I think it will be helpful for us to depart from Jeremiah's sermons for a few moments, and gain a little more historical perspective to help us distinguish between two separate and distinct captivities: the first having happened approximately 100 years prior to Jeremiah's ministry, and the second to happen soon in our study of the Book of Jeremiah.
So, let's begin by identifying these two captivities as either the Assyrian captivity or the Babylonian captivity.
The Babylonian captivity, as we will begin to call it in our current study, is the captivity of Judah by the Babylonians. Because we will be getting into that in more detail in our study, I do not want to focus on it here. Let's instead review the circumstances of the Assyrian captivity, as all history teaches us something about the present period of time, which as pertains to our study, means that time frame which was "present" tense to Jeremiah.
Prior to the Assyrian captivity, David's kingdom of Israel became divided after the death of his son and heir, Solomon. I found an excellent page on the internet that describes the details of that division so much better than I could, and I find it to be an easy read, though very, very long, so if you have time this weekend, or over the next week even, go to:
https://bible.org/seriespage/21-great-divorce-kingdom-divided-1-kings-12-2-chronicles-10
I will borrow one scripture reference from the link above:
After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there. You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’ Others will then answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them’” (1 Kings 9:1-9)
God being true to His Word, this passage of scripture above describes, in very simple and accurate details, the reason that Israel was carried away captive.
But as God always does, a remnant of ancient Israel, known as the nation of Judah, remained.
The Assyrian captivity lasted as long as there was an Assyrian empire. When Babylon conquers the Assyrian empire, Israel is too scattered to ever unite again (until the 1900s at least.) They become known as the "ten lost tribes of Israel."
[The ruins of the ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh - the graveyard of the Assyrian empire - are located beneath two mounds of earth in the city of Mosul, Iraq. I find it very interesting, with our earth having a land mass of 57,000,000 square miles, that the sworn enemy of both modern day Israel and the United States of America is occupying the same exact land that was home to the ancient enemy of Israel; the same enemy that God used for judgment against Israel.]
The Babylonian captivity, on the other hand, has an even more specific cause than the Assyrian captivity and will come with a captivity time limit as well.
More on that later. Hope that helps.
See you Monday!
So, let's begin by identifying these two captivities as either the Assyrian captivity or the Babylonian captivity.
The Babylonian captivity, as we will begin to call it in our current study, is the captivity of Judah by the Babylonians. Because we will be getting into that in more detail in our study, I do not want to focus on it here. Let's instead review the circumstances of the Assyrian captivity, as all history teaches us something about the present period of time, which as pertains to our study, means that time frame which was "present" tense to Jeremiah.
Prior to the Assyrian captivity, David's kingdom of Israel became divided after the death of his son and heir, Solomon. I found an excellent page on the internet that describes the details of that division so much better than I could, and I find it to be an easy read, though very, very long, so if you have time this weekend, or over the next week even, go to:
https://bible.org/seriespage/21-great-divorce-kingdom-divided-1-kings-12-2-chronicles-10
I will borrow one scripture reference from the link above:
After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there. You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’ Others will then answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them’” (1 Kings 9:1-9)
God being true to His Word, this passage of scripture above describes, in very simple and accurate details, the reason that Israel was carried away captive.
But as God always does, a remnant of ancient Israel, known as the nation of Judah, remained.
The Assyrian captivity lasted as long as there was an Assyrian empire. When Babylon conquers the Assyrian empire, Israel is too scattered to ever unite again (until the 1900s at least.) They become known as the "ten lost tribes of Israel."
[The ruins of the ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh - the graveyard of the Assyrian empire - are located beneath two mounds of earth in the city of Mosul, Iraq. I find it very interesting, with our earth having a land mass of 57,000,000 square miles, that the sworn enemy of both modern day Israel and the United States of America is occupying the same exact land that was home to the ancient enemy of Israel; the same enemy that God used for judgment against Israel.]
The Babylonian captivity, on the other hand, has an even more specific cause than the Assyrian captivity and will come with a captivity time limit as well.
More on that later. Hope that helps.
See you Monday!
2 comments:
As I am reading your posts on Jeremiah, I can’t help but think of similarities between what God said and expected of Israel and what I believe God expects of America. I have heard many preachers who say they believe God has taken away his protection from America. It wouldn’t be hard to understand why. Looking at any of the national issues (the push for same-sex marriage, reality shows pushing polygamy, and the latest, sex change. I’m sorry, but it seems with each passing day, some new extreme issue is being pushed onto society. I do not recognize the country I grew up in. Sometimes I can help but feel like Lot might have felt in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. GW
I know...we see the similarities and wonder why God hasn't already judged us, even while we pray like crazy that He will hold off a bit longer...for that loved one who is not yet saved, or for that neighbor or co-worker that is just so close to accepting Christ as their Savior. Or for ourselves that are struggling (or did recently at least) with a sin that we just seem powerless to overcome, until He steps in to help us. For all the lost ones that we know and love, and even for those we don't know well, we can identify with Jeremiah's weeping, and with Moses' pleading of old as we cry out to the Lord for mercy on our nation.
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