Clothing Betrays: Appearances vs Reality Part 2

 The first thing we need to note is that the Torah as a whole, and Genesis in particular, has a way of focusing our attention on a major theme: it presents us with recurring episodes. Robert Alter calls them “type scenes.” There is, for example, the theme of sibling rivalry that appears four times in Genesis: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his brothers. There is the theme that occurs three times of the patriarch forced to leave home because of famine, and then realizing that he will have to ask his wife to pretend she is his sister for fear that he will be murdered so that she can be taken into the royal harem. This happens two times with Abraham and Sarah and once with Isaac and Rebekah.

And there is the theme of finding-future-wife-at-well, which also occurs three times: Rebecca, Rachel and Jethro’s daughter Zipporah.

The encounter between Joseph and his brothers is the fifth in a series of stories in which clothes play a key role.

The first is Jacob who dresses in Esau’s clothes while bringing his father a meal so that he can take his brother’s blessing. Genesis 27:1-27

1 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 2 Then Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; 4 and prepare a delicious meal for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5 Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a delicious meal for me, so that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’ 8 So now, my son, listen to me as I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, so that I may prepare them as a delicious meal for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” 11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me.” 14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a delicious meal such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 She also gave the delicious meal and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob.

18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” 20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God made it come to me.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” 25 So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said…(Genesis 27:1-27)

Second is Joseph’s finely embroidered robe or “coat of many colors,” which the brothers bring back to their father stained in blood, saying that a wild animal must have seized him.

Third is the story of Tamar taking off her widow’s dress, covering herself with a veil, and making herself look as if she were a prostitute. Fourth is the robe Joseph leaves in the hands of Potiphar’s wife while escaping her attempt to seduce him. The fifth is the one in which Pharaoh dresses Joseph as a high-ranking Egyptian, with clothes of linen, a gold chain and the royal signet ring.

What all cases have in common is that they facilitate deception. In each case, they bring about a situation in which things are not as they seem. Jacob wears Esau’s clothes because he is worried that his blind father will feel him and realize that the smooth skin does not belong to Esau but to his younger brother. In the end it is not only the texture but also the smell of the clothes that deceives Isaac: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field the Lord has blessed” (Gen. 27: 27).

Joseph’s stained robe was produced by the brothers to disguise the fact that they were responsible for Joseph’s disappearance. Jacob “recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” (Gen. 37: 33).

Genesis 37:29-33
29 Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” 31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; 32 and they sent the multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A vicious animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” (Genesis 37:29-33)

Tamar’s appearance dressed as a veiled prostitute was intended to deceive Judah into sleeping with her since she wanted to have a child to “raise up the name” of her dead husband Er. Judah was duly deceived, and only realized what had happened when, three months later, Tamar produced the cord and staff she had taken from him as a pledge (Genesis 37:25).

Potiphar’s wife used the evidence of Joseph’s robe to substantiate her claim that he had tried to rape her, a crime of which he was wholly innocent. Genesis 38:7-18

7 And it came about after these events that his master’s wife had her eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Sleep with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put me in charge of all that he owns. 9 There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?” 10 Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. 11 Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the people of the household was there inside. 12 So she grabbed him by his garment, saying, “Sleep with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make fun of us; he came in to me to sleep with me, and I screamed. 15 When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” 16 So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. 17T hen she spoke to him with these words: “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make fun of me; 18 but when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” (Genesis 38:7-18)

Lastly, Joseph used the fact that his brothers did not recognize him to set in motion a series of staged events to test whether they were still capable of selling a brother as a slave or whether they had changed.

So the five stories about garments tell a single story: things are not necessarily as they seem. Appearances deceive. An important thing to note, the Hebrew word for garment, b-g-d, is also the Hebrew word for “betrayal”.

Is this a mere literary conceit, a way of linking a series of otherwise unconnected stories? Or is there something more fundamental at stake?

Appearances versus Reality

 Finally after twenty-two years and many twists and turns, Joseph and his brothers meet in Genesis 42:6-8:

6 Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” 8 And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. (Genesis 42:6-8)

We sense the drama of the moment. The last time they had been together, the brothers planned to kill Joseph and eventually sold him as a slave. Genesis 37:18-28:

18 When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! 20 Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!” 21 But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands by saying, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father. 23 So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the multicolored tunic that was on him; 24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying labdanum resin, balsam, and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. So they brought Joseph into Egypt. (Genesis 37:18-28)

One of the reasons they did so is that they were angry at his reports about his dreams. He twice dreamed that his brothers would bow down to him. To them that sounded like hubris, which is excessive confidence and conceit. Joseph’s brothers sold Jospeh for a mere 2 shekels of silver each. (There were 10 brothers present plus Joseph. Benjamin seems to have been at home or at least was not part of this scene.) This was not even enough money to buy a pair of shoes.

