At about that time King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria asking for personal help. The Edomites had come back and given Judah a bad beating, taking off a bunch of captives. Adding insult to injury the Philistines raided the cities in the foothills to the west and the southern desert and captured Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, along with Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages, and moved in, making themselves at home. Arrogant King Ahaz, acting as if he could do without God’s help, had unleashed an epidemic of depravity. Judah, brought to its knees by God, was now reduced to begging for a handout. But the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser, wouldn’t help—he came instead and humiliated Ahaz even more by attacking and bullying him. Desperate, Ahaz ransacked The Temple of God, the royal palace, and every other place he could think of, scraping together everything he could, and gave it to the king of Assyria—and got nothing in return, not a bit of help.
Jeremiah 2:18The Message“And now, what do you think you’ll get by going off to Egypt? Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water? Or what do you think you’ll get by going off to Assyria? Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water? Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that’s what you’ll get. You’ll pay dearly for your disloyal ways. Take a long, hard look at what you’ve done and its bitter results. Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?” God’s Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies. See the chapter |
18 Cross References
Doom to those who go off to Egypt thinking that horses can help them, Impressed by military mathematics, awed by sheer numbers of chariots and riders— And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance, not so much as a prayer to God. Still, he must be reckoned with, a most wise God who knows what he’s doing. He can call down catastrophe. He’s a God who does what he says. He intervenes in the work of those who do wrong, stands up against interfering evildoers. Egyptians are mortal, not God, and their horses are flesh, not Spirit. When God gives the signal, helpers and helped alike will fall in a heap and share the same dirt grave. * * *
“You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you, to try out another sin-project when the first one fails? But Egypt will leave you in the lurch the same way that Assyria did. You’re going to walk away from there wringing your hands. I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted. You’ll get not a lick of help from them.”
“Ephraim is bird-brained, mindless, clueless, First chirping after Egypt, then fluttering after Assyria. I’ll throw my net over them. I’ll clip their wings. I’ll teach them to mind me! Doom! They’ve run away from home. Now they’re really in trouble! They’ve defied me. And I’m supposed to help them while they feed me a line of lies? Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer, they whoop it up in bed with their whores, Gash themselves bloody in their sex-and-religion orgies, but turn their backs on me. I’m the one who gave them good minds and healthy bodies, and how am I repaid? With evil scheming! They turn, but not to me— turn here, then there, like a weather vane. Their rulers will be cut down, murdered— just deserts for their mocking blasphemies. And the final sentence? Ridicule in the court of world opinion.”