There is much talk these days about how prosperity is directly correlated to management alignment, but the bigger question is, are we aligned with God – the ultimate management. Ezekiel found himself asking not only his countrymen this question, but other surrounding nations the same question.

Ezekiel made many personal sacrifices, both of himself and his family, to try and get his people back in alignment with God’s plans for them. He used many visuals. The false prophets had given the people a visual of meat in a pot, stating they were protected from harm because they were inside the pot. Ezekiel now uses this same visual to show how that was not the case. Yes, they were the meat in the pot, but in Ezekiel’s visual, the fire boiled out all the water, consumed the flesh in the pot, and even charred the bones which remained. The same day, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem (Ek 24:3-9). This should have validated all that Ezekiel had told them – should have.

Ezekiel’s wife suddenly dies, and God tells him he is not allowed to mourn with the usual mourning customs in order to demonstrate to his people that their joy, their temple, was taken away from them and they would not be able to grieve outwardly either because of God’s judgment on them (Ek 24:17-18). Ezekiel was then struck dumb. He was unable to talk until an escapee from Jerusalem came and told them all that had happened to the city and the temple. Since the siege of Jerusalem lasted for almost two years, this is likely the length of time Ezekiel was unable to speak. God was using Ezekiel’s life as a sign to his people. God was serious and would do anything to get them to turn back to him.

Once Ezekiel got his voice back, he began to speak against nations that surrounded Israel: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. All these nations, or cities, had gloated and rejoiced when Jerusalem fell. Some were even distant relatives of Israel. Ammon and Moab were descendants of Lot who was Abraham’s nephew (Gn 19:33-28). Edom (Gn 36:1) was the brother of Jacob (whose name was later changed to Israel). Egypt was the country from which the Israelites came and occupied Canaan to form the nation of Israel and had been an enemy against Israel almost the entire time of its existence. Both Ammon and Moab would also be conquered and would not recover (Ek 25). God had stated that Israelites were not to mistreat an Edomite (Dt 23:7) because they were so closely related. Yet, Edom mistreated Israel. Edom would also be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar but would recover. In later years, it became known as Idumea and was the country from which King Herod who tried to kill the infant Jesus came. All three of these countries are now part of modern-day Jordan.

Philistines were Canaanites who God had told Israel to eliminate when Israel had first come into Canaan, but there were not annihilated and became a thorn to the Israelites. This was also the land from which Goliath came during the time of David. These people often sought revenge upon Israel (Ek 25:15). Ezekiel announced destruction upon the Kerethites, those strong bowmen who were the strength of Philistia, and who had escaped the destruction put upon them by Saul (1Sa 30:13), David (2Sa 8:18), Hezekiah (2Ki 18:8), and Psammetichus king of Egypt, who often made raids into Philistia (this was the son of Necho who encouraged Zedekiah to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar but then did not support him).

Tyre had friendly relations with Israel during the time of David and Solomon (1Ki 5:1; 2Ch 2:11). Apparently, these positive relations deteriorated once the nation of Israel split. Tyre rejoiced in the destruction of Jerusalem (Ek 26:2), so God would now allow Babylon to destroy the city. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city on the coast. Alexander the Great, 260 years later, destroyed the island city by using debris of the mainland city to build a causeway to the island. He used this causeway to bring his military might against the island city and destroyed it in 330 B.C. The destruction of Tyre caused the economy of many other cities to fail (Ek 27).

The ruler of Tyre was Ethbaal III who had so much pride he declared himself a god (Ek 28:2). He had a throne on the island city high on a mountain. Ezekiel then speaks to the one behind Ethbaal’s actions: Satan himself. Ezekiel tells him he had been in Eden, had been adorned with precious stones, had musical abilities, had been specially created for a special position with God to walk up and down in the middle of the stone of fire, and had been perfect before sin destroyed his relationship with God. Apparently, Satan had always wanted to dwell on high as Christ will one day and had used Ethbaal’s prominent palace to try and achieve that. God pronounced his destruction because of his sin of pride and vanity (Ek 28:16-17).

