The Prophet Jeremiah

Study By David Malick:  
  

I. Introduction:

Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, is introduced as a prophet called from the womb by the Lord to prophesy the Lord’s words of judgment and restoration from the reign of Josiah until the captivity of Judah even through the people will resist him 1:1-19 

A. Preface to the Book of Jeremiah:

This book contains the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, which were communicated by the Lord to him from the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign (627/6 B.C.), through the eleventh year of Zedekiah until the exile of Judah in the fifth month4 1:1-3

B. Call and Commission of Jeremiah: 

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the nations before his birth and encouraged to speak His words of judgment and restoration even through the people will resist him 1:4-19

1. Call of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah was chosen by the Lord before his birth to be a prophet of his words to the nations and is encouraged to speak his words of judgment and restoration 1:4-10

2. The Clarification of Jeremiah’s Call: 

Through two visions Jeremiah is told of coming judgment for Judah which the people will resist, but which the Lord will bring to pass 1:11-19

a. Two Visions: 1:11-16

The Rod of the Almond Tree--The Lord is Watching to Do His Word:6 1:11-12

A Boiling Pot--Coming Judgment by the Nations from the North: 1:13-16

b. Charge to Jeremiah: Jeremiah is urged to gird himself up and to begin prophesying with the knowledge that even though he will be resisted, God’s promises will prevail 1:17-19

I I. Prophecies to the Nation - Judah: 

Through a series of messages and historical illustrations Jeremiah demonstrated the rebellious character of Judah and which explained his prophesies of her coming judgment under the hand of Babylon also noting that she will be delivered one day by the Lord 2:1--45:5

A. Ten Messages of Judgment:

Ten Messages of Judgment upon Judah’s Kings and False Prophets so that They Might Repent:

Through a series of ten messages, Jeremiah exposes the disobedience of the people of Judah and pronounces necessary judgment as a consequence for them and the nations of the world as they refuse to head the word of Yahweh 2:1-25:38

1. Message One: 

Israel is accused of breaking the covenant by forsaking God and trusting in idols 2:1-3:5

a. The Nations Israel’s Past Love: 2:1-13

Introduction: 2:1

Yahweh’s separation of Israel to Him at the Exodus: 2:2-3

Israel’s Forgetfulness of Her Love for Yahweh when She Entered the Land: 2:4-8

Yahweh’s Charge against Israel--Doubly Guilty: 2:9-13

b. Israel, the Unfaithful Wife Will Be Judged 2:14-3:5

Object Lesson of the Northern Kingdom whose Sin Brought Her into Captivity: 2:14-19

Judah’s Spiritual Idolatry Is a Stain that Will Not Go Away: 2:20-25

Judah Will Be Ashamed when Judgment Comes: 2:26-28

Judgment Will Come: 2:29-37

A Plea For Judah to Repent from the Heart: 3:1-5

2. Message Two:

Judah will be judged due to its rejection of Yahweh and its refusal to repent: 3:6-6:30

a. God Calls His People to Repent: 3:6-4:4

b. God’s Wrath Will Come upon Judah and Jerusalem: 4:5-31

c. The Destruction of Jerusalem Will Come because It Has Turned Away from God: 5:1-31

d. The Complete Rejection of the Lord by the People Requires Judgment: 6:1-20

3. Message Three: 

Ritual will not save Judah, only Yahweh can save her; man’s foolishness leads to judgment9 7:1-10:25

a. The Temple Address--Salvation Will Not Come through Ritual: 7:1-8:3

The False Trust of the Nation: 7:1-28

Jeremiah’s Lament for Judah: 7:29-8:3

b. Salvation Will Not Come through Man’s Foolishness: 8:4-9:22

Apostasy only Leads to National Destruction 8:4-9:1

Man’s Foolishness Leads to Destruction: 9:2-22

c. Idol Worship vs. the Wisdom of the True God: 9:23-10:25

The Wisdom of Knowing the Lord: 9:23-26

Foolishness (idols) vs. Wisdom (true God): 10:1-25

4. Message Four: 

Rebellion against Yahweh leads to judgment, but God will restore His people and the nations will praise Yahweh 11:1-12:17

a. The Conspiracy against the Covenant: 11:1-17

b. The Conspiracy against Jeremiah: 11:18-12:17

The Plot: 11:18-23

Jeremiah’s Complaint: 12:1-4

God’s Response: 12:5-17

5. Message Five: 

Jeremiah gives five warnings to Judah of judgment due to pride which reveal Israel’s idolatrous character: 13:1-27

a. The Loincloth--Idolatry Brings Certain Ruin: 13:1-11

b. The Wine Jugs--God’s Wrath Will Fill the People: 13:12-14

c. The Warning against Pride: 13:15-17

d. The Warning to Rulers: 13:18-19

e. The Warning that Sin Brings Punishment: 13:20-27

6. Message Six: 

Judgment will come because of self-trust instead of faith in Yahweh, and God is asked to remember the covenant 14:1-17:27

a. The Lord Does Not Allow Jeremiah to Intercede for Judah 14:1-15:9

Jeremiah’s Petition for Deliverance 14:1-9

In a Discussion between the Lord and Jeremiah, the prophet asks the Lord to remember the covenant relationship 14:10-22

The Lord Tells Jeremiah of Certain Coming Judgment 15:1-9

b. The Lord Deals with Jeremiah by Proclaiming His Purpose for Him, Proclaiming Him is a Living Symbol of Judah’s Coming Judgment, and Proclaiming His Ultimate Plan of Restoration for the Nation: 16:1-21

c. The Lord Proclaims that the Consequences for Judah’s Sin of Idolatry Is to Serve the gods, Causing Jeremiah to Pray for Salvation and Justice 17:1-27

7. Message Seven: 

Since God is sovereign, the nation is to submit to His way--judgment is coming 18:1-20:18

a. God is Sovereign like a Potter with Clay: 18:1-23

b. The Destruction of the Nation Will Be Like the Breaking of an Earthen Vessel: 19:1-20:18

8. Message Eight: 

Jeremiah emphasizes that the city is going to be judged by God and their is no way out, so to be in God’s will, they must leave the land 21:1-14

a. Zedekiah Requests Mercy in His Time of Trouble: 21:1-2

b. Jeremiah Affirms that the Lord is at War with Jerusalem: 21:3-5

c. Jeremiah Urges the Nation to Surrender to Babylon or to Fight and Die: 21:8-10

d. Jeremiah Urges the House of David to Obey God’s Law 21:11-14

9. Message Nine: 

Jeremiah affirms that the wicked leaders (kings, lying prophets) are leading the people astray, but that the good shepherd gathers the people resulting in the principle that obedience leads to blessing, but disobedience leads to cursing 22:1--24:10

a. A Warning to the Wicked Kings: 22:1-30

An Exhortation to Zedekiah: 22:1-9

The Destiny of Shallum (Jehoahaz): 22:10-12

The Curse from Jehoiakim’s Evil: 22:13-23

The Destiny/Curse of Coniah (Jehoiachin): 22:24-30

b. The Work of the Good Shepherd--The Righteous Branch:10 23:1-8

c. Prophesy against the Wicked Prophets: 23:9-40

d. The Symbol of the Two Baskets of Figs Speaks of the Good Who Will Be Regathered and the Bad who Will Not: 24:1-10

10. Message Ten:

Judgment is certain from Judah to the whole world because there is a refusal to head the word of God 25:1-38

a. The Refusal to the People to Listen: 25:1-7

b. Judgment from Nebuchadnezzar (“my servant”) because the People Refuse to Head the Word: 25:8-11

c. Hope--A Seventy Year Captivity Only: 25:12-14

d. Judgment upon the Whole World: 25:15-38

I I I. The Opposition which Jeremiah Faced Due to His Messages:

The ten messages of judgment are vindicated through the hostile opposition which Jeremiah received from the religious leaders to his true messages 26:1--29:32

A. Consequences of the Temple Address: 

When Jeremiah spoke a message at the temple of repentance or necessary judgment, the priests and false prophets wanted his death, but he was spared 26:1-24

1. The Death Penalty Is Demanded for Jeremiah: 26:7-11

2. Jeremiah’s Defense--He is from the Lord: 26:12-15

3. The Verdict--Confirmation: 26:16-19

4. Unlike Uriah, Jeremiah was Spared from Death: 26:20-24

B. The Yoke of Babylon: 

Jeremiah exhorted the foreign countries, Zedekiah, and the people to submit to Babylon for life, otherwise they would die 27:1-22

1. Hananiah vs. Jeremiah: 

Jeremiah rebuked Hananiah’s prophecy by affirming that Hananiah’s act of breaking the yoke will cause a harsher bondage, and by prophesying and authenticating Hananiah’s death 28:1-17

2. Jeremiah’s Letters to the Exiles: 

When Shemaiah opposes Jeremiah’s open letter to the exiles concerning conduct et cetera, Jeremiah predicts Shemaiah’s death as a sign to the people 29:1-32

a. Setting--When the Upper Middle Class Had Been Taken into Captivity in Babylon (597 B.C.) 29:1-3

b. Jeremiah’s Open Letter to the Exiles: 29:4-23

Concerning Their Conduct: 29:4-23

Concerning the Lord’s Promise:13 29:10-14

Concerning Those Left in Jerusalem: 29:15-20

Concerning False Prophets among Them: 29:21-23

c. The Reaction to the Letter: 29:24-32

Negative - Shemaiah: 29:24-28

Another Letter From Jeremiah: 29:29-32

I V. Messages of Consolation to Judah:

Jeremiah confirms for Judah that although she will go into captivity that the Lord will yet fulfill His promises to her through direct affirmation, prophesying of a new exodus, a new covenant, buying property in the land, and predicting the restoration of the Davidic line 30:1--33:26

