the vessels

August 22, 2017

The unhumble king (Dan 5:22-5:23)

“‘You!

His son!

King Belshazzar!

Have not humbled

Your heart,

Even though

You knew all this!

You have exalted yourself

Against the Lord of heaven!

The vessels

Of his temple

Have been brought in

Before you.

You,

Your lords,

Your wives,

Your concubines,

Have been drinking wine

From them.

You have praised

The gods

Of silver

Of gold,

Of bronze,

Of iron,

Of wood,

Of stone.

They do not

See,

Hear,

Or know.

You have not honored

The God

In whose power

Is your very breath,

To whom belong

All your ways.’”

Daniel then turned to King Belshazzar himself, because he had not humbled his heart, even though he knew all about his father or grandfather. He too exalted himself against the Lord of heaven. He even took the vessels from his holy temple for his feast or party to drink wine with his lords, wives, and concubines. He even praised the false idol gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone who could not see, hear, or know anything. He did not honor the true God, who controls his life and his actions.

December 12, 2016

The prophet Hananiah speaks (Jer 28:2-28:4)

“Thus says Yahweh of hosts!

The God of Israel!

‘I have broken the yoke

Of the king of Babylon.

Within two years,

I will bring back

To this place

All the vessels

Of Yahweh’s house

That King Nebuchadnezzar

Of Babylon

Took away from this place.

He carried them

To Babylon.

I will also bring back

To this place

King Jeconiah,

The son of King Jehoiakim

Of Judah,

With all the exiles

From Judah

Who went to Babylon.

I will break

The yoke

Of the king of Babylon.’

Says Yahweh.”

Hananiah, the prophet from Gibeon, then uttered an oracle of Yahweh, the God of Israel, much like Jeremiah had done. He claimed that he had broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. He said that within 2 years all the vessels from the Temple sanctuary would be returned to Jerusalem. He was also going to bring back the deposed King Jeconiah or King Jehoiachin or King Coniah as he was known as, who had been king for only a couple of months in 598 BCE after his father King Jehoiakim or King Eliakim (609-598 BCE) had been killed. In the meantime, King Nebuchadnezzar had put King Jeconiah’s uncle on the throne, King Zedekiah or King Mattaniah (598-587 BCE). The exiled King Jeconiah was in Babylon in captivity. He was part of the first captivity of 598 BCE, when the sacred vessels and the other exiles also went to Babylon. Clearly, Hananiah the prophet said that Yahweh wanted to break the yoke of the king of Babylon. However, Jeremiah the prophet had said that Yahweh was in favor of this yoke. Let’s see what happens as these 2 prophets interpret the will of Yahweh as regards Babylon.

December 11, 2016

Jeremiah speaks to the priests and the people (Jer 27:16-27:18)

“Then I spoke

To the priests,

To all this people,

Saying.

‘Thus says Yahweh!

Do not listen

To the words

Of your prophets

Who are prophesying to you!

Saying.

‘The vessels of Yahweh’s house

Will soon be brought back

From Babylon.’

They are prophesying

A lie to you.

Do not listen to them!

Serve the king of Babylon!

Live!

Why should this city

Become a desolation?

If indeed they are prophets,

If the word of Yahweh

Is with them,

Then let them

Intercede with Yahweh of hosts,

That the vessels

Left in the house of Yahweh,

In the house of the king of Judah,

In Jerusalem,

May not go to Babylon.’”

Jeremiah repeats what he said to the king of Judah earlier in this chapter. Now he speaks to the priests and all the people, as much as that is possible, but the message is the same. They were not to listen to the false lying prophets who were saying not to serve the King of Babylon. Here the question is about the vessels that had been taken to Babylon. Were they coming back? Once again, they were not to listen to these false prophets who were telling them to revolt against the Babylonian king. Rather, they should live and not become a desolation by serving the king of Babylon. If these were true prophets of Yahweh, why not let them intercede with Yahweh to make sure that the vessels left in the Temple, the palace of the king, and in Jerusalem itself not be taken to Babylon.

February 16, 2015

The high priest Eliashib and Tobiah (Neh 13:4-13:5)

“Now before this, the priest Eliashib, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, was related to Tobiah. He prepared for Tobiah a large room, where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil. This was given by commandment to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.”

There was a strange relationship between the high priest Eliashib and Tobiah the Ammonite leader in Samaria. One of the grandsons of Eliashib, a son of the priest Joiada, married a daughter of Sanballat the Moabite, who was a fellow leader with Tobiah at Samaria. Tobiah had married the daughter of the Jewish priest Shecaniah. His son Johanan had married the daughter of Meshullam who was one of the main builders of the wall. This information was in chapter 6 of this book. Thus he had a strong relationship with the Jews at Jerusalem since they were part of his family. Both the Moabites and Ammonites were not allowed in the Assembly of God as in the preceding paragraph. Thus, the fact that Tobiah had a special room in the Temple court would seem outrageous, especially since this was supposed to be a storage place for frankincense, grain, wine, and oil for the Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and priests.


February 3, 2015

The final stop in Jerusalem (Ezra 8:31-8:34)

“Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us. He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes along the way. We came to Jerusalem. There we remained three days. On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed into the hands of the priest Meremoth son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. The total was counted and weighed. The weight of everything was recorded.”

Once again, notice the first person plural “we.” This group of about 5,000 with Ezra left on the 12th day of the 1st month. They were protected by God so that no enemy attacked them. They were lucky since they had a huge fortune with them. It does say how long it took them to make this journey, but the first group, some 80 years earlier, took about 5 months. However, the Temple was built by the time Ezra and his group arrived. They stayed 3 days before they presented their great treasures to the Temple priests. They then counted and weighed everything so that it could be recorded. Meremoth will play an important role in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. This Eleazar is obviously not the son of Aaron, but a common name for priests. There were other people name Jozabad, but this is the only Noadiah.

February 3, 2015

The twelve priests (Ezra 8:24-8:30)

“Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels. These were the offerings for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, and his lords as well as all Israel present had offered. I weighed out into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver and silver vessels worth a hundred talents. I also weighted out a hundred talents of gold, twenty bowls of gold worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine polished bronze as precious as gold. I said to them. ‘You are holy to Yahweh. The vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, the God of your ancestors. Guard them! Keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests, the Levites, and the heads of families in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of Yahweh.’  So the priests and the Levites took over the silver, the gold, and the vessels, as they were weighed out, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.”

Ezra himself set aside 12 priests with 2 leaders, Sherebiah and Hashabiah. Sherebiah was a very important post-exilic priest. Hashabiah was important too but that was a common name shared by about 10 other people. Once again, notice the first person singular “I.” He weighted some silver and gold and then gave it to them. A talent was roughly the equivalent of small person about 125 pound. So that when you convert pounds to ounce you get a huge amount of silver and gold. 650 talents of silver would be worth about 10 million USA dollars today. The 100 talents of gold would be worth about 100 million USA dollars. This was quite a rich fortune, over 100 million dollars. This money was vowed to Yahweh. Thus these priests and Levites had to take good care of these precious items as they brought them to Jerusalem to the house of God there.