Extra-Biblical Evidence Supports the Contention in Chapter 4 of the Book of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar (634 – 562 BC) Went Mad For Seven Years

 

The account of the king’s chastisement/madness/illness/exile and restoration has several parallels outside the Old Testament.

(a) The Greek writer Megasthenes (c. 300 B.C.) writes of Nebuchadnezzar announcing from his palace roof under some god’s inspiration the coming fall of Babylon to “a Persian mule,” who Nebuchadnezzar wishes might rather take himself off to some animal-like existence (see Eusebius, Parep. Ev. 9.41.6).

(b) A fragmentary cuneiform text apparently refers to some mental disorder on Nebuchadnezzar’s part, and perhaps to his neglecting and leaving Babylon (Grayson, Texts, 87-92; cf. Hasel, Andrews University Seminary Studies 19 [1981] 41-42).

(c) Josephus refers to an illness of which Nebucchadnezzar dies (Contra Apionem 1.20 [1.146]).

(d) “The Babylonian Job” (Ludlul bel nemeqi, “I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom,” J.B. Pritchard (e.d.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton: Princeton UP, rev. 1969) 596-600) testifies to chastisement by God, illness, humiliation, seeking interpretation of a terrifying dream, being thrown over like a tree, being put outside, eating grass, losing understanding, being like an ox, being rained on by Marduk, nails being marred, hair growing, and being fettered, and then to a restoration for which he praises the god (Ball, Expositor viii, 10 [1920] 235-40).

(e) In a number of inscriptions, especially from Harran, Nabonidus testifies to praying before Marduk for a long and successful reign and receiving the deity’s promise that these would be granted, and to being led by a dream to spend ten years away from Babylon in Tema in Arabia, but then to return to Babylon. Other inscriptions refer in the third person to his years away from Babylon and (with hostility) to his being punished for his “mad” neglect of Babylon’s deities (Ancient Near Eastern Texts 305-16, 560-63; Gadd, Anatolian Studies 8 [1958] 35-92; Rollig, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 56 [1964] 218-60). Nabonidus is the only known Babylonian dreamer (Oppenheim, “Dreams,” 186).

(f) The Qumran “Prayer of Nabonidus” comprises Nabonidus’s testimony to his being afflicted by God for seven years in Tema by a physical illness. He prayed to his gods for healing, but received it only after a Jewish exorcist exhorted him to honor the true God. On Nabonidus, see Saggs, Babylon, 145-52; Oppenheim, Mesopotamia, 152-53.

Source: Goldingay, John. Daniel – World Biblical Commentary Series. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, pages 83-84.

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Dan 4:34-37)

God's International Speech: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

I recently entered a Toastmasters International Speech Competition and I presentented "God's International Speech".

After His arrest, conviction, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, Jesus Christ says to His disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:18b-20)

This command from the resurrected Jesus Christ has been followed now for the last 2,000 years. To this day, churches around the world baptize men, women, children, and cute cuddly little babies in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We live in an age of positive thinking. So I would like to point out Jesus Christ’s international speech is a much more positive international speech than the international speech given by God at the time of Noah when God sent an international flood to kill off all creatures because:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. (Gen 6:5)

Not only was Jesus Christ prophesied by the prophets, but even the international nature of Jesus Christ’s ministry was prophesied. The prophet Isaiah, in Christian interpretation referring to Jesus Christ, says:

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isa 49:6b)

The prophet Daniel says of the Son of Man:

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Dan 7:14)

At first, Jesus Christ’s ministry is not international, as when He sends out His twelve disciples, saying:

““Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Mt 10:5b-6)

But God’s international speech is represented by Jesus Christ going to Samaria and speaking with a Samaritan woman, and telling her:

“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (Jn 4:22)

Jesus Christ documents that God’s international speech predates His ministry by pointing out events that took place 900 years before His incarnation. Jesus says:

“… no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” (Lk 4:24b-27)

It is in Tyre and Sidon (located in Lebanon) that a foreign woman comes to Jesus Christ to have her daughter be healed by Him and He tells her: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel,” and, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” The children in Jesus’ analogy are the Jews and the dogs are the Gentiles. But when she humbly retorts, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table,” Jesus heals her daughter (Mt 15).

