Expert: Brenda Martin - 12/16/2008

Question
QUESTION: What did Isaiah and Jeremiah say about the sins of Judah,Gods actions against these sins and,what God's future plans were for the nations? I am working on a paper and am looking for bible passages to back these up, any help will be greatly appreciated!

ANSWER: "ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH SAY ABOUT THE SINS OF JUDAH?"

Jeremiah 17:1, 2--The sins of the people of Judah made their sacrifices displeasing to Jehovah.

Isaiah 31:6-- The ten-tribe kingdom of Israel has not been alone in her rebellion. The people of Judah, also “sons of Israel,” have gone “deep in their revolt.”

The prophet Jeremiah lived during dangerous and turbulent times. He was commissioned by God in the year 647 B.C.E., the 13th year of the reign of God-fearing King Josiah of Judah. During repairs on the house of Jehovah, the book of the Law was found and was read to the king. He worked hard at enforcing this, but he could at most only temporarily turn back the falling away to idolatry. Josiah’s grandfather Manasseh, who had reigned for 55 years, and his father Amon, who had been assassinated after a reign of just 2 years, had both done wickedly. They had encouraged the people in impure orgies and gruesome rites, so that they had become accustomed to offering incense to the “queen of the heavens” and human sacrifices to demon gods. Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.—Jer. 1:2; 44:19; 2 Ki. 21:6, 16, 19-23; 23:26, 27.

Jeremiah’s task was no easy one. He had to serve as Jehovah’s prophet in foretelling the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, the burning of the magnificent temple of Jehovah, and the captivity of his people—catastrophes almost unbelievable! His prophesying in Jerusalem had to continue 40 years, through the reigns of bad Kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (Coniah), and Zedekiah. (Jer. 1:2, 3)

Later, in Egypt, he had to prophesy concerning the idolatries of the Jewish refugees there. His book was completed in 580 B.C.E. The time covered by Jeremiah is thus an eventful period of 67 years.—52:31.

Jeremiah (7:1–10:25).he is to make proclamation at the temple gate: ‘Oppressing the fatherless and widow, shedding innocent blood, walking after other gods, stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely, and making sacrifices to Baal! Hypocrites! You have made Jehovah’s house “a mere cave of robbers.” Recall what Jehovah did to Shiloh. He will do the same to your house, O Judah, and he will throw you out, just as he threw out Ephraim (Israel) to the north.’—Jer. 7:4-11

Judah is past praying for. Why, the people are even making cakes to sacrifice to the “queen of the heavens”! Truly, “this is the nation whose people have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah its God, and have not taken discipline. Faithfulness has perished.” (Jer. 7:18, 28) Judah has set disgusting things in Jehovah’s house and has burned her sons and daughters on the high places of Topheth in the valley of Hinnom. Look! It will be called “the valley of the killing,” and their dead bodies will become food for fowl and beast. (7:32) Rejoicing and exultation must cease out of Judah and Jerusalem.

GODS ACTIONS AGAINST THESE SINS?

They were hoping for peace and healing, but they received--Scattering, extermination, and lamentation was the result of their stubbornness. (10:10-15,23)

The covenant breakers cursed (11:1–12:17). Judah has disobeyed the words of its covenant with Jehovah. It is useless for the people to call for aid. Jeremiah must not pray for Judah.

destruction coming against them. First, to Jerusalem and Judah! Then, on to Egypt, back to Philistia, across to Edom, up to Tyre, to lands near and far, and to “all the other kingdoms of the earth that are on the surface of the ground; and the king of Sheshach himself will drink after them.” They shall ‘drink and puke and fall.’ None will be spared.—25:15-29.

The siege of Jerusalem lasts 18 months, and then the city is broken through in the 11th year of Zedekiah. The king flees with his army but is overtaken. His sons and the nobles are slain before his eyes, and he is blinded and carried to Babylon in fetters. The city is burned and laid in ruins, and all except a few poor people are taken into exile to Babylon. By Nebuchadrezzar’s order, Jeremiah is released from the courtyard. Before his release he tells Ebed-melech of Jehovah’s promise to deliver him, ‘because he trusted in Jehovah.’—39:18.

"WHAT GOD'S FUTURE PLANS WERE FOR THE NATIONS?"

(46:1–49:39). Jeremiah tells of Babylon’s victories over Egypt at Carchemish and elsewhere. “The sword of Jehovah” will come against the Philistines, against proud Moab and bragging Ammon, against Edom and Damascus, Kedar and Hazor. (47:6) The bow of Elam will be broken.

The word of God that came to Jeremiah was fulfilled with astounding accuracy. This certainly strengthens faith in Jehovah’s power of prophecy. Take, for example, the prophecy fulfillments that Jeremiah himself survived to see, such as the captivity of Zedekiah and the destruction of Jerusalem (21:3-10; 39:6-9), the dethronement and the death in captivity of King Shallum (Jehoahaz) (Jer. 22:11, 12; 2 Ki. 23:30-34; 2 Chron. 36:1-4), the taking captive of King Coniah (Jehoiachin) to Babylon (Jer. 22:24-27; 2 Ki. 24:15, 16), and the death within one year of the false prophet Hananiah (Jer. 28:16, 17). All these prophecies, and more, were fulfilled just as Jehovah had foretold.

