Justice for the Unjust

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.

1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
    Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
    your hands deal out violence on earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
    or of the cunning enchanter.

6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
    he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
    surely there is a God who judges on earth.” – Psalm 58:1-11 ESV

David opens this psalm with a question for the “gods” [ĕlōhîm] who “judge the children of man uprightly” (Psalm 58:1 ESV). The Hebrew word ĕlōhîm is a generic title used of the God of Israel, but also of false gods and human rulers. David’s rather sarcastic question was designed to highlight the injustice of Israel’s judges and expose them as hypocrites and frauds.

Do you judge the people fairly?
No! You plot injustice in your hearts.
    You spread violence throughout the land. – Psalm 58:1-2 NLT

David compares these powerful men to venomous snakes that refuse to be charmed. He accuses them of having been born in sin and being addicted to falsehood. They were like dangerous lions that prey on the weak and innocent, and he was fed up with their deadly charade. They were a menace to society and a blot on the name of God, serving up injustice in place of justice and refusing to extend mercy, love, and grace to God’s people. The prophet Micah warned the people of Israel that God had much higher standards for them.

He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8 ESV

David longed to see God avenge His people by dealing with these self-proclaimed “gods” and putting an end to their wickedness.

Break off their fangs, O God!
    Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord!
May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.
    Make their weapons useless in their hands.
May they be like snails that dissolve into slime,
    like a stillborn child who will never see the sun. – Psalm 58:6-8 NLT

They were a menace to society and had no redeeming value. Their presence among the people of God was a detriment and not a blessing. So, David begged God to pay them back for their sins and remove them from power.  

It isn’t difficult to recognize David’s frustration with these men. He has run out of patience with their antics and wants to see these purveyors of injustice get what they deserve.

There are times when injustice seems to be everywhere. The 24-hour news cycle provides a steady barrage of reports from around the world that chronicle man's inhumanity to his fellow man. We read the newspaper, watch TV, and check our social media feeds, and are appalled at what we discover. The innocent suffer at the hands of the wicked. The weak fall prey to the strong. Bigger nations take advantage of smaller ones, and nobody seems capable of doing anything about it. Governments posture and promote plans to bring about justice, but their efforts make little or no dent in the situation. Often, those very same governments perpetrate acts of injustice of their own.

As David put it, violence continues to spread through the land. Nobody seems to even know what the word justice really means anymore, except God. Even though David felt justice was a lost cause in his day, he knew he could appeal to God because He is just and righteous. God not only sees all the injustice going on, but He can do something about it.

David felt impotent to do anything about “these wicked people” who “spit venom like deadly snakes,” but he knew that God was more than powerful enough to deal with them. So in his frustration, David asked God to step in and defend the rights of the weak, innocent, downtrodden, and helpless. David wanted God to do exactly what he would do to these people if he could. His request is graphic and far from compassionate. David pulls no punches, asking God to wipe these people off the face of the earth. At first blush, a reading of David’s request to God might be disturbing. It comes across as violent and unloving, but it also reveals David’s hatred of injustice. He can’t stand to see the unjust go unpunished, because he understands that they stand in direct opposition to his God.

David refuses to tolerate or grow complacent about injustice just because he is powerless to do anything about it. That is always a temptation for God’s people. When surrounded by a tsunami of injustice, we can easily grow callous or complacent because there appears to be nothing we can do. We read the stories of injustice going on in the world, and turn a deaf ear and a blind eye. We tend to ignore what we feel like we can’t impact. We know injustice is taking place, but because we feel powerless to do anything about it, we slowly learn to tolerate it, as long as it’s not happening to us.

But David was a man after God’s own heart who loved what God loved and hated what God hated. So David hated injustice and appealed to the only one who could do anything about it. He asked God to act. He cried out to a just God and demanded that He bring justice to bear.

Despite all that was going on around him, David believed that God would intervene. He counted on God's justice and trusted that He would judge justly and rightly. He confidently asserted, “Surely there is a God who judges justly here on the earth” (Psalm 58:11 NLT).

