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In this lesson we will consider some details in the prophecies of the prophets in the Old Testament concerning the apostate and fallen children of Israel being chastised by God, taken captive, and returning from captivity.
When God called Abraham out of Chaldea, the land of Babel, He brought Abraham into the land of Canaan, the good land, and promised to give him the land (Gen. 12:1, 7). Abraham, therefore, was the first of God’s chosen people to enter into the good land. Later, Jacob brought his whole household down to Egypt, where they remained for four hundred thirty years (46:5-6; Exo. 12:40-41). During their time in Egypt, the twelve sons of Israel became a nation with about two million people. However, they were usurped, enslaved, and persecuted by Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Hence, they cried out to God, and God sent Moses to deliver them out of that land of slavery into the good land.
When the children of Israel were about to enter into the land of Canaan, God charged them through Moses to slaughter all the Canaanites. He also charged them to destroy all the idols and everything related to idolatry. Joshua received this charge and was faithful to it. Eventually, however, the children of Israel did not slaughter all the Canaanites. Instead, they allowed some to remain. After entering into the good land, they failed God and eventually were divided into the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. The kingdom of Israel became apostate. Its kings forsook God and set up other worship centers in addition to the unique center at Jerusalem. As a result, the kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians. Later, the kingdom of Judah was captured by the Babylonians. The city of Jerusalem was also captured, and the people of God were carried away to heathen lands.
During the time of the apostasy and degradation of His people, God raised up many men as vessels who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to represent God and speak to His children. These are the prophets in the Old Testament. Based on the age that they were in, the prophets can be divided into three categories. First, there are the prophets before the captivity—Jonah who prophesied to the Gentile city Nineveh, Obadiah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk. The content of the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations extends into the time of captivity. Second, there are the prophets during the captivity—Daniel and Ezekiel. Third, there are the prophets after the return from captivity—Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The contents of the books of the prophets are based upon the covenant God made through Moses (Deut. 29—30), the covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:8-17), Psalm 2, and chapters 2 and 7 of Daniel. These portions contain many significant prophecies. There were definite prophecies in the books of the prophets before the time of captivity concerning Israel’s being chastised by God due to their apostasy, their being taken captive to the Gentile nations, and their returning to the Holy Land.
Joel was one of the prophets. The time of his ministry was about 800 B.C., probably after the prophet Elisha and during the early reign of King Joash. The book of Joel contains prophecies related mainly to the kingdom of Judah. The scope covered in these prophecies is very broad—from the time of Joel the prophet to the end of the age. Most of these prophecies have an initial and partial fulfillment as well as a further and complete fulfillment.
Joel 1:2-3 shows the seriousness of Joel’s prophecies. God asked the elders among the people of Israel to hear this message, and He asked all the inhabitants of the land to give heed to it. They were to tell their children about it, their children were to tell their children, and those children were to tell the next generation. The message was that “what the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; / And what the swarming locust has left, the licking locust has eaten; / And what the licking locust has left, the consuming locust has eaten” (v. 4). God caused an unprecedented plague of locusts to come to the land of Judah. The suffering of God’s children from the plague of locusts was God’s chastising them. Both Moses and Solomon had prophesied concerning this (Deut. 28:38; 1 Kings 8:37), but the people of Israel did not pay attention to these prophecies. Therefore, God prophesied once again through Joel the prophet concerning what was about to take place. God had caused a plague of locusts to come upon the land of Egypt because of its transgressions. That story was told among God’s people through the generations. Now, because of Israel’s transgressions, God caused a plague of locusts to come upon the good land. Hence, He charged the people to recount this story to their children so that they would fear God and keep themselves away from evil matters throughout their generations.
