, “No?” What happened as a result of your obedience? Have you ever felt beyond God’s reach? Did YHVH reach out to you after all? How so? Do you know anyone who feels “out of touch” with God? How can you help?

Fulfilled 571 BC fifteen years after the fall of Yerushalayim

The one main point to the tenth symbolic action (what might be called a parable in action) is that those Jews who had hoped to escape from Nebuchadnezzar would find him right in the very city where they had chosen to settle.

The rejection: When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of ADONAI their God – everything the LORD had sent Him to tell them – Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other arrogant men said to Yirmeyahu, “You are lying! They didn’t even discuss it! Weren’t they listening? What did they think God’s prophet was going to say? Like the saying goes, “Denial is not a river in Egypt!” The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’ But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon” (43:1-3). Since Jeremiah was by now an old man, they accused him of falling under Baruch’s influence and expressing his views as a message from YHVH. To this charge Yirmeyahu did not even reply. It was no use. They were determined to follow their own evil desires and dissent was futile.

The journey into Egypt: Nearly two months had passed between the fall of Jerusalem and the assassination of Gedaliah. So Johanan and the army officers and all the people actively disobeyed the LORD’s command to stay in the land of Judah. Instead, Johanan and all the army officers lead away all the remnant of Judah who had come back (shuwb) to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan, commander of the imperial guard, had left with Gedaliah – the men, the women, the children and Zedekiah’s daughters (38:23 and 41:10). They all went willingly except for Jeremiah and Baruch. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. Then the Ruach ha-Kodesh inspired the human author Yirmeyahu to write a summary statement. So they entered Egypt in disobedience (shama) to ADONAI (Deuteronomy 42:7-22) and went as far as Tachpanches (43:4-7).

And now, at the end, even as Jeremiah was vindicated by the outcome of the events in Zion, he is once more abused, rejected, dishonored and powerless. Oy Vey! There can be no doubt that in the failure to listen to the prophet, the remnant failed to listen to the One who sent him. In the pursuit of life they had chosen death. They ended up where the story of Isra’el had begun, back in Egypt, back in bondage they misread as freedom.

Johanan had refused the LORD’s lifeline. The rescue that began with Moshe ended up in exhaustion, failure, defeat and despair. Yirmeyahu at the end, like Moses at the beginning, had labored mightily to preserve his people. For all his faithfulness, however, Jeremiah was ultimately defeated by delusional thinking of the remnant that he could not overcome. In the final analysis, not listening meant death.³⁶⁶

Jeremiah’s tenth, and last, symbolic action: In Tachpanches, where they had been forced to settle, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. He was still God’s prophet, and He said: While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tachpanches. This was not the royal palace, but a government building, or perhaps his own private residence when he visited Tachpanches in southern Egypt (43:8-9).

This was to be performed in the sight of the Jewish remnant. Then say to them, “This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar. I do believe he did eventually become a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Dani’el 3:23-20 and 4:28-37). Once again the king of Babylon is called My servant (27:6) because he carried out the LORD’s will and decree. Here the imperial might of Babylon and the resolve of YHVH converge. And I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy over and above them. He will come and attack Egypt (43:10-11a).

It is a daring thing to mention the name of Nebuchadnezzar in the throne room of Pharaoh. The mere utterance of this awesome name already minimizes the king of Egypt, for there is now another, more powerful name in the presence of which Pharaoh must account (see the commentary on Exodus Bc – Pharaoh as God and Upholder of Ma’at). Those stones represent Babylon’s future attack. The hidden stones, now brought into public display, will be the base of Nebuchadnezzar’s future throne in Egypt.

Those destined for death – to death!
Those destined for captivity – to captivity!
Those destined for the sword – to the sword!

Nebuchadnezzar, acting as God’s agent, will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. Tachpanches had a temple dedicated to Ra, the chief sun god of the Egyptian pantheon (43:12a). The gods of Egypt will be confiscated, not merely shown to be vulnerable, but ultimately powerless. The king of Babylon will possess the Egyptian gods and govern with authority.

As a shepherd picks his coat clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart (43:12b). A shepherd, living very close to the sheep, may get fleas and bugs and therefore must be shaken out. In the same way, the king will shake out the vermin of Egypt.