Whether David realized it or not, he was speaking prophetically. The day is coming when justice really will prevail. God will deal with the unjust and avenge those who have suffered at their hands. When we see injustice taking place, we need to call out to God for His help. We need to ask Him what He would have us do as His hands and feet on this planet. Injustice should make us long for justice. Sin should make us long for His salvation. Wickedness should make us long for righteousness. Darkness should make us long for the light of His glorious presence. Instead of ignoring injustice or becoming callous to its presence, we should learn to see it clearly and long to watch God remove it completely.

David was the king of Israel and served as God’s vice-regent. He had the full power and authority of God at his disposal and could have dealt with these wicked judges himself. Perhaps he had tried to purge these men from their posts and failed. One gets the feeling that the problem was bigger than David could handle on his own, which is why he took the matter to God. The prophet Micah provides a blunt assessment of just how bad things eventually got in Israel.

I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel!
    You are supposed to know right from wrong,
but you are the very ones
    who hate good and love evil.
You skin my people alive
    and tear the flesh from their bones.
Yes, you eat my people’s flesh,
    strip off their skin,
    and break their bones.
You chop them up
    like meat for the cooking pot.
Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble!” – Micah 3:1-4 NLT

“Listen to me, you leaders of Israel!
    You hate justice and twist all that is right.
You are building Jerusalem
    on a foundation of murder and corruption.
You rulers make decisions based on bribes;
    you priests teach God’s laws only for a price;
you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid.
    Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord.” – Micah 3:9-11 NLT

Things were bad, but God is good, righteous, and just. David knew he could count on God to do the right thing and defend the weak, innocent, and helpless. He wasn't abdicating his authority as king or refusing to use his power to effect change, but he knew that true justice had to come from the throne of God. We need to take that same view and call on God to do what only He can do. Yes, we must be willing to do our part, but true justice can only come from a just and loving God. Yet, we must desire what God desires. We must have hearts that resonate with His. May we cry out like David and long to see “justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24 ESV).

Father, there is injustice in the land. It is all around us and we are powerless to do anything about it. But You’re not, so I ask that You intervene and do what only You can do. Bring justice. Protect the innocent. Establish righteousness. Remove wickedness. Send Your Son to right all wrong and avenge all injustice. So that the righteous might rejoice. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Shame of Shepherdless Sheep

1 After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” 4 Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” 5 And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. – 2 Samuel 15:1-6 ESV

There are a lot of things that could be said about Absalom - many of them negative. But he was anything but impatient. He spent two years plotting his revenge against Amnon. After successfully orchestrating the execution of his half-brother, Absalom spent another three years living in self-imposed exile in Geshur, patiently waiting to see how and when his father would respond. When David finally agreed to allow his fugitive son to return, Absalom spent another two years under house arrest because his father refused to either pardon or punish him.

As chapter 15 reveals, Absalom ended up biding his time for another four years, quietly and patiently plotting his next move. Absalom was anything but an impulsive hothead; he was calculating and resolute by nature, always planning and plotting his next move with careful precision. Even during his years of exile and excommunication, Absalom was far from idle. As he waited, he used the time to his advantage, carefully crafting his next move.

After spending two years under house arrest in Jerusalem but banned from his father’s presence, Absalom managed to get a meeting with the king. Pressured by Joab, David agreed to meet with his son and ended up restoring him to favor. Once back in his father’s good graces and with his rights and privileges as a son of the king restored, Absalom got busy and put the next phase of his plan into action. He had become well aware of a flaw in his father’s leadership abilities and had personally experienced David’s predilection for procrastination and inaction. He had also been the beneficiary of David’s reluctance to enact justice as God’s appointed judge of Israel. This young man had wasted no time in assessing his father’s weaknesses and plotting his next move.

As he made his way around the capital of Jerusalem, interfacing with the people of Israel, he became more convinced that his father‘s flaws could be exploited to his own advantage. Absalom was an ambitious young man who had shown his willingness to take matters into his own hands. When David had done nothing to punish Amnon for his rape of Tamar, Absalom had stepped in. When Joab refused to respond to his repeated requests for an audience with David, he got Joab’s attention by having his barley fields set on fire. Absalom was a doer. He was driven and determined, and when he saw the chink in David’s armor, he determined to strike a blow.