When Ezekiel turned to Sidon, he stated the city would be brought down through pestilence and war (Ek 28:23). Sidon was to originally be the northern part of the tribe of Asher; yet, they never conquered this part of Canaan. Jezebel, who became the wife of king Ahaz and helped corrupt him, came from here. This demonstrates that we never know the consequences of our inaction. It is always best to follow God’s promptings.

Ezekiel prophesied against Egypt over a two-year period (Ek 29-32). Pharaoh was filled with pride and identified himself with the crocodile god Sebek (Ek 29:3). Ezekiel stated Egypt would be humbled for 40 years, beginning with the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar (Ek 29:11).Egypt would recover, but never to prominence: Nebuchadnezzar defeated King Hophra of Egypt, Ahmose II became a vassal king to Babylon, 40 years later the Persians overtook Babylon, Egypt came back into prominence periodically but never as an independent nation (they were dependent upon Greece, then Rome, and later became as Islamic state), today the country is an Arab nation and the original Egyptians are not of prominence.

Ezekiel prophesied about Israel’s future. He stated Israel would no longer have malicious neighbors (Ek 28:25) and the people of Israel would be gathered from the nations where they had been scattered, and they would prosper. This prophesy goes beyond their historical return from Babylon years later (by the decree of the Media-Persian king Cyrus who conquered Babylon) to the Millennial Kingdom that will be set up by their coming Messiah.

The kingdom of Parthia likely had Semitic roots and its people became scattered throughout Europe when the Medes conquered Parthia. In the future, many will likely not even know they are of Israeli descent. This will be the miracle which God will bring about – more profound than the nation coming out of Egypt (Jr 23:7). This will be the celebration of Passover in the Millennium.

When these Parthians of Israeli tribal descents settled into Europe (and beyond), they were not necessarily of pure Israeli descent. Yet, they likely influenced these areas where they settled with their characteristics. They integrated with the people already living there. The longer time passed, the more integrated they became with the people of these areas. This is why this will be such a miracle by God. Those who don’t even know they are Israeli will be driven back to their homeland in Israel by the persecution of the coming Antichrist. Israel will be the only place where they can live with any hope of safety.

Isn’t it amazing how God’s plans always come about no matter the seemingly impossibility? That’s why we can rest in him. What he states is truth and will always be truth. Aligning with him is likely the best thing we can ever do. We will never regret it.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

The Parthian Empire extended from India in the east to Turkey in the west, with its western border being the Euphrates River, and from the Persian Gulf in the south to the Caspian and Black Seas in the north. The following modern-day countries would have been encompassed within Parthia: all modern Iran, Iraq and Armenia, parts of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. During the New Testament era it was well known that there were Jews who existed within Parthian territory, and it seems they were also aware of their fellow Israeli descendants who lived in Armenia.

Likely because of Christ’s earlier command to his disciples to go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 10:5-6) and to “teach all nations” (Mt 28:19), many of them went to the Jews in Parthian territories to spread the gospel, just as Paul reached the Gentiles within the Roman sphere of influence (Ga 2:8). One such evidence of this is that Peter wrote his first epistle from Babylon (1Pt 5:13). Some claim that this is a code word used for Rome which was done similarly by the apostle John when he wrote the book of Revelation (Rv 17:5; 18:2). However, this type of analogical comparison was not prominent until many years later. In addition, Peter was writing to those in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1Pt 1:1) – all places in the northern part of Asia Minor near the Black Sea whose territory today is in the country of Turkey. There was a large contingent of Jews in this Gentile territory. It also seems that Peter was stating that those from where he was writing from had similar connections to those to whom he was writing, i.e., “elected together with you” (1Pt 5:13). This could suggest that Peter was with other Jews or those of Israeli descent since he was in Parthian territory and therefore had a connection to those in Asia Minor who were of Jewish descent. There was a synagogue in Babylon all the way through the middle of the first century AD. Therefore, it is likely that Peter was indeed within Parthian territory when he wrote his epistle. Since Peter was a leader of the Jerusalem church and of the apostles, it would seem logical that the other apostles would follow his example. The apostles reached out to Jews in what today are the following countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Parts of Russia, Tajikistan, parts of Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Parts of Ukraine.