A. Punishment and Restoration: 

Although Judah was punished for her sin, the Lord promised to restore her, punish her enemies and restore Jerusalem 30:1-24

B. A New Exodus: 

The Lord promises to restore Israel to the land in a new exodus experience at the right time 31:1-22

1. Israel Will Be Restored: 31:1-6

2. Israel Will Return to Her Land in a New Exodus Experience: 31:7-14

3. Comfort for Israel as She Weeps over Those Who Have Been Deported: 31:15-20

4. Exhortation to Return to the Land at the Proper Time: 31:21-22

C. A New Covenant: 

The Lord will restore a unified nation which will flourish under a new covenant and be holy to the Lord 31:23-40

1. A Restoration Under the Lord’s Blessing: 31:23-26

b. Flourishing Physically and Morally: 31:27-30

c. Under a New Covenant: 31:31-34

d. Certainty of Restoration: 31:35-37

e. The Restoration Period: 31:38-40

D. Buying a Field: 

Jeremiah demonstrated his faith in Yahweh to restore the people to the land by buying a field affirming that the sovereign God will judge and restore 32:1-44

1. Setting:

Jeremiah is in Prison for Proclaiming that Zedekiah and the Nation would go into exile 32:1-5

2. An Illustration:

Jeremiah buys a field proclaiming that there will be a restoration 32:6-15

3. Jeremiah praises the Lord

When Jeremiah praises the Lord and yet asks “why” about the nation’s situation, he is told that the Lord will sovereignly give the nation over to Babylon and then will sovereignly restore the nation from captivity 32:16-44

E. Covenant Promises: 

Jeremiah affirms that God will keep his promises by restoring for unified Israel the people, the land, and the Davidic line 33:1-26

1. A Restoration of the People: 33:1-8

2. A Restoration of the Land: 33:9-13

3. A Restoration of the Davidic Line: 33:14-26

V. A Display of Judah’s Disobedience 

A Display of Judah’s Disobedience which Qualified them for Judgment:15 In spite of the words of consolation which preceded this unit, Jeremiah demonstrated the necessity of judgment upon Judah because her kings, unlike the Recabites, disobey God 34:1--36:32

A. Disobedience

Zedekiah and the Mistreated Slaves: When Zedekiah and the people took back the slaves which they had let go, they broke the covenant with Yahweh and were given over to Babylon 34:1-22

1. Setting: 

Babylon was getting ready to attack the city when the Lord told Zedekiah through Jeremiah that Jerusalem would fall and he would not die but be deported and then die of natural causes 34:1-7

2. The Broken Oath of Release:

Zedekiah convinced the people to enter into covenant and release their Hebrew slaves, but then they took them back into slavery 34:8-11

3. The Lord’s Response: 

After restating His commands after the Exodus about releasing slaves every seven years, and seeing the duplicity of Judah, he decided to “release” the nation into the hand of Babylon 34:17-22

B. Obedience

The Rechabites Not Drinking:17 The Rechabites became an example to Judah through their obedience in not drinking wine and were established 35:1-19

1. A Test by the Lord: 

The Lord had Jeremiah test the Recabites by trying to get them drunk, but they refused and continued in their obedience to the Lord

2. An Example to Judah:

Judah should obey the Lord just as the Rechabites did their founding fathers, but judgment is coming for disobedience 35:14-16

3. The Rechabites are promised a line that continues 35:18-19

A. Disobedience

Jehoiakim’s Destruction of God’s Word: When Jeremiah and Baruch wrote a scroll so that Judah would turn to Yahweh, Jehoiakim destroyed it, so it was rewritten and Jehoiakim was cut off 36:1-32

1. The Writing of the First Scroll: 36:1-7

2. The Reading of the Scroll: 36:8-9

3. Jehoiakim’s Burning of the Scroll: 36:20-26


4. The Writing of the Second Scroll: 36:27-32

V I. The Final Days of Jerusalem 

The Final Days of Jerusalem Up To and Including Its Fall to Babylon:18 When Zedekiah opposed Jeremiah’s exhortations to surrender to Babylon, Jerusalem fell causing the people to be deported and the city to be destroyed, but Jeremiah was protected and Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, was spared for trusting in the Lord 37:1--39:18

A. Zedekiah’s Opposition to Jeremiah: 

When Zedekiah opposed Jeremiah, threw him into prison, and refused to surrender to Babylon during the siege of Jerusalem, Jerusalem was taken by Babylon 37:1--38:15

1. Setting: 

a. Egypt has pushed Babylon back for a time from Palestine, so Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to pray for the nation 37:1-5

b. Jeremiah Prophecies a Babylonian Victory: 37:6-10

c. Jeremiah Is Imprisoned for Being Anti-nationalistic: 37:11-16

d. When Zedekiah asks for a word from the Lord from Jeremiah, he is told that Babylon will be victorious and Jeremiah asks not to be placed back in prison, whereupon he is placed in the court of the guardhouse 37:17-21

e. Jeremiah is Placed in Prison Again for Speaking of Destruction by Babylon: 38:1-6

f. Ebed-Melech receives permission from Zedekiah to rescue Jeremiah from the cistern and place him again in the court of the guardhouse 38:7-13

g. Zedekiah Speaks Again with Jeremiah and Babylonian Judgment is confirmed: 34:14-26

h. Jeremiah Does Not Tell of His Conversation with the King and Remains in the Guardhouse until the Fall of Jerusalem 38:27-28

B. The Fall of Jerusalem:

With the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon the king and people were deported, Jerusalem was destroyed, Jeremiah was protected, and Ebed-melech was spared for trusting the Lord 39:1-18

1. A Summary of the Fall of Jerusalem: 39:1-3

2. The Deportation Zedekiah after His Attempted Escape: 39:4-10

3. The Destruction of Jerusalem: 39:8

4. The Taking of Most People to Babylon: 39:9

e. The Poor Are Left in the Land: 39:10

f. Jeremiah is Protected by Nebuchadnezzar: 39:11-14

g. Ebed-melech is Protected for His Faithful Saving of Jeremiah: 39:15-18

F. The Rebellious Activity 

The Rebellious Activity of Those Left in Jerusalem after the Fall of the City to Babylon:20 40:1--44:30

1. Death of Gedaliah: 

Palestine was politically unstable with Ishmael’s assassination of Gedaliah and the captivity of the people, but Johanan, the son of Kareah, freed the people while Ishmael escaped to Ammon and the remnant under Johanan fled to Egypt 40:1--41:18

a. Jeremiah Remained in the Land:21 40:1-6

b. The People in the Land Gathered around Gedaliah:22 40:7-12

c. The Assassination of Gedaliah and Its Consequences: 40:13--41:18

The Plot: 40:13-16

The Assassination: 41:1-3

Ishmael Takes the People Captive:23 41:4-10

Release of the Captives by Johanan: 41:11-18

2. The Flight to Egypt:

Out of fear of Babylon’s reprisal, Johanan and the people desired to go to Egypt, but the Lord told Jeremiah that they should not flee; nevertheless, they disobeyed and went to Egypt where Babylon would soon come to conquer 42:1-43:13

a. Jeremiah was Asked about Fleeing to Egypt, and Gave God’s Warning against It: 42:1-22

b. The People Went to Egypt which Babylon Would Soon Control: 43:1-13

People Fled to Egypt: 43:1-7

An Object Lesson from the Lord about Babylon’s Soon Control of Egypt: 43:10-13

3. Jeremiah prophesied against the People in Egypt:

Jeremiah confronted the refugees in Egypt and rebuked them for their evil deeds, but the people worshiped idols and Jeremiah prophesied destruction 44:1-30

a. Jeremiah’s Message: Jeremiah reminds the people of their past experiences due to disobedience, their present sinful activities and God’s future judgment of the wicked 44:1-14

b. The People’s Response Was to Honor Their Other gods for Prosperity: 44:15-19

c. Jeremiah’s Response: Jeremiah Responded by exposing their wrong thinking, foretelling future judgment, and proclaiming that a sign will be in the death of the current Pharaoh at the hand of the Babylon 44:29-30

G. The Lord’s Message to Baruch:

The Lord gave a message of encouragement to Baruch that although Judah would fall, he would be kept safe 45:1-5

1. Setting (605/4 B.C.): 45:1

2. Introduction: A Word from God to Baruch: 45:2

3. Baruch Was Depressed: 45:3

4. The Lord’s Response: 45:4-5

a. The Nation Will Fall Soon: 45:4

b. Do Not Seek Self Recognition: 45:5a

c. You Will Be Kept Safe: 45:5b

V I I. Prophecies of Judgment to the Nations: 

Jeremiah prophesied nine messages of judgment against the nations who were located in an Arch from South-West to North West, and down to South-East to Encourage Judah:26 46:1--51:64. This unit provides that which came to Jeremiah through the word of the Lord about the nations 46:1 

A. Message One:

Message One against Egypt:27 The defeat of Egypt by Babylon is prophesied as judgment by God, and comfort is given to Judah in Egypt (regathered) 46:2-28

1. The Defeat of Egypt at Carchemish (605 B.C.): 46:1-12

2. The Defeat of the Land of Egypt: 46:13-26

3. Comfort for the People from Judah in Egypt

They Will Be Regathered and Restored: 46:27-28

B. Message Two:

Message Two against Philistia: Jeremiah prophesied against Philistia that she will be destroyed in judgment from God causing the nations to mourn 47:1-7

1. Introduction: 47:1

2. Conquest: 47:2-4

3. Results of Conquest: 47:5-7

C. Message Three

Message Three against Moab:28 Jeremiah prophesied against Moab because of its pride and false worship, but there is a promise of restoration in the latter days 48:1-47

