Chapter Nineteen

The week of May 27


The Return Home

Jeremiah had prophesied seventy years of exile and that is what the length of time turned out to be. But what would the return look like? What we imagine from our childhood becomes something less in our maturity. But anything back in the homeland would be better than Israelites being away from home.

PP 263-6 God works on several sides of an equation: He disciplines His people by defeating them by the hands of foreigners as a consequence of their disobedience, then He releases them for home through no actions on their part, but only because of His loving kindness endures forever. In the first year of his reign, Persian King Cyrus issued a proclamation for the Israelites to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple for worship. Tell me God is not involved in this. The settlers would receive assistance (including temple artifacts) from those who sent them and the ones who had stayed in Jerusalem. So 42,000+ people made the trek to their beloved land.

After resettling, they came together to begin the process of rebuilding the temple. As they pieced together the altar, they sacrificed their first burnt offering. The cornerstone was reset, the priestly clothing and instruments were in use, and their song resounded: He is Good; His Love toward Israel endures forever." As the foundation was laid the emotion of the moment was palpable. "No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise." God requests our worship even before the work is done.

There is indeed no place like home. The familiarity of the sights, sounds, smells sealed the moment. 'We are home; God is with us.'

PP 266-73 Within two months of the second year of Darius’ reign, the word of God came three times, twice through Haggai and then through Zechariah. Certainly the temple would be rebuilt. But a future was assured in which Jerusalem would be the place where God would be for the world.

There would be enemies from without and within. But encouragement should reign, because God was being honored.

Why did God continue to rescue His people when they did not fully understand their own wrong?

Why does this rescue and mercy continue as waves upon us? Relate a personal instance in your own life.

Some Israelites were at home while others were in distant lands. One in particular, Esther, would become a witness that would save her race from annihilation.

Chapter Eighteen

The week of May 20


Daniel in Exile

Daniel and three men were expatriates who had been exiled to Babylon from Judah with many others. They were chosen to be acculturated into the Babylonian ways in order to serve the king. These men went through an amazing journey of made decisions.

Pp 249-50  The foursome of young Judeans were being made to serve the Babylonians. This was not dissimilar to Joseph and the Egyptians. Part of their regimen was to eat and drink to be healthy. Daniel wanted a vegetarian regimen and offered to have a comparison of complexion after ten days. Daniel and the three showed themselves healthier and had more understanding with wisdom, so they entered the king's service after three years.

Put yourself in the shoes of these men. Everything was taken away and they were now living after another’s whim, not their own dreams. Have you been put into a regimen with which you disagreed? How was it resolved?

Pp 250-3  King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream he wanted interpreted. But his wise men needed to know the dream first so they could attempt to tell him what it meant. The king could not remember the dream and, in frustration, said that all wise men would die without the telling of the dream and its meaning. Daniel and the three were also slated for death. Following a vision in which God showed the dream, Daniel first praised God, then asked to be brought to the King. Daniel gave credit that only God (the Hebrew God) could reveal these mysteries. How would you respond under the threat of death? Clinging to God in difficult times is a major theme of the Scripture.

Pp 253-4  Daniel later spoke that the King's dream was about a large statue consisting of four sections of different qualities and material. The most precious was a golden head that represented the king. Three other parts represented successive kingdoms that would conquer each previous kingdom. We now know that these represented the Medo-Persians, the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, and the Roman empire. It is amazing that God used Daniel's deciphering of a pagan king's dream to predict future history. Daniel and the three (like Joseph) were well rewarded with more responsibility for their prowess.

Pp 254-6  The King built a ninety foot image and demanded obeisance of his subjects to bow to the image. The Three knew this violated Ten Commandment number two and would not do it. Their answer to the king was classic: Our God is able to save us, but even if he doesn't we will not serve your gods (Daniel 3:16-18). The king defied their defiance and threw them in a burning furnace. Others were burned up handling the furnace but the Three survived the ordeal without a burn or even smoky clothes. The king realized the viability of their God and ordered Him to be honored.

Pp 256-60  Daniel interpreted another dream about the king's becoming like a animal and a further one with a body-less hand writing doom on a wall. Daniel was later thrown into a lion's den for violating another king's edict of not worshipping any god but the king. In accepting the consequences he accepted God's protection and remained unscathed. This was unlike his accusers who were thrown to these same lions. Reflect on how God uses all things in our lives, including dreams, to work together for good.

The themes of a few people stepping up to serve God and the consequences of serving him in a hostile environment keep coming up. How is this true in our own world?

Pp 260-1  Amidst the travail of seventy years of exile (would it become 400 years like in Egypt?), the Israelites heard the message from Jeremiah: plant your trees, trust in God, He will return your people…I know the plans I have for you; plans for good, not evil. Though many from Judah died in captivity, how was this prediction a solace to those who remained?

