Chapter 2 Summarized:
Contents: Jehovah’s case against Israel
continued. Future deliverance of a remnant.
Conclusion: Sinners cannot expect to rest in a land which they have
polluted by their sins against God, foe He will certainly cause it to spew
them out with terrible judgments. With every threatening of judgment, however,
there is a promise of mercy for a remnant who will acknowledge their King
and walk in His ways.
Key Word: Sore destruction, v. 10.
Strong verses: 1,
7.
Christ Seen: v.13. Christ is the King Who will, after the great Armageddon,
pass before Israel to bring them
into the land of their rest. While there is in this age an election out of
Israel, the promises of restoration
to the land here given will only have accomplishment at Christ’s Second Coming.
Introduction: In this chapter we have, I. the sins with which
the people of Israel are
Charged—covetousness and oppression, fraudulent and violent practices (v. 1, 2), dealing barbarously,
even with women and children, and other harmless people (v. 8, 9). Opposition of God’s
prophets and silencing them (v. 6, 7), and delighting in
false prophets (v. 11). II. The
judgments with which they are threatened for those sins, that they should
be humbled, and impoverished (v. 3-5), and banished
(v. 10). III. Gracious
promises of comfort, reserved for the good people among them, in the Messiah
(v. 12, 13). And this is the
sum and scope of most of the chapters of this and other prophecies.
Seven sins of all Israel
(2:1—2)
Verse 1: Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds!
When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of
their hand.
Woe to them that devise iniquity—Who
lay schemes and plans for transgressions; who make it their study to find
out new modes of sinning; and make these things their nocturnal meditations,
that, having fixed their plan, they may begin to execute it as soon as it
is light in the morning.
Verse 2: And they covet fields, and take them by violence;
and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his
house, even a man and his heritage.
They covet fields—these are the rich and mighty in the land; and, like Ahab, they will
take the vineyard or inheritance of any poor Naboth on which they may fix
their covetous eye; so that they take away even the heritage of the poor.
Judgment on all
Israel (2:3)
Verse 3: Therefore thus saith the LORD; behold, against this family do
I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall
ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.
Just as nothing could stop
Israel from her evil deeds, so no one would be able to stop God
from just punishment. The people would feel his oppression like a heavy yoke.
They would not accept their responsibilities to God (Matt.
11:29, 30) and so would
have to suffer the consequences.
Lamentation for Israel
(2:4—5)
Verse 4: In that day shall one take up a parable against
you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled:
he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from
me! Turning away he hath divided our fields.
It is difficult to discern whether the speaker
in this verse is one of the guilty exploiters or one of their captors making
fun of them. It is probably best to understand this lament as being spoken
by one of the corrupt landowners on behalf of his friends.
One takes up a parable against you—their
enemies would laugh at the corrupt landowners because they were so proud of
their strength.
Lament with a doleful lamentation—the
words of this lamentation illustrate the monotonous, continuous wailing that
would fill the ears of the people.
he hath changed the portion of my people—The
people were angry with God for taking what had been theirs and giving it to
their enemies (1:15).
Turning away he hath divided our fields—The
Lord has turned from his people to their enemies, and had given those enemies
what had once belonged to them. They would be sent into foreign countries
and their land would be divided among the rebels.
Verse 5: Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a
cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
You will no more have your inheritance divided to you by lot, as it was to
your fathers; ye shall neither have fields nor possessions of any kind. The
prophet is speaking for God. In the congregation of the Lord—the
people had no right to be angry with God for their punishment, as they had
brought it upon themselves.
Sins and judgment on Jacob (2:6—11)
Verse 6: Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy
to them, that they shall not take shame.
The Israelites welcomed those who told them falsehoods,
but they did not want to hear the painful truth. Because of their attitude,
God was forced to give them over to their sin: “You should have listened to
the prophets and you would have been saved, but you did not, so I will take
them from you and leave you to your sin” (Isa.
30:10; Amos 2:12; 7:16). God always fits the punishment to the crime. The word “prophesy”
literally means “drop” (Deut.
32:2; Ezek. 21:2).
Verse 7: O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the
spirit of the LORD straitened? Are these his doings? Do not my words
do good to him that walketh uprightly?
O thou that art named the house
of Jacob. Called after that great and good man, and reckoned the people
of God, and have the character of being religious persons; but, alas! Have
but a name, and not the thing, and are the degenerate offspring of that famous
patriarch:
Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?
