You are here: Home › jeremiah

Tag Archives | jeremiah

The Path of Inevitability

By on in Theology

During the reign of Jehoiakim (an evil king of Judah), between 609 and 598 BC, Yahweh instructed the prophet Jeremiah to bring the Rechabite’s entire household into Jerusalem within the temple of the Lord. Yahweh tasked Jeremiah to give the Rechabites wine to drink as they were in Jerusalem at the temple while invited. The Rechabites were the descendants of Rechab, a Benjamite, who were a nomadic family in southern Judah. They were people who lived in tents, and they were in Jerusalem for safety due to the continuing pressures from Babylon and Aram. The entire chapter of Jeremiah 35 is dedicated to the Rechabites, and their obedience to Jonadab, Rechab’s son, where Yahweh uses a relevant and useful family covenant to deliver a clear and necessary message to His people there in Judah.

When Jeremiah offered the Rechabites the wine placed before them in the temple, they refused to accept it. They explained that they were under an obligation to obey Jonadab never to drink wine all their days. This was an obligation to include their children, their wives, and all of their families. So even with the prophet Jeremiah’s social courtesy and implied pressure, they held to their oath and refused the pleasure of the wine to drink. They did not waver from their commitment, and they honored their obligation to their father and each other.

Yahweh knew of their commitment and arranged for this encounter with Jeremiah to compare the Rechabites and the people of Judah as one covenant is honored among members of a family. In contrast, another covenant was rejected between God and His people. With Jeremiah’s clear view about how wrong the people of Judah were to dishonor their covenant with God, he again hears from Yahweh. Yahweh’s words reached Jeremiah’s inner being to communicate a level of condemnation the people of Jerusalem could not recover from. So as a matter of course, Yahweh drew attention to the family of Rechab and their obedience. If people can hold an oath and covenant between each other, how is it that these people could not keep their agreement with their God, who has done so much for them?

After numerous prophets were sent from Yahweh to advise and warn His people, they refused to accept His messages, turn from their evil behaviors, and return to Him. The kings, priests, court prophets, officials, and people of Judah were all complicit in their immorality before Yahweh, and they continued in defiance while they knew and recognized His prophets. The obstinance with continued defiance and evil conduct brought about God’s anger, who made clear to them they would be destroyed.

It was decreed by their creator and God of heaven and earth; He would bring disaster upon them. All the Jerusalem inhabitants would face violence, hunger, sickness, loss of safety and property, exile, and enslavement. A people of God who were once protected and secured, were now to undergo destruction because they broke their promise to obey and follow Him. To honor, serve, and delight in Him as their God.

When All Seems Lost

By on in Theology

Yahweh directly instructed Jeremiah to buy a field in Judah while Jerusalem was under siege (Jer. 32:24-25). The city was about to be burned, looted, with thousands of people killed. Those who were remaining would be marched off to Babylon on a long walk north of about 1700 miles. There they would stay for 70-years, but Jeremiah was to buy land back in Judah in the presence of witnesses. As if this transaction was a long-term property investment for shepherding, parceling, or immediate development for occupants. Jeremiah appeared puzzled by Yahweh’s instructions about the field he was to buy, so he brought it up to inquire about it.

“Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it. ‘You have said to me, O Lord GOD, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans’” (Jer. 32:24-25).

As if through the violence and capture of the land by the Chaldeans (Babylonians) was a transfer of ownership, it was not a permanent situation. Jeremiah was to follow-through to demonstrate to others the hope and promise of one day returning to Israel: the land of their patriarchal fathers. As the Lord declared long before the Babylonian exile and even before Israel’s return, a new covenant is repeated with Yahweh’s words “They shall be My people, and I will be their God (Jer. 32:38).” It was here that God’s people under siege began to see the hope for restoration that was given before them.

Immediately following Jeremiah’s apparent confusion, Yahweh’s following words were spoken: “Behold, I am YHWH, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27). With His declaration, the remaining context provides added details about the people’s condemnation, as they were both exiled and destroyed. In verses 37-44, it becomes clear what restoration specifically is. God promises an everlasting covenant where He will become permanently set within the hearts of His people. By His gracious and infinite mercy, He promises to place inside His people such a fear (profound reverence), that they will not turn away from Him.

It is strenuously vital to recognize the significance of this promise of restoration because it tells us who God is and what He is like. We see earlier written in Jeremiah the following: “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:34).” Catch the enormous significance of this promise as it concerns what Yahweh does to implement the new covenant. As cross-referenced in Isaiah 43:25, He wipes out our transgressions for His own sake, and He remembers them no more (cf Heb. 8:12).  

