Prophets Speak IV

   420. The prophet Jeremiah warned of the oncoming destruction by hostile empires, and he said sinful people would become "meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth" (Jer. 7:33 KJV). By "fowls" that would feast on the slain, Jeremiah undoubtedly meant vultures, because they feed on dead animals. The griffon is a huge vulture in the Holy Land, particularly in the mountainous areas. Although it is large and powerful, it never kills its own prey, and it will not feed on any animal that shows signs of life. It is a remarkably clean bird in its habits, bathing almost often as it finds water.

   421. The Babylonians came. They laid waste to the countryside and were on the verge of capturing Jerusalem just as Jeremiah had foretold. Yet on the eve of destruction, Jeremiah did a strange thing. He bought a piece of real estate, a field near his home village. He paid seventeen shekels of silver for it, had the deed signed, sealed, and witnessed, and then instructed Baruch to put the deed in a clay jar so that it could be preserved for a long time. For just as he believed that God would surely destroy the nation of Judah, Jeremiah also believed that God would build it up again. "Is there no balm in Gilead?" Jeremiah cried out and answered his own question by refusing to despair. God would not forsake his people, no matter how faithless they had been.

   422. Jeremiah is believed to be the author of the Book of Lamentations. In chapter three, the writer cries out:

               I am the man who has seen affliction,
                  by the rod of His wrath.
               He has driven me away and made me walk,
                  in darkness rather than light;
               indeed He has turned His hand against me,
                  again and again, all day long.
               He pierced my heart,
                  with arrows from His quiver.
               I became the laughingstock of all my people;
                  they mock me in song all day long.
               He has filled me with bitter herbs,
                  and sated me with gall.
                                              
                                                         verses 1-3, 13-15

   423. Origin of the term Jews. In the year 587 B.C. the Holy City lay in ruins, and its people were led off to captivity in Babylon after the armies King Nebuchadnezzar overran Judah and conquered Jerusalem. Their name changed to "Jews" (from the Hebrew Yehudi, which means "belonging to the tribe of Judah"). They kept alive their faith and their way of life during the years of exile.

   424. Habakkuk is thought to have been a prophet around the time of Jeremiah. He struggled with how God would want His people, despite how badly they were behaving, to come under the influence of an even more ungodly people-the Babylonians. God was faithful to His prophet and assured Habakkuk to trust Him for the answer.

   425. Ezekiel spoke knowingly about the land and its life. Scholars disputed for a long time about what animal he meant by "the great dragon" (Ezek. 29:3 KJV), until archaeologists excavated ancient Babylon and discovered the remains of an enormous gate that was ordered to be built by Nebuchadnezzar. The ruins of the Ishtar Gate showed decorations with rows of animal sculptures-at least 575 figures in all. One of the animals is a fantastic beast: the Sirrush or Dragon of Babylon.

   426. Why a dragon? No one knows for certain why the image of the Sirrush was placed on the gates, but Nebuchadnezzar ordered these words inscribed on it: "Fierce bulls and grim dragons I put and thus supplied the gates with overflowing rich splendor that all humanity may view it with wonderment." It is possible that these figures were intended to impress or even frighten the Medes and Persians. So although actual dragons never existed, sculptured figures of them must have been seen by Ezekiel during the exile in Babylon.

   427. The valley of dry bones was a graveyard to which the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to preach. As he did so Ezekiel watched the bones reattach to one another and come to life-an image of the spiritually dead nation of Israel coming back to life by the power of God's Word. This event, recorded in Ezekiel 37, is one of several strange visions of the prophet.

   428. The period of the exile in Babylon, lasting approximately from 586 to 538 B.C., deeply impacted Judaism and the Bible. Without the Temple in Jerusalem as the focal point of Yahweh worship, the Jews were forced to create a new form of communal ritual with the earliest beginnings of the synagogue as the center for prayer, Torah study, and teaching.


   429. The spirit of hope to return to Jerusalem and restore the Temple gave many exiled Jews a purpose. They began to look for a Messiah, a new leader or savior. However, only a minority of the Jews took advantage of the offer to return  to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem. Many of these people had lived in Babylon for two generations and intermarriage had become common.

  

  

  

To All The Kids Who Survived The 1940s, 50s, 60, and 70s!!!

   First, we survived being born to mothers who took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

   Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs with bright colored lead-based paints.

   We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

   As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

   Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

   We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

   We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

   We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid aid with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!!

   We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

   No one was able to reach us all day, and we were O.K.

   We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

   We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!!!

   We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

   We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

   We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. 

   We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!!!

   Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!!

   The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!!!

   When we did something we were not supposed to or got into trouble, we got spanked (by a hand, a hairbrush, or a belt) or even worse we got our legs "switched" with a branch from a special bush grown in the backyard and even had to go cut it ourselves before it was used on us. But we never thought of calling the police or Social Services to report our parents fo child abuse!!!

   These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!!!