There were at least three main areas visited by these apostles most often: Babylon, Armenia/Scythia, and India. This would suggest there must have been a large group of Jews and/or Israelis who lived in these areas, although there were other areas visited. It has already been stated that many people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel migrated to the area in and surrounding Armenia. It is not surprising there would be a large contingent of Israeli descendants here as God had prophesied through Hosea they would increase to great numbers after they left their homeland (Ho 1:6-10). This also indicates that the Jews in Judaea knew they were Israeli descendants and never considered them “lost.”

It would also not be surprising to find pockets of Jews in Babylon and throughout the Parthian Empire as this was where Judah was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and most Jews did not return to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, Ezra, or Nehemiah. While the Jews in Judaea had a sense of nationality, they never lost connection with those who had not returned to their native homeland.

It would also seem that these peoples were not considered Gentile at this point in history. The disciples had to have started their missionary efforts outside Judea soon after Christ’s ascension since James was an early martyr and yet he was noted to have visited areas at the extremes of both the Parthian and Roman Empires before his untimely death. This would mean that these people were practicing Judaism since the debate over how Gentiles were becoming Christians did not occur until later after Paul started his ministry. However, going forward in history, it appears that these Israeli descendants blended into the nationalities into which they migrated when the Parthian Empire fell in the early third century AD. After that point, they became indistinguishable from the Gentile people into which they settled. From that point on they were considered Gentiles as there were no longer any distinguishing ethnic characteristics that could identify them as being of Israeli descent, even though it may be true. In contrast, it seems the Jews were able to keep their ethnic identity throughout the centuries by not blending into the societies into which they migrated.

Since God’s prophecies always come true, it will be quite miraculous how He will one day bring together both Jews and Israelis into one nation again and they will have a heart to serve the Lord (Ek 36:24-28). How this will come about is not yet known but is a topic of much debate. It will be so miraculous when Israel will no longer talk about how God brought them up out of Egypt but how God brought them together from all of the countries of the world where they had been scattered (Jr 16:14-15). It sounds like there will be many surprised Gentiles to know they are of Israeli descent and will not be considered Gentile going forward.

Aren’t you glad you serve a God that can do impossible?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Over time the Jewish mindset and word view changed. In our last post, we discussed how there were many different cultures within what the Romans called Syria, their border state between themselves and the Parthian Empire. Rome was used to parceling out areas of one state into another to gain favors, to increase revenue, and to gain tighter power. The areas which the rulers of the Hasmonean Dynasty had gained for Israel were now just areas for Rome to use as favors. What those who Rome allowed to rule these areas didn’t realize were that Jews were different from other cultures. In their mind, a Jew was a Jew. They didn’t try to understand their, to them, nuisance differences. Yet these differences led to many clashes, both within Israel and between Israel and Rome. The Jewish leaders at the time had to work hard to keep Rome from removing their positions and wiping them out of existence. Unfortunately, to do that, many compromises were made. Let’s see how Israel got to this point in the first place.

Rome didn’t occupy Judea until the mid-first century BC – and by invitation. Prior to the Maccabean Revolt, Antiochus Epiphanes deposed the high priest Onias in 174 BC and installed Jason, the brother of Onias, as the high priest which broke the tradition of the first-born becoming the succeeding high priest. Onias fled to Egypt. In 171 BC Menelaus bought the high priesthood from Antiochus and became high priest. Up until this point, all high priests from the time of Solomon were descendants of Zadok’s line (1Ki 2:35). Therefore, the Zadok high priest lineage ceased from 171 BC until 23 BC when Herod the Great appointed Simon son of Boethus (a descendant of Onias V from Zadok’s lineage) as high priest due his love for Simon’s sister Mariamne II. Simon rules as high priest from 23-4 BC. Menelaus was determined to bring Judaism into the modern world and helped Antiochus to Hellenize the Jews: bringing in athletic games (where competitors competed nude) to Jerusalem and established an idol of Zeus in the temple. Conservatives were in an uproar and led to the Maccabean Revolt which we have discussed previously.