Let me know if this is sufficient because I could go on & on :¬)

All the best
Brenda


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Wow! Thank you so much. How about Isaiah on the Northern tribes-same questions, can you help me out?
Thanks,
Kathleen

Answer
Before Isaiah’s time the nation of the 12 tribes of Israel had split up over the issue of kingship. This was after the glorious reign of King Solomon. The seceding ten tribes to the north established what came to be called the kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria. The two remaining tribes, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, remained loyal to the royal dynasty of King David at the capital city of Jerusalem.

The ten-tribe kingdom of Israel turned in hostility against the two-tribe kingdom of Judah. In time, the kingdom of Israel leagued up with the kingdom of Syria, which had its capital at Damascus. The idea was to overthrow the kingdom of Judah and bring it into subjection. Should the kingdom of Judah therefore enter into a confederacy with another strong nation in order to withstand the onslaught of the nation of Israel confederated with the pagan nation of Syria. ISAIAH 7:3-6.

There were those in the small kingdom of Judah that lost faith in the national God Jehovah. These favoured a confederacy, or conspiracy, with a mighty pagan kingdom of this world. Advocating such an unfaithful yoking of Jehovah’s kingdom of Judah with a kingdom of the ungodly world, some were saying, “A conspiracy!” to undecided ones in the kingdom of Judah. Thus they betrayed their lack of faith and confidence in the God whose temple was in Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah was inspired to speak against such a conspiracy, saying in chapter 8,VERSE 12: “You men must not say, ‘A conspiracy!’ respecting all that of which this people keep saying, ‘A conspiracy!’ and the object of their fear you men must not fear, nor must you tremble at it.”

In 740 B.C.E. the Assyrians overthrew the Northern Kingdom of Israel. So, that kingdom, with Ephraim as its dominant tribe, came to its end approximately twenty years after Isaiah foretold that Ephraim would be “shattered to pieces.” (ISAIAH 7;8)

The first six chapters give the setting in Judah and Jerusalem and relate Judah’s guilt before Jehovah and Isaiah’s commissioning.

Chapters 7 to 12 deal with threatened enemy invasions and the promise of relief by the Prince of Peace commissioned by Jehovah.

Chapters 13 to 35 contain a series of pronouncements against many nations and a forecast of salvation to be provided by Jehovah.

Historic events of Hezekiah’s reign are described in chapters 36 to 39.

The remaining chapters, 40 to 66, have as their theme the release from Babylon, the return of the Jewish remnant, and the restoration of Zion.

Isaiah’s contemporaries are in a deplorable moral state, a veritable pit of spiritual darkness. As a result of their unfaithfulness, the people of Judah are threatened with invasion by the Assyrians, and hard times lie ahead. To whom do they turn for help? Sadly, many turn to Satan, not to Jehovah. (Isaiah 8:19) All of this is going on in Judah despite the fact that Jehovah has forbidden the practice of spiritism. Under the Mosaic Law, it is a capital offense.

Disobedience to Jehovah results in mental darkness. In a spiritual sense, the people of Judah have become blind, without understanding. Isaiah describes their condition in (Isaiah 8:21a) Because of the nation’s unfaithfulness—particularly during the reign of King Ahaz—the survival of Judah as an independent kingdom is threatened.

Isaiah now alludes to one of the worst of the cataclysmic events that come upon the descendants of Abraham: “The obscureness will not be as when the land had stress, as at the former time when one treated with contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali and when at the later time one caused it to be honored—the way by the sea, in the region of the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.” (Isaiah 9:1)

Galilee is a territory in the northern kingdom of Israel. In Isaiah’s prophecy it includes “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” and also “the way by the sea,” an ancient road that ran by the Sea of Galilee and led to the Mediterranean Sea. In Isaiah’s day, the region is called “Galilee of the nations,” likely because many of its cities are inhabited by non-Israelites. How is this land “treated with contempt”? The pagan Assyrians conquer it, take the Israelites into exile, and resettle the whole region with pagans, who are not descendants of Abraham. Thus the ten-tribe northern kingdom disappears from history as a distinct nation!—2 Kings 17:5, 6, 18, 23, 24.

Many of Isaiah’s prophecies also have a larger fulfillment in the Messiah and his Kingdom. Isaiah’s book is quoted or referred to many times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In many instances the Christian writers make application of Isaiah’s prophecies to Jesus Christ or point to a fulfillment of his prophecies in their day.

for instance Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be called “Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) & that he would offer his own life in behalf of mankind, thus making possible the forgiveness of sins. (Isaiah 53:11)

All the best
Brenda