Sermon Tone Analysis

The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.

Lord gave - ,; ; , , , ; ; ; ; ; ,;

Along with some of - ; ; ,

Shinar - ; ; ; -- Synonyms = Babel, Babylon, Shinar, Chaldean/Chaldea

He brought the vessels - ,; ,; ; ,; ; ; )

THE ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

Lord (Adonai)

(Septuagint = kurios [word study]) is the name for God indicating that He is the supreme Master.

The use of this name in this verse indicates that He is in complete control of removing kings (and kingdoms) and establishing kings (and kingdoms) (-note).

The fact that the Lord is in control is emphasized throughout the book of Daniel (eg, see ,; ).

But God is a God of great compassion and in the midst of His righteous wrath (the defeat and exile of Judah), remembering mercy (cp -note), "granting favor and compassion" () as well as "knowledge and intelligence" () to His chosen servants.

Related Resources:

Adonai - My Lord, My MasterStudy of Sovereignty - note verb reign!

God reigns!

(Note by Charles Bridges)The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.

We see the Sovereign Hand of God in the disciplinary action on Judah in a parallel passage...

He (Jehovah) brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans (Nebuchadnezzar) who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm;

He gave them all into his hand.

(,, , , )

Gleason Archer...the theme of God's absolute sovereignty is here implied.

It continues to dominate the entire Book of Daniel, along with the accompanying theme of God's unwavering purpose to bring his people back to repentance through disciplinary suffering, so equipping them spiritually for restoration to the Land of Promise.

The divine motive behind all this dreadful humiliation, suffering, and loss was redemptive and altogether in harmony with God's promises given to the generation of Moses (; ; cf. also ).

(Ibid)Nebuchadnezzar thought he conquered Judah with his military campaign and siege (), but Daniel records that the victory was given by the Lord, a truth all believers must continually keep in mind as they fight the good fight of faith.

As David wrote...Some boast in chariots, and some in horses (King Nebuchadnezzar trusted in his power), but we will boast in the name of the LORD (),

our God (by faith we lay hold of His supernatural power).

(-

note, cp , , , , -

note, , , , , ,

King Jehoshaphat = , , , , ,

David against Goliath = , , ,

Hezekiah = , )Judah refused to heed the warnings of her prophets or the fate of her idolatrous sister Israel and continued to practice idolatry.

Finally, God gave Judah into the hands of the land of idolatry!

If you continually pursue idols, beware, for God may just give you what you want!, is not only a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy to Hezekiah (alluded to above [see note] - , , ) but is also a fulfillment of a prophecy recorded by Moses (, , , ).

WHY WAS JUDAH

TAKEN INTO EXILE?

Through Jeremiah, Jehovah summarized Judah's sin declaring that...My people have committed two evils:

(#1) (the sin of "omission") They have forsaken Me , the fountain of living waters,

(#2) (the sin of "commission") to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

()

Comment:

In ancient Israel there were two major sources of water, running streams of fresh, clear and cool water and large pits called cisterns.

The landowners would dig cisterns to collect rainwater adding a coat of lime plaster in an attempt to insure the cistern would hold water.

However frequently cracks would develop and the water would leak out, not to mention that this water was brackish.

How sad that in a similar foolish way Israel abandoned Jehovah, the "fountain of living waters" (; ; ; , , ) to make for themselves powerless "gods" (cp where Hebrew word for "idols" = literally "something worthless", cp ; ; -note)!

In ancient Israel there were two major sources of water, running streams of fresh, clear and cool water and large pits called cisterns.

The landowners would dig cisterns to collect rainwater adding a coat of lime plaster in an attempt to insure the cistern would hold water.

However frequently cracks would develop and the water would leak out, not to mention that this water was brackish.

How sad that in a similar foolish way Israel abandoned Jehovah, the "fountain of living waters" (; ; ; , , ) to make for themselves powerless "gods" (cp where Hebrew word for "idols" = literally "something worthless", cp ; ; -note)!A W Tozer was correct when he said that...Nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God.The sins of Judah which eventually resulted in the final destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC were...(1) Idol Worship in place of Worship of the One True Living God - cp , , where "Jeshurun" is another name for Israel.(2)

Failure to observe the Sabbaths for the Land for 490 years.

- Every seventh year the Jews were to keep the Sabbath year and allow the land to rest (cf ).

Judah was reaping the harvest of conforming to the mold of the pagan world, rather than obeying God's clear instructions!COUNTDOWN

TO CAPTIVITYTony Garland summarizes the countdown as follows...#5 - Josiah (note) - Josiah begin his reign while a boy of only eight () and reigned for 31 years.

His reign was patterned after the godly king Hezekiah.

He initiated repairs to the temple whereupon the high priest Hilkiah rediscovered the Book of the Law which had been neglected for many years ( - Ed note: Where was the Book of the Law was lost?

In the very place it should have had preeminence.

Beloved, is this not what we see in pulpits across America where there is a veritable dearth of delivered doctrine that is fully "sound" = Greek in -note).

Upon reading the Law, it became apparent just how far Israel had neglected her duties causing Josiah to repent of the ungodliness of the nation.

But it was “too little too late”—God confirmed through the prophetess Huldah that judgment would not be averted (, ).

(This could also be known from the prophecy previously given to Hezekiah that Babylon would eventually cart off Israel’s treasures and some from among her people: , , , , , , ) Nevertheless Josiah continued following closely in the footsteps of his great-grandfather Hezekiah by instituting religious reforms.Observe (1) All of the last 4 kings after Josiah were evil.

(2) Three of those kings were sons of Josiah, the godly king.

One cannot help but wonder why they were not positively impacted by the "revival" that occurred during their father Josiah's reign!

Another young man named Daniel seems to have been at least in part the fruit from that last great revival in Josiah's day.

