Jeremiah And Isaiah: A Study Of The Fall And Redemption Of Israel And Judah

Jeremiah and Isaiah: A Study of the Fall and Redemption of Israel and Judah: C. Michael Stewart

The prophets have always preached against sin and death and adulated life and salvation (Deut. 30:15-16; Proverbs 11:19; Jer. 21:8; Ezekiel 18:23; Romans

5:17, 21). In what ways have the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah proclaimed and compared this doctrinal association of sin and death to the consequences Israel/Judah received at the hand of other nations (Isa. 8:6-8; Jer. 20:5) and at their own hands (Isa. 3:1-5, 14-15; Jer. 19:9)? Sin and condemnation, forgiveness and redemption are recurring themes throughout the biblical text. In particular the prophetic passages are rife with example and source material. One thing that sets a prophet apart from the world and gives him/her the perspective in which to judge mankind, aside from his/her calling by God, is that of their personal righteousness before God. Isaiah addresses his calling and personal redemption in Isaiah 6 when he speaks of the cherub placing the coal against his lips (Isa. 6:5-7). Jeremiah speaks of the word of God being a fire in his bones, causing him to preach and to exhort even though he had vowed never preach to the people again (Jer. 20:9; chapter 20 entire). Having this purity before the Lord and maintaining the level of commitment to the rightness of the way, they were called of God and consecrated for His purposes, even from before their birth in the womb (Jer. 1:5) Having this great knowledge of God and His magnificent workings; having a knowledge of His love, power, and redemption; and having this passion burning within their bosoms (Mosiah 28:3) they were constrained of the Spirit to go out and preach to the people concerning their wickedness before the face of the Lord (Mosiah 12:29 (25-29). Judah and Israel believed that they were keeping the commandments and statutes of the Lord; while Jeremiah tells us that the people are guilty of living the Law superficially. They were not living the Law in their hearts, therefore they were under condemnation (Jer. 5:1, 7, 26-28; 9:1-6; 18). The Book of Mormon, also, has reference to this in its beginning chapters. In these chapters Laman and Lemuel, the two eldest brothers of Nephi, state that their father Lehi is a visionary man and is leading them out of the land by following his own vain imaginings. They go on to state that the people of Judah#, from whence they had come, were a righteous and a just people before the Lord. Claiming that the Jewry kept the commandments as they ought to have done, they condemn their father for condemning them (1 Nephi 17:22). This they say when, in fact, the children of the Israel, both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern, were rebelling in mighty strength against the Lord and seeking after the gods of other nations.# They were not living the laws of the Jubilee and Sabbath (2 Chron. 36:21; Jer. 25:12);# and they were not trusting in the Lord as they ought to have done, but were looking to their own strength, might, and power (Jer. 17:5). Isaiah, in chapter 1, gives us his three main points in which Israel/Judah were committing sin in the eyes of God. First they are guilty of pride, ingratitude, and hypocrisy (Isa. 1:2-3, 10-13); second they are guilty of a love of violence and bloodshed (Isa. 1:15, 21); and, third, they are guilty of sexual aberrations and sin (Isa. 1:29-31).# These are things which Jeremiah, also, tells us the people are guilty of at the time of his ministry (Jer. 3:4-5; 7:8-10). For an illustrative example, at one point Isaiah goes to Ahaz, king of Judah, who is standing at the pool of Siloam and tells him to demand a sign from God that He is the only true Lord of the people. Ahaz, in his hypocritical nature, refuses to do so and Isaiah tells him that he shall receive a sign nevertheless (Isa. 7:13-16); proceeding with the “Immanuel Prophecy”#.# The situation in which Isaiah approaches Ahaz is while he (Ahaz) is inspecting the Upper Pool which is fed by the spring at Gihon. It is likely that he was there to inspect the water supply in case of an attack by the confederacy of Israel and Syria. It is here that Isaiah informs Ahaz that there is not going to be a war, for the two kings are as “smoking firebrands” and will soon burn out (Isa. 7:4)# and then instructs him to ask for a sign from God that he may know that God is with Judah if they repent. Ahaz, here in his refusal, is showing the lack of faith that seems to have permeated throughout all of the cities of Israel and Judah.# Ahaz is hoping that this pool will allow the people to hold out against the siege which he convinced is sure to come under the hands of “Rezin and Remaliah’s son.” (Isa. 7:8-9) Then, after refusing to ask for a sign, Ahaz goes