God’s speech takes on an international flavour because the Romans were governing Judea at the time of Jesus Christ’s ministry and their empire spread from North Africa to Europe to the Near East. A Roman centurion comes to Jesus to have his servant healed. Jesus tells the centurion He’ll come and heal him, but the centurion replies, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Mt 8:8) Jesus Christ replies:

“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt 8:10b-12)

After his resurrection, Jesus Christ says to his apostles, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” (Acts 1:8b) and after this, God’s international speech reaches Greece, Turkey, and Italy, with the efforts of the Apostles Paul and Peter.

God’s international speech is later represented by the Apostle Paul who gives a speech to the Ancient Greeks at the Areopagus. When referring to the Ancient Greeks’ lack of knowledge of God, Paul says:

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)

The book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible, announcing events at the end of the age, makes many references to the fact that God’s speech is international and applies to, “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9, 7:9, and 13:7)

Two thousand years later, God’s international speech remains the same. Jesus Christ says:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:18b-20)

Roman historian and senator Tacitus (56 AD - 117 AD) documents the crucifixion of Jesus Christ under Tiberius (42 BC - 37 AD) and the persecution of Christians under Nero (37 AD - 68 AD) in his Annals

Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

Source: Tacitus, Annals, Book 15, 44.

Ancient scholars as diverse as Josephus (37 A.D. – 100 A.D.) and Jerome (347 A.D. – 420 A.D.) agree that the book of Daniel was written contemporaneously with the events that it describes in Babylon 2,600 years ago

The earliest interpreters of Daniel to whom we have access are the writers of the New Testament (cf. specifically Matt. 24:15) and Josephus (AD 37 – post. 100). Josephus regards Daniel as ‘one of the greatest prophets’ who ‘was not only wont to prophesy future things, as did the other prophets, but he also fixed the time at which these would come to pass.’ In his summary of Daniel 11-12, Josephus comments, ‘And these misfortunes our nation did in fact come to experience under Antiochus Epiphanes, just as Daniel many years before saw and wrote that they would happen.’ Countering the viewpoint of the Epicureans, who denied that any wise being directed human affairs, Josephus argued that if they were right ‘we should not have seen all these things happen in accordance with his prophecy’. There is no evidence at this period of any doubt about the historicity of the sixth-century Daniel, nor of the genuineness of his prophecy.

… Jerome (c. 345 – c. 419), however, is the best known (early Christian commentator on Daniel). His commentary was intended to refute an attack on the historicity of Daniel by the Neoplatonist Porphyry (232 – c. 305), who, as we know from Jerome, considered the prophetic passages in Daniel to be the narration of an unknown author during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. This conclusion he reached from the premise that the author could not have known the future. If it had not been for the careful quotations by Jerome the work of Porphyry would not have survived, and it is ironical that at the present time it is the position of Porphyry and not that of the Christian apologist which dominates most works of scholarship. In the early centuries of the Christian era Christians accepted without question the authenticity of Daniel and his prophecy.

Josephus, writing his account of the destruction of Jerusalem, made allusion to a double application of Daniel 9:27. Having pointed out that Daniel wrote of the nation’s sufferings under Antiochus Epiphanes, he went on: ‘In the very same manner Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them.’ His interpretation of the fall of Jerusalem as the ending of the seventy sevens of Daniel became standard Jewish teaching, and passed into Christian exegesis. Only at the end of the second century did Christian scholars begin to compute the seventy sevens so as to make them terminate in the coming of Christ. There were many variations in detail; three and a half sevens was often vaguely related to the period of the Antichrist. The influence of Jerome’s translation of ‘an anointed one, a prince’ (9:25), ‘ad Christum ducem’, continues in the margin of JB (Jerusalem Bible), ‘or Prince Messiah’. This messianic interpretation is still popular and is represented by the commentaries of Pusey, C.H.H. Wright and E.J. Young. It is adopted in a modified form in this commentary.