Hubris is usually punished by nemesis, which is an opponent or rival whom the person cannot overcome. And so it was in Joseph’s case. Far from being a ruler, his brothers turned him into a slave. That, however, turned out not to be the end of the story but only the beginning. Unexpectedly, the dream has just come true. The brothers do bow down to him, “their faces to the ground” (Gen. 42: 6). Now, we feel, the story has reached its end. Instead it turns out only to be the beginning of another story altogether, about sin, repentance and forgiveness. Biblical stories tend to defy narrative conventions.

The reason, though, that the story does not end with the brothers’ meeting is that only one person present at the scene, Joseph himself, knew that it was a meeting. “As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them … Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.” (Genesis 46:7-8)

There were many reasons they did not recognize him. They did not know he was in Egypt. They believed he was still a slave while the man before whom they bowed was a viceroy. Besides which, he looked like an Egyptian, spoke Egyptian and had an Egyptian name, Tsofenat Paneakh. Most importantly, though, he was wearing the uniform of an Egyptian of high rank. That had been the sign of Joseph’s elevation at the hand of Pharaoh when he interpreted his dreams:

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain round his neck.  He made him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, ‘Make way.’ Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. (Gen. 41: 41-43)

We know from Egyptian wall paintings and from archeological discoveries like Tutankhamen’s tomb, how stylized and elaborate were Egyptian robes of office. Different ranks wore different clothes. King Tutankhamen and his wife wore elaborate gold headdresses which sat upon an indigo dyed wig. The robes and headdresses were richly decorated with gold and elaborate designs.

Early pharaohs had two headdresses, a white one to mark the fact that they were kings of upper Egypt, and a red one to signal that they were kings of lower Egypt. Like all uniforms, clothes told a story, or as we say nowadays, “made a statement.” They proclaimed a person’s status. Someone dressed like the Egyptian before whom the brothers had just bowed could not possibly be their long lost brother Joseph. Except that it was.

This seems like a minor matter, but the opposite is true. It turns out to be a very major matter indeed.

Jesus Sees Nathanael Under a Fig Tree

Our Bible is filled with lots of stories and tidbits of information. Jesus is always teaching His disciples, but many times His lessons seem coded and hard to understand. After doing an extensive study on fig tress, we suddenly see fig trees are important symbols in Jesus' teachings. Let us examine John 1:43-51 to get a deeper insight into Jesus' first interaction with one of His students, Nathanael. 

In the Gospel of John, we are told Jesus sees Nathanael under a fig tree. The interaction can seem puzzling. Why is it important Nathanael was under a fig tree? What do Jesus’ words mean and why does Nathanael say the things he says? For the answer, let’s look at the text.

43 The next day He decided to go to Galilee, and He *found Philip. And Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip *found Nathanael and *said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets also wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael *said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He *said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:43-51)

Verse 43 states Jesus travels to the region of Galilee. Once in Galilee, Jesus finds Philip. There is no text, but we can assume Jesus talks to Philip, and Philip decides from the conversation, Jesus is the Messiah.

Verse 45 states Philip finds Nathanael and says, “We have found Hum of whom Moses wrote in the Law.” The Scripture Philip is quoting is Deuteronomy 18:15-19

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. 16 This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. 19 And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)

The prophet is Deuteronomy 18 is given to Israel in regards to the Israelites becoming scared at the foot of Mount Sinai while receiving the 10 commandments. The Israelites tell Moses they do not want to hear from God directly because it was a very intense and scary experience.

22 “These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 24 You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with mankind, yet he lives. 25 Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die! 26 For who is there of humanity who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says; then speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.’

28 “Now the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the sound of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 29 If only they had such a heart in them, to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever! 30 Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, so that they may follow them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’ 32 So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 You shall walk entirely in the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:22-33)

In Deuteronomy 5 verses 6-21, the israelites are given the ten commandments. The Israelites come to Moses to ask God stop giving them ordinances and decrees. God then agrees to give the rest of the Torah to Moses. Moses would then act as an intercessor and deliver God’s words to the people. 