The plague of locusts in the book of Joel also indicates that God would cause countless Gentile invaders to swarm into the land of Israel group by group like locusts. In Joel 1:4 four words are used to describe the locust, probably referring to one kind of locust in various stages of growth. The four stages of this one kind of locust refer to the four consecutive empires that devastated Israel: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. These four empires correspond to the four sections of the great human image in Daniel 2:31-33, to the four beasts in Daniel 7:2-8 (cf. Rev. 13:2a), and to the four horns in Zechariah 1:18-21. Throughout the entire human history, these four empires have always been the center in God’s dealing with Israel. Joel prophesied that a nation would come up against the land of Jehovah, devour the people, and make the land a desolation (Joel 1:6-7; 2:2-3). The four empires that destroyed the land of Jehovah encompass the period from Nebuchadnezzar, the first king of the Babylonian Empire who began to devastate the children of Israel, to the last Caesar (Antichrist) of the Roman Empire (Dan. 8:3-14; 11:2-45; Rev. 13:1-18; 17:11-14; 19:19-21). Until today, this devastating from the nations is still happening to God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel.
Joel, on one hand, declared and prophesied the judgment of God and, on the other hand, declared that if Israel would turn to Jehovah with all her heart and have a thorough confession, God would send forth His blessings and would bless His land with rich produce, recovering the rains, the early rain and the late rain at the beginning of the season. He would also cause the wine vats and the oil vats to overflow with new wine and fresh oil and would restore to them what the locusts have eaten. Finally, God would remove far from them the great army sent among them, that is, the cutting locust, the swarming locust, the licking locust, and the consuming locust (Joel 2:19-27).
On the spiritual side, Joel prophesied that God would pour out His Spirit upon Israel (vv. 28-29). This prophecy was fulfilled as a foretaste on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 16-21), and it will be fulfilled as a full taste before the great tribulation at the sounding of the fifth trumpet, for the salvation and regeneration of many of the returned Israelites (Joel 2:30-32; Rev. 8:13—9:11). At the end of the great tribulation, the Spirit will be poured out again for the salvation of the remnant of the Jews who will be under Antichrist’s besieging (Zech. 12:10). These three outpourings of the Spirit work together for God’s salvation of Israel.
The ministry of Amos the prophet was during the end of the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, about 787 B.C. The object of Amos’s ministry was the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos was not a prophet originally, nor was he the son of a prophet; rather, he was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamores. Jehovah called him so that He might send him to prophesy to Israel His people (Amos 7:14-15).
Judah transgressed by rejecting the law of Jehovah and not keeping His statutes, and the lies which their fathers walked after caused them to err (2:4). Therefore, Jehovah sought out their transgressions and punished them, sending fire upon Judah and devouring the palaces of Jerusalem (v. 5). Amos also prophesied concerning the “fallen tabernacle of David” (9:11). Even when the reign of Uzziah the king of Judah was strong, Amos perceived that the tabernacle of the family of David would fall. Not long after, this word was fulfilled and Judah was taken captive for seventy years.
Amos said that the children of Israel were not one with God (3:3-8). They practiced violence (vv. 9-12), worshipped idols (vv. 13-15; 4:4-5), oppressed the poor and crushed the needy (vv. 1-3), thrust righteousness down to the ground (5:7), and in their hypocrisy they offered sacrifices to Jehovah as their service (vv. 10-27). Therefore, Amos prophesied that Jehovah would punish them such that their mighty men would flee away naked in that day (2:16) and that during the time of the battle they would fall and be defeated (5:2-3). Amos also exhorted them to return to God and to prepare to meet their God (4:6-13).
The time of Amos’s ministry was the golden era of the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel. Jeroboam was the strongest king of Israel. He also reigned for the longest period of time. He reigned for forty-one years and restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of Arabah (2 Kings 14:25). During that time Jehovah God had mercy upon Israel; He “saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (v. 27). However, this golden era in the kingdom of Israel was full of hidden dangers. The sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat had not been removed, the standard of morality was poor, and sins and transgressions increased. These things stirred up the wrath of God. Yet before judging them, God still sent His prophet to the kingdom of Israel to sound out a warning. Sadly, even though Jeroboam the son of Joash was successful in politics and military affairs, he failed in spiritual matters. He worshipped idols, and he did not accept Amos’s warning to bring the people back to God. Though not much happened during his reign, fifty years later the judgment of God came, and the kingdom of Israel was destroyed.