Daniel would have been very young, but his parents would certainly have experienced the revival associated with finding the Book of the Law.

However, where Scripture is silent we must tread lightly and not speculate too far a field!

It's just good "food for thought".#4

- Jehoahaz (note) (Shallum-note) - After the death of king Josiah, his son Jehoahaz reigned.

He proved to be an ungodly king who reigned for only three months before being deposed by Pharaoh Necho and taken to Egypt where he eventually died (, , , ; , , , ; ).605BC

1st Deportation from Judah

(, ,,; , , )#3 - Jehoiakim (note) (Eliakim-note) - After deposing of his father Jehoahaz, Eliakim was appointed as a vassal king by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt and renamed Jehoiakim.

Like his father before him, he was an evil king ().

He reigned 11 years.

It was during his reign that Daniel was taken captive to Babylon.

In his 4th year (Jewish mode of dating, the 3rd year from the Babylonian mode of dating a regal reign), the Battle of Carchemish (Carchemish - Wikipedia) also took place at which time Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho of Egypt which marked the beginning of Babylon’s ascendancy over Egypt in the region of Palestine (; ; ; = the 4th year of Jehoiakim = the Jewish mode of dating the regal reign.

Contrast the phrase in - the 3rd year of Jehoiakim = the Babylonian mode of dating the regal reign).

The other notable result of the battle of Carchemish was the final defeat of Assyria which made Babylon the leading world empire at that time.

Thereafter, Jehoiakim was made vassal king of Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar until late 601bc when Nebuchadnezzar suffered defeat while advancing on Egypt whereupon Jehoiakim switched allegiance to Egypt ().

This proved to be a fatal mistake when in 598bc Babylon attacked Jerusalem and Jehoiakim was killed.As an aside John Whitcomb notes that...It was once a commonplace of negative criticism to deny that Nebuchadnezzar could have besieged Jerusalem in 605 B.C.

In 1956, however, a cuneiform tablet was published that revealed that Nebuchadnezzar "conquered the whole area of the Hatti-country after the Battle of Carchemish in May-June 605.

The term Hatti-country covers all of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine.'

(Whitcomb, J. Daniel-Everyman's Bible Commentary)597BC

2nd Deportation from Judah

Ezekiel and 10,000

(, , , , , , , , , , )#2 - Jehoiachin (note - includes some nice art work) (Jeconiah-note, Coniah-note) - Upon the death of his father Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah or Coniah) reigned for a period of three months before he surrendered to Babylon.

After surrendering to Babylon, he was deported and his uncle, Mattaniah was installed as vassal king and renamed Zedekiah (, , , , ).

Treasures were carried out from the king’s house and the temple () in fulfillment of the Word of the Lord given to Hezekiah by Isaiah (, , , ).

Ten thousand captives were taken to Babylon (), including Ezekiel () and Mordecai’s great-grandfather Kish (, ).

Jehoiachin was imprisoned in Babylon until the reign of Evil Merodach (who reigned after the death of Nebuchadnezzar).

He remained in Babylon and was provided for by the king ().586BC

3rd Deportation from Judah

Razing of Jerusalem and the Temple

(, , , , , , , , , , , )#1 - Zedekiah (note) (Mattaniah-note) - The final king to reign over Judah was Zedekiah, who reigned for 11 years as a vassal king subject to Babylon.

Like all the kings following Josiah’s reign, he was evil.

When a new Egyptian Pharaoh (Hophra) came to the throne in 588 B.C., Zedekiah took the occasion to rebel against Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar responded by the siege which led to the final downfall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the city and temple, and the deportation of the majority who were left.

In fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecies that Zedekiah would be taken to Babylon but never see it, his sons were killed before him, his eyes were put out, and he was taken to Babylon where he died (, ; , , ; , cf. ; ).

After capturing Jerusalem, the Babylonians burned the leader‘s houses and the temple and broke down the city walls.

(Daniel - Introduction Part 7 - with slight modification)Land of Shinar - In southern Mesopotamia (), site of the Tower of Babel () and continued in Scripture to have "the nuance of a place hostile to faith...the place to which wickedness is banished" ().Babylon = Babel = Shinar = ChaldeaBrought the vessels into the house of his god - Symbolic gesture demonstrating Babylon's pantheon of gods was great than Judah's God.His god - Some translate gods plural which would certainly be appropriate as by some accounts there were more than 100 Babylonian gods (polytheism = literally "many gods").

The chief Babylonian god was Marduk (or Bel , related to Baal = lord, master) along with Nebo (incorporated in Nebuchadnezzar's name).

It is little surprise that God inspired Daniel to specifically use His Name Adonai or Master.

Not only had Isaiah predicted the sacking of Jerusalem (predicted about 702BC), but he also prophesied the fall of Bel () at the hands of Cyrus the Persian in 539BC, in a sense then describing the beginning and the end of the Babylonian empire (although the final end will not occur until ).As a typical polytheist and clever diplomat, Nebuchadnezzar took no chances with Israel's God, Jehovah, and carefully en­shrined His sacred vessels in Marduk's temple in Babylon.

Contrast the treatment accorded these vessels sixty-six years later by Belshazzar ().

After the fall of Babylon, King Cyrus () and King Darius () encouraged the Jews to carry these vessels back to their Temple in Jerusalem.Whitcomb observes that "Nebuchadnezzar shrewdly took enough of the sacred vessels to demonstrate the superiority of his god over the God of the Jews but left enough in the Temple so the Jews would be able to carry on their ceremonies unhindered and thus be less likely to rebel against their new overlord.

In 586 B.C., however, totally exasperated by the disloyalty of the Jewish kings and rulers, Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the sacred vessels to be destroyed or carried off to Babylon ().