Jerusalem

God’s Vineyard

Jesus used metaphors to help his disciples understand his spiritual qualities and also to grasp the meaning of parables that would otherwise be confusing to them. One of the central themes of Jesus’ teaching was bearing fruit. So that his disciples could understand how the process of bearing spiritual fruit worked, Jesus used the metaphor of a vine and branches to explain it. Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Jesus went on to say, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:6-8). Jesus’ use of the word abide was intended to convey the idea of remaining in or with someone, “i.e. to be and remain united with him, one with him in heart, mind, and will” (G3306).

Jesus’ parable of the wicked tenants focused on the broken relationship between God and the people of Israel. In this parable, the owner of a vineyard leased his land to tenants who were expected to give him the fruit that the vineyard produced in exchange for being allowed to live on his property. Jesus told the people listening to him:

“A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” 

The servants that Jesus referred to who came to get some of the fruit of the vineyard were the prophets of the Old Testament. In his final rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus blamed these religious leaders for the deaths of God’s servants. Jesus said:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah,whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:29-39)

Jesus’ remark about Jerusalem being the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it seems to suggest that the wicked tenants in Jesus’ parable were residents of Jerusalem. Rather than pointing an accusatory finger at all of Israel, Jesus singled out Jerusalem in his prophetic messages about the end times. Jesus warned his disciples, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near” (Luke 21:20).

Jesus concluded his parable of the wicked tenants with a citation from Psalm 118. Luke tells us that after Jesus told the people that the owner of the vineyard would come and destroy the tenants, “They said, ‘Surely not!’ But he looked directly at them and said, ‘What then is this that is written:

            “‘The stone that the builders rejected
                has become the cornerstone’?

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him”’” (Luke 20:16-18). The book of Daniel, which was written during the southern kingdom of Judah’s exile in Babylon, contains a dream that was interpreted by Daniel for King Nebuchadnezzar. In his dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a vision that dealt with four world empires. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. Then, the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:31-35).

Jesus’ conquest of the four world empires and restoration of God’s vineyard is outlined in the book of Revelation. We’re told in Revelation 21:1 that a new heaven and a new earth will replace the first heaven and the first earth. John went on to say, “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people’” (Revelation 21:2-3). The reference to Jerusalem being prepared as a bride adorned for her husband is related to the marriage supper of the Lamb that is described in Revelation 19:6-8. It says about the bride in Revelation 19:8, “’it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” The term saints is spoken of those who are purified and sanctified by the influences of the Spirit. “This is assumed of all who profess the Christian name” (G40). In his parable of the wicked tenants, Jesus said the owner of the vineyard would “come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Luke 20:15-16). According to John’s Revelation, Christians are the others that will be given God’s vineyard and will dwell with him throughout eternity in the New Jerusalem.

Turmoil

David’s defeat of the giant Goliath was a high point in his leadership of the nation of Israel. 1 Samuel 17:50-51 tells us, “David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of his sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.” Goliath was a powerful man, a warrior and a tyrant, who was considered to be the hero of the Philistines. When David killed Goliath, his stature rose above that of Goliath’s and he was celebrated among the people of Israel. Even though David was a youth and had only fought in a single battle, the women sang about him, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). 1 Samuel 18:8-9 goes on to say, “And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?’ And Saul eyed David from that day on.” Saul was aware that the kingdom of Israel had been taken from him and was told that it would be given to someone, “who is better than you” (1 Samuel 15:28). Saul may or may not have realized that David was going to be his successor, but it is clear from his reaction to the people’s celebration of David that Saul was jealous of him and afterward wanted to get rid of David.

David and Saul’s relationship started out on a positive note. David was selected to play music for Saul when he was tormented by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:14-18). 1 Samuel 16:21-22 states, “And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, ‘Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.’” The dramatic shift in Saul’s attitude toward David may have been a result of demon possession. 1 Samuel 18:10-11 tells us:

The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

The Hebrew word that is translated harmful in 1 Samuel 18:10, raʿ (rah) means “bad or (as noun) evil…The basic meaning of this word displays ten or more various shades of the meaning of evil according to its contextual usage. It means bad in a moral and ethical sense and is used to describe, along with good, the entire spectrum of good and evil; hence, it depicts evil in an absolute, negative sense, as when it describes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9; 3:5, 22)” (H7451).

