BIBLE STUDY LESSON 05

SERIES P --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

AN OBJECT LESSON

THE LESSON OF THE FIGS

From Jeremiah 24; 26

As time passed, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured King Jeconiah of Judah, the son of Jehoiakim, and took him to Babylon. He also took with him the leaders of Judah and the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem. Then Adonai gave me a vision of two baskets of figs placed before the temple of Adonai. The figs in one basket were freshly ripened figs which were very good. But the figs in the other basket were so bad that they were not fit to be eaten. [What do you see, Jeremiah?] Adonai asked. [Some very good figs and some very bad figs,] I answered. [The good figs are a symbol of the people of Judah whom I permitted to be exiled to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans,] Adonai said. [I will watch over those exiles and take care of them and some day will bring them back to this land. I will build them and not destroy them. I will plant them and not tear them up. I will give them hearts to know that I am YHVH; then they will be My people, and I will be their YHVH. They shall return to Me with hearts filled with joy. But the spoiled figs are a symbol of King Zedekiah of Judah, his princes, and the others of Jerusalem who remain in this land, as well as those who live in Egypt. I will make them disgusting to the other kingdoms of the earth. They will mock them, taunt them, and curse them wherever I scatter them. I will send war, famine, and plague upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers.] During the first year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Adonai gave another message to Jeremiah. This is what Adonai said, [Go stand in the courtyard of the temple and speak to the people of Judah who come to worship here. Tell them exactly what I Command you to say; do not leave out a word. Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will change My mind and will not bring the punishment which I have prepared for them. Here is what I want you to tell them: This is what Adonai says, ‘If you do not listen to Me and live by the teaching I have given you and turn from your evil ways, and if you refuse to listen to the prophets whom I constantly send to you, I will destroy this temple as I destroyed the tabernacle at Shiloh, and I will make Jerusalem a curse among all the nations of the earth.’] There was a large audience in the temple that day, including priests and prophets. When Jeremiah finished speaking what Adonai had told him to say, the priests, prophets, and all the people seized him, crying out, [Now you’ll die for this! Who do you think you are to prophesy that Adonai will destroy this temple, as the tabernacle at Shiloh was destroyed? How dare you say that Jerusalem will be desolate without one survivor?] News of this spread quickly to the princes of Judah, and they hurried from the king’s house to hold court at the New Gate, the entrance to the temple. [Execute this man!] the priests and false prophets cried out to the princes. [You have heard yourselves how he has spoken against our city.] But Jeremiah spoke to the princes and the people. [Adonai sent me to say these things about the temple and Jerusalem,] he said. [Every word I have said is from Adonai. If you will only turn from your sin and obey Adonai your YHVH, He will withhold the punishment He has planned for you. Of course, you can do anything you want with me, but if you kill me, you will be killing an innocent man. This will cause you and your city and its people to be guilty of killing an innocent man. Whatever I have said, I have spoken from Adonai.] [This man does not deserve to die,] the princes and people said to the priests and false prophets. [He has told us what Adonai Commanded him to say.] Some of the older men stood up and said this to the people:

[In the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, Micah of Moresheth gave this prophecy: ‘The hill of Zion shall be ploughed as a field. The city of Jerusalem shall be heaps of stone. The mount where the temple stands shall become a forest.’ Did King Hezekiah and his people kill Micah for saying those things? No, instead they asked Adonai for mercy, and Adonai withheld the punishment He had planned for them. If we murder the prophet Jeremiah, what may Adonai do to us?] Now about that same time another of Adonai’s prophets was speaking against Jerusalem and Judah. His name was Uriah {or Urijah} the son of Shemaiah, who lived in Kiriath-jearim. When King Jehoiakim and his officers heard his prophecies, they tried to kill him. Uriah learned of their plans and ran away to Egypt. But Jehoiakim sent Elnathan the son of Ashbor and some other men to capture Uriah and bring him back. When they did, King Jehoiakim killed him with the sword and had him buried with the common people. Jeremiah might also have been put to death had it not been for a high official of the king, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, who was there with Jeremiah. It was Ahikam who helped convince the princes not to execute Jeremiah.

COMMENTARY

GODS, GHOSTS AND DEMONS

The ancient Babylonians believed they were constantly surrounded by a host of gods, demons and spirits. Each city was dedicated to one particular god, who had its own temple. If a city grew powerful, its god became important throughout the land. When Babylon ruled the empire, for example, its god Marduk was highest of all Babylonian gods. Like their ancestors the Sumerians, the Babylonians and Assyrians worshiped gods whom they believed to control nature. Harvests, storms and fertility were in their power. Even the sun, moon and stars represented gods. Other deities supervised hunting, war, healing and death. The Mesopotamians believed their gods could live anywhere. A divine being might be present in any ordinary object -- a plough, a lamp or a club. Even a mountain, river or tree could house a god. But much of the time, a Mesopotamian deity lived in the idol that stood on a pedestal in his temple. Most of these idols, made of rare wood, precious stones and gold, were carried away by ancient conquerors. Only cheap clay imitations, worshiped in private homes, have survived to modern times. Special temple workshops were devoted to the construction and repair of idols. After performing rituals to {open} the god’s eyes, purify his mouth and give him life, priests adorned the human-shaped statue with robes, jewellery and a crown. Sacred religious ceremonies reflected things the god was believed to do. Carried by priests, a city’s idol was taken to visit idols in other temples. With great pomp, the statue {married} -- sometimes another god, but other times the god was offered a human as his marriage partner. The meals of the gods were important events. Three times a day, priests carefully prepared platters of food. A table was set and meals were served to the city’s god and other idols in the temple. Sometimes the {leftovers,} which were considered sacred, were sent to the king. Even those who were not priests took part in directly worshiping the god. In festival processions, such people paraded behind the priests in order to be near and glimpse the god. They brought animals, milk, wine and honey as offerings. Worshipers confessed as many sins as possible, real and imagined, so that the god would be pleased with their professed purity. If a worshiper neglected his religious duties, an angry god would no longer protect him from the many evil demons around him. These demons greatly outnumbered the good beings, or genii. They tormented the Babylonians with everything from headaches and quarrels to accidents and crop failures. The demons were joined in plaguing the living by ghosts of people whose lives had been unhappy or whose graves had been forgotten. The Babylonians had countless magic chants and rites, usually involving fire, to drive away these spirits. People even consulted special priests called {diviners.} These men predicted the future by examining the intestines of animals, the flight of birds, and drops of oil on water. But in spite of all these precautions, the worshiper had little hope. Life in the dusty underworld of the dead was without light or food. Only war heroes were privileged to drink fresh water. Life after death was only a little more frightening than life on earth.