1. The Destruction of the Nation: 48:1-10

2. Moab’s Complacency Will End: 48:11-15

3. Judgment Will Come Suddenly: 48:16-20

4. The Cities of Moab Will Fall: 48:21-25

5. Moab’s False Worship Will Fall: 48:26-35

6. A Lament for Moab: 48:36-39

7. A Complete Destruction of Moab: 48:40-46

8. *A Promise of Restoration for Moab: 48:47

D. Message Four:

Message Four against Ammon: Jeremiah prophesied against Ammon that judgment would come because they caused false worship in Israel, but restoration is promised 49:1-6

1. Caused False Worship in Israel: 49:1

2. Israel Will Control Ammon: 49:2

3. Destruction Will Come: 49:3-5

4. *A Promise of Restoration: 49:6

E. Message Five:

Message Five against Edom: Jeremiah prophesied judgment against Edom affirming that in arrogance they do not realize it, but judgment and exile are coming 49:7-22

1. Judgment Will Come: 49:7-13

2. Arrogance Prohibits Their Realization of Judgment Coming: 49:14-19

3. Destruction and Exile Are Coming: 49:20-22 

F. Message Six:

Message Six against Damascus: Jeremiah prophesied judgment against Damascus affirming that it will become helpless and fall 49:23-27 

G. Message Seven:

Message Seven against Kedar & Hazor:29 Jeremiah prophesied judgment against Kedar and Hazor affirming that these places will remain desolate 49:28-33 

H. Message Eight:

Message Eight against Elam: Jeremiah prophesied judgment against Elam affirming that it would be destroyed, but there is a promise of restoration 49:34-39

1. Introduction: A Prophecy at the Beginning of the Reign of Zedekiah (597 B.C.) 49:34

2. Elam Will Be Destroyed: 49:35-38

3. A Promise of Restoration: 49:39 

I. Message Nine:

Message Nine against Babylon: Jeremiah prophesied judgment against Babylon because of its arrogant attitude, and Israel will return home 50:1--51:64

1. Babylon’s Fall Will Mean Deliverance for Judah: 50:1-20

2. Judgment and Condemnation upon Babylon: 50:21-46

3. A Sovereign Shift of Political Power (the Medes): 51:1-19

4. The Final Fate of Babylon--Destruction: 50:20-33

5. Babylon’s Destruction for Destroying Judah: 51:34-40

6. The Lord’s Destruction of Babylon: 51:41-58

7. Jeremiah’s Instructions to Seraiah:

Jeremiah’s Instructions to Seraiah to take the scroll with the judgments upon Babylon, to read it there and to symbolize its destruction by throwing the scroll into the Euphrates River 51:63-64

V I I I. The “Confessions” of Jeremiah

Study by zachbardon (see site below) 

A. Introduction

Scholars have identified several passages in Jeremiah that can be understood as “confessions;” they occur in the first section of the book (chapters 1-25) and are 11.18-12.6, 15.10-21, 17.14-18, 18.18-23, and 20.7-18. In these passages, Jeremiah expresses his discontent with the message he is to deliver, but also his steadfast commitment to the divine call despite the fact that he had not sought it out. Additionally, in several of these “confessions,” Jeremiah prays that the Lord will avenge his persecutor (for example, see Jeremiah 12.3).

Jeremiah’s “confessions” are a type of individual lament. Such laments are found elsewhere in the psalms and the book of Job. Like Job, Jeremiah curses the day of his birth (Jer. 20.14-18 and Job 3.3-10). Likewise, Jeremiah’s exclamation “For I hear the whispering of many: Terror is all around!” (Jer. 20.10) matches Psalm 31.13 exactly. However, Jeremiah’s laments are made unique by his insistence that he has been called by Yahweh to deliver his messages. These laments that are attributed to Jeremiah “provide a unique look at the prophet's inner struggle with faith, persecution, and human suffering”

B. Confession 1 11:18-23

The way Jeremiah now reads, this passage is the first of Jeremiah's confessions, the first of several heartfelt passages throughout the book where, speaking in first person, he presents his case to Yahweh. Here Yahweh has evidently revealed to Jeremiah (through some means or another) a plot against the prophet's life. This is quite possibly the first major threat to Jeremiah's life, and it brings with it a great insult. These were "men of Anathoth" plotting against Jeremiah, and Anathoth was Jeremiah's hometown! And, as J. A. Thompson points out, "for any man of Israel, rejection by his society was a great grief."

Moreover, these men make reference to destroying the "tree and its fruit," so that "his name be remembered no more." They no doubt meant that since Jeremiah had yet to marry and have offspring, by killing him they would end his line, which Thompson rightly calls "a tragic end for a man of Israel, for whom descendents demonstrated the divine blessing on his life."

The people of Anathoth must have found Jeremiah's prophecies appalling and embarrassing to resort to murder. Because he prophesied the words of Yahweh, he was a disgrace to his home. "Little wonder," says Thompson, "that he fled to God in dismay and despair. As far as he was concerned, Yahwah was the reason he faced this problem; it was therefore Yahweh's responsibility to resolve the problem.

We see here the establishment of what we are going to call the "whining" theme. Jeremiah feels victimized and downtrodden, an unfair recipient of the injustice of the wicked, due entirely to his faithfulness in proclaiming the word of the Lord. The Lord, therefore, ought to turn the tables and deliver justice. And, in this case, he is probably afraid. If home is not safe, where is?

Yet, as in Job and some of the Psalms, we see a full confidence in God's ability to render justice. The very fact that he beseeches God, "let me see your vengeance upon them" indicates that he knows Yahweh is able to exact that vengeance. Jeremiah displays a confidence that has been slightly rattled, like a child when someone tells him something other than what his parents taught him. The child goes to his parents and says "isn't it so? Bob said it wasn't so, go tell him it's so." Reality is showing Jeremiah a different concept of justice than the concept he had believed God upheld, so he goes to God and says, "Aren't you just? Those men are wicked. Well?"

In this first of Jeremiah's laments, God gives a response that Thompson calls "decisive," one that must have satisfied Jeremiah's longing for certain justice. God assures Jeremiah of justice, promising a severe punishment for these wicked men, remarkably strong in its thoroughness. Yahweh very rarely punishes so completely.

When He says "Not even a remnant will be left," this is serious stuff.

C. Confession 2 12:1-6

The occasion of this lament is unsure. Perhaps Jeremiah was feeling overwhelmed, perhaps he was impatient with God's apparently delayed justice, or perhaps he was just whining (again) about his mistreatment. Most likely it was not a specific event, but rather the culmination of Jeremiah's observations on the sad unfairness of life. In any event, its premise fundamentally addresses the problem of theodicy: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do the faithless live at ease?" Jeremiah addresses a problem with the world that believers in God must address even today -- sometimes the wicked flourish, while the righteous are downtrodden, yet God promises justice. "Instead of the wicked," writes Thompson, "it was Jeremiah, the man called by God and the faithful servant of God, who was suffering."

Jeremiah minces no words, bringing his "case" (legal terminology) before God, and requesting that God "drag them [the wicked] off like sheep to be butchered!" The "lamb to the slaughter" simile shows up again, but this time as an ideal for the fate of the wicked. Perhaps Jeremiah wanted lex talionis, an eye for an eye, and since the wicked had made him the helpless lamb, he felt God ought to do the same to them.

The tone of this lament seems a little more impatient. Certainly the words are strong, addressing God as though He were not holding up His end. In v. 1 Jeremiah displays again his love of justice, which may have been strengthened by the apparent dearth of said justice. Consistent with his love of justice is his focus on true worship; he is truly upset by fakes. Jeremiah points out false worship (cf. his well-known "temple sermon"), saying "You are always on their lips | But far from their hearts." This alone was enough, in Jeremiah's view, for them to be punished.

We must here mention that an Old Testament mindset pays little attention to an afterlife. When Jeremiah beseeched God for justice, he was not asking for a "final judgement" after the end of his life, or the world. He did not have a modern Christian's assurance of such a final judgement. Justice in his day was much more immediate. The Proverbs are full of this practical justice -- live righteously, and your life on Earth will be blessed. When the wicked were flourishing, this was seen as a serious problem in God's application of justice, and Jeremiah felt that God's reputation was at stake, and He ought to do something about it.

It is almost endearing how Jeremiah points out to God, "Moreover, the people are saying, 'He will not see what happens to us.'" This seems like a strong hint that God ought to show them that He does see, that He is in fact the all-seeing all-powerful God in which Jeremiah has placed confidence.

Now let us examine God's response. His response here is very different from His response to Jeremiah's first lament, and I'm sure Jeremiah found it very unsatisfactory. In God's first response, He promises the utter destruction of the wicked. This time He doesn't mention the wicked at all, instead merely gives Jeremiah a warning. "It will get worse," He basically says, "so quit whining and buck up." Thompson describes God's response as "vigorous metaphors," and is eloquent in describing the first of them:

The first metaphor is concerned with athletic prowess. If running a footrace had worn the prophet out, how would he hope to vie with horses? In this context running with men seems to refer to Jeremiah's encounters with other prophets. The other prophets, false prophets in Jeremiah's eyes, seem to have given him a 'good run' and to have provided strong opposition. But he had yet to compete with horses.

Interestingly, God never mentions the wicked, while his first response was entirely assurance of the wicked impending judgment. We might suggest, reading between the lines, that God had given Jeremiah assurance and the prophet did not need further reassurance; God's earlier word must still stand. "God's words to Jeremiah," observes Thompson, "were a warning to him both to be on his guard and to prepare for more severe trials yet to come."In human terms, this is an unsatisfactory response, because it doesn't answer the question asked.

But it does show a parental concern for the prophet, warning him of danger.

D. Confession 3 15:10-11

This is a short but intense lament, where Jeremiah wishes he'd never been born. Thompson points out that "to curse the day of his birth was tantamount to a rejection of his very mission" a very strong lament. Rather than focusing on the wicked, this lament is very inwardly focused. As opposed to his earlier charges that Yahweh make good on His promise of justice, this is more of a wallowing, Jeremiah feeling at war with the world and for no apparent reason.

