God tried to do a lot to AT LEAST keep His people, the sons of Jacob (aka the children of Israel) in the land. Eventually, God could not take the ten tribes and had Sennacherib, ruler of Assyria, take the ten tribes Samaria out!
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I have children, and I also remember this growing up … when one of my brothers were disciplined, the rest of us took careful heed not to do the same thing he did that gave him the disciplinarian action.
My children and most children are similar. Not the children of Judah! They witness Samaria get carted out of their land for disobedience, and yet they continued in the same path!
One thing the God of Israel was trying really hard to do was keep Judah in the land so their name, His name is not forgotten.
The Last Straw Was the Sabbath Day
The deal breaker was the Sabbath Day! The Almighty had Jeremiah lay this final deal on the table for the children of Judah to stay in the land. In Jeremiah 17 we can see the deal:
24 And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25 Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.
Respect the Sabbath Day, do no burdens, no business, no personal activities, and all will be peace and the city will remain forever!
26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the Lord.
All will be good. The children of Israel (Judah) would have been in the land to this day. They would have been in peace, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Mighty God. By this alone, the whole world would know more than we know today!
No BOMBING the Palestinians, and fighting over the land, because the people whose land it is would have safely been planted in. However, there is a conditionality in this … read the following verse
27 But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
If the children of Judah refuse to adhere to the last straw, and the last straw was the Sabbath Day, they will be uprooted and fire will devour Jerusalem and their palaces and it will not be quenched.
Judging by historical accounts from Nebuchadnezzar and Titus (70AD) they did not keep the Sabbath Day. Thus the conditions we see today are a residual affect.
The Sabbath Day was that vital then and it is now. It was so vital that if they just kept the Sabbath Day, with their idol gods of Baal, God would have allowed them to remain in the land.
Truth be told … this will be the same reason God destroys Jerusalem before His return to this earth!