The effect of Saul’s attack on David is recorded in Psalm 55. In this psalm, David expresses his deep distress over the situation and cries out to God for deliverance. David begins his prayer by stating:

Give ear to my prayer, O God,
    and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
Attend to me, and answer me;
    I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
because of the noise of the enemy,
    because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
    and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

My heart is in anguish within me;
    the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
I would hurry to find a shelter
    from the raging wind and tempest.” (Psalm 55:1-8)

David likened Saul’s raving to a storm, a “raging wind and tempest” (Psalm 55:8) and admitted that the terrors of death had fallen upon him, fear and trembling had taken root in his soul (Psalm 55:4-5). The contrast between David’s response to the giant Goliath and King Saul was likely due to the fact that Saul had been anointed King of Israel and was operating under God’s authority. David identified Saul as “a man my equal” (Psalm 55:13) and understood that the evil forces behind Saul’s attack were ordained by God (1 Samuel 18:10). David said:

For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
    then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend.
We used to take sweet counsel together;
    within God’s house we walked in the throng.
Let death steal over them;
    let them go down to Sheol alive;
    for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart. (Psalm 55:12-15)

David indicated that evil had made its home inside Saul. The Hebrew word that is translated heart in Psalm 55:15, qereb (kehˊ-reb) means “the nearest part, i.e. the centre…On many other occasions, however, the word is utilized abstractly to describe the inner being of a person. This place was regarded as the home of the heart from which the emotions spring (Psalm 39:3[4]; 55:4[5]; Lamentations 1:20). It was also viewed as the source of thoughts (Genesis 18:12; Psalm 62:4[5]; Jeremiah 9:8[7]), which are often deceitful, wicked, and full of cursing. Yet wisdom from God can reside there also (1 Kings 3:28). This inner being is also the seat of one’s moral disposition and thus one’s affections and desires…The Lord promised to place His law in the inner beings of His people Israel (Jeremiah 31:33; see also Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26, 27)” (H7130).

Jesus told many parables about the kingdom of heaven and at one point told the Pharisees who had asked him when the kingdom of God would come, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20-21). The phrase in the midst is translated within in the King James Version of the Bible and refers to something “inside” (G1787). Jesus’ declaration that the kingdom of God is inside you was likely related to his repeated focus on the condition of one’s heart. Jesus used the example of a tree’s fruit to explain that the heart is where our spiritual conduct originates. Jesus said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:33-37). Jesus went on to explain through the parable of the sower that the heart is where God’s word is processed and utilized by our spirits. Jesus said, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:18-19). The term sown was being used by Jesus metaphorically to represent the sowing of spiritual things in preaching and teaching (G4687). The fact that God’s word is sown or scattered around in the heart indicates that we are only responsible for what happens after it lands on us. We can decide to ignore what we’ve heard or contemplate and meditate on its meaning in our heart.

David’s attitude toward God is reflected in the psalms that he wrote and other psalms that were written during his reign. Psalm 42:1-4 states:

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.

The comparison of the soul’s thirst for God to a deer that pants for flowing streams is a fitting illustration of every person’s need for spiritual refreshment. In this passage, the psalmist expresses his need for an intimate connection with God. He uses the phrase pour out my soul to convey the idea of holding nothing back, being completely transparent about what is going on inside him. Conversing with his own inner being, the psalmist states:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42:5-6)

The term cast down signifies depression (H7817) and suggests that the psalmist has reached a low point in his struggle against despair. His question, “Why are you in turmoil within me?” (Psalm 42:5) indicates that the psalmist was experiencing a great deal of intrapersonal conflict. The Hebrew word that is translated turmoil, hamah (haw-mawˊ) means “to make a loud sound; by implication to be in great commotion or tumult” (H1993), conveying the notion of disturbing the peace. The psalmist continued:

I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:9-10)

The psalmist refers to God as his rock and yet, asks the question, “Why have you forgotten me?” (Psalm 42:9), suggesting that God had stopped paying attention to what was going on in his life. The rhetorical question, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:10) implies that the psalmist was being taunted because of his faith. As the conflict between David and Saul heated up, it seemed that God’s protection of David had been removed and that he was being left at the mercy of a ruthless killer. 1 Samuel 19:1-12 states:

And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.