The time of Hosea’s ministry was from approximately 785 B.C., during the reign of Uzziah the king of Judah, to approximately 725 B.C., during the reign of Hezekiah the king of Judah. Hosea spoke mainly to the northern kingdom of Israel.
Hosea was a prophet during the time when the kingdom of Israel began to decline. The situation in the kingdom was very chaotic. The kings and the people worshipped idols, forsook knowledge, were adulterous and filthy, committed sins, did all kinds of evil, robbed, were abusive, practiced violence and murder, lied, walked in craftiness, mixed with the heathens, and people in high positions betrayed their country for riches (2 Kings 15—17).Thus, God reached a stage where He could not tolerate their sins any longer.
God told Hosea to take a wife of harlotries. He wanted to show Israel that the prophet’s taking a wife of harlotries symbolized the relationship between God and His apostate people. God was the husband, and Israel was the unchaste wife. God had chosen her not because of any good things about her but entirely out of His mercy and compassion. Even after the adulterous woman was married to Hosea, she continued to commit adultery (Hosea 2:2-7), symbolizing that even though Israel was God’s elect, they still worshipped idols, served heathen gods, and continued to commit spiritual fornication. God was forced to declare “Lo-ruhamah” and “Lo-ammi,” meaning “she has not obtained compassion” and “not My people” (1:6, 9).
After Hosea took Gomer as his wife, she bore a son called Jezreel, then a daughter called Lo-ruhamah, and after that another son called Lo-ammi. These three names are important prophecies. The name Jezreel indicated that in yet a little while Jehovah would avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu (v. 4). This judgment was fulfilled when king Zechariah, the great grandchild of Jehu, was killed (2 Kings 15:8-12). Gomer, the wife of Hosea, conceived a second time and bore a daughter whom Jehovah called Lo-ruhamah, meaning “she has not obtained compassion.” Then Gomer conceived a third time and bore a son whom God called Lo-ammi, meaning “not My people” (Hosea 1:6, 8-9). The prophecies included in these two names were fulfilled in the fall of the kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Hoshea (2 Kings 17:1-6).
Hosea was obedient to God. He married Gomer, and she bore him three children. Then she probably left him and committed adultery with her lovers. However, Jehovah told Hosea to love Gomer again as a symbol of His intention to love Israel again by redeeming her, making a covenant with her, and restoring her to Himself (Hosea 3:1-3).
Hosea told Gomer, the woman of adulteries, to abide with him many days without going about as a harlot or being another man’s, and he would be the same toward her (v. 3). According to verse 4, this symbolizes that the children of Israel would abide for many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without pillar for worship, and without ephod and teraphim, that is, idols in homes. The “many days” began when the Babylonians burned the temple. For seventy years the Jews did not offer sacrifices. Then the temple was rebuilt, but it was utterly destroyed by the Roman prince Titus in A.D. 70. Hence, from that time Israel has been without king, without prince, and without their worship of offering sacrifices to God. Furthermore, from that time until the present, a period of nearly two thousand years, the Jews have not worshipped idols.
Among the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah ministered for the longest period of time, from 760 B.C. through the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He was probably martyred during the reign of Manasseh. Isaiah is called the greatest prophet because his book is the longest in length, the broadest in scope, and the most detailed in the matters concerning the Messiah. The prophecies in the book of Isaiah are mainly concerning Christ’s life and work, but the prophecies are also concerning the captivity of God’s people and their return.
