THE TIME OF THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.
I NOW ask my reader to consider what I have already said as to the four great septenary cycles, my present object in connection therewith being to show how in the Babylonian captivity, which breaks in on the course of the cycle between Solomon and Nehemiah, the Lord had an eye to the sin of His people in polluting His Sabbaths; and that in fixing the time of their chastisement, He did so on the strict ground of retributive justice. And in endeavoring to do so, I turn to glance for a little at what I have shown as to the cycle between Moses and Solomon.
The whole course of this period, as we already have seen, was the witness of man's degradation and shame, seeing that neither the Lord nor Israel had ever rested; and that though the Sabbath at first had been graciously given to tell of the goodwill of the Lord to His people, they had slighted the blessing, and had polluted this ordinance. Hence the Lord was constrained to give them up, again and again, to be trodden down by the Gentiles. Seven times, as we have seen, they were punished in this way. But this did not prove that the Lord's love to His people had failed; because though thus often constrained to afflict them, He as, often, by the sword of Gideon, of Samson, of Jephthah, and others, redeemed them out of the hand of their enemies; and not only so, but at the time fixed in B is own gracious purpose, that is, when the seventy weeks had expired, He gave them a king in the person of Solomon; a man who, if any mere man could have borne the glory, was surely fitted to do so. But this could not be. One, and One only, of all the children of men, has proved Himself worthy of reigning over God's elect nation; and Christ, the blessed Lord, is that one. Solomon failed, as we know, at the outset; his sun, which had risen so brightly, was speedily clouded. Thus the present hopes of the nation were blasted, the time of Israel's glory delayed. But still the patience of God was unwearied: another trial of Israel is made—another crisis occurs in their history, and that too after the same lapse of years as the former. Seventy weeks from the time when the glory of God filled the temple, in the days of king Solomon, Nehemiah was given to be the healer of Israel. But did this cycle find them more true to the Lord than the last? Had they at length learned to take delight in His Sabbath? No; the heart of this people was still hard and rebellious. All their ways were unequal; and hence, ere the cycle had closed, ere the full measure of weeks 'between Solomon. and Nehemiah was filled up, plucking His hand out of His bosom, He arrested them in the very height of their sin, Calling for the sword of a Gentile—even of king Nebuchadnezzar, to chastise them. And now I come to the point at which I have been aiming. Moses had told them before, when the law of the Sabbath was made, that if they would not observe it, their land should keep Sabbath. (Lev; 26.) And now, they having failed in giving heed to this ordinance, so expressive of grace On the part of the Lord, this threat is accomplished. The land is now doomed, not in the shape of blessing, as God originally purposed, but of judgment, to( rest. For the space of full seventy years, the temple of God and the city were doomed to lie waste, while those valleys and hills which, had Israel been obedient, would surely have flowed with the richest abundance of honey and milk, failed to give forth their increase for the few whom the hosts of Chaldea had left in the land. During these years, according to the warning word of their lawgiver, the land kept its Sabbaths, it lay like a wilderness, unproductive and fruitless. And not only so, but in a dispensational sense, this, like the seven blank periods, aforesaid, was not reckoned at all, being itself a complete blank, in God's thoughts, in. connection with Israel. And why, I would now ask, why did He fix on this period, on seventy years, more especially as the time of their chastening? Had this any connection with our cyclical period—with seventy weeks? Yes, surely it had; and the connection illustrates what it is here my object to show, namely, the retributive justice of God, so, equally balanced, in His dealings with Israel, because we here find Him acting exactly according to Israel's sing in the following way. Within the compass of seventy weeks the number of Sabbaths was seventy; the amount of weeks and of Sabbaths, of course, being exactly the same. Hence it is clear, that the Lord in chastening His people kept His eye upon this. He took note, as it were, of the SEVENTY SABBATHS FROM MOSES TO SOLOMON; one and all of which in succession His people, for want of due faith in His love, had profaned. And not only so, but also of the SEVENTY SABBATHS WITHIN THE FOLLOWING CYCLE; and while breaking in on this cycle, and setting their Sabbaths aside ere they bad reached to the number appointed, ere the period had closed, He gives His people to know that He did so, that He doomed their land to KEEP SABBATH FOR SEVENTY YEARS, because of their sin in not allowing it to rest in His way, in obedience to Him, through their dispensational periods, from the very beginning.
And now, in closing this part of the subject, I will cite the three scriptures on which the above reasoning is founded; and bearing in mind that SEVENTY WEEKS WAS A DISPENSATIONAL CYCLE IN ISRAEL, we shall see how their sin and-their chastening coincided exactly.
FIRST, "If ye will not," says the Lord by the mouth of the lawgiver Moses, referring 'to the law of the Sabbaths, "If ye will not for all this hearken unto me,, but 'walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you SEVEN TIMES for your sins.... 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. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it." (Lev. 26:27-3527And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30And 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. 31And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. 32And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33And 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. 34Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 35As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. (Leviticus 26:27‑35).)
SECONDLY, "This whole land," said Jeremiah the prophet, after the above law had been broken, when denouncing judgment upon Israel, even the fulfillment of the threat connected therewith, "This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." (Jer. 25:1111And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:11).)
And then, THIRDLY, we read, "Them that had escaped from the sword carried he [Nebuchadnezzar] away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of 'Persia: to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." (2 Chron. 36:20,2120And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36:20‑21).)