The priests started to fall into two camps: (1) those who favored and adopted Greek ways – Hellenizers – who became the Sadducees, although they were not as extreme as the Hellenizers themselves. These were also more of the aristocratic group who usually held the high priesthood; (2) those who wanted to stay loyal to Judaism – called Hassidim, or “Pious ones.” These had strict observance of the law and were called Separatists and later came to be the Pharisees.

Simon Maccabee became high priest in 141 BC when Parthia overcame Seleucid control and gave autonomy back to Judea. Simon was recognized by the priests and elders as high priest, military commander, and ruler of Israel. He began the Hasmonean dynasty but was assassinated in 135 BC. John Hyrcanus became high priest and ruler after his father Simon Maccabee from 135-104 BC. He forced Idumea, or Edom, south of the Dead Sea, to become Jewish proselytes. Herod’s grandparents were of this forced conversion – they outwardly portrayed to be Jewish but did not live that way. John Hyrcanus also destroyed the temple in Mt. Gerizim in Samaria. The Qumran settlement (northwest shore of Dead Sea) began at this time. The Essenes were of the line of Zadok and formed as a group to study scripture because they wanted no part in the secularization of the high priest role by the Hasmoneans.

Aristobulus I (Jewish name Judah and son of Hyrcanus) reigned for one year. He pushed Judah’s borders to include Galilee. He was the first to assume the title of king. His brother, Alexander Jannaeus ruled from 103-76 BC. He brought the Golan Heights (east and northeast of the Sea of Galilee) to be within the Judean borders. He established Gamla which became a town of zealot activity (where five-thousand Jews committed suicide rather than being taken by the Roman army). He hated Pharisees, was immoral, and not well liked. He once had eight-hundred Pharisees crucified at a banquet and he massacred six thousand Jews at a Feast of Tabernacles because they pelted him with citron leaves to show their disfavor of him when he attended the feast.

Salome Alexandra (76-67), the wife of Alexander Jannaeus, was the antithesis of her husband. After his death in 76 BC, education and peace spread – called the Golden Age. She died in 67 BC.

Hyrcanus II was the son of Alexander and Salome and was favored by the Pharisees. Aristobulus II, also the son of Alexander and Salome, was favored by the Sadducees. Civil war broke out between the two sons. They both went to Pompey, a Roman military leader to seek assistance. Pompey favored Hyrcanus II. For a price of giving up the independence of the Judean kingdom to Rome, Pompey helped Hyrcanus II overcome his brother, and Aristobulus II was put into Roman prison. Judea then became a Roman province attached to Syria, and Hyrcanus II became the high priest from 63 to 40 BC.

Antipater, the father of Herod, was governor in Idumea. He supported Hyrcanus II and became procurator In Judea. He made his son Phasael the military head of Judea and made Herod the military governor of Galilee. When Aristobulus II was released from prison, his son Antigonus overthrew Hyrcanus II and cut off Hyrcanus’ ears. Therefore, Hyrcanus II was no longer able to be high priest because the Law forbade a priest with a physical deformity to serve (Lv 21:16-21).

Antigonus had genealogical right to be high priest. He got Parthia to dislodge all power of Hyrcanus II and Herod. Herod fled to Masada and later went to Rome to seek assistance. Parthia ruled Palestine for three years (40 BC to 37 BC). Herod got the Roman senate to make him officially “king of the Jews” and allowed to take the land back by force. With Roman forces, Mark Antony led an invasion to drive the Parthians back east of the Euphrates River. Antigonus was captured, taken to Rome, and executed. Mark Antony tried to drive the Parthians back further and attacked them in Armenia; however, he was severely defeated and barely escaped with his life. Détente lasted between Rome and Parthia from 36 BC to 58 AD.

Herod the Great was the son of a Jewish proselyte and a Gentile mother who was Nabataean. His religion was Jewish, his race was Idumean (Edomite), culturally he was Greek, and politically he was Roman. This is where things stood as the New Testament opened. Although Herod had his faults, many of them, he was probably the last one who understood the Jews. After him, clashes only escalated, and Rome became even more brutal. As you can see, a King of Peace was really needed. Odd how we often reject the very thing we really need. We haven’t really changed as human beings, have we?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

How did God reach out to Gentiles before New Testament times? First, we need to understand the succession of Gentile powers which occurred millennia before. How did these Gentile powers influence Israel? And how did God use these Gentile powers to his advantage – and to theirs?

