You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog. Bible in One Year Readings Index
Chapter 5
As we continue the story of Jeremiah's divine mission to Judah and Jerusalem, do not think of the recorded events only in the context of the distant past. Enlarge the scope of your vision to see Jeremiah's condemnation of the sins of his people in the lives of your nation and the failure of your people who profess faith and love of Yahweh but continue to fall into sin without fear of divine retribution.
In Chapter 5, Yahweh adds three additional charges to the initial covenant lawsuit indictment of idol worship and contamination of legitimate worship:
- atheism and obduracy (verses 3, 12-13)
- sexual immorality (verses 7-8)
- exploitation of the poor (verses 26-29)
Jeremiah 5:1-9 ~ The Universal Depravity of Judah and Jerusalem
This passage reminds us that Jeremiah is not just mindlessly repeating the oracles he receives from God. He is emotionally and intellectually involved in the message, and at times he questions both God and the message, as in 4:19-21 when he expressed his anguish over the oracle and its vision of destruction.
The nine verses of this oracle poem divide into five stanzas in which Yahweh and Jeremiah alternate as speakers:
- Yahweh speaks to a search party (verses 1-2).
- Jeremiah speaks to Yahweh (verse 3).
- Jeremiah speaks to himself (verse 4-5b).
- Jeremiah speaks to Yahweh (verses 5c-6).
- Yahweh speaks to the people (verses 7-9).
In the previous oracle, people were fleeing from the coming disaster, only the citizens of Jerusalem, the harlot city, were staying. Jerusalem is overestimating her ability to resist the invasion. The background of the present oracle is repeated throughout history when people stayed in a wicked city and were destroyed.
Jeremiah 5:10-13 ~ Strip the Vineyard that is Jerusalem!
10 Scale her terraces! Destroy! But do not annihilate her completely! Strip off her branches, for Yahweh does not own them!
Jerusalem, built across the peaks of mountains, cultivated its vines on terraces. Jeremiah uses the vineyard imagery in the removal of the "branches" of the covenant people from their connection to Yahweh. The enemy will destroy Jerusalem, but they will not be allowed to destroy the people completely. The promise of the preservation of a remnant is a repeated in 5:19.
In verses 10-11, Yahweh restates the reasons for the covenant lawsuit, and in verses 12-13 Jeremiah gives his response; taken together this forms another dialogue between God and his prophet.
Jeremiah 5:14-17 ~ Yahweh's Consuming Words Foretell a Nation Consumed
The "Because of this" in verse 14 is what the detractors have denied about Yahweh and His sovereignty over them. Verse 14 recalls Moses' words in Deuteronomy 32:22, Yes a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce...
Question: How does Yahweh list the consequences of their judgment in verses 14-17?
Answer:
- A foreign nation will conquer Judah and Jerusalem.
- The foreigners will eat the fruits of the harvest.
- The foreigners will take the people's sons and daughters.
- The foreigners will take possession of flocks and herds.
- The foreigners will destroy all the vineyards and fruit trees.
- The foreigners will destroy the fortified towns and kill the inhabitants.
Jeremiah 5:18-19 ~ A Lesson to be drawn from the Punishment
The narrative moves back to prose in these two verses. Despite the declaration of the inevitability of the coming judgment delivered by the armies of the northern nation, again, as in verse 10, Yahweh gives the promise that He will not utterly annihilate the covenant people. When everything Jeremiah predicted in Yahweh's name comes to pass, the people will again refer to Yahweh as "our God" and will ask Jeremiah why Yahweh has done this to His people. When that time comes, Jeremiah is to give the answer God provides in verse 19b.
Jeremiah 5:20-25 ~ Stupid People who do not Fear God
This part of the oracle returns to the poetic form and is a continuation of verse 17. Yahweh begins by calling to a people who are stupid, without good sense, and without good hearts who cannot see the signs of the coming disaster or hear the warning of His prophet.
Jeremiah 5:26-31 ~ Returning to the Theme of the People's Wickedness
Yahweh is the speaker in this passage (confirmed in verse 29), and He addresses the people through His prophet. God begins the oracle by focusing on social injustice committed by wicked criminals who stalk the people (their prey) like fowlers netting birds. They prey on the weakest members of society like the orphans. The criminals succeed because no one cares enough to stop the abuse (verse 28b). The priests and the false prophets are just as bad in exploiting the people and in doing nothing to right wrongs (verse 30). Yahweh ends the oracle with two questions, addressing the people in verse 29: Shall I fail to punish this ... or on such a nation to exact vengeance? and again in the second person in verse 30b, But when the end comes, what will you do?"
Chapter 33: During and After the Siege of Jerusalem
Once Ezekiel hears about the fall of Jerusalem (33:21-22), Ezekiel's mission changes. He receives oracles and visions of the restoration of Israel (33:21-39:29) and visions associated with the Temple (Chapters 40-48). Following the announcement of Jerusalem's fall, the prophetic word formulas identify seven oracles associated with the purification of the land and the restoration of the covenant people in Chapters 33-39:
- Oracle 1 in 33:1-20
- Oracle 2 in 33:23-33
- Oracle 3 in 34:1-31
- Oracle 4 in 35:1-36:15
- Oracle 5 in 36:16-38
- Oracle 6 in 37:15-28
- Oracle 7 in 38:1-39:29
Between the first and second oracles, Ezekiel receives the message announcing Jerusalem's capture and destruction by the army of Babylon (33:21-22). Between the sixth and seventh oracles (37:1-14), Ezekiel receives the vision of the dry bones (37:1-28).
