SABBATH BREAKING AND THE CAPTIVITY
By L. A. R.
Why the Jews Were Sent Exiles into Babylon
GOD said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” — a positive command. But the children of Israel did not remember. They forgot it; and when they went into captivity, there was no possibility any more of their having their solemn assemblies and Sabbath observances in Zion. See Lam. 2: 6. The enemy had possession. Verses 7 and 9 tell very plainly why it was. Her kings and princes are among the nations where the law is not. This is not saying that some of the captives did not obey God and keep His Sabbaths, but it does say that in Zion there was desolation. Now just a few words with reference to this very time of which we speak. THE CAPTIVITY AND DESOLATION OF ZION
At that very time, when the children of Israel went into captivity, God told the reason why. In the thirty-sixth chapter of 2 Chronicles, we read that Nebuchadnezzar carried the people away captive into Babylon, and “they were servants to him and 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.” Here is an explanation of the desolation of the land of Israel. The people of Israel had failed, so much of the time, to keep the Sabbath, that they had polluted the land, and God had decreed that they should leave that land long enough for it to make up the Sabbaths they had failed to keep. The children of Israel had been about 840 years there; and according to this, about half the time, or 420 years, they had not kept the Sabbath. But whether God’s people kept a record of it or not, the Lord did. The record shows, too, inferentially, that if the people had kept the Sabbath, they would not have come into captivity. But we do not need to leave the matter to an inference, for here is a direct statement from the book of Jeremiah, showing that even in that late day, God would have saved Jerusalem if His people had kept the Sabbath: “And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; . . . this city shall remain forever.” Jer. 17: 24, 25. And the verse following shows that this blessing for Jerusalem would be extended to the land of the Jews as well. On the other hand, “if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” Verse 27. We are sorry to say that the Jews took the second alternative, and their city was destroyed as a result. L. A. R.