Tag Archive | Nebuchadnezzar

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 228

Aug16

Day 228 – Reading – Jeremiah 32 – 34

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

 

Jeremiah 32.

The first three verses give the setting of this chapter. (Remember, the pieces of the book of Jeremiah jump around a bit – probably the way Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, put them together.)  It was …. 

  • During the 10th year of Zedekiah’s 11-year reign
  • During the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule
  • During Nebuchadnezzar’s 30-month siege of Jerusalem, about a year before his final takeover
  • While Jeremiah was shut up in prison for “preaching treason” (prophecy of the final siege & exile). 

In the prison cell, Jeremiah received a word from the LORD, saying his cousin Hanamel was going to ask him to buy his field at Anathoth (Jeremiah’s town, about 3 miles north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin; a Levite city). Jeremiah was the closest relative to Hanamel and had the right to buy the field until Jubilee, when he would return it. It was a way to help out a family member in financial trouble.

And just like that, the man arrived with the offer, so Jeremiah knew it was from God and bought the field. (Yes, from prison, and yes, Jeremiah had the money to do so.)  Seeing it was only one year before Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people taken to Babylon, wouldn’t this seem like an unwise purchase?  Yes. But think of what Jeremiah knew.  The LORD would be returning the people to this land in 70 years.  This dispersion was not to be forever.

Baruch took the deed to the property in the presence of all who were around in the court who witnessed the purchase, and put them in an earthenware jug for safekeeping.  Jeremiah said aloud, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall AGAIN be bought in this land.”

Jeremiah then openly prayed to God.  First, he praised the “great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, and listed the wonderful things He had done for His unworthy people. Then he got to the point.

“Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. What You spoke has come to pass, and You see it. YET, You, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses,” though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans!

And God confirmed it. “Yes, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and he shall capture it. They shall come and set this city on fire and burn it.  This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight … because of all the evil the children of Israel and Judah have done. 

“But I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger … and bring them back to this place. They shall be my people and I will be their God.   

Behold, just as I have brought all this great disaster … so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.  FIELDS SHALL BE BOUGHT FOR MONEY AND DEEDS SHALL BE SIGNED AND SEALED AND WITNESSED in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Negev.  I will restore their fortunes,” declares the LORD.

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Jeremiah 33.

The LORD continues to declare His promises of good to the people (after the capture and exile).  Jeremiah is still in prison, the enemy is still at the gates, all the houses of the people of Jerusalem have been taken apart and stacked as defense against the enemy … and yet God’s word of hope comes to his prophet.

  • “Call to me and i will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil,  BU…
  • I will bring health and healing,
  • I will heal them and reveal an abundance of prosperity and security.
  • I will restore their fortunes,
  • I will rebuild them as they were,
  • I will cleans them from all the guilt of their sin against me,
  • I  will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me,
  • This city shall be to me a NAME OF JOY, A PRAISE, AND A GLORY before all the nations,
  • There again shall be heard the voice of mirth and gladness…
  • the voices of those who sing as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
  • I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
  • A righteous branch shall spring up for David and he shall execute justice and righteousness,
  • Judah will be saved; Jerusalem will dwell securely, being called “The LORD is Our Righteousness.”

And God swears to Jeremiah in two more visions, that He WILL DO what He has promised.

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Jeremiah 34.

In this chapter, Jeremiah goes directly to King Zedekiah with a direct word of God, outlining his future. 

  1. God is giving the city to the king of Babylon,
  2. He will burn it with fire.
  3. You, Zedekiah, shall not escape but be captured.
  4. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and face to face and speak to him.
  5. You will surely go to Babylon and die there.

Perhaps because of this (that he would die in peace), Zedekiah, all of a sudden, proclaimed that all the people of Jerusalem should let their Jewish slaves GO FREE. This was part of God’s law that had been neglected. They could only enslave a fellow Jew for six years, and on the 7th year, they must let them go.

Everyone obeyed. All the slaves were set free.  But before they could hardly get their belongings packed, the King reversed his decision.  All the slaves were subjected again to their masters.  HUH??

(This may have been when the Egyptian army approached and the forces of Babylon withdrew from Jerusalem temporarily, and the people of Jerusalem believed that the danger had passed. But this angered the LORD, and He brought the Babylonian army back to the city.  This time to stay till they conquered it.)

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(God is so good to His wayward children. Yes, He must discipline them (and us), but there is always His love present, and when the time is past, he will joyfully welcome them (us) back into the protection and joy of His arms.  Thank You, LORD, for your grace and mercy and the promises you give to us in Your Word!)

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 225

Aug13

Day 225 – Reading – Jeremiah 23 – 25

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 23.