Source: Joyce G. Baldwin, Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series). Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1978, pages 70, 71, 194-195.

Jesus Christ to his disciples:

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Mt 24:15)

Jesus Christ citing Daniel 7:13 to the High Priest who asked Him to testify to the Sanhedrin whether He was the Messiah, the Son of God:

“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mt 26:64)

Happy New Year! Time to take off the old and put on the new.

Happy New Year, everybody!  It’s time to take off the old and to put on the new.

Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul compared this to:

·         Putting off the old self and putting on the new self (Eph 4, Col 3).

·         Putting to death the earthly nature (Col 3).

·         Walking by the spirit and not gratifying the desires of the flesh (Gal 5).

·         Christians crucifying their old selves as Jesus Christ was crucified to be counted dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6).

·         Putting aside the deeds of darkness and putting on the armor of light (Rom 13).

The Apostle Paul puts it to the Christians in the church at Corinth in Greece as follows:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:

The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Cor 5:17)

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus in modern day Turkey gives additional instructions:

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

“In your anger do not sin”:

Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph 4:22-32)

When the Apostle Paul writes a letter to the church at Colossae in modern day Turkey, he instructs the Christians as follows:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:

sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these:

anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col 3:5-10)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Col 3:12-14)

In his epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul instructs the Christians in Galatia in Turkey to walk by the spirit and to not gratify the desires of the flesh:

The acts of the flesh are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

idolatry and witchcraft;

hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;

drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:19-23)

When writing to the church at Rome, the Apostle Paul says:

For we know that our old self was crucified with (Christ Jesus) so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Rom 6:6-7)

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6.11)

The night is nearly over;

the day is almost here.

So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime,

not in carousing and drunkenness,

not in sexual immorality and debauchery,

not in dissension and jealousy.

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. (Rom 13.12-14)

 

It’s important to note that if you don’t feel the same way that the Apostle Paul feels, the Apostle Paul did not always feel this way either.  Prior to being called by God to faith in Jesus Christ, Paul was violently opposed to Christianity.  He approved of the killing of the Christian preacher Stephen by stoning (Acts 7:58, 8:1), he breathed out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples, and he got letters from the authorities to take to Damascus in modern day Syria so that he could take any Christians he found there as prisoners to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2).

Happy New Year: Take off the old, and put on the new.

What man, if his wife were to abandon him for another lover, would not only forgive her, but invite her back home to live with him?

 

What man, if his wife were to abandon him for another lover, would not only forgive her, but invite her back home to live with him?

Hosea was a prophet sent to Israel to demonstrate both how greatly God loves his people and how God’s people do not reciprocate this love.  2,800 years ago, in the 8th century BC, Hosea acts out God’s love for his people by marrying an adulterous woman named Gomer.

The Book of Hosea starts off very directly:

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him,

“Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”

So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

 

Then the Lord said to Hosea,

“Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”

Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.

Then the Lord said to Hosea,

“Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them.

Yet I will show love to Judah;

and I will save them—

not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen,

but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son.

Then the Lord said,

“Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.  (Hos 1:1-9) 

Hosea’s wife Gomer then abandons him, necessitating action on the part of her husband Hosea: 

The Lord said to me,

“Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.  Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” 

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” (Hos 3:1-3) 

The adulterous Gomer had forgotten her husband Hosea as the children of Israel had forgotten God (Hos 2:13).  However, Hosea had not forgotten his wife Gomer, and God had not forgotten the children of Israel. 

God is so longsuffering and merciful, gracious and compassionate that even when His people commit adultery against him by worshipping other gods and making idols and worshipping Him in a way He did not command, He does not divorce them. 

The failure of the children of Israel to worship God did not just demonstrate itself in false worship, but in other sins including cursing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, deceit, theft, corruption, and fraud (Hos 4:1-2, 7:1, 9:9, 12:7). 

