The Temple Rulers in Jerusalem Were Wickedly Steeped in The Occult

The Lord Visits Ezekiel

Ezekiel 8:1-2

¹And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me.  ²Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal (ASV, 1901).

As Ezekiel relates the events speaking in the first person he says that on the 17^th of September 592 B.C., which was more than a year after he had received his call into the prophetic ministry, God visited him again with a new series of visions. Ezekiel was at home in Tel-abib and elders of Judah, who were the leaders of the community in exile, were with him. They frequently met with Ezekiel regarding the affairs of the nation Israel and events transgressing back in Jerusalem. With this new set of visions we see a new section of the book. The visions in chapters three – seven spoke directly against Judah and Israel. In this section from chapter eight to eleven God directs His attention toward Jerusalem and the remnant under King Zedekiah. Those with Ezekiel might have been looking forward to an early release from captivity and a return to Jerusalem. Now they are told that the people in Jerusalem both king and Temple magistrates have grievously persisted in their sins. In fact the religious leaders were committing worse sins than Ezekiel had ever imagined before. God will supernaturally transport Ezekiel’s spirit with Him to Jerusalem to witness the actual abominations being carried out by those responsible for connecting the people to their God. They had become wicked and were leading the people astray away from God. Israel’s major spiritual decline began with the construction of temples to pagan gods on the sacred temple mount area during Solomon’s reign. Solomon married many pagan wives and allowed each who wished to do so to build a temple and altar to her god (I Kings 11:1–8). This spiritual deterioration led to a resurrection of Baal worship (I Kings 16:31–34; 17:1–17) and resulted in the division of the nation into northern and southern kingdoms at the death of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41–12:33). When the leader of a country endorses paganism it flourishes.

Ezekiel is suddenly spiritized or led into a supernatural spiritual state by the Lord God of the universe. This is a reappearance of the same vision relative to the Shekinah Glory he saw in chapter one verses 26-28. Only he saw these vivid visions. The elders did not see them but Ezekiel would later relate the experience to them (11:24b).

He had the appearance of a man. The Hebrew text designates the color of the fire and the metal like object as chashmal (great purity and clarity). The chashmal seems to be divided at the waist of God on His Throne. Fire seems to begin at the waist and extend upward and downward in both directions simultaneously. The brightness he saw extended all around Him. Daniel and John had a similar visions and experiences (Daniel 10:5-6; Revelation 1:13-15).

Ezekiel is Taken

Ezekiel 8:3-4

 ³And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. ⁴And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain (ASV, 1901).

Jehovah then took Ezekiel as it were by the hair indicating a strong urgent desire by God. He wanted to get Ezekiel’s attention and to impart the seriousness of the events He wanted Ezekiel to witness. God spiritually lifted him to a sense of spiritualization (between earth and heaven) wherein he was fully conscious and aware but seeing Jerusalem. This same transportation will be recorded in the fortieth chapter when God carries him again to Jerusalem to see the details of the Messianic Temple. It will be a much more positive experience.

                           

Ezekiel is taken to the door of the North Gate of the inner court where the leaders of Israel had set up an image, to provoke God to jealousy. The north gate was one of three gates that opened from the outer court to the inner court. The other two were located on the east and south sides. Since Ezekiel was at the “entrance” to the north gate, he was probably positioned in the outer court looking south toward the inner court. This is where he was in the presence of the Lord God of Israel who would give him a tour of the abominations of the Temple leaders of Israel. The leaders of Israel provoked God to jealousy intentionally, which caused pain to the Lord because they wanted to test Him.  Knowing He is a jealous God from their scriptures they also knew the outcome of such provocations. They were led by the evil one Satan and could not fully comprehend the finality or certainty of the outcome of such abdominal behavior. Since there was temporal ecstasy associated with idol worship such as sexual experiences they were deceived into thinking that God would not see them. This is the level of deception that Satan is able to bring on one who is not steeped in continual connection with God. Satan creeps in and leads one away from the truth with doubt.

Exodus 20:4-5

⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: ⁵thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me (ASV, 1901).

This is an idol of Babylonian origin, which Isaiah describes as the “Customs from the east”

Isaiah 2:5-8 

⁵O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah. ⁶For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. ⁷And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. ⁸Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made (ASV, 1901).

Ezekiel Sees The Image

Ezekiel 8:5-6

⁵Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. ⁶And he said unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But thou shalt again see yet other great abominations (ASV, 1901).