And in this case, when Jeremiah is feeling truly low, God answers Jeremiah, this time offering further reassurance of his earlier promise, and including this time a personal promise: "I will deliver you." God reminds Jeremiah of his earlier promise of future justice, and of the purpose in his calling. God's varying responses make these confessions truly an interesting study. Jeremiah says much of the same "whining" things, but God's responses differ, while always displaying a concern for His prophet.

E. Confession 4 15:15-21

This is Jeremiah's most dangerous lament, and the only one which earns a rebuke from God. His previous feeling of worldly oppression grows bitter and turns outward towards God. The oppression is all for His sake, and in a sense God is answerable for it, so he grows impatient with Yahweh's delayed justice. His earlier righteous love of justice becomes entangled in his embittered sense of self-pity. Both laments are tied together.

Jeremiah briefly outlines his history, making his case, pointing out that he "never sat in the company of revelers," he "suffer[s] reproach." His lament culminates with the plea, "Why is my pain unending..? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?" This after his earlier prophecies about the people of Israel digging broken cisterns (pursuing false gods) rather than drinking from the spring (following Yahweh).

It is remarkable that despite his bitterness towards God, Jeremiah turns to God to make his lament. Often, bitterness leads to a lack of communication. But as a pastor named Frank Logue once said, "God can deal with our anger better than our silence."

The response Yahweh gives may have satisfied Jeremiah. The prophet was clearly upset, and his laments to this point seemed intent on provoking Yahweh to action. Getting a rebuke from Yahweh was a kind of action, plus it provided Jeremiah with a direction. "If you repent," begins Yahweh, "I will restore you." And again, "If you utter worthy, not worthless words, you will be my spokesman." Yahweh goes on to describe how he will strengthen and aid Jeremiah in his calling, concluding with a promise of redemption: "I will save you from the hands of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."

Jeremiah really gets off pretty easy. The rebuke was not very strong, couched in a conditional promise of restoration, and full of direction for the future. God's responses thus far have all been directed towards the future, while all Jeremiah's responses have been focusing on the present. Maybe sometime soon Jeremiah will get the picture. Also of note is the fact that God again mentions the wicked, but here He does not discuss their destruction. Yahweh promises not that He will punish the wicked, but rather that he will deliver Jeremiah from them.

F. Confession 5 17:12-18

Confession 5 is something of a triumph. Particularly after the direction the last lament took, this is a refreshing change. Gone is the whiny self-pitying tone we've seen until now. Gone is the myopic focus on his own sufferings. "All who forsake you will be put to shame," declares Jeremiah confidently, looking toward the future for once. His focus, as often is the case (and probable occasion) for these laments, is the wicked, but we now see a new focus on Yahweh coming in alongside his focus on the wicked. "Those who turn away [the wicked]," declares Jeremiah, "will be written in the dust [future outlook], for they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water [no longer the deceptive brook]."

Jeremiah displays that same concern that God's justice is not presently evident (he's suffering and the wicked are not, yet he serves God and they do not), but now that he is finally understanding the future emphasis of God's justice, he is far less whiny. "There is an underlying confidence in Yahweh here," observes Thompson.

This confession is perhaps the best example of Jeremiah's unwavering faith in God's existence and his power to affect all things in the world.

Significantly, Yahweh gives no response. Perhaps He smiled. Since Jeremiah begins to reflect Yahweh's ideas in this confession, Yahweh perhaps felt no need to offer those ideas to Jeremiah again.

G. Confession 6 18:18-23

This confession is a reaction to the plots of the people to kill Jeremiah. Here Jeremiah reiterates his newfound confidence in Yahweh's future justice, while demonstrating his continuing concern at the success of the wicked. He here requests, "hear what my accusers are saying!" and follows their words with his requests for justice. His idea of justice is very stark. "Give their children over to famine," he asks. "Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death... let a cry be heard from their houses."

Jeremiah is asking for judgement on all aspects of the families; men, women and children, displaying the same "focus on the family" that shows up elsewhere (cf. 7:18). Thompson also mentions that "famine, death by the sword in battle, bereavement, and screams of terror were all concomitants of an enemy invasion," pointing out Jeremiah's sometime references to the "foe from the north."

Some have observed that the plots against him indicate that his message is being heard and understood.

Jeremiah reminds God of his service and, after venting a bit in anger that people actually want to kill him for doing what is right, he hands the wicked over to God.

Again, Yahweh offers no spoken response to this confidence, or if He did, it was not necessary for the readers of Jeremiah.

H. Confession 7 20:7-13

Jeremiah's near bitterness surfaces again in this confession; it begins with strong words to Yahweh: "you deceived me" and expresses his feelings on the unfairness of his persecution for Yahweh's sake. "The word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long," he whines. The word of Yahweh which delights him in the end brings him only torment, and he is quite frustrated by this. He feels succored into the role of prophet against his will and against what is good for him.

The prophet's call is very poignantly described in this confession: "If I say, 'I will not mention him,'" says Jeremiah, "his word is like a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." These are very colorful words presenting a powerful picture of the divine call.

Jeremiah was consistently in a position of conflict, particularly with Yahweh. Thompson is eloquent on this matter:

He was engrossed in controversy with Yahweh. His sensitive nature was deeply hurt by the ridicule and sarcasm with which his preaching was received by the people. But he could do no other because of his deep commitment to his prophetic vocation. He was under a profound compulsion to expose the nation's rejection of Yahweh and his covenant. Yet he loved his own people deeply. Little wonder that deep emotional tensions and conflicts arose within him which led him at times to give expressions to the intense feeling which is found in these poems.

Despite Jeremiah's frustration, his faith in God remains unshaken. He still believes in the future downfall of the wicked, saying "they will fail and be utterly disgraced." Perhaps his confident statements are a hopeful reminder to Yahweh, for Jeremiah longs to live to see God's justice. "Let me see your vengeance upon them," he asks again.

Unlike his earlier requests for vengeance, this confession concludes with praise, a ray of light at the end of the storm.

I. Confession 8 20:14-18

In these words the spirit of the weeping prophet is laid bare at one of his particularly low moments. Unable to curse his actual parents, he curses all the circumstances surrounding his birth. "Cursed be the day I was born!" he begins. He curses the man who told his father "A child is born to you" and wishes he had been killed at birth. Thompson remarks on Jeremiah's pitiless curse of an innocent man: "such an expression must owe more to literary convention that to actual hatred of an innocent man, but well shows the intensity of Jeremiah's despair."

This kind of bitter lament, regretting that he had ever lived, is one that humanity has expressed in some form or another through the ages. In colloquial terms, life sucks. A lot of the time the equation of life adds up to a negative, which led the prophet Jeremiah to ask God why he was ever born. "To this poignant question Yahweh gave no answer," Thompson concludes. "But what answer could he give?"

J. General reflections

Jeremiah's confessions all stem from Jeremiah's commitment to justice. Much of his lamentation is requesting that God make good on his word, that He prove to the people that the wicked will see judgement. While he would often assume a bit of a whiny tone, his laments by and large were not concerned solely with his own trouble.

His desire for vengeance on the wicked stemmed from his indignation that people should behave contrary to the covenant and thrive, that those whose worship was false should find life so pleasurable. He was offended on behalf of himself, yes, but at the center he was offended on behalf of Yahweh. "It was not simply a matter of wounded pride demanding revenge," states Thompson, "but rather of Jeremiah's profound identification with Yahweh and the demands of the covenant."

I was once asked by a Bible teacher, "do we have any rights?" And after much discussion, the teacher eventually argued that no, as Christians we do not. As Americans we are extended rights, but as Christians we know that we do not deserve any of God's mercies, from our eternal celestial future to our next breath. We are given them, not as our due, but as a gift. One cannot claim the right to a gift. The teacher's point was that if this mindset inundates our lifestyle, we will extend grace more readily and take offense at much less, since we really have no rights to be infringed. I thus found it interesting to see Jeremiah's perpetual indignation with the wicked, for their wickedness and its affront to Yahweh, which happened to take the form of persecuting the Lord's spokesman.

I mentioned above the notion that God would prefer our anger to our silence. I think we must qualify this with an understanding of one's relationship to Yahweh. In human relationships, close friends and loved ones are permitted to express frustrations and anger, since there is an understanding and a knowledge that such expressions are tempered by (or even a result of) love.

One simply does not express anger to a stranger (at least not without presenting a very poor image). Jeremiah's laments are permissible because he had a close relationship with Yahweh. Indeed, Thompson claims that "only one who walked intimately with God would dare to speak as Jeremiah did."

A further lesson we can learn from Jeremiah's voicing’s of his battles with despair and his prophetic call is the way he sank into bitterness. When Jeremiah's laments were focused mostly on his own sufferings, Yahweh became the caretaker reneging on his pledge, the guardian who failed to guard, the judge who was unrighteous lenient. Bitterness turns us towards worthless words.

It is only natural for mortal humanity to desire God's justice in the present. Jeremiah certainly wanted to "see" God's vengeance on the wicked. And I feel similarly at times; I want the final judgment to happen on a daily basis. But we, as modern Christians, have the assurance of that final judgment, not just in God's response to our first and third laments (and Jeremiah's, incidentally) but in the New Testament as well. We therefore have much less "right" to be impatient with the problem of theodicy.

The last reflection I will mention has to do with insecurity. Jeremiah was assured from his very first lament of the destruction of the wicked, without even a remnant left to them. Yet he kept asking God for the destruction of the wicked, despite that first assurance. Yahweh did not always answer him, certainly not always about the wicked, and when he did, it was usually to turn Jeremiah's attention toward the future (whether He was saying "it will get worse" or "I will deliver you").