To bring home Yahweh’s point, “is anything too difficult for me?” The new covenant’s far-view fulfillment is explicitly articulated in Scripture in numerous places. It was Jesus who informed His apostles, and new readers of Scripture, His death was the inauguration of the new covenant (Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1 Cor. 11:23-26). Where through exceedingly dire circumstances, His people are given hope and a promise of restoration. To return to their land and inherit life beyond what they and their descendants have ever imagined possible.  

The Court of the Prophets

By on in Theology

It would appear that Jer. 14:13 is where the prophet Jeremiah sets before Yahweh an attempt to excuse the Lord’s apostate people. He calls attention to the lies and deceit of the court’s false prophets, where he claims that they have an excuse by delusion and contradiction.

“Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them,
‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine,
but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ” – Jer. 14:13

To infer that the prophet Jeremiah was wrong or mistaken, the kings, priests, officials, and people of Judah understood that they were safe and not under indictment and forthcoming judgment. Where just immediately before Jeremiah’s appeal, his prayer for mercy was on behalf of Judah for other reasons. Behind his plea was a severe drought throughout the land. Yet while their iniquities and sins were many, he acknowledged the situation and asked Yahweh not to abandon them. While in truth, the leaders and people of Judah had already abandoned God and the covenant their fathers made with Him.

So, the leaders and people of Judah were without excuse. Yahweh instructed Jeremiah to stop praying for their welfare and recognize that their prayers, fasting, and sacrifices were not accepted. Their sins would be called to account as Yahweh would remember them and hold the people accountable. Even if the court’s false prophets partly deluded the people, they were still guilty for the wrongs committed against Yahweh and each other. Their wrongdoings extended well beyond their delusion fed to them by false prophets set up by the kings and officials.

Yahweh, Himself spoke against the false prophets who claimed they spoke in His name. According to Yahweh, they were producing false visions, erroneous prophecies, and divination, which were an abomination as forbidden (Deut. 18:10) within the Mosaic covenant they rejected. While it appears that those falsely prophesied were self-deceived, they were making false assurances of peace that were not of God. Yahweh, Himself clearly made certain to Jeremiah that they did not receive instructions or commands from Him. Their fraudulent activity to inform the people of Judah was yet another manifestation of the wickedness within them. The false prophets were enjoined to the wickedness of the people by yet another evil.

By their assurances that the people of Judah would not suffer hunger and violence, they were in outright contradiction to Yahweh’s decrees. As prophesied through Jeremiah, the false prophets declared there would be no sword or famine in the land. To in effect dismiss the prophecy given to them by Jeremiah, the Lord’s chosen prophet to warn them and call them to repentance. The presence of the false prophets within the courts of the kings and officials was bad enough, but they also set about making claims that would contribute to the harm of Judah.

Those who were committing such grievous sin would become subject to that which they falsely prophesied. They would be thrown into the streets to starve and become exposed to violence. The very wickedness committed by them that Lord Yahweh returned to them resulted in their demise.

Overview of Jeremiah

By on in Theology

Jeremiah was both a priest and a prophet who lived during the final decades of Judah’s Southern kingdom. He is more clearly know in Scripture as a prophet who warned Jerusalem of judgment due to their rebellion, corruption, and the rejection of their covenant with God. As a matter of certainty, Jerusalem will be given over to Babylon and remain there in captivity for 70-years. As the reader of Jeremiah’s book will find stories, sermons, poems, and essays of Jeremiah’s life work, a full corpus of role and meaning becomes clear. The total of his work is assembled as an anthology and not a sequential narrative to tell a linear story concerning the prophetic warnings and events that would occur in Jerusalem. Jeremiah was a messenger of God’s justice and grace.

Throughout Jeremiah’s book, the prophet is called to pronounce judgment upon Jerusalem and even the surrounding nations. He was God’s appointed prophet to Israel and the nations to pluck up and break down and plant and build up (1:10). Israel’s indictment rests within three offenses. First, they have broken their covenant with God. Second, they were worshipping false gods. A problem that was written about as idolatry, which is spiritual adultery. Third, their leaders were guilty of widespread social injustice stemming from their abandonment of the covenant, or God’s Word. With God’s condemnation through Jeremiah, Israel was subject to judgment from Babylon. While on the one hand, Israel was offering sacrifices according to Jewish ceremonies and religious traditions inside Jerusalem. They were also making child sacrifices to Moloch just outside Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom (valley of slaughter).

The remainder of the book of Jeremiah concerns the wrath of God upon Israel. They were to drink the cup of His anger by becoming enslaved or put to violence while subjected to famine, disease, and disaster. The anthology of Jeremiah then proceeds to describe how Jerusalem is led off to Babylon. Amid Jerusalem’s destruction and while Yahweh’s people were placed in Babylon, hope was pronounced where He referred to a new covenant that would become healed through a messiah. The remainder of Jeremiah’s book concerns the judgment and destruction of surrounding nations to include Babylon itself eventually. The book ends with a glimmer of hope for Israel to indicate God’s everlasting faithfulness.