Ezekiel 33:1-9 ~ The Prophet as Watchman
This oracle signifies the beginning of a new phase in Ezekiel's ministry as he receives the same mission statement that he received after his inaugural vision in 3:17-21. The oracle divides into three parts:
Part 1: The oracle begins with Yahweh listing the duties and responsibilities of a watchman, and continues with Ezekiel's duties as a watchman to the exiles (33:2-9).
Part 2: God calls for the repentance and conversion of the exiles (33:10-11).
Part 3: God addresses personal accountability for sins and acceptance of His justice (33:12-20).
Ezekiel 33:10-11 ~ A Call to Conversion and Salvation
The discouraged covenant people feel crushed under the weight of its transgressions and unable to escape the consequences of God's judgment. God holds out the possibility of conversion. He assures His people that He takes no pleasure in the spiritual death of the wicked. God desires that all sinners confess and turn back to Him to save their souls from condemnation. This these repeated from 18:21-31.
Ezekiel 33:12-20 ~ Personal Accountability
This passage continues to repeat many parts of Ezekiel 18:21-32 (see Ezekiel Lesson 6). God debates with those who believe that past righteousness can deliver someone who commits wrongdoing later in life while past sins will still condemn those who have turned to righteousness.
The news of the fall of Jerusalem doesn't reach Ezekiel until December/January 586/85 in our calendar. The city fell in the eleventh year in the fourth month, or in our calendar in July 587 BC, so the fugitive arrived a year later. The fugitive who arrived with the news may have been part of the captives taken prisoner after the fall of the city (Jer 39:2; 52:15-16, 28-30; 2 Kng 25:3, 11). In 587 BC, after the fall of Jerusalem, in the third deportation (deportations began in 605 BC and again in 598 BC), Jeremiah 52:30 records the Babylonians deported an additional seven hundred and forty-five Judaeans. The Book of Ezra records that a caravan took about four months to travel from Babylon to Judah (Ezra 7:9 and 8:31). However, it probably took the Babylonian army time to round up the Judahite survivors before leaving for Babylon. The fugitive may have evaded capture and may have made the journey on his own.
Oracle 2 ~ The Ravaging of the Country
Oracle 2 divides into two parts:
Part 1: The continued ravaging of the holy land of Israel by unrepentant Judahites the Babylonians left behind and God's judgment on them (33:23-29).
Part 2: ffffff; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-right: 0.25in;">According to Jeremiah 52:16, the Babylonians left some of the poor country-people behind as vineyard workers and ploughmen to work the land. These people mistakenly see themselves as blessed and, as Abraham's surviving heirs, the true inheritors of the land.
God's reason for the exile was to purify the covenant people of their sins, to purify the land of idol worship, to bring the people to repentance, and to restore the people to their covenant relationship with Him. The remaining people continue to defile the land. They do not observe God's requirements for a holy life in the Holy Land of a holy God (see Lev Chapters 17-18). It is God's judgment that He will also purge them from the soil of Israel (Jer 40:2-4).
Ezekiel 33:30-33 ~ Ezekiel's Recognition from the Results of His Preaching
When the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, Ezekiel was vindicated. His unbelieving countrymen who had ridiculed him now received evidence that Ezekiel was truly a prophet of Yahweh. The obvious fulfillment of the words of Yahweh that Ezekiel preached caused the people in exile to finally recognize Ezekiel as a true prophet. They will come and visit Ezekiel to hear what he preaches (verse 30b); however, God tells his prophet they will not do as he says. They will only acknowledge his legitimacy but not the necessity of a change in their lives.
Apparently, only the news of the fall of Jerusalem has reached them. The "thing" that takes place is the destruction of the Temple. The Babylonians removed all the captives to Riblah in Syria before they destroyed the city and the Temple. When they hear of its destruction, their attitude will change, and Ezekiel will be fully legitimated as a true prophet. When that happens, Ezekiel's message will change. The promises of salvation and restoration in an eternal covenant and the conditions necessary to obtain it will characterize His prophecies.
+++
A Daily Defense
Day 228 Justification Past, Present, and Future
CHALLENGE: “The idea we can be justified at different points in our lives makes no sense.”
DEFENSE: Scripture unambiguously teaches that justification has past, present, and future dimensions.
The term “justify” (Greek, dikaoō) means to declare or make someone righteous. In the Protestant community, it is normal to think of justification only as an event at the beginning of the Christian life. And Scripture does sometimes speak of justification as a past event: “You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 6:11b).
But Scripture also speaks of justification as a future event when we stand before God:
• “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom. 2:13).
• “No human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law” (Rom. 3:20).
• “We wait for the hope of righteousness” (Greek, elipida dikaiosunēs, “the hope of righteousness/justification”; Gal. 5:5).
We also see multiple dimensions of justification in how the New Testament authors discuss Abraham, who must have been justified in at least three ways:
• Abraham pleased God (Heb. 11:2) and thus was justified when he followed God’s command and left his homeland (Heb. 11:8–9); this was in the early stages of his career, corresponding to Genesis 12.
• Abraham was justified or reckoned righteous when he believed God that he would have descendants (Rom. 4:1–4, James 2:23), corresponding to Genesis 15:6.
• Abraham was also justified when he offered Isaac on the altar (James 2:21), corresponding to Genesis 22.
Scripture thus indicates that Abraham was justified at different stages of his walk with God, including Genesis 12, 15, and 22. This means that we can’t conceive of justification simply as an event that occurs at the beginning of the Christian life. It is an event that has an initial dimension that is then furthered as we grow with God and that will finally be complete when we stand before God on the last day (see Days 257 and 274).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
No comments:
Post a Comment