Recently, there were numerous articles in the news that stated, foxes were seen near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem which amounted to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Several of the media outlets were Christian and cited Lamentations 5:18 as proof of the prophecy. They also included the Talmud as evidence which is certainly not a Biblical text, and of no interest to the Christian faith. So does the Bible support these claims?
Foxes, The Temple Mount And Lamentations 5:18
Turn your Bible with me to,
Lamentations 5:18
18 “Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.”
If you have studied with us for any length of time, you know the first thing you do is find the subject of the Scripture you are presented with. Otherwise, someone could be cherry picking Bible verses for you.
We find the subject in Lamentations 1:3 which is directed to the House of Judah that went into captivity due to their sins. In case you need a refresher, there are 12 Tribes of Israel. The Northern House of Israel had 10 Tribes, while the Southern House of Judah basically had 2.
What is important to understand is Lamentations 5:18 does not concern Bible prophecy, but Bible history. If you read Lamentations 5 you will read the phrases; “our inheritance is turned to strangers”, “our fathers have sinned”, “the crown is fallen from our head”.
These are all sorrows due to the sin of the Tribe of Judah. Then we have verse 18 which states how Zion is desolate and the “foxes” (Strong’s: H7776) or “jackets” walk upon it.
Now I guarantee you folks, this is not the first time foxes have walked in and around the Temple Mount which is irrelevant anyway. Yet, it made a good news headline and confused a lot of Christians in the process.
The Prophets And Priests Described In Lamentations
While we are in Lamentations, let us turn to chapter 4 to see what caused some of the sin in Judah.
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Lamentations 4:13
13 “For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,”
“Her” in this verse is speaking of Jerusalem, that is the subject as documented in Lamentations 4:12.
The sins of Jerusalem’s prophets, and the “iniquities” (Strong’s: H5771) or “evil” of Jerusalem’s priests include shedding “the blood of the just”. This verse should really stand out to you.
Lamentations 4:14
14 “They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.”
“They”, these so-called prophets and priests wander as blind men, just as Christ warned us, (Matthew 15:14). These prophets and priests “polluted” themselves as they murdered the just prophets and priests before them. Christ also explained this to us.
Turn your Bible with me to,
Matthew 23:35
35 “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”
Christ was addressing the so called “priests” of His day. Even in his time the preists were wicked and today, well, there is nothing new under the sun, (Ecc 1:9).
Summary
The overall point is to understand Lamentations discusses the sorrows of Judah. Sorrows they brought on themselves for seeking after sin, idolatry and false teaching instead of seeking after God. Those who have repeated this news story have essentially repeated some of Judah’s mistakes by trying to intertwine the Talmud with the Bible.
They have done so in error, assuming the Jews are God’s Chosen People. What else should we expect from the Bible teachers of the last days?