Present-Day Babylon
1 HEARKEN TO THIS, O HOUSE OF JACOB, WHO ARE CALLED BY THE NAME OF ISRAEL, AND WHO EMANATED FROM THE WATERS OF JUDAH, WHO SWEAR BY THE NAME OF THE LORD AND MAKE MENTION OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL, NEITHER IN TRUTH NOR IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This could be referring to the present State of Israel whose founders and main constituting members descend from Judah.
2 FOR THEY ARE CALLED [AS BEING] FROM THE HOLY CITY, AND THEY LEANED ON THE GOD OF ISRAEL; THE LORD OF HOSTS IS HIS NAME.
The present-day Jews acknowledge the God of Israel.
By world standards Israel as a country is not as bad as it is sometimes represented. There is a lot of charity, a lot of concern for the welfare of others, a lot of good points. On the other hand there are many matters that should be corrected. In Israel, all the left-wing “do-gooders” who in other countries do manage now and again to effect needed reforms often seem more concerned with the Palestinians than they are with their own people. There is no reason why the standard of concern for others should be inferior to that of any other nation. Left-wing bodies (such as “BeTzelem”) receive financial support from European governments (and in the past from the USA under Clinton) and these governments pay for Palestinian concerns.
3 THE FIRST THINGS I TOLD FROM THEN, AND THEY EMANATED FROM MY MOUTH AND I LET [YOU] HEAR THEM; SUDDENLY I DID [THEM] AND THEY CAME TO PASS.
They say that everything that happens is written somewhere in the Bible. The problem is to read it. Even without trying to discover “secret” things concerning the present or future the Bible is worth reading. It is in itself more interesting than any other work.
4 BECAUSE OF MY KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE OBSTINATE, AND YOUR NAPE IS A SINEW OF IRON, AND YOUR FOREHEAD IS BRAZEN.
5 AND I TOLD YOU FROM THEN; WHEN IT HAD NOT YET COME TO PASS I LET YOU HEAR IT; LEST YOU SAY, "MY IDOL PERFORMED THEM, AND MY GRAVEN IMAGE AND MY MOLTEN IMAGE ORDAINED THEM."
6 YOU HAVE HEARD, SEE ALL OF IT; AND YOU, WILL YOU NOT TELL? I LET YOU HEAR NEW THINGS FROM NOW, AND HIDDEN THINGS THAT YOU DID NOT KNOW.
7 NOW THEY HAVE BEEN CREATED AND NOT FROM THEN, AND BEFORE THE DAY, AND YOU DID NOT HEAR THEM, LEST YOU SAY, "I KNEW THEM."
8 NEITHER DID YOU HEARKEN, NEITHER DID YOU KNOW, NOR WAS YOUR EAR OPENED FROM THEN, FOR I KNEW THAT YOU WOULD DEAL TREACHEROUSLY, AND YOU WERE CALLED TRANSGRESSOR FROM THE WOMB.
9 FOR THE SAKE OF MY NAME I DEFER MY ANGER, AND MY PRAISE IS THAT I RESTRAIN MY WRATH FOR YOU, NOT TO CUT YOU OFF.
10 BEHOLD I HAVE REFINED YOU, BUT NOT AS SILVER; I HAVE CHOSEN FOR YOU THE CRUCIBLE OF POVERTY.
11 FOR MY SAKE, FOR MY SAKE I WILL DO, FOR HOW SHALL IT BE PROFANED? AND MY HONOR I WILL NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER.
Even if Judah is not worthy the name of the God of Israel is called upon them in the eyes of the peoples of the earth. God will therefore not destroy them but rather deliver them for the sake of HIS name.
12 HEARKEN TO ME, O JACOB, AND ISRAEL, WHO WAS CALLED BY ME, I AM HE, I AM FIRST, YEA I AM LAST.
Jacob (i.e. Judah) and Israel (the Lost Ten Trbies) are mentoned together indicating some kind of association.
13 EVEN MY HAND LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND MY RIGHT HAND MEASURED THE HEAVENS WITH HANDBREADTHS; I CALL THEM, THEY STAND TOGETHER.
14 ALL OF YOU, GATHER AND HEARKEN, WHO OF THEM TOLD THESE? THE LORD LOVES HIM, WHO SHALL DO HIS WORK IN BABYLON AND [SHOW] HIS ARM [UPON THE] CHALDEANS.
According to simple meaning He is speaking of Cyrus the King of Persia who has been called to conquer Babylon. If speaking of the future he is apparently speaking of a future leader of the Ten Tribes (“Messiah the son of Joseph”?) spoken of elsewhere.
15 I, YEA I SPOKE, I EVEN CALLED HIM, I BROUGHT HIM, AND HIS WAY PROSPERED.
16 DRAW NEAR TO ME, HEARKEN TO THIS; IN THE BEGINNING I DID NOT SPEAK IN SECRET, FROM THE TIME IT WAS, THERE WAS I, AND NOW, THE LORD GOD HAS SENT ME, AND HIS SPIRIT.
17 SO SAID THE LORD, YOUR REDEEMER, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO TEACHES YOU FOR YOUR PROFIT, WHO LEADS YOU BY THE WAY YOU SHOULD GO.
18 HAD YOU HEARKENED TO MY COMMANDMENTS, YOUR PEACE WOULD BE AS A RIVER, AND YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE THE WAVES OF THE SEA.
This is what could have been and can still be on a national level if we do God’s will.
19 AND YOUR SEED WOULD BE LIKE THE SAND AND THOSE EMANATING FROM YOUR INNARDS [WOULD BE] LIKE ITS INNARDS; HIS NAME SHALL NEITHER BE CUT OFF NOR DESTROYED FROM BEFORE ME.
The Jews of the State of Israel shall increase and multiply.
20 LEAVE BABYLON, FLEE FROM THE CHALDEANS; WITH A VOICE OF SINGING DECLARE, TELL THIS, PUBLICIZE IT TO THE END OF THE EARTH; SAY, "THE LORD HAS REDEEMED HIS SERVANT JACOB."
The Jews in the Diaspora should leave wherever they are and move to Israel. The world has changed. We have changed. We should not rely on what we may have become.
Amos Chacham (in the Commentary "Daat Mikra") suggests that it means to flee from the Land of the Chaldeans lest you be overcome with the disaster that will befall that area.
“END OF THE EARTH” an expression frequently linked to the Lost Ten Tribes as we have explained elsewhere. Perhaps the Lost Ten Tribes will be subjugated to “Babylon” for a period prior to the end? Does the term "Babylon" reflect a cultural phenomenon?
21 AND THEY DID NOT THIRST WHEN HE LED THEM IN THE WASTELANDS, HE MADE WATER RUN FROM A ROCK FOR THEM; HE SPLIT A ROCK AND WATER FLOWED.
This is referring to Moses who split the rock and water came out.
Water was very important.
I was just reading an account of the Holocaust. One of the ways the Germans subjugated the Jewish population before exterminating them was by denying them sufficient water. A person constantly on the edge of collapse through thirst can become very compliant.
22 "THERE IS NO PEACE," SAID THE LORD. "FOR THE WICKED."
Chapter 49.
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