THE DIVINE DISHWASHER

Studying a Simile in 2 Kings 21:13

Confucius (551-479 B.C.), in his Analects, observed, "He who exercises government employing his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place, and all the stars turn towards it." Building upon this thought, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) stated, "The virtue of society is really the basis of its stability" [Journal entry dated October 2, 1837]. Nations and societies thrive when both the leaders and the people order their lives by the qualities of moral excellence. The character of a nation, and whether or not that nation ultimately survives and prospers, depends on the character of the people and the character of those who lead them. When these qualities begin to diminish in society, and this often happens from the top down, so does stability in society.

Sadly, history has shown that most societies and nations fall from within, collapsing under the weight of their own lack of virtue and righteousness. This reality is portrayed time and again in the pages of the Old Testament writings. When the people of God lived righteously, they prospered; when they abandoned virtuous living and turned their back on Yehovah they fell apart. And, as already noted, these societal outcomes were in large part due to the quality (or lack thereof) of their leaders. The prophet Ezekiel warned his people that they were abandoning virtue and that they were, in fact, becoming worse than Sodom in the sight of God - Yehovah. This probably shocked them, until he listed what the failings of Sodom actually were: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus, they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore, I removed them when I saw it" (Ezekiel 16:49-50). For more on this, I would urge you to read my following two articles: "The Sins of Sodom: Their Five Greatest Failings" (Reflections #65) and "The Guilt of National Stupidity: Judgment Against Insufferable Insensitivity" (Reflections #671): https://www.zianet.com/maxey/Reflect2.htm.

The fate of nations and societies that turn from God - Yehovah is never good, yet God - Yehovah has repeatedly shown a desire to restore them if they will repent. "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14). God - Yehovah was also willing to do this for nations other than Israel, as seen, for example, in His response to Nineveh when Jonah called them to repent. Our God Yehovah "is not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Paul told the Athenians, "God – Yehovah is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent" (Acts 17:30).

In light of all the above, I want to note an example in the history of the southern kingdom of Judah. King Manasseh, who reigned for fifty-five years over Judah (taking the throne at the age of twelve), did much evil in the sight of Yehovah. An aspect of that long list of evil deeds is presented to us in 2 Kings 21:16 - "Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another." He also "made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists" (vs. 6), and "seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom Yehovah destroyed before the sons of Israel" (vs. 9). His deeds (vs. 11) were "abominations" in the sight of God - Yehovah, as he was (Proverbs 6:16). There is a chilling observation found in 2 Kings 24:4 about the consequence of the sins of Manasseh which ought to serve as a warning to us: it speaks of "the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and Yehovah would not forgive." What a sobering thought that a nation, in large part due to the influence of its evil leadership, would reach a place where its destruction was assured! Yet, such was the case with Judah, for during the reigns of Manasseh (695-642 B.C.) and Amon (642-640 B.C.) the southern kingdom sank to astounding moral and spiritual depths. These two kings remained loyal vassals to Assyria and sought to undo all the good that King Hezekiah had accomplished.

God - Yehovah had finally had enough, and He issued a dire directive to this vile monarch, one which would affect the nation as a whole. "Now Yehovah spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 'Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols; therefore thus says Yehovah, the God of Israel, "Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies; because they have done evil in My sight and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day"'" (2 Kings 21:10-15, NASB). "God - Yehovah therefore set in motion those forces that would bring destruction on Jerusalem and Judah - cf, Jeremiah 15:1-4. In rehearsing the coming judgment, God used three well-known literary figures: (1) the tingling ears, (2) the measuring and plumb lines, and (3) the dish wiped clean" [The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 278].

In the first figure (vs. 12), God emphasizes the enormous severity of the coming judgment. It would be so stunning and shocking that it would cause the ears of all who heard of it to tingle. "It would be of such untold dimension that it would strike terror into the hearts of all who heard of its execution" [ibid]. "The very report of it would produce a stinging sound in their ears" [The Pulpit Commentary, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 434]. This was a rather common figure of speech used in the OT writings when a shocking divine judgment was impending (cf, 1 Samuel 3:11 and Jeremiah 19:3-9). It was "a strong metaphorical form of announcing an extraordinary and appalling event" [Drs. Jamieson, Fausset, Brown, Commentary Practical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, p. 287]. People's hands would fly instinctively to their ears in shock and horror at what they were hearing; it would be hard to believe! "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days that you would not believe if you were told!" (Habakkuk 1:5). When God - Yehovah abandons those who abandon Him, the outcome for those being judged is so enormous that those who behold it and hear of it can scarcely believe what they see and hear.

 This should serve as a loud trumpet of warning!!

In the second figure, Yehovah speaks of a measuring line and a plummet, two devices used in the building and construction trade. "I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab" (vs. 13a, ASV). "God - Yehovah used a figure often associated with the building (cf, Zechariah 1:16), but employed also of the measuring of destruction - 'He will stretch over it the line of desolation and the plumb line of emptiness' (Isaiah 34:11). 'Behold, Yehovah was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. Yehovah said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then Yehovah said, "Behold, I am about to put a plumb line among My people Israel. I will spare them no longer"' (Amos 7:7-8). Just as God - Yehovah had taken the measure of Samaria to destroy it, so Jerusalem would fall. Even as Yehovah had plumbed the house of Ahab to exterminate it, so the people of Jerusalem would be executed" [The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 278]. "The line of Samaria would be stretched over Jerusalem, i.e., Jerusalem would experience the same fate as Samaria which had been destroyed in 722 B.C.

God - Yehovah applies the measuring line, a perfectly uniform standard, to all nations. The plummet which God - Yehovah had placed alongside the house of Ahab in the North would now be placed alongside the house of David" [Dr. James E. Smith, Bible Study Textbook Series - 1 & 2 Kings, p. 697]. "God's – Yehovah’s  logic is simple. If Judah insisted on imitating the sins of the northern kingdom, then God would answer their similar sins with a similar judgment" [David Guzik, Enduring Word Commentary, e-Sword]. Dr. Jesse Long, a beloved professor of one of my former associate ministers here, wrote, "Jerusalem will be assessed by the same standards as those applied to Samaria. And the city of David will come up short" [The College Press NIV Commentary - 1 & 2 Kings, p. 497]. "The nation was to bear the full load of its iniquity. It is a terrible thing when God - Yehovah thus marks iniquity" [The Pulpit Commentary, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 434]. "If You, Yehovah, should mark iniquities, O Yehovah who could stand?!" (Psalm 130:3).

It is the third figure in this passage, however, that really caught my attention and captured my imagination. And it is this figure (a simile, actually) that I want to focus on during the remainder of this article. "I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21:13b, ASV). Yehovah Elohim - God, depicting Himself as the Divine Dishwasher, declares that He will deal with His rebellious people as a man deals with a dirty dish. This simile "expresses contempt as well as condemnation. Jerusalem will be emptied, as a man empties his dish of the refuse scraps remaining on it, and it will then be put away, as done with" [The Pulpit Commentary, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 423]. "The wiping of a dish that has been used, and the turning over of the dish wiped, so as not to leave a single drop in it, are a figurative representation of the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the utter extermination of its inhabitants. With the destruction of Jerusalem, Yehovah forsakes the people of His possession (vs. 14)) and gives it up to its enemies for prey and spoil" [Drs. Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the OT, vol. 3, p. 471]. God has cast them off; forsaken them (because they have forsaken Him); He has dumped them out, wiped them out, overturned them, as a man might do when washing and setting aside a filthy dish. "The consequence of Yehovah's forsaking them would be their fall into the power of their enemies" [Drs. Jamieson, Fausset, Brown, Commentary Practical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, p. 287].

Such images are striking and designed to get the attention of a people steeped in sin and rebellion. Notice this one in 1 Kings 14:9-10 - "You have done more evil than all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back. Therefore behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone." "'I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,' declares Yehovah of hosts" (Isaiah 14:23). The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, "written by top theologians and scholars, with detailed analysis and insightful commentary," points out that "the verb rendered 'wipe' (in the figure in 2 Kings 21:13b) is the same verb which is used in Genesis 7:4, 'I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.' (cf, Exodus 32:33 and Numbers 5:23). The original very markedly shows that God's – Yehovah’s wiping was to be a wiping out. Such, God - Yehovah declares, will be His manner of dealing with Jerusalem" [e-Sword]. "This terrible tragedy would come about because of the moral and spiritual depravity of Judah which had its roots in the long-distant past and which culminated in the reign of Manasseh" [Dr. James E. Smith, Bible Study Textbook Series - 1 & 2 Kings, p. 697]. Because of moral and spiritual depravity. The leaders and the people had forsaken God - Yehovah in their attitudes and actions; the body was corrupt and foul from head to toe. God - Yehovah had warned them repeatedly, but they refused to listen. He was done with them! People, are you listening?!! - and all other nations and societies who are similarly turning away from Yehovah? It is time to WAKE UP!! Notice a few other translations of this verse:

Contemporary English Version - "Jerusalem is as sinful as Ahab and the people of Samaria were. So, I will wipe out Jerusalem and be done with it, just as someone wipes water off a plate and turns it over to dry."

Easy English Bible - "I will judge Jerusalem and I will punish the people, as I punished Samaria and the family of King Ahab. I will remove the people from Jerusalem, like someone who washes the dirt from both sides of a plate."

The Message - "I'll visit the fate of Samaria on Jerusalem, a rerun of Ahab's doom. I'll wipe out Jerusalem as you would wipe out a dish, wiping it out and turning it over to dry. I'll get rid of what's left of My inheritance, dumping them on their enemies. If their enemies can salvage anything from them, they're welcome to it. They've been nothing but trouble to Me from the day their ancestors left Egypt until now. They pushed Me to My limit; I won't put up with their evil any longer."

New English Translation - "I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides."

The Voice Bible - "I will judge the uprightness of Jerusalem by the same plumb line that I used in Samaria and by the same level I used for Ahab's house. I will clean Jerusalem in the same manner that one cleans a dirty dish. I will wipe off the grime and flip the dish over and wipe off the underside of it as well."

Yes, God - Yehovah was fed up with the nation! Evil was reigning over the land, not God - Yehovah. They had been sent warning after warning, and the corruption and chaos only worsened. They were in full rebellion against their God - Yehovah, from the leaders on down. God - Yehovah had had enough! Judgment was coming, and it would be so extremely severe that those who heard of it would "tingle" in both their ears. It would be that shocking! The nation had no use for God - Yehovah, and now God - Yehovah had no use, at this point, for the nation! That is NOT an enviable position for ANY nation to be in, and I fear many today are in that same spot. The ray of hope in all of this, and this has always been true, is that if a people will turn back to the paths of virtue and righteousness if they will turn to God - Yehovah in repentance (ANY people, ANY nation, ANY society), and if it is genuine, He will embrace them and bless them! "Do, Reader, observe those expressions: Jerusalem shall we wiped - not broken, not cast away, not destroyed; but wiped. It shall be much tossed about; indeed, from the highest to the lowest fairly upside down; but nevertheless, all this is with a view to cleansing" [Robert Hawker, Poor Man's Commentary, e-Sword]. "Yet, the empty dish being preserved seems to denote the restoration of Jerusalem after the seventy years' captivity" [John Gill, Exposition of the Bible, e-Sword]. "This should be to the purifying, not the destroying, of Jerusalem. The dish shall not be dropped, not broken to pieces, or melted down, but only wiped" [Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, e-Sword]. John Wesley (1703-1791), as do many biblical scholars, agrees: "The comparison intimates that this should be to the purifying, not the final destruction of Jerusalem. The dish shall not be broken into pieces, or wholly cast away, but only wiped" [Notes on the Bible, e-Sword].

We do indeed serve, not only as individuals, but also as peoples, tribes, nations, and societies, a gracious, loving, merciful, patient God - Yehovah. That patience has its limits, however, and a holy God - Yehovah will not long tolerate an unholy people. Divine blessings in the past are no guarantee of continued blessings throughout the future. Sinning that grace may abound is the presumption of fools, and fools tend to perish in their folly! Our God - Yehovah often "cleans house" during His interaction with the household of man, but the day has not yet come where He sets that house ablaze (although He did flood the place at a point in the past). Cleanings wiping and dumping of the dross continue in time and space, and these times are conditioned upon how polluted the house has become. If there is dung on the floor, it gets swept; if there is filth on the dishes, they are flushed, scrubbed, wiped clean, and set upside down to dry. Hopefully, in time, the floor will be fit to walk upon again, and the dishes will be fit to eat from again. Until then, they are the objects of His full attention, and that cleansing, purifying process will not always be pleasant for the items polluted. I love my country; it is my homeland. It is also a fallen nation morally and spiritually in exponential ways, and I lay much of the blame on godless leaders and gullible, spineless citizens who refuse to stand up to them! God - Yehovah has been patient with us, but I fear that patience is about to run out. The divine Dishwasher has the scrubbing rag in His hands, and He has His eye on our enormous pile of dirty dishes. I firmly believe our fate as a nation will be determined in the coming months of this year!! May we choose wisely, for if not we will most certainly be wiped and overturned.

Written by Al Maxey and edited by Bruce Lyon