8 OT Spoiler Alerts

[Michael37]

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah issued spoiler alerts in their day (see 9 mentions in 8 OT verses posted below). These spoilers were not the plot disclosures that we are warned about today, but are the invading armies that God warned backsliding Israel about, armies that would come to ravage destroy and lay waste as instruments of God's Judgment.

In the first 9 verses of Jeremiah 15 the horrors that awaited idolatrous, unrepentant Israel are foretold and the offenders are sentenced as follows:

• To death
• To the Sword
• To the Famine
• To the Captivity

The language in Jeremiah 15:1-9 is as powerful as the invading forces and accompanying troubles that are to do the spoiling of rejected Israel, and 4 appointed "kinds" to devour and destroy are given particular mention:

1. The sword to slay
2. The dogs to tear
3. The birds of the heaven
4. The beasts of the earth  

Jeremiah's "spoiler alert" holds nothing back as verse after verse describes the punishment to be afflicted on Israel because of the evil done in Jerusalem by Manasseh, King of Judah.

Jer 15:4  And I will cause them to be removed (mistreated) into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

• They will be treated horribly by the earth's kingdoms
• They will go unpitied, with no sympathy
•  The Lord's hand will be stretched against them to destroy
• They will be dispersed like winnowed chaff, bereaved of their children, and destroyed as a people
• Their terror from the spoiler will be sudden, resulting in widowhood
• They will languish and expire being disgraced and humiliated by those appointed to put them to the sword.
   

The 8 OT Spoiler Alerts

Isa_16:4  Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
Isa_21:2  A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the spoiler spoils. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
Jer_6:26  O daughter of my people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
Jer_15:8  Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
Jer_48:8  And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.
Jer_48:18  You daughter that does inhabit Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon you, and he shall destroy your strong holds.
Jer_48:32  O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer: your plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon your summer fruits and upon your vintage.
Jer_51:56  Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.

[Diaste]

Where's the conclusion? That is interesting but I don't know where you're going. 

[Michael37]

On 12/24/2020 at 11:05 PM, Diaste said:

Where's the conclusion? That is interesting but I don't know where you're going. 

Hi Diaste,

Now that Christmas Day is over I can get back to this thread. Merry Christmas and thankyou for your response. Sometimes I leave people to form their own conclusions, and internet forums are well known for the great diversity of conclusions contributors arrive at.

My own conclusion when perusing the 8 OT verses that make mention of "the spoiler", apart from them being good pun material, is that things can get very bad for those whom God judges as very bad.

I live to read God's Word and the history of God's People is of particular interest because of the way the past connects with the present and the future, which is a common theme throughout the Bible. I am aware that not all are enthusiastic about the evocative language, but I gain much inspiration from it.

See here from Isaiah and the commentary on this verse:

Isa 33:1  Woe to you that spoils, and you were not spoiled; and deals treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with you! when you shall cease to spoil, you shall be spoiled; and when you shall make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.

Albert Barnes' Notes on Isaiah 33:1

Wo to thee that spoilest - This description accords entirely with Sennacherib and his army, who had plundered the cities and countries which they had invaded, and who were about to advance to Jerusalem for the same purpose (compare Isa_29:7-8; Isa_37:11).
And thou wast not spoiled - That is, thou hadst not been plundered by the Jews against whom thou art coming. It was because the war was so unprovoked and unjust, that God would bring so signal vengeance on them.
And dealest treacherously - (See the note at Isa_21:2). The treachery of the Assyrians consisted in the fact that when their assistance was asked by the Jews, in order to aid them against the combined forces of Syria and Samaria (see Isa_7:1-2), they had taken occasion from that invitation to bring desolation on Judah (see Isa_7:17, Isa_7:20; Isa_8:6-8, note; Isa_10:6, note). Hezekiah also gave to Sennacherib thirty talents of gold and three hundred talents of silver, evidently with an understanding that this was all that he demanded, and that if this was paid, he would leave the nation in peace. But this implied promise he perfidiously disregarded (see 2Ki_18:14-15).
When thou shalt cease to spoil - This does not relier to his having voluntarily ceased to plunder, but to the fact that God would put an end to it.
Thou shalt be spoiled - This was literally fulfilled. The Assyrian monarchy lost its splendor and power, and was finally merged in the more mighty empire of Babylon. The nation was, of course, subject to the depredation of the conquerors, and compelled to submit to them. “When thou shalt make an end.” The idea is, that there would be a completion, or a finishing of his acts of treachery toward the Jews, and that would be when God should overthrow him and his army.
They shall deal treacherously with thee - The words ‘they shall,’ are here equivalent to, ‘thou shalt be dealt With in a treacherous manner.’ The result was, that Sennacherib was treacherously slain by his own sons as he was ‘worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god’ Isa_37:38, and thus the prophecy was literally fulfilled. The sense of the whole is, that God would reward their desire of plundering a nation that had not injured them by the desolation of their own land; and would recompense the perfidiousness of the kings of Assyria that had sought to subject Jerusalem to their power, by perfidiousness in the royal family itself.

[Diaste]

12 hours ago, Michael37 said:

Sometimes I leave people to form their own conclusions, and internet forums are well known for the great diversity of conclusions contributors arrive at.

Ha! That's so true. A person I know considers this forum Et al., 'not real'. I like the diversity. People have less inhibition behind a keyboard. 

12 hours ago, Michael37 said:

My own conclusion when perusing the 8 OT verses that make mention of "the spoiler", apart from them being good pun material, is that things can get very bad for those whom God judges as very bad.

I live to read God's Word and the history of God's People is of particular interest because of the way the past connects with the present and the future, which is a common theme throughout the Bible. I am aware that not all are enthusiastic about the evocative language, but I gain much inspiration from it.

See here from Isaiah and the commentary on this verse:

Isa 33:1  Woe to you that spoils, and you were not spoiled; and deals treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with you! when you shall cease to spoil, you shall be spoiled; and when you shall make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.

Albert Barnes' Notes on Isaiah 33:1

Wo to thee that spoilest - This description accords entirely with Sennacherib and his army, who had plundered the cities and countries which they had invaded, and who were about to advance to Jerusalem for the same purpose (compare Isa_29:7-8; Isa_37:11).
And thou wast not spoiled - That is, thou hadst not been plundered by the Jews against whom thou art coming. It was because the war was so unprovoked and unjust, that God would bring so signal vengeance on them.
And dealest treacherously - (See the note at Isa_21:2). The treachery of the Assyrians consisted in the fact that when their assistance was asked by the Jews, in order to aid them against the combined forces of Syria and Samaria (see Isa_7:1-2), they had taken occasion from that invitation to bring desolation on Judah (see Isa_7:17, Isa_7:20; Isa_8:6-8, note; Isa_10:6, note). Hezekiah also gave to Sennacherib thirty talents of gold and three hundred talents of silver, evidently with an understanding that this was all that he demanded, and that if this was paid, he would leave the nation in peace. But this implied promise he perfidiously disregarded (see 2Ki_18:14-15).
When thou shalt cease to spoil - This does not relier to his having voluntarily ceased to plunder, but to the fact that God would put an end to it.
Thou shalt be spoiled - This was literally fulfilled. The Assyrian monarchy lost its splendor and power, and was finally merged in the more mighty empire of Babylon. The nation was, of course, subject to the depredation of the conquerors, and compelled to submit to them. “When thou shalt make an end.” The idea is, that there would be a completion, or a finishing of his acts of treachery toward the Jews, and that would be when God should overthrow him and his army.
They shall deal treacherously with thee - The words ‘they shall,’ are here equivalent to, ‘thou shalt be dealt With in a treacherous manner.’ The result was, that Sennacherib was treacherously slain by his own sons as he was ‘worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god’ Isa_37:38, and thus the prophecy was literally fulfilled. The sense of the whole is, that God would reward their desire of plundering a nation that had not injured them by the desolation of their own land; and would recompense the perfidiousness of the kings of Assyria that had sought to subject Jerusalem to their power, by perfidiousness in the royal family itself.

I agree. So is there a connection to this day and age, or a coming one?

[Michael37]

9 hours ago, Diaste said:

Ha! That's so true. A person I know considers this forum Et al., 'not real'. I like the diversity. People have less inhibition behind a keyboard. 

I agree. So is there a connection to this day and age, or a coming one?

I've been thinking about that in some depth as the Spirit leads. There is a common denominator which I expect you are aware of, and as I read and reread the OT prophets more illumination of God's Plan for His Creation is given.

Isaiah and Jeremiah would have been thought of as conspiracy theorists by the sceptics until their prophecies started coming true and the Jews were deported from their homeland to be the captives and servants of foreign powers in foreign lands.

The spiritual message for today and tomorrow is about the captivity and bondage that is visited on sinful humanity, but which the Gospel tells of deliverance from.

Isa 34:1-2  Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.  (2)  For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.

Isa 35:10  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The chronology of these verses just prior to Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king of Judah, is one thing but their application for all time is another. The institutional misappropriation of spiritual resources that was the cause of trouble in Isaiah's day is also the cause of trouble now, and will continue to be in the future. The idolatry that was an abomination to God before Christ became incarnate is still just as much an abomination on the Day of Judgment, so warnings against it must still be given.

Surely the spoiler is at hand.

[Diaste]

14 hours ago, Michael37 said:

I've been thinking about that in some depth as the Spirit leads. There is a common denominator which I expect you are aware of, and as I read and reread the OT prophets more illumination of God's Plan for His Creation is given.

Isaiah and Jeremiah would have been thought of as conspiracy theorists by the sceptics until their prophecies started coming true and the Jews were deported from their homeland to be the captives and servants of foreign powers in foreign lands.

The spiritual message for today and tomorrow is about the captivity and bondage that is visited on sinful humanity, but which the Gospel tells of deliverance from.

Isa 34:1-2  Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.  (2)  For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.

Isa 35:10  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The chronology of these verses just prior to Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king of Judah, is one thing but their application for all time is another. The institutional misappropriation of spiritual resources that was the cause of trouble in Isaiah's day is also the cause of trouble now, and will continue to be in the future. The idolatry that was an abomination to God before Christ became incarnate is still just as much an abomination on the Day of Judgment, so warnings against it must still be given.

Surely the spoiler is at hand.

How true. There is nothing new under the sun. It all began here:

"

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ ”

The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

"

Doubt and lust from the beginning.

 

[Michael37]

9 hours ago, Diaste said:

Doubt and lust from the beginning.

Yes, and the Tempter behind them.

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

According to Scripture at some point God will no longer endure the wicked state of affairs on earth which you and I well know will escalate to an apex of apostasy with the mystery of iniquity continually at work.

The OT offers us insight into this terminus of time in a truly remarkable record of God's dealings with His Creation, as you have aptly emphasised, "from the beginning."

For me, gone are the days of uncertainty when I lacked discernment of the devil's ways, and he had footholds whereby to corrupt, deceive, and exploit that I no longer give him.

What lives the OT prophets and people of God led as the Divine Plan unfolded just as He said it would.