Israels Prosperity - Then And Now
"Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land
that you do not know."
Jeremiah 17:4
The prophet Jeremiah lived to witness the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC. He was active during the reigns of
five different kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah - to four of whom he brought messages
from Yahveh. His main task was to warn the people that Judah would be destroyed unless the people repented.
Jeremiah was neither allowed to marry, (Jer 16:1-2) nor to commiserate with his people. His dramatic conveyance of Yahvehs
Word did not win him popularity. He was reviled, beaten, and imprisoned, threatened with death more than once, and his would-be
assassins almost succeeded. He survived, only to see the Temple destroyed, the wealthier classes of Israel exiled to Babylon,
and himself dragged over the border to Egypt, where he remained until his death. Jeremiah warned Israel of the imminent Babylonian
invasion of the Holy Land, just before their first attack in 597 BC.
Yahveh commanded Jeremiah not to take a wife, in order to demonstrate the futility of bringing children
into the world at such a time:
"They will not be lamented or buried, but they will be like dung upon the ground. They will
perish by sword and famine, and their corpses will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts on earth. Great and small
alike shall die in this land. They shall not be buried." Jer 16:4-6
But Jeremiah also brought an encouraging message - that eventually all nations will come to acknowledge
the futility of idolatry and recognize that
"My name is indeed Yahveh."
Jeremiah 16:21
Evil was so deeply ingrained in Israel:
"Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots? You too are used to evil and cannot
do good. Therefore I will scatter you like straw flying before the desert wind... and
your idolatry will cause
perpetual fire to come from My nostrils." Jer 13:23-24 and 17:4
The type of idolatry of the time - human sacrifices, was practiced in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, on the western
side of what today is the Old City of Jerusalem. They "filled this place with innocent blood, they built
shrines to Baal, to burn their sons in fire as burnt offerings to Baal." Jeremiah 19:4-5
Yahveh's Word roared against both, idolatry and the those who relied entirely on their own (physical
and mental) strength - even to the degree of unjustly exploiting others: "Like a partridge which
hatches eggs that it did not lay, so is one who amasses wealth unjustly." Jeremiah 17:11
One must not place his faith in his own efforts alone, but attach himself to the Eternal
Source. That will make him "like a tree planted by water, which sends its roots forth by a stream
its leaves are fresh it has no care in a year of drought, and it does not stop producing fruit." Jeremiah 17:8
By attaching ourselves to our Source we 'build' a pipeline through which His Support
can flow to us, and on which we may always rely.
"Heal me Yahveh and I will be healed, help me and I will be helped, because You are my
praise." Jeremiah 17:14
The use of the singular refers to Jeremiah himself - he prays for being healed from the attacks of his enemies,
related in detail later on in his book. But it is also a reference to the nation of Israel as a whole. This prayer asks Yahveh
to assist the people, who have sunk so deeply into idolatry and corruption, to repent and return to Him. As Jeremiah exclaims
elsewhere: "Bring us back to you, Yahveh, and we will return." Lamentations 5:21
Jeremiahs words of rebuke suddenly change to third person. "The guilt
of Judah is inscribed with a stylus of iron it is engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their (idolatrous)
altars." Jer 17:1 Then it shifts to the second person when stating the punishment in store for the people: "I will hand over all your wealth, your treasures and your shrines as loot, because of your sins throughout
the land. Through your own fault, you will lose the inheritance that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in
a land that you do not know." Jeremiah 17:3-4
Israel was not only being disloyal to Yahveh but also acted despicably in the eyes of the idolatrous Babylonians.
For though they practiced paganism in their own societies, they knew it to be wrong for Israel, and expected better from Yahvehs
people and despised them for abandoning their own sacred traditions.
Ironically, Yahveh chose to use the Babylonians as the instrument to punish Judah for
copying their ways.
This was the message that emerged. Jeremiah was impressing on the nation of Israel that other nations will
use a double standard when looking at them in the global situation. Yahvehs people can only prosper within their Divinly-determined
role ~ as a "Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation." Exodus 19:6
Israel could never be a nation like all other nations. This is all the more true today, when the entire world
is watching them. They constantly claim that the world is against them when they get unfavorable treatment from the media.
They do not understand why Israel, a country with an area virtually too small to appear on the map, gets so much attention.
True, if a single standard could be used, the Israelites could justly say that they are unfairly victimized. But Israel
has a role to play within humanity, and Yahveh, through the Prophets did not ever let them forget it. Neither did He remove
it from the Gentile subconscious. Thus the non-Jew instinctively feels that Yahveh's people can only fulfill their role
if they do their best to be loyal to their own roots. Any nation who claims to have the Bible as their heritage becomes despised
if it fails to live by its very demanding ethical teachings.
Moses summed it up before his death: "Behold I have taught you statues
and judgments for that is your wisdom and the way you will be understood in the eyes of other nations. They will say: only
this great nation can be a wise and understanding people." Deuteronomy 4:5-6
Even Balaam, in his famous prophecy, declared: "Behold! It is a people that shall live
alone and not be reckoned among the nations." Numbers 23:9
The world expects a much higher standard from Yahveh's children. We must live a separated life (being 'alone') and
be the guardians of His Standard, rather than mere participants in world affairs. There is no alternative for
Israel as a nation, nor for us as individuals, if we want to see prosperity in our life ~ then and now.
