TIME OF EXILE

During this time the Babylonians also destroyed many of the surrounding cities. "A new city of Lachish had risen on the ruins of the city destroyed by [the Assyrian ruler] Sennacherib. In the gate house of the rebuilt city, the famous Lachish Letters were found. These letters consist of the correspondence between the commander of the city of Lachish and an unidentified Judean outpost at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Judah in 587 BCE. As the Babylonian army advanced through the region towards Lachish, the unknown commander of the outpost wrote to his superior at Lachish that "...we are watching for the signals of Lachish, according to all the indications which my lord gave, for we cannot see [the signal fire of] Azekah". This simple account by a minor officer to his superior is remarkable, since it confirms the biblical account of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. Jeremiah records that Azekah and Lachish were the last cities to fall to the Babylonians before they lay siege to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:7)."   http://www.bibarch.com/ArchaeologicalSites/Lachish.htm

& Read Jeremiah 1:9-10, 3:6-18

God determined Jeremiah would be his spokesman before his birth. Starting in the time of Josiah, Jeremiah warned the people of Judah of the impending crisis, pointing to the example of Israel over a century before. Israel was an adulteress, forsaking her true husband (the word is literally "baal" but here it refers to God as lord). However, the people of Judah were no better in their faithlessness. They rejected Jeremiah's message. Josiah's son, king Jehoiachim, threw Jeremiah's scroll in the fire when he read it (Jer. 36). Later Jeremiah was falsely accused and thrown in a pit filled with mud.

& Read Jeremiah 7:1-15

God told the prophet to warn the people that they should not place their trust in the temple. Jeremiah told them that their rituals of worship meant nothing to God if they did not repent of their sins and obey His commands. "Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house which bears my Name and say, 'We are safe' --safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house which bears my Name become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord" (9-11). Too many people today believe that simply going to church will keep them in a right relationship with God, while they continue to live self-centered lives, not caring for others and the higher goals of God's kingdom. Jeremiah's message rings true today as well.

& Read Jeremiah 20:7-18

Jeremiah complained about his duty as a bearer of bad news. He felt that God had tricked him. However, he also felt compelled to speak the words of the Lord. His emotions swing back and forth, from praising God to cursing the day he was born.

& Read Jeremiah 23:5-8; 25:11; 29:10; 31:31-34

Jeremiah told the people that the exile was God's punishment for their many sins. However, Jeremiah's message was not all gloom and doom. He also delivered a word of hope. God promised to bring his people back. The exile would last 70 years, then Judah would be allowed to return to the land. God would forgive them, provide a new king like David, a "branch" off the original root  of Jesse. He would establish a new covenant with his people and write his laws on their hearts.

In the NT, Jesus at the last supper declares that this new covenant would be fulfilled through his sacrifice: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). We now can have a new relationship with God because of Christ.

& Read Daniel 1-3, 5-6

Daniel was one of the Israelites taken into captivity during the early stages of the Babylonian campaign, about 605 BC. These stories record the remarkable faith that he and his companions demonstrated during this difficult time. In these circumstances, most people would assume that God had abandoned them, but Daniel remained loyal to his God.

His first test concerns eating food forbidden to the Jews by OT laws. Daniel and his friends keep the dietary laws and remain healthier than the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar is impressed and places them in his service. (The tablet on the left is one of the records of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.)

Next, Daniel interprets the king's strange dream of a statue made of different metals. This prophecy tells of four kingdoms. Gold stands for Babylon, silver represents the Medes, bronze the Persians, and iron the rule of Alexander the Great who spread Greek culture throughout the middle east in the 4th century BC. However, these powerful world empires eventually would fall, giving way to an everlasting kingdom, represented by the rock cut, not by human hands, from the mountain. Most Christians believe that this symbolizes the kingdom established by Christ, a spiritual empire rather than worldly, which will last forever. In ch. 7 (which you don't have to read) there is another vision of four beasts which represent these same four kingdoms.

This statue by Bernini (1650) shows Daniel praying in the den of lions.

Ch. 3 tells a remarkable tale of faithfulness. Daniel's three friends face the temptation of following the king's orders to worship an idol. When they refuse, they are placed at the door to a blazing furnace. Notice what they say to the king in vs. 16-18. They believe that God is able to deliver them from the flames, a strong statement of faith in God's power. But I believe what follows shows an even more amazing faith. They say, "Even if He does not, we will not worship another god." Many believers in Christian times have become martyrs for their faith, holding the hope of life everlasting. However, in the Old Testament there is little clear teaching about an afterlife. Unlike in the New Testament, there are few passages in the Old Testament which talk of resurrection or going to heaven after this life. As far as we can tell, these three men had no hope of a better life to come. Nevertheless, they chose to obey God simply because He is God. They did not say, if God helps us, we will obey. Instead, they did what was right because it was right, not because of hope of any reward or compensation in this life or the next. To me this is one of the most impressive examples of faith in the Bible.

One further note on this story: in v.25 the guards mention that they see a fourth figure who looks like a son of the gods. Some Christians will teach that this was Jesus protecting them, but that reads too much into the text. The text in v. 28 says that this was an angel.

Ch. 5: After Nebuchadnezzar died in 562, he was succeeded by Nabonidus according to Babylonian records. Belshazzar apparently was the crown prince who acted as king in his father's absence. (In 5:11, when the text calls Nebuchadnezzar his father, this actually means his royal predecessor, not his parent.) The Babylonians had raided the temple in Jerusalem and used the gold cups in their pagan feast. But these sacrilegious festivities would not last long. The finger of God writes a message of doom for Babylon, which Daniel interprets. That very night in 539 BC, the Persian armies snuck into the city and overthrew the empire of Babylon, as recorded in the Greek histories of Herodotus and Xenophon.

Finally, we come to the most famous of stories about Daniel in the lions' den. The text mentions Darius as the ruler of Persia but we know from other sources and other books in the OT that Cyrus was the Persian emperor at this time; see 6:28. One of my former Bible professors at Lipscomb believed that Darius might have been another name for Cyrus (as rulers often were known by many names); another idea is that Darius is the regional governor under Cyrus at this time.