Bible In One Year Day 231 (Jeremiah 8, Ezekiel 37-38, Proverbs 14:33-35)

  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 

Day 231 The Valley of Dry Bones 

Agape Bible 
Jeremiah 8 

Chapter 8: The Harvest is Over

"Harvest is over, summer at an end, and we have not been saved!"
Jeremiah 8:20

Jeremiah finally admits to himself that his appeals for repentance are futile "the people refuse to repent and are completely lost in their sins. They prefer to bow down to Astarte, the "Queen of Heaven." Astarte was the principal goddess of the Canaanite pantheon whose worship was accompanied with the most degrading forms of immorality (7:18). And in the valley of Hinnom just south of Jerusalem, children were burnt alive to Baal/Molech (7:31-32). False prophets give the people false hope that the city will not fall (8:10-11). As Jeremiah speaks of the impending desolation of Judah as if it has already happened (8:20), the false prophets' undermine his message; it is one of Jeremiah's most difficult problems.

Chapter 8:1-3 contains a 2-part prophecy in verses 1-2 and in verse 3.

Chapter 8:4-23/9:1 is divided into four or five parts depending on the translation:

1. The people's perversity (verses 4-9)
2. The failure of the priests and scribes (verses 8-9)
3. Repetition of the oracle in Jeremiah 6:12-15 (verses 10-12)* not in the Greek Septuagint
4. Threats against Judah the Vine (verses 13-17)
5. Jeremiah's lament (verses 18-23/9:1)

Jeremiah 8:1-3 ~ Prophecy of the Desecration of Tombs

This passage is another prose section. "When that time comes" in verse 1 is a continuation of 7:34, I shall silence the shouts of rejoicing and mirth and the voices of the bridegroom and bride, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be reduced to desert."

Question: What is the two-part prophecy of verses 1-3? Who are the "they" of verse 2?
Answer: "They" are the soldiers of the conquering army from the north:

1. They will desecrate the tombs of the Jerusalemites and leave the bones exposed (verses 1-2).
2. The survivors will prefer death to their fate of exile (verse 3).

The prophecy concerning the desecration of the tombs of Jerusalem, including the tombs of the kings, civil and spiritual leaders, and the ordinary people was what often happened when the soldiers who conquered a city ravaged the tombs looking for grave goods that might be valuable. Afterward, the bones of the dead were simply left exposed.

Jeremiah 8:4-9 ~ Israel's Perversity and the False Teaching of Priests and Scribes

The poetic form continues in verses 4-23. The three poems in 8:4-7, 13-17, and 9:1-8 continue to expand upon God's previous indictments against the people as He asks six rhetorical questions concerning the people's foolish behavior (twice in verse 4, in verse 5, 6, 8 and 9). Yahweh commands Jeremiah to tell the people it is never too late to repent and turn back to Him, even in the midst of the city's destruction. The illusion they cling to is that they can survive on their own, or that at the greatest time of crisis God will deliver the city as He did when the Assyrians surrounded the Jerusalem with their army during the reign of King Hezekiah (2 Kng 19:35-37). They forget that the deliverance in the time of Hezekiah was because of the people's sincere repentance, whereas at this time, "Not one repents of wickedness" or denies their sins (verse 6b).

Jeremiah 8:10-12 ~ Repetition of the Abuses of the Conquerors

Verses 10-12 are a duplication of Jeremiah 6:12-15. The Greek Septuagint translation does not repeat this passage.

Jeremiah 8:13-17 ~ Threats Against Judah the Vine

Yahweh is speaking through Jeremiah in verse 13; then in verses 14-16 Jeremiah articulates the people's response, followed by Yahweh's final answer in verse 17.
Question: How is the vine metaphor one of the symbolic images of the prophets and which of the four parts of that symbolic image is reflected in the passage? See the handout on the Symbolic Images of the Prophets from Lesson 1.
Answer: In Part I of the Vineyard/Fig tree imagery of the prophets, Israel is God's fruitful vine/fig tree, planted in the good soil of the Promised Land and destined to produce the "good fruit" of righteous service to Yahweh. In Part II, when the covenant people are in rebellion against God, the "vines" grow wild and fail to produce good "fruit." In Part III, God exercises His divine judgment. The "weeds" (enemies) overgrow the vineyard and destroy it. Jeremiah's imagery in this passage is the image of divine judgment in Part III.

