As Jonah was an obstinate and disobedient prophet of YHWH, he refused the LORD’s instructions to travel to the city of Nineveh in Assyria and warn them of destruction. Due to the great evil in Nineveh, they were subject to what God would do to them if they would not repent or turn from their wickedness (rā’āh). The words of YHWH to Jonah were unambiguous: “Arise and go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2)” with no ambiguity whatsoever. Their evil was before God, their creator, and they were to have His judgment proclaimed against them. Along with Jonah, we are informed that they must repent of their evil, or else.
Incredibly, Jonah attempts to flee from YHWH’s presence, the omnipresent God of the world he occupies. With the narrative of Jonah’s story, interwoven with poetic Hebrew wordplay, it is revealed that his efforts did not turn out well. Numerous incidents provide lessons about circumstances in opposition to YHWH that point to His will and sovereignty. God will have His decree spoken before Nineveh one way or another. To warn the city and its occupants and make clear the differences between them and His people within Judah and Israel when Nineveh does repent. In fact, by carefully reading through the story, and by careful reflection on the general nature of prophets (Nevi’im), would Jonah have known the direct or inferred comparison between God’s people and Nineveh to the North in Assyria? That God’s people would not repent, but Nineveh, the people of Assyria, a foreign nation who worshiped false gods, would, in fact, repent only to anger Jonah. That he would resent the difference and that God would relent from the destruction of his enemy.
Jonah 4:2 informs us exactly why he quickly fled to Tarshish, in roughly the opposite direction of Nineveh. His words spoken in prayer to YHWH were as follows: “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah did not flee to another country away from the presence of YHWH because he was afraid of God, or the people of Nineveh. He was afraid that if his enemies repented, God would not destroy them. He knew the character of YHWH, and he did not want mercy and kindness to appear in the lives of those who were doing exceedingly great evil.
In the end, the story was largely about Jonah. Much to the prophet’s dismay, the people of Nineveh repented and were spared of imminent destruction. His enemies were shown mercy after Jonah did eventually and reluctantly declare to them, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” That by the circumstances orchestrated through the sovereignty of YHWH; a poignant lesson is revealed to Jonah and us through Scripture about obedience. Are we more for YHWH’s interests, or those of our own? Even if we are offended, fearful, or resistant to where God would want us, or have us do, what is our heart attitude? Just as God’s lovingkindness (ḥĕ’•sĕḏ) and mercy are present with us, how can we not delight in that of God even if present among our enemies?
This post is in the context of my Psalm 82 worldview. I follow and accept the first-century perspective of the Apostle’s view of Scripture. So that may provide some sense of premise I have as to what scenario is offered here from personal studies and interpretation in the book of Daniel. I am aware of the conventional interpretations from dispensationalists. I have read the Hays text as well on this. Still, I am fully prepared to be entirely wrong, or corrected on this. This is merely a preliminary perspective about the four-beasts written about in the book of Daniel (chapter 7). Some suspicions and written observations are here about what the near and far view of Daniel’s prophetic meaning looks like apart from an amillennial or preterist perspective.
Gentile pagan empires are the four beasts we read about in Daniel. From a prophetic and historical perspective, the lion is Babylon (Assyria), the bear is Medo-Persia (Iraq/Iran), the leopard is Greece (Yavan, or Asia Minor/Turkey in Daniel’s time), and the fourth beast of iron and clay is fierce, unlike the others (Europe/Rome occupied Caliphate). The corollary to this vision is Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, as interpreted in Daniel. Since Daniel 7 is an interpretive repetition of the statue in Daniel 2, all inferior empires (beasts) were historically destroyed by the fourth empire.
Prior to the rise of the historical Roman empire, it was Greece that campaigned throughout the Middle East and conquered numerous nations to the East. This third beast (kingdom), under the leadership of Alexander the Great, was also responsible for the destruction of numerous nations. As a beast that devoured the rest (Babylon and Medo/Persia), this historical empire looks to have wrought a level of destruction entirely familiar to what we read about from the fourth beast. To include the spiritual principalities over the nations or territories set before Greece (Macedon) under Alexander the Great.
