JEHOVAH is the only true God. With striking emphasis he so informed the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. That he did for their own benefit. The name Jehovah signifies his purposes toward his people. That was the name by which he revealed himself to Moses and to others of Israel. His expressed purpose was to lead that people in the right way and show them the way to life. Had Israel faithfully kept the covenant God made with that people, life would have been the result. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord." — Lev. 18: 5.
Jehovah established with Israel the "pure religion" (Jas. 1:27); namely, that they should worship Jehovah as the only true God and have no other gods besides him. Satan the enemy, the chief of devils, and the invisible ruler of the other nations, established with those nations the false religion, namely, the worship of devils.
God erected a shield for the protection of Israel, by the terms of the law which he gave them. That law provided severe punishment for any one who indulged in devil-worship. (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 20:26,27; Deut. 18:9-14) The experiences through which Israel passed were primarily to demonstrate to them the ne
cessity of loyalty and faithfulness to Jehovah. The evil one, Satan, hated the loyal Jews and sought to destroy them in whatsoever way he could. His constant effort was to turn them away from Jehovah God. During the time of Joshua the Israelites were faithful to God. Shortly after his death they began to forget God and fell into sin.
"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them . . . into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies." — Judg. 2:11-14.
"And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them." (Judg. 2:18) Then the Lord permitted the heathen to dwell near Israel to test them.
"Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them; even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan.
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites; and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves." — Judg. 3:1, 5-7.
Again the Lord permitted the Israelites to have great tribulation, and when they cried unto him again he heard their cry and delivered them. (Judg. 3: 9,10) Time and time again the Israelites were unfaithful to their covenant, and time and again were they punished therefor, and when they cried unto the Lord he heard them and delivered them. — Judg. 4:1-15; 6:7.
Then the Lord raised up Judge Samuel, who was true and faithful to the Lord; and because of his faithfulness the Lord delivered Israel out of the hand of their enemies during all the days of the judge.
Be it noted that whenever Israel was faithful to the Lord he always delivered them from their enemies. Without doubt he did this to teach them that he was not only their great God but their true and only friend, and that Satan was and is their enemy. Some marked demonstrations of God's loving-kindness to Israel are shown in the instances recorded in the Scriptures. A few of these are here recounted:
Gideon, who served God and who prayed unto God for help, with a little band of three hun-
dred men put to flight a host of 200,000 Midianites, God causing these to slay one another. Without a doubt the Lord thus showed his favor because Gideon obeyed the voice of Jehovah and defied the Devil and his organization. (Judg. 6:11-40; 7:1-25) In this great conflict Gideon and his little company of three hundred did nothing but hold high their lamps and cry out: "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon." The Lord God did the rest and caused the destruction of the Midianites.
When Jehoshaphat was king, the combined armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir came up against the Israelites. Jehoshaphat knew that he could not withstand the assault of this great enemy. He gathered the Israelites before the temple at Jerusalem, to wit, the men, women and children. Standing before the temple, and as the mouthpiece of Israel, Jehoshaphat prayed to Jehovah God thus: "O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children." — 2 Chron. 20:6,13.
Then the Lord heard the prayer of Jehoshaphat, and caused Jahaziel, a son of the tribe of Levi, to prophesy and to tell Jehoshaphat to "be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude", but that he should go out to
battle and the enemy should fall. He said: "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, 0 Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you." — 2 Chron. 20:17.
And then, under the instructions of the Lord, Jehoshaphat appointed singers unto the Lord, who should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and praise the Lord for his mercy and goodness. Next day they went out to battle; and as the enemy approached, these singers began to sing the praises of the Lord. "And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten." — Vs. 22.
On another occasion, to wit, the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came to give battle against the city of Jerusalem. The king of Assyria was an arrogant, haughty heathen who worshiped the Devil. This arrogant heathen king with his great army sent messengers unto Hezekiah and defied Almighty God. When Hezekiah heard this message he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and ashes and went down to the house of the Lord. Hezekiah was greatly in fear and in trouble, and he
sent his servant who came unto Isaiah the prophet. And Isaiah prophesied:
"Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." — Isa. 37:6,7.
Again the king of Assyria sent messengers to Hezekiah with a letter, attempting to weaken the faith of Hezekiah in Jehovah God.
