Political Crossfire Forums

[psholtz]

Mailech wrote: The 390 years are years where there was sin. There where good years in there. This is not a prophesy, it is a commandment. G-d is telling Ezekiel to afflict himself so as to mitigate the punishment that will be inflicted on the rest of the Jews.
My NIV Bible has similar commentary..

Still, I find the 721 BC + 390 = 331 BC = when Alexander defeated the Persians to be a pretty interesting coincidence.. :-D

[psholtz]

John + cap'n.. if you have anything to add about this verse, I'd be interested in discussing it..

I apologize for my baiting comment of "fundies" at the top of the thread..

I'd be open to listening to what you have to say, w/o sacrcasm.. :-D

[John]

psholtz wrote: John + cap'n.. if you have anything to add about this verse, I'd be interested in discussing it..

I apologize for my baiting comment of "fundies" at the top of the thread..

I'd be open to listening to what you have to say, w/o sacrcasm.. :-D


What do I know?

This guy has better knowledge of the subject than I do...

[Angelicus]

Mailech wrote: The way that I understood it (and I am a Jewish fundie) is that this is not a prophecy, it is a command from G-d. And Ezekiel did this. The purpose being two-fold. So that a righteous person like Ezekiel could "absord" some of the punishment that was meant for the Jews (and yes I can say Jews because we are talking about the Kingdom of Judah) so they should not be totally destroyed. The second is to teach by example. That is a very common theme in Ezekiel, that is found in some others as well, to do actions before the people, because actions speak louder than words.

I am a Christian "fundie" I guess and it looked to me also not to be a prophecy but as if God was telling Ezekiel to do that.

[sLiPpY]

psholtz wrote: Mailech wrote: psholtz wrote: Mailech wrote: That is interesting, but the way I look at it, is that the 390 years are the years that the kingdom of Israel was occupied before they where expelled. The additional 40 years for the kingdom of Judah was for the addition 40 years befor they where exiled by Nebachadnetzar
So you're saying that Israel was first occupied in 721 BC + 390 years = 1111 BC?
A little before that like 150 years. around 1270's
So.... where are you going with the 390 years in the Ezekiel verse.. :think:

Just trying to follow you.. :-D

The Book of Ezekiel was written during the five year period before Jerusalem completely fell to Babylonia. Ezekiel was in Babylon at the time, the book was written somewhere between 570 and 590 BCE.

The Babylonians were in process of gaining complete control over Judah.

I found it interesting, the verse mentions "lying on one's side?" During the Roman empire, people would typically recline and lay on their sides to eat.

It seems like a verse that has the potential to offer some other type of nuiances, that are lost today...dependant upon the word choice in the language of the original scribe.

Aside from those generalities, I have no idea what it means.

[cap'n queasy]

Angelicus wrote: Mailech wrote: The way that I understood it (and I am a Jewish fundie) is that this is not a prophecy, it is a command from G-d. And Ezekiel did this. The purpose being two-fold. So that a righteous person like Ezekiel could "absord" some of the punishment that was meant for the Jews (and yes I can say Jews because we are talking about the Kingdom of Judah) so they should not be totally destroyed. The second is to teach by example. That is a very common theme in Ezekiel, that is found in some others as well, to do actions before the people, because actions speak louder than words.

I am a Christian "fundie" I guess and it looked to me also not to be a prophecy but as if God was telling Ezekiel to do that.


Here's the way I look at it.
It was an extreme form of testimony, for a stiff necked people, who wouldn't listen to anything else. With a bit of prophecy at the end of it. I do not think the actions themselves had anything ritually to do with absolving Israel of her sins.

The three hundred and ninety days represented how many years Israel had sinned against God, by worshiping false gods, since the days when Solomon allowed his wifes to build temples to pagan gods in the land. Then he was instructed to lay on his right side for forty days representing the especially wicked reign of Manasseh, which was forty years long.

He was showing the misery these times had caused God, having His children indulge in spiritual adultery for so long.

The defiled bread was again a testimony of how Israel looked in the sight of God, when she worshiped false gods. The taste of the defiled bread in Ezekiel's mouth was a reminder of what Israel, in her sins, was like in the sight of God.

He was then instructed to weigh out an extremely small portion of defiled bread and drink for each day for himself. This was to prophesy that the food supply of Jerusalem would be cut off in a seige when Jerusalem was finally cut off from the land and the people were taken into captivity in Babylon.

The people had forgotten YHWH, and this was how YHWH told them why there would be captivity.

The sobering thing about it for us that read this ancient text today, is that our society is every bit the same thing that the society in the text is.

That should gives a little pause to think about how we do things in our personal lives and in our relationships with others.

[esight]

Tetracide wrote: I didn't intend to. I'm just saying, some parts of every religion are not adhered to because they no longer fit into our modern sense of right and wrong.

If you examine your statement carefully, you said "... because they no longer fit into our modern sense of right and wrong."

From what you say, it seems that Man dictates what truths in the Bible should still be considered valid. God's mandates are not for Man to decide on which is valid or not. If anything, this tells me that Man have chosen to disobey, but that doesn't make what they disobey obsolescent.