evil

A troubled heart

One of the primary complaints God had against the Israelites when he sent them into exile was their lack of concern over the wicked state of their nation (Amos 8). The prophet Amos “used the illustration of a ‘sieve’ to show that God would sift out every evil thing that had been committed and not one deed would pass through this judgment. The people were proud of their sin (Amos 9:10), but what they did not realize was that God would ultimately judge them for all their sin” (note on Amos 9:9, 10).

God wanted his people to see things the way he did, and he went to great lengths to change the people of Israel’s attitude toward the worship of idols. After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, there was no doubt that God was judging his people and he would no longer tolerate the wicked behavior that was common among the Jews that were taken into captivity.

The book of Ezra tells us that the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia in 538 B.C. and he made a proclamation that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple, “that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled” (Ezra 1:1-2). Almost 100 years later, we find in the book of Nehemiah that things weren’t going well for those who had returned to Jerusalem. Nehemiah 1:1-3 says, “Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.’”

We do not think much about city walls these days, and so the news Nehemiah heard about the sad state of Jerusalem’s walls may not seem like a big deal to us. But actually, a city’s walls were arguably more important than its army. Without walls, a city would be at the mercy of whatever band of marauders came through. It could not control itself. Jerusalem was in such a state. Nehemiah heard about it, was moved, and immediately turned to prayer. His first act was to go to God, who is sovereign over all the empires that might descend upon Jerusalem. (A Godly Leader Prays, The Spiritual Growth Bible, p. 453)

Nehemiah’s godly leadership was the by-product of a troubled heart. It says in Nehemiah 1:4 when he heard Hanani’s report, Nehemiah sat down and wept and mourned for days. Nehemiah fasted and prayed until he felt equipped to communicate what was really troubling him and was able to effectively seek God’s help.

Nehemiah’s prayer (Nehemiah 1:5-11) shows us that what was really troubling him was that the Jews had ruined God’s reputation by being unfaithful to him. Nehemiah realized that his sin along with everyone else’s reflected poorly on God (Nehemiah 1:7, 10). Nehemiah’s “godly character is seen in how, on hearing of Jerusalem’s troubles, he gave himself to four months (1:1; 2:1) of mourning, fasting, and praying (1:4) for a city that he had never seen. When the king finally saw that there was something on Nehemiah’s heart, he not only inquired about the problem but took steps to enable Nehemiah to fix it—a reflection on how the king trusted Nehemiah and how Nehemiah’s life of service to that point was about to bear fruit (2:1-8)” (Nehemiah, The Spiritual Growth Bible, p. 454).

Nehemiah’s condition was described by King Artaxerxes as “sadness of the heart” and the king asked Nehemiah, “Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not sick?” (Nehemiah 2:2). The words that are translated sadness, rôaʻ (roˊ-ah) and sad, raʻ (rah) come from the same root word raʻaʻ (raw-ahˊ) which means “to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)” and in a figurative sense, “to make (or be) good for nothing” (H7489). Nehemiah’s face reflected the condition of Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s walls were broken down, and the city was good for nothing without them. This troubled Nehemiah so much that his heart was breaking for God’s people.

The condition of Nehemiah’s heart and his persistent prayer and fasting prompted God to respond and intervene on his behalf. King Artaxerxes not only gave Nehemiah permission to return to Jerusalem but also provided him with the resources he needed to solve the people’s problem (Nehemiah 2:1-8). After Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he faced much opposition from enemies (Nehemiah 2:19; 4:1-3, 7-8, 11; 6:1-2, 4-7), but Nehemiah continued to cry out to God for help (Nehemiah 4:4-5, 9; 6:14) and the wall was miraculously rebuilt in just fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15).

Choosing

Jeremiah’s vision of the figs illustrated God’s natural inclination to choose good rather than evil. Choice is an important theme in the Old Testament of the Bible, especially in connection with living in the Promised Land. Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, Moses presented the people with a choice that they needed to make. He said, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Before he died, Joshua reiterated the choice that each person had to make and emphasized the need to serve or worship the LORD instead of idols (Joshua 24:15). In spite of their promised to do so, the people of Israel and Judah were not faithful to God, but continually chose idolatry as a way of life. The tendency of man to choose evil rather than good was first demonstrated in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden. Even though God told them they would die if they ate it, “the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6).

In his vision, Jeremiah was shown two baskets of figs that were set before the  temple of the LORD as if they were an offering to God. Jeremiah recorded, “One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten they were so bad” (Jeremiah 24:2). Jeremiah’s reference to the second basket of figs as “naughty figs” was intended to portray the character rather than the condition of the people they represented. The Hebrew word translated naughty, ra‘ is a word that “combines together in one the wicked deed and its consequences” (7451). Ra‘ characterizes the ungodly man that has chosen a life of evil. “One of the most marked features of the ungodly man is that his course is an injury both to himself and every one around him.”

Jeremiah was told that the good figs had been chosen or set apart by God to fulfill his plan of salvation. Jeremiah declared:

Thus saith the LORD, the  God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive in Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. (Jeremiah 24:5-7)

In order to differentiate which of his people were the evil figs, God stated, “And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: and I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them” (Jeremiah 24:8-9). In 597 B.C., 3,023 Jews, the best of Judah’s leaders and craftsmen were taken captive by Nebuchadrezzar and they went into exile in Babylon. In 588 B.C., Nebuchadrezzar’s army attacked those who remained in Jerusalem. After a two year battle, the Babylonian army finally penetrated the walls of Jerusalem and the city fell to Nebuchadrezzar who completely destroyed it.