319. THE JEWS IN EXILE
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept, when we remembered Zion"
The young man Daniel of the royal house of Judah was amongst those captives of the first deportation at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. Upon being interrupted in the pursuit of the Egyptians by the news of his father's death, Nebuchadnezzar hastily placed Jehoiakim under tribute, seized some Temple vessels and took a few hostages back to Babylon. Daniel was to be joined by many others in the following deportations, until David's throne was overturned and a 70 year captivity commenced, a severe and purging discipline upon Yahweh's rebellious people.
Our aim in this lesson is to see how that punishment purged and rekindled faith in the Jews in exile.
Daniel 1 & 3 BABYLON.
Babylon was viewed as "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency" (Isa. 13:19). Herodotus states that Babylon was surrounded by a wall of brick 26.7 metres wide and 107.7 metres high. On top of the walls were two rows of houses with a road between. The entrances to the city were through 100 gates of brass. The Euphrates divided the city into two parts which were joined in the middle by a bridge 9.2 metres wide. The King left on record the following, "I finished the great two-fold wall of Babylon. I made strong the city with bricks burnt hard as stones, and piled high in huge masses as mountains. Thus I made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last forever. Babylon the city which is the delight of my eyes which I have made glorious".
Idolatry permeated every stratum of Babylonian life. Hundreds of temples and altars catered for pilgrims and merchants alike. Temple authorities operated department stores, shopping centres, warehouses, banks and lending institutions. Thus an idolatrous materialistic environment confronted the Jewish captives. They felt a bitter sense of bereavement for their country and Temple. They wept as they remembered Zion (see Psa. 137). As they watched the arrival of more Jewish captives and the humiliation of their leaders, such as Zedekiah, they gradually repented of their nation's wickedness and shunned the idolatry of their captors. They were encouraged by the remarkable prophecies of Isaiah (ch. 13), and Jeremiah (ch. 51). The signs of Ezekiel and the faith and courage of Daniel and his companions strengthened their dependence upon Yahweh. They were chastened by this captivity and returned a vigorously monotheistic people.
The Jewish exiles were distributed into different settlements throughout Babylonia, where they formed small communities with a certain degree of organisation and freedom of worship (see also Jer. 29:4-7).
One such colony was at Tel-Abib (Ezek. 3:15), where the prophet-priest Ezekiel and his wife lived (24:18). They had been deported in the third group of exiles with Jehoiachin (1:2).
EZEKIEL: MAN OF SIGN.
Ezekiel endeavoured to show by word and sign that the Jewish exiles had to face up to the fact of a 70-year-long captivity. This was made all the more difficult by lies dreamed up by false prophets and their supporters, who claimed that Jerusalem would not fall and that those left in Jerusalem would not be removed (Ezek. 11:15; 33:24). Those already in captivity were excited about the notion of a speedy return (Ezek. 13:16, 19). A false prophet in Jerusalem, Hananiah, predicted that they would return in two years with the vessels of the Temple (Jer. 28). But the arrivals of more deportees, the death of Hananiah, the warnings of Jeremiah, the ministry of Ezekiel and the fall of Jerusalem soon abolished all hopes for an early return to their beloved city. It was Ezekiel's task to inculcate into their minds a repentant acknowledgement of their sins. The recurring statement of Ezekiel's prophecy is: "they shall know that I am the LORD". That realisation had to be driven home into the minds of the Jewish exiles.
We have the message of Ezekiel, together with the rest of Scripture, appealing to us to acknowledge Yahweh and place our confidence in His declared purpose to restore the throne of David under the administration of David's greater son.
DANIEL: PRINCE OF THE PROPHETS.
Another prophet who played an important role in the re-education of God's exiled people was Daniel, whose life was almost completely taken up in the preparation for the Return. Daniel is supposed to have been about 17 or 18 years of age when taken into the royal court of Nebuchadnezzar. He out-lived the 70 year captivity (Dan. 1:21) and therefore his long and faithful service is a very important contributing factor in the vastly improved spiritual condition of the returning Jews.