The prophet written about in Deuteronomy 18 is also an intermediary between God and the people. All prophets were given God’s word and were responsible to act as an in-between between God and the people. All true prophets of God fulfilled Deuteronomy 18:15 because God has never spoken directly to His people since Mount Sinai. However, Deuteronomy 18:15 was also seen as a Messianic verse. The Israelites believed there would be a prophet who would be the Messiah. 

Verse 46 of John 1 asks if anything good can come out of Nazareth. Nazareth was not known for any prophecy. If you search the Scriptures, which it seems as though Nathanael has done, then the Messiah was not to arise out of Nazareth. No, the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem.
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His times of coming forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.” (Micah 5:2)



 The priests and scholars all took this verse from Micah 5:2 as being a Messianic prophecy. We see this explained in Matthew 2:1-6 when the Magi come to Jerusalem and ask where the King of the Jews was born.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:
6
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah;
For from you will come forth a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:1-6)

Verse 47 of John 1 has Jesus seeing Nathanael and saying, “Here is truly and Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.” Jesus is quoting Psalm 73 and 32.

God certainly is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart! (Psalm 73:1)

Note: to be pure in heart means to have no guile, to not be deceitful, to not be cunning.

How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
2
How blessed is a person whose guilt the Lord does not take into account,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit! (Psalm 32:1-2)

Psalm 32 means that a person is blessed whose wrongdoing is forgiven and whose sin is covered. How is one’s sins forgiven? It is by repentance. We can see from Psalm 32, Nathanael was a sinner, but he repented of his sins. Nathanael’s sins were forgiven and he was considered a man in whom there was no deceit. Nathanael’s heart was pure, and God is good to those who have a pure heart (Psalm 73:1).

Psalm 32 is related to both Psalm 84 and Psalm 1.

In Psalm 84, we read the blessed man will appear before God in Zion.

Blessed is the person whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the roads to Zion!
6
Passing through the Valley of Baca they make it a spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
7
They go from strength to strength,
Every one of them appears before God in Zion. (Psalm 84:5-7)

In Psalm 1, we read the righteous man is like a tree planted by rivers of water.

Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2
But his delight is in the Law of the Lord,
And on His Law he meditates day and night.
3
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

A blessed person will delight in the Torah and mediate on it day and night. When we view Psalm 1 in reference to Nathanael, we see Nathanael was a man of much Torah learning. he knew Scripture and meditated on it day and night. Moreover, Jesus says Nathanael was under a fig tree. The fig tree represents Israel’s spirituality. Piecing Jesus’ words together, we can see Nathanael was Torah scholar with a clean, pure heart. Nathanael repented of his sins and was forgiven for his wrongdoing.

Verse 48 Nathanael asks how Jesus knows him.

Verse 48 continues with Jesus saying he saw Nathanael under the fig tree. This could have been Jesus having an ability to see Nathanael sitting under the fig tree or this could just be a figure of speech. Remember the fig tree is Israel’s spirituality. Sitting under the fig tree was a phrase used for someone learning Torah. Nathanael could have been under a fig tree before he came to Jesus or he could have been learning the Torah before he came to Jesus.

Verse 49 Nathanael says Jesus is Rabbi. This means, Nathanael has accepted Jesus as his teacher. Rabbi means “my teacher”. This title is not given to any person; it is only given to the teacher whom the student is studying under. When Nathanael addresses Jesus as Rabbi, he is saying Jesus is now his teacher and he will be following Jesus.

Why did Nathanael recognize Jesus as the King of Israel and the Son of God? Nathanael knew Scripture and knew Psalm 139.

Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2
You know when I sit down and when I get up;
You understand my thought from far away.
3
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, Lord, You know it all.
5
You have encircled me behind and in front,
And placed Your hand upon me.
6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot comprehend it.
7
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9
If I take up the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
11
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12
Even darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
13
For You created my innermost parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14
I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15
My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;
16
Your eyes have seen my formless substance;
And in Your book were written
All the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:1-16)

Verse 50 Jesus says Nathanael will see greater things.

Verse 51 Jesus says Nathanael will see angels ascending and descending on Him. This verse is a quote from Genesis 28. Jacob has just deceived his father Isaac and had taken the blessing away from Esau. Jacob is sent away to Aram to his uncle Laban’s to find a wife. When the sun sets, Jacob lies down and has a dream.

Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he happened upon a [g]particular place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and made it a support for his head, and lay down in that place. 

12 And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 Then behold, the Lord was standing above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your [i]descendants. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “The Lord is certainly in this place, and I did not know it!” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:10-17)

Things to note, in verse 12, our English states angels were ascending and descending on “it”. This is not correct. the Hebrew states, the angels were ascending and descending on “him”. The ladder is a person.