But Absalom was also cunning and clever and would have made a great politician. He didn’t personally attack David or expose his weaknesses to the press; he simply began a quiet campaign to win over the hearts of the people. He slowly and subtly sowed seeds of doubt regarding David’s leadership over them and his love for them. It all began with a carefully crafted and perfectly implemented publicity campaign. He had been out of sight for years, so he needed to repair his image among the people. To them, he was the rebellious son of the king who had been exiled for murdering his own kin. He was the prodigal son who had been allowed to return home but was treated like a stranger. As he walked around the city, he was likely the object of stares and quiet whispers.

So, to rehabilitate his damaged image, Absalom implemented a strategic plan to alter his public persona. It didn’t hurt that he was good-looking.

Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot. – 2 Samuel 14:25 NLT

He was also a family man.

He had three sons and one daughter. His daughter’s name was Tamar, and she was very beautiful. – 2 Samuel 14:27 NLT

Now, all he needed was the trappings of success. So he bought himself some wheels and an entourage.

Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty bodyguards to run ahead of him. – 2 Samuel 15:1 NLT

Next, he took his show on the road, and what a sight he made each morning when he arrived at the city gate. Nobody would have missed his arrival or wondered who he was. This was Absalom, son of the king. He was handsome, obviously successful, and, on top of that, he was a man of the people. Absalom knew that the key to successfully running the nation was to win the hearts of the people. So, he devised a plan to do just that. His strategy of going to the city gate each morning was brilliant. It was at the city gate that all business was conducted and justice was dispensed. The people would gather there to have their disputes mediated and complaints heard. As king, David was to have his appointed judges and rulers ready to hear from his people and assist them in arbitrating their disputes and legal problems. But evidently, David had been lax in providing the judgment and justice a growing city required, leaving the people dissatisfied with his leadership. The crowds gathered each day, expecting justice, but walked away with their expectations unmet. But the ever-observant Absalom saw an opportunity and exploited the situation.

Absalom went out of his way to ensure that his daily arrival at the gate would not go unnoticed. His chariot and entourage were hard to miss. He also ensured that the people saw him as not only a person of power and influence but as a man who cared about their needs. The text tells us, “When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where in Israel they were from…” (2 Samuel 15:2 NLT). He portrayed himself as a man of the people, who cared as much about them as he did about their needs. This well-dressed and powerful young prince would patiently listen to their problems and assure them, “You’ve really got a strong case here! It’s too bad the king doesn’t have anyone to hear it. I wish I were the judge. Then everyone could bring their cases to me for judgment, and I would give them justice!” (2 Samuel 15:3-4 NLT).

Like the serpent in the garden, Absalom sowed seeds of doubt and led the people to question David’s care and concern for their needs. Without attacking his father directly, Absalom subtly undermined his credibility with the people. After all, Absalom was there at the gate, talking, listening, assuring, and promising to do what David had failed to do – provide the people with justice. Absalom’s actions left the people wondering why David had never come to the gate.  Was he too busy to take care of his people? Was he too good to show up at the gate and listen to the problems facing the citizens of his kingdom?

Absalom was sly and crafty, and he was coldly calculating in all that he did. When the people began to see him as someone who cared and who might be willing to assist them with their needs, they treated him with honor and respect, bowing down before him. But when the people fawned over Absalom, he did the unthinkable and unexpected. Rather than allow the people to honor him as some kind of dignitary, he embraced them in his arms, treating them as his equals. Every move he made was premeditated and designed to produce a predetermined plan, and his ploy worked.

Absalom did this with everyone who came to the king for judgment, and so he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel. – 2 Samuel 15:6 NLT

An interesting side note in all of this is found in the book of Deuteronomy. It contains a somewhat obscure law regarding what to do with a rebellious son. The fascinating thing about this law is the location where it was to be enacted: At the city gate.

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” – Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV

Absalom was not a drunkard or a glutton, but he was a murderer. Not only that, he was guilty of plotting the overthrow of his father’s kingdom, and he was doing so at the place of judgment: The city gate. He was blatantly using the seat of justice to plot an unjust and unsanctioned overthrow of the king. The stubborn and rebellious son was sowing the seeds of doubt that would later blossom into the fruit of revolution. And he chose to do it at the city gate, the very place where he should have been judged for his crime against Amnon. Had David performed his kingly duties and purged the evil from his household and kingdom, Absalom’s plans to replace his father as king would have never happened.