off to make a sacrifice of his own: his son in the fires of Moloch# (2 Kings 16). Thus showing us that he sought for strength in his own hand, but needing the protection and power of the “gods” has gone out and performed this heinous act; something which God had never commanded, nor had come into God’s mind or heart (Jer. 32:35).# Talmage (1981) teaches us, “Man possesses an instinct for worship; he craves and will find some object of adoration. When he fell into the darkness of persistent transgression, and forgot the author of his being and the God of his fathers, he sought for other deities. […] “Idolatry/Idolatrous practices in some of their phases came to be associated with rites of horrible cruelties, as in the custom of sacrificing children to Moloch […]. The gods that human-kind have set up for themselves are heartless, pitiless, cruel.”# Isaiah, at another time, tells Ahaz that he should not make agreements with other nations, such as Assyria, for they shall come to naught (2 Kings 16:7-9; Isa. 8-9) and the people will end up in bondage to the nation.# As Ludlow (1982), Baker, Zuck (1985), and Merrill (2008) teach us: because Ahaz did not trust in the Lord as he ought to have done, he ends up paying tribute to Assyria to avoid war with them - something that the Lord could have prevented had the king and the people but trusted in Him.# Now, due to these sins of idolatry; as well as sins of pride; insincere, hypocritical faith; “[grinding] the faces of the poor” (Isa. 3:14-15); sexual sin; rejecting the prophets and stoning/slaying them (e.g. Jer. 2:30); etc. the Lord chose to rebuke and correct the children of Israel and, later, of Judah for their transgressions before Him. In His just and mighty wrath the Lord calls upon the Assyrians, Babylonians, Syrians, and Egyptians to put Israel in their place. Leading them into captivity to teach them subservience and humility (Isa. 7:20), and to give them a contrite heart (e.g. Jer. 31:33).# Additionally, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah tell the people that the time will come when they will resort to cannibalism in order to keep themselves alive (Isa. 9:20; Jer. 19:9). Josephus informs us that this happened more than once in the history of the nation (Deut. 28:53-57; Lev. 26:29; 2 Kings 6:26-29; Jer. 19:9; Ezek. 5:10; and Lamentations 4:10 to name a few), and provides us with at least one example.# Likewise the Lord tells the people that they shall be scattered; considered a hiss and a byword; and that they shall be persecuted by the Gentiles (1 Kings 9:7; Ps. 44 (vs. 14 specific); 1 Ne. 19:13-14) until they have suffered doubly for their sins and transgressions before Him (Jer. 16:18; Isa. 40:2). Monte S. Nyman (1982) teaches: “The double payment, also mentioned by Isaiah (Isa. 40:2) was probably based upon the seriousness of their sins (see Ex. 22:4).#” Exodus 22:4 provides Israel with the commandment that if there is theft of an animal or anything else and it is found out, the thief shall restore doubly what he stole. In this situation, Israel and Judah had stolen themselves from God and His covenant; selling themselves into bondage (Isa. 50:1-2).# After the sin and condemnation of Israel and Judah, the prophets teach us that the time would come when the Lord would bring them back into His presence, allowing them, once again, to partake of His goodness and mercy. Promising them that the Messiah shall arise “with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2). Using the prophets to teach them what they must do and to whom they must look and rejoice if this redemption is to occur, the Lord promises great things to them who would have Him to be their God. According to the words of the prophets, though the Lord allows Israel to be scattered and Judah to be taken into captivity, He also makes a covenant# and a promise with them: the time will come when they would return to the land of their fathers (Isa. 40:1-2; 49:22-23). How very unlike when the Lord destroyed those who lived before (I.e. the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Canaanites, Perizzites, Philistines, etc.); for in the case of Israel and Judah, God promises the people through His prophets He will redeem them for they are His “peculiar treasure” and His “prized possession.” And this because of His promises to the Fathers and in accordance to the faith and prayers of His holy prophets