But I think this insecurity is true of all of us. We believe what we see, and want ressurance of what we can't see. We don't see God's justice yet, so we want reassurance. Mothers are notorious for asking their children about details several times, just to make sure. Lovers want (maybe need?) to hear "I love you" over and over from their beloved, as though needing some kind of reassurance of something they already know. I believe Jeremiah's laments were mostly this kind of seeking reassurance. He never evidenced lack of confidence in

God's ability to render justice, nor in His concept of justice itself. His laments were merely entreaties for reassurance of God's justice in his present, something I believe it is permissible for all believers to do.

Provided we be on our guard against bitterness, and our focus remains on the future more than wallowing in our own insecurity, it is perfectly permissible (albeit unnecessary) for Christians to seek reassurance from God.

If you want to know more about this book, please click on the sites below:


http://bible.org/article/argument-book-jeremiah

http://zachbardon.com/compendium/out.php?t=academic/confessions


Would you like to know if FREEMASONRY is of the devil? Please, click below:

• Is Freemasonry of the devil?

The Prophet Ezekiel

Study By Imanuel Christian:  

I. The Holiness and Judgment of God - Chapters 1-24

A. Knowing God is the basic theme of the Book of Ezekiel.

What is the most basic relationship that a Christian can have? You would agree with me that the most basic relationship the Christian can have is his relationship with God.

But the question is, how can we develop that relationship with God? Developing a personal relationship with God, as with any other person, requires a personal and intimate knowledge of the person. Knowledge of God is the basis of eternal life, as John notes Jesus saying, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Not only is the knowledge of God the basis of eternal life, but continued growth in the knowledge of God is the basis of a life that is pleasing to Him.

On the other hand, the lack of the knowledge of God is the basis of a life that is not pleasing to Him. One of the most basic weaknesses of the church today is not having enough emphasis on the knowledge of God. J. I. Packer, in the preface of his book Knowing God, writes:

The conviction behind the book is that ignorance of God – ignorance both of His ways and of the practice of communion with Him – lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today. . . The modern way with God is to set Him at distance, if not to deny Him altogether; and the irony is that modern Christians, preoccupied with maintaining religious practices in an irreligious world, have allowed God to become remote.324

Knowing God is the basic theme of the Book of Ezekiel. The phrase, “They/you shall know that I am the Sovereign Lord” is used around 70 times in this book.

B. The people of God - lack of the knowledge of God.

On the one hand, the book presents God as holy and sovereign. On the other, it provides the picture of the sad predicament that the people of God – in a sense the whole world – has come into because of their lack of the knowledge of God.

It is not just the lack of the knowledge of God; it is a lack of desire for the knowledge of God. The picture is of willful ignorance and rebellion in spite of God’s clear revelation. The Apostle Paul writes in the New Testament:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:18-23).325

If God holds the heathen accountable for their willful ignorance of the knowledge of God, how much more His own people, who in spite of His clear revelation in His Word would ignore Him?

Ezekiel’s message is not much different from his older contemporary, Jeremiah, who wrote:

This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Jeremiah then follows up in verses 25-26 to spell out the result of the lack of the knowledge of God.

Likewise, Ezekiel’s message is not much different from his predecessor the prophet Isaiah. Actually, the first few verses of the Book of Isaiah provide a concise overview of the Book of Ezekiel!

Right after the first introductory verse, the Book of Isaiah begins with God’s lament about His people not knowing Him:

Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand (Isaiah 1:2-3).

Right after this, verses 4-7 describe the sinful condition of the nation, which is the direct result of the lack of the knowledge of God. Then verses 7-8 describe the judgment of God on the nation because of their sinfulness. Finally, verse 9 provides the message of hope, “Unless the Lord almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” This is not only the concise overview of the Book of Isaiah, but also of the Book of Ezekiel, except that Ezekiel adds one more principle, the principle of individual responsibility which was also touched by the prophet, Jeremiah.

Ezekiel preached to Israel from 592 to 570 B.C. for 22 years during their Babylonian captivity. During the later years of the monarchy, before the Babylonian captivity, the people of God had taken Him for granted. They assumed that God’s covenant with their forefathers was irrevocable, the ownership of the land was permanent, and that they were immune to any foreign captivity as long as God was in their midst because of the temple in Jerusalem.

But to their utter shock, Jerusalem was captured, and the nation was exiled from the land to live in captivity. How could this happen? Is our God impotent before the Babylonian gods? Has He forgotten us? Why has He abandoned us? They became angry. They became disillusioned. Bitter. Cynical.

To these people, Ezekiel is called to bring God’s message to the people who have constantly rebelled against God.

I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn (Ezekiel 2:3-4).

C. They are described a house of rebellion.

They are repeatedly described as a rebellious house or a house of rebellion.

Ezekiel has a two-fold message. On the one hand, he brings the message of judgment. The holiness of God cannot tolerate sin, especially sin in the life of His own people, people known by His name. So He has to bring judgment on them. God seems to be saying, “I have not forgotten you, you have forgotten Me; I have not been unfaithful to you, you have been unfaithful to Me.” If God seems far away, before blaming Him, consider who has moved! The first half of the book, chapters 1-24, presents this message of judgment.

On the other hand, Ezekiel brings the message of hope. God cannot forsake His people. God cannot forget His covenant.

God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19)

God is going to restore the faithful ones back to the land, back to the worship that will come from their hearts and He will be their God, and they will be His people. The second half of the book, chapters 25-48, presents this message of hope.

The book is filled with many visions and allegories and the prophet’s strange actions and behavior. Because of this, for many Christians, Ezekiel is too strange and the book too complex and bizarre to deserve serious attention. So the prophet remains a mystery. Liberal scholars have branded Ezekiel as ecstatic, visionary, neurotic, someone who periodically practiced acts of levitation, and the one who was psychotic and schizophrenic. However, no other prophet in the Bible is so creative in his presentation and forceful in his message as the prophet Ezekiel.

The book begins with a vision, with the call of the prophet which is not much different than the prophet Isaiah’s call in Isaiah chapter 6. We cannot and do not need to go into explaining all the details and symbols of the vision. But similar to Isaiah’s vision, Ezekiel’s vision reveals the character of God.

Isaiah saw God seated on a throne, high and exalted. Similarly, Ezekiel saw God seated on a throne high above. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the sovereign ruler of the whole universe. The faces of the four living creatures, of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle, represent aspects of the creation over which God rules.

The other aspect of God’s character revealed in the vision is the holiness of God. Ezekiel does not describe His holiness as much as He brings it out by powerful symbols. God is surrounded by flashing lightening and brilliant light (Ezekiel 1:4). “He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire . . . and brilliant light surrounded him” (Ezekiel 1:27). All this shows His glory, His holiness, His judgment and wrath.

The most natural response of Ezekiel was, “When I saw it, I fell facedown” (Ezekiel 1:28). It was just like the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17).

In contrast to God’s awesome glory, Ezekiel is addressed as “son of man.” This phrase is used around 93 times in the book, which expresses the idea of man being formed from the dust, as it was said to Adam, “for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). Several other places, especially in the Book of Psalms, the fact of man being created from dust is presented to bring out the contrast between God’s eternal character and man’s transitoriness (e.g., Psalm 90:2-3; 103:14-17; 104:29-30).

When we have a true vision of God and see Him in His glory, we cannot help but realize that God is so exalted, so awesome, and we are but dust and we cannot stand before Him. We are filled with awe and fear and reverence. And when we know God in that manner, we will live a life that is pleasing to Him, a life that honors His name. We will not approach Him lightly, but with awe and reverence, with far more awe than queen Esther had before the king, her husband (Esther 4:11, 16). No wonder the wise man said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).

But the sad reality is that the holiness of God and sinfulness of His own people are placed side-by-side. The darkness and awfulness of man’s sin is presented against the brilliant light of the glory of God. The major part of the first half of the Book of Ezekiel is spent in presenting the sinfulness of the people known by His name and God’s wrath against them because of that. As Moses wrote in his psalm, “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (Psalm 90:8).

The emphasis in the New Testament is upon the love of God, and the grace of God. We do not talk much about the holiness of God and the wrath of God. However, why would we need the grace of God if there was no cause for the wrath of God? The tendency in the church today is to give them the “good” news; why talk about the bad news? However, the good news is good news only in the background of the bad news. But we do not want to scare the “seekers” away by preaching the wrath of God!

The result is that we have produced a wishy-washy Christianity that talks only about the promises of God, without mentioning commitment to God, and brings God down to the level of a vending machine. Again, hear what Packer says about the subject of God’s wrath:

The modern habit throughout the Christian church is to play the subject down. Those who still believe in the wrath of God (not all do) say little about it; perhaps they do not think much about it. To an age which has unashamedly sold itself to the gods of greed, pride, sex and self-will, the church mumbles about God’s kindness, but virtually says nothing about God’s judgment.326

There is no other book in the whole Bible that presents the sins of God’s people in as much detail as the Book of Ezekiel. Do you want to get the full picture of the sinfulness of man? Do you want to get the full picture of the hopeless situation of man? Do you want to get the full picture of the awesome character of God and His holiness? Do you want to get the full picture of the wrath of God? Study the Book of Ezekiel, and your life will be transformed.

In the beginning of his book, Isaiah described the awful situation of the people of God:

Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness – only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil (1:5b-6).

What Isaiah described through symbols, Ezekiel describes in gory details.

I I. The sins of God’s people

A. The Sin of Idolatry

Their sin of idolatry takes the most prominent place. Idols are mentioned more often in the Book of Ezekiel than any other book of the Bible (52 times). Chapter 8 describes the idol worship by the leaders of Israel right in the temple. God asks the prophet, “Is it is trivial matter for the house of Judah to do detestable things they are doing here?” (8:17) Chapter 16 describes Israel’s idolatry in most graphic terms. In spite of God’s love and tender care, they lusted after other gods.

