Zeph, Hab, Jer, Lam, Oba, Eze, Dan, & Nah

Anna Tarcza did an outstanding job explaining the late prophets to us. Lots of content in such a short time but so many revelations this week. It's key to understand that the Bible wasn't written TO us, it was written TO the Israelites, but it was still written for us. The timeline of the Bible is nice to know because we can recognize throughout the books that a lot of the books happened around the same time and give many different perspectives on the same events. Something to take away from the prophets is they all have the same calling but act it out in different ways similar to those of us in missions who feel called to the nations but bring different personalities and characteristics to the table.

The message is God is great/man is sinful, God rules history, we need to get right with God, return to the covenant, judgment for breaking the covenant, hope & restoration. The entire Bible abbreviated might look like; creation, fall, Abe, Sinai, land, Dave, split, exile, return, JC, HS, & 2nd. Jonah shows God's grace and mercy on Assyria and even though the people of Ninevah were gruesome and horrid, Jonah knew God would forgive them if they repented, but Jonah had hatred toward them, so though he knew God would be forgiving, he didn't want God to forgive them because they were such horrible people. We see then in Nahum that though the people of Assyria repent during Jonah's time, they un-repent and that's when Nahum comes and shows God's justice and tells them that now their time is up.

During the time of Solomon, we see that they were thriving because King Solomon was so rich and we see this again during Jereboam l (king of Israel) and Azariah/Uzziah's time (kings of Judah). The golden age comes back once more while the foreign power of Assyria is still weak, the people are living the good life and being self-focused. This is what we hear in the book of Amos because through this the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer leading up to Assyria coming into the scene. We hear that Isaiah was very committed to sharing with the people what God speaks to him as God asked him to walk naked for three years and he did it. All of God's people were referred to as 'the Israelites' during the time of Saul, David, and Solomon and before that. Then the kingdoms split and they became the 'Israelites' and 'people of Judah'. By 722 BC, Samaria was all that was left for the Israelites until they were wiped out and dispersed. In the New Testament, they are referred to as the 'Samaritans' while after exile the people of Judah became the 'Jews'. Therefore in the New Testament, we still see rivalry between the Jews and Samaritans who originally were the people of Judah and the Israelites!

The book of Zephaniah goes over the day of the Lord. It's lined up as a 'day to be feared' followed by 'the best day'. (Zephaniah references the 'day of the Lord' more than any other book in the Bible). The day of the Lord is a day when God intentionally intervenes in history (referenced 208 times by the prophets). This day consists of rest, security, blessings & salvation for God's people, but also judgment & punishment for evildoers. When we try to date it, it really could be now (judgment amid history), later (future), during Christ (completion), or the ultimate (2nd coming/final judgment). Zephaniah was probably the most royal writing prophet but then started prophecying the day of the Lord which probably sounded crazy to the people during that time. Zeph gave them a choice to either get a reality check, humility, and repentance or live in ignorance as bliss and be happy doing things their way. Humility is a sacrifice that leads to life.

Habakkuk means 'to fold hands' or 'to embrace' which could mean idle/lazy or active/comforting. He is 1/3 of the prophets who don't have any family background and he is also seen as a talented poet as well as a potential musician and Levite. The secret sauce to 'waiting and trusting well' is to dwell on God's character/nature, past works, and current promises more than current fears and situations. God's justice results in the world knowing Him for who He is. True justice leads to knowledge of God's glory. Habakkuk wrestles with God on how God "idly looks at the people's sin", "Why does he send those people?", woe to Babylon, and finally praise in the midst of it (Chaldeans is another word for Babylon). Josiah's life was that he began reigning at 8 years old, at 16 years he began seeking God, at 20 he began religious reform in Judah, at 26 years he found the law while repairing the temple, and at 39 he died fighting Pharaoh Neco. While reading about the prophets it is good to recognize that they're telescoping which means they might say something as if it goes together but it might be two different events far apart from each other.

The last four kings weren't necessarily from the same families. King of Babylon, Nabopolasser, came out of Assyria and revolted taking Babylon, Asshur, and Niniveh. His son is Nebuchadnezzar. (2 Chr 35:20-27) Josiah hears the voice of the Lord from Pharaoh Neco saying, "Don't fight me, I have nothing against you." Josiah doesn't listen and decides to butt in where he's not wanted and dies in battle at the 1st battle of Carchemish in 609 BC. The 2nd battle of Carchemish is in 605 BC, Assyria is completely defeated, Nabopolasser dies, Nebuchadnezzar is crowned king, and the 1st deportation of exiles commences. There's a cool mirror of Daniel and Joseph's lives who were both sold into slavery but ended up being a great help to the royalty and later become royalty themselves.

While this was going on there were still puppet kings over Judah such as Jehoiakim who was killed in 598 BC and whose son Jehoiachin became king. In 597 BC it was the 2nd deportation when Chin was taken along with Ezekiel and 10,000 of Judah (Zed made king). The last king of Jerusalem, Zedekiah, revolts from Babylon and teams up with Egypt in 587 BC. Total fall of Judah in 586 BC, 3rd deportation. The last people of Jerusalem are left with Governor Gedaliah. The people assassinate him and then ask Jeremiah whether they should stay or go to Egypt. He says, "Stay and God will bless you" but they decide to kidnap Jeremiah and take him to Egypt with them where Jeremiah dies. It is believed that Jeremiah would have written kings, his book, and lamentations with his friend Baruch.