The Empire of Alexander illustrated above is a fulfillment of the prophecy and angelic interpretation concerning the conflict between the ram and the goat. Symbolic of both Media/Persia (ram) and Greece (goat) respectively. Where eventually the great horn that emerges from the goat is recognized as Alexander the Great. Once that great horn is destroyed, the four horns that emerge from it will produce a single ruler of great power. It was and is to have great power as the already, but not yet. From Daniel’s perspective, the vision was in the distant future to explain Antiochus Epiphanes of Greece. Historically originated from Seleucid kingdom, and the one who is not of his own power (Dan 8:24), he was anti-Christ type figure risen to commit the atrocities written about in Scripture and across history. To fulfill the relative near view of prophecy concerning the evil ruler among the four receding kingdoms we are informed about by Gabriel, the archangel in Scripture (Dan 8:16).
I am aware of traditional views that accept the fourth beast of iron as Rome. And that the “Roman” empire is predicted to revive during the end times. However, I suspect the region is “governed” or headed by a principality that includes Europe. Rome is in Europe, and I am coming to the view that the fourth beast/empire is the Islamic Caliphate’s presence across the European Union. The onslaught invasion of the Islamic peoples throughout Europe is happening again, but it is also growing well beyond that.
Historically, Rome never entirely destroyed the other three empires/beasts as we read about in Daniel as the Parthians of Persia remained in the North, and they were not fully conquered (Dan 7:12). However, the historical Islamic Caliphate did, in fact, conquer all three of the empires. And on its current trajectory, it may become revived with a substantial presence in Europe (Rome) by geometric growth. It can develop a coalition of nations (10-horns; Dan 7:27) in which anti-Christ may emerge (Daniel 2:34-35, 40) if there is such a person after Antiochus Epiphanes (175 – 164 BC) who desecrated the Jerusalem temple just prior to its destruction in 70 AD (abomination of desecration).
So, I am inclined to tentatively recognize the view that the four beasts are Babylon, Medo / Persia, Greece, and Rome. A Rome (Europe) that is fed by Greece (Yavan/Turkey) that is again flooded by Islam with its Caliphate of nations. One could also easily take the position of Greece becoming the eschatological fourth beast, or that it overlaps Europe/Rome, since it is Yavan from the root text of Scripture to identify its geographic position of modern Turkey. Moreover, in my reading of Daniel, Greece is Yavan, as written in Daniel 8:21 and elsewhere. Since Greece did not exist at the time of Daniel’s prophecy, it is rendered in the root language as Yavan / Javan (Asia Minor).
Today it is widely recognized that Turkey aspires to rebuild a Caliphate and is forming its Islamic alliance. This is presumably the 10-horns (Dan 7:7) that grow from the fourth beast written about in Daniel. To infer that the current Caliphate coalition-building among nations are Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Still, the identity of coalition nation states, and borders by quantity are not as precisely important as is the controlling spiritual principalities in the region. The prophecy of ten horns is of the area to include its spiritual involvement as eschatological messaging, not of the entire planet. As an aside, in my view, Turkey is today a government-sanctioned version of ISIS, and it needs to be ejected from NATO.
This is where my tentative opinion is currently, and I understand the history of Antiochus Epiphanes as an anti-Christ type from long ago. Specifically, the little-horn among the ten that emerged (Dan 7:8, 7:20, 8:9, 8:23-25). Since I so far fully accept the near/far view of concurrent truth and prophetic fulfillment, I would watch for the origin of a final principality-controlled anti-Christ from the Seleucid (Greek) lineage. Some (preterists) speculate that there is no further prophetic prediction of anti-Christ while others think the far view of fulfillment arises from either Judaism as their long-awaited messiah of the Hebrew Old Testament. See Daniel 8:5-9 for its background identity in terms of its geographic proximity.