Jesus is stating in John 1:51, He is the ladder being spoken of in Genesis 28. He is the ladder which connects heaven and earth. Jesus is the gate of heaven. Knowing Jesus is the gate of heaven, this gives further clarification to Jesus state in John 14:6: 6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6). Jesus is the ladder which connects the earth to heaven. Jesus is the prophet and the intercessor who connects us with the Father.

Israel's Destruction: From the Inside Out

When we think about the destruction of empires and kingdoms, we often have the imagery that a large army came in and destroyed the society. But, God shows us in His word, many times, it is the people's own apostasy which leads the nation astray. No nation is more apropos to this than the nation of Israel. Over and over again they strayed from God. Over and over again, God sends prophets and tells the people to repent. Repentance is short-lived or never happens. The destruction which ensues, is the nation's punishment for its disobedience.

In Jeremiah chapter 8, God continues his chastisement of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and its treachery. God gives a detailed description of what will happen to Judah’s king and the inhabitants of the land.

“At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the heavenly lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered nor buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground. 3 And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.
4 “You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Do people fall and not get up?
Does one turn away and not repent?
5
Why has this people, Jerusalem,
Turned away in continual apostasy?
They hold on to deceit,
They refuse to return.
6
I have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
No one repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
Like a horse charging into the battle.
7
Even the stork in the sky
Knows her seasons;
And the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane
Keep to the time of their migration;
But My people do not know
The judgment of the Lord.
8
“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the Law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
9
The wise men are put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10
Therefore I will give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest,
Everyone practices deceit.
11
They have healed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
12
Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
And they did not know how to be ashamed;
Therefore they will fall among those who fall;
At the time of their punishment they will collapse,”
Says the Lord.
13
“I will certainly snatch them away,” declares the Lord.
“There will be no grapes on the vine
And no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
14
Why are we sitting still?
Assemble yourselves, and let’s go into the fortified cities
And perish there,
For the Lord our God has doomed us
And given us poisoned water to drink,
Because we have sinned against the Lord.
15
We waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
16
From Dan there is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his stallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and devour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
17
“For behold, I am sending serpents among you,
Vipers for which there is no charm;
And they will bite you,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:1-17)

Book of Hosea
In the Book of Hosea, Israel is compared to as being an unfaithful wife. The entire Book of Hosea is about Israel being unfaithful, but God taking Israel back and restoring her to being his wife.
In Hosea chapter 2, Israel is being scolded for being unfaithful. Israel has gone after other gods and has sold herself as a prostitute. God condemns Israel’s unfaithfulness.
Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
2
“Dispute with your mother, dispute,
Because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband;
But she must remove her infidelity from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts,
3
Otherwise, I will strip her naked
And expose her as on the day she was born.
I will also make her like a wilderness,
Make her like desert land,
And put her to death with thirst.
4
Also, I will take no pity on her children,
Because they are children of infidelity.
5
For their mother has committed prostitution;
She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6
Therefore, behold, I will obstruct her way with thorns,
And I will build a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.
7
And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them;
And she will seek them, but will not find them.
 Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband,
 Because it was better for me then than now!’
8
“Yet she does not know that it was I myself who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
 And lavished on her silver and gold,
 Which they used for Baal.
9
Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time
 And My new wine in its season.
 I will also take away My wool and My flax
 That I gave to cover her nakedness.
10
So now I will uncover her lewdness 
Before the eyes of her lovers,
 And no one will rescue her from My hand.
11
I will also put an end to all her joy,
 Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
 And all her festivals.
12
And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, 
Of which she said, ‘They are my wages for prostitution
 Which my lovers have given me.’
 And I will turn them into a forest,
 And the animals of the field will devour them.
13
I will punish her for the days of the Baals 
When she used to offer sacrifices to them
And adorn herself with her nose ring and jewelry,
 And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord. (Hosea 2:1-13)

In Hosea chapter 9, God gives Ephraim a rebuke for going after other gods and for being unfaithful to Him. Ephraim is the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Israel is soon to be conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians. God tells Ephraim (which is another name for the Northern Kingdom) what their punishment will be. They will be scattered and wander among the nations.