Two descriptions of the fall of Jerusalem are found in Jeremiah (ch 39 & 52) which is also repeated in Kings. The progression of judgment goes like this; judgment begins (4:5), it will come from a nation (5:15), that nation is Babylon (20:4), the leader is Nebuchadnezzar (21:7), instructions to surrender and be saved (21:8), exile will be 70 years (25:11), God's wrath will judge the rest of the world as God is being consistent (25:15), God will give a new heart and new covenant (32:38-39), and Medes will be the next empire (51:11). Ch 32 is where Jerry buys a field in Israel during the siege to prove that he believes God will bring them back to that place just as Abraham did when he purchased land in the promised land.

When it came down to the bottom of the barrel after they had done the worst of the worst of stuff and done everything but follow the word of the Lord, God said at the least obey my Sabbath and I will protect you but they couldn't even do that, therefore they are sent into exile. They had spent 490 years without practicing a single Sabbath (take a year off farming every 7 years to trust that God will provide, Lev 25:1-4). We then see that they are sent into exile for 70 years almost showing that God is giving them the rest that they were supposed to be getting to nurture that relationship with the Lord. Jeremiah goes through many hardships as he's harassed by the people, his friends, and his family. He starts mourning for himself and throwing a pity party when God says He would be there with him and that he would be like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land (Jer 1:18). It looks like Jeremiah started trying to do things solo, though by the end of the book, Jeremiah learns to trust God amidst the fall, unlike Judah. Lamentations is a very structured book set up as a faithful response and an invitation to mourn with the misery of Lady Zion, the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah's response personally, the siege of Jerusalem, and a response of the Godly.

YWAM's motto is "know God, make Him known." How do you know God? Read that again. Jeremiah, Ezekiel (with the poor everyday people in exile), and Daniel (with the royalty) are all prophesying at the same time. "Know I am the Lord" is repeated 70x in Ezekiel. The whole book is very dated down to the month that Ezekiel would have seen stuff; Judah judged (1-24), nations judged (25-32), restored & blessed (33-48). If you wonder what it would be like to describe a vision, contemplate how you would explain a phone to someone who lived 400 years ago. When reading about visions, try to see them first, don't pick apart details, and know they can't mean something the original audience wouldn't understand. God never reveals what He looks like because He doesn't want us to go and make Him an idol cause then we're missing the whole point when all He wants is a relationship with us.

Ezekiel had to understand that he didn't have any rights. Through the visions, God revealed Himself to Ezekiel to equip him for what God was going to have him do and the hardships he was going to face. Ezekiel could lean on the fact that God loved him and had a bigger picture for the things that were happening. God leaves the temple because they stopped pursuing a relationship with Him. They turned their backs on the holiest of holy places and worshiped the sun and such instead. Therefore, they broke the covenant so God no longer has to hold up His end though God still gives them hope. He shares parables with the people such as God raising a girl and giving her many riches, but she turns away from Him, becomes a whore, and pays people to have sex with her with the riches God had given her. God is comparing this woman to the people in exile.

Bad stuff happens and we can grieve those things, but what things am I lying to myself about and need to check? What am I making excuses about when in reality God wants to highlight so I can change that? We can see consistency with John 10 and Ezekiel 34. Eze 37 talks about dry bones and how God can resurrect people who have been dead for 400 years. Sometimes visions are difficult to understand because its trying to put a spiritual reality into words which is possibly what the temple in ch 40 is. Over the book of Obadiah we unravel that Jacob's kids become Israel and Esau's kids become Edom. We see that Esau is a big hairy hunter who sells his birthright to Jacob for soup. This shows his character in how he's only concerned with immediate pleasure rather than long-term blessing. He's tricked out of his blessing when Jacob pretends to be Esau while their father is on his deathbed. Esau marries Hitties and Ishmaelites. In numbers, Edom threatens Israel.

We can disciple a nation but a nation can also disciple us. Discipleship doesn't always mean good. How do you allow a nation to change you? We get into the visions of Daniel in chapter 7, the lion with wings is a symbol of Babylon from 605-539 BC (wings were a symbolism of rapid growth), and the bear with ribs is the Medo-Persia empire from 539-330 BC as the bear while the ribs were Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt (it talks about unevenness where Persia was stronger than Media), the leopard with four heads and four wings was Greece from 330-30 BC (four sons appointed as generals), and the fourth beast was a dragon that could have been symbolizing Rome from 30 BC-476 AD. There was also an image in ch 2 with a head of gold (Babylon), chest and arms of silver (Persia/Media), middle and thighs of bronze (Greece), and iron legs with feet partly of clay (Rome). This all gets knocked down by a rock that turns into a mountain which is the kingdom of God.

In ch 8, the ram with two horns is Persia and the goat with horns that flies is Greece. (Daniel 8:21) The great horn between his eyes as the first king would have been Alexander the Great who we read about in history books. Ch 9:24-27, we hear about the 70 weeks (weeks of years) where the first 7 would be spent going out to restore (Cyrus decrees to restore Jerusalem in 539 BC). The coming of the anointed one (Jerusalem and city rebuilt, Jesus comes) and the next 62 weeks are "built again in a troubled time". After that is Jesus's crucifixion (anointed one cut off, city & sanctuary destroyed, flood, war, and desolations). We then see 1 week spent making the covenant strong and finally, after all of that is the end of sacrifice, offering, and the abomination of desolation.