Prophecy is a puzzle that comes into view from various perspectives among everyone who studies eschatology. As the pieces are brought together, the prophetic vision becomes clear. Most especially in light of definitive historical fulfillment AND support from authoritative Scripture as such.
When a person walks by the Spirit as written about in Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Gal 5:1-26), we are guided in Christlike behavior that honors God’s instructions to love one another. As Christ’s life is narrated in the gospels of Scripture, we observe numerous examples of what it looks like to love people and act upon God’s interests to meet the needs of others. By doing so, we are making a lasting difference among friends, family, co-workers, classmates, and people in general. It is to interpersonally live out the kindness, patience, joy, gentleness, and peace that speaks about what God has done in our lives. Each individual who experiences a life transformation through Christ must love others, as it is an inevitable outcome of a fruitful relationship that develops between us and God.
We read within Scripture the words of Yahweh Himself about what offends Him concerning Christian behaviors. Particularly among those who go through the motions of spiritual interest without regard to others’ safety, protection, and well-being. Amos 5:23-24 gives us the specifics. Where, in Scripture, the worship of God’s people becomes rejected in the following way — “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Notice that the music that could delight God instead becomes noise to Him. By contrast, the music and worship of an individual or a congregation are accepted and fulfilling when done within the context of ongoing care for others. Not just as a mental hope for the well-being of the needy, disadvantaged, abused, or wronged, but by a willful effort to apply restorative action where or as suitable. It is necessary to seek out where there are needs and fulfill them as an act of service and a form of worship even as we appear before God in prayer, with music, song, or benediction.
As there are continued injustices that accompany a fallen world, we as individuals have a responsibility to find them and make a difference where we can. Each person can make a difference through volunteer work, donations, mentoring, teaching, counseling, advocacy, etc. As bearing one another’s burdens is a conscious activity that is not merely an emotional exercise, but a surrounding effort to our being’s entire realm or context. Particularly among those relationships we have. We help as we can in duty and support for people through God who has given us the hope we have.
When God conveys the term “justice” to us, He intentionally allows its definition to emerge for clarity and depth. “Justice,” as a definition, is usually rendered in a bible lexicon as “the quality of being free from favoritism, self-interest, bias, or deception, especially conforming to established standards or rules.” How the term “justice” is used in Amos 5:23-24 implies a refreshing and life-giving effect. That it is preferred over music, song, sacrifice, or religious praise as a ritualistic effort Yahweh often condemned. God requires of us as individuals, and organizations, both obedience and justice. It is a biblical justice that is above and over the significance of worship or spiritual disciplines.
The unfaithful spouse imagery in Hosea’s book is common to the same type of betrayal that we read about among the major prophets (Jeremiah 3:1, Ezekiel 16:32). The prophets describe how the rejection of a marriage covenant in a person-to-person context makes more directly relatable the abandonment of the divine covenant between Yahweh and His people. His people have rejected Him; they are akin to a prostitute wife who leaves her husband. The comparison carries far less weight as a wife leaves her a husband compared to God and His people, but the betrayal is felt in a tangible and lasting way among people obligated to their covenant with God. The disloyalty felt brings substantial pain in both scenarios in a hurtful and memorable way.
Today, the message of Hosea reminds us of what a violation of a covenant oath looks like. It is a rupture of intimacy, both physically and spiritually, in the context of a marriage that does not honor exclusivity. Where in the Mosaic covenant, Yahweh explicitly forbids idolatry (Exodus 20:3), He informs His people that they were to have no other gods besides Him. If His people were to have and worship gods other than Him, that by definition is idolatry and is the same as adultery in a spiritual sense. Specifically, between Yahweh’s people and the other gods they worship or serve. Putting another god, or anything, above or before God Most High was the first commandment He gave to His people. Down through the centuries, it was also a commandment that His people often broke. With significant influence among neighboring nations and their own hearts, they participated in the behaviors that Yahweh sought to keep them from.