God now directs Ezekiel’s attention to the gate, which opens to the north where he sees the image of jealousy in the entry. God tells Ezekiel to look at what they do, not just the image that they had set up. God sees everything but the elders did not think God in their satanic deception would see what they were doing (v. 12). While his body remained in Babylon Ezekiel’s very lucid spirit saw the first of four forms of apostate worship. This image of jealousy was not given a physical description but was positioned at the north gate to the inner court. Hezekiah’s evil son Manasseh set up an idol as described in II Kings 21:7 & II Chronicles 33:7, 15 (cir. 650 B.C.). Prior to him idol worship was carried out in secret as the Jews married into the Canaanite families. But with Manasseh it was carried out in the open flagrantly. Approximately twelve years later good king Josiah purged Judah and Jerusalem of these things upon notification of the righteous scribe Shaphan who read the Law of Moses to Josiah (II Chronicles 34). After Josiah died in battle the evil idolaters reversed his reforms (II Chronicles 36:5, 9; Jeremiah 3:10). This is probably the idol restored after Josiah’s death. There was a history of setting up unlawful images and altars in the temple precincts under various circumstances (II Kings. 16:10–16; 21:4–7, etc.). This was probably some type votive altar and image of Asherah, “the queen of heaven.” This was a cult, which was widespread in Jerusalem at that time and associated with Babylonian occultic worship (Jeremiah 7:17–18).

They had turned so far away from God and were so flagrant with it that we can see that their hearts had gotten away from God because they erected the image of jealousy in open sight at the very gate through which men approached God. What caused God the most anger and pain was the beast worship they carried out as He said, “seest thou what they do?”  There was certainly a sexually immoral component to this beast worship because they had to derive some ecstatic pleasure from this to continue doing it. It is sick and forbidden in the Bible (Leviticus 18:6-29). God is saying that what they do here is designed to cause Him to go far off from my sanctuary. They wanted God and His moral order of the Universe to leave them alone so they could conduct their abdominal behavior without any reminder that what they were doing was wrong. God ends this section of scripture by saying to Ezekiel, “But thou shalt again see yet other great abominations.”

 God Takes Ezekiel to The Inner Court North Door

Ezekiel 8:7-13

⁷And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. ⁹And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. ¹⁰So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. ¹¹And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. ¹²Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? for they say, Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land. ¹³He said also unto me, Thou shalt again see yet other great abominations, which they do (ASV, 1901).

Now Ezekiel sees the door to the court and is told to dig in the wall to see a concealed door. He then is commanded to go in to the inner court where he sees the despicable practices that the Jewish religious leaders are performing even more so than outside the door. This was a pantheon of idolatry. He saw beasts being worshipped. There were pictures on the walls of all sorts of reptiles and other abdominal beasts as well as the idols of the people of Israel. He also saw the seventy elders worshipping these images with incense censers in their hands. This was probably the worshipping of the animal cults of Egypt (Romans 1:23). Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, is singled out for mention. Shaphan was the scribe, who received from the high priest, Hilkiah, the book of the law, and who read it before King Josiah (II Kings 22:8–11; Jeremiah 39:14). The son of this God-fearing man was the leader of the animal-worshippers. It was an evidence of the great apostasy, which had engulfed the nation. And these depraved men said: “Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land.” They denied His omniscience and omnipresence. The apostasy in Christianity is going the same way. God again concluded this section of scripture saying, “Thou shalt again see yet other great abominations which they do.” There is much more to come.

Worshipping Tammuz

Ezekiel 8:14-15

¹⁴Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah’s house, which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these (ASV, 1901).

Ezekiel saw women weeping for Tammuz originally a Babylonian cultic figure.

In Genesis chapter ten is an introduction to a man named Nimrod. He was the sixth son born of Cush. His name in Hebrew means to rebel. He was the founder of Babylon and Assyria. He is mentioned in I Chronicles 1: 10, Micah 5: 6 and in Genesis 10: 8b-9. The Hebrew text states that he was a mighty hunter before (Hebrew against) the Lord. This is indicative of his antagonism and opposition to God. He was wicked and made the whole world rebel through the building of the Tower of Babel. He was the first to establish kingdoms. This happened in two stages. The first is in Shinar, which included Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh. The second kingdom is Assyria called the land of Nimrod in Micah 5: 6. After the language was separated in confused by God it drove him to Assyria from Babylon. The two have been intertwined since then.