In verses 14-16, Jeremiah articulates the people's response to the warnings "they acknowledge that they need to get ready and to seek refuge in the fortified towns. The "poisoned water" they are forced to drink because of their sins in verse 14 may be a reference to:

1. God's punishment for making the Golden Calf in Exodus 32:20 when the people were made to drink water mixed with the dust of the pulverized statue.
2. Or it may refer to the test for an adulterous wife in Numbers 5:12-13, 16-31.
3. Or it may refer to the common practice of the enemy poisoning the fresh water supply.

Jeremiah 8:18-23/9:1 ~ The Prophet Jeremiah Laments over the Fate of Jerusalem

This poem is a three-way dialogue among Jeremiah, the people, and Yahweh. In the previous poem, Yahweh spoke at the beginning and the end with Jeremiah speaking in the center for the people. In this lament, Jeremiah speaks at the beginning (verses 18) and the end (verse 23), with Yahweh speaking in the center (verse 19), and Jeremiah speaking for the people speaking in the center (verses 20-22). When Jeremiah speaks for himself, he uses "I" and "my," but when he speaks for the people he uses "we" and "us" (8:14, 20).

Jeremiah laments that God the Great King no longer resides with His people in the Promised Land (verse 19).
Question: What is Yahweh's response to Jeremiah's claim that He no longer resides with His people Zion?
Answer: The reason is that the people have provoked Him with their love of false idols.

Jeremiah continues that for the people the "harvest is over" and the "summer at an end" (verse 20), just as their time for repentance is over and it is the end of their summer of hope! These words may suggest that it is the time of the year in the liturgical calendar when the people were supposed to celebrate the pilgrim feast of Tabernacles and the fruit harvest, in the early fall.

It is from this part of Jeremiah's lament that he bears the title "the weeping prophet." He weeps continually over the suffering of his people with his tears flowing like a fountain or an ever-flowing spring. Jeremiah may be referring to the Nebuchadnezzar's attack on Judah and the surrender of Jerusalem in 597 BC, after Jehoiachin's rebellion. At that time, many of his people were taken away into exile into Babylonian lands. It was the second gathering of exiled citizens of Jerusalem and Judah, with the first deportation taking place in 605 BC when the Babylonians first invaded Judah and made King Jehoiachin a vassal. The third and final exile and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon will take place a decade later in 587 BC.

Agape Bible 
Ezekiel 37 - 38 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 ~ Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

The vision opens with "the hand of Yahweh" (also in the other two visions) on Ezekiel who is carried away by the spirit of God in verse 1 and concludes with the signature formula in verse 14. There is a break in verse 11 where the prophet's vision gives way to a series of interpretive comments. The vision divides into two parts:

• Part 1: The vision of the valley of death and its dry bones (verses 1-10).
• Part 2: The interpretation of the vision (verses 11-14).

The most significant keyword repeated nine times is ruah, a word that means "wind," "breath," or "spirit" (verses 5, 6, 8, 9 four times, 10, and 14). Therefore, verses 5-14 can also read, as translated in the Greek Septuagint (LXX), 5 The Lord Yahweh says this to these bones: I am now going to make breath [ruah] enter you, and you will live. 6 I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath [ruah], and you will live; and you will know that I am Yahweh.'" 7 I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a clattering sound; it was the bones coming together. 8 And as I looked, they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, yet there was no breath [ruah] in them. 9 He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath [ruah]; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath [ruah], The Lord Yahweh says this: Come from the four winds, breath [ruah]; breathe [ruah] on these dead, so that they come to life!'" 10 I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath [ruah] entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army... 14 and put my spirit [ruah] in you, and you revive, and I resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done this, declares the Lord Yahweh.'"

The other keyword in the passage is "life," repeated five times in verses 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10).

In verses 1-2, the "hand of God" comes upon Ezekiel and God's Divine Spirit catches him up and relocates him to a valley of death filled with dry bones. Scripture does not identify the location of the valley. The scene is unique in three aspects:

1. Ezekiel's amazement at the very large number of bones suggests there was a huge catastrophe.
2. The bones are on the surface of the valley like the remains of corpses that did not receive a proper burial according to the Law. As an Israelite who was a priest, Ezekiel knew how important it was to provide a proper burial for human remains (Num 5:1-3; 19:11-16; Ez 39:12-16).
3. Ezekiel is surprised at the extreme dryness of the bones which indicates they have lain exposed for a long time. God commands him to walk up and down on them to emphasize the complete absence of a life force.

The description of the vision in verse 2 foreshadows the hopelessness expressed in verse 11. The picture is one of death in its most horrifying intensity and finality.