“The LORD is my shepherd. I shall not want (have any needs).  (Think of the following words in David’s Psalm 23, describing the Lord Jesus Christ.) He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still (peaceful) waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  Even though I (will) walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

And now, in Jeremiah 23, see what God says about the “shepherds” who were supposed to look after and care for the “sheep” of Israel, but didn’t.

  • “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!
  • You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.  Behold, I will attend to YOU for your evil deeds,” declares the LORD.

The “bad” shepherds were the false leaders in Israel who failed in their duty to take care/protect/teach the flock of God.  They included the kings, prophets and priests.  

  • “Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them.  
  • I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
  • I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall ANY be missing,” declares the LORD.

After the exile, God will bring Judah back from Babylon to their homeland.  Men like Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah will be like good shepherds caring for them.

In a fuller sense, in the end times, the Great Shepherd, Jesus, will restore all His people to their land. This has yet to happen.

  • “The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days, JUDAH WILL BE SAVED, and ISRAEL WILL DWELL SECURELY.

Meanwhile, God’s heart is broken in him … for the land is full of adulterers, and the (formerly green) pastures of the wilderness are dried up.  Both prophet and priest are UNGODLY.  “EVEN IN MY HOUSE I HAVE FOUND EVIL!”  “And from the prophets of Jerusalem UNGODLINESS has gone out into all the land.”

  • “BEHOLD, the storm of the LORD! Wrath had gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.”
  • Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?  Do I not fill heaven and earth? 
  • “You false prophets and seers (evil shepherds) … “I will surely lift you up and cast you away from My presence, you and the city that I have given to you and your fathers.  I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.”

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Jeremiah 24.

Jeremiah received a vision, then a word from the LORD explaining the vision. This happened AFTER King Nebuchadnezzar’s second attack, and his carrying King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin, Coniah – this king had several names!), back to Babylon (alive) along with his mother, officials, craftsmen, and metal workers.  

Jeremiah’s vision showed TWO BASKETS OF FIGS in front of the Temple.  One basket had VERY GOOD FIGS; the other had VERY BAD (rotten) FIGS.

The LORD:  “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

Jeremiah: Figs; very good figs and very bad figs.

The LORD: “I will regard as “the good figs” the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place. I will set my eyes on them for good, and build them up, and plant them, and give them a heart to know that I am the Lord. They shall be my people and I will be their God. For they will return to me with their whole heart.”

The LORD continues.  “But I will treat Zedekiah, king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem, who remain, and those who fled to Egypt … “as the very bad, rotten figs.”   I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places I shall drive them.  I will send sword, famine, and pestilence on them until they are utterly destroyed.”

WOW.  This reminds me of Jesus separating the sheep and goats on the Last Day, one to eternal life, and the other one to eternal punishment. Matthew 25:31-46

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Jeremiah 25.

This chapter takes a few steps backward, to the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim in Judah, and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign in Babylon.  For 23 years, Jeremiah had been predicting this, but the people had not listened, nor turned from their evil ways.

And so … as prophesied … the Lord was going to send for Nebuchadnezzar “His servant” against all this land.  “I will devote it to destruction, and make it a horror, a hissing, a desolation.   This whole land will become a ruin and a waste, and you will serve the King of Babylon SEVENTY YEARS.”

There it is! 

But … “After seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity.“

Then figuratively, God gave to Jeremiah His “cup of wrath.”  He was to go to all the nations to which God would send him and MAKE THEY DRINK FROM THE CUP. 

So, Jeremiah took the cup and went …

  • to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, 
  • to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all the mixed tribes there, 
  • to all the land of Uz and the Philistines, 
  • to Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
  • to Tyre, Sidon, Dedan, Tema and Buz, 
  • to the kings of Arabia and the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert, Zimri, Elam, Media, 
  • and to ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD on the face of the earth. 
  • And finally,  to the King of Babylon who SHALL drink. 

And the LORD said, “I begin to work disaster at the city THAT IS CALLED BY MY NAME, and shall you, Babylon, go unpunished? No, for I am summoning a sword against ALL the inhabitants of the earth … ALL FLESH.”

And a special disaster for the false shepherds and lords of the flocks. No refuge. No escape.

WOW.  The LORD is really raging.  Just think how it will be AT THE END OF THE AGE, when Jesus comes, and the world goes into the Great Tribulation before the final Day of the Lord, the destruction of evil!  PRAISE GOD!

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(LORD, Thank you for the promise of Eternal Life through Jesus, the great Shepherd and the eternal King. Keep my heart turned wholly towards YOU. Help me to be obedient to your Word and to those who speak Your Words.)

 

 

 

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 257

Sep13

    Day 257—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and future visions in DANIEL’S prophecy.

    Day 257 – Daniel 4 – 6 (Daniel serves under 3 kings, the tree stump dream, the handwriting on the wall, and the lion’s den.)