There, in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt (43:13). If the pro-Egypt group thought they could escape the long arm of Nebuchadnezzar they were completely wrong. He would merely conquer Egypt and control them from their new home. Flavius Josephus, the Jew turned Roman historian, tells us the rest of the story. “In the 23^rd year of Nebuchadnezzar (581 BC), he fell upon Egypt to overthrow it and he slew pharaoh that reigned and set up another. He took those Jews who were captive there and led them to Babylon, and such was the end of the nation of the Hebrews.”³⁶⁷ Jeremiah’s prophecies were fulfilled to the letter.

It is worth noting that nowhere in the prophecy are the Jewish fugitives mentioned. The larger threat against Egypt, however, does indeed touch the Jewish community in Egypt. On the one hand, this prophecy tells us that Egypt is no safe place to run to. It is a place of extreme danger, and the Judeans with Johanan went from the frying pan into the fire (Amos 5:19). One the other hand, Jeremiah prophesies that there is no place from which to hide from Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, God’s servant. Because YHVH governs the universe, the fleeing remnant must live in a Babylonian world. The mistake the Egyptian community of Jews makes is that they thought they could have God without Babylon. The fugitives had completely miscalculated. They stood under the threat made against the Egyptians, for it is with Egypt that they had placed their misinformed trust.³⁶⁸

The Flight to Egypt
41:16 to 42:22

The flight to Egypt DIG: Why are the army officers afraid, even though they had nothing to do with Gedaliah’s murder (Second Kings 25:25-26)? How might Nebuchadnezzar interpret their act? What were their options? Are the people sincere in seeking guidance from Jeremiah and ADONAI? Why ask Jeremiah if their minds were already made up? What do you suppose they were thinking about during the ten-day delay, waiting to hear from God? What do you think Jeremiah did during those ten days? What did the LORD tell them and why? What is wrong with the Jews following their natural instincts and fleeing to “safety?” Why would they want to live in Egypt anyway?

REFLECT: Think about what you have said this past week. When were your questions really statements? When were your statements really questions? Do you have trouble asking for what you really want or how you really feel? In your decision-making process this past week, at what point did you seek ADONAI’s counsel? Or the input of others? Did you really want their advice, or simply their blessing for what you had already made up your mind to do? Have you ever obeyed God’s Word at a time when your gut instinct was screaming, “No!” What was the result of your obedience? What is your experience with waiting on YHVH?

586 BC after Gedaliah’s assassination

For a long time, Jeremiah had made clear the only workable option for his people was to submit to Babylon. The three dominant figures of this story, Gedaliah, Ishma’el and Johanan, embody these policy options: Gedaliah was a Babylonian accommodator, Ishma’el was a fierce advocate for resistance and independence, and Johanan now opts for Egypt. While the flight to Egypt appears to be the most plausible option, Yirmeyahu, as we shall see, is unwavering in his pro-Babylonian insistence.

After the fall of Jerusalem the governorship of Gedaliah had been assassinated and the de facto leadership of the Jewish community (first with Ishma’el and then with Johanan) seems to have run out of options. It was exactly at that time that Yirmeyahu was invited back into the story. The last time we heard from the prophet, he said to Zedekiah: Obey God by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender . . . you will not escape from the king of Babylon and this City will be burned down (38:20-23). Now it was time for Jeremiah to state his message from YHVH, which again will seem too costly, and again will be rejected.³⁶⁴

The Flight to Egypt: The Land was in chaos and public life was in total disarray. Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishma’el had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam – the soldiers without weapons, women, children, eunuchs who took care of the daughters of the king taken by Ishma’el, and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon. The remnant went south from Gibeon, past Jerusalem that lay in ruins, and temporarily stopped at Geruth Kimham (a stopping place for caravans and their camels to stay overnight) near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt to escape the Babylonians (41:16-17). In other words, their minds were already made up about going to Egypt. So what happens in the next file (to see link click Gi – Nebuchadnezzar Will Burn Down the Temples of the gods of Egypt) was merely a hoax to what they had already decided to do in their hearts.

The reason – Johanan and his accomplices were afraid of the Babylonians because they had killed Gedaliah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar had appointed as governor over the Land (41:18). After the assassination, they suddenly became afraid of another invasion, another slaughter, and the possibility that they might end up as slaves in Babylon.