Once again, David’s failure to act decisively comes back to haunt him. But this entire scenario raises another question. Why was it so easy for Absalom to win over the hearts of the people? Had they become disgruntled and disenchanted with all of David’s well-publicized moral failings? There is little doubt that rumors had spread regarding David’s affair with Bathsheba. Most likely, the news of Uriah’s death had spread and the questions regarding the circumstances surrounding his death would have been many. The whole situation with Amnon and Tamar would not have gone unnoticed by the people of Jerusalem. The murder of the king’s son by his brother would have been headline news. And the very fact that Absalom had been allowed to return without any repercussions would have been fodder for the rumor mill.

There is also the likelihood that David was too busy with the affairs of the state to effectively listen to and address the needs of his people. It was probably about this same time that David became engrossed with the construction of his palace. He was also devising plans for the future construction of a temple in which to house the Ark of the Covenant. David was a busy man but had he become too distracted to care for his own people? It must not be overlooked that God had told David, “Shepherd my people Israel” (2 Samuel 5:2). But somewhere along the way, David had begun to neglect his primary responsibility and, in doing so, he lost the respect of his sheep. They had wandered and were easy prey for someone as crafty and cunning as Absalom. David had left a void that Absalom was more than willing to fill. The sheep were hungry for justice and Absalom was prepared to feed them from his own hand and turn their hearts away from David.

David had one job to do: Shepherd the sheep of Israel. But he had become too busy with the affairs of the state to care for the well-being of God’s flock. He had not even managed to properly shepherd his own family, allowing incest and murder to go unpunished and unresolved. But God has strong feelings about shepherds who fail to perform their roles.

“What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost.” – Ezekiel 34:2-4 NLT

David was going to learn a painful lesson that would cost him dearly. His failure to shepherd well, by fulfilling his responsibilities as a father and a king, would not go unpunished. God would hold him accountable.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Your Enemy Is My Enemy

15 “Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be appalled at you. 17 And they will raise a lamentation over you and say to you,

“‘How you have perished,
    you who were inhabited from the seas,
O city renowned,
    who was mighty on the sea;
she and her inhabitants imposed their terror
    on all her inhabitants!
18 Now the coastlands tremble
    on the day of your fall,
and the coastlands that are on the sea
    are dismayed at your passing.’

19 “For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20 then I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord God.” – Ezekiel 26:15-21 ESV

The fall of Tyre would have a ripple effect, impacting a host of other nations that had grown rich benefiting from their trading relationship with this Phoenician coastal city. Ships from Tyre plied the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, transporting goods to distant ports in Cyprus, Rhodes, Malta, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and Africa. As a result of its lucrative trading relationships, the city’s residents had grown wealthy and powerful, and while Phoenicia was a relatively small nation, its influence in the region was sizeable. But God was letting Ezekiel know that the Phoenicians, like the Ammonites, Edomites, Moabites, and Philistines, were going to experience the full measure of His wrath because of their treatment of His chosen people.

In Hebrew, the name Tyre (ṣōr) means “rock,” which provides an accurate description of the island’s geographic makeup. During Ezekiel’s lifetime, the city of Tyre was bifurcated, with the original “old city” located on the mainland and a newer city located on an island just offshore. With its rocky shoreline and impressive defensive features, the island city was thought to be impenetrable. But in 332 B.C., the forces of Alexander the Great constructed a massive causeway that connected the mainland to the island and allowed his troops to eventually reach the walls of the city, then besiege and destroy them.

Long before Alexander the Great came to power, God described the coming fall of Tyre in graphic terms.

“The whole coastline will tremble at the sound of your fall, as the screams of the wounded echo in the continuing slaughter. All the seaport rulers will step down from their thrones and take off their royal robes and beautiful clothing. They will sit on the ground trembling with horror at your destruction.” – Ezekiel 26:15-16 NLT

The omniscient God was fully aware of Tyre’s fate because it would be His doing. He would bring judgment against the Phoenicians because they had taken advantage of the people of Judah during their darkest days. When Jerusalem eventually fell to the Babylonian forces, the citizens of Tyre rejoiced because they saw it as the elimination of one more competitor in the region. But while the Phoenicians would celebrate Judah’s demise, the day would come when their neighbors would mourn their destruction.

“O famous island city,
    once ruler of the sea,
    how you have been destroyed!
Your people, with their naval power,
    once spread fear around the world.
Now the coastlands tremble at your fall.
    The islands are dismayed as you disappear.” – Ezekiel 26:17-18 NLT

Basking in the protective surroundings of its fortified walls, and enjoying the financial rewards of its trading prowess, the citizens of Tyre had grown arrogant and aloof. They saw themselves as untouchable and invincible. They had successfully survived the earlier threat brought on by the Assyrian invasion and now believed that they would weather the Babylonian storm as well. But they failed to realize that their real enemy was God. In choosing to treat Yahweh’s people with disrespect, they had made Him their adversary and would soon feel the full weight of His righteous indignation.

“I will make Tyre an uninhabited ruin, like many others. I will bury you beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack.” – Ezekiel 26:19 NLT

“I will send you to the pit to join those who descended there long ago.” – Ezekiel 26:20 NLT

“I will bring you to a terrible end, and you will exist no more.” – Ezekiel 26:21 NLT

They had made things personal. By choosing to mistreat the people of Judah, the Phoenicians had unknowingly picked a fight with God Almighty, and He had a long memory. He would not soon forget the actions of the people of Tyre. The prophet, Jeremiah, recorded God’s plans for all the enemies of Judah.

This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather straps. Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors who have come to see King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. Give them this message for their masters: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: With my great strength and powerful arm I made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose. Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control. All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his time is up. Then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon. So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the Lord. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.” – Jeremiah 27:2-8 NLT

God seems to indicate that every nation, including the Phoenicians and their city of Tyre, would fall to the Babylonians. But it seems that Tyre was spared destruction by making a treaty with King Nebuchadnezzar.

“Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieged Tyre for 13 years (585-572 BC), but the precise historical facts of its outcome are still unclear. He evidently did not conquer the city, but it may have surrendered conditionally to him. Both Jeremiah (27:3-11) and Ezekiel (26:7-14) spoke of this event. Apparently, both Tyre and Sidon surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, based on a fragmentary Babylonian administrative document which mentions the kings of Tyre and Sidon as receiving rations from the royal Babylonian household (Pritchard 1969a: 308).” – biblearchaeology.org, Fall 2002 issue of Bible and Spade.

If the citizens of Tyre did negotiate a treaty with the Babylonians and managed to stave off the destruction of their city, their joy would prove to be short-lived and premature. Their fall, ordained by God, would take place according to His timing and in keeping with His divine will. They would not escape His judgment.

“You will be looked for, but you will never again be found. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” – Ezekiel 26:21 NLT

God describes destruction so significant that it will leave the city of Tyre virtually unrecognizable. This is not a declaration of Tyre’s complete elimination as a city. But it is a divine guarantee that the once-great city of Tyre would never rise to its former level of power and influence in the region.

“While Tyre seemed to withstand Nebuchadnezzar, it was not prepared for Alexander 250 years later. Although every Phoenician city to the north, including Sidon, welcomed Alexander, Tyre would only agree to surrender nominally to him. They would not allow him entrance to the city, which was exactly what Alexander intended to do. Not be denied, after only a seven-month siege of the island city, he did what no one else had ever considered possible. Utilizing stones, timber, dirt and debris from the mainland, Alexander constructed a causeway out into the Mediterranean. At last he reached the island, breached the city wall and slew or put into slavery the defiant Tyrians. An amazing feat, Tyre was changed forever.” – biblearchaeology.org, Fall 2002 issue of Bible and Spade.

As Ezekiel delivered this message to his fellow exiles in Babylon, it must have rung hollow. How were they supposed to find joy in the fall of Tyre when they were also facing the news of the coming destruction of their own hometown of Jerusalem? But God wanted them to know that He was in control of all that was happening. It was His doing. No one would escape His sovereign will or alter His providential plan. While the primary focus of His attention was on the rebellious people of Judah, God had not overlooked or ignored the rest of the nations. He would eventually deal with them all.

And God wanted His chosen people to know that they could rely upon Him to do what was just and right. His judgment was necessary and His wrath was justified. But He would also keep His covenant promises to them. And He gave the prophet Isaiah a powerful reminder of His unwavering faithfulness.

Strengthen the weak hands,
    and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart,
    “Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
    will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
    He will come and save you.” – Isaiah 35:3-4 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.