Idols are the things we create to take care of our needs so we do not have to depend on God or anybody else. That is why idol worship in Israel was always connected with their foreign alliances:

You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and provoked me to anger with your increasing promiscuity. . . . You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied . . . . You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! (Ezekiel 16:26-32).

The prophet Isaiah too noted:

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord (Isaiah 31:1).

What they were looking for was safety and security – outside God. What they really found was spiritual bondage that led them into the physical bondage. Instead of trusting God, they trusted their idols and perished because of the lack of their knowledge of God,

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests” (Hosea 4:6).

B. The Sin of Bloodshed

The lack of fear of God led them into the lack of fear and respect for man. Those who do not fear God do not care about men (Luke 18:4). Like all the other prophets, Ezekiel takes note of the social sins of the people of God:

The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. . . . In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. In you men accept bribes to shed blood; you take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezekiel 9:9; 22:6-7, 10-12).

C. The sin of desecrating Sabbaths:

One of the sins noted both by Jeremiah and Ezekiel is the sin of desecrating Sabbaths:

I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy. Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the desert. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws – although the man who obeys them will live by them – they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God. But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws – although the man who obeys them will live by them – and they desecrated my Sabbaths (Ezekiel 20:11-13, 19-21).

In the New Testament economy, we feel we are not under the law, and so we are not under the law of keeping the Sabbaths. However, the concept of keeping the Sabbaths is not based on the law, it is based on the character of God. In the creation account:

By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done (Genesis 2:2-3).

This is the same reason given behind keeping the Sabbath holy in the Ten Commandments:

"For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:11).

There was a time in the United States when most everything was closed on Sunday except the necessary services. All the department stores were closed on Sunday. Grocery stores were open, but you could buy only foodstuff from the grocery stores. If you needed to buy a pen or a paper or a hammer, you would have to wait for Monday. Now everything is open not only seven days a week, but also many places 24 hours and 7 days a week. Behind all this, the main reason is greed, “For their hearts were devoted to their idols” (Ezekiel 20:16).

One of the main reasons behind the breakdown of our family structure, the social structure, and the moral structure of our nation, is not keeping the Sabbath holy. Because with all of this, there is no time left for the family or for moral instruction to the children, and the vicious cycle of greed continues leading to the total breakdown. We have really ignored this important aspect of the Word of God.
The Results

A holy God cannot tolerate sin, especially sin in the people who are known by His name.

D. The results of their sin 

1. One of the results of their sin is the impending judgment:

Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and not followed my decrees. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees and kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you (5:6-7).

What an indictment on the people of God that their heathen nations are morally better off! Like Paul said, quoting from Isaiah and Ezekiel, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24; Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:22).

And so, “They will go into exile as captives” (12:11). Babylon will be God’s sword of judgment.

Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you (Ezekiel 5:11).

2. Another result of their sin was that the glory of God departed from among them.

The glory of God was in the temple, “And the glory of the Lord was standing there” (3:23). From there it moved to the threshold of the temple” (9:3). “Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim at the entrance to the east gate of the temple” (10:18-19). “Finally the glory of the Lord departed from within the city and stopped above the mountain outside the city” (11:23). And the sad fact was that the people of God did not even know it or care that it happened.

The moving of the glory of God in stages and also the hovering of the glory of God before it moves away seem to indicate the hesitation of God in leaving His people. God never leaves His people willingly and cheerfully. It breaks His heart. He leaves them as a last resort. But leave He will, because He cannot tolerate sin in His own people.

That departed glory is still not returned. Ezekiel later describes the return of the glory of God to Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom. But until then, as Jesus said, “Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:38-39; Luke 13:35).

E. The Soul that Sins Shall Die

The people said, “That’s not fair! We have not done anything wrong! We can’t help it if our forefathers sinned! Why are we punished for the sins of our forefathers?” Ezekiel sets down the principle, “The soul that sins shall die.” Jeremiah had already laid down this principle, “Everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes – his own teeth will set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:30). Ezekiel expands this principle with illustrations from three successive generations (chapter 18). The son is not punished because of his father’s sin, nor is he spared for his wickedness because of his father’s righteousness.

The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him (Ezekiel 18:20).

Of course, they had been warned earlier that, “I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 5:9). And it is true that the children suffer for the sinful lifestyle of parents and also that the parents are responsible for raising children the way they should go so when they are old they will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6). Children coming from broken homes many times suffer the consequences of their parents’ mistakes. In the case of the Israelites, a whole generation was born in the exile because of their parents’ sin as Jeremiah noted, “Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment” (Lamentations 5:7).

However, both Jeremiah and Ezekiel note here the principle of personal responsibility. A person cannot excuse his sinful lifestyle by saying that he was raised in a sinful environment. A person raised in a broken home does not have to go that way. He himself is responsible to take charge of his own life. Today we live in a society where people are very eager to take credit for anything good that happens in their life, but always find fault with someone or something else when they mess up their own life. Of course, there is nothing new, as we saw in Genesis when Adam blamed God when he said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” She in turn tried to shift the blame when she said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12, 13).

Ezekiel also speaks about a person’s responsibility before God. When we stand before God, we will give account of our own life, not of the messed-up lives of others.
God’s Love Through Judgment

The question that may be asked is why God is so cruel in His judgment. Why would God be so cruel to His own people? Ezekiel brings out that God does not delight in judgment. We choose the judgment of God; God does not:

Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! (Ezekiel 18:30-32).

Also,

Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?” Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:10-11)

God does not delight in the death of the wicked. God provides them the way of life. People choose death, God does not. Even through His judgment, He shows His love for us so we would know Him and His loving concern for us.

When we know God as the holy One who cannot tolerate sin, we are forced to live a life that is pleasing to Him. But when we know God’s fatherly love, we WANT to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

In his epistle, Peter brings out both these aspects of God’s character when he says, “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear” (1 Peter 1:17), and he presents God both as a Judge to be feared and a Father Who loves.

If you want to know more about this book, please click on the site below:


http://bible.org/seriespage/book-ezekiel-part-1


Would you like to know if FREEMASONRY is of the devil? Please, click below:

• Is Freemasonry of the devil?

The Prophet Daniel

by Cooper P Abrams III

I. Background on the Book

The modern Bible places the Book of Daniel as the first of the Minor Prophets, as well as did the LXX (The Septuagint [70], the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) and the Vulgate (Latin Bible). However, in the Hebrew Bible the Book of Daniel is placed among the Poetic Books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Ester, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1-2 Chronicles.

Daniel was not a prophet in the normal sense because God did not deliver a message through him directly and publicly to the people. Yet Jesus called Daniel a prophet in Matthew 24:15. Through him God revealed some of the most revealing of all the prophecies of God. The Book is referred to as being the "Book of Revelations" of the Old Testament because both books are apocalyptic. "Apocalyptic" means an unveiling, disclosing or revelation.

The Book is believed to have been written in 537 BC after the Captivity was ended. The liberal unbelieving scholars (so called by themselves) of the 18th and 19th Century rejected Daniel as the writer of the Book. Their chief premise was that the prophecies in Daniel of the fall of the Babylonian Empire followed by the Persian, Greek and Roman Empires was proof that the Book was written during the Roman period because no could have known of the session of these empires in their correct order. They denied that God could reveal coming history to a man many years in advance. They purported other supposed discrepancies in the Book, however their arguments have been proven invalid by many modern archaeological discoveries.

It is clearly established Daniel could and did write the Book. In Daniel 12:4, he claims to have written the Book and this is verified in the New Testament by Christ's reference to him. (Matt. 24:15, Mr. 13:14)

I I. About the Prophet Daniel

Daniel's name means, "God is my judge". In Ezekiel 14:14, 20, the righteousness of Daniel is attested to as well as to his wisdom in Ezekiel 28:3.

"Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. . . .Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness." (Ezekiel 14:14,20)

Daniel was born to the royal family and of noble birth (Dan. 1:3,6). His physical appearance is said in Daniel 1:4, as being without blemish and well favored. The Book of Daniel covers his life from a teenager to his death as a captive in Babylon. He lived to the end of the Captivity and was possibly eighty five when he died, if he was taken into captivity at age sixteen.

I I I. Historical Background

Only the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained in Canaan before the Babylonian captivity. The ten northern tribes called Israel had been taken into captivity approximately 722 B.C. This left only the two southern tribes called Judah in the land of Israel.

Judah also was taken into captivity beginning first with an invasion by the Chaldean king, King Nebuchadnezzar. The word "Chaldeans" refers to the Babylonians. Chaldea was originally a small providence in the southern territory of Babylonia at the head of the Persian Gulf. Later when King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562) established the Neo-Babylonian Empire ("neo" means "new") the name came to be applied to most all of Babylonia.

Judah was not completely destroyed, but was looted extensively. This invasion is referred to as the first deportation. King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, took all the vessels from the Temple and deported the healthiest of the Hebrews back to Babylonia to be slaves. Judah was made a vassal state and was allowed to keep its king. Daniel was among those taken into captivity. Eight years later there was a second deportation in 598, when Ezekiel was prophesying, followed almost eleven years later in 588 when Judah was completely destroyed and cease to exist.

The reason God allowed this to happen is found in the following passages of Scripture:

"The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever: And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." (Jeremiah 25:1-11)

"Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till {there was} no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave {them} all into his hand.

And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all {these} he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: {for} as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." (2 Chronicles 36:14-21)

God's stated reasons for allowing the destruction of Judah and their deportation were (1) their continued idolatry, (2) they mocked and abused God's messengers, (3) they failed to give the land the sabbatical years.

