by BroMac 6 Replies latest jw friends
Babylon was "called to account" because of "their error".
what was their error?
if it was the destruction of Jerusalem did not Jah say i am bringing my servant the king of the chaldeans against this place. if that was the case then Jah punished Babylon for something he made them do.??
your thoughts please.
I'm thinking it was because the Babylonians went much further in their attack than Jehovah intended.
BroMac:
The Bible Knowledge Commentary (OT p.1161) has this to say about Jeremiah 25:12:
"After the 70 years were fulfilled God would also punish . . . the Babylonians because of the guilt they had incurred. He would fulfill all the things . . . written in Jeremiah's book against Babylon. The material to which God alluded is in chapters 50-51. Evidently at least part of chapters 50-51 was written about the same time as chapter 25. God would repay Babylon according to her deeds."
Note that the ellipsis and bolding of the text is from the publication itself. The bold text corresponds with the wording of the NIV Bible.
Based on the commentary above, chapters 50 and 51 should offer some clues as to Babylon's "error" (NWT), "iniquity" (YLT, RV, KJV, JPS, ESV, Darby, ASV), "evil-doing" (BBE), "sins" (ERV), "crimes" (GW). The Hebrew word translated "error" is awon. The AMG Hebrew dictionary defines it as "sin that is particularly evil, since it strongly conveys the idea of twisting or perverting deliberately. The noun carries along with it the idea of guilt from conscious wrongdoing. (Gen 44:16; Jer 2:22)"
(There is a good bit more in the definition, but this part seems most applicable to Jer 25:12.)
Hope this helps some.
Take Care
if it was the destruction of Jerusalem did not Jah say i am bringing my servant the king of the chaldeans against this place. if that was the case then Jah punished Babylon for something he made them do.??
your thoughts please.
It would be par for the course to use some ruler for His purpose, and then destroy them for actions He caused them to do.
Take the Pharoah: God actively "hardened the Pharoah's heart" against Moses and the Israelites, just so YHWH could later smack him down. In other words, the Pharoah MAY have been reasonable and kind, and perhaps would've released the Israelites, but God wouldn't allow that: he made him stubborn (for one, there'd be no good chase scene across the parted Red Sea, without someone in the villian role offering chase).
There's many other examples of the same in OT.
Xian apologetists excuse this kind of thing, saying that EVERYTHING God does points to the "Glory of God". All such actions are simply seen as opportunities for YHWH to show mortals how fair, just, powerful, merciful, and worthy of worship He is (even if a few innocent animals and bystanders are killed in the process).
And how they twist the 'my servant'!
King Solomon: I've always thought about that particular detail in the Pharaoh story...why these unnecessary twists when Pharaoh was already willing from the beginning? Sometimes it's things like these that make me question the Bible's validity. The popular image floating around on the internet of how many people God killed vs how many people Satan killed comes to mind.
(25:12-13) God says he is going to punish Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians for what they have done to his people -- even though God Himself is the one who made the Babylonians attack and enslave Judah! As part of the punishment God will take the land of the Babylonians and "make it perpetual desolations." A false prophecy, since present-day Iraq is quite occupied.
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/index.htm
LOL, it's all fairy tales anyway...