The Request of the Remnant: All the army officers, including Johanan and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah the prophet. It seems that Johanan was still the leader of the group because he is mentioned first. Apparently the next in line was Jezaniah, then all the people. They said to the prophet, “Please hear our petition and pray to ADONAI your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” Should we stay in the Land or go to Egypt (42:1-3)? But it was all just lip service. As so often happens, their desire was not really for guidance, but that God would bless the decision they had already made.

I have heard you, replied Jeremiah. I will certainly pray to ADONAI your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the LORD says and will keep nothing back from you. Nothing more. Nothing less. Then they made a mockery of a commitment. They said to Yirmeyahu, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything ADONAI your God sends you to tell us.” Then they go one step further. “Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey ADONAI our God” (42:4-6). Again this promise is false because they had already decided to go to Egypt (41:17). They are sure ADONAI will consign their decision in light of what they think will happen. Playing Holy Spirit can be a very dangerous thing to do, as they will find out.

God’s Word to the Remnant: God did not respond immediately. Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Yirmeyahu (42:7). This verse is very important for the insight it gives into the nature of the prophecy. God’s prophet does not confuse divine revelation with the desires of the heart, or the conclusions of his own personal judgment. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had to wait ten days. His waiting was not that his own mind might be made up, or to still the excitement among the people; for to prolong the suspense, especially when every hour seemed precious, would have been fatal to such an endeavor; nor yet in the hope that new circumstances might guide his decision. It was quite literally because he would not, could not, announce something that he did not know. It was an element in his prophetic gift that could clearly and sharply distinguish between objective and subjective, between the word of God and the thoughts and desires of his own heart.

So he called together Johanan and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest (42:8). The rhetoric of this speech, in the long tradition of Moshe, Joshua and Samuel, is a pattern of blessings and curses that were determined completely by covenant obedience (shema) or disobedience (lo’ shema).

There would be blessings for obedience. He said to them: This is what the LORD, the God of Isra’el, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: If you stay in the Land. This is the key statement in the entire speech, everything else flows from it. Then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented (see Cw – At the Potter’s House) concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you (meaning the fall of Jerusalem). YHVH now pines for good for Y’hudah, but His goodness will require obedient (shema) residence in the City. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares ADONAI, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. It is the mercy of the LORD that will make Babylon a merciful overlord, who will make living in the Land workable. I will show you mercy so that Nebuchadnezzar will have compassion on you and restore you to your Land (42:9-12). The essence of the message was this, “Do not go down to Egypt.”

However, there would be curses for disobedience. If you say, “We will not stay in this Land,” and so disobey the LORD your God, and if you say, “No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread without fear from Babylon,” then hear the word of ADONAI, you remnant of Judah (42:13-15a). Distance lends enchantment to the scene, and they conjured up a rosy picture of Egypt being peaceful and prosperous. None of which was true. The seduction of Egypt is the assumption that such “flight” would be an escape from punishment, threat, and curse. Egypt appears to this desperate, frightened community to be a peaceable place, where there is no threat of war and no famine. Egypt regularly offers itself as an escapist alternative, both from the troubles of the Land and from the dangers of Babylon.³⁶⁵

This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. What you fear in Judah will happen in Egypt! Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them. God will not be mocked and disobeyed. The flight to Egypt, which seemed like an escape, is in fact a sure death sentence. This is what ADONAI of heaven’s angelic armies, the God of Isra’el says: As My anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again (42:15b-18). No doubt the remnant thought that at some point they would return to their homeland. But Jeremiah’s prophecy rejects that notion. If they leave the Land, they will never come back.

Remnant of Judah, ADONAI has told you, “Do not go down to Egypt.” This was as strong and unambiguous as the prophet could be. It leaves nothing to the imagination. Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent Me to the LORD your God and said: Pray to ADONAI our God for us. Tell us everything He says and we will do it. I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed ADONAI your God in all He sent me to tell you. In reality, they had no intention of obeying YHVH unless He consigned on their desire to go to Egypt. So now, be sure of this: You have deceived yourselves if you think your plan of going down to Egypt will be looked upon favorably by God like you thought it would. Instead, you will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle (42:19-22). This is the standard list of covenant curses. The remnant would be under a death sentence for its decision.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (Second Timothy 4:3-4).

