Rev 18:4
Come forth, my people, out of her that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
2Cr 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,
This passage is generally perceived as being a conclusion based upon the previous passages where Paul discusses the difference btween wicked and evil people,or of the righteous and the unrighteous.However,this is a partial quote from Isaiah which states:
Isa 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean [thing]; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
Isaiah wrote this in 712b.c.,after the captivity of the northern kingdom (house of Israel)which was deported into Assyria during the years 745-721 b.c. (2 kings17). eight years latter,in 713-714 b.c. (2kings18:13),Assyria also captured the majority of the southern kingdom (two tribes) and also deported them into Assyria to the north.Than about 100 years latter,after Assyria had fallen,Babylon invaded the city of Jerusalem,and took the inhabitants to the city to Babylon.
This means that Isaiah would be writing to the Israelites in Assyria telling them to flee,or he could be writing prophetically to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,who were latter taken into captivity.
Paul adds a little to what Isaiah had to say with the words : ''Be ye separate.'' Coming outof Babylon can be viewed as a physical departure from a place and a relocation to another place,or it can be viewed as simply being separate or different from those in Babylon.The bible and history confirms both as being true.
Those who were in Assyria generally fled out of that land and migrated to the north and west.,while those in Babylon were unable to flee but were admonished to remain separate,which they did to some extant.
Jeremiah also records:
Jer 50:8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldean's, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
Jer 51:6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this [is] the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.
Jer 51:45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jeremiah is writing in about 595 b.c which would be in the middle of the Babylonian captivity. A reading of the entire chapters reveals that Jeremiah is addressing BOTH the House of Israel and the house of Judah,as well as those taken captive to Babylon.
A reading of Ezra and Nehemiah reveals that the former inhabitants of Jerusalem left Babylon with the permission of the King. There was no fleeing from Babylon at this time as this was a planned and orderly return to the city of Jerusalem. THE fleeing from Babylon was left to those in Babylonian and Assyrian captivity who would escape or flee when those nations were being devoured by other nations.
"BABYLON DEFINED''
Strong's concordance defines ''Babylon'' as: confusion
1) to mix, mingle, confuse, confound
a) (Qal)
1) to mingle, confuse
2) to mix
Websters dictonary,1st. ed., 1828, Vol 1, p. defines Bablylonian as:
''2. Like the language of Babel; mixed ;confused.''
It is interesting that both Strong's and Webster's show in there definitions that Babylon is ''a type of tyranny,''therefore it can be concluded that any form of tyranny is a babylonian system. Certainly this would fit not only the Assyrian and Babylonian government,buy also the Egyptian government from which Israel had fled in an earlier day.It is to this period of Israel's history that we must turn to see how our people reacted to Babylonin type systems.
ISREAL IN EGYPT
Historically,the best example of satisfied slavery comes from the book of Exodus. Jacob (israel)had moved the clan to Egypt (their ''Babylon'') to be with Joseph,where they prospered:
Exd 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
They were sojourners and strangers in a foreign land and things were going along real fine until a new king came upon the scene who didn't know joseph. This new king said:
Exd 1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel [are] more and mightier than we:
Therefore the king appointed taskmasters (bureaucrats) over them and set them to work building cities.The new king had them making bricks,worked them in the fields,and employed them as servants.In short they became slaves of Pharaoh (the state.) The interesting point of this story is that even though the Isrealites were ''more and mightier'' than the Egyptians, none of the Isrealites seemed upset enough to do anything about it.
The Isrealites were basically a people who were dependent upon the land. They worked the land to grow crops that fed the animals. They literally lived off the land. If the Isrealites became warlike and took over the government ,the king and his bureacrats would have to fight their own wars,go to work,and produce their own food.
FABRICATING SLAVERY
There had to be a soulution to the problem. The king understood that war wasn't a good solution when he stated they were more and ''mightier than we''. Any attempt to enforce out-and-out slavery would bring on a rebellion.Therefore Pharaoh said:
Exd 1:10 Come let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and in the event of war, they also join themselves to those that hate us,and fight against us,and depart out of the land.
Dealing ''wisely'' or ''cunningly'' with them would be a program of not imposing total tyranny immediatly,but rather to cunningly coerce them into voluntary servitude over a peroid of time. First of all he set up an educational system for the youth of Isreal. Than he hired some Isrealites to work in the palace and other government agencies in 9-5 jobs with weekends off and paid vacations. They would no longer have to work in the fields dirtying their hands from dawn to dark. He hired them as chariot (bus) drivers,construction workers(building cities) manufacturing plants (making bricks), vine growers(pressing grapes),etc. paying good wages.
Having that program well underway,Pharaoh started increaseing their burdens. He applied a tribute(tax)to all wages(income tax) and land (property tax),and than began slowly increasing the tax until many could not afford to pay it.These lands were foreclosed upon and placed under the management of the taskmasters (p.c.a, F.H.A.etc.) Now the king again owned the land and employed the Israelites to work on his farms and paid them a wage,which he also taxed,therby increasing their burdens and oppressing them.
A similar story is recorded in the book of Jasher, recording that Pharaoh told the elders how they would subdue the Isrealites by deceit. He ordered that cities be built and that they were to invite the Isrealites to assist in building the cities as fortifications to protct Egypt and the children of Isreal from attack. Perhaps this was the first treaty organisation- IETO (Isreal/Egypt Treaty Organisation)The bait was the protection of the country and the daily wages. The elders of Egypt then went to the children of Isreal and said;
''Whosoever of you from all Egypt and from the children of Israel will come to build with us, he shall have his daily wages given by the king, as his command is unto us.''the book of Jasher 65:19''
The Isrelites were not forced,they were invited to assist and were offered daily wages for thier services,and they were to be treated as equals with the Egyptians.The Isrealites swallowed the bait hook line and sinker,and voulantarily left the Land of Goshen to become wage earners.
''And all the servants of Pharaoh and his princes came at first with deceit to build with all Israel as daily hired laborers, and they gave to Israel their daily hire at the beginning.
And the servants of Pharaoh built with all Israel, and were employed in that work with Israel for a month.
And at the end of the month, all the servants of Pharaoh began to withdraw secretly from the people of Israel daily.
And Israel went on with the work at that time, but they then received their daily hire, because some of the men of Egypt were yet carrying on the work with Israel at that time; therefore the Egyptians gave Israel their hire in those days, in order that they, the Egyptians their fellow-workmen, might also take the pay for their labor.
And at the end of a year and four months all the Egyptians had withdrawn from the children of Israel, so that the children of Israel were left alone engaged in the work.
And after all the Egyptians had withdrawn from the children of Israel they returned and became oppressors and officers over them, and some of them stood over the children of Israel as task masters, to receive from them all that they gave them for the pay of their labor.
And the Egyptians did in this manner to the children of Israel day by day, in order to afflict in their work.''The book of Jasher 65:21-27
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Originally Posted by motla68