The principles given to us between Hosea and Gomer (husband and wife) offer insights into what people do spiritually to stray or outright reject God their creator. As Yahweh sought to maintain a fruitful relationship with His people Israel, He loved and cared for them in ways that speak to us today. Whereas, the “gods” of today are not ancient idols, figurines, or images that are worshiped and treasured; they are instead anything and everything that love and honor more than God. Examples include status, people, success, material objects, hobbies, or interests that occupy people’s hearts and desires beyond what He intended. It is where creation is worshiped, served, or held in higher esteem over the Creator, which is the modern equivalent to ancient idolatry, or spiritual adultery, that God forbids.
The God of the universe, who made everything, is rightfully and necessarily served and worshiped over anything and anything else. To not abide by our Lord Yahweh’s wishes in this is offensive to Him. Through our free agency, He entrusts us to seek, honor, and love Him. If we do not, we miss out on the blessings, or may even stand condemned while God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked who reject Him (Ezekiel 33:11). Yahweh is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) who can become offended and hurt. So, as we learn of Him and trust Him, we must do all we can to remain faithful to Him as we set Him above anything and everything else. He is worthy of all glory and the source of life and healing we trust Him to provide.
The promise of the Spirit of Yahweh poured out upon His people includes individuals written about in the context of Joel 2:28-29. Specifically, Israel’s people identified as sons, daughters, men, both young and old, and male and female servants. Yahweh’s people were fraught with wayward rebellion, and like sheep, they often went their own way (Isaiah 53:6). From the beginning, all the way back to Yahweh’s garden, humanity has been walking out their own desires without full concern for what God has required to keep their covenant and maintain fellowship with Him. Since the beginning of humanity, the heart, the center of the will, has been corrupted and hardened. As drawn away by desires outside of Yahweh’s will, the inevitable consequences and destruction of His people were due to their significant error. It was upon them to bear the weight of their guilt.
The covenant promises Yahweh made from the beginning were to be accomplished no matter what. Despite the continued failures of His chosen people across numerous covenants, Yahweh would be the God of the people of Israel. Moreover, He would be the God of all nations to reclaim creation as His rightful possession. With judgment and punishment would come redemption and reconciliation. As it is written, “They will be my people, and I will be their God,” we are in full view from the early prophecy of what will transpire to fulfill His intentions. His glorious place among His people (Joel 2:32) and those who call to Him will be saved (Romans 10:13). Ultimately, saved from the power, penalty, and presence of sin. That as unencumbered by sin, His people would be healed of their corruption and hardness of heart to restore fellowship with Yahweh. From the Edenic garden of paradise to the deserts of Arabia, God had a plan of permanent retention through a new covenant unlike all those previously formed.
The long view of prophetic fulfillment begins from Isaiah 44:3 as reiterated in Joel 2:28. As it is written, “I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants.” It would so appear that the prophet Joel was aware of the writings of Isaiah. Moreover, Joel appears to echo Ezekiel 39:29, which explicitly says Yahweh will “pour out His Spirit on the house of Israel.” Yet as it appears through hardship, disappointment, rebellion, and the devastation of thousands of people destroyed, humanity would become brought back to Yahweh even if only through a remnant. The God of all creation would return people to Him through His Spirit’s work to transform their hearts. To reshape their desires with a power that is not their own. To bring His people the will to know, follow, and love Him to involve a heart change. As recorded in Scripture, that is precisely the indwelling Spirit’s work poured out and into people. That the hearts of people would be transformed that they would desire Him and His plan for them and creation.
During the time of judgment and immense destruction, we witness through Scripture and history the prophetic promise and its fulfillment. To realize that from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, we are given a long view of prophetic fulfillment to provide us with hope through Christ. With the full authority of God’s word, we have every confidence in Him.
As Yahweh made clear to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Israel, “they will be My people and I will be their God,” it was obvious that He kept faithful to the covenant agreed upon at Mt Sinai and in the Moab desert. Yet after the many years and continued failures of His people, He would form an everlasting covenant for those who would be caused to seek and follow Him. It was and is now a new type of covenant that would change how His people would remain faithful (Ezekiel 16:60) to give hope for renewal and permanent restoration. This renewal would involve the restoration of His presence in the lives of His people. As planned from long ago, the fellowship between Yahweh and His people would become planted to grow in grace as His further interest progresses.