Gedaliah Assassinated
Jeremiah 40:7 to 41:15 and Second Kings 25:22-25

Gedaliah assassinated DIG: What were the surviving Israelites afraid of? Why did the Jewish refugees from the war return to Y’hudah? What are their alternatives? What was Ishma’el’s plan? Why would Baalis, king of the Ammonites, support the assassination plot? Why did Gedaliah find such a plot unbelievable? What is Gedaliah’s “fatal flaw?” Why did the eighty Samaritans come to Judah (Jeremiah 16:6-7)? Why did Ishma’el ambush them (41:7-8)? What political statement was made by filling King Asa’s cistern with the dead (First Kings 15:16-22)? To this day, Jews commemorate the assassination of Gedaliah with a day of fasting. Why do you think this event was so significant?

REFLECT: Do you think Gedaliah was right not to make a preemptive strike on Ishma’el? Why or why not? What else could he have done to protect himself? Are you a good judge of character? What kind of things influences your impressions? Have you ever seriously misjudged someone’s intentions towards you? Is there any situation in which you are tempted to take matters into your own hands and rid yourself of the person you can’t get along with? If running away from your problems or striking first doesn’t solve your problem, what does?

586 BC during Gedaliah’s three-month reign

This is a straightforward account of the brief and tragic history of Gedaliah’s reign as governor. What is most striking about this narrative is that Yirmeyahu is completely absent. Nothing is said in the story that leads to any theological interpretation. The narrative traces the tragic events after the fall of Jerusalem. One may conclude that the violence and chaos seen here are the residue of a civilization that had long imagined herself to be autonomous and free to do whatever she wanted.

Gedaliah’s rule in Mizpah: When all the Judean guerrilla leaders and their men who were still in the open country heard that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the Land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the Land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon, they met Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah 40:7). It is clear that Gedaliah came from one of the most powerful and respected families of Jerusalem politics. His grandfather Shaphan and his father Ahikam had taken positions sympathetic to Jeremiah. Gedaliah seemed to have been sober enough to be trusted by Babylon and stable enough to be trusted by his own people.

Gedaliah’s political position was tenuous and delicate. He and the other surviving Judeans were forced by circumstances to come to terms with the power of Babylon. They had been defeated and had no bargaining power. Zealots in such a situation quickly become irrelevant. The best course of action for Gedaliah was to cooperate with their occupiers, but be vigilant for the well-being and independence of the people. It seems reasonable that he sought to occupy this middle ground and was well respected among his people.

These verses portray the initial consolidation of Gedaliah’s authority. The military was in no position not to deal with him. They had no choice. When Gedaliah’s appointment as governor became known, various guerilla units in the field began to come to Gedaliah with their men to assess the situation. The various leaders were Ishma’el son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men (Jeremiah 40:8; Second Kings 25:22-23). Of these, the first named, Ishma’el and Johanan, will be the most prominent in the narrative to follow.

Gedaliah received the guerrilla leaders and outlined his policy. He took an oath to reassure them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. You will not be taken captive if you would submit to my authority, settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon.” Gedaliah said, “I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and olive oil, put them in your storage jars and live in the towns you have taken over (Jeremiah 40:9-10; Second Kings 25:24). Gedaliah assured them that he would not represent the Babylonians to the Jews, but that he would represent the Jews to the Babylonians. This showed his strength and resolve to be a faithful and independent agent over the Judean state that he had been chosen to lead. This hints at the suspicion with which he and his office must have faced.³⁶¹

When all the Jewish refugees in Moab, Ammon, Edom and all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed a Jew (and not a Babylonian), Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them, they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered. They accepted his authority and returned to a certain amount of normalcy, and harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit (Jeremiah 40:11-12). His moderate government was the best option available, though the arrangement must have been discouraging, even crushing, to those who had treasured memories of better days and who had unrealistic ambitions.

Gedaliah’s modest, moderate regime seemed to give concrete form to Jeremiah’s expectations. The prophet had avoided both bold independence and excessive subordination to Babylon. And Gedaliah seemed to strike the right balance. He was both prudent and pragmatic. This is what Jeremiah had been saying for years and years.

The warning to Gedaliah: Gedaliah’s government was not only fragile, but, as it turned out, short-lived. He had been appointed by the Babylonians and had visible support from Jeremiah. The people seemed to be on board, but there were political factions who were not. There were deeply felt ideological, partisan disagreements. Some felt he was too loyal to Babylon and smelled betrayal. Would he have succeeded if given the time? We’ll never know.

