Week 32 - Jeremiah 47-49, Revelation 3 (Aug 6 - Aug 12)
Notes
JEREMIAH 47, An end to the Philistines
The Philistines have been the frequent foil of the Israelites in the Old Testament from the time of the Judges on. Here, in Jeremiah’s oracles against the nations, written before the arrival of the Babylonians, God says that their time is up. Remarkably we read these words in Jeremiah 47:4
For the day has come
to destroy all the Philistines
and to remover all survivors
You can only imagine how happy this would have made Samson or Saul to read. The invasion of the Assyrian army that wiped out the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century (during the reign of Hezekiah in Judah) severely weakened the Philistine city-states, and in the intervening time before the Babylonians arrived, they were oppressed by the Egyptians. But it was the first expedition of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into Palestine in 604 BC that finally ended their story. Check out this note about the destruction of Ashkelon (see 47:7) (a capital city of Philistia) by that army from the IVP Bible Background Commentary
The Babylonian Chronicle, although a fragmentary account, boasts that Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army attacked Ashkelon in the month of Kislev (November-December). This was unusual since it was during the rainy season, a time when most armies do not attempt major campaigns (compare 2 Sam 11:1). The Chronicle notes that not only the walls were breached and the city taken, but the soldiers burned and leveled the inner city as well, transforming the "city into a mound and heaps of ruin." Modern excavators have found ample evidence of this destruction in every part of the city. Among the artifacts are piles of smashed pottery, skeletal remains showing traumatic injuries, charred grain and collapsed houses.
Jeremiah 46-51: A Contest of Gods
Jeremiah’s oracles against the nations feature a dynamic of Divine warfare. Not only are these nations and kingdoms described as facing their demise, but Jeremiah specifically mentions their Gods. They may just look like random names in your Bible, But all the words highlighted below are deities (idols) worshiped by the nations neighboring Judah. God is telling his people that the demise of these nations will display his triumph over these idols.
Egypt
(46:25)“I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings,
Moab
(48:7) and Chemosh will go into exile,
Ammon
(49:1) Why then has Molek taken possession of Gad?
Babylon
(50:2) Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror.
Revelation 2-3: an invitation to be “victorious”
Have you noticed that each letter to these seven Churches ends with a reward offered to the one who is “victorious?” If you were used to reading the NIV 1984 like I was then you remember these promises being offered to the one who “overcomes”. Scott McKnight prefers to translate the word “conquer” (Revelation for the Rest of Us, 171). Whether it is victorious, overcomes, or conquer these words allude to a struggle or battle that these Churches are in - furthermore the invitation seems to be aimed at individuals, so the battle may have been taking place from within the Church itself.
Importantly - this word brackets all of revelation. Not only does it appear here in the seven letters, but it will also appear at the very end of the book as the New Jerusalem is being revealed from heaven.
Revelation 21:6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
This theme constructs the structure in which to put all the pieces of Revelation. The images and visions that will follow Chapter 3 are a depiction of the battle in which these believers and Churches are engaged against the forces of wickedness (Babylon), and the final reward offered to the victors is the New Jerusalem described in chapters 21 and 22. The whole book then is an invitation for the reader to see their place in this battle and then overcome (be victorious) in this struggle against the kingdom of evil through the victorious lamb.
Revelation 3: 3 Churches & Their Cities
Notes from the IVP Bible Background Commentary - Craig Keener
(note how emperor worship (the imperial cult) is featured in each of the descriptions of these cities - this historical/cultural feature plays a HUGE part in correctly discerning the meaning of the rest of the book of Revelation)
Sardis
Sardis hosted many pagan cults; typical Greek deities such as Artemis, Cybele, Demeter and Kore (Persephone) were all worshiped there. Some scholars note that the Greek goddess Demeter, absorbing the character of the old Asiatic goddess Cybele, had also been locally identified with the deified mother of an emperor. But mixing of deities was common in antiquity, and paganism permeated all the non-Jewish cities of the Roman Empire. Despite the city’s paganism, the Christian community there seems to have experienced no persecution—and no spiritual life. Sardis had a large, powerful and wealthy Jewish community that had long been a respected part of civic life; their *synagogue was roughly the length of a football field, with some of the city’s best real estate. Like the Jewish community, the church was probably tolerated.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia worshiped typical Greek deities; it is known, for example, to have housed temples of Artemis, Helios, Zeus, Dionysus and Aphrodite. A third-century inscription from the Jewish synagogue there has been recovered. Believers in Philadelphia, like the church in Smyrna, had apparently been expelled from the Jewish community; the background resembles that for the Fourth Gospel. Exclusion from the synagogue could lead to more direct persecution by the Roman authorities, as in Smyrna.
Laodicea
Laodicea became important only in Roman times. It was capital of the Cibryatic convention, which included at least twenty-five towns. It was also the wealthiest Phrygian city, and especially prosperous in this period. It was ten miles west of Colosse and six miles south of Hierapolis. Zeus was the city’s patron deity, but Laodiceans also had temples for Apollo, Asclepius (the healing deity), Hades, Hera, Athena, Serapis, Dionysus and other deities; that is, it was a fairly typical Greek city religiously. Many Jewish people lived in Phrygia.
Cold water (and sometimes spiced hot water) was preferred for drinking, and hot water for bathing, but Laodicea lacked a natural water supply. Water piped in from hot springs six miles to the south, like any cold water that could have been procured from the mountains, would be lukewarm by the time it reached Laodicea. Although water could be heated, the natural lukewarmness of local water (in contrast with the hot water available at nearby Hierapolis) was undoubtedly a standard complaint of local residents, most of whom had an otherwise comfortable lifestyle. (Their imported water was also full of sediment, though better, said the geographer Strabo, than the water of Hierapolis.) Jesus says: “Were you hot [i.e., for bathing] or cold [i.e., for drinking], you would be useful; but as it is, I feel toward you the way you feel toward your water supply—you make me sick.”
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (p. 734). InterVarsity Press.