I V. Israel's Failures: 

A. Idolatry

Idolatry is worshiping any created thing. God's First Commandment is "to have no other Gods before Me."(Exodus 20:3) Israel came into being at the divine decree of God. He made them a special people, the people to whom He would give the special privildedge of revealing Himself to the world. No one could know of God and receive eternal life apart from the agency of the Nation of Israel. He further gave the special promises of land and prosperity and most of all He promised them the Messiah the Savior of the world. They had more knowledge of God than any people on the earth, yet with the knowledge of God they refused to obey God's instruction and receive salvation and eternal life. They rebelled at almost every step of their history.

Rather they chose to worship inanimate objects such as stones, trees, rivers and a host of other things in nature. They worshipped the heavenly bodies as the sun, moon and stars. To try and understand why is to look into the very depravity of man. Man is at heart carnal and a sinner. Paul in Romans 1 states it clearly. "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." (Romans 1:21-23)

God's love is shown in that even when man willingly rejected Him, He would not be deterred from His plan to save man. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

B. They Despised the Word of God Mocking and Misusing God's Messengers.

It should be understood that not all of the Hebrews rejected God. Through Israel's history there were those few who believed God and longed for the day when their nation and its leaders would also. (See 1 Kings 19:18 as an example) They worshipped God and they lived their lives trusting God in faith.

These believers were always the minority and were always oppressed and persecuted by those who practiced false religion. These true saints and prophets believed and taught God's truth which offended the hypocritis and leaders of false religion within their nation. These wicked men hated the very word of God because it exposed their false teachings and their sins. Their shameful treatment of God's messengers the prophets is clear evidence of their despising the Word of God. The messenger was the one who delivered the word of God, but the message was from God! Yet, with no apparent fear of God, they imprisoned and murdered many of the prophets God sent to them.

Note what God says of them in the Bible Hall of Faith, "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:36-40)

It is clear that the unrighteous hated the men who delivered God's Word to them. Many would even conclude that it was the messenger's fault. But think for a minute. Who called and sent them the messenger? Who was it who chose "that" particular man? The answer is clearly revealed in God's Word. God did. Jesus said in John 10:4-5, that His sheep hear His voice!

Those that are truly sheep know when God's speaks and they know who speaks for God. There is no rebellion against the message of God from His children. But that is not so with the children of this world. They hate the instruction from God and they will rebel against it and the messenger sent of God. Jesus said the time would come when in the name of religion they would kill the saints of God and think they have done God a service. (John 16:2)

C. They Refused to Observe the Sabbatical Years

In Leviticus 25:1-7, God directed the Children of Israel to allow the land to rest each seventh year. After the forty ninth year they were to declare a special "jubilee" in which all land returned to its original owner and slaves were returned to their families. In Lev. 25:21-22, God promised to bless them abundantly in the sixth year with enough harvest to provide for them in the seventh year when no crops were to be planted or harvested.

Israel never kept even one sabbatical year! For four hundred and ninety years all went well and not obeying God seemed to be of little consequence. In Leviticus 25-1-27 God instructed Israel to allow the land to rest every seventh year. God promised that in the sixth year He would abundantly bless them and the land would yeild enough food to las them for two years. Thus to keep the sabbatical year was an act of faith in trusting in God's provision recognizing that they were God's people. This would be a testimony to Israel and also to the nations around them of God. Yet, the Bible does not record that Israel ever kept even on sabbatical year. However, God's day of accounting was coming and as 2 Chronicles 36:21 states the land rested for seventy years. Because of their deportatation they would not be in the land to disturb it. This period is figured from the time of the first deportation in 605 BC until 536 BC when the foundation of the temple was rebuild. (See Dan. 9:2 and Ezra 1:1)

If Israel had repented God would have forgiven them and they would have been spared this judgment. They refused. God is loving and merciful and His longsuffering can be seen in that He waited for them to repent for four hundred and ninety years!

God wanted Israel to live by faith and live according to His promises, yet they would not. They refused to trust God to meet their needs. They trust was in human ability and them missed the blessing of God and reaped the destructive result of their sin. In human terms it was unthinkable to "waste" a year of crops. Humanly it would seem they would be poorer for trusting God. It was a simple test of their faith. In the six years before the sabbatical year they did not live by faith and their ignoring God's instruction in the seventh was proof they were not living by faith at any time.

V. Purposes of the book  

The section V. is from the study by David Malick 

http://bible.org/article/argument-book-daniel


To establish hope in future restoration by reflecting in vision God’s dealing with Israel’s national sin through the times of the Gentiles.

To instruct and admonish the people of God in the crisis of faith.

To challenge “the faithful to be awake and ready for the unexpected intervention of God in wrapping up all of human history. 


V I. The Hand of God in History (Daniel 5:1-31)  

The section V I  is from the study by Bob Deffinbaugh  

http://bible.org/seriespage/hand-god-history-daniel-51-31



A. Belshazzar’s Blasphemous Banquet (5:1-4)

1 Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. 2 When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

One thousand of the king’s nobles were invited, along with their wives or other women. The king was responsible for what happened, and too much wine seems to have contributed to his poor judgment. A false sense of pride and self-sufficiency seems to have dominated the dinner party. The king remembered the expensive vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken when he defeated and captured Jerusalem.

How much more impressive the evening would be if they drank their wine from the gold and silver vessels from the temple in Jerusalem.

B. The Handwriting on the Wall (5:5-9)

5 Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. 6 Then the king’s face grew pale, and his thoughts alarmed him; and his hip joints went slack, and his knees began knocking together. 7 The king called aloud to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me will be clothed with purple, and have a necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his face grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed.

Knowing the power of the Babylonian kings, Belshazzar must have seen many men stand in fear and trembling before him. Now it was his turn to tremble. In that torch-lit banquet hall, the revelry had reached its peak, doubtlessly with loud boasting and toasting, laughter and celebration. Likely, the king was the life of the party. Perhaps he was closest to the sudden emerging of the mysterious hand in the light of the nearby lamp.

The king’s eyes were fixed upon the hand as it wrote. As a sense of foreboding and panic fell on the crowd, all eyes turned to the mysterious writing on the wall. The king’s actions alarmed all who were present.

One can only imagine the scene. Already affected by too much wine, the king’s terror robbed his legs of all strength. The lower part of his body seems to have lost control. Crying aloud in fear, his speech probably slurred, the king immediately summoned his wise men to the banquet hall. What did these words on the wall mean? He must know. A tempting reward was offered to anyone who could interpret the meaning of the handwriting on the wall.

Some think the king did not recognize the words, while others believe he only failed to understand their meaning. Since the words seem to be written in Aramaic, and there are only three, it may be that he recognized the words but did not understand their meaning. Unable to decipher their meaning, the wise men come and go. The king’s fear and distress intensifies while the others remain terror stricken.

C. The Recommendation of Daniel (5:10-12)

10 The queen entered the banquet hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale. 11 “There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans, and diviners. 12 “This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas, and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned, and he will declare the interpretation.”

The queen mother does not seem to have attended the banquet, but eventually the cries of those in the banquet hall reach her ears, and she arrives on the scene. Taking note of Belshazzar’s appearance and demeanor, she tries to calm him. She informs the king that in the past a man named Daniel had successfully dealt for many years with such difficult matters. Daniel could decipher the words and their meaning.

The queen has great confidence in Daniel’s ability based upon his track record in the history of Babylonian affairs. Her summary of Daniel’s accomplishments in verse 12 suggests that Daniel performed other amazing tasks throughout the lifetime of king Nebuchadnezzar. Those recorded in the Book of Daniel are but a sampling of Daniel’s ministry to the king.

Sadly, we must observe that the queen mother’s confidence in Daniel does not seem to have been related to any personal faith in his God. She refers to Daniel and his great wisdom in pagan terms and makes no reference to Daniel’s God as the God of the Jews. She simply refers to his wisdom as having its source in “the gods.” His wisdom was extraordinary, but not the wisdom of a sovereign God. Her knowledge of Daniel and his God is superior to that of Belshazzar, but inferior to that of Nebuchadnezzar’s final assessment (see Daniel 4:4:2-3; 34-37). Her confidence does seem to produce a calming effect on the king and his guests. The king summons Daniel to appear before the king and his guests that very night.

D. Daniel is Summoned (5:13-16)

13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? 14 “Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight, and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you. 15 “Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message. 16 “But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.”

When Daniel arrived, the king was eager to assure himself that this was the man the queen mother had recommended with the credentials to perform the task at hand. His questions all pertain to Daniel’s ministry during the reign of his “father” Nebuchadnezzar. They will, to some degree, become the basis for Daniel’s indictment of the king’s sin in the verses which follow. The question then will not be whether Daniel demonstrated divine wisdom, but what this king did with the knowledge of such wisdom.

The failure of all the other wise men in the kingdom is reported to Daniel in the words of verse 15. Daniel was being asked to do what no other wise man in Babylon could do, all having failed before Daniel was summoned. If Daniel was able to fulfill the king’s request, there would be a reward. The king promised royal clothing, a gold necklace, and a position of power directly under him. Obviously, the king was eager to know what those words on the wall meant.

E. Daniel’s Indictment (5:17-24)

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Keep your gifts for yourself, or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. 18 “O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory, and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. 19 “And because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations, and men of every language feared and trembled before him; whomever he wished he killed, and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated, and whomever he wished he humbled. 20 “But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken away from him. 21 “He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind, and that He sets over it whomever He wishes. 22 “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and your ways, you have not glorified. 24 “Then the hand was sent from Him, and this inscription was written out.

Daniel begins by turning down Belshazzar’s reward. Let the king keep his gifts or give them to someone else.