The Cultic Background

Tradition suggests that Nimrod died a violent death. One tradition says that a wild animal killed him. Another says that Shem killed him because he had led the people into the worship of Baal.

According to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian traditions, his mother was Semiramis; sometimes Semiramis is referred to as the mother of Nimrod, and sometimes as his wife, leading to the belief that Nimrod married his mother. Also according to these traditions, Semiramis, who rose to greatness as the "Queen of Heaven" because of her son, was presented with a difficulty when her son died, so instead she pronounced him to be a god, so that she herself would become a goddess.

Even though Semiramis claimed to be a virgin she had another son, named Tammuz, whom she said was the reincarnation of Nimrod. She became known as the "Virgin Mother", "Holy Mother" and the "Queen of Heaven" and was symbolized by the Moon (Symbol of Islam). So began the worship of Semiramis and the child-god, and the whole paraphernalia of the Babylonian religious system.

From various ancient sources, it seems that Nimrod’s wife/mother; Semiramis was high priestess of the Babel religion and the founder of all mystery religions as well as goddess. After the tower was destroyed, the languages confused and the people scattered she was worshiped as a goddess under many different names. She became Ishtar of Syria, Astarte of Phoenicia, Isis of Egypt, Aphrodite of Greece, and Venus of Rome—in each case the deity of sexual love and fertility. Her son Tammuz also came to be deified under various names and was the consort of Ishtar and god of the underworld.

According to the cult of Ishtar, Tammuz was conceived by a sunbeam, a counterfeit version of Jesus’ virgin birth. Tammuz corresponded to Baal in Phoenicia, Osiris in Egypt, Eros in Greece, and Cupid in Rome. In every case, the worship of those gods and goddesses was associated with sexual immorality. The celebration of Lent, which has no basis in Scripture, began from the pagan celebration of Semiramis’, mourning for forty days over the death of Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) before his alleged resurrection. This is another of Satan’s mythical counterfeits.

After the decline of Babylon, their priests fled to Egypt and transported their religion with them. There the people worshipped Isis and her son Osiris (otherwise known as Horus). The same mother and child deities appeared in Greece as Ceres, the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast, or as Irene, the goddess of Peace, with the boy Plutus in her arms and in Pagan Rome as Fortuna and Jupiter. Other cultures embraced this concept such as Cyprian and Indian. This is the classic mother child worship we see in the contemporary Roman church too. God again ends this section of scripture by saying to Ezekiel, “But thou shalt again see yet other great abominations.”  He is saying to Ezekiel, “there is more evil to come.” In all of these mother child cults the child never grows to adulthood. This is true of the Madonna and Child, which became Mariolatry in the Middle Ages.

God Always Punishes Sin. Is It Too Late For America?

In this passage of Scripture God Tells the Jews through the prophet Ezekiel that He has had enough of their sins. He goes on to tell them that doom is coming upon Jerusalem and all the land of Israel. Seeing how God only tolerates sin in a nation for so long before He brings judgment, we must ask: Can America's judgment be coming soon? 

Ezekiel Told To Alert The Idolaters to What is Coming

Ezekiel 6:11

¹¹Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence (ASV, 1901).

Now the Lord commands Ezekiel to proceed with His judgment upon Israel with a strong gesture to alert them to what is coming. He says to Ezekiel, “Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot,”         which is a known way to alert others for mourning or rejoicing. In Hebrew it is better translated as “Pound with your hand and stamp with your foot”. Smiting (clapping) hands together, was a sign of rejoicing (2 Kings 11:12; Psalms 98:8) or mockery (Job 27:23; Lamentations 2:15; Ezekiel 21:14, 17; 22:13; 25:6, “clapped your hands”; Nahum 3:19). The phrase here was a symbol of contemptuous ridicule ending the idolatry (cf. Ezekiel 25:6). The clapping of the hands was also a custom of the paid Jewish mourners. Stamping ones foot is also a common symbol for ending some undesirable activity by the person with authority. One says, “he put his foot down over that activity, essentially ending it.” This illustration punctuates and sets the tone for the admonition what follows. God now tells Ezekiel that the decision has been made in the divine councils and now “they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”  There is no turning back and no repentance will be effective. The decision to carry out God's vengeance has been made. This seems to be true of America. We don't turn from sin, we nationalize it.

