by C.I. Scofield
(2 Kings 17:6-18; 2 Chronicles 36:11-21)
The Captivity of Israel
(2 Kings 17:6-18)
I. The Analysis
- The End of the Northern Kingdom (vv. 1, 18). It is significant that while a remnant of Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity, the ten tribes were not brought back.
- Jehovah’s Indictment of Israel (vv. 7-17). This is reducible to general counts: (a) Ingratitude, verse 7. All their sins were against that Jehovah who had compassionated their slavery in Egypt and had redeemed them; (b) Disobedience, verses 8, 15, 16. They forsook the will of God for self-will and the statutes of the heathen; (c) Apostasy, verses 9-17. They forsook the worship of Jehovah for the worship of false gods and idols.
- The Lord’s Long Suffering (v. 13). Every prophet testified against the sins of Israel, but, also, had testified of the willingness of God to forgive and to heal, if only they would turn to Him in repentance and obedience.
II. The Heart of the Lesson
Inevitable judgment for unforsaken sin—that is the large truth of this lesson. Let it be remembered that seven hundred years of Israelitish history lie between this act of final judgment, and the day when, under the warnings of Moses as recorded in Deuteronomy, God had brought the people into that land. Moses had sounded the faithful warning: “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book … then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful … and the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other” (Deut. 28:58-65).
How little the warning was heeded, how soon the sin came, the inspired history bears witness. Then came that which had not been foretold—the six hundred years of the divine forbearance and longsuffering, together with ceaseless efforts to win back His people. So far as Moses’ words went, judgment might have fallen instantly upon the disobedience. What God did not reveal through Moses was the age-long interval of forbearance. Just so, in the Old Testament prophecies the first and second advents of Messiah blend in one horizon, for to the Old Testament prophet the day of grace which has lasted now nineteen centuries was not revealed (Eph. 3:2-10). No wonder they “searched diligently,” “what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories which should follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11).
But “the longsuffering of God waited,” as in the days of Noah, and because “judgment was not speedily executed” men ceased to believe in retribution. A parallel only on a cosmic instead of limited Palestinian scale is found in our own age. Nothing can be at once more simple, direct and awful than the testimony of Scripture to the dread alternative of neglecting or rejecting the offered grace of God. The Lamb’s book of life or the lake of fire—these are the only two possible ultimate destinies. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
And what we need to see is that the inevitableness of eternal separation from God of those who do not believe, desire or love God, rests not upon some arbitrary decree, but upon the eternal and indestructible distinctions between good and evil, faith and doubt, love and hatred. “He loved cursing, so let it be unto him; he hated blessing, so let it be far from him,” is God’s sorrowful assent to man’s deliberate choice.
THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH
(2 Chronicles 36:11-21)
I. The Analysis
- The Wicked King (vv. 11-14). Note that the rejection of the words of Jeremiah was in reality the rejection of God’s words.
- The Wicked Priests (v. 14). The priests were, equally with the king, rejectors of the word of the Lord. In all history priests side with kings against prophets.
- Warning and Judgment (vv. 15-20). This is ever the divine way—warning precedes judgment.
II. The Heart of the Lesson
“But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (v. 16). “Till there was no remedy”—that awful phrase opens the deepest heart of this lesson. It is not, observe, that man had no remedy as against the king of the Chaldees, but that God had no remedy for His people—“till there was no remedy.” There had been a remedy. Jeremiah and Isaiah and all the pre-exile prophets had published abroad the divine and perfect remedy. Isaiah had said, “Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.”
Jeremiah had cried: “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.” “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.”
In Jehovah was a perfect remedy for all the evil of Judah, but—“They mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” In other words, when God’s remedy is rejected, “there is no remedy.”
Doubtless the majority called Jeremiah a “gloomy pessimist.” The times were good, the comfort of life constantly increased, men spoke of the ruder times of their fathers and boasted of progress. The priests would be ready to point out the improbability, even the absurdity, of the notion that Jehovah would permit His city and temple to be overthrown. Had not Israel a great mission yet unaccomplished so long as all peoples did not recognize the unity of God? To say that He would destroy the religion which He had Himself planted would be to say that the purposes of God were thwarted.
Just so men reason in this Gospel age. To speak of coming judgments of an apostate church, of another advent of Christ, is to say that the Gospel has failed.
The answer both then and now is that neither the ultimate purposes of God through Israel nor through the Gospel will fail. It is men who fail; men who become apostate, whether in Israel or the church and then “there is no remedy,” so far as men are concerned. But God remains, and in other ways He accomplishes His purposes.
Judah was judged and sent into captivity. “There was no remedy” for that. Judah, after seventy years, was restored and held in the land till Christ came and was rejected. Then again “there was no remedy,” and Judah was sent into a dispersion. But Israel will be restored, and then, that people will not fail. ■
This article is adapted from C. I. Scofield, Things New and Old, ed. A. C. Gaebelein (New York: Our Hope, 1920).
C.I. Scofield (1843‒1921) was an American evangelical pastor, theologian, conference speaker, and author best known for his popular annotated Study Bible that promoted dispensational, grace-oriented biblical doctrine.