Johanan, a loyal supporter of Gedaliah, was the spokesman for all the army officers. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and said to him, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishma’el son of Nethaniah to take your life?” Gedaliah’s family were servants in the royal house of Zedekiah; now Ishma’el, who was of royal Jewish blood, was being asked (in his own twisted mind) to submit to someone who should be serving him! Perhaps he was only an opportunist. But it seems clear that Baalis must have gotten in Ishma’el’s ear about it and convinced him that Gedaliah’s death would benefit both of them.

But Gedaliah did not believe Johanan. Perhaps during this time of transition and consensus building, Gedaliah wanted to stand for unity and did not want to acknowledge division or vulnerability. He was a pragmatic man and did not act on whims. So this was more likely a calculated political judgment, one that had enormous implications for the future. The courage of Gedaliah and the political decision to disregard the known threat is not unlike the decision of President John F. Kennedy to go to Dallas in 1963, where he was murdered. He made a decision on political grounds, with full knowledge of the danger.

Then Johanan said privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael and no one will know it. Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?” Which was actually the effect of Gedaliah’s assassination. But Gedaliah made a political decision and said to Johanan, “Don’t do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishma’el is not true” and the offer was rejected (Jeremiah 40:13-16).

Ishma’el Assassinates Gedaliah: Baalis, king of Ammon, who resented the existence even of this small and feeble Jewish community, could not rest until he had dealt the final blow. Using Ishma’el of the defunct royal house as his tool, he had Gedaliah murdered. On Rosh Hashanah Ishma’el came to Gedaliah at Mizpah with ten men, ostensibly to celebrate the holiday with him. He was a descendent of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of Zedekiah’s officers (41:1a). Gedaliah completely misread the situation and underestimated Ishma’el. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the start of the Jewish New Year. Supposedly a new beginning. But Judah’s new beginning would be shortcut by this vicious act of a traitorous coward.

We are told two important things about Ishma’el. First, if this is the same Elishama of First Chronicles 3:8 and 14:7, Elishama was a son of King David. Secondly, he was of royal blood. So it would seem that Elishama was a descendant of King David, which would mean that Ishma’el was also a descendant of King David through Elishama. It was incredibly selfish that Ishma’el, knowing full well that the assassination of the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar might result in the destruction of the remnant of Judah, would nevertheless commit such an act of treason.

Gedaliah received them as guests and gave them hospitality. This made the subsequent crime all the more atrocious. But while they were eating together there, Ishma’el and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the Land. Ishma’el also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there (Jeremiah 41:1b-3; Second Kings 25:25). This was merely a footnote, as it were, to the tragedy.

The narrative portrays Ishma’el in the most ruthless and despicable terms possible. He violated the hospitality of Gedaliah. He exploited a friendly public gesture from the governor and, in complete dishonor, violated the Torah (see the commentary on Exodus Dp – You Shall Not Murder). Gedaliah was a noble man who stands in stark contrast to Ishma’el, who is presented as nothing more than a thug, albeit a royal thug. Gedaliah attempted to set up a new Judean government so the people could regain their balance, but he had no chance. There was still active (though unrealistic) political opinion that believed Babylonian power could be thwarted even though Nebuchadnezzar’s boot was on their collective necks. The same unrealistic judgment that had earlier troubled Yirmeyahu so much had now destroyed a prudent and pragmatic response to the Babylonian reality. Consequently, Gedaliah’s brief effort at governance ended in a bloodbath.

The fast of Gedaliah is still celebrated by Jews today on the third day of the seventh month. The day after Rosh Hashanah is a public fast day in memory of Gedaliah’s tragic death and its disastrous aftermath. We fast every year on the third of Tishrei. If the third of Tishrei falls on Shabbat, the fast is postponed to the fourth of Tishrei. Like other “minor” fasts, it begins at dawn (alot hashachar) and ends at sunset. During the morning services, it is customary to add special penitential prayers (selichot). During both morning and afternoon prayers, the Torah is taken out of the ark and the portion of Exodus 32:11-14 and 34:1-10 in which YHVH forgives Isra’el for the sin of the golden calf is read. During the afternoon prayers, a haftorah is read from Isaiah 55:6 to 56:8. As it is written in Zechariah 8:19, Tzom Gedaliah is one of the four fasts that will be converted to joy and feasting with the arrival of Meshiach. May it happen soon.