Daniel 4. Nebuchadnezzar’s praise of the God of Heaven from chapter 3 continues here… for a little while. Then he has another ominous dream – a great tree fallen with only the stump remaining. 

Daniel is called again to interpret the dream and is sad about its meaning.  He tells Nebuchadnezzar that HE is that beautiful tree that spreads far and wide, sheltering and giving food to all.  But a “holy one” coming down from heaven will chop it down and leave only the stump, bound with an iron band, for seven years. 

“Sorry, O King, but YOU shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven for seven years…..until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.”

Daniel begs the king to repent and practice righteousness so that this dream will not happen for a long time.  But alas, 12 months later, we see the uber-proud king strutting on his rooftop proclaiming that all the riches and glory of Babylon were built by HIS OWN MIGHTY POWER and for the glory of  HIS MAJESTY.  And while he spoke… um… he became like an ox and was driven from the city to eat grass in the field, his body – long hair and long nails – wet with the dew of heaven.

Yikes! Talk about a God-inspired severe mental breakdown!

Seven years to the day, old King Nebuchadnezzar “came to his senses.” (What am I doing eating grass in a pasture??? I need a haircut and a manicure! )   He “lifted his eyes to heaven and blessed the Most High, and praised and honored HIM who lives forever.”

At the same time, his reason returned, as did his glory, majesty, and splendor. And he said, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the “King of Heaven” for all His works are right, and His ways are just; and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.”

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Daniel 5.  Twenty years after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, his son, Belshazzar, is about to meet his Maker, and his kingdom is violently given to the Medes & Persians. 

He is feasting and drinking with a thousand of his lords. In drunken braggadocio, he calls for the splendid gold and silver chalices his father took from the Temple – the House of God – in Jerusalem. “Why aren’t we drinking from them?”  He, his guests, and concubines drank wine and praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

And IMMEDIATELY, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall plaster, and the king saw them. His pallor changed, his limbs weakened (Can you imagine the goblet slipping from his fingers, wine splashing on him?), and his knees knocked together.  He called for all his magicians to interpret the writing, but they could not.

Then, the Queen (his mother) mentioned a man ‘in whom is the spirit of the Holy gods.’ Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, trusted him because he could interpret dreams and solve problems.  ” Let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

Daniel is located and brought to the palace. The king said, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard that light, and understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you. I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve problems.  IF YOU WILL READ THIS WRITING AND INTERPRET IT, I will make you Number Three in my kingdom!”

“Keep your gifts, O king,” said Daniel shortly. “But I will read and interpret the writing.”  

But first, Daniel gives a little history of this king’s father, Nebuchadnezzar, how God made him great, how he was prideful, how God made him like an ox, and how God restored his majesty when he humbled himself and acknowledged the God of Heaven.  “But YOU, his son, Belshazzar, have NOT humbled your heart though you knew all this. You have lifted yourself up against the God of heaven. You have praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.  But the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have NOT honored.  And so, this hand was sent.” 

It says, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.  It means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom.”

(You don’t mess with the God of heaven or His Holy stuff!)

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Daniel 6. And now, Daniel is serving under a third king, Darius. He is now one of three ‘presidents’ in charge of the 120 satraps (governors).  They all had to report to him.  Soon, they were resentful and jealous of him, “one of the exiles” ruling over them, and they devised a wicked, deceitful plan to get rid of him. The only grounds of complaint against Daniel that they could find (for he was exemplary) was to see it in the law of his God.

They convinced King Darius that he should be honored for a month.  (Darius month!!)   During that month, if anyone asked anything (petitioned) of anyone except the king, he would be thrown into a lion’s den.   The king said that sounded cool and stamped it into law.

The jealous governors camped outside Daniel’s house, and when they saw him open his East-facing window toward Jerusalem, kneel, and pray three times each day, they knew they had him. Wide-eyed, with innocent smiles, they tattled to the king.

Of course, the king was distraught. Daniel was one of his chief men. A “rainmaker.” But, the law of a Mede or Persian could not be changed. (We’ll see this again in Esther.)  And he condemned his ‘fave guy’ to the lion’s den. (BTW, Daniel is about 82 years old by now.)

All night, Darius prayed and fasted for Daniel. (Quite a turnabout.)  Early in the morning, he rushed to the lion’s den.  “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

A tiny wait while he held his breath.

“O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me.” 

Daniel is drawn from the den joyously, and those jealous, sneaky satraps and their wives and children are tossed in. (Does this remind you of the fiery furnace story??)  Having been denied dinner all night, the lions leaped on them before they even hit the bottom of the den. 

Darius then sends a message throughout his kingdom that people are to tremble and fear the God of Daniel. “For He is the living God, enduring forever; His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and His dominion shall be to the end.”

And this chapter of Daniel ends with…”So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”

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(Tomorrow, we begin Daniel’s prophetic visions.)