As It Was IN THE DAYS Of Jeremiah The Prophet,
So is it also today in THE MORAL standards of Israel,
Particularly In THE CONDUCT Of Governmental Officials,
But to fail to acknowledge that U.S. politicians are Worse,
Would indicate a justifiable prejudice on my part for Gentiles!
We don’t have Temple Priests, Jewish Prophets or Kings in our Society,
But we have Jewish & Gentile Rulers, Religious Men, and Immoral People,
Such that the words of Jeremiah, Psalms, & Paul seem to fit as well Today!
July 18, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS WITH ISRAEL IN THE DAYS OF JEREMIAH!
Jeremiah 5:25-31 – Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. [26] For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. [27] As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. [28] They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. [29] Shall I not visit for these things
? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? [30] A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; [31] THE PROPHETS PROPHESY FALSELY, AND THE PRIESTS BEAR RULE BY THEIR MEANS; AND MY PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE IT SO: AND WHAT WILL YE DO IN THE END THEREOF?
THIS IS THE WAY IT IS IN THE WORLD IN THE DAYS WHEN YOU LIVE!
I Timothy 4:1,2 – Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
II Timothy 3:1-4 – This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, [3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, [4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
THIS IS WHAT GOD WILL SOON DO ABOUT THE WAY IT IS!
Psalm 2:1-12 – Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? [2] The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, [3] Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
[4] He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
[5] Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. [6] Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. [7] I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. [8] Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts
of the earth for thy possession.
[9] Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. [10] Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. [11] Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. [12] Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are ALL THEY THAT PUT THEIR TRUST IN HIM?
Luke 21:25-28 – And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; [26] Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. [27] And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
[28] And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
ARE YOU SEALED TO THE DAY OF REDEMPTION BY TRUST IN HIM?
Ephesians 1:12-14 – That WE should be to the praise of his glory, WHO FIRST TRUSTED in Christ. [13] In whom YE ALSO TRUSTED, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, [14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance UNTIL THE REDEMPTION of the PURCHASED possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 4:30-32 – [30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, WHEREBY YE ARE SEALED UNTO THE DAY OF REDEMPTION. [31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: [32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Begin Excerpt from Jerusalem Post
Tradition Today: Prophetic truth
July 16, 2009
Reuven Hammer , THE JERUSALEM POST
What caused the destruction of the first Temple in 586 BCE and of the Second Temple in 70 CE?
A historian will give you a clear answer: the folly of try ing to stand up aga
inst the greatest powers in the world at that time – first the Babylonians and then the Romans. But the prophets and the sages, who are more interested in theology than in history, might give you a different answer, one that is encapsulated in the phrase in our prayers “because of our sins we were exiled from our land.”
True, Jeremiah, the prophet who lived before, during and after the first exile, warned against becoming entangled in the rivalry between the great powers, Egypt and Babylonia, and later counseled submission to Babylon, thus earning himself the title of traitor. But basically he saw the event as the punishment brought by God for sinning against Him.
Jeremiah’s attitude was largely based on the teachings of the Book of Deuteronomy, where Moses warns the people that “I know that, when I am dead, you will act wickedly and turn away from the path that I enjoined upon you, and that in time to come misfortune will befall you for having done evil in the sight of the Lord and vexed Him by your deeds” (Deuteronomy 31:29). This is spelled out in great detail in Parashat Ha’azinu (32:1-43) in which it is also said that the enemies who destroy Judah, even though they are permitted to do this because of her sins, will themselves be destroyed when God avenges “the blood of His servants” (32:43).
What were the sins that Jeremiah castigated? Forgetting God and going after idolatry is obviously the first one, as he says: “Yet My people have forgotten Me – days without number” (Jeremiah 2:32). But together with this is the fact that they have forgotten the ways that
God has commanded them to live, the ethical and moral precepts that are the very essence of God’s commands. That is, as Deuteronomy put it, they have “done evil.”
Jeremiah poignantly describes his search through the streets of Jerusalem for a man “who acts justly, who seeks integrity” (5:1) but there is none.
He especially castigates the wealthy who “set up a trap to catch men… their houses are full of guile… they will not judge the case of the orphan, nor give a hearing to the pleas of the needy” (5:26-28). Indeed he describes a society that does not deserve to exist, a society that is the very antithesis of the program set out in the Torah when it describes the “holy nation” that the people of Israel are to become.
In Chapter 7, surely one of the greatest in the books of the prophets and one of the finest speeches in world literature, Jeremiah stands at the gate of the Temple where the people have gathered in hypocritical worship, trusting that the presence of the Temple in their midst will guarantee
their safety, and tells them that sacrifices are no substitute for righteousness.
“Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and sacrifice to Baal…? Do you consider this house, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves?” (9-11).
It is not incidental that Jeremiah refers back here to the Ten Commandments, the very basis of the covenant between God and Israel. He specifically enumerates five that they have violated – 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, only one of which (2) refers to idolatry. The rest are concerned with relations between human beings. Indeed it is instructive to note that the majority of the rules of the Decalogue relate to ethical conduct. The first three have to do with belief in the one God. The fourth – Shabbat – is a combination of showing belief in God as the creator and granting a day of rest to all humans and animals. The next six all concern human relations.
How then are we to understand the prophetic attitude toward the destruction of Judea? To Jeremiah and to the sages who followed his lead, the people deserved to dwell in the land only so long as they followed God’s ways. And the ways that they emphasized were the concern for the poor and the upholding of human rights, the creation of a civil society in which people could live in peace.
I am reminded of the rabbinic statement, “Would that they would follow My ways even if they abandon Me” (Y. Hagiga 1:6). Even belief in God takes second place to ethical living. In our parlance, this would mean that a nation that does not uphold human decency, a society in which there is no law but the law of force and might, weakens its moral fabric to the extent that it cannot continue to exist. This is what happened to the Roman Empire, to the Axis powers and to the Soviet Union. Unfortunately there are today other governments that still exist but that should not. Perhaps they too will eventually fall under the burden of moral corruption.
In the meantime, even as we consider the tragedies of the past, it should be our concern to see to it that the Third Temple – the modern State of Israel, its government and we, its citizens – exemplify the ways of God and do not turn aside from the j ust and rightful path that the Torah has set out for
us.
The writer is the head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement and the author of several books, the most recent being Entering Torah.
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