Why would he decline Belshazzar’s offer? Daniel knows that the king’s gifts are virtually useless. What good would it do Daniel to be given the third highest office in the administration of Belshazzar when his reign would end that very night? Daniel was God’s servant, divinely gifted to interpret dreams. He would not prostitute his gift by using it for his own gain. His was a gift of grace, and he would use it that way. Finally, Daniel was not “for hire.” As God’s prophet, Daniel spoke to men for God. He was not like Balaam, whose ministry could be bought. When the king pressed Daniel to take the gifts, Daniel did so, knowing he had faithfully carried out his task as God’s servant.

Verses 18-24 are fascinating. In these verses Daniel explains the guilt of king Belshazzar. The writing on the wall, explained in verses 25-28, speak of the imminent judgment of God which will fall upon Belshazzar and his kingdom, due to sin. Daniel spends more time on the king’s guilt than on his punishment, as he devotes more time to explaining the reason for the writing than the meaning of the writing.

Verses 18-24 are intriguing also because they focus on Belshazzar’s father, Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar’s sin is attributed to his failure to learn from history. The great head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar, the one into whose hand God gave king Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. He was the one who had brought the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem to Babylon (1:1-2; 5:2). Under his reign, Daniel’s divinely bestowed wisdom became evident and was displayed on various occasions. The queen mother’s words in 5:10-12 focus on Daniel’s wisdom during the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Now, when Daniel rebukes this king, he does so because he ignored the lessons he should have learned from the past, through his father’s experiences with Daniel and his God.

The events of Daniel 4 are now repeated, as a lesson which not only Nebuchadnezzar learned but which Belshazzar his son should have learned as well. God sovereignly granted Nebuchadnezzar power, glory, and majesty, and he exercised that power and authority over mankind. But his heart became proud, and he acted arrogantly. God temporarily took away his power and his kingdom, and he became like the beasts of the field, eating grass and living in the elements without shelter. All this happened so that he might recognize God as the ruler over mankind and recognize that all human authority is delegated to men by God, from whom all authority is derived.

Belshazzar knew these things, and yet he had not learned from them. His heart was now proud and haughty like that of his forefather Nebuchadnezzar. He exalted himself against the God of heaven, as evidenced in his profaning the holy vessels taken from the temple. His sin was shared by those who ate and drank toasts with him that night. Rather than glorifying the God of heaven, whom he had heard about in relationship to his forefather, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar blasphemed the name of God by profaning the temple vessels.

This was the reason for the writing on the wall. The blasphemous use of the vessels and the writing on the wall were inseparably related. Judgment day had arrived.

F. Daniel’s Interpretation (5:25-28)

25 “Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’ 26 “This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENE’— God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. 27 “‘TEKEL’— you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28 “‘PERES’— your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

Three little words compose the message, one of which was repeated. They seem to be Aramaic words. While these words may have been familiar to the king, the message in writing was so terse he could not understand it. Now, Daniel is about to interpret the meaning of the words on the wall.

Scholars have spent considerable effort to explore the origin and meaning of each of these three terms. We need not rely on such efforts to determine the meaning of the writing on the wall. The king did not need a dictionary; he needed the interpretation of the meaning of these three words as written, in the context of that moment of history. In effect, it would seem that the message on the wall was a kind of abbreviation, summed up in three words. Imagine a three point message!

Daniel explained that the twice-used term ‘MENE’ informed the king that God had numbered his kingdom and was putting an end to it (verse 26). In effect, God seems to be saying to Belshazzar, “Time’s up.” ‘TEKEL’ meant the king had been weighed on the scales of divine justice and found deficient. The king had given God short measure. ‘PERES’ is the divine notification that the Babylonian kingdom was to be divided and handed over to the Medes and the Persians (verse 28).

G. Daniel’s Reward (5:29)

29 Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.
Verse 29 describes the king’s response, which, like his life and administration, was found wanting.

Belshazzar’s response to Daniel imply two sad realities:

First, the king’s response indicates he believed Daniel had given him the true interpretation of the writing on the wall. He rewarded Daniel as he had promised to anyone who could interpret the writing on the wall.

When he rewarded Daniel, he gave testimony to the truth of the interpretation Daniel had given. Surely he would never have rewarded Daniel for an interpretation he believed to be inaccurate.

Second, the king’s response is sadly deficient. While Daniel is not said to have urged the king to repent, as he did with Nebuchadnezzar (4:27), prophecy affords sinners the opportunity to repent. Daniel does not indicate how much time is left for the king. We know from the final verses of the passage that the night would not pass before the king was put to death. For him, there were only minutes—at the most hours—to repent, and he did not do so.

Is this one final act of pride described in verse 29? Did the king take such pride that his word would be carried out that he spent his last moments bestowing the promised reward upon Daniel, a reward Daniel had already turned down? Or did the king think that putting Daniel in a position of power might change things? I believe Daniel turned down the reward before he interpreted the writing on the wall because he wanted the king to know his was a ministry of grace.

The king’s insistence on rewarding Daniel, even in the last moments of his own life, was to be understood as a rejection of grace. The king’s promise was fulfilled, but at the same time, his doom was sealed. How tragic to be preoccupied with purple clothing, a gold necklace, and the promotion of men, rather than with eternal destiny.

H. Belshazzar’s Reward (5:30-31)

30 That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. 31 So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

While Daniel had not given a time frame for when his kingdom would end, the inference of Daniel’s words was that time had run out for the king. Did the king even have time to sober up enough to understand what Daniel had told him? That very night the writing on the wall was fulfilled. Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede came to power.

Conclusion

We see from our passage that the events of that fateful final night in Belshazzar’s banquet hall did not profit him at all. We may conclude then that Daniel 5 was written more for our edification than for Belshazzar. Let us conclude our study by highlighting some of the lessons we should learn from the writing on the wall.

A. The deadly nature of the sin of pride.

Pride is the evil response of sinful men to the grace of God. It is taking personal credit for what God has given or accomplished. Pride was the root sin necessitating the disciplining of Nebuchadnezzar, as we learn both from Daniel 4 and our text in chapter 5. Pride was also the sin of Belshazzar. It led to his blasphemous acts with the temple vessels and, ultimately, to his death.

The Bible views pride as a dreaded and deadly sin. In our culture today, pride is seen more as a virtue. In our culture, it is not something men have too much of, but something men believe they lack and need more of. Why does the Bible condemn men for thinking too highly of themselves and command them to do otherwise (see Philippians 2:1-11), while our culture tells us the great evil, the source of many social ills, is the lack of self-esteem? If self-esteem is not another name for pride, then what is it, and when is it ever described, defended, or advocated in the Scriptures?

B. The inadequacy of secular wisdom. 

Three times in the first five chapters of Daniel, the wisest men in the land were summoned by the king to tell him the truth which had been divinely revealed. Each time, the wise men were forced to acknowledge their inability to do so. Secular wisdom can never provide the answers for the all-important, spiritual and eternal issues of life:

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Why are Christians turning more and more to the secular wisdom of men (sometimes Christian men) for that which is essential for life and godliness? Are the Scriptures not sufficient? Is the cross of Christ not the solution for sin? What does the world offer that is better than the Bible has to offer? Christians are turning to secular wisdom for truth, guidance, and direction, when the Book of Daniel turns us to divine revelation. It is time to get back to the Book!

C. Seeing the hand of God in history. 

The spiritual, divinely inspired account of the fall of Babylon differs greatly from that of secular accounts. I must admit it was tempting for me to “fill in” some details of the fall of Babylon from sources outside the Scriptures. But then it struck me: Daniel’s account includes all that God felt it necessary for us to know. It is not wrong to know more, but all we need to know, God has revealed in the Bible.

Daniel focuses on the moral failures of Belshazzar and the nobility of Babylon. Secular history would look at the death of Belshazzar and his kingdom from a political point of view. The Bible describes the same incidents from a spiritual viewpoint. The moral failure was that of pride. The sin was that of blasphemy and failing to give God the glory which is His. Secular accounts would focus on diverting of the river which passed under or through the walls of Babylon, while the Bible focuses on divine judgment. The city fell because this was God’s judgment on a wicked nation and a wicked king.

Daniel 5 describes the hand of God in the writing on the wall, but it also describes the hand of God in the history of Babylon and of Israel. To Belshazzar the “hand of God” was a bizarre and frightening thing. To the Christian, seeing “the hand of God” in history should be a constant mindset.

D. Learning from history.

I am impressed that while Belshazzar’s punishment was revealed by the writing on the wall, this king’s sin was the result of his failure to heed the lessons which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had learned. The basis for Belshazzar’s judgment was his failure to heed history and the lessons of his father. All the king needed to know in order to honor God and be spared from divine judgment, he did know. But he failed to act on what he knew from history. Even when the day of judgment was revealed through the writing on the wall, he still did not repent.

When you and I stand before God, all of the Bible will be the basis for divine judgment. We cannot say we did not know better nor can we plead ignorance. No one, in all of time, has been given so much revelation as we. I must ask: “What have you done with the revelation you have received through the Bible?”

As God held Belshazzar responsible for what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar, so he will hold you and I responsible for what has happened to men through history, as revealed in His Holy Word. We must learn to heed the lessons of history.

E. The judgment of God.

Daniel 5 is the inspired account of the judgment of God, falling upon the kingdom of Babylon and upon its king, Belshazzar. How sad to read of a king who parties while his kingdom crumbles, and who fails to repent even when the day of judgment is divinely revealed to him. Refusing to heed the “hand-writing on the wall,” he was judged for it. The final minutes of life were spent in matters pertaining to his earthly kingdom, rather than in seeking entrance into the eternal kingdom.

The judgment of Babylon and of Belshazzar were certain. They were also imminent. Yet the king never seemed to grasp this and act accordingly. His actions are typical of all who are blinded by sin. For this reason, our Lord warned of the dullness of men’s hearts and minds, even as the day of judgment approaches:


If you want to know more about the study by Cooper P Abrams III , please click on the site below:

http://www.bible-truth.org/DanielIntro.html


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