And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.

David’s sudden bolt through the window was likely the result of a fight or flight response to Saul’s repeated attempts to kill him. There is no indication that the LORD ever told David that he needed to run for his life. It appears that David was reacting to the situation rather than trusting God for his safety.

David’s soul was affected by what was happening to him and it caused him to react in a way that seemed to be contrary to his personality. David was known as a man of valor (1 Samuel 16:18), and he had conquered the 9 foot giant Goliath with seemingly little effort on his part, but Saul’s raving and his repeated attempts to pin David to the wall brought the terrors of death upon him (Psalm 55:4). David exclaimed:

But I call to God,
    and the Lord will save me.
Evening and morning and at noon
    I utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice. (Psalm 55:16-17)

David used the Hebrew word hamah, which is translated moan in this verse, to describe his communication with God. David didn’t try to hide the turmoil that was going on inside of him, but instead, he expressed the agony that his soul was experiencing in an open and honest way.

Jesus understood the agony of the human soul. It says in Mark’s gospel that when Jesus took his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane to pray the night before his crucifixion, he “began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death’” (Mark 14:32-34). The soul is “that immaterial part of man held in common with animals. One’s understanding of this word’s relationship to related terms is contingent upon his position regarding biblical anthropology. Dichotomists view man as consisting of two parts (or substances), material and immaterial, with spirit and soul denoting the immaterial and bearing only a functional and not a metaphysical difference. Trichotomists also view man as consisting of two parts (or substances), but with spirit and soul representing in some contexts a real subdivision of the immaterial. This latter view is here adopted.” The soul “belongs to the lower region of man’s being…However, animals are not said to possess a spirit; this is only in man, giving him the ability to communicate with God” (H5590). In his distress, Mark tells us, Jesus “fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:35-36). The issue that was troubling Jesus was his betrayal into the hands of sinners (Mark 14:41). Jesus referred to Judas Iscariot, one of his twelve apostles, as “the betrayer” (Mark 14:44). The Greek word that is translated betrayer, paradidomi (par-ad-idˊ-o-mee) is derived from the words para (par-ahˊ) which means near or “at (or in) the vicinity of” and didomi (didˊ-o-mee) which means “to give.” The idea that these words convey is that of a convenient transfer of custody. Judas, a member of Jesus’ inner circle, made it easy for the Jewish religious leaders to arrest him in private.

David’s conflict with Saul didn’t involve hand to hand combat, as was the case with the giant Goliath; and yet, David described his conflict as a battle. David said of God, “He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me” (Psalm 55:18). The many that David was referring to may have been Saul’s army, but it is more than likely that David was being attacked in his inner being by the turmoil of his own thoughts. David eventually came to the conclusion that God would stand by him because Saul had violated his covenant. David said:

My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
His speech was smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were drawn swords.

Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
    the righteous to be moved.

But you, O God, will cast them down
    into the pit of destruction;
men of blood and treachery
    shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you. (Psalm 55:20-23)

Trust, the safety and security that is felt when one can rely on someone or something else, was an important part of Jesus’ ministry on earth. In the Greek language, the words trust and hope are sometimes used interchangeably (G1679). Jesus told his disciples that they should believe in him (John 14:1). The Greek word that Jesus used, pisteuo (pist-yooˊ-o) “means not just to believe, but also to be persuaded of; and hence, to place confidence in, to trust, and signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon” (G4100). Pisteuo appears in John’s gospel more than 100 times and is used by Jesus eight times in John 3:10-21 to explain to Nicodemus the meaning of being born again or born of the Spirit. Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:14-18).