(Gen. 17; 22:15-18; Gen. 26:1-4, 24; Gen. 28; 35:9-13; 48:3-4; Ex. 6:6-9; Ex. 19:4-6; Gal. 3). As part of the redemptive covenant, Jeremiah tells them to build way marks and “high heaps” as they are led out into the world that they may remember and return again to the land (Jer. 31:21; Isa 51:10-11).# And Isaiah tells the people that they need not fear for the Lord has not forgotten them (Isa 49:15-16) and will yet redeem them - through a mortal messiah (Cyrus of Persia - Ezra 1; 3:7; Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; Daniel 1:21; 6:28; 10:1; etc) and a spiritual leader ( Jesus Christ - Isa 53; 61). Though they may have been tried as silver in the fining pot (Proverbs 17:3; Isa. 48:10) and have received doubly for their transgression (Ex. 22:4; Isa. 40:2), the Lord will not forget them nor forsake them (Isa. 49:14-16). Jeremiah, even when he is condemning Judah for their sins, tells them the time will come when the Lord would place in them a new heart. As Merrill (2008) says it was not to be a heart of stone but one of flesh.# This is in accordance to Paul’s commentary about the altar of the temple and its sacrifices: they were not to be sacrifices which the priests would eat made upon an altar of stone but in our hearts upon an altar of flesh and spirit (Hebrews 13:9-10). Jeremiah, like Ezekiel later and Isaiah before, does not spend all of his time condemning and chastening Israel for their transgressions; he is very secure in the promises that Israel would be gathered from the far countries and returned to their homeland. In fact, as Merrill (2008) states, Jeremiah “redeemed a piece of land and hid the deed in an earthen jar, fully expecting his heirs to return to claim it (Jer. 32:6-15).”# This is done even when Jeremiah, who is commonly referred to as the “weeping prophet,” is lamenting the state of his people as they are entering into the bondage of (goyim) the nations (Jer. 9:1-2).# As for Isaiah, his words are not negative and harsh against the people, but are rather positive and forward looking. Though Isaiah is called upon by the Lord, as with all prophets, to rebuke Israel and Judah for their sins, his focus is upon the redemption of the people and the land in the latter days; in days when the earth shall sing a new song (Isa. 44:23), the lion “shall eat straw like the ox […] and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrices den (Isa. 11:79).”# Indeed, as Merrill (2008) tells us concerning the last 27 chapters of Isaiah, these chapters “express an entirely different approach to the prophet’s ministry. Whereas the first part was largely historical, though interspersed heavily with various oracles, this latter section is wholly predictive, with special attention to the eschatological aspects of Israel’s future.#” Isaiah’s message is one of hope and desire for the redemption of His Messiah who would come in the fullness of time (2 Ne. 2:3; 11:2). In conclusion we can see that the Lord is merciful and seeking only that we, for we are of Israel#, turn unto Him with full purpose of heart (2 Ne. 31:13; Ezek. 18:21). Isaiah and Jeremiah, as with all of the prophets, sought only that the children of Israel would repent of their sins and return to the Lord their God so that He could bless them. And though the people would have none of this, seeking unto peeping wizards and other gods to guide and protect them (Isa. 8:19; 47:13; Jer. 27:9), yet the Lord will still, in His infinite mercy, gather them in like a hen gathers her chicks (Luke 13:34). And though I may not see yet the city which is prepared for me of God; yet in Him will I rest my faith and hope, knowing that He is faithful and able to render unto man even that which He will. Even so, amen.

References: # See Terry B. Ball; “Isaiah and the Gentiles;” “30th Annual Sydney B. Sperry Symposium;” pgs. 181-184

# Eugene H. Merrill; “An Historical Survey of the Old Testament;” 2008; chapters 8-9 (marvelous examples on nearly every page of the idolatry of Israel during this period) # See also Bible Dictionary “Sabbatical Year” located in the LDS edition of the KJV Bible # Kent Hunter, MA; personal conversation about Isaiah # Victor Ludlow; “Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet;” pg 143; 1982, 2001. See also Merrill; “Historical Survey;” pg. 263; 2008 - Merrill here makes the statement that Isaiah goes in unto his wife and she conceives and bears a child. Before this child is of age the land will be forsaken of both of her kings. Likewise, Isaiah is using a form of antithetical parallelism in this prophecy for this is also a future tense reference to the birth of the Savior - for both Israel and Judah have lost their kings… Like Jeremiah illustrates when he breaks the pottery to pieces, the land was utterly broken and scattered (Jer. 19:1-12). # See, for instance, “The Bible Knowledge Commentary“ by Walter L Baker, John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary; pg 1047; accessed on http://books.google.com/books?id=M7YEkfybiMEC&pg=PA1047&lpg=PA1047&dq=upper+pool+a haz&source=bl&ots=hEsmH1MaMe&sig=86PeXk2bWLEpwQdci2CaWYwLLuw&hl=en&ei=ZDzySe7GN42E tAOImfznCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10#PPA1047,M1; access date: April 23, 2009. Here they inform us that both kings die within two years and never actually complete the siege against Judah. # Compare Matthew O. Richardson; “The Kings Law: A Framework for Leadership;” “30th Annual Sydney B. Sperry Symposium;” 2001 to Isaiah 3:1-5, 12; 5:13; 9:16. # http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T6121; accessed April 21, 2009; http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Moloch); accessed April 21, 2009. See also Merrill; “Historical Survey;” pg. 261; 2008 # James E. Talmage; “Articles of Faith;” pg. 41; 1981. See also James E. Talmage; “Articles of Faith;” pg. 419; 1981 # Ludlow; “Isaiah;” pg. 142; 1982, 2001. See also Merrill; “Historical Survey;” pg. 248-249; 2008 # Ludlow; “Isaiah;” pg. 142; 1982, 2001. Baker, Zuck; “Bible Knowledge Commentary;” pg. 1047 (referenced above); 1985. Merrill; “Historical Survey;” pg. 248; 2008. # The beard was a sacred totem to the religious culture of the Israelites. David's men do not return to the city, in one instance, because an Ammonite king had had them shaved from the one half of their face down to their buttocks (2 Sam. 10:45). Isaiah, later, uses the analogy of a razor to describe Assyrian captivity by the Northern tribes; saying, "In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor from the east..." (Isaiah 7:20) Basically, this was God's way of saying that they had violated a covenant agreement with Him and that He was going to remove their haughty stature. In Assyrian times they would completely shave their slaves and captives men and women alike - in an attempt to humiliate the people as well as to keep the people who may harbor them from doing so. If a person came to another place, completely shaven (against Bedouin culture as well), the people knew that they were slaves and captives and would not harbor them for fear of retribution. Though the Assyrian and Babylonian empires were not God-fearing people, they