Prior to Judah’s exile into Babylon, and the removal of His presence among them, Yahweh’s people did not yet have the transformed heart that God said He would give them. In fact, He said that His Spirit placed within them would mean that He intends to take up residence within His people as compared to where He was before at the wilderness tabernacle and later in Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem (Ezekiel 36:25-27). It was to become His indwelling Spirit that defines the type of presence that would now occupy the inner-being of His people. They were to become a distributed personal space He would occupy as compared to a centralized location in Jerusalem at the temple.
In due course, the nation or tribes of Israel would become superseded through messianic prophecies about the kingdom of God that comes to the Earth via the way of the sea (Isaiah 9:1-2, Matthew 4:14-17). Not to replace Israel, God’s people, but to build upon it as His kingdom extends from Jerusalem to all individuals among the nations who would come to Christ in faith. Through a new covenant first for the Jews and then also for the Gentiles (Romans 1:16) where it is fulfilled that Yahweh’s Spirit would live within them. As born-again individuals with the Spirit of God within them among the nations across numerous generations, the new covenant applies to those who are of God’s kingdom.
The key point is that the God transforms the heart of His people. He does so through His Spirit and His word through Scripture. In order that His people would love, honor, and serve Him as their delight and ongoing desire. Where it is therefore made possible to consistently walk in the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:16-18 and fulfill the instructions that are given to us as a body of believers.
Daniel’s first two chapters involve his faithfulness when facing uncertain or adverse circumstances related to the Babylonian authorities above him. Specifically, Daniel was pressured to eat foods that would have defiled him as they were a violation of Jewish law. These were foods offered to pagan gods at the time and likely included pork, which was a forbidden food. Secondly, he was among a group of administrators who were condemned to execution because of their inability to define and interpret a dream Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, experienced. The king was insistent upon an explanation and interpretation from those made responsible for making clear the meaning of the dream.
As Daniel was a Godly man of conviction, prayer, and excellence, he serves as an example for people today who wish to honor Yahweh and others. Not specifically about forbidden foods, or to explain and interpret dreams of others, but to be an individual of character. With integrity, we can pray for others, and especially those in leadership. Then when it comes to having affirmed and settled beliefs about who God is and what He requires of us, we are in the same way consistent in living out those convictions. Whether in the little things in life or with wisdom, toward the more consequential matters in life.
Daniel lived his life in such a way that his life was a testimony to others and those foreign to Yahweh. His conduct, demeanor, influence, and persuasive nature helped enable him to love and serve God by how he made a difference in other people’s lives. Especially among those who were otherwise hostile to him and his beliefs. Confident and assertive, Daniel represents the character befitting one who is responsive to God and the needs of others. His win-win mindset served him well as He maintained his faithfulness to Yahweh. A talent gifted to him by God, he trusted and believed God for the well-being and blessings he continued to demonstrate. The wisdom of Daniel stemming from the relationship he lived out with God was responsible for the results under pressure we read about in the beginning of the book of Daniel.
His life exemplifies the fact God can use His people wherever they are. He can use His people in whatever circumstances they face. If or when we face hardship or tough situations, we can look to Daniel’s example about how we can honor God and those we are with. To make the right choices that glorify, honor, and serve God to assure that our lives’ testimony and witness point clearly to Him and the work He does within us. So that when we have the opportunity to give an apparent reason for the hope we have (1 Pet 3:15), we speak about God’s goodness and how He is very much worthy of our love and trust as He is the source of our confidence and faith.
As we see and experience God’s power through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live as Daniel did. To make practical everyday choices about what we choose to believe and how we conduct ourselves among others in light of what God wants and values.