Previous posts have discussed how the kingdom of Assyria took the Northern Kingdom of Israel captive in 722 BC, Babylon conquered Assyria in 606 BC, and then took the Southern Kingdom of Judah captive in 586 BC. Yet, there were a series of sieges of Jerusalem before this final destruction. The first siege occurred in 605 BC, just a year after defeating Assyria. Daniel was one of those taken captive during this first siege (Dn 1:1-7). God gives King Nebuchadnezzar a dream about a statue (Dn 2), and he later builds an actual statue of his vision demanding all to worship it (Dn 3:1-6). Daniel’s four friends refused to bow down to the statue and are thrown in a fiery furnace, but no harm comes to them (Dn 3:7-27). Nebuchadnezzar then proclaims no one in his realm should say anything derogatory against the God of Daniel or they would be destroyed (Dn 3:28-29). God used the arrogance of Nebuchadnezzar to display His power and God received glory throughout his entire kingdom. No one knows how many proselytes were achieved because of this, but I’m sure it gave the Jews throughout the kingdom an opportunity to proclaim their God to many Gentiles in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.

Later, God struck Nebuchadnezzar with boanthropy because of his arrogance (Dn 4:32). This is a mental disease where a person thinks of himself as an ox and where one’s hair lengthens and one’s fingernails become very coarse and thickened. When Nebuchadnezzar’s senses returned to him, he admitted God was the Most High (Dn 4:34, 37). This is the second time, recorded anyway, that God made the citizens of the Babylonian Empire hear about God. The Jews throughout the kingdom could then help their Gentile neighbors understand more about their God.

Next, once the Persian Empire conquered Babylon, Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. This occurred in the first year Cyrus conquered Babylon. This was actually prophesied by Isaiah over one-hundred and fifty years prior to the event (Is 44:24-45:13). Through a series of circumstances, God allowed Daniel to be thrown into a lion’s den because of his worship of God. Yet, God preserved Daniel (Dn 6:22). Cyaxares II (Darius) then gave a proclamation to the entire kingdom that everyone should respect the God of Daniel (Dn 6:26-27). God was now proclaimed to an even larger Gentile audience, as the Persian Empire was much larger than the Babylonian Empire. It stretched from India to the west coast of Turkey.

Then, once King Xerxes I ruled the kingdom, a prominent person within the kingdom, named Haman, was embittered against the Jews and made a plot to achieve their destruction. His deception was found out by a Jew named Mordecai whose niece, named Esther, who had recently been named Queen, told of his plot to Xerxes (Es 4:7-8, 7:3-6, 8:3-4). Xerxes allowed Mordecai and Esther to draft a letter with his seal which was sent to all of the provinces of the Persian Empire. It allowed the Jews to fight back without restraint against any who would attack them as Haman had ordered (Es 8:9-10). If nothing else, this caused many within the empire to at least fear or have a respect for the God of the Jews. I’m sure it made many question who this God the Jews served was and wanted to know more about him.

Many years later, Alexander the Great came on the scene and conquered all the land from Greece all the way to India, including all the land of the Persian Empire. When he approached Jerusalem, Jaddua, the priest in Jerusalem, showed Alexander the prophecy about him in the book of Daniel (Dn 11:1-3). Alexander believed this confirmed a vision he had received earlier. Alexander then allowed Jerusalem to be saved from attack, and the Jews were allowed to abide by their own laws. Many Jews went with him on his campaign. This further allowed many within Alexander the Great’s army, and many throughout the kingdom, to hear about the God of the Jews.

We can know many proselytes were created because in Acts 2 many of all these areas, now part of the Roman and Parthian Empires, were present in Jerusalem for Shavuot (i.e., Pentecost). This again helps us see how God has always been inclusive of everyone. Isn’t our God wonderful!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens