Paper on Major Prophets

It hasn’t been that long ago that I learned I have Jewish ancestry. My parents joked about it so I didn’t take the rumors seriously. On my dad’s mother’s side of the family, they fled from Germany and left everything behind. We have no heirlooms/relics to remind us of who we are. It’s like an ancestral amnesia. If the family history wasn’t recorded in a history book about a small Iowa farm town, we might have lost the information. On my mother’s side, my grandmother’s maiden name is a very old name that goes back to Biblical times. As I worked on the lessons, I was hoping to regain something my family had lost and forgot.

I learned that Israel didn’t want to listen to what God had to say by His prophets because it wasn’t a feel good kind of message.  God’s words were a warning to them.  God was calling His people to return to Him.  He said to seek His face, turn from their wicked ways, and He promised to forgive their sin and heal their land.  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

I also read Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book The Harbinger while I was focusing on the Major Prophets. I believe God led me in this direction. The book helped me understand why God was so upset with His people. Israel’s elders came to inquire of God, but God refused to be inquired of by them. I thought, “Wow, God’s really mad.” I wanted to understand how it got that way. How did God’s chosen people stray so far from God.

1. They Worshipped Idols/Didn’t Repent

Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you. (Ezekiel 20:3 KJV)

In Jeremiah, God reminded His people how they had polluted themselves with idols and forgotten Him.  In Ezekiel, God turned them away. This must have been shocking to the elders since they considered themselves righteous.

Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up.  (Jeremiah 18:15 NIV)

2. They Shifted Blame

In Ezekiel 18:3, God said to not use Proverbs 18:2,3 anymore. (The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.)  As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.  This proverb is talking about God’s people blaming their fathers’ sins for the suffering they endured. Israel regarded themselves as righteous.  God’s people didn’t want to admit they had displeased God and estranged themselves from Him.  God wanted His people to return to Him.  He said…turn, live, repent. God wanted a change of heart/spirit.  He said humble yourselves, pray, seek My face.  God left the forgiveness door open, but Israel didn’t want to walk through it.

Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Ezekiel 18:31,32)

3. They Were Defiant

God said Israel was proud/arrogant. Instead of humbling themselves/repenting, they were defiant.  God stirred up Israel’s enemies, and an attack got through. The attack was meant to wake them up, but Israel’s attitude was - bricks fell but, we’ll rebuild with bigger/better stones that won’t fall. Sycamores were cut down, but we’ll rebuild with cedars which are stronger/better.  (The Harbinger)

The Lord sent a message against Jacob; it came against Israel. All the people — Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria — will know it. They will say with pride and arrogance: “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” The LORD has raised up Rezin’s adversaries against him and stirred up his enemies. (HCSB Isaiah 9:8-11)

Why would God be so hard on Israel?  He expected more from Israel than anyone else.  It’s because God gave them so much, and expected more from them.  When God entrusts you with much, more is required.  What were they entrusted with?  God’s word and heart.  Israel was God’s chosen people, and He loved them.  Their responsibility was to prove God. They were like a flagship people.

But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. (Luke 12:48 NLT)

They Listened to False Prophets

Israel listened to the false prophets and not the true prophets.  It’s easier to listen to a message if it’s what you want to hear.  God asked the true prophets to deliver a message Israel didn’t want to hear, and Israel plotted against the true prophets. In Ezekiel 13:1-9, God Condemned the false prophets and said they follow their own spirit and have seen nothing, their visions are false and their divinations a lie.  God had not spoken by them, but they expected Him to fulfill their words. God called them foolish, jackals, and He was against them.

They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”  (Jeremiah 18:18 NIV)

So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.  (Jeremiah 38:6 NIV)

According to Ezekiel 13:10-16, the false prophets lead God’s people astray.  They said peace, but God said there was no peace.  God said they whitewash the wall, and it would fall.  The true prophets were giving warning of danger for God’s people. They called the people back to God and said to repent.  God said He would tear down the whitewashed wall and level it to the ground. There would be rain in torrents, hailstones, and violent winds because of God’s destructive fury. When the wall fell, the false prophets would know that He is the Lord.

They Did Not Observe the Seven-Year Sabbath

God’s people had two Sabbaths.  The weekly Sabbath goes from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. 

Observing the weekly Sabbath is acknowledging that God created and then rested.  After creating for six days, God ceased working. When we observe the Sabbath, we stop working, trying and doing. Israel was to cease from their own work.  They let go, and let God.  To not observe the Sabbath was an example of unbelief.

In a way it's different kind of work. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews puts it this way: "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." [Hebrews 4:11] So, this is a "work" of faith, where we are no longer working, but trusting God to accomplish the work He has begun and is perfectly able to complete. (Worthy News Brief)

There was a second Sabbath every seven years called the year of release (Shemitah).  The seven-year Sabbath let the land rest, and gave relief to the poor.  According to Deuteronomy 15:1-3, at the end of every seventh year God’s people were to cancel debts. Every creditor was to cancel any loan they had made to an Israelite.  All outstanding debts between Jewish debtors and creditors were waived.  (Shemitah 101 and The Harbinger)

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you.  (Deuteronomy 15:1-3 NIV)

The seventh year was considered holy, and the people of Israel completely stopped plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting their fields.  They surrendered ownership of their land.  Gates were unlocked. Whatever grew voluntarily was communal property and free for anyone to take.  The poor could gather food from it and animals could eat the leftovers.  It was a release of the land.  The idea was that God’s people would collectively pause and focus on higher, more spiritual pursuits.  (Shemitah 101)

“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.  (Exodus 23:10,11 NIV)

The year of release meant that together as a people they were to trust in God who gave them the land.  They were to focus on more spiritual matters and less on the material.  (Shemitah 101)

In Ezekiel 22:23-29 God said Israel was a land that was not cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.  He said there was a conspiracy of the princes and compared them to roaring lions tearing prey, devouring people, taking treasure, making many widows.  The priests did violence to God’s law and profaned God’s holy things.  They did not distinguish between the holy and common.  They taught that there was no difference between the unclean and clean.  They shut their eyes to the keeping of God’s Sabbaths so that God was profaned among them.  Their officials were like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood and killing people to make unjust gain.  The prophets whitewashed the official’s deeds by false visions and lying divinations.  They said this is what the Lord says, when the Lord had not spoken.  The people of the land practiced extortion, committed robbery, oppressed the poor and needy and mistreated for foreigner denying them justice.

Israel failed to honor 70 Shemitah Sabbaths and because of this, they were in captivity for 70 years.

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom -- in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. (Daniel 9:1-2 NIV)

The Solution

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.  (Daniel 9:3-6 ESV)

God wanted their love and admiration.  Forgiveness and mercy were available.  God was waiting for a change of heart and spirit.  Daniel did the right thing. He turned His face to God, sought Him and asked for mercy.  He confessed Israel’s sins and how they had turned aside from God’s commandments and rules.  And finally, he said we have not listened to Your servants the prophets who spoke in Your name.

I think I identified with Ezekiel and Daniel the most. As I read the Major Prophets, I apologized to God.  Having Jewish ancestry, I hoped that somehow my apology would matter. It’s never too late for an apology only when you’ve passed away. Since the knowledge of my Jewish ancestry was lost, I felt as if I recovered something. I feel closer to God and understand my ancestors better.