In the New Testament, we read about how becoming a friend of the world puts God’s people at enmity with Him (James 4:4). To recognize and want all the same values, traditions, interests, and core beliefs as secular society, some individuals or churches come into opposition of Christ. Similarly, as there were numerous false deities in the ancient Near East, the people of nations surrounding Israel engaged in idol worship where it was forbidden to place anything above the value and supremacy of God. Yet, as the major prophets write about in explicit detail, that is exactly what God’s people did.
Like other nations, Israel wanted to serve wood and stone, or objects made with their own hands to worship and serve. Even worse, they participated in child sacrifices and served false gods to gain favor. Inevitable and growing destructive behaviors were carried out among the pagan nations to have a severely consequential influence on Israel. As we read in Ezekiel 20:32, we come to understand that the people of Israel wanted to be like other nations to form their own religious worldview and worship creation, or false deities rather than their Creator.
Today, modern Christians look upon the systems and objects of desire formed by modern society, and we want the same for ourselves. Too often, not just in an incidental, or healthy way, but as a preeminently common value above Yahweh. To have a bearing on how we are educated, entertained, governed, and how we are made prosperous and secure through economic beliefs and policies. All of which we adopt for ourselves while having separate priorities apart from Christ (Isaiah 53:6). As “being in the world yet not of the world” does not bear practical meaning to affect life choices, use of time, money, attention, behaviors, thinking, etc. All Christians are called to place Christ as LORD over everything and anything.
The full integration of secular society and the local church caters to its guests, members, and the public with initiatives, programs, or appeal with well-developed marketing messages absent the gospel or hardships that accompany abundant and eternal life in Christ. Compromise against biblical principles of service, living, and morality becomes inevitable. A church given to social appeal dilutes its purpose and mission as it caters to the “what’s in it for me” mindset. If an individual or group’s lifestyle, “self-truth,” or preferences cannot be accommodated, then secular churches lapse, temporarily or otherwise, into concession in its desire to serve a false “god.” A false god honored by how it operates. Moreover, social influences and pressures upon an individual can have a significant bearing on a Christian that does not honor Christ as Lord. A person is then inevitably subjected to the honor required of what seems right at best (Prov 14:12).
It is necessary to love others and steward creation, but love for Yahweh is most urgent.
The four living creatures in Ezekiel 1:4-28 are real spiritual beings that Ezekiel saw in his vision. This was a supernatural experience that he encountered as what was revealed to him was a likeness of cherubim at Yahweh’s seat of power independent of position, space, or time. The anthropomorphic images Ezekiel perceived were for his comprehension within his surrounding environment as “the heavens were opened” before him (Ezekiel 1:1). The heavens were opened to reveal the vivid nature of God’s glory and that of His cherubim. The “heavens” that were opened were external to Ezekiel’s experience to indicate that the encounter was more than a theophany only internal to the prophet. The term “heavens” (samayim) refers to the abode of God and His angels. What Ezekiel saw, as written in Scripture, was a vision of who and what was from there.
The vision that Ezekiel encountered was not from his imagination. Since the Ezekiel 1 text does not indicate that the theophany was presented to anyone other than the prophet in proximity to what occurred, we cannot conclude that Ezekiel’s vision was open for everyone to see. In other areas of Scripture, we are presented with visions, and supernatural appearances among prophets and apostles recounted in detail. Either in a real descriptive sense or as a symbolic expression to convey meaning. For example, Christ’s transfiguration was an actual event that occurred to indicate the glorified state of Jesus physically. Conversely, for example, there were visions of John in the book of Revelation that conveys imagery to represent actual meaning (such as the lamb in heaven). What was revealed to individuals or groups in Scripture was determined by God, whereas what was given to an individual by dream or vision is the same yet only exclusive to that person.
God’s perfect will gives select individuals a specific reason to produce meaning for God’s glory and to communicate, meaning that He was transmitted. The messaging readers of Scripture get from encounters, visions, and dreams, have their purpose in alignment with God’s design and intent. While Ezekiel’s vision was not a practical reality in an Earthly sense, the encounter was very much real in a spiritual sense (Num 23:19). What constitutes reality, or the perception of it, is determined by God, not humanity’s limited capabilities. People are merely given the utility of sensory perception to interpret meaning as presented naturally or supernaturally. Either in a physical way or by what the spirit is situated to understand or perceive. The brain is the mind’s interface to the material world. God is the spirit’s interface to the spiritual realm. God has dominion and control over both as people are comprised of both flesh and spirit.