In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah the prophet saw the vision of Jehovah of hosts and heard Him say, “Whom shall I send?” (Isa. 6:8). Isaiah answered God’s calling, and God said to him, “Go and say to this people, / Hear indeed, but do not perceive; / And see indeed, but do not understand. / Make the heart of this people numb; / Dull their ears, / And seal their eyes; / Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, / And their heart perceive and return, and they are healed” (vv. 9-10). In response to the Lord’s charge, Isaiah asked a question. He said, “How long, Lord?” And the Lord said, “Until cities lie devastated, / Without inhabitants, / And houses are without people, / And the land is devastated and a waste; / And Jehovah has sent men far away from it, / And desolate places abound in the midst of the land. / But there will still be a tenth part in it; / And it in turn is to be burned” (vv. 11-13). This prophetic warning was given in approximately 758 B.C., and it was fulfilled in approximately 606 B.C. by the Babylonian invasion and captivity (2 Kings 24—25). The Babylonians devastated Jerusalem and carried away the people.
Isaiah 48 is a chapter containing Jehovah’s calling Israel to come out of Babylon. Verses 20 and 21 say, “Come out from Babylon; / Flee from the Chaldeans; / With a voice of shouting declare; / Let them hear this, / Send it out unto the end of the earth; / Say, Jehovah has redeemed / His servant Jacob. / And they did not thirst / When He led them through the dry places; / He caused water to flow / From the rock for them; / And He split the rock, / And the waters gushed out.” This prophecy was fulfilled in Israel’s return from captivity.
Verses 14 and 15 say, “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! / Who among them has declared these things? / Jehovah loves him; he will do His pleasure / On Babylon, and His arm will be upon the Chaldeans. / I, even I, have spoken; indeed, I have called him; / I have brought him, and his way will prosper.” Him in these verses refers to Cyrus the king of Persia (44:28; 45:1), who typifies Christ as the Servant of Jehovah. Cyrus did Jehovah’s pleasure on Babylon. History says that God used Cyrus, a Gentile king, to subdue Babylon and to release the captives of Israel. This was out of God’s love.
Cyrus the king of Persia was used by God to do many things. Thus, he was God’s servant. God needed a man to defeat His enemy Babylon, who had taken His people captive and had destroyed His holy temple. God used Cyrus to subdue Babylon. After obtaining the authority to reign, Cyrus, according to God’s will, made a proclamation that fulfilled the end of the seventy years of captivity: Israel was released from captivity. Cyrus also made a decree for the Jews to rebuild the holy temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-3). This was what Isaiah had prophesied, saying, “Who says to Cyrus, He is My shepherd, / And he will fulfill all My desire, / Even by saying of Jerusalem, She will be built, / And of the temple, Her foundations will be laid” (Isa. 44:28).
Jeremiah’s ministry began from the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign and continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, from about 629 to 588 B.C. During the forty-one years of his ministry, the kingdom of Judah was rapidly declining. The situation outside of the country was that strong neighboring nations, such as Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon, were watching greedily and seeking an opportunity to invade. Within the country all the people, from the king and leaders above to the common people below, forsook God, worshipped idols, and were corrupt in morality. Even though there was a revival during the reign of Josiah, it was only for a brief moment. During the reign of Johoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, the kings of Judah “did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah” (2 Kings 23:32, 37; 24:9, 19). This was the background during the time of Jeremiah. Under such a circumstance, he spoke forth God’s words.
Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning the kingdom of Judah contain two main points. First, since Israel did not listen to the word of the prophets to turn from their evil way and the evil of their deeds, Jehovah would send Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon in the north, to destroy them and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and an eternal reproach. Jeremiah also prophesied that Israel would serve the king of Babylon for seventy years (Jer. 25:3-11).
Second, after the fulfillment of seventy years, Jehovah would punish the king of Babylon and make Babylon an eternal desolation (vv. 12-14). The seventy years are counted from 606 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar first took Jerusalem, until 536 B.C., when Cyrus the king of Persia made a decree for the return of the people of Israel.