Chapter Seventeen

The week of May 13


The Kingdoms' Fall

Judah in the southern part of Israel was the only remaining kingdom. For a little over a century it continued its downward spiral of wrong choices, empty gods, and bad kings. One such king was Manasseh, who reigned 55 years.

Pp 231-3  They say that insanity is doing again and again what has not worked before. Manasseh rebuilt the high places and altars to Baal. He even built these altars in the Temple of the Living God. He pursued what we would call new age religion and even sacrificed one of his own sons. Sincerity off-course only leads in a wrong direction. When a leader leads in the wrong direction, the people have to determine if they would follow. Unfortunately they did follow by doing more evil than the nations they had displaced.

Manasseh was the cause and the effect was that he was captured and taken to Assyria. He repented during his imprisonment and the Lord restored him. Why is God open to people turning back to Him? Why should we not live as if we could rely on God’s openness to accept repentance at a moments notice? Manasseh’s son Amon is an example of someone who never came around.

Pp 233-4  Josiah was a anomaly in a series of evil kings. He was a good king who renewed and reformed the Temple and Judah. The Book of the Law was rediscovered (there was so much evil that they had not realized it was missing) and God was revered for 31 years.

But Kings Jehoahaz, Jehoikim, Jehoiachin continued with evil reigns. Eventually the latter was taken in exile to Babylon. The Temple was decimated and only the poor were left in the land.

Pp 234-7  When hopelessness reigns, God raises up a prophet, in this case, Elijah in Babylon. After a stirring vision of God’s glory, Elijah was emboldened to speak to the rebellious Israelites. Disaster in terms of death or captivity was warned. But the people did not listen.

Pp 237-40  Jeremiah the prophet was raised up to speak for God in Jerusalem. He was told he was chosen even before he was born and God’s words would be in his mouth. His tears represented God’s broken heart for His people. The people had forsaken God and dug their own water pots that could not hold water. How representative of so many generations. They would reap destruction for leaving God. Why is it hard to believe that when we leave God our biggest enemy is ourselves?

Pp 241-3  King Zedekiah was as evil as any king. He would not be under any yoke, including that of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. But God predicted that Jerusalem was doomed and its people killed or taken into captivity. And so it happened, with the Temple left in ruins.

Pp 243-7 Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel foresaw a time or restoration. Jeremiah spoke of sins and lawless deeds remembered no more. Ezekiel spoke of a new heart and new spirit, through God’s own Spirit, within each believer. 

Chapter Sixteen the week of May 6

The Beginning of the End

The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel (including Samaria) and Judah had drifted apart. Prophets had been sent by God to draw them back to Himself and ultimately together. But the call fell on deaf ears. Each of the kings outdid their own father in evil.

PP 220-1  While the details show one king finally succumbed to a foreign invader, the facts show Israel had long ago left the only True God, the One Who had brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. God had assured them through Samuel that having an earthly king would preclude them from trusting the Heavenly King. So Israel went into new bondage in Assyria, 722 BC, with most people never returning to the Promised Land. The ten northern tribes became lost. Just consider God’s broken heart that the state of affairs had come to this.

PP 221-4  The field commander from Assyria challenged the leaders of Judah that their fighting was all for naught. The power of Assyria would wipe out Judah as they had Israel. King Hezekiah was taunted at his own palace. Instead of recoiling, Hezekiah sought God through prayer and asked the prophet Isaiah what God had revealed. God put a boundary around Jerusalem and killed 185,000 of the enemy warriors. We are also told God gave Hezekiah fifteen extra years of living during his illness. How have you responded when God has ‘spared’ you, like He spared Hezekiah from devastation and illness?

PP 224-8   The prophet Isaiah spoke powerfully into Judah, with visions of God’s holiness in inapproachable light. God was Almighty and Awesome and would have His way, even with belligerent and defiant people. Even if Judah fought against God’s ways, they would lose. Why do we see God as persistently for us when things are good, but fail to remember He is Holy and against our sin, when He disciplines us like a Father?

Yet God’s compassion was legion; He would never forsake His own, any more than a mother would forsake her own child. This love would go beyond Judah so that all would know that the Lord is their Savior and Redeemer. So the failure of Israel and Judah led to many other entering God’s kingdom.

PP 228-30  This God compassion was a portend of things to come. Isaiah 9, 11, 52 & 53 described Someone as a wounded healer…the Messiah Who lives the Life but is punished while He serves. He would be an offering for sin (atonement), as our iniquity would be laid on Him (substitutionary sacrifice); He was cut off from life (killed) but would see the light of life and be satisfied (resurrection). He would justify many (declare righteous), and bear their iniquities. How can anyone read this detailed description and not recognize the marked resemblance to Jesus of Nazareth?

So the northern kingdom is fallen and the people are permanently exiled. In a little over a century, the southern kingdom will unfortunately follow them in abandonment of the Living God.