The proper response to Hosea was to plead guilty, but that response was not forthcoming. We are often not humble enough to accept negative feedback from anyone, let alone from God who is holy, perfect and without sin.  Half a century after Hosea’s ministry, the King of Assyria came and exiled the children of Israel forever, giving rise to the legend of the Ten Lost Tribes.

Even though most of us aren’t descendants of Israel and therefore God’s covenant with Israel may not apply to us, we can still apply Hosea to our own lives by realizing that by sinning we do not follow God’s laws and we are rebels against God and therefore deserving of judgement.  However, God can be longsuffering and merciful and gracious and compassionate to us as Hosea was with his wife Gomer.

800 years after Hosea, a common complaint lodged by the religious authorities against Jesus Christ was, “Jesus, why are you hanging out with all these prostitutes and tax collectors?  What’s wrong with you?” 

Jesus Christ answered by citing Hosea: 

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
(Mt 9:12b-13, cf. Hos 6:6) 

Also 800 years after Hosea, the apostle Paul, in his first letter to the church at Corinth, cites Hosea as further support that at death the adherents in Corinth will not face annihilation or go down to the grave.  Paul cites: 

“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;

    I will redeem them from death.

Where, O death, are your plagues?

Where, O grave, is your destruction?

(Hos 13:14, cf. 1 Cor 15.55)

The book of Hosea ends with the following statement: 

Who is wise? Let them realize these things.

    Who is discerning? Let them understand.

The ways of the Lord are right;

    the righteous walk in them,

    but the rebellious stumble in them. (Hos 14:9)

The Day the King of Israel Built a Berlin Wall

Fifty years ago, in 1961, the Berlin Wall was constructed by communists to prevent people from fleeing from East Germany to the West.  It represents the Iron Curtain that separated Western Europe from the Eastern bloc during the Cold War.

In a similar fashion, 2,900 years ago in the 9th century BC, King Baasha of Israel built the original Berlin Wall in Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem, to keep the people from going to Jerusalem in Judah.

In the case of Israel, Baasha had become king by killing King Nadab of Israel and all of his relatives.  The Bible recounts that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

In the case of Judah, or Southern Israel, Asa had become King by being descended from King David and inheriting the kingship peacefully after his father King Abijah died.  In general, King Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

The book of Kings recounts King Baasha’s building of the original Berlin Wall:

There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.  (1 Kgs 15:16-17)

It was wrong for King Baasha to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa King of Judah.  It was imperative for the children of Israel to go to Jerusalem because there was a temple in Jerusalem – Solomon’s Temple.  The children of Israel, whether they lived in Israel or in Judah, had entered into a covenant with God that involved worshipping God at the place where God had placed His name: the Temple in Jerusalem. 

One of the repetitive sins of the children of Israel documented in the books of Kings, Chronicles and the Prophets, was that they offered up sacrifices upon every high hill and under every leafy tree rather than at the Temple in Jerusalem.

The book of Kings documents King Asa of Judah’s reaction to King Baasha of Israel’s building of the Berlin Wall:

Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”

Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maakah and all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali. When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah. (1 Kgs 15:18-22)

It was good for King Asa of Judah to destroy the Berlin Wall but he did it the wrong way – by paying off a foreign power rather than relying on God.  While evil King Baasha had built the Berlin Wall, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God had not done anything to remove it.

The Book of Chronicles documents:

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” (2 Chr 16:7-9)

Asa then compounds his sin by throwing the messenger in prison, a common response in the Bible when prophets confront people with the reality of their mistakes, their sins, and their evil acts.

The book of Chronicles documents:

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people. (2 Chr 16:10)

Before the Berlin Wall episode, King Asa was a good King.  He led Judah in entering into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul.

The book of Kings and Chronicles documents many of Asa’s good works before he hired the King of Aram to destroy the Berlin Wall:

Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest. (2 Chr 14:2-6)

But King Asa’s reign ended badly.  He was diseased in his feet and instead of seeking God he relied solely on physicians, just as he had not sought God during the Berlin Wall episode.

Sometimes God permits Berlin Walls to be built by evil people, and sometimes it’s up to us to wait on God to remove the Berlin Walls in His own time.