Ishma’el, however, was not yet finished with his violence. He was an eager, ruthless man . . . and an increasingly desperate one. The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it, eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain offerings (see the commentary on Exodus Ff – The Grain Offering) and incense with them to the house of the LORD (41:4-5). Their visit reflected the continuing power and attraction of Jerusalem, even for those from the northern Kingdom. They came with good intentions and in innocence. They only knew of the Babylonian destruction of Yerushalayim, and they had come to grieve the wound of the City because they had shaved off their beards and torn their clothes. That gesture of solidarity, however, was ruthlessly exploited by Ishma’el.

However pious they were, it was obvious that they had been adversely affected by the Assyrian cult in the northern Kingdom because they cut themselves, which was a direct violation of the Torah (Leviticus 19:28, 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1). They were bringing offerings to what was left of the Temple. Perhaps they took him by surprise. Perhaps Ishma’el wanted to keep the assassination of Gedaliah secret for as long as possible. In any case, their innocent, good intentions contrast with Ishma’el’s vile, negative intent.

The good intentions of the pilgrims contrast sharply with Ishma’el’s violence. He must have seen dust rising from a distance from their procession. He went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went, pretending to also be in mourning. When he met them, he said: Come to Gedaliah to pay your respects. When they went into Mizpah, Ishma’el and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern (41:6-7). These eighty men must have been unarmed for so small a force to overtake and kill them. It is quite clear that Ishma’el would stop at nothing to secure what he wanted.

But ten of them were able to bribe their way out of certain death. They said to Ishma’el, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.” It is a common custom in the Near East to use wells or cisterns for grain. In them the farmers store their crops of all kinds after the grain is threshed and winnowed. These cisterns are cool, perfectly dry and airtight. The top is hermetically sealed with plaster and covered with a deep layer of dirt. So for the sake of their food he let them alone and did not kill them with the others (Jeremiah 41:8).

Now the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa of Judah had made as part of his defense against King Baasha of Isra’el. Ishmael filled it with the innocent dead (Jeremiah 41:9). When these two men were kings they battled each other constantly (First Kings 15:16-22; Second Chronicles 16:1-6), and King Asa built this cistern to be able to withstand a siege from King Baasha. In their death, Ishma’el had killed off whatever chance there may have been for some measure of Jewish autonomy from Babylon’s authority.³⁶²

Ishma’el made captives of all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah – including Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch, Zedekiah’s daughters (38:23 and 43:6) along with all the others who were left there, over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed Gedaliah. Ishma’el took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites (41:10). The intent of Ishma’el was to take his captives over to his co-conspirator, Baalis, king of Ammon as hostages. In all probability those captives were to be sold as slaves to the Ammonites. Ishma’el would have become rich from the sale and was obviously doing it for material gain.

Ishma’el’s moment in the narrative is brief and ugly. He completed the devastation brought about by Nebuchadnezzar. It was as though he wanted to save Jerusalem from Babylon by destroying her. It was ironic that his misguided intervention was the last gasping measure of the old dynastic ideology that Yirmeyahu had for so long refuted.³⁶³

Johanan’s Response: With the death of Gedaliah, Johanan then emerged as a central figure to counter Ishma’el. When Johanan and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishma’el had committed, they took all their men and went to fight Ishma’el. They caught up with him near the great pool in Gibeon (Second Samuel 2:12-16), which is about a mile south of Mizpah. When all the people Ishma’el had taken with him by force saw Johanan and the army officers who were with him, they were overjoyed. All the people Ishma’el had taken captive at Mizpah turned (shuwb) and escaped over to Johanan (41:11-14). They perceived him as their savior and rescuer. He did not kill Ishma’el, but he did end his moment of terror.

But Ishma’el and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites, never to be heard from again (41:15). In the Jewish calendar of feasts, Rosh Hashanah leads to Yom Kippur, a day of judgment (Yom Ha’Din) and remembrance (Yom Ha’Zikkaron). Ishma’el slaughtered Gedaliah on Rosh Hashanah, and just as assuredly as Yom Kippur follows Rosh Hashanah, Ishma’el’s judgment found him in Ammon. Just as Gedaliah is remembered each year on the day after Rosh Hashanah with a fast, Ishma’el is forgotten.