Under Yokes of Iron

Under Yokes of Iron Dr. Ben Michael Carter http://www.drbenmcarter.com Book cover compiled and edited by Salma Carunia Carter In the Summer of 2017, Salma traveled to Italy and stayed in Rome, near the Vatican. She presented her scholarly husband’s books and writings to the Vatican Library. In September of 2017 she received a thank you letter from Pope Francis expressing appreciation, acknowledging the gift of inscribed copies of Dr. Ben Michael Carter’s writings with his personal photo with the Papal seal. This book is dedicated to those helped Dr. Carter in his journey: Reverend Forrest & Anne Gearhart. Reverend Forrest Gearhart was a great help to Mike during his quest to find God while in San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1978-1981. Bruce & Judy Fowler. Bruce was Mike’s Sunday School teacher. Cliff & Nancy Friesen. Cliff was a doctor who treated Mike’s soul. UNDER YOKES OF IRON: An Introduction to the Prophets Table of Contents Preface Introduction l - 5 Chapter One: Historical Backgroundfor the Writing Prophets: Assyria 6 - 7 Chapter Two: Hosea and Amos 8 - 13 Chapter Three: Assyria and the Rise of Nineveh 14 - 15 Chapter Four: Isaiah and Micah 16 - 30 Chapter Five: The Glory of Assyria and the Prop_hesy of Nahum 31 - 33 Chapter Six: Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Rise of Babylon 34- 38 Chapter Seven: Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the Fall of Jerusalem 39 - 58 Chapter Eight: Prophets of the Exile: Obadiah and Joel 59 - 66 Chapter Nine: Return and Rebuilding: Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi 67 - 82 Conclusion 83 Preface In Acts 8:26 - 39 we read how Philip going into the desert of the Gaza found a eunuch from Ethiopia studying Isaiah. The two men began to discuss the text and in the course of the r conversation the eunuch stepped fom his chariot and asked to be baptized by Philip. In the first centuries of the church people oftencame to faithin Christ by reading the prophets. One of the most famous of those converted in this way was Justin Martyr, the great second century Christian apologist. Following the advice of an old man who suggested that he might findtruth in the Hebrew prophets, Justin turnedfrom the philosophers and began to ponder those ancient Jewish scrolls. Like the eunuch, he, too, came to faithin Christ. The prophets perform this role much less frequently today. Most people simply consider the prophets, with their strange images and their unfamiliar thought patterns, too difficult to understand. When we read the Old Testament, we turn to Psalms and Proverbs, to Genesis and Exodus, or to the books of Samuel and Kings, but we spend comparatively little time with the prophets. Nevertheless a great deal of prophetic language has over the centuries crept into our everyday speech and most of us have a general idea of what the prophets said even though we may not know which prophet said what. This book was written for those who have such preliminary knowledge. It is intended not as a scholarly text but as a fairly brief introduction to a topic about which a library of books has been written. It is a book which, rather than discussing the prophet's entire message in detail, concentrates on favorite passages which the reader is likely to know, and describes their meaning and significance from within a Christian perspective. It also attempts to discuss those passages in the order in which they were most probably delivered and to present in brief form those historical events out of which the prophecies were born. This accounts for the somewhat unusual way the book is organized. As the frequent scripture references indicate, this book should be read with a Bible in hand. I have drawn my quotations from the King James Version (the KJV) because I Jove its phraseology and language, but occasionally for clarity and contrast I have referred to alternative translations as found in the Revised Standard Version (the RSV), the New International Version (the NIV), or the American Standard Version (the ASV). The reader is invited to use whatever version he or she finds most familiar. The best way to benefit from this book is to read it slowly, considering the historical background forthe passages within the broader context of Scripture itself. If this book leads the reader into a deeper appreciation of the prophets and acts as a catalyst for furtherstudy, it will have done its job Introduction Europe, Asia, and Africaconverge to fonn what we known as the Levant, that region washed by the eastern Mediterranean where today one findsthe countries of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. Great powers have vied with one another here since the beginning of history, and according to some interpretations of Revelation 16: 16 the last battle of history will be fought in one of the Levant's valleys. During the period covered in the Old Testament, three empires: Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, periodically contested ownership of the region, and Israel, a kingdom that proved to be cosmically pivotal, dominated the Levant for several centuries. This is the backdrop against which the Old Testament prophets speak. They understood Israel as central to all human history, and while their view of "the world" comprised little more than the Levant and regions immediately beyond it, their words are universal. This is because the God whose purposes they proclaimed is not just the God oflsrael, he is the God of all nations. Indeed, he is the God of the entire universe. During a time when polytheism tended to be religiously dominant, the perception of the prophets was radical. But there was more to this radical perception than the idea that the God of Israel was the one supreme God. The prophets also proclaimed the estrangement of God from his creation. Using Israel and Judah as examples, a practice their hearers found shocking, they proclaimed that this estrangement was a consequence of universal human disobedience. This meant that all the nations - indeed all of creation - were under divine judgment. They also proclaimed that this divine judgment was a predicate for divine mercy and that human history was the outworking of a process that would end with the reconciliation of God and humanity, and the recreation of the natural world. History, which had begun with a human disaster, would end with the triumph of God's people. The prophets revealed that while Israel was central to God's purposes, those purposes would ultimately involve all of humanity. Ancient Israelites established themselves in Canaan by invading that land and displacing the Canaanites, the people who were already there. Believing God was angry with the Canaanites because the religion the Canaanites practiced, though once focused on God, had become corrupt, the Israelites understood their invasion as an expression of God's judgment on the Canaanites (Genesis 15: 16; Deuteronomy 9:5). Hence, the idea that invaders are agents of God's judgment on corrupt worship became a central tenet of the Israelites' faith and is an idea one frequently encounters in the prophets. Around the eleven century BC the twelve tribes of Israel organized themselves into a kingdom. They initially selected Saul to be their king but as time passed Saul showed himself to be inadequate to the demands of his office so the kingdom was taken from him and given to David. The first book of Samuel tells this story. Because David's heart was right before God, God swore to be faithful to David's descendants always. God's promise to David was the same as an earlier promise God had made to Abraham. Because Abraham was faithful to God, God promised to be faithful to Abraham's descendants always. The Israelites understood themselves to be Abraham's descendants through his wife Sarah. Hence the Israelites had assurance that God would be faithful both to them as a people and to their kings. This faithfulness, the Israelites believed, was rooted not in human actions but in God's own character. Hence they believed the promises of God could be relied upon absolutely. God did not have to bind himselfto any nation. He had freely bound himself to Israel as a testimony to the faithfulnessof Abraham and David. Although it had a human king, Israel's ideal was theocracy. God was ultimately sovereign. Consequently Israel's priests because they mediated between God and the Israelites enjoyed a great deal of power. This power became accentuated from the time of Solomon when the seat of government and the temple were constructed in the same city: Jerusalem. However, the terms defining the precise nature of the Israelites' special status before God were explained in a legal code God had given to the Israelites. This legal code was in the form of a contract which stipulated that if the Israelites adhered to the provisions of the law, they would prosper, but if they failedto adhere to those provisions, they would be punished. The prosperity was aIJuring, the punishments severe. The threat of punishment increased the power of the priests since much of what they did was believed to deflect God's anger should individuals under terms of the contract violate its provisions. The threat of punishment also created another center of power within Israel. Because God loved the Israelites, he did not seek to punish them before giving them sufficient warning so they would have an opportunityto correcttheir behavior or at least understand why they were being punished. To this end God caIJed a group of men and women out of a group of already recognized religious professionals: the prophets. Prophets had weII-established roles in many religious traditions during this period.

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