In verse 3, God's direct speech takes over from the narration in verses 1-2.
Question: While Ezekiel contemplates the vision, what question does God ask?
Answer: He asks Ezekiel if the dry bones he sees in the valley are capable of being restored to life.

Ezekiel knew of people coming back to life in cases of recent death as in the son of the widow of Zarephath raised to life by Elijah (1 Kng 17:17-24) and the son of the Shunem woman raised to life by Elisha (2 Kng 4:18-37). He also knew of the case when a recently deceased man was revived when his body was thrown on top of the bones of Elisha (2 Kng 13:21). But the bones in the valley were from those who died long ago, and any hope for them could only be tied to belief in an eschatological resurrection as foretold by the Prophet Daniel: Of those who are sleeping in the Land of Dust, many will awaken, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace (Dan 12:2).

Verses 4-10 divides into two parts:

• Part 1: God instructs Ezekiel to summon the dry bones to attention and prophesy to the bones as if they were a living audience, alerting them to the impending activity of Yahweh (verse 5).
• Part 2: God instructs Ezekiel to announce the process of restoring life to the bones in four stages: 1. He will reconnect the bones with sinews. 2. He will cover the bones with flesh. 3. He will overlay the flesh with skin. 4. He will infuse the total with breath/spirit (verses 7-10). The four stages are a reversal of the decomposition process that left the bones bare.

The goal of the result is the infusion of God's ruah/breath/spirit in a spiritual revival. It is the recognition and relationship that Yahweh desires between the resurrected bodies and Himself.

Ezekiel does as God commands (verse 7), and as he is speaking, the reconstruction process proceeds rapidly, and the prophet is amazed. The predicted revival takes place as the bones arise, become connected and covered with flesh and skin, but at the critical moment, the process comes to a halt because "there was no breath (ruah/spirit) in the bodies (verse 8). The halting in the process prepares the way for the next phase of divine action in verses 9-10.

Question: What is the source of "the breath" in verse 9?
Answer: The source of "the breath" is "the four winds."

The "four winds" means "the four directions. It is the divine wind that blows in every corner of the earth, giving life to all creatures. Yahweh tells Ezekiel that the climax of the vision will be when the bones "come to life," repeated five times (verses 3, 5, 6, 9, 10).

The identification of the corpses as "the slain" in verse 9c gives us the first clue as to the how the corpses came to be in the valley. They are those who died in battle when the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem. But why weren't they buried? The answer is in the covenant curse-judgments that fell upon an apostate covenant people: Yahweh will have you defeated by your enemies; you will advance on them from one direction and flee from them in seven; and you will be a terrifying object-lesson to all the kingdoms of the world. Your carcass will be carrion for all the wild birds and all wild animals, with no one to scare them away (Dt 28:25-26). Jeremiah predicted the curse-judgment in Jeremiah 34:17-20. Yahweh sending His breath/spirit/wind to enter the corpses announces the lifting of the curse-judgment. That the valley contains the bones of "the slain" means that the valley in question could not be the same valley mentioned in the first vision in 3:22-23 and mentioned in 8:4. It is likely the Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem. It became synonymous with a place of torment and suffering. A century before the fall of Jerusalem, Isaiah described it as a place where the bodies of the rebels against the Lord will be strewn: ... they will see the corpses of those who rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die nor their fire be put out, and they will be held in horror by all humanity.
(Is 66:24).

Another passage that recalls this miracle is in John 20:22 after Jesus' Resurrection when He breathed upon the Apostles, giving them the life of the Holy Spirit and the power to bring continual renewed life to the Church through the forgiveness of sins.

 Reunification of Israel

The keyword in this passage is "forever," repeated four times in verses 25 twice, 26, and 28. After the word revelation formula that always signals a new oracle, The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows, Yahweh orders Ezekiel to perform a symbolic act with two sticks.
The two sticks represent the division of the United Kingdom of Israel into the two kingdoms of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam, a descendant of Joseph son of Jacob-Israel from the tribe of Ephraim, founded the Northern Kingdom. Therefore the oracle refers to the second stick as "Joseph."

Question: What prophetic act does God command Ezekiel to perform?
Answer: He is to take two sticks, labeled Judah and Joseph, and put them together as one single stick.