were instruments in His hands. As Isaiah says, concerning the haughtiness of the kings, "Shall the axe say of him who heweth it, I have no need of him?" (Isaiah 10) The Lord had used the Israelites, after the Canaanites had grown ripe in wickedness, to cleanse the land. In like manner the Lord uses other goyim to humble His chosen people and to afflict them. Where-as the Canaanites were to be completely cut off, the Israelites were promised redemption at a later time. Thus, the Lord did not completely cut off the covenant agreement, but humbled and chastened His people (Hebrews 12). # Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews 9:4:4 (65-66);” trans. Whiston # Monte S. Nyman; “Great are the words of Jeremiah;” pg. 57; 1982 # The people are the Lord’s segullah, His peculiar treasure and prize possession (Ex. 6:6-8; Ex. 19:5 (4-6); 1 Peter 2:9; etc.). The Lord is their go-el and, as such, He owns them for He has paid the price for them (the Atonement). Because of Israel’s wanting to be as other nations and “whoring” after other gods, they have effectively sold themselves into bondage to their sins and to the other nations who surround them (Isa. 50:1-2). # According to Kent Hunter, MA, in a personal conversation, these way marks and “high heaps” that Jeremiah speaks of are temples which shall be built in the latter days during the gathering of the tribes to their lands. As the way marks and “high heaps” were to lead the people of Israel back to their lands, so are the temples built to point us towards God and lead us back to our heavenly home; the temple being a parable of heaven. See also Margaret Barker; “Gate of Heaven;” pg 16 (quoted in Kevin Christensen’s essay: “The Temple, the Monarchy, and Wisdom: Lehi’s World and the Scholarship of Margaret Barker;” “Glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem;” pg. 458; 2004) # Merrill; “Historic Survey;” pg. 275; 2008. See also Isaiah 51:7; Jeremiah 31:3134; Ezekiel 11:19, 18:31, 36:26. # Ibid.; pg 275; 2008 # Merrill; “Historical Survey;” pg. 274; 2008. See also Nyman; “Great are the Words;” pg. 100; 1982 # See the works of Margaret Barker for more information on the subject. # Merrill; “Historic Survey;”

pg. 264; 2008

# This is one of the reasons for the scattering of the tribes: so that all the nations of the earth could be blessed with the seed of Abraham. As the scriptures teach us only those of Abraham’s seed, whether by blood lineage or through the adoption allowed by Christ’s atonement, will be able to enter into the kingdom of Heaven (Gal. 3:7-9, 14, 16-18, 21-29 (entire chapter); Lev. 26:42 (entire chapter); Gen 17; Matt 3:9). Robert L. Millet espouses this when he writes, “Paul’s message to those who took pride and license in their lineage was clear. He declared boldly that it is a blessed privilege to be a chosen people, to be heirs to the adoption, the glory, the covenants, and the promises (Romans 9:4). But the true heirship is to be secured through adoption into the family of the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10:12-13).” (Robert L. Millet; “Walking in Newness of Life: Doctrinal Themes of the Apostle Paul;” “23rd Annual Sydney B. Sperry Symposium;” pg. 146-147; 1994).

Abraham, being the ‘father of the faithful,’ was the first to recognize that there was but one God in the universe in whom all things come together (See Josephus; “Antiquities 1:7:1-2;” trans. Whiston). Because of this recognition in the face of the idolatry surrounding him Abram/Abraham was given the blessing of having his seed be that through which the Lord and Savior of mankind should come (Gal. 3:16, 18; Hebrews 11:8-16).