The psalmist’s statement, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5) was repeated at the end of Psalm 42 for emphasis and appears again at the end of Psalm 43. The purpose of this repetition was likely to drive home the point that turmoil can be a recurring problem that needs to be dealt with in a consistent manner whenever it crops up in our souls. The psalmist’s answer to the problem of turmoil was to “Hope in God” (Psalm 42:5, 11; Psalm 43:5). The Hebrew word that is translated hope, yachal (yaw-chalˊ) means “to wait; by implication to be patient” (H3176). The transition of leadership from Saul to David has been estimated to have taken as long as thirteen years. It is likely that David spent as much as a decade running from Saul before he was finally relieved of the constant threat on his life. This period of time, though marked with inner turmoil, was a time of great spiritual growth in David’s life. Shortly after he took the throne, David was able to conquer the city of Jerusalem. “The fortress Zion (2 Samuel 5:6, 7) was almost invulnerable, located as it was in the mountains of Judah. It was a strategic military site, centrally located between Judah in the south and the rest of Israel in the north. It also dominated the main trade routes in the area…Members of the nation of Israel had been living in the area, but the central fortress remained in the hands of a group of Amorite people called ‘Jebusites.’ After David captured the fortress, he began to rebuild and expand the city, making it the seat of his kingdom” (note on 2 Samuel 5:6-10).

Babylon

Israel’s connection with Babylon began long before the nation of Judah was taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:8-11). The people of Babylon were known as the Chaldees or Chaldeans. It’s noted in Acts 7:2-4 that Abraham came out of the land of the Chaldeans and was led by God to dwell in charan (khaw-rawn’) which eventually became the nation of Israel. God’s judgment of Babylon seems to be related to the effect its culture has had on his chosen people. The prophet Ezekiel’s parable of the adulterous sisters (aka Samaria and Jerusalem) indicated that the nations of Israel and Judah had committed whoredoms with Assyria and Egypt (Ezekiel 23:7-8) and lusted after the Chaldeans. Referring to the younger sister Aholibah who represented Jerusalem, Ezekiel prophesied, “Then I saw that she was defiled; both took the same way. But she increased her harlotry; she looked at men portrayed on the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, girded with belts around their waists, flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like captains, in the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity. As soon as her eyes saw them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ‘Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their immorality; so she was defiled by them, and alienated herself from them'” (Ezekiel 23:13-17, NKJV).

In his revelation of the end times, the Apostle John was shown “the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters: with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:1-2, NKJV). John stated, “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” Revelation 17:4-5, NKJV). The Greek word translated mystery, musterion (moos-tay’-ree-on) means “(to shut the mouth); a secret or mystery (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites)” (G3466). It could be that the actual identity of the harlot that John saw was Jerusalem because John was told, “the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18, NKJV). Earlier, John was told that the dead bodies of the two witnesses would “lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8).

The location of the harlot that John was shown in his vision of the future was the wilderness (Revelation 17:3). It says in Revelation 12:5-6 after the woman “bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron…Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” It could be that the harlot and the woman that bore the male child represent the same entity, Jerusalem. Therefore, the judgment of Babylon and Jerusalem are linked together by their adulterous relationship. When John saw the woman in the wilderness, she was sitting on a scarlet colored beast, “full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (Revelation 17:3). John was told, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. ‘Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast'” (Revelation 17:8-13, NKJV).

John’s vision of the woman sitting on the scarlet beast may have been intended to represent Jerusalem’s involvement in a political system that is run by Antichrist. It appears that Jerusalem will be betrayed and caused to suffer for her infidelity to God. John was told, “the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled” (Revelation 17:16-17, NKJV). Isaiah’s prophecy of God’s judgment for universal sin indicated that the entire world would be turned upside down (Isaiah 24:1) and the city of confusion broken down (Isaiah 24:10). The term “city of confusion” is probably a composite of all the cities opposed to God — such as Babylon, Tyre, Jerusalem and Rome” (note on Isaiah 24:10). John recorded, “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities…Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her” (Revelation 18:4-5, 8, NKJV).