The oracle divides into seven parts:

1. The enemy mobilizes to attack Israel (38:1-9).
2. Gog's plans and motives (38:10-13)
3. God's counterplan (38:14-16).
4. God's response to the attack (38:17-23).
5. God's victory over Gog (39:1-16).
6. The sacrificial victory banquet (39:17-20).
7. Israel and the nations acknowledge Yahweh and His final word (39:21-29).

Ezekiel 38:1-17 ~ Part 1: The Enemy Mobilizes to Attack Israel

2 "Son of man, turn towards Gog, to the country of Magog, towards the paramount prince of Meshech and Tubal...
Paramount or chief prince suggests the highest status among a plurality of rulers in Gog's army (also see 39:1). In Hebrew, the word is rosh, chief or head. Some have mistranslated the text as "Gog, the prince of Rosh." "Rosh" sound something like the word "Russia," and therefore some have erroneously interpreted the passage to mean Gog is the ruler of what we call today the nation of Russia. "Rosh" simply means "chief" or "head," as used with that meaning 37 times in Ezekiel and over 600 times in the Old Testament (as in the designation of the Feast of Trumpets as Rosh Hashanah since it announced the "head" of the civil year), but it never refers to "Russia."

3 Say, The Lord Yahweh says this: I am against you, Gog, paramount prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I shall turn you about, I shall fix hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your entire army, horses and horsemen, all perfectly equipped, a huge array armed with shields and bucklers, and all wielding swords.
God will bring out the army of Gog in a mass invasion. The Bible attributes the events God permits to Him since He controls all of human history (cf. Ex 4:21; 8:17; 9:3; etc.). According to verses 4-5, Gog's soldiers are a well-equipped force:

1. They are mounted on horses.
2. They are armed with the defensive weapons of shields, bucklers (small shields), and helmets, and they have swords for offensive weapons.

The majority Gog's army is from Meshech and Tubal (modern-day Turkey). These names appeared earlier in the trade list of Tyre (Ez 27:13 in reverse order) and among the slain in Sheol (Ez 32:26). Neo-Assyrian documents attest to both Meshech and Tubal. The association of Meshech as "a people who hate peace" is supported in Psalm 120:5-7. The Greek historian Herodotus identified Meshech as part of King Darius of Persia's nineteenth satrapy (Herodotus, Histories, 3.94). Tubal/Tabal was the designation of the interior Anatolian kingdom known to the Assyrians. The landlocked kingdom was bordered on the west by Meshech, on the south by Hilakku, on the east by Melidu and Til-garimmu or Beth-Togarmah (means "place of Togarmah"), and on the north by Kasku. The arrangement of Ezekiel's place-names reflects an awareness of geographic and political realities in Anatolia.² The nations of Israel and Judah were probably aware of these peoples in Ezekiel's time, but their knowledge of them must have been limited.

The Army of Gog comes with allies. Gomer and Beth-Togarmah represent the northern extreme of the world known to Israel while Persia (literally Paras), Cush, and Put represent the southern extreme. This description of the enemy envisions a conspiracy against the covenant people that has drawn warriors from across the ancient Near East.

Verses 4-6 emphasize Yahweh's direct and deliberate manipulation of Gog by announcing Yahweh's control over Gog in three declarations:

1. "I will turn you about"
2. "I shall fix hooks in our jaws" (enforcing obedience)
3. "and bring you out with your entire army

7 Be ready, be well prepared, you and all your troops and the others rallying to you, and hold yourself at my service. 8 Many days will pass before you are given orders in the final years you will march on this country, whose inhabitants will have been living in confidence, remote from other peoples, since they escaped the sword and were gathered in from various nations, here in the long-deserted mountains of Israel.
Verses 7-9 announce the military strategy He intends to pursue. God's plan is to use the threat of the great invasion to reveal Himself to the chosen people and to the other nations of the earth when He saves the elect from destruction. "Many days will pass" or "after many days" is a phrase often viewed as an eschatological formula that pertains to an end-time or future-time of judgment and transformation. The rest of verse 8 suggests this disaster will fall upon the covenant people who have returned from exile to the Promised Land of Israel.

However, the coming of this vast army against Israel is part of God's divine plan because He announces: 7 Be ready, be well prepared, you and all your troops and the others rallying to you, and hold yourself at my service. And God commands: 9 Like a storm you will approach, you will advance and cover the country like a cloud, you, all your troops and many nations with you. Also see verse 16b where God says: In the final days, I myself shall bring you to attack my country, so that the nations will know who I am, when I display my holiness to them, by means of you, Gog. The passage reveals three actions of God's divine plan:

1. God plans Gog's invasion according to His timetable in the future after God's people have been regathered from exile and have resettled in their homeland.
2. Gog's invasion occurs at the overt instigation of Yahweh and as His agent.
3. Yahweh's purpose in bringing Gog's army is to convince the nations surrounding His people of His Divine Presence and protection over His people.