Ezekiel’s vision was a look into a representative nature of God’s presence. To include His glory, His cherubim, and the surrounding realm around which He occupied. If He chooses to peel back the heavens to reveal additional dimensions to individuals or groups, He is certainly capable of that (Jer 32:27).
During the reign of Jehoiakim (an evil king of Judah), between 609 and 598 BC, Yahweh instructed the prophet Jeremiah to bring the Rechabite’s entire household into Jerusalem within the temple of the Lord. Yahweh tasked Jeremiah to give the Rechabites wine to drink as they were in Jerusalem at the temple while invited. The Rechabites were the descendants of Rechab, a Benjamite, who were a nomadic family in southern Judah. They were people who lived in tents, and they were in Jerusalem for safety due to the continuing pressures from Babylon and Aram. The entire chapter of Jeremiah 35 is dedicated to the Rechabites, and their obedience to Jonadab, Rechab’s son, where Yahweh uses a relevant and useful family covenant to deliver a clear and necessary message to His people there in Judah.
When Jeremiah offered the Rechabites the wine placed before them in the temple, they refused to accept it. They explained that they were under an obligation to obey Jonadab never to drink wine all their days. This was an obligation to include their children, their wives, and all of their families. So even with the prophet Jeremiah’s social courtesy and implied pressure, they held to their oath and refused the pleasure of the wine to drink. They did not waver from their commitment, and they honored their obligation to their father and each other.
Yahweh knew of their commitment and arranged for this encounter with Jeremiah to compare the Rechabites and the people of Judah as one covenant is honored among members of a family. In contrast, another covenant was rejected between God and His people. With Jeremiah’s clear view about how wrong the people of Judah were to dishonor their covenant with God, he again hears from Yahweh. Yahweh’s words reached Jeremiah’s inner being to communicate a level of condemnation the people of Jerusalem could not recover from. So as a matter of course, Yahweh drew attention to the family of Rechab and their obedience. If people can hold an oath and covenant between each other, how is it that these people could not keep their agreement with their God, who has done so much for them?
After numerous prophets were sent from Yahweh to advise and warn His people, they refused to accept His messages, turn from their evil behaviors, and return to Him. The kings, priests, court prophets, officials, and people of Judah were all complicit in their immorality before Yahweh, and they continued in defiance while they knew and recognized His prophets. The obstinance with continued defiance and evil conduct brought about God’s anger, who made clear to them they would be destroyed.
It was decreed by their creator and God of heaven and earth; He would bring disaster upon them. All the Jerusalem inhabitants would face violence, hunger, sickness, loss of safety and property, exile, and enslavement. A people of God who were once protected and secured, were now to undergo destruction because they broke their promise to obey and follow Him. To honor, serve, and delight in Him as their God.
Yahweh directly instructed Jeremiah to buy a field in Judah while Jerusalem was under siege (Jer. 32:24-25). The city was about to be burned, looted, with thousands of people killed. Those who were remaining would be marched off to Babylon on a long walk north of about 1700 miles. There they would stay for 70-years, but Jeremiah was to buy land back in Judah in the presence of witnesses. As if this transaction was a long-term property investment for shepherding, parceling, or immediate development for occupants. Jeremiah appeared puzzled by Yahweh’s instructions about the field he was to buy, so he brought it up to inquire about it.
“Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it. ‘You have said to me, O Lord GOD, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans’” (Jer. 32:24-25).
As if through the violence and capture of the land by the Chaldeans (Babylonians) was a transfer of ownership, it was not a permanent situation. Jeremiah was to follow-through to demonstrate to others the hope and promise of one day returning to Israel: the land of their patriarchal fathers. As the Lord declared long before the Babylonian exile and even before Israel’s return, a new covenant is repeated with Yahweh’s words “They shall be My people, and I will be their God (Jer. 32:38).” It was here that God’s people under siege began to see the hope for restoration that was given before them.
Immediately following Jeremiah’s apparent confusion, Yahweh’s following words were spoken: “Behold, I am YHWH, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27). With His declaration, the remaining context provides added details about the people’s condemnation, as they were both exiled and destroyed. In verses 37-44, it becomes clear what restoration specifically is. God promises an everlasting covenant where He will become permanently set within the hearts of His people. By His gracious and infinite mercy, He promises to place inside His people such a fear (profound reverence), that they will not turn away from Him.
It is strenuously vital to recognize the significance of this promise of restoration because it tells us who God is and what He is like. We see earlier written in Jeremiah the following: “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:34).” Catch the enormous significance of this promise as it concerns what Yahweh does to implement the new covenant. As cross-referenced in Isaiah 43:25, He wipes out our transgressions for His own sake, and He remembers them no more (cf Heb. 8:12).
To bring home Yahweh’s point, “is anything too difficult for me?” The new covenant’s far-view fulfillment is explicitly articulated in Scripture in numerous places. It was Jesus who informed His apostles, and new readers of Scripture, His death was the inauguration of the new covenant (Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1 Cor. 11:23-26). Where through exceedingly dire circumstances, His people are given hope and a promise of restoration. To return to their land and inherit life beyond what they and their descendants have ever imagined possible.
It would appear that Jer. 14:13 is where the prophet Jeremiah sets before Yahweh an attempt to excuse the Lord’s apostate people. He calls attention to the lies and deceit of the court’s false prophets, where he claims that they have an excuse by delusion and contradiction.
“Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ” – Jer. 14:13
To infer that the prophet Jeremiah was wrong or mistaken, the kings, priests, officials, and people of Judah understood that they were safe and not under indictment and forthcoming judgment. Where just immediately before Jeremiah’s appeal, his prayer for mercy was on behalf of Judah for other reasons. Behind his plea was a severe drought throughout the land. Yet while their iniquities and sins were many, he acknowledged the situation and asked Yahweh not to abandon them. While in truth, the leaders and people of Judah had already abandoned God and the covenant their fathers made with Him.
So, the leaders and people of Judah were without excuse. Yahweh instructed Jeremiah to stop praying for their welfare and recognize that their prayers, fasting, and sacrifices were not accepted. Their sins would be called to account as Yahweh would remember them and hold the people accountable. Even if the court’s false prophets partly deluded the people, they were still guilty for the wrongs committed against Yahweh and each other. Their wrongdoings extended well beyond their delusion fed to them by false prophets set up by the kings and officials.
Yahweh, Himself spoke against the false prophets who claimed they spoke in His name. According to Yahweh, they were producing false visions, erroneous prophecies, and divination, which were an abomination as forbidden (Deut. 18:10) within the Mosaic covenant they rejected. While it appears that those falsely prophesied were self-deceived, they were making false assurances of peace that were not of God. Yahweh, Himself clearly made certain to Jeremiah that they did not receive instructions or commands from Him. Their fraudulent activity to inform the people of Judah was yet another manifestation of the wickedness within them. The false prophets were enjoined to the wickedness of the people by yet another evil.
By their assurances that the people of Judah would not suffer hunger and violence, they were in outright contradiction to Yahweh’s decrees. As prophesied through Jeremiah, the false prophets declared there would be no sword or famine in the land. To in effect dismiss the prophecy given to them by Jeremiah, the Lord’s chosen prophet to warn them and call them to repentance. The presence of the false prophets within the courts of the kings and officials was bad enough, but they also set about making claims that would contribute to the harm of Judah.
Those who were committing such grievous sin would become subject to that which they falsely prophesied. They would be thrown into the streets to starve and become exposed to violence. The very wickedness committed by them that Lord Yahweh returned to them resulted in their demise.