Or "shortened" the Spirit of the Lord in his prophets, is it to
be limited and restrained according to the will of men? Or, if these prophets
are forbid to prophesy, and they are silenced, is not the residue of the Spirit
with the Lord? Cannot he raise up others to prophesy in his name? Or is the
Spirit of the Lord confined, as a spirit of prophesy, only to foretell good
things, and not evil? May it not threaten with, punishment for sin, as well
as promise peace and prosperity? and is it to be reckoned narrow and strait,
because it now does not? The fault is not in that, but in you, who make it
necessary, by your conduct, that not good, but evil things should be predicted
of you:
Are these his doings? Either Jacob's doings,
such things as Jacob did? Did he ever forbid the prophets of the Lord from
prophesying? or did he do such things as required such menaces and threatenings
as now delivered by the prophets? Or are these becoming such persons as go
by his name? Or are such works as are done by you pleasing to God? Were they,
no such terrible messages would be sent by his prophets: or are these the
Lord's doings? Are judgments the works he is continually doing and taking
delight in? Are they not his acts, his strange acts? Did you behave otherwise
than you do, you would hear nothing of this kind:
Do not my words do good to him that walketh
uprightly? That walks in a right way, and according to the rule of the
divine word, in the uprightness and integrity of his heart, aiming at the
honor and glory of God in all his ways? to such a man the words of the Lord
by his prophets speak good things, promise him good things here and hereafter,
and do him good, exhilarate his spirits, cheer, refresh, and comfort his soul.
Verse 8: Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off
the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from
war.
These
people were not being punished for things they had done long ago, but for
things they were doing that very day. They did not just hurt those they disliked,
but they even turned their backs on their friends who had never done anything
to hurt them.
Verse 9: The women of my people have ye cast out from their
pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.
These ruthless people even took advantage of the women. And since only women
are mentioned, it can be assumed that helpless widows are in mind. These money-hungry
people were hurting the helpless, proving themselves corrupt and cowardly. From
their children—Women and children, especially widows and orphans, were to
be treated with utmost respect. However, these people had no respect for anyone.
Verse 10: Arise ye, and depart; for this is
not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even
with a sore destruction.
Arise ye, and depart—this
is no longer an exhortation to turn from their wicked ways, but a command
to leave the land which they have corrupted. Canaan
has not been to them what God wanted it to be. They thought that because God
had promised to be with them, they were exempt from his punishment.
Shall destroy you—they
had polluted and defiled the land; now they had to face the consequences.
Verse 11: If a man walking in the spirit and
falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and
of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
The meaning is: If a man who professes to be divinely
inspired do lie, by prophesying of plenty, etc., then such a person shall
be received as a true prophet by this people. It frequently happens that the
Christless worldling, who has got into the priest’s office for a maintenance,
and who leaves the people undisturbed in their unregenerate state, is better
received than the faithful pastor, who proclaims the justice of the Lord,
and the necessity of repentance and forsaking sin, in order to their being
made partakers of that holiness without which no man shall see God.
Second Advent of the Messiah (2:12—13)
Verse 12: I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all
of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together
as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall
make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
This verse marks a sudden transition from terrible
threats to a promise of blessing. After God has punished the people thoroughly,
he will gather them from the lands of exile and give them back their land
with a new and happy life.
All of thee—this
does not refer to the restoration from Babylon,
because that was an incomplete restoration. This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled
(Rom. 11:26).
Jacob . . . Israel—It
will include the ten tribes (Hos.
12:2) and Judah;
As the sheep of Bozrah—a region famous for its
rich pastures (2 Kings
3:4). This was a city of Moab,
perhaps to be identified with Bezer. This may be Umm al-’Amad of today, located
northeast of Medeba.
Verse 13: The breaker is come up before them:
they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by
it: and their king shall pass before them and the LORD on the head of them.
Their king—i.e.,
“The Messiah will lead you back into your land and you will not have to leave
it again. God is taking your land away from you now, but later he will restore
it fully.” Israel
will come back as from the dead (Hos.
13:14) and their King will
lead them (Hos.
3:5; Matt.
27:37).
Pass before them—He will go before
them as he did when he led them out of Egypt
(Exod.
13:12; Deut.
1:30, 33).
The Lord on the head of them—The Lord will lead them into
their Promised Land (Isa.
52:12; cf. Exod.
23:20; 33:14; Isa.
63:9).