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DANIEL DECODED |
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Books by Dr. Kenton Beshore Rapture, Apocalypse, Armageddon,
Millennium
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The Babylonian
captivity was judgment upon Israel for the sin of King Hezekiah. Sennacherib,
the king of Assyria, conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel in 701 B.C.
He then set his eyes on Judah, but Hezekiah defied him and prayed to Jehovah.
Isaiah gave Hezekiah the answer that Judah would be spared (2 Kings
19.21-28). Just one angel slaughtered 185,000 soldiers of the mighty Assyrian
army in one night (2 Kings 19.35). Sennacherib went home to Nineveh since he
had no army. A few years later while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, two of his sons, Adrammelech
and Sharezer, murdered him (2 Kings 19.36-37). Hezekiah fell ill
and Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent dignitaries to Hezekiah
with a present. Hezekiah was flattered by this demonstration of concern and
showed the dignitaries all of the riches of Israel. This was the worst thing
he had done during his reign and it resulted in great suffering for his
people. Jehovah sent
Isaiah to Hezekiah to explain to him that what he did was incredibly stupid
and the nation of Judah would be punished for his lack of common sense.
Isaiah told him that all of the wealth of Judah would be taken to Babylon and
some of his descendants would be taken captive (2 Kings 20.16-18). About seventy
years after the death of Sennacherib, Nebopolassar,
the king of Babylon, launched a rebellion against the mighty Assyrian Empire.
He took Nineveh in 612 B.C. and then captured Haran in 610. Assyrian king Ashur-uballit II, aided by Pharaoh Necho
II of Egypt, laid siege to Haran to retake it in 609, but failed. Necho was delayed at Megiddo by the forces of King Josiah
of Judah, who was killed and his army defeated (2 Chronicles 35.20-24). They
then retreated to northern Syria and four years later fought the final battle
of the Assyrian Empire at Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar II, the commander of the
Babylonian forces soundly routed the Assyrians and Egyptians. The Assyrian
Empire was laid to rest and Egypt was no longer a significant force in the
Ancient Near East. The Babylonian
Empire under Nebuchadnezzar became the dominant empire in the ancient world
for about 70 years before falling to the Medo-Persian
Empire. The captivity of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar was punishment for the
mistake of Hezekiah made in showing the dignitaries from Babylon all of the
riches of his kingdom. This may seem harsh, but it was nothing new. Jehovah
sent all of Israel into Egyptian captivity simply because Abraham failed to
believe a promise made to him. Disciplining the people for the sins or mistakes of their
leaders
was a practice that Jehovah carried out frequently beginning with Abraham. Jehovah promised
to make the descendants of Abraham, who was without child at the time and his
wife was barren, as numerous as the stars of heaven (Genesis 15.5). Abraham
believed the promise and his faith was reckoned to
him as righteousness (Genesis 15.6). Jehovah also promised to give Abraham
and his descendants the land of Canaan (Genesis 15.7). Unfortunately, Abraham
questioned this promise and asked, “O Lord
Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis
15.8). That mistake cost the Hebrew people 400 years of captivity in Egypt
(Genesis 15.12-16). King David got it
in his head that he would number the people of Israel (1 Chronicles 21.1-5).
Jehovah sent a plague on Israel and David quickly repented of his sin (1
Chronicles 21.7-8). Jehovah sent Gad to tell David he had three choices of
punishment – three years of famine, three months of defeat by
Israel’s enemies or three days of pestilence (1 Chronicles 21.12).
David chose pestilence and 70,000 men died (1 Chronicles 21.14). Men of God must
remember that because they are in positions of leadership they must be
extremely careful to obey God in all things for those under them may be
punished for their sins. The people of Judah
were also sent into Babylonian captivity because of their sins which were
myriad: And Jehovah, the God of their
fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because
he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked
the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets,
until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no
remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew
their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no
compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed: he gave them
all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small,
and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king, and
of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. And
they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt
all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels
thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon;
and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of
Persia: to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth
of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths:
[for] as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath,
to fulfil threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36.15-21) To order your copy of Daniel Decoded Call
800.866.WORD (9673). WORLD BIBLE SOCIETY P.O. Box
5000 Costa
Mesa, CA 92628 714.258.3012
or 800.866.WORD |