Presuming that Daniel was 17 when deported, then by back-dating we find that he was born about the year of Josiah's reformation (2 Chron. 34:8, 29-33) and therefore brought up in the environment of reform and zeal for Yahweh's covenants and law. Daniel's faith in his teenage years must have been largely attributable to this valuable early tuition. How important then is our remembrance of the Creator in the days of our youth when confronted with the distracting temptations of our times.
HEATHEN WISDOM JUDGED (Daniel 1).
Nebuchadnezzar's seizure of the Temple vessels and the young captives was an attempt to show the superiority of his god, Bel, over the God of Israel. He intended to seduce Daniel and his companions away from anything associated with Yahweh and to integrate them into the Babylonish culture, which was the most advanced of the then known world. The requirement was simple € CONFORM With their exceptional academic abilities they were asked to absorb and be proficient in the religions and sciences of the times. But there was the very real danger of assimilation into paganism, for Jeremiah warned that "it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols" (Jer. 50:38).
Daniel purposed that he would not in any way appear to countenance idolatry (v.8). He sought discreetly to prove the validity of his decision (v.12), for to flagrantly reject the King's provisions would only invoke wrath upon himself and his people. His faith was vindicated when his undefiled diet was proven to be more than satisfactory, and God gave him and his friends success in their studies far surpassing the other scholars.
Daniel's uncompromising stand on principle, plus discretion, received a ready response from Yahweh. We, too, are tested in the daily demands made upon our conscience and we are assured that if we acknowledge Yahweh in all our ways, He shall direct and prosper our paths (Prov. 3:1-7).
HEATHEN WORSHIP JUDGED (Daniel 3).
When Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and commanded his subjects to worship it or face the penalty of death, the three friends of Daniel (Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah) were placed in a difficult position. The natural reaction to the decree would be obedience out of respect to the King and Babylon's strength, and to forget any restraining influence of Israel's past. The attitude of these three Jews was, however, one of obedience to Yahweh's commands, despite their dislocation from the Temple and the Land. They did not believe in the perpetual existence of Babylon, the greatest metropolis on earth. To worship the image, which represented Babylon and its empire, was to worship the glory of the flesh.
Nebuchadnezzar had erected the image because of his desire for Babylon and himself to be glorified (see his attitude in Isa. 14:4, 13-16; Jer. 51:53). Babylon in his mind must live for ever. He therefore challenged the declared purpose of Yahweh as had graphically been revealed to him in the dream of Daniel 2. In the image of the dream, gold (representing the Babylonian empire) was only used for the head, for that empire would soon fall. But Nebuchadnezzar made the image of Daniel 3 entirely of gold.
In fact the original Babylonians exhibited the very same spirit in the building of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:2-4), only to be confounded by Yahweh.
COURAGE AND CONVICTION (Daniel 3:8-18).
The three Jews went to the dedication, submitting to the ordinance of the King to attend (cf. 1 Pet. 2:13-15). But, when commanded to worship the image, they obeyed God rather than man (Acts 5:29; Deut. 5:6-10). They stood out conspicuously as they refused to prostrate themselves before the flesh-glorifying idol. They were conscientious objectors. There are times when we too must not flinch from our convictions despite the reproach it may bring. Let us be emboldened in our faith by this example of courage in the face of adversity.
Their adversaries, showing the age-old spirit of anti-semitism, reported the refusal of the Jews to worship the image as an insult and an act of treason against the King and his gods (vv.8-12). Nebuchadnezzar was enraged. His sense of power and confidence in the flesh asserted itself and he challenged, not them, but their God. Blindly following the course of proud yet ignorant men such as Goliath, Rabshakeh and Sennacherib, he claimed, "who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" (v.15). In the face of an apparently invincible power they stood their ground, showing a tremendous courage in their convictions. Deliverance appeared to be very remote. Yet Daniel's friends were prepared to commit their lives unto Yahweh as unto a faithful Creator (see 1 Pet. 4:12-19). Theirs was more than a refusal, it was a forthright testimony, a fearless defence of THE faith.
MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE (Daniel 3:19-30).
The fire was heated seven times more than normal, thus signifying the full fury of Gentile opposition to God's people.
The three friends were flung into the fire, while those who manhandled them were themselves slain by the intense heat of the fire. "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of my eye", God had said. Their fate was typical of the fate of all who persecute God's people (cf. Joel 3:9-16). Israel at Armageddon will also be purged as by fire, for God has said that He "will bring the third part through the fire" (Zech. 13:9).
The three courageous friends were miraculously saved (w.24-27). But what astonished Nebuchadnezzar most was the appearance of another person, an angel, beside the captives. The angel (v.28) had "encamped round about them that fear Him and delivered them" (Psa. 34:7); God had showed Himself strong on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him (2 Chron. 16:9). Their faith had "quenched the violence of fire" (Heb. 11:34).
With such a dramatic sign of the supremacy of "the most high God", Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to acknowledge his folly and insignificance before Yahweh (w.26-30). He recognised that the Jews were servants of a greater Monarch than himself and that their faith had been rewarded despite his persecution. He therefore made a decree to be respected throughout his farflung empire, that the God of the Hebrews is to be honoured, "because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort" (v.30).
THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON AND ROME.
Babylon was suddenly brought to ruin in the midst of revelry and debauchery (Dan. 5). During a feast of Belshazzar, a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, a hand was seen writing on the wall. Daniel interpreted the writing that the kingdom was finished (vv.25-28), and that night Darius the Median marched into the city along the dried-up bed of the Euphrates and through the unlocked gates. Belshazzar was slain and the kingdom overthrown. It paid the penalty for its blasphemous destruction of David's throne. (Its contempt for the God of Israel was well epitomised by Belshazzar's use, on his last night of revelry, of the holy vessels brought from Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem many years before, vv.2-4).
The Roman Catholic system is called "Babylon the Great" and its iniquities have exceeded those of Babylon of old (Rev. 17:5). Therefore her future punishment is to be more extensive (Jer. 51:51-64).
Revelation 18 describes the violent overthrow of Rome because of her spiritual fornication, false doctrines, merchandise in the souls of men and ruthless persecution of the ecclesia. Rome will suffer the calamity of a great earthquake, both politically and physically. "Come out of her, my people" (v.4) is the call of separateness to the ecclesia in the times of Babylon, in the times of Rome and especially in our times.
LESSONS FOR US:
- The 70 year captivity chastened and purged the Jewish exiles. From a proud attitude of trusting in the arm of the flesh they were brought to a dependence upon Yahweh.
- The work of the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel encouraged the Jews to faithfully prepare for the Return.
- We should live as strangers, sojourners and pilgrims, prepared by the prophets for our "return" to Zion.
- We are disciplined by trials of our faith.
- We are encouraged by the Scriptures to maintain our separateness from the ungodly world about us and to look to the dramatic advent of the greater than Cyrus who shall destroy Rome and all opponents of God's people.
REFERENCE LIBRARY:
"The Story of the Bible" (H.P. Mansfield) € Vol. 6, Nos. 9-11
"The Apocalypse Epitomised" (H.P. Mansfield)
"Exposition of Daniel" (J. Thomas) € Section 1
"The Prophet Ezekiel" (W.H. Boulton)
PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS:
- What effect did the captivity in Babylon have upon the Jewish captives?
- Briefly outline the incidents when Daniel's three friends showed their faith in the God of Israel.
- Daniel's three friends refused to worship the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up. In what matters does this principle of conscientious objection to the "king's command" apply today?
- How does the Roman Catholic system compare with Babylon ? Comment on the fall of each.
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
1 What role did Ezekiel play with the Jewish exiles?
2. (a) What was the challenge that Daniel overcame, as recorded in Dan. 1?
(b) What similar challenges do we face today and how might we overcome them?
- Show how, through faith, Daniel's three friends "quenched the violence of fire" (Heb. 11:34).
- Describe some of the ways in which the captivity of the Jews in Babylon and Persia brought about a rebirth of faith in Uod.