Do not rejoice, Israel, with jubilation like the nations! 
For you have been unfaithful,  abandoning your God.
 You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on every threshing floor.
2
Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them,
 And the new wine will fail [e]them.
3
They will not remain in the Lord’s land,
 But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4
They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
 Nor will their sacrifices please Him.
 Their bread will be to them like mourners’ bread;
 All who eat it will be defiled,
 Because their bread will be for themselves alone;
 It will not enter the house of the Lord.
5
What will you do on the day of the appointed festival
 And on the day of the feast of the Lord?
6
For behold, they will be gone because of destruction;
 Egypt will gather them together, Memphis will bury them.
 Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver;
Thorns will be in their tents.
7
The days of punishment have come,
 The days of retribution have come;
 Let Israel know this!
 The prophet is a fool, 
The inspired person is insane,
 Because of the grossness of your wrongdoing, 
And because your hostility is so great.
8
Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;
 Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,
 And there is only hostility in the house of his God.
9
They are deeply depraved
 As in the days of Gibeah; 
He will remember their guilt,
 He will punish their sins.
10
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness;
I  saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.
But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame,
 And they became as detestable as that which they loved.
11
As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
12
Though they bring up their children,
 Yet I will bereave them of their children until not a person is left.
Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!
13
Ephraim, as I have seen,
 Is planted in a pasture like Tyre; 
But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.
14
Give to them, Lord—what will You give?
 Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.
15
All their evil is at Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
 Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
 I will no longer love them;
All their leaders are rebels.
16
Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,
They will produce no fruit.
 Even though they give birth to children, 
I will put to death the precious ones of their womb.
17
My God will reject them
Because they have not listened to Him;
 And they will be wanderers among the nations. (Hosea 9:1-17)
 

When a Fig Tree is Stripped of its Fruit, This is a Symbol of Destruction

 Conversely, destruction is symbolized by the stripping of the fruits from the fig tree
In Isaiah 34, we have a prophecy against the nations which plundered Israel. The nations were supposed to punish Israel for their idolatry. Increased, the nations of the world took advantage of Israel and cause more destruction than what they were supposed to. 

For this disobedience, God’s wrath is unleashed on the nations. Isaiah delivers words which paint a vivid picture of the nations being completely destroyed:
Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples!
Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
2
For the Lord’s anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to slaughter.
3
So their slain will be thrown out,
And their corpses will give off their stench,
And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
4
And all the heavenly lights will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5
For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom,
And upon the people whom I have designated for destruction.
6
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7
Wild oxen will also fall with them
And young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.
8
For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
A year of retribution for the [j]cause of Zion.
9
[k]Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10
It will not be extinguished night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be desolate;
None will pass through it forever and ever.
11
But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of [n]desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.
12
Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be nothing.
13
Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
14
The desert creatures will meet with the [p]wolves,
The goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
15
The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.
Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind. (Isaiah 34:1-15)

After the Northern Kingdom has been taken away into exile, the Southern Kingdom goes off into idolatry even more than what the Northern Kingdom did. God is not happy. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promises the Southern Kingdom will be completely destroyed and wiped off the face of the map.

“Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem,

And look and take notice.
And seek in her public squares,

If you can find a person,

If there is one who does justice, who seeks honesty,

Then I will forgive her.
2
And although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Certainly they swear falsely.”
3
Lord, do Your eyes not look for honesty?

You have struck them,
But they did not weaken;

You have consumed them,

But they refused to accept discipline.

They have made their faces harder than rock;

They have refused to repent.
4
Then I said, “They are only the poor,

They are foolish;

For they do not know the way of the Lord

Or the judgment of their God.
5
I will go to the great
And speak to them,

For they know the way of the Lord

And the judgment of their God.”
But together they too have broken the yoke

And burst the restraints.
6
Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them,

A wolf of the deserts will destroy them,

A leopard is watching their cities.

Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,

Because their wrongdoings are many,

Their apostasies are numerous.
7
“Why should I forgive you?
Your sons have forsaken Me

And sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,

They committed adultery

And stayed at the prostitute’s house.
8
They were well-fed lusty horses, 
Each one neighing at his neighbor’s wife.
9
Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord, “And shall I not avenge Myself

On a nation such as this?
10
“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
11
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
12
They have lied about the Lord
And said, “Not He;

Misfortune will not come upon us,

Nor will we see sword or famine.
13
The prophets are as wind,

And the word is not in them.
 So it will be done to them!”

14
Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says:
 “Because you have spoken this word,

Behold, I am making My words fire in your mouth,

And this people wood, and it will consume them.
15
Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, you house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,

It is an ancient nation,

A nation whose language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16
Their quiver is like an open grave,

All of them are warriors.
17
They will devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your vines and your fig trees;
 They will demolish your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete destruction of you. 19 And it shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ (Jeremiah 5:1-18)