After the children of Israel were taken captive for seventy years, God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia and caused him to make a proclamation throughout all his kingdom to encourage the children of Israel to return and build the temple. This fulfilled the prophecy spoken by God through Jeremiah the prophet, “Thus says Jehovah, When seventy years are fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish My good word to you, to bring you back to this place” (29:10). As a result of the stirring of the hidden God, King Cyrus made a decree, charging the children of Israel who were in captivity to return to Jerusalem and build God’s temple (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chron. 36:22-23).
According to the record in the Scriptures, there were three returns of the children of Israel from captivity.
The first return of the children of Israel from captivity was under the leadership of Zerubbabel, a royal descendant of David (Ezra 2:1-2). King Cyrus also brought out the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar brought from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods, and returned them to Jerusalem (1:7-11).
Later, under the leadership of Ezra, a descendant of the priestly family, the children of Israel had a second return from captivity. In the kingdom of Persia, Ezra was not a ruler with a high position; rather, he was a priest and a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses (7:6). Although he did not have any position in Persia, the king granted him all his request and made a decree concerning those who returned to Jerusalem. Ezra trusted in God and was one with God. He was skilled in the word of God, and he also knew God’s heart, God’s desire, and God’s economy. Hence, he had an excellent character and reputation before the king. Ezra was even granted authority from the king to appoint magistrates and judges (v. 25).
The third return was under the leadership of Nehemiah. Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah was not the counselor of the king or a general in the army. He was only a cupbearer, that is, one who served wine to the king. Yet in his living and conduct he built up a wonderful situation, obtaining the respect of the king. He asked the king to send him to Judah that he might rebuild the city of his fathers’ graves (Neh. 2:5). Nehemiah asked the king to grant him letters for the governors beyond the River so that they would let him pass through to Judah. He also asked for a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the Park, which belonged to the king, so that he would give him timber (vv. 7-8). The king granted Nehemiah all his requests.
Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah the children of Israel returned from captivity and were reconstituted to be the testimony of God, the expression of God on earth, and a people absolutely different from the Gentile nations.
After entering into the land of Canaan, the children of Israel failed God and were eventually divided into the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. At the time of the apostasy and degradation of His people, God raised up many prophets who prophesied concerning Israel’s being chastised by God due to their apostasy, their being taken captive to Gentile nations, and their returning to the Holy Land. Most of these prophecies have an initial and partial fulfillment as well as a further and complete fulfillment. Joel prophesied that God would cause an unprecedented plague of locusts to come to the land of Judah. The plague of locusts also indicated that God would cause countless Gentile invaders to swarm in group by group like locusts. Joel also declared that if Israel would turn to Jehovah with all her heart and have a thorough confession, God would send forth His blessings and would bless His land with rich produce, recovering the rains, the early rain and the late rain, at the beginning of the season. Amos prophesied that God would seek out the transgressions of the people of Judah and would punish them, sending fire upon Judah and devouring the palaces of Jerusalem, and that the tabernacle of David would fall. Amos also judged the children of Israel, prophesying that God would punish them, that their mighty men would flee away naked in that day, and that during the time of battle they would fall and be defeated. Hosea prophesied that the northern kingdom of Israel would not obtain compassion and would not be God’s people; they would abide for many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without pillar, and without ephod and teraphim. Isaiah, who ministered for the longest period of time, said that Jerusalem would be destroyed, that God’s children would be carried away, that the children of Israel would return from Babylon, and that Cyrus would issue a decree to rebuild Jerusalem and make a proclamation to lay the foundations of the temple. Jeremiah clearly prophesied that the children of Israel would be taken captive and would serve Babylon for seventy years. After the completion of the seventy years, the children of Israel would return to Jerusalem and rebuild God’s temple. According to the record in the Scriptures, there were three returns of the children of Israel from captivity. These returns were under the leadership of three leaders: Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Under their leadership, the children of Israel returned from captivity and were reconstituted to be the testimony of God, the expression of God on earth, and a people absolutely different from the Gentile nations.
