WBS.237
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY – 17
THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
Jeremiah 25:11 And
this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations
shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
The northern kingdom of Israel suffered through the reigns of 19 evil kings
through 9 family lines over a history of 210+ years. The southern kingdom of
Judah had 20 kings over a history of 340+ years, all from the bloodline of
David.
Not
one of the Kings of Israel served IAUE, nor attempted to lead his nation to
obey IAUE as Elohim. The southern kingdom had some kings who were good and
some who were wicked. It should be noted that the testimony of Scripture
regarding the kings was summed up in a single statement...the one thing that
mattered about their reigns; and that was whether the king did that which was
right in the eyes of IAUE, or evil in the sight of IAUE. All of the
accomplishments of the kings were recorded after
the Scripture qualified the life of the kings in this one aspect. No
matter what one might think of the things the king did or did not do, the
correct perspective on their reign was whether or not they did that which was
right in the eyes of IAUE. (The same is
true of our lives. Our obituary in the newspaper
or the epithet on our tombstone, as recorded in the heart of IAUE, could be
summed up with those words: “He/she did that which was right/evil in the sight
of IAUE.”)
Let's
look at the testimony of the kings serving the last 200 years in Judah.
2 Chronicles 26:1-4 And all the
people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and set him up
to reign instead of his father...And he did what was right in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 27:1-2 Jotham was twenty-five
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem...And
he did what was right in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did
not do what was right in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 29:1-2 Hezekiah began to
reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine
years in Jerusalem...And he did what was right in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 33:1-2 Manasseh was twelve
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
But he did evil in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 33:21-22 Amon was twenty-two years
old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he
did evil in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 34:1-2 Josiah was eight years old
when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And
he did what was right in the eyes of IAUE...
2 Chronicles 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil
in the eyes of IAUE his Elohim.
2 Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he
began to reign. and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days.
And he did evil in the eyes of IAUE.
2 Chronicles 36:11-12 Zedekiah was twenty-one
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
And he did evil in the eyes of IAUE...
The
nation was blessed by IAUE, or it trembled before His judgment based largely
upon the testimony that the kings had before Him. Notice that 8-year old Josiah did what was right
in the eyes of IAUE. Notice also that 8-year old Jehoiachin did evil in the eyes of IAUE, even though
he ruled for only three months!! 12-year
old Manasseh did evil in the sight of IAUE. 16-year old Uzziah did
what was right in the eyes of IAUE. Youthful age did not spare them from IAUE
discerning and judging their heart and their actions.
Preceding the fall of Jerusalem, the prophet Zephaniah (Tsephanyah) ministered from 639-608 BC, from the time of King Josiah through the reign of Jehoiakim. He foretold of the coming judgment of IAUE; and also gave promise of deliverance from captivity and of the gathering of a righteous remnant (2 Kings 21-23; 2 Chronicles 34:1 – 36:8).
Nahum
prophesied (circa 630-620 BC) of the impending destruction of Ninevah. Jonah,
150 years earlier, had prevented their destruction by preaching repentance in
Ninevah. A few years later in 612 BC, Nabopolassar of Babylon, joined by
Cyaxeres the Mede, conquered Ninevah, bringing the empire of Assyria to an
end. The Medes retained the northern portion of Assyria, the Babylonians
the southern half.
Three
years later in 609 BC, Nabopolassar's son, Nebuchadnezzar, became commander of
the armies of Babylon. Three years later in 606 BC, Nebuchadnezzar became
co-regent of Babylon with his father.
The
kingdom of Babylon overthrew the southern kingdom of Judah in three waves of
attacks over 20 years.
1)
606 BC - They carried away the princes and the chiefest among the people (and
Daniel the prophet).
2) 597 BC - They carried away 10,000 Hebrews; principally the skilled craftsmen (and Ezekiel the prophet).
3) 586 BC - They destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, razed the temple, and carried Judah into captivity.
2) 597 BC - They carried away 10,000 Hebrews; principally the skilled craftsmen (and Ezekiel the prophet).
3) 586 BC - They destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, razed the temple, and carried Judah into captivity.
Ezekiel
prophesied for 11 years in Babylon (597-586 BC) of the certainty of the
destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon.
Jeremiah
had been prophesying the same message in Jerusalem. No one listened.
Habakkuk
prophesied during this same period (606-586 BC) that the Chaldeans
(Babylonians) would be used of IAUE to judge the kingdom of Judah; but that IAUE
would in-turn judge Babylon for their violence against the nations. He
also prophesied of the ultimate deliverance of the people through IAUE Elohim.
(2 Kings 22-24)
Ancient
Babylon was impressive for stature as well as for its gross idolatries.
The city was 15-miles square. The outer wall of Babylon was 300 feet
high, as well as 35 feet deep in the ground (to prevent tunneling by an enemy).
There were 250 towers on the walls and 100 gates of brass. A deep moat
surrounded the city. Should an enemy breach the great outer wall, there
was a parallel inner wall 60-feet wide (its height was unknown). The river
Euphrates ran straight through the middle of the city, with its banks walled on
both sides. A tunnel 15 feet wide and 12 feet high ran under the river,
connecting both sides of the city.
Babylon
had 53 temples to false gods, 180 altars to Ishtar, and a great temple to
Marduk (Baal) which contained gold images of Baal and Ishtar in the form of two
lions, a solid gold table 40 ft X 15 ft weighing 25 tons, and a gold human
figure 18 feet tall. Babylon was rightly called "the city of
gold."
As
tragic as the loss of freedom is; as ruinous as the loss of one’s homeland is;
the Babylonian captivity actually proved to be good for the children of
Abraham. Once in Babylon, the Hebrews discovered that their estate was
not like the Egyptian bondage of their forbears. They were able to
establish themselves in business and become productive within Babylonian
society. It was not the ability to prosper financially, however that proved to
be the true benefit of their captivity.
Living
within a culture that was dedicated to the worship of false gods, the Hebrews
were able, with the help of the preaching of the prophet Ezekiel, to recognize
how foolish it was to follow after gods of gold and silver, brass, iron, stone
and wood. The Hebrews met in small groups to pass on the teaching of the
Torah and to pray together unto their Elohim. (It was in Babylon that
synagogue worship emerged.) They rediscovered themselves as a set-apart
people.
IAUE
prescribed 70 years for the children of Israel to be held captive in
Babylon. This was declared by the prophet Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole
land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon seventy years.
Why
did IAUE decree exactly 70 years for the captivity? It was because the Torah had commanded the
Hebrews to honor the Sabbath year and the Jubilee year, to let the land itself
rest from being cultivated and farmed.
Every 7th and 50th year, there was to be no
farming and working of the land. It was
the Sabbath rest for the land. IAUE promised
that He would provide plenty in the year prior to the Sabbath year so they
would have an abundance to carry them through the year when the land was not being
farmed. The Hebrews, however, did not honor the Sabbath upon the land.
3 Chronicles 26: 21 To fulfil the word of IAUE by
the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as
she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
This
prophecy by Jeremiah served as the signal for the prophet Daniel to call upon
IAUE to bring the captivity in Babylon to an end.
Dan 9:1 In
the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which
was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of IAUE came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
2 In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of IAUE came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Next
week: The end of captivity.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers
no resistance to the performance of the will of IAUE.
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