Who Will Die of What Means?

Ezekiel 6:12

¹²He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath upon them (ASV, 1901).

God in His earnestness of following through on what He has prophecied through Ezekiel make a decree. The three judgments, sword, famine, and pestilence, are divided between those far off, nearby, and any who are left. The swords of the Babylonian army will get many after they starved the city through a blockade. Pestilence always follows war. With no food and war wounds disease follows. Obviously, this judgment includes everybody. There was now no way for the people to escape the wrath of God when they continued their wicked practices after sufficient warning. It would only be when these judgments overwhelmed them that they would realize the extent of their depravity and God’s holiness. This might have been an irksome task for Ezekiel to keep repeating these warnings. The constant flow of warnings to the Jews left them without excuse for the results of their abdominal practices.

The Realization Will Come to Israel

Ezekiel 6:13-14

¹³And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered sweet savor to all their idols. ¹⁴And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Jehovah (ASV, 1901).

God now clearly states that the entire nation will know who God is when they see all the dead among the idols surrounding the pagan altars. This is His Royal Seal of the events to be conducted very soon. The place of their death will be exactly where they offered incense and their adoration to the idols. God is using the place where they worshipped in abominable adoration to the Canaanite occultic gods to be the death ground for the Jews. The desolation will extend from the southern wilderness (around Beersheba) to Riblah, near the northern border of modern Lebanon. Riblah was where Zedekiah the king was captured fleeing. He was captured by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, and there his eyes were blinded after his children were killed (2 Kings 25:5, 7; Jeremiah 39:6–7; 52:8–11, 26–27). Riblah is a city on the Orontes River in Syria. The text says Diblah. There is no mention of a city named Diblah in Judah. However, it is probably meant to be Riblah due to the similarities of the Hebrew letter for R is resh (ר) and D is dalet (ד). A Scribe could easily have copied these in error.

The Babylonian Invasion is Near

Ezekiel 7:1-4

¹ Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto the land of Israel, An end: the end is come upon the four corners of the land. ³Now is the end upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways; and I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. ⁴And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity; but I will bring thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah (ASV, 1901)

The frequency of the warnings seems to the modern reader as unnecessarily repetitious. However they were necessary to provide to all the certainty of the impending judgment of God upon the nation Israel. The pleas of the God had fallen on deaf ears. The people by and large did not care and even went so far as to characterize the true prophets as false because their message was contrary to how the people and their leaders wanted to behave. God is now saying that An end: the end is come upon the four corners of the land. No part of the land would be exempt. Interestingly God says that He will bring upon thee all thine abominations. He will no longer have pity upon Israel for her conduct and their repayment is now immanent. Israel was being repaid in a divine sense for the detestable practices she committed. God is going to repeat verses 3 and 4 in 8 & 9. In the midst of the judgment they will know that it is God who is doing this and also what it is they have done.

The Doom Will Come Upon The Land

Ezekiel 7:5-9

⁵Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An evil, an only evil; behold, it cometh. ⁶An end is come, the end is come; it awaketh against thee; behold, it cometh. ⁷Thy doom is come unto thee, O inhabitant of the land: the time is come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, upon the mountains. ⁸Now will I shortly pour out my wrath upon thee, and accomplish mine anger against thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways; and I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. ⁹And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring upon thee according to thy ways; and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, do smite (ASV, 1901).

Ezekiel is told to repeat what God is saying. God says, “An evil, an only evil; behold, it cometh. An end is come, the end is come; it awaketh against thee; behold, it cometh..” In saying this He means that what was about to come upon Jerusalem had no historical parallel. They had like so many today have a uniformitarian view of world events. Namely, the way things are today are as they have always been and always will be.  Many do not believe in divine judgment or that many of their activities constitute sin in God’s economy. The manner of the written warning is becoming more urgent as can see from the style of the Hebrew text. The Hebrew phrases are becoming short and choppy, and the words “coming” or “came” occur six times in verses 5–7. Ezekiel had been proclaiming, Disaster! A here-to-fore unknown disaster is coming. A sense of urgency is being conveyed. Sin had run its course and only judgment was left. There was no turning back now because God says,” Now will I shortly pour out my wrath upon thee, and accomplish mine anger against thee,” Because of the repetition of the warnings there is an element of monotonous tiring on God’s patience for the degree and volume of sins the Jews were committing against Him. Nearing the day of judgment there would be panic, not joy, upon the mountains. Those who had been leisurely practicing their idolatry on the high places (joyful shouting, upon the mountains) would be thrown into a state of apprehension when overtaken in judgment. Such is the case with the segments of the population that are without God’s Spirit living within them. During the coming Tribulation men will realize that it is God who is bringing the calamities on the earth and they will defy Him. After nearly half of mankind had been destroyed and much of the earth is ruined.