An advantage

The chief priests and the Pharisees saw an advantage to having Jesus die for the Jewish nation (John 11:50). They may have thought they could turn the tide in their political future by demonstrating their loyalty to Rome. After they heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation…Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death” (John 11:47-48, 53). It was in the winter of A.D. 29 that Jesus was no longer able to “walk openly” among the Jews and had to retreat to a city near the wilderness (John 11:54). Although he knew his death was imminent, Jesus probably wanted to protect his disciples from what was going on in Jerusalem until it was his appointed time to die.

It seems logical that the Jews were ready to kill Jesus even before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. All the accounts of what happened showed there was an ongoing plot to kill Jesus long before he was arrested and put on trial. There was most likely a concerted effort to take Jesus into custody for at least a few weeks and possibly as much as two to three months. It says in John 11:57, “Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.” One of the things that was an advantage for Jesus during this time was that the people loved him and his miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was fresh in their minds. The only way the religious leaders were eventually able to capture Jesus was by turning one of his own disciples against him.

Collaboration

Nehemiah’s assignment to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem was something that he said, “my God had put in my heart to do” (Nehemiah 2:12). Initially, Nehemiah kept his mission a secret, perhaps because he thought there was a traitor among the Jews living in Jerusalem. It might have been that Nehemiah just wanted to get a first hand look at what needed to be done to secure the perimeter of the city before he shared his action plan. Nehemiah’s night inspection revealed that the wall had been completely destroyed. There was nothing left but rubble of the once magnificent structure that protected God’s people from enemy attacks. Immediately after he had gained the support of the people to start rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah was hit with opposition from what could be considered the local mafia or an organized crime syndicate. It says in Nehemiah 2:19-20:

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us: therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

The key to Nehemiah’s plan to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem was collaboration. Whether or not this idea came to him directly from God or was something that Nehemiah developed on his own was not clearly stated, but it seems likely that collaboration was God’s idea, not Nehemiah’s. Everyone in the city was expected to participate in the effort, including the priests, government officials, and even Nehemiah himself. Nehemiah gave out work assignments, making sure that every section of the wall had a leader assigned to it. The way Nehemiah described his plan, there were to be no gaps in building activity, everything was to be done simultaneously.

Throughout the third chapter of the book of Nehemiah the phrases “next unto him” and “after him” appear repeatedly. The picture that Nehemiah painted was an unbroken chain of people surrounding the city of Jerusalem, each person with an assigned task directly related to their own personal welfare and stake in the family’s inheritance of property. Included in Nehemiah’s plan was the restoration of ten of the twelve gates that controlled access into and out of the city. Beginning and ending with the sheep gate, Nehemiah laid out his work plan stating, “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they built the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel…After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith’s son unto the place of the Nethinims, and of the merchants, over against the gate of Miphkad, and to the going up of the corner. And between the going up of the corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants” (Nehemiah 3).

Two sisters

Jerusalem and Samaria were described as two adulterous sisters in a parable that was intended to portray the two cities as corrupt and tied to the past by their habitual idolatry. (Ezekiel 23). The origin of the adulterous sisters’ behavior was an early exposure to sexual misconduct in the land of Egypt. The Israelites lived in bondage in Egypt for 430 years. When they were finally delivered from bondage by Moses, they had to be taken out of the land almost by force. During the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land, the Israelites were continually reverting to old habits such as worshipping a golden calf (Exodus 32:4), and engaging in the fertility rites of Baal, the god of the Moabites (Numbers 25:1-2).

The parable of the adulterous sisters opened with a stark picture of violent sexual abuse. God said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: and they committed whoredoms in Egypt: they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity” (Ezekiel 23:2-3). The accusation of having committed whoredom was due to a voluntary and willful choice of a particular lifestyle that was contrary to God’s commandments. As God’s chosen people, the Israelites were forbidden to worship any god other than Jehovah. Even before Moses was given the Ten Commandments, it was clear to Abraham’s descendants that they were not to engage in idolatry. Circumcision was symbolic of God’s ownership rights to Abraham’s offspring, and a token of his entering into a covenant with each man individually (Genesis 17:10).

In the parable of the adulterous sisters, Jerusalem, capital of the nation of Judah, was designated as the younger sister, Aholibah, who followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Aholah, who represented Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel (Ezekiel 23:4). After the fall of Samaria, Jerusalem was expected to heed God’s warning and turn back to him, but instead, Jerusalem became even more corrupt than Samaria by defiling God’s holy temple. The result was alienation from God and isolation from his messengers, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

In the parable, Ezekiel was told, “And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she…She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men” (Ezekiel 23:11-12). Jerusalem’s reliance on military strength rather than God’s protection was evident when king Jehoiakim paid tribute or ransom money in order to receive protection from Pharaoh-nechoh of Egypt (2 Kings 23:35). In the end, king Hezekiah of Judah invited the Babylonians to view the treasures of his kingdom which were later taken by king Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 20:13; Ezekiel 23:16).

Jerusalem

Jerusalem was more than just a city. As the capital of Israel, it represented the ideal of what God’s kingdom was supposed to be like and was symbolic of a way of life that was consistent with God’s character. When God decided to destroy the city of Jerusalem, it must have been as a last resort. There was so much of Israel’s history linked to Jerusalem that its destruction would have been perceived as the end of much more than just a 50 mi² piece of land.

Ezekiel was instructed to deliver an indictment of Jerusalem as if the city were responsible for all the failures that had taken place within her walls (Ezekiel 22:2). Among the many crimes that were listed was oppressing strangers, as well as, violence against the fatherless and widows. Particular attention was paid to sexual crimes including incest and rape. God said of Jerusalem, “In thee have they discovered their father’s nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter” (Ezekiel 22:10-11).

Although the term culture is not used in the Bible, the idea of a collective mindset or way of life was evident in God’s judgment of Jerusalem and other cities such as Sodom and Nineveh. What appears to have been the problem with Jerusalem was it had become so corrupt there was no hope of reform. God said, “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:30). When God sought to destroy Sodom, Abraham interceded on behalf of his nephew Lot. God agreed that if there were but ten righteous men in the city of Sodom, he would not destroy it for their sake (Genesis 18:32).

The lack of an intercessor for Jerusalem meant that it would be left to God to determine the city’s fate. The grievous crimes that had been committed within Jerusalem made it impossible for God to look the other way. God’s displeasure with sin was just as much evident in his condemnation of Jerusalem as it was with other wicked cities, if not more so. God told Ezekiel, “Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 22:31).

The sisters

God’s anger toward the city of Jerusalem was not an isolated incident. Beginning with the flood that wiped out all life on earth (Genesis 7:21), God continually acted to rid the world of corrupt humans. Two cities in particular were singled out for their wicked behavior, Samaria and Sodom. God likened these cities to sisters that loathed their husbands and their children (Ezekiel 16:45). God said of Jerusalem, “And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand is Sodom and her daughters” (Ezekiel 16:46).

The characterization of these cities as sisters was meant to portray a similar behavior that was common to all, as if it was a family trait. What was the same about all of them was idolatry. It was said of Jerusalem, “Thus saith the Lord GOD: Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredom with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers…and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness” (Ezekiel 16:36-37).

The city referred to as Jerusalem’s elder sister (Ezekiel 16:46), Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Samaria was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Among the many wicked kings that ruled over the northern kingdom of Israel were king Jeroboam who made two calves of gold to be worshipped as gods, and Omri who established the capital of Samaria and instituted Baal worship there. Comparing Jerusalem to Samaria, God said, “Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways…Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hath justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done” (Ezekiel 16:47,51).

Sodom, a city that was destroyed when God rained brimstone and fire on it from heaven (Genesis 19:24), was described as haughty or proud. God said, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49). God said that Jerusalem had justified Samaria and Sodom because she was more wicked than they were. The Hebrew word translated justified in this instance is tsadeq (tsaw – dak´). “This word is used of man as regarded as having obtained deliverance from condemnation, and as being thus entitled to a certain inheritance” (6663).

Because Jerusalem was proven to be no better than Samaria and Sodom, these two cities would be restored to their former estate, just as Jerusalem would be in the future. In other words, when the Messiah came, he would not limit his ministry to the city of Jerusalem. God intended to extend his grace to the surrounding region, and eventually to the entire world. In spite of Jerusalem’s failure to meet God’s standards, God did not abandon his holy city. He said, Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant…That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 16:60,63).

The harlot

The city of Jerusalem was likened to a harlot or prostitute because of the idolatry that took place within her walls. God described Jerusalem as the child of prominent parents that was abandoned at birth, perhaps the result of a failed abortion. God said, “And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy naval wast not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born” (Ezekiel 16:4-5).

God’s claim to the city of Jerusalem was based on a covenant he likened to a marriage contract. He said, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness; yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine” (Ezekiel 16:8). God’s relationship with his people was dependent on a land that would belong to them throughout eternity. In order to fulfill his promise to Abraham, God selected Jerusalem as the home where he would dwell with his people.

God’s commitment to the city of Jerusalem was met when king David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel and Solomon built his temple there. It was only because Good had chosen Jerusalem beforehand that these things were able to take place. Like a bride on her wedding day, God said, “Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper as a kingdom” (Ezekiel 16:13).

The city of Jerusalem became attractive to foreign kings because of the wealth that flowed into her gates as a result of God’s blessing. Without fully realizing what he was doing, king Hezekiah invited dignitaries from Babylon to tour his capital. It says in 2 Kings 20:13, “And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.”

So that no one would be able to inhabit the city of Jerusalem besides his chosen people, God judged the land and caused it to become barren while his people went into exile. As if the land had committed adultery, God said of Jerusalem, “And in thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted with blood…Behold, therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way” (Ezekiel 16:27).

Recompense

In an attempt to prepare Ezekiel for the worst catastrophe that the Israelites would ever experience, God showed Ezekiel exactly what his motivation was for completely destroying the city of Jerusalem. As if to announce a death sentence on a guilty prisoner, Ezekiel was told, “thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy wages, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations” (Ezekiel 7:2-3).

The Hebrew word translated recompense in Ezekiel 7:3, nathan (naw – than´) means to give (5414). Nathan has a very broad context and can be used to convey many types of actions where there is a transfer of possessions. In a technical sense, nathan means to hand something over to someone in order to satisfy a debt or as payment for services rendered. “This word is used of ‘bringing reprisal’ upon someone or of ‘giving’ him what he deserves” as in the punishment for sins committed. The Apostle Paul taught in his message to the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Once again, Ezekiel was transported by the spirit to see with his own eyes the abominations taking place in Jerusalem. It says in Ezekiel 8:3, “And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lift me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.” The image of jealousy was most likely a statue of Asherah, the Canaanite goddess of fertility. The presence of this idol in the temple of God suggested that the Israelites were intentionally provoking God’s anger.

Along with the idols that were openly displayed, numerous objects were kept in the secret chambers of God’s temple. Ezekiel was asked, “Then he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?  for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth” (Ezekiel 8:12). The idea that God was limited in his awareness of what his people were doing came from a distorted view of his deity. Much like a man, God was expected to behave in ordinary ways and was thought to be temperamental and easily provoked.

One of the objectives God expected to accomplish by punishing his people was to restore their respect and reverence for his position. As the sovereign LORD of the universe, God could do whatever he pleased. In order to reestablish a proper relationship with his people, God chose to put an end to sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that the basis of salvation would not be confused with earning God’s favor. Once God punished his children, he would be free to move on with his plan of salvation, which included the provision for all to be saved by his grace.