"And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, 0 Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, 0 Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now, therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only." — Isa. 37:14-20.
Then Isaiah prophesied and said unto King Hezekiah: "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake." — Isa. 37: 33-35.
The silence of night settled down upon the holy city of Jerusalem, but the inhabitants thereof slept not. They knew that there stood before the gates of the place of their habitation a mighty and terrible army that had never known defeat, an army so powerful that it could snuff out the Israelites as the wind drives the chaff before it. They knew that nothing could save them from this terrible enemy except the mighty hand of God. The Lord God had heard the prayer of Hezekiah, and the people waited. And while they waited the Lord God performed his great work for his name's sake and for the sake of David his beloved servant; and the Devil and all his angels could not lift a finger to aid his servant Sennacherib and his mighty army.
When the curtains of night lifted, there lay spread out before the city, upon the hills and plains, 185,000 dead men of Sennacherib's army.
The Israelites had not struck a blow. The God of heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had delivered them out of the hands of the enemy, as it is recorded: "Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses." — Isa. 37:36.
Many other examples appear in the Scriptures of how Jehovah defended Israel his people. All these things Jehovah did that Israel might learn that he is the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and that his power is without limitation; that he is their friend and deliverer, and could deliver them at any time out of the hands of the greatest of all enemies. Notwithstanding this great deliverance Israel again yielded to the seductive influence of Satan the enemy and turned away from God.
These things are recounted here, not for the purpose of reproaching the Jews, but for the purpose of proving that their hope, and only hope, is to trust Jehovah God and obey his voice. In the law God had warned Israel what they might expect to suffer if they disobeyed his law. To them he said:
"Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your
God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
"If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
"But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall
despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste." — Lev. 26:1-18, 30-33.
Because of their repeated violation of their covenant in forsaking the only true God and falling to the wiles of the enemy, Jehovah caused his prophet Jeremiah to say unto them:
"Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrez-
zar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations." — Jer. 25: 9.
Zedekiah was Israel's last king. He did evil in the sight of God. He mocked the prophets whom Jehovah sent, and despised the words of God spoken by the prophets, and misused them. (2 Chron. 36:12-16) Then the Lord, through the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel, pronounced the final decree against Israel, which was enforced in the year 606 B. C., which decree follows:
"Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." — Ezek. 21: 24-27.
Then the Lord brought upon the Israelites the Chaldeans, who broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned the house of the Lord
and all the places thereabout and carried away the people captive to Babylon; and they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and then put out the eyes of the king, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. All this was done in fulfilment of the prophecy which had been given as a warning to Israel. See 2 Ki. 25: 6,7; 2 Chron. 36:21.
Why did the nation of Israel fall? The answer is, Because of their unfaithfulness to Jehovah God. It is true that a portion of the Israelites returned from Babylon seventy years later; but never again did they have a king, and never again did they have full possession of the land. They were subject to other nations, and finally were completely overthrown by the Romans, and in 73 A.D. the last vestige of their power disappeared from Palestine.
But is Israel cast off for ever? The answer is, No, indeed! Mark the statement made by the Lord to Ezekiel at the time of pronouncing the final decree against them. It is: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." (Ezek. 21: 27) The mere fact that the Lord said he would overturn it until a set time is conclusive proof that it is God's purpose to restore Israel to his favor upon certain conditions. But when? The answer is, With the coming of Shiloh, the Messiah, to whom shall the gathering of the people be, as promised in Genesis 49:10. Then he of whom Moses was
a type shall come into his own. (Dent. 18:15-18) "And at that time shall Michael [the Messiah] stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people." (Dan. 12:1) That will mark the time when the favor of God may be expected to return to Israel.
Since it was unfaithfulness to Jehovah that caused them to be cast off, what should we expect will enable Israel to be restored to God's favor? The answer is, Faith in God and in his Word, and full obedience to him. What is the reason why they were unfaithful to God? Clearly the answer is, Because Satan the enemy, the god of this world, blinded them to the great truths which God had told them. But this blindness is not to continue for ever; and when it is removed there shall come unto them the great Messiah, who shall turn away ungodliness from the descendants of Judah; and his house shall be saved and returned to God's favor.