The question is what is meant by the "final years" in verse 8? Does it refer to the "final years" of man or the "final years" of Gog? The phrase "final days" is in verse 16.

Ezekiel 38:10-13 ~ Part 2: Gog's Plans and Motives

Question: What is Gog's motive for marching against Israel?
Answer: Verses 10-13 reveal Gog's schemes for plundering the wealth of unprotected and vulnerable Israel.

Ezekiel 38:14-16 ~ Part 3: God's Counterplan

"In the final days," in verse 16 is another eschatological formula. The direction from which the invading army comes is the north; it is the traditional direction from which destruction comes in Scripture (Is 41:25; Jer 1:14; 4:6; 6:1; 13:20; etc.). Verses 14-16 are like a summons to battle. It is as though the oracle envisions a duel between Yahweh and Gog.

Ezekiel 38:17-23 ~ Part 4: God's Response to the Attack

17 The Lord Yahweh says this: "It was of you that I spoke in the past through my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days, foretelling your invasion.
Some translations render this verse as a question. The verse causes us to ask to which prophets and prophecies does God refer? Several clues to the answer are in the passage:

1. Yahweh claims the prophets as His servants distinguishing them from false prophets. He affirms the authenticity of their message by referring to them as agents through whom He had spoken.
2. That they are "prophets of Israel" and rules out any prophecies given in the land of Magog.
3. They are prophets from the past which rules out Ezekiel.

God will respond to Gog's invasion with a day of divine judgment. Verses 19-22 give a classic description of a theophany in which God's appearance brings havoc that causes an upheaval in the natural order.
Question: What signs will there be in nature to the intervention of God?
Answer:

1. Earthquakes felt throughout the earth.
2. Fear among the animal and human population.
3. Mountains will fall and cliffs crumble.
4. Man-made structures will collapse.
5. There will be plagues.
6. There will be unrelenting rain, hail, fire, and brimstone.

Not only will God summon warriors to fight Gog's army, but Gog's warriors will turn on each other.

This part of the oracle reaches a climax with Yahweh's powerful statement highlighting God's threefold revelatory purpose: to display His greatness, His holiness, and acknowledgement of His Divine Person. On that great and terrible day, the nations surrounding Israel/Judah will witness the greatness of Israel's and will acknowledge Him.

+++ 
A Daily Defense
DAY 231 Objections to the Quantum Mechanical Argument

CHALLENGE: “The quantum mechanical argument is flawed: (1) There are other interpretations of quantum mechanics; (2) there could be more than one initial physical observer; (3) the first physical observer could be actualized by a physical observer from another universe; (4) a non-physical observer other than God could actualize the first physical observer; and (5) God doesn’t observe things the way we do.”

DEFENSE ; None of these objections overturn the quantum mechanical argument.

First, there are different interpretations of quantum mechanics, but this is a legitimate interpretation that cannot be eliminated on scientific grounds.

Second, the odds of two or more initial conscious physical observers becoming actual at the same moment is very improbable. Even if it happened, some observer would still have to make them actually alive. Saying they simultaneously observed one another at the first moment of their existence—a causal loop—would be improbable and wouldn’t explain why the loop exists rather than not.

Third, physical observers from another universe only kicks the problem back a step. How did physical observers become actually there? Without an infinite regress of such universes (for which we have no evidence and which would create its own problems), we would still need a non-physical observer to start the process.

Fourth, non-divine observers not made of physical matter/energy would—in human terms—be angels. That would itself establish a plank in the Christian worldview, and it would raise questions of how the angels came to exist, again leading in the direction of God.

Fifth, God doesn’t observe things the way we do, through physical senses. He has a direct, immediate knowledge of what he creates, and his act of knowing created things is not distinct from his act of creating them. Therefore, his knowledge of created things actualizes them on the most fundamental level.

This suggests possible ways of expanding the argument. Here we have focused on what actualized the first physical observer. However, if (as common sense would suggest) there were definite events before this in this history of the universe (e.g., at the Big Bang), a non-physical observer like God would be needed to actualize those. The same would be true of definite events occurring today that are not seen by physical observers (e.g., a rock falling off a cliff on Mars).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist