Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #14 - Hope Redirected 

We are continuing to look at passages dealing with the hope of Israel's restoration.  We have considered the hope offered to Israel in the new covenant (Jeremiah 31), the hope of Israel based on the compassions of God, and the contrition that is requisite to their hope being realized (Lamentations 3).  We now turn to the crisis of Israel's hope as expressed in the book of Ezekiel.  Twice in this book we read of the apparent loss of Israel's hope:  1) Ezekiel 19:5 - "Now when she (i.e. Israel) saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost ...";  2) Ezekiel 37:11 - "... behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost ...".  Ezekiel ministered as a prophet of the Babylonian captivity among the captives of Judah.  It was a low point in the nation's history when every outward appearance and physical indicator pointed toward the inevitable destruction of the entire nation of Israel.  Humanly speaking there was no hope for the nation's continuance or existence.  But the word of the LORD through his prophet Ezekiel reconfirmed God's promise of the future resurrection of the nation!  But first we find the nation's hope redirected.  The nation had made the fatal mistake of thinking that her hope for existence was to be found in one of her kings.  Right up to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. the people had hoped that one king after another would prove to be the leader who would deliver them from ever being conquered.  Their misplaced hope was in some political power or in their military might.  The nation made the same mistake in thinking that their promised Messiah would be such a political and military savior in the days of Christ.  How disappointed they were when the Lord Jesus Christ came to save them from their sins rather than from the oppression of Rome!  In Ezekiel chapter 19 we have the failure of Israel's kings portrayed in two parables:  1) The Lioness and Her Whelps (vs.1-9); and 2) The Vine and It's Broken Branches (vs.10-14).  It is in the first parable that we have the crisis of hope unseen.  Israel is pictured as a lioness who places the hope of her protection in her male cubs, i.e. in her princes or rulers.  The two "whelps" referred to in this parable were the two kings Jehoahaz (also called Shallum) and Jehoiakim.  Both were "lion-like" men of power, but sadly were also wicked before the Lord and followed in the sins of Manasseh rather than continuing the reforms of their godly father Josiah.  The prophet describes their ferocity and cruelty by saying that they "learned to catch the prey" and "devoured men" (vs. 3 and 6).  And so, rather than saving the nation they provoked the anger of Egypt and Bablyon and were "hunted down" and "captured" like a man-eating lion (vs.4 and 8)!  First Jehoahaz was taken captive by Pharoah Nechoh of Egypt and Israel was forced to pay tribute to Egypt (II Kings 23:31-34).  Next, seeing that the hope they had waited for had not come through Jehoahaz, Israel placed her hope in Jehoiakim:  "Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion" (Ezekiel 19:5).  But her hope was misplaced once again, for Jehoiakim was attacked by the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites and was first put under tribute by Nebuchadnezzar and then three years later was carried away captive to Babylon (II Kings 23:36-24:4; II Chron.36:1-8).  Two final kings would follow, but by this time the fall of the nation was inevitable.  God was redirecting the hope of Israel away from man and toward Himself.  As Zechariah would later proclaim, Israel's restoration would not come through political power or military might but by the power of God's own Spirit:  "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).  It is in confirmation of this miraculous resurrection of the nation by the power of God's Spirit that Ezekiel is given the vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel chapter 37) which we will look at in our next study.