The Fourth & Fifth Bowl Judgments

Revelation 16: 8-9

⁸And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. ⁹And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory, ¹⁰ And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, ¹¹ And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds (KJV).

The fourth Trumpet judgment will destroy one-third of the light source causing a partial darkening of the earth. This judgment makes the sun hotter so that men on the earth are scorched with increased temperatures. Again those on the earth that have aligned themselves with the satanic government blaspheme God and do not repent of their sins. They will recognize that God is doing all this to them and still they will not repent. They have aligned themselves with the sins of the world and the satanic deception brought through the Antichrist. The people and especially the leaders of ancient Israel realized that the judgment coming upon them was from God and most did not care. They were in a sense blaspheming the name of God for their desired lifestyle was being interrupted and they did not like it. The fifth bowl judgment will result in the fourth blackout of the end times. The entire kingdom of the beast (Antichrist) will become dark. Only the refuge areas in the three Trans Jordanian nations where light will continue to exist. In addition to the darkness men receive a gnawing pain that causes them to blaspheme God all the more. There will be a thick darkness, which can be felt too. This parallels the plagues in Egypt (Exodus 10:21-23).

The Closeness of the Calamity

Ezekiel 7:10-13

¹⁰Behold, the day, behold, it cometh: thy doom is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. ¹¹Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness; none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth: neither shall there be eminency among them. ¹²The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. ¹³For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they be yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life (ASV, 1901).

God still assuring the nation Israel that the doom is a foregone conclusion uses imagery of a rod or a branch that has buds appearing indication the full bloom is near in time. Most view the rod as Nebuchadnezzar and the bud as how near he was to breaking through the walls of Jerusalem to get at the people. It was his pride that carried him to desire the earth as his domain to conquer. In verse eleven the rod becomes a symbol for the judgment, which will be used to flog, the disobedient people that is, a rod of wickedness.

God’s judgment would have a devastating effect on the economy. When it struck, none of the people would be left, none of that crowd.  Nothing of value would remain. Because of the Captivity, property and material possessions became worthless. All of the people’s personal possessions would become the property of the Babylonians. The property owners would be torn from their land and carried to Babylon. God through Ezekiel says, “let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.” The buyer who normally rejoiced over a good business deal should not be happy because he would not be able to possess the land he had purchased. And one forced to sell his land should not grieve because he would have lost it anyway. Normally according to the Mosaic Law when land was sold in Israel, the transaction was always temporary.

Every 50 years after seven Sabbaths, during the Year of Jubilee, the property reverted to its original owners (Leviticus 25:10, 13–17). However, God’s coming judgment would prevent original owners from reclaiming their properties; they would be in exile along with the buyers. In ancient Israel, land wasn’t sold in fee simple as we are used to. This is a permanent and absolute tenure of an estate in land with freedom to dispose of it at will. Since God was the real landowner, Israel was simply a tenant under conditions of obedience. When land was “sold,” what the buyer received was only the use of the land, not clear title. There were conditions under which a kinsman of the seller could “redeem” the land back to the original family such as we see in the book of Ruth. Here Boaz performs the role of the “Kinsman-redeemer.” By his intervention, the forfeited lands are returned to Naomi. All this is according to the temporary ownership of the land under the Mosaic Law. God is the actual landowner, the fee simple holder and can assign its temporary rights to anybody He decides to. In this case it is the Babylonians. In the twentieth century after being out of the land for 1878 years (since the Roman destruction of 70 AD) God exercised His rights under the fee simple ownership and restored the Jews to the land of Israel in 1948 on the eastern banks of the Mediterranean Sea.

No human effort could hinder God from accomplishing His plan in 586 B.C. Though they would call soldiers to battle by the trumpet, no one would go into battle. Jerusalem would try to defend herself, but she would fall with little resistance to a foe with God’s force behind him.

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