Week 35
Jeremiah 40:7-44:30 and 2 Kings 25:23-26
After the destruction of Jerusalem, and the enslavement of the vast majority of
Jews, Nebuchadnezzar appointed a good man as governor in Judah, to rule over
the small remnant of poor Israelites who were not taken captive to Babylon.
However, an Ammonite murdered the new governor, and the remainder of the
Jews in the land went to Jeremiah, asking for guidance from the Lord. God told
them to stay in the land and submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and all would go well
with them. However, God also told them NOT to go down to Egypt, as they
would all die by sword or famine if they did. Naturally, what did they do? They
decided to go to Egypt, and God told them through Jeremiah that they had all
sealed their own doom.
Ezekiel 33:21-36:38
Ezekiel prophesies against the shepherds of Israel, who had used and
abused the people to their own gain. The Lord says He will remove them as
shepherds of His people, and in their place He will take over the responsibility of
leading His sheep. This prophecy in Ezekiel 34 is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, Who
said “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11-15).
In chapter 35 the Lord again speaks judgement against Mount Seir, which is
speaking of Edom, and the nation of Esau’s descendants.
In chapter 36 God says that (at that time) the nation of Israel was suffering His
judgement for all of their unfaithful worship of false gods, and running after
ungodly nations around them. But, the Lord says that there will come a day
when His judgement upon them is complete, and the those who remain will be
restored to the land, and He will bless them in the land from that time forward.
His people will also be given new hearts to love and serve Him. All of this has
yet to be fulfilled, but the Lord says He will do all of this for the sake of His own
Name, and not because of anything Israel has done, or because they are
somehow unique or special in themselves. God will do these things because of
His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to bring honor to His own
Name.
Ezekiel 37–39
Ezekiel is given a vision of a vast number of dry bones, and commanded to
prophesy over them to be brought back to life, and that new life be breathed into
them from God. This vision, and the subsequent prophecy in chapter 37 all
speak of what God will do in Israel in the last days, when He will establish His
sanctuary in Jerusalem, where Jesus will rule on David’s throne, and the people
will live in peace forever more.
In chapters 38-39 the Lord speaks of a day in the future when many nations of
the world will descend on Israel to destroy it, which will be led by Gog and Magog
(Russia), and include many of the nations of the Middle East. This may be a
description of the battle of Armageddon, when the Lord will take up the battle in
defense of His people, and all who came against them will be killed. The
descriptions in chapter 39 following that battle is very much like the aftermath of
a nuclear explosion, or of biological warfare, where the land will need to be
cleansed, and it will take the better part of a year for all of the dead to be
identified and buried.
Ezekiel 32:1–33:20, and Daniel 3
The Lord speaks through Ezekiel against the king of Egypt in the year
following the capture of Zedekiah, and during the time when the last ones in
Israel had fled to Egypt (against God’s commands). Nebuchadnezzar will come
against Pharaoh, and not only Egypt will fall, but many other nations will also be
destroyed, as the Lord prophesied through Ezekiel. God also speaks to Ezekiel,
reiterating His responsibility to speak the word of God, as He did in chapter 3.
In Daniel chapter 2, God had given Nebuchadnezzar a dream, which Daniel
interpreted, where the king of Babylon was represented as the golden head of a
statue, with arms and chest of silver, torso of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron
mixed with clay. However, here in chapter 3 Nebuchadnezzar sees himself as
much grander that what he saw in the previous chapter, and he sets up a huge
statue of himself, made of gold, and standing some 90 feet tall. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down to this statue, and are thrown into
the burning furnace, but Jesus appears with them in the fire, and they are not
harmed. Nebuchadnezzar is greatly impressed by God’s protection of them, and
they continue to prosper as his administrators following this event. They
demonstrate great faith in God, and are willing to accept the consequences of
their decision (not to bow), regardless of whether God will save them or not.
Ezekiel 40–42
The final nine chapters in the book of Ezekiel describe a vision given to the
prophet, where God transports him to Jerusalem in Israel, and he is given a
measuring stick to measure all kinds of different aspects of the temple and the
city. This was clearly the measurements of the temple in the future, since the city
and the temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. All of this is generally
thought to showed things in the Jerusalem and Temple of the Millennial reign of
Jesus Christ, however most bible commentators consider these chapters to be
among the most difficult to interpret in all of the Bible, and in some cases they do
not even try.
In these three chapters Ezekiel measures the confines of the temple, which
was divided into three major sections, with the Holy place centermost,
surrounded by an inner court that measured around 150 feet square on each
side, and an outer court and wall that measured around 750 feet square on each
side.
Ezekiel 43–45
In chapter 43 the glory of the Lord enters into His temple through the eastern
gate, and highlights the alter of sacrifice in the holy place. He describes the
cleansing of the alter and temple, where He will dwell among His people forever
more. It is a difficulty for commentators to explain the purpose of the sin
offerings, given that this occurs in the kingdom age, however some teach that
these are not for atonement or forgiveness, but rather for remembrance of
Christ’s sacrifice, someone like the we remember His body and blood when we
celebrate the Lord’s table.
In chapter 44 the Lord describes the ministry of the priests in the future
temple, and their requirements for remaining sanctified for His service.
In chapter 45 the Lord ordains that a district of land within Israel will be set
aside specifically for the temple, and for the Levites and priests who will serve
the Lord there. Later in Ezekiel, in the last chapter we will see the remainder of
this new division of the land, where each tribe will receive equal portions of land
in strips that run east to west, and are stacked from north to south. This
distribution is substantially different than the allotments made to the tribes by
Joshua.
Ezekiel 46–48
In chapter 46 the description of the service to the Lord continues.
In chapter 47 we see the living water than flows from the temple towards the
east, which starts out very shallow, but gets deeper and deeper as the distance
from the temple increases. It will be a river of pure water that brings healing,
even to the Dead Sea, where it flows to from Jerusalem. This river will be home
to multitudes of fish that will be caught. On each side of the river will be trees,
which bear good fruit year-round, and the leaves of those trees will be used for a
healing medicine. This river and the tree of life is similarly described in
Revelation 22:1-21.
In chapter 48 the land of Israel is reapportioned to the tribes in equal slices
from north to south, with Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah
being allotted lands to the north of the temple district. The temple district will be
the possession of the Levites and priests. South of the temple district will be the
slices of land allotted to Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad. There
will be twelve gates to the New Jerusalem, with each of the gates being named
for the tribes of Isael, which is also seen in Revelation 21:12. The name of that
city from that time forward will be “JAHWEH THERE”