Confucius (551-479 B.C.), in his Analects, observed, "He who exercises government by means of 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, 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. 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). The fate of nations and societies that turn from God is never good, yet God has repeatedly shown a desire to retore 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 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 "is not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Paul told the Athenians, "God 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 fifty-five years over Judah (taking the throne at the age of twelve), did much evil in the sight of the Lord God. 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 the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel" (vs. 9). His deeds (vs. 11) were "abominations" in the sight of God, as he himself was (Prov. 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 the Lord 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 had finally had enough, and He issued a dire directive to this vile monarch, one which would affect the nation as a whole. "Now the Lord 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 the Lord, 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 as 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 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 is emphasizing 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 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, the Lord 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 used a figure often associated with 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, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The Lord said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer"' (Amos 7:7-8). Just as God had taken the measure of Samaria so as to destroy it, so Jerusalem would fall. Even as the Lord had plumbed the house of Ahab in order 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 applies the measuring line, a perfectly uniform standard, to all nations. The plummet which God 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 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 thus marks iniquity" [The Pulpit Commentary, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 434]. "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, 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 wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21:13b, ASV). The Lord 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, the Lord forsakes the people of His possession (vs. 14), and gives it up to its enemies for a 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 the Lord'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 the Lord 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 wiping was to be a wiping OUT. Such, God 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 in their attitudes and actions; the body was corrupt and foul from head to toe. God had warned them repeatedly, but they refused to listen. He was done with them! America, are you listening?!! - and all other nations and societies who are similarly turning away from the Lord? It is time to WAKE UP!! Notice a few other translations of this verse:

1. 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."

2. 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."

3. 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."

4. 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."

5. 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 was fed up with the nation! Evil was reigning over the land, not God. They had been sent warning after warning, and the corruption and chaos only worsened. They were in full rebellion against their God, from the leaders on down. God 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, and now God 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 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 in order 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 in order 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, even patient God. That patience has its limits, however, and a holy God 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 often "cleans house" during the course of 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 and wipings and dumpings 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 many ways, and I lay much of the blame on godless leaders and gullible, spineless citizens that refuse to stand up to them! God 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.

From a Reader in Switzerland:

Dear Al, I hope it's okay for you that I send you a message, but I really want to tell you briefly how much your book "Immersed By One Spirit: Rethinking the Purpose and Place of Baptism in NT Theology and Practice" is helping me right now! I am a member of the Church of Christ here in -------, Switzerland, and I have never had a problem with my baptism until I was completely confused and made insecure by American legalists. So, thank you for your book!! You put into words what I always felt must be true, but which I couldn't put my finger on. Thank you very, very much, and may God continue to bless you richly. By the way, after finishing your book on baptism, I am now reading your book on the nature of man and final punishment titled "From Ruin To Resurrection." I'm sure it will be a great read as well. Have a blessed day.

From a Minister in New Zealand:

Al, regarding your article titled "Questioning a Pentecost Query: Rethinking the Spiritual Significance of the Question Posed to Peter in Acts 2:37" (Reflections #763), I think a lot of people miss the primary significance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh mentioned in this chapter. John writes about it (John 7:38-39), saying it is to indwell us. This was now the age of the Spirit, and Jesus was now glorified. Jews now only had to accept Jesus as their Messiah, whereas Gentiles had to accept that Jesus was the Son of God. Have a great day, Al.

From a Minister in Tennessee:

Al, I appreciate your writings, and I also recognize that some of your articles in the past were not in harmony with where I was in my spiritual growth and development at that time. But slowly I began to ask the difficult "Why?" questions: "Why do I believe what I believe?!" The result is that I am beginning to see that a number of things I believe are just traditions made to look like Scripture truth. That insight is not too popular, but whether I like it or not, it is a fact. So, thanks again for your writings, Al.

• I too, in my studies, and I mentioned this in my most recent Sunday morning sermon, have discovered things, which I had come to accept and believe, that were far more tradition, passed on from well-meaning members of "my tribe," than ultimate Truth revealed by our God. Personal and party perceptions, preferences, and practices that have been elevated over time to the status of Divine precepts are a constant danger to the people of God. We must ever be alert to it. Sadly, those who dare to seek out and point out such departures will always be vilified and shunned and even eviscerated as "apostates" by sectarian gatekeepers and watchdogs. I imagine that we have both received our share of such characterizations and castigations. Nevertheless, God has always called some to be reformers and restorers, and we, as His watchmen on the wall, must be faithful to that calling. -- Al Maxey

From a Ph.D. in Kentucky:

Thank you, Al, for your writings! You are a true source of fresh air in the brotherhood, and I truly appreciate your efforts! Both your research and your insight are amazing! I am grateful.

From an Actor/Producer/Writer in Hollywood:

Al, all of your articles are so great. I don't always respond to them when they come out, but if I ever happen to come across your mind, please know within you that I deem your studies as fabulous, scholarly resource material for all serious Bible students. I really like how you organize your articles, also. Great work and great works, brother!

From a Reader in California:

Al, I just read your latest article "The Bitter Bile of Bitterness: Reflecting on a Destructive Emotion" (Reflections #884). Excellent! I shared much of it on my Facebook page - giving you credit, of course! Thank you.

From a Reader in Georgia:

Al, your article on bitterness is excellent!! I will no longer read the phrase "wept bitterly" quite the same. I can see the anger and emotion in it now. Oh, and thanks for the comments on the book of Job. You've given me a whole new perspective on his bitterness that I may end up quoting you on! I'm wondering if bitterness is a form of pride defending itself. Bless you, brother!

From a Reader on the Island of Barbados:

Al, your article "The Bitter Bile of Bitterness" is aptly titled and poignantly expressed. I have taken my portion of it at times, which is all of it. Bitterness can be subliminal, too.

From a Reader in Texas:

Having lived through bitterness in my younger years and overcoming it by learning to live in gratitude, I loved this article! It is so full of great Scripture and TRUTH! The Scriptures, and also quotes by scholarly biblical writers, like yourself, are so full of how to overcome bitterness